This World is too Cruel to Men

Anyway, because of that, as soon as I finished the dishes, I headed towards the trampoline area instead of the pension.

Perhaps it was because we were the only ones using the campground at the moment.

The area around the trampoline was quiet, without a single person in sight.

“Is it okay to leave it here?”

“Just in case, let’s keep it somewhere within our view.”

Since most of the stuff wasn’t ours, but borrowed from Jinho’s aunt, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

So, after unlocking the padlock hanging on the entrance to the trampoline area, I pushed the handcart, which we had pulled from the sink, inside.

“Wow, they really locked it up tight.”

“Yeah.”

Perhaps they were worried that kids who came camping with their parents might sneak in and get hurt.

Not only the entrance, but the barbed wire surrounding the trampoline also had a padlock on it.

After I unlocked that too…

Yun-Seo, who had been impatiently waiting for the door to open behind me, couldn’t hold back any longer and threw herself towards the trampoline.

“Heehee!”

‘Good grief…’

Her grin stretched from ear to ear.

Was she that happy?

At first, she seemed to be warming up, lightly bouncing on the trampoline, as if it was too much to start jumping seriously right away.

I was watching her like that when Yun-Seo initiated a provocation.

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you coming up? Or are you… chicken?”

“What? Just you wait.”

“Excuse me, but I’ve ‘been’ waiting?”

She taunted me, bouncing up and down in place, and it was incredibly annoying.

So, I immediately tried to get onto the trampoline—

“Gotcha! Gotcha good!”

As if her previous bouncing had been just a taste, or a feint, she started jumping vigorously, causing the trampoline to shake wildly.

“Hey, hey, wait a second…! Time! Time—!”

“Nope, no such thing.”

“No, seriously… You have to give me time to get on!”

Perhaps the saying, “The first strike wins,” also applied to the world of trampolines.

Every time Yun-Seo bounced, my body, which had barely managed to get onto the trampoline, bounced as well, causing my vision to shake wildly.

I couldn’t keep my balance even if I wanted to.

“Ah, stop it! Just a second!”

“I told you, no such thing! You’ve teased me enough, haven’t you?”

It felt like… I had become a popcorn kernel (me) placed on a hot frying pan.

My body bounced uncontrollably, regardless of my will…

“Heeheehee…!”

My predicament seemed to amuse Yun-Seo, as her bouncing didn’t stop.

Normally, if I made her exercise like this, she would have been exhausted and collapsed by now…

‘Okay… So that’s how you’re going to play it?’

Then there’s no other choice.

I had to respond to unfair play with unfair play.

So, I reached out to grab Yun-Seo and stop her, but…

“—Too slow.”

“Agh…”

“Don’t even try! No way!”

Despite my efforts, I failed to grab Yun-Seo and ended up humiliated.

‘No way…’

What was this agility?

She could move this fast?

I’m not kidding; this was the first time in ten years I’d seen her so quick and nimble.

I was a bit dumbfounded, and she, seeing my expression, bounced even more gleefully.

However, there was one thing Yun-Seo overlooked… the unfortunate compatibility between the trampoline, which she called a ‘bangbangi’, and socks.

I had almost given up and was lying on the trampoline when…

“Can’t catch me? Never gonna catch… Whoa?!”

Yun-Seo, who had been circling me and teabagging to taunt me, suddenly slipped on the trampoline.

The problem was that the direction she fell happened to be towards where I was lying.

Perhaps because of that…

The moment Yun-Seo lost her balance and started to tilt, I felt as if time was slowing down.

And in that slowed-down time, I seriously contemplated.

‘Dodge… or not…?’

I was worried that if I rolled over to dodge, she might get a nosebleed.

But if I stayed lying down, I was worried about my own condition after the collision.

I already knew how hard Yun-Seo’s head was from personal experience.

Her head was so hard that when we bumped heads, it reminded me of a deep kiss with a telephone pole.

But a headbutt with ‘that’?

‘If this goes wrong… I might get a concussion.’

While I hesitated, Yun-Seo, or rather, Yun-Seo’s head, was getting closer in real-time.

‘Oh, whatever…!’

The moment I put my hands in front of my forehead as a cushion—

‘W

hack—!’

An enormous crashing sound, unbelievable for a collision between two people, accompanied by a sharp impact, struck my head.

‘Oh, crap…’

You know those scenes in space movies where a planet and a meteor collide?

It felt like I had become the planet hit by the meteor.

The massive impact, like a Deep Impact, shook my core, or rather, my brain… My eyes automatically squeezed shut.

Perhaps because the impact on my head was so intense, I only felt pain in my head, even though other parts of my body must have been hit as well.

Even with my hands positioned in front of my forehead as a cushion, it was this bad.

If I had been hit directly, I probably wouldn’t even be able to think like this.

I would have passed out.

“Ugh…”

As I groaned, clutching my head with both hands, Yun-Seo, who had been lying on top of me since she fell, suddenly got up, as if demonstrating Newton’s third law.

It was then that I opened my eyes, which I had squeezed shut due to the pain.

Was she embarrassed that she, who had been showing off like she was an authority on trampolines, slipped and fell?

Yun-Seo’s face, covering her forehead with both hands just like I was, was as red as a beet, as if it might explode at any moment.

Perhaps because of that, her expression looked somewhat dazed.

Seeing her like that, I couldn’t bring myself to get angry.

“Are… are you okay?”

***

The slip was just an accident.

I never dreamed… I never imagined I would slip like that… and collide like that… I really didn’t.

So, I was a little confused.

‘Just now… our lips… touched…?’

Amidst the confusion, the throbbing pain from the point of impact confirmed it.

The throbbing pain, worrisome enough to make me wonder if it was bleeding, had taken over my lips.

I couldn’t think straight.

Not only because of the pain, but also because of… ‘where’ we collided.

Of course, I knew.

I knew that the collision and a kiss were about a million light-years apart.

What just happened… was more of a lip-smash than a kiss.

But… a kiss is also lips touching, so isn’t it the same thing?

No matter how much I tried to dismiss it as a trivial accident, that thought kept popping up in my head, making it difficult to think.

So, I remained lying on top of Dokgun, then… I realized.

I shouldn’t be doing this.

That’s why I hurriedly got up.

I managed to get up, but…

‘What… what do I do…?’

At that moment, a belated wave of embarrassment exploded, making my mind go blank.

What should I say?

I knew I should apologize, but… I didn’t know ‘how’ to apologize.

It felt like my lips were glued shut.

Meanwhile, all I could see was Dokgun’s slightly swollen lips, which caused a strange awkwardness to creep up my body.

It made my face flush, making it even harder to think straight.

“Are… are you okay?”

I couldn’t do anything, but Dokgun’s words brought me back to my senses.

I cautiously opened my eyes, trying not to focus on his lips, and saw Dokgun looking at me with a worried expression.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Are you dizzy or anything?”

‘Ah…’

At that moment, I realized something very naturally.

If, just if, Dokgun saw me as someone he needed to take care of, as some people said, it was probably… because of this.

Anyone looking at the situation would agree that ‘I’ should be the one checking on Dokgun first.

Yet, Dokgun was asking about ‘my’ well-being first.

As if it were the most natural thing to do.

‘So that’s why. That’s why…’

And I, without knowing that… was getting flustered over such things… Perhaps it’s only natural that he doesn’t see me as someone to date.

Perhaps that thought made my expression darken.

“Hey, are you okay?”

His voice, filled with a heavier concern than before, reached my ears.

“Uh, uh…”

“Sigh… Honestly… I knew this would happen when you started bouncing around excitedly. Seriously.”

“…”

“Are you really okay? If you suddenly feel dizzy or anything, tell me right away, okay? Don’t try to hide it.”

“…Okay.”

It would have been nice if I had just gained this realization and ended there—

“Hey, you…!”

“Yes…?”

“Nosebleed!”