I am Smart

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Lee Da-ram loves arcades. Her interest began at a small arcade in a jjimjilbang she visited with her mother during kindergarten.

Since then, after school, instead of playing with friends, she played with the characters in the arcade.

This continued even now, as a high school freshman, at 17 years old.

So with each step, her anxiety grew.

‘… Did I ask to come here for no reason?’

She was swept up in the atmosphere and ended up doing something she normally wouldn’t. It was due to her personal affection for Moon Si-hyun.

The gaze of Moon Si-hyun, who she couldn’t see behind her, became increasingly bothersome.

[Why do you like this? It’s what old men do, right?]

A friend’s words from her adolescence still echoed in her head like a nail.

That’s how prejudice works. No matter how innocently one enjoys something, there will always be someone who looks down on it.

Due to her low self-esteem limited by that arcade, Lee Da-ram wanted some insurance.

“Si-hyun, you said you’ve never been here, right? You’ve been to a PC bang, haven’t you? It’s like that…”

“No, I haven’t been.”

“Ah… Well, it makes sense if you’re a girl. Then, ah! What about a karaoke room…”

Moon Si-hyun shook her head.

“Ah…”

Lee Da-ram let out a small sigh. As she thought, Moon Si-hyun was someone who had ‘lived a generally correct life.’

She had an image of waking up sharply at the crack of dawn, sipping a cup of coffee, going for a jog, and sitting down to read the morning newspaper.

Now, in Lee Da-ram’s mind, an image of Moon Si-hyun looking down on her with disdain flickered.

In fact, until now, there had only been one person who looked at Lee Da-ram negatively. But negative memories tend to stick around much longer.

“If it’s not fun for you, you’re welcome to leave…”

Lee Da-ram spoke in a muted voice, already feeling deflated.

*

“Kyahaha! So close!”

The two women were seated at two connected arcade machines.

Lee Da-ram and Moon Si-hyun were playing a side-scrolling game. It was a casual game with cute and simple graphics that Lee Da-ram picked out to fit a regular girl.

They had enjoyed about 20 minutes for one coin. This was possible because Lee Da-ram was skilled at most games in this arcade.

Of course, Moon Si-hyun’s skills were inexperienced. But for Lee Da-ram, just playing together was enjoyable.

She had always been alone in arcades.

Contrary to Lee Da-ram’s worries, Moon Si-hyun seemed to be quietly enjoying the game well. Occasionally when she faced a crisis or died, Lee Da-ram noticed her shoulders jerking noticeably.

“Isn’t it fun? Isn’t it fun?”

As the game ended, Lee Da-ram leaned in towards Moon Si-hyun. Her previously low self-esteem had somehow risen.

“… It’s alright, I guess.”

Moon Si-hyun turned her head. Even in the dim lighting, her ears were slightly red.

‘… So cute!’

Lee Da-ram realized that Moon Si-hyun was not the rigid person she had worried about. Her inner self was very colorful.

*

Time flew by, and it was already 9:30. Though she didn’t want to admit it, the arcade gave her immense joy. The sparkling interior, the characters moving according to the levers and switches she controlled.

It was unimaginable that the arcade would captivate her gaze this much.

Had her sense of fun changed since then? Like with games and dolls… hmm.

After that, Lee Da-ram took her to various places. With each game they played, the distance between them grew closer until now, Lee Da-ram was almost clinging to her arm. Is this how girls are? But she didn’t feel the need to shake it off.

“Hmm. Now that we’ve enjoyed casual games, let’s go deeper. Have you ever tried rhythm games? Huh? What’s that? No, wow… I mean, I kind of thought you wouldn’t have, but I didn’t expect you to be completely clueless… It really feels like we live in completely different worlds.”

The remark made Lee Da-ram feel a bit awkward. She had been so distant from this kind of thing.

Lee Da-ram had already started calling her “sister.”

“Then let’s give it a try! I really love rhythm games.”

Saying this, Lee Da-ram took her to an arcade machine with various switches and a lever.

She put in a coin to show her how it’s done and started moving the lever.

After a brief silence, electronic music began, and bars started dropping from above the screen. In sync with that, Lee Da-ram’s hands moved swiftly.

As the name suggested, it was a game where you hit the switches to match the timing of the falling bars.

“Whoa. Perfect! Hehe. Doesn’t it look fun? Give it a try.”

Lee Da-ram stepped aside. The difficulty seemed to be rated by star count. I manipulated the lever to go to the bottom and selected a song with the most stars.

“Uh, hmm. That one is super hard. I don’t think you can handle it.”

“I’m just giving it a shot.”

I’ve always liked hard things. Unlike other fields, though it was my first time gaming, I was curious how difficult it would be.

As the music started, the bars came down at a very fast pace.

I tried to hit as many as I could.

“…”

It ended within 10 seconds. The low bar graph shrank quickly, and the message ‘GAME OVER’ appeared.

I expected it, but it ended sooner than I thought, which was a bit embarrassing.

However, when I turned my head, Lee Da-ram had a somewhat strange expression on her face.

“… Um? No, still, you managed to last a while. Normally, this game has low HP and poor judgment, so if you just hit or miss everything, it’s a three-second loss.”

She rambled on, using words that sounded like alien language, which I couldn’t understand. It seemed like a compliment, but I wondered if surviving ten seconds was considered good?

Lee Da-ram mumbled to herself and then burst into a broad smile.

“Sis, you must have a talent for rhythm games. Your hand-eye coordination must be crazy!”

Talent. Hearing that word filled me with motivation.

After that, we spent more time playing easier games. When I tried a song that Lee Da-ram introduced as beginner-friendly, I found it easy to clear.

*

Lee Da-ram then suggested trying a fighting game and took me to a different corner. It was a place filled with posters and cardboard cutouts of characters looking angry.

Again, Lee Da-ram insisted on showing how it’s done. The two arcade machines were facing each other.

It seemed the opposing arcade machine was for battling against another person. There was a skinny man wearing a colorless shirt and glasses sitting at the other machine.

Lee Da-ram chose a burly character with notable eyebrows that looked like they were in a perpetual scowl, while the man selected a muscular character clad in traditional Chinese attire.

Lee Da-ram consecutively knocked down her opponent’s character three times. Whatever it was, it looked extremely flashy. It seemed like it was best out of five, and the match concluded.

The man from the opposing machine stood up and walked over to Lee Da-ram. They exchanged friendly fist bumps, with Lee Da-ram responding cheerfully.

“Wow… You really are good.”

“Hehe. Thanks!”

“Um, are you going to keep playing?”

“Ah, sorry, but I came with a friend. We’ll play again next time!”

As Lee Da-ram said this, the man smiled broadly and waved goodbye.

As he left, he made eye contact with me. His eyes widened before he quickly walked away.

“Here, take a seat. Let’s play together.”

“You were really good, though.”

“Aw, of course, I’m just playing casually. Why would I want to knock out such a precious newcomer?”

Once again, Lee Da-ram was using alien language. For now, I put in a coin. The character selection screen popped up.

As I was pondering what to choose, Lee Da-ram handed me a character with an odd hairstyle, saying it was recommended for beginners.

She explained the basic controls and then taught me an attack move called ‘Rising Fist.’

“Just using this move well is enough. If you get the timing right, even a heavy hit can connect. Just hit them a few times, and they’ll drop instantly. Now let’s start.”

I didn’t understand anything, but I nodded anyway.

Now it was time for the main event as she took me to the character selection screen.

There, I also chose the same character. Lee Da-ram chose the same burly man with a receding hairline.

After both characters were facing each other on the screen, the word ‘FIGHT’ appeared, allowing us to start moving our characters.

– Click click click!

A dazzling sound came from Lee Da-ram’s side.

“High low! Low mid! And then… Whoops! Oh, sorry! Haha…”

Her character approached with strange movements and kept toppling my character over. I was left unable to do anything before ‘KO’ appeared, signaling the end of the match.

I felt a bit irritated. I never thought I would feel emotions like this while just playing a game. Didn’t she say she would go easy on me?

“… How do I block this? Didn’t you say to just stand still to block everything?”

“Oh, this is called a low hit. For high and mid attacks, you can block while standing, and for low ones, you have to block while sitting. But you need to predict to block right.”

“Ah, sitting down…”

“And a low hit is called ‘Low Smash’—simply put, if you hit while blocking, your character will briefly freeze, and that’s when you use Rising Fist to connect.”

I nodded and selected the same character again. Lee Da-ram did the same.

The word ‘FIGHT’ reappeared, and Lee Da-ram approached again with her strange movements.

“High low. Mid low making it look like I’m faking—… Huh?”

[Thwack!]

As I used Rising Fist, Lee Da-ram’s character fell over, draining her health bar.

“… Oh, now that you know how to block, I guess I shouldn’t use low hits. Here I go! Oh, wait?”

[Thwack!]

The same scenario unfolded again.

While Lee Da-ram seemed baffled and stopped speaking, she started mixing in various moves with ‘Low Smash.’

Each time, I would block and then use Rising Fist.

Thus, I managed to secure a single win. Without realizing it, I clenched my fist.

…But soon, I took a regular beating from Lee Da-ram, who stopped using low hits.

In the last set, while she used her low hit once, I blocked it again and she eventually took me down without using it, looking a bit odd just like earlier.

“Sis, do you really have to watch and block that low hit?”