Chapter 12 – Graduate (12)
‘It’s incredible.’
A miracle happened.
I thought I’d never catch up to Song Sun-young, no matter how hard I tried. Swimming isn’t just about experience.
Physical ability is crucial. In some sports, innate physical proportions matter more than technique.
That’s why,
‘It makes no sense.’
Catching up to Song Sun-young’s record is a miracle. There’s no other way to explain it.
Building a physique doesn’t happen overnight.
Yet, in my case, my body resets with each regression, making months of training impossible?
It’s like a driver, no matter how skilled, being limited by a weak car engine.
But I accomplished the impossible.
Swoosh-
The rematch began, and with my stamina fully restored by the regression, I swam vigorously, moving my arms and legs.
To my eyes, my body always looks the same.
As a result, my growth should’ve stopped.
No—
It should have stopped normally.
“Phew!”
“Ha!”
A rematch held after fully recovering stamina through regression.
Tap!
Thud!
We arrived at the same time again, making it hard to determine the winner.
However,
“Who won?”
“I won, right?”
We had asked a lifeguard to judge fairly, so there was no arguing over who won.
And the winner?
The lifeguard, looking away from the stopwatch, declared,
“To my eyes, the woman won by a slight margin.”
“Damn.”
There was a miracle, but I tasted the bitterness of defeat again.
Looking beside me,
“…A slight margin?”
Despite winning, Song Sun-young wasn’t gloating like before.
“Yes. To an ordinary person, not a swim coach or referee like me, the difference was so close it’d be hard to tell with the naked eye.”
“…”
“By the way, your times are incredible. Are both of your aptitudes swimmers?”
The lifeguard, casually introducing himself as a swim coach, asked.
We each answered.
“I haven’t taken the aptitude test yet.”
“No.”
Song Sun-young dodged mentioning her known aptitude, while I firmly denied it.
The lifeguard—swim coach—looked at me with shocked eyes.
“What! You’re not a swimmer by aptitude, and you still got that time? If it’s not rude, may I ask what your aptitude is?”
“Shaman.”
“Shaman? Like… exorcising ghosts…?”
“Yes, that shaman.”
Having made peace with my aptitude, I gave a calm smile.
“Uh… well… to chase away water ghosts, you’d need to swim well, right? I get it.”
“Haha! Something like that.”
I played along with the swim coach to brush it off.
‘What about Song Sun-young?’
She had planned to change her aptitude by losing to an ordinary person with no swimming talent.
Her expression wasn’t bright.
“A slight margin…”
“What?”
I asked out of genuine curiosity.
Wasn’t she supposed to want to lose to me?
Song Sun-young didn’t seem to welcome my progress.
Like a pride-wounded orca!
“Shaman, let’s do it again.”
“Right now? You won. Let me practice more…”
“I barely won! It’s practically a loss.”
“Oh! Then let’s go take the aptitude test!”
And stop killing yourself, as promised!
Song Sun-young wrinkled her nose at my expectant gaze.
“What? Listen to me.”
“…”
“From now on, I’m going to warm up and get serious.”
“Serious? Weren’t you already serious? You said before the race you’d do it properly.”
“My body wasn’t warmed up.”
“Whatever… Fine. Redoing it won’t change the record.”
I didn’t want to end it vaguely either. I caught up, but I didn’t win.
It felt unsatisfying, like an incomplete finish.
So I decided to indulge her unreasonable demand.
***
Kang Moon-soo.
Not overwhelmingly outstanding like the top student, but a model student all the teachers at school dote on like their own child.
To me, though, he meant something different.
‘He’s like me.’
Kang Moon-soo, with the aptitude of “shaman,” had the mysterious power to retain memories through regressions.
Thump.
Seeing him leap out of the classroom, my chest ached again.
“Let’s go!”
Lately, since catching up to me, his voice brimmed with enthusiasm.
“Call me Sun-young.”
“Sun-young! Let’s go!”
“Wait.”
“What?”
“…You’ve worked hard so far. You’ve almost caught up to me, your goal. So let’s rest a bit.”
“Alright.”
Kang Moon-soo agreed readily while climbing over the school fence.
And then I—
Flinch.
I stopped mid-step while lifting my leg to climb over the fence.
“Moon-soo.”
“What now?”
“Turn your head.”
“Huh?”
“Look somewhere else. My underwear’s showing.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t see—”
“Hurry!”
“Alright.”
“…”
I don’t know why I suddenly started caring.
I’ve climbed over the school fence hundreds of times, but I never once worried about my school uniform skirt.
Step!
Carefully checking my surroundings, I climbed over the fence.
“Done. You can look now.”
“Where do you want to go?”
Thump.
As soon as Kang Moon-soo asked, my heart sent another strange signal.
“…What about you?”
“A decent restaurant. I’ve been skipping meals since I didn’t feel the need.”
“Oh!”
I killed myself around the time the sports university pool’s hours ended. That way, I could use it again right away.
There was a blind spot in that.
“I’m not hungry now either…”
Since I don’t feel hunger, I didn’t think about eating.
Neither Moon-soo nor I did.
In other words,
“That’s pretty bleak.”
I shared memories and spent time with a guy my age. But we hadn’t even shared a glass of water.
Swimming! Swimming! More swimming!
‘It’s kind of shocking.’
I put off plans like watching a movie or going to an aquarium.
“Moon-soo, let’s go to the restaurant you want.”
“How about the convenience store where I work? I can get a discount as an employee—”
“Hey!”
“You startled me! Why’re you yelling?”
“You’re taking a great girl like me to a shabby convenience store?”
I said that, but I use convenience stores a lot too.
Still, I was just mad!
“Don’t diss convenience stores. They’ve got healthy options these days—”
“Follow me. Don’t even mention convenience stores from now on.”
“…”
“I’ll respect your taste, though. What food do you like?”
“Ramen.”
“I said no convenience stores!”
“They don’t only sell ramen at convenience stores, you know?”
“Think before you speak. Do you really want to eat cheap ramen with a girl like me?”
“Calm down.”
“Hurry up and think!”
I don’t know why I’m getting so worked up.
***
We went to the world-famous upscale restaurant ‘Parnaru’.
Parnaru.
The head chef here is a culinary legend, uncompromising on price for the sake of perfect taste and aroma.
Maybe because of that? The restaurant was packed with well-dressed customers who looked like they had thick wallets, surrounding us as we sat by a window overlooking the river.
“Are we supposed to be here…?”
It felt like we’d been dropped into a place we didn’t belong.
“It’s fine.”
Song Sun-young, sitting arrogantly with her legs crossed like a chaebol’s daughter, smiled as she looked at the menu.
“If you say so…”
I’d only seen this place on TV or in passing, never imagining I’d come in and actually eat here…
“Guests, are you ready to order?”
Caught up in Parnaru’s prestige and luxurious atmosphere, I even thought the staff looked top-tier.
‘They must’ve been hired based on their aptitudes…’
I was entertaining the absurd thought of wanting to work here when—
“I’ll order. Everything from here to here.”
“…Guests, that seems like too much for two people—”
“I said I’m ordering.”
Song Sun-young’s previously cheerful expression vanished, her tone turning icy.
“My apologies.”
The staff bowed and hurried off.
“…They were just trying to give advice. Wasn’t that a bit cold?”
As someone in a similar service job, I couldn’t let it slide.
“Don’t worry about it. They’ll forget everything when we regress.”
“That’s… true.”
Apologizing to the staff wouldn’t change anything.
“The food here is all decent, so try everything.”
“It’s gonna be a lot of leftovers…”
I didn’t count, but it’s probably enough for 20 people.
“I know. I ordered a ton on purpose, planning to leave leftovers.”
“What a waste… of money too.”
Since life got tough, I’ve been licking plates clean, so this kind of extravagance was unimaginable.
“Then eat until you’re stuffed. Even if you get sick, regression will fix it.”
“Geez…”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
I wanted to tease her for acting like a haughty rich person, but she was right about everything.
And I’m not tactless enough to ruin this great atmosphere.
Clink, clink, clink, clink…
The dishes we ordered started arriving like a train.
“Wow!”
The food, presented like artwork on elegant silver plates, was almost too beautiful to touch. But the aroma was so enticing that I couldn’t resist.
Even so,
Click-!
I decided to take a picture with my smartphone before digging into the dishes.
“What’re you doing?”
“Can’t you tell? I’m taking pictures of the food.”
“That’s not what I mean. Why bother taking photos when they’ll disappear soon?”
“Oh…”
At Song Sun-young’s jab, I quietly put my phone down.
‘What a waste.’
No matter how much I wanted to capture memories with photos, they’d vanish with the regression.
All I could do was store them, however faintly, in my memories, which don’t disappear even when we go back in time.
“Let’s eat.”
“Bon appétit!”
Parnaru restaurant.
Everything was perfect except the price.
***
After a satisfying meal, Song Sun-young naturally headed to the aquarium in the basement of the same building.
With nothing else to do, I ended up tagging along…
“Do fish have aptitudes too?”
“P’s aptitude testing device is for humans only, so it doesn’t work on other creatures.”
“You could modify it.”
“Every country succeeded in mass-producing the aptitude testing device, but they failed at tweaking it to their liking.”
“You know a lot.”
“There’s a monthly science magazine at the convenience store where I work. It’s for customers, but no one touches it, so I read it instead.”
“Moon-soo, do you find science fun?”
“Yeah, it’s fascinating.”
The more you learn about science, the more you realize how much we misunderstand or get wrong.
And the scientific knowledge I pick up is often useful in daily life.
Except the occult—it can’t be explained by science and only adds to my confusion.
“I hate science.”
“Respect my hobby.”
“What other hobbies do you have?”
“Hm…”
‘Do I have other hobbies?’
While others enjoy hobbies, I’m working part-time.
When there are no customers at the convenience store and I’m bored, my only joy is reading science articles on my phone.
Though lately, I’ve been into fantasy novels.
‘Lately…’
By date, it’s recent, but with so many regressions, it feels like ages ago.
“Talking so much while walking has made me thirsty…”
Song Sun-young trailed off, glancing at the aquarium’s snack bar.
Not completely clueless, I naturally suggested,
“…Want something to drink?”
“Yeah!”
“I’ll buy this time.”
“Okay.”
The old me would never have bought a soda at 100 times the cost price, but like Song Sun-young, I decided to splurge, trusting in regression.
‘The money will come back!’
I knew that in my head, but my right hand, holding the debit card to pay, trembled slightly.
“Here are your two drinks.”
“Thank you.”
I handed Song Sun-young the soda I bought with my hard-earned wages.
“Thanks. Though it’s free.”
“Haha…”
The cashier looked puzzled at her “free” comment, but I brushed it off with a laugh.
“Let’s drink while we walk.”
“Sounds good.”
We started exploring the aquarium’s fish.
“Oh!”
“Wow!”
Sharks and stingrays swam above our heads…
“Fascinating.”
“Totally.”
We saw glowing jellyfish and transparent tropical fish…
“Cute.”
“That’s cute?”
We disagreed on whether penguins and otters were cute…
“Don’t feed snacks to our fish friends!”
“Don’t put your hands in the water! You might get bitten!”
There were warning signs for curious kids.
“These guys have it good. They can swim carefree without a thought.”
“Not exactly.”
“What?”
“Look at their mouths. The color’s faded there, right? That’s from bumping into the walls too much. They’ve lost their freedom and become a spectacle for humans—huh?”
While showing off my half-baked knowledge to Song Sun-young, my eyes widened.
“I don’t like it.”
Gush!
She was pouring her soda into the tank!
“What are you doing?!”
“What?”
“You can’t pour soda in there! What if the fish die—”
“Does it matter? They’ll come back to life.”
“That’s true, but…”
Thankfully, no one else seemed to notice. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay.
“This got boring. Let’s go.”
“…Alright.”
I felt like I’d lost something important.