I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!
“Oh my, you’ve finally arri—”
Saionji Kumiko turned her head at the sound of the door opening—and involuntarily gasped.

And understandably so—standing beside Kim Yu-seong were the very two people who were supposed to be secretly supporting her from the shadows.
The two of them averted their eyes like guilty criminals under her gaze.
On the other hand, unaware of the situation, Kim Yu-seong explained their presence.

“I ran into the Vice President on my way to the bathroom. Looks like he came to Nakano with Minami today. I usually owe them a lot, so I thought I’d treat them to a meal.”
Fortunately, it seemed their tailing hadn’t been exposed.
As the two of them naturally joined the group, the four of us ended up sitting in a row at the counter seats. Sitting right next to her, Minami whispered a report to Kumiko.

'I’m sorry. My idiot brother ran into Kim Yu-seong on the way to the bathroom, and I got caught too before I could react.'
'What’s done is done. For now, just go along with it. We’ll find a natural way to separate later.'
'Yes.'

After a short wait, the ramen for Kim Yu-seong and Kumiko was placed in front of them.
She’d seen this kind of thing on TV plenty of times, but this was her first time actually eating it.
Kumiko hesitated, unsure how to begin, until Minami offered help.

“Excuse me.”
She took a pair of wooden chopsticks from the container, split them neatly in two, and placed them in Kumiko’s hands along with a spoon for the broth.
“Young Lady, ramen is meant to be enjoyed by tasting the soup and noodles together. Eating order varies by person, but generally, people sip the broth first and then eat the noodles.”

“I think I get the gist.”
In short, ramen was a dish where the broth was just as important as the noodles.
Recalling how she once ate soba, Kumiko cautiously lifted a spoonful of broth to her lips.
“Mmm!”

It was clean and rich.
The lightly salty chicken-based broth spread warmly through her mouth, sending a comforting heat all the way to her stomach.
Next, following Minami’s advice, she slurped up a bite of noodles.

The firm noodles, soaked in broth, slipped into her mouth and created a perfect harmony.
“Haa.”
A Möbius strip of actions that completed itself through repetition.

She couldn’t stop eating!
Caught up in the flavor of ramen for the first time in her life, Kumiko lost herself in the meal. Watching her, the three members of the student council couldn’t help but smile warmly.
***

After eating ramen together, the mood shifted to “Well, since we’re all here, let’s hang out,” and the four of us headed to the arcade on the first floor.
Nakano Broadway had three arcades in total. The one on the fourth floor specialized in fighting games, so most casual visitors used the other two on the first floor.
This arcade had all the classics—rhythm games, shooting games, various arcade machines, photo sticker booths, and UFO catchers. It was the textbook image of an arcade.

The President, apparently fascinated by UFO catchers for the first time, blew through a thousand yen in just ten minutes trying to grab her desired plushie.
Frankly, if Minami hadn’t snagged it for her, who knows how much more she would’ve spent.
The Vice President, for some reason prideful about fighting games, confidently challenged me.

And when he won the first round:
“Hmph, Kim Yu-seong! Is that all you’ve got? So much for Koreans being good at games—that must’ve been a myth!”
He boasted of his dazzling control skills while teabagging the downed character.

At first, I didn’t really care—but I couldn’t stay silent after being told that a Korean was bad at games.
To ensure fairness, I even unsealed my main character and underhanded tactics and completely steamrolled him, not giving him a chance to react.
“Wha—ugh! I—I just let my guard down! One more round!”

The Vice President switched characters twice and demanded rematches, but didn’t win a single one.
Back in college, whenever I drank with friends, we always ended up at the arcade playing this exact game.
With the Vice President sulking after his humiliating defeats, I returned to where the President and Minami were playing spot-the-difference.

“All done?” the President asked.
“Yes. I won every match though.”
“Fufu, looks like Shinjiro needs more training. For someone who claims to love games so much.”

While waiting for her to finish the game, I started wondering what to try next—and that’s when I noticed the punching machine near the entrance.
Apparently, the Vice President saw it too. Still slouched in defeat, he suddenly lit up.
“Kim Yu-seong! Let’s settle it with that thing!”

“Huh? With the punching machine?”
“Yes! A real man settles things not ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) with games, but with raw strength!”
“Uh, I’m really not that eager to…”

As I tried to refuse, the Vice President’s glasses gleamed.
“Hmph, are you scared? Afraid you’ll lose to me?”
That ticked me off a little. I nodded.

“I just don’t want to break the machine.”
“Then I’ll go first.”
He strode up to the punching machine.

The ultimate guy magnet of any arcade—no group of teenage boys could pass it up.
Standing before the machine, the Vice President laughed and began unbuttoning his shirt.
“Kim Yu-seong. I never told you this, but in truth…”

As he stripped off his shirt, a set of massive, rippling muscles hidden beneath was revealed.
“I only look skinny in clothes.”
…Huh?

Staring at the Vice President’s body that seemed to defy the laws of physics, I was left dumbfounded.
I knew he was deceptively strong for his slim build, but I never imagined this kind of twist.
How can muscles that massive be completely hidden under clothing? Did his whole body type just change?

As I blinked in disbelief at the absurdity, the Vice President, now transformed from ordinary glasses-wearer to apocalyptic-era gym bro, took up a perfect punching stance.
With all his weight behind it, he launched a straight punch directly at the red target on the machine!
KA-WHAM!!!

With a thunderous crash, the machine’s score skyrocketed.
Beep beep beep beep—Bing!
960 points.

With a single punch, he shattered the machine’s high score. His bulging arm muscles twitched as he turned to me.
“Now it’s your turn, Kim Yu-seong.”
The sound drew attention. Curious onlookers began gathering to watch.

It was clear I had no choice but to accept the challenge.
Looking to the President and Minami for help, I found them also watching the machine with keen interest.
“I’ve been curious for a while—just how powerful would Kim Yu-seong be if he went all out?”

“If you’re worried about damaging the machine, don’t be. If it breaks, we’ll fully compensate,” Minami said, pulling a card out of her pocket.
'Seriously? They’re setting the stage for this?'
There was no way out. Their expectations cornered me into a duel.

All eyes were on me.
I had no choice but to decide.
“…Fine. I’ll do it.”

I cracked my wrist and stepped in front of the machine.
While visiting various sports clubs during trial memberships, I’d already realized something—my body, thanks to “muscle gag character” logic, had long exceeded normal standards.
Usually, leg strength is said to be three times that of the arms.

So punches should be weaker than kicks. But something told me that, in my current state, I could probably smash that punching machine in one blow.
Still, that would attract too much attention. I needed a different kind of destruction.
“Fsshh…”

I raised my fist to waist level, took a deep breath, then twisted my torso and launched a straight punch.
BANG!!
The moment my fist hit the machine’s mitt, the supporting steel frame buckled with a loud crash—then snapped clean off and collapsed onto the arcade floor.

Beep beep beep beep—Bing!
0 points.
Looks like the machine broke so badly it couldn’t even register a score—but the crowd, who had been holding their breath, erupted into cheers.

“Wooooooaaaah!”
“I knew he’d deliver, damn!”
Apparently, a broken machine was more impactful than just scoring high.

As I secretly let out a sigh of relief, the Vice President clicked his tongue and said,
“Today, I’ll call it a draw, Kim Yu-seong. But next time, I won’t lose.”
“Uh, sure.”

He seemed oddly conscious of me.
Was losing at a game really that humiliating for him?