Chapter 82

“Next is Seoyuna.”

“Yes.”

The first period on Monday is always dedicated to magical infusion.

And today, we were given an unexpected free time as it was allocated to check the scores for the performance evaluation we conducted last week.

Since I had already checked my grades and was sixth in the class, I returned to my seat early and began reading a book I brought from home.

“Next, Selaim.”

“Yes.”

Yuna didn’t go straight back to her seat from the lectern but deliberately took a long route to come to my desk.

“What are you reading?”

“Ten Best Knife Fighting Techniques.”

“Why are you reading something like that?”

“Because it’s needed.”

During the last week, I had walked around after school, and there were no proper places to learn dagger fighting nearby.

So as a backup plan, I ordered a book from an overseas bookstore to learn the secrets of the dagger fighting master, ‘Sammy Franco.’

It was only after reading halfway that I realized the contents seemed useless in a game.

“Next, Shin Si Hoo.”

“Yes.”

As soon as Si Hoo left his seat, Yuna rushed over and took my empty spot.

I closed the boring book and laid my head on the desk to look at Yuna.

Yuna, trying to mimic me, leaned her face down on the desk as well.

I pinched her cheek, which was as soft as a hamster’s. It’s really squishy.

“Yuna, don’t you play with the other kids?”

“I can’t play when I don’t even understand what they’re talking about.”

“That’s true. It’s all about games anyway.”

Talking about getting first place in ‘Falling Guys’ or ‘Brawl Stars,’

And about her favorite streamer accidentally blowing up their castle while playing ‘Block Craft’ because they pressed the wrong button,

Or how Zhuge Liang defeated Lu Bu in the Roblox Tower Defense Edition story mode and triumphantly claimed victory… What was that about?

For Yuna, who had neither a phone nor a capsule, these were topics she couldn’t follow.

“Kids who play games are all childish. I’d rather study more during that time.”

“Really?”

“Right, you said you play games too…”

Yuna said in a sulky voice.

“Next, Lee Ji Hyeok.”

“Yes.”

Si Hoo returned to his seat, but Yuna ignored him.

“Can you move?”

“No.”

“This is my seat.”

“Then go sit in my place.”

Seoyuna didn’t seem to be in a good mood today.

And I thought I knew why.

“Did you do well on the performance evaluation?”

“No…”

“Did you lose one point?”

“Yeah…”

Anyone might misunderstand and think it was a form of cheating, but typically, kids with high standards would be fixated on small mistakes.

As I patted her back, I wondered how to comfort this sulky girl.

“Let’s do something fun together.”

“I’m not really in the mood…”

“Still, it’s really fun, right? If you don’t want to, then I’m going to play with Seori?”

Are you really not going to do it?

When I stood up from my chair, Yuna finally grabbed my collar and stopped me.

You’re such a greedy one.

While the other students were huddled around in groups chatting, we quietly sat facing each other on the floor at the back of the classroom.

“So what are we going to do?”

“Do you know ‘Air Play’?”

“No? I don’t know it.”

“You don’t know?”

How can that be?

Is it possible not to know about a typical folk game played by elementary school students in Korea?

Even if she was an outsider, it wasn’t easy not to know.

I couldn’t believe it, so I searched my phone just in case.

‘Air.’

A colorless and transparent gas that constitutes the lower layer of the atmosphere surrounding the Earth.

Nowhere could I find a description of a game played with air marbles.

I really dropped into a clueless world.

In the end, for my first effort to correctly change this world, Yuna became the target.

Should I just start making air marbles lightly?

[Creation: High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)]

First, I create a suitable plastic shell of various colors.

Normally, I would need to generate iron balls inside it, but since it only serves to balance the weight, I can just condense mana into mass form and let it flow into the plastic for permanent preservation.

“Ta-da.”

“…?”

“Look, I’ll show you how to do it.”

Games played with hands touch upon the most primal stimuli of all humans.

It’s a game that can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of age or gender.

Now, I will teach you about ‘Air Play,’ akin to a drug that has amazed the Kaizen royal family and shocked the Alpenheim Kingdom, and even had the Demon Lord issue a bounty for it.

Shwaaa…

* * *

Seviron Academy’s 2nd Grade A Class had several groups.

Even if there were only 20 students altogether, it was inevitable that like-minded friends would gather.

First was the group of boys led by Han Gyeol Kim.

Having been popular in the first grade, Han Gyeol naturally took on a leading role in the atmosphere of the class upon entering the second grade.

Because of this, while many girls in the class disliked him, there wasn’t a single boy who did.

Next was a group centered around Iharu and Jeon Nuri.

Usually, when they began to converse, several kids would gather and the group would form and dissolve continuously.

In addition, there was also Han Seori’s group, which, regardless of gender, continuously thought about what kind of mischief to pull today, and the ‘Shin Si Hoo-Go Kyung Won’ group, which would suddenly gain strength during exam periods.

During the free time given far ahead before the midterms in late March,

Most students chose groups to play based on their preferences.

In that sense, Yuna’s seatmate, Baeyohan, would have preferred to belong to Han Gyeol’s group, laughing incessantly over Yuna, who was quietly reading a book, or Si Hoo, who was sitting by himself.

“This time, the Brawl buffs are crazy. It’s already tier 1, but now they buffed both the damage and bullet speed of regular attacks!”

“When will Edgar ever be used in the league?”

Baeyohan seemed completely clueless about what the boys were talking about.

It sounded like they were evaluating the patch notes for Brawl Stars, but for someone who didn’t play the game, it was like listening to a foreign language.

Eventually, feeling bored, I wandered around the classroom until I discovered Yuna in a corner, silently raging and pulling her hair.

“……!!!!!!”

“What a pity. It was a five-year plan.”

“I can really do it this time. I can do it for real.”

Among the 2nd graders, there was also the whirlwind transfer student, Noname, known to everyone.

But was Yuna always such an emotional kid?

Baeyohan recalled when Seoyuna had sat next to him at the beginning of the semester.

Rumors that she had a bad personality were not exaggerated; he had been scared several times when she glared at him during class for shaking his legs or crossing the desk line.

Shwaaa…

Bang-

“…!”

Degu-lurur—

“Ahhh…”

“Ah, it was just one off. So close.”

While Yuna rolled on the floor, thrashing her body, Noname shook off her rear and came over to pick up the air marbles that had rolled to Baeyohan’s feet.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Playing air play. Want to give it a try?”

“…?”

Air play? It was a term Baeyohan had never heard in his life.

Noname pulled his arm as if telling him not to refuse and unceremoniously sat him down on the cold classroom floor.

The chill seemed to tingle from his butt up to his head.

“What’s this?”

“New kid. Yuna, you introduce the rules.”

“Do we really have to do it together?”

“This game is more fun the more people there are. Just trust me.”

“Okay. Then Baeyohan, listen carefully; I’ll explain it only once.”

Yuna raised her finger with a fierce expression.

Baeyohan gulped and nodded slightly.

Shwaaa—

Now I could understand the source of the sound that had been coming periodically.

It was the sound of five bright stone pieces falling to the ground.

Yuna grinned and glanced at Baeyohan.

“This is the first stage. Watch carefully.”

Air play’s overall rules were simple enough for even beginners to grasp immediately.

In the first stage, you throw one and pick one up.

Similarly, in the second stage, you throw one and pick two, and in the third stage, you split three and one to pick them up.

“From here it gets difficult.”

However, confidence was evident in her voice.

She tossed one of the air marbles in her hand and placed the remaining ones down. Then she threw it similarly, and the scattered air marbles quickly flew into Yuna’s hand.

“Whooo… Haa…”

“That’s a pretty intense expression, Yuna.”

“Don’t distract me, Noname. I’m really concentrating.”

“But you have to explain the rules.”

The five pieces left Yuna’s hand and floated in the air.

Different pieces collided and spun, regaining their freedom.

However, due to the pull of gravity, they fell back to the ground, and Yuna quickly caught them with the back of her hand.

“…!”

Although he didn’t know the rules well, even Baeyohan thought that the moment was like a trick.

How could all the stone pieces land neatly without missing a single one on her small hand?

However, Yuna was still facing the final step.

At the moment tension reached a peak, Yuna lifted her hand and left it to fate.

Shaak—!

He felt a heavy energy from his palm that he had never felt before.

A strange light shone in Yuna’s eyes.

“This is air play.”

It was the gaze of a general who led a victorious war.