do not repost or share on ANY social media. Do not make epubs of my translations.
The eyes of the gang turned to Lee Juwon. The anchovy looked him up and down and said, “…Who are you?”
“Isn’t that the school uniform of Semyung Middle School?”
“They seem like 2nd years?”
Lee Juwon chuckled lightly at the gang’s intimidating talk.
“If you can count to three digits, you probably know what the highest score is.”
“Hah…”
The barbarian, who had been standing at the back, walked up to Lee Juwon.
“Is that so?”
With an atmosphere like cold water had just been poured over it, the barbarian locked eyes with Lee Juwon and said, “If you’re so good, why don’t you try breaking it?”
“Sure. We were going to do that anyway.”
There was a tense atmosphere between the two. Lee Juwon continued coolly, “But not me.”
Lee Juwon had no intention of hitting the punch machine. After thirty, the rigidity of his bones had naturally weakened, and as an office worker, his wrists were precious. Even if he was in a minor’s body right now.
“He’ll do it.”
Lee Juwon grabbed both of Kang Inheon’s shoulder, who was standing next to him, and thrust him in front of the group, causing Kang Inheon, who had been forced to take the lead in the confusion of the moment, to hastily look back at Lee Juwon. Seeing Kang Inheon mouth the words “Me?”, Lee Juwon nodded.
Seeing that, the group paused for a moment before all going “Uhaha” and bursting into collective laughter.
“Aha, was he your coin shuttle?”
“Fuck, Jo Heeshit, this is your fault. You’re not supposed to touch other people’s wallets now are you?”
Clink, clink, Lee Juwon shook the pocket of his school uniform pants, and there was a metallic sound as the remaining coins clinked together.
“Come on now, I’m the coin shuttle though?” Lee Juwon tapped Kang Inheon’s shoulder and continued, “Now, Inheon-ah, show us what the highest score is.”
“W-what…?”
Kang Inheon’s face turned white.
“H-how can I…”
The clique became even more energized at Kang Inheon’s reaction. They chattered among themselves as they knocked on the warning sign on the punch machine.
“Wow… there was someone more vicious than us at Semyung Middle School?”
“Aigoo, quit it. His tender wrist is gonna fly off.”
“Isn’t it the human duty of a head to protect the kids who offer money to their superiors?”
However, Lee Juwon didn’t even look at them and spoke to Kang Inheon, “Try hitting it properly.”
Of course, if Kang Inheon actually hit it properly, the punch machine and the arcade building would be destroyed, but this was before his hunter manifestation.
Gulp, Kang Inheon swallowed his dry saliva and said, “H-hitting it properly… i-is…”
“No, if you try your best to do it…”
Lee Juwon grabbed Kang Inheon’s shrunken shoulders with both hands from behind and stretched them out. Then, he whispered in a low voice, “Anything is possible.”
“……”
The eyes of the two met.
“…Huu.”
Kang Inheon exhaled slightly and gave a small nod. As the tiny Kang Inheon stood in front of the big punch machine, ridicule poured out.
“What a creative way to tame a shuttle, huh?”
“Aigoo… what a waste of coins.”
“I predict 99 points!”
The clique continued to mock him, but Kang Inheon’s eyes were different from earlier as he stood in front of the punch machine. The nervousness in his eyes subsided and he became calm.
Clank, he inserted the coin and the punch machine lit up. The punching bag that had been lying down stood up.
Kang Inheon, who had never been to an arcade before and must’ve also never hit a punch machine before, didn’t know tricks such as wrapping a hand around his wrist. As if he had no intention of taking advantage of the recoil by running back a few steps back, he simply did not move in front of the range of his fist.
Unlike when they played other games together, Lee Juwon didn’t interfere and just watched. The clique couldn’t hide their ridicule seeing Kang Inheon’s honest pose.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Did you get your white belt in taekwondo in primary school?”
“Lf’r ublcu ab vfwbcragjaf atf olgra obgw bo ajfufex!”
Pc j mifjc rajcmf ragjluta bea bo j mtfbixkbc wjceji, Bjcu Pctfbc rabbv ktfgf tf kjr jcv mifcmtfv tlr olra. Lf abbx j vffq ygfjat. Coafg tbivlcu tlr ygfjat obg j wbwfca, tf rijwwfv tlr olra lcab atf qecmt wjmtlcf.
Poook!
When Kang Inheon’s fist slammed into the punching bag, it made a terrifying sound that overwhelmed the noise of the noisy arcade. It was a sound that not only drew the attention of the group around the punch machine but also the gazes of everyone else in the arcade.
The people, all surprised seeing the tiny boy standing in front of the punch machine, each chattered noisily.
“What the hell?”
“Gasp, was he the one who hit it?”
100, 300, 500…
The red number on the display above the punch machine rose rapidly. As it easily passed 800, the faces of the gang stiffened.
“W-what is this…?”
It passed the barbarian’s 897 points and broke through 900 in an instant. The red digital numbers continued to climb for a while.
910, 940, 970. 990…
The rapidly changing red score filled up at 999 and stopped there with no more path to go up. There was no telling how high it would have risen if the scoreboard had been displayed to the thousandth.
The normally noisy arcade had become strangely quiet. The strange silence was broken by a clear machine sound.
<Bambarabam bambamba! A champion has been born! Bambarabam bambamba! A champion has been born! Bambarabam bambamba…>
A voice from the punch machine’s speakers announced that a new high score had been achieved. Soon the arcade erupted in cheers and applause.
“Wow! Crazy!”
“I’ve been coming here every day since it opened but I’ve never heard the punch machine’s voice before!”
“Is that possible with that weight class?”
“I-isn’t it broken?”
“Impossible…”
Kang Inheon himself looked as surprised as the clique at the unexpected result. Letting out the breath he had been holding, he looked back and forth between the machine’s score and Lee Juwon in disbelief. There, Lee Juwon was the only one who wasn’t surprised.
“Good shot!”
Lee Juwon grabbed Kang Inheon’s wrist and lifted it up as if to declare victory in the ring. Smiling triumphantly, he looked around at the clique, and their faces crumpled even more. Lee Juwon nodded his head and said, “Now, you all need to get hit one by one, don’t you?”
Startled, the gang yelled, “What…?”
“Crazy, why should we get hit?!”
Lee Juwon scoffed and said, “Don’t you remember how you were all acting up?”
“……”
“Talking back without knowing your place deserves a beating. Isn’t that right, champion?”
Lee Juwon tapped Kang Inheon on the shoulder, and Kang Inheon replied in the confusion of the moment, “Huh…? Yeah…”
The gang exchanged awkward glances. They wanted to believe that the punch machine was broken, but having just heard and seen that devastating blow, they could only instinctively back away.
Lee Juwon shook his head. After having acted so boorish up until now, the 8th grade syndromers, who became stronger the more they were, seemed to lose strength as they became stronger in front of the weak and weaker in front of the strong.
“It’s a seventeen against one fight, but you, the seventeen, are acting like this?”
Tsk tsk, Lee Juwon clicked his tongue when no one seemed energetic while saying that kids these days have no will.
The anchovy swallowed the words he wanted to say. Saying seventeen against one rather than seventeen against two, does that mean you have no plans on fighting at all…?
Through the stiff atmosphere, Kang Inheon spoke in a small voice, “I-I’m okay, though…”
Lee Juwon’s eyebrows shot up.
“It’s not okay just because you’re fine.” Lee Juwon shouted, equally pointing his finger at both the clique and himself, “You need to beat trash to death for them to wake up!”
It was unclear who that remark was cursing, but a vein stood on the forehead of the barbarian that had been hit by the wide-area snipe.
“…Trash?”
“A guy who extorts money from the weak is trash, isn’t he?”
Cracking the knuckles of his clenched fist, the barbarian walked up. His pride had already been wounded by backing away like this, but he couldn’t take it anymore when he was cursed right to his face.
“Aside from the fact that you got a perfect score by luck…”
Triumphant like a fox riding on the power of a tiger, Lee Juwon’s appearance was no different from a donkey in a lion’s skin. The pissed-off barbarian threw his fist at Lee Juwon in anger and shouted, “He’s the one with the high score, so why are you being so smug?!”
The barbarian twisted his upper body and drew back his right arm to the limit. His tightly clenched fist cut through the air and quickly stretched out.
But the barbarian’s fist couldn’t even touch the tip of Lee Juwon’s hair. Before they knew it, Kang Inheon, who had blocked Lee Juwon’s path, grabbed the barbarian’s wrist with one hand.
The onlookers’ eyes widened. They were amazed that such a young boy was able to block such a fast punch so lightly.
The sight of the barbarian way over 170cm and Kang Inheon who was barely over 160cm competing against each other was like a fight between an adult and a child. Though their ages may be similar, there was a huge height difference, so it seemed like the barbarian would overpower Kang Inheon like breaking a child’s wrist.
“Uwaaak!”
But it was the barbarian who screamed and flopped down. Kneeling in front of Kang Inheon, the barbarian screamed, “Ugh, l-let go!”
The barbarian screamed as he twisted his arm and body. His face flushed red.
“U-ugh, argh! P-please…!”
As the shouting turned to pleading, Kang Inheon glanced at Lee Juwon. Only when Lee Juwon nodded did Kang Inheon let go of the barbarian’s hand.
“Argh, huu, ugh!”
The barbarian let out a groan that was a mixture of a breath and a sob and looked down at his hand. His hands were swollen red to the point he was questioning if he had broken a bone. His face was so red it looked like it was about to burst. Seeing that appearance, the faces of the clique turned into shock.
“How can, things that can’t even be a match…”
Lee Juwon continued from behind Kang Inheon, giggling in ridicule, “Acting rude to our champion?”
The barbarian’s chin trembled. He couldn’t fully accept this situation yet. Once again, the Kang Inheon in front of him looked so young and thin. If he wasn’t wearing a school uniform, he wouldn’t even look like a middle school student.
“F-fuuck!”
The barbarian who had cursed in anger turned around and shouted, “What are you standing still for, you sons of a bitch?! Kill them!”
The cognitive dissonance extended to the gang as well. There was no way they were going to back down like this, intimidated by a guy that couldn’t even amount to their fist. The clique, hesitant and exchanging glances with each other because they couldn’t believe it even though they saw it with their own eyes, shouted “Uwaa!” and all launched at him in a group.
“Can you handle it by yourself?” Lee Juwon whispered behind him, and Kang Inheon nodded.
“Really? Even though there’s that many?”
Kang Inheon clenched his fist and said, “B-because I’m the cha… champion…”
Looking at the determined Kang Inheon pleased, Lee Juwon quickly backed away. After backing away more than ten steps from the fight, he just continuously yelled “Fighting”.
Kang Inheon was the one who scored 999 points and swept away the gang, but Lee Juwon confidently walked out of the arcade like a triumphant general.
At some point, the streets were littered with heaps of snow. The bustling streets were still full of excitement. People with cake boxes and shopping bags in their hands hurried along, their breath as white as the snow.
The pizza had long since been digested. Lee Juwon rubbed his peckish stomach and said, “Champion! Aren’t you hungry?”
“……”
“Y-you! Must be hungry!”
“…Ah…”
“B-because you’re the champion!”
“S-stop…”
As the regret rushed in, Kang Inheon sighed as if wondering why he’d said those things at the end. Lee Juwon looked down at Kang Inheon’s flushed nape and chuckled. He was so cute that he wanted to hug him.
Just then, a fast-paced, upbeat song came from a street stall.
“Inheon-ah… there’s your theme song. Kang Inheon is the champion of this country…”
“…Stop it…”
“Hm? But I was just singing the song?”
“D-don’t sing…”
“Wow… so heartless. I can’t even sing a song?”
“…S-sing something else…”
“We are the champion~ My friends~.”
“I-I told you to stop that…”
Kang Inheon said through clenched teeth, and Lee Juwon followed with a giggle, “I-I chold chu chu stap dat…”
“Ah, you!”
Kang Inheon couldn’t hold it in anymore and raised his voice, making the people on the streets direct their gaze to him for a moment. Kang Inheon got scared and covered his mouth.
But the attention from the busy and noisy street only lingered on him for a moment. Everyone went on their way as if it was no big deal.
Lee Juwon smirked and said, “Yeah, you should do that from now on.”
“…Huh?”
“If anyone bullies you, say ‘No, I don’t like this, stop it!’ as you did just now.”
Kang Inheon’s eyes narrowed as he realized it was an extension of his teasing.
“Yeah, just like that. And then punish them like before.”
Lee Juwon hummed, “You are the champion who defeated the barbarian~.” Kang Inheon lowered his head and laughed a little, not sure if that mischievous laughter was contagious or if he had reached nirvana because of the situation, even though it was clearly annoying and ridiculous.
“Wanna eat something?”
“…Yeah.”
Lee Juwon stepped into an alley. The food alley was lined with food carts and trucks selling tteokbokki, sundae, fried food, etc.
He lifted the curtain of a random place there and went in. Perhaps because students in school uniforms had walked in, the owner skipped the greeting and asked, “What do you want?”
After ordering tteokbokki, fish cake soup, and assorted fritters, the two sat down on square blue plastic chairs with no backrests. Kang Inheon touched his earlobe awkwardly and looked around.
The bulbs on the ceiling glowed white. The curtain blocked the wind and an electric heater was burning, so it was quite warm inside.
The food came out quickly, as they only had to serve the already-made food. The tteokbokki was served in a green circular bowl with a transparent bag over it, looking appetizing. Shrimp, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and fried peppers were soon placed on the table. Lee Juwon scooped up a small amount of the fish cake broth from the pot with a small ladle and offered it to Kang Inheon.
Accepting the paper cup, Kang Inheon drank a little bit of it like a bird. Then, perhaps because it tasted good, he gulped it down. Lee Juwon also drank the fish cake soup. As the warm soup entered his body, he felt warm.
Lee Juwon picked up some tteokbokki and said to Kang Inheon, “If it’s spicy, wash it down with the fish cake soup.”
“…D-do I look like a kid?”
Then is a child an adult? He wanted to drink soju for the first time in years, but he couldn’t have a drink with a child.
In real life, he had only had a drink with Kang Inheon once, and even then, he couldn’t remember anything as if his film had been cut off. He could only remember that they had another big fight the next day. Thinking about that time, his mouth tasted bitter even though he hadn’t drunk any soju.
Lee Juwon cupped his chin and looked vacantly out the transparent curtain at the falling snow. Beneath the incandescent lights hanging from the ceiling, his long eyelashes created deep shadows under his eyes. Kang Inheon stared blankly at Lee Juwon, who was quiet, unlike earlier.
Only the voice coming from the small television the owner had turned on, the friendly conversation shared by the couple at the table next to them, and the boiling sound coming from the numerous square stainless steel pots settled down in the food stall.
Kang Inheon, who was looking at Lee Juwon without moving, said quietly to himself, “I-it feels like you’re r-really different today…”
Only then did Lee Juwon realize that he had been thinking about something else and looked at Kang Inheon. When he said that he was different today, Lee Juwon felt pricked. Ahem, he cleared his throat and played dumb, “Me? Really? I didn’t know that, though?”
“No, you’re actually the s-same as usual, but…”
“……”
“Why… towards me…” Kang Inheon paused for a moment as if he didn’t know what to say and chose the words to continue with, “W-why are you being so nice to me…?”
“What are you talking about? You’re nicer to me. You bought me pizza and even defeated that barbarian…”
Lee Juwon tried to slyly change the subject, but Kang Inheon just stared at him without changing his expression. Awkward, Lee Juwon avoided his gaze by looking out the window and said, “…Because it’s snowing?”
Silence descended on the table. He was sincere in his own way, but it wasn’t enough to make Kang Inheon understand.
Seeing his clear face, he wasn’t unable to think of an excuse and just spoke honestly, “I guess I’ve always… wanted to have a proper conversation with you.”
He only ever had mismatched conversations with Kang Inheon. They only ever fought. Looking back, he wanted to get along with Kang Inheon…
Kang Inheon bowed his head. He answered in a very small, inaudible voice, “Ah… M-me too…”
Eating warm food in a warm room melted their frozen bodies from the cold street. Their stiff muscles loosened and they felt tired.
“Then… should we have an honest conversation?”
Lee Juwon, who had been sitting across from Kang Inheon, stood up holding the blue plastic chair. He walked around the round iron table and approached Kang Inheon’s side. He dropped the chair right next to him and plopped back down on it.
With a complete disregard for personal space, Lee Juwon approached Kang Inheon, sharply closing the distance between them. Panicking while picking up a fried kimbap with his chopsticks, Kang Inheon said, “W-what are you doi…” and pulled his upper body back. However, with their knees tightly pressed against each other, he was unable to move back all that much.
When Lee Juwon moved a little closer, Kang Inheon closed his eyes tightly. The chopsticks and fried food he was holding fell to the floor.
Lee Juwon put his hand on Kang Inheon’s uniform pants. The touch on his thigh startled him, and Kang Inheon opened his eyes. At the same time, his eyes widened.
In Lee Juwon’s hand was a finger-marked men’s leather wallet. It was an old luxury leather wallet with an old-fashioned design, clearly not something a middle school student would use.
orcinus ramblings:
guard dog +1
seeing that lalala okokok trend on tiktok had me thinking (something i dont do a lot) and like at first it would seem like inheon is lalala and juwon is okokok right??? BUT ITS THE OPPOSITE JUWON IS DEF LALALA inheon is always dealing with his bullshit 😭😭 (i am delusional because the fandom for this novel is non existent even in kr and its an echo chamber of me myself and i)
Thank you for the chapter!!!!!
I think that the scar Juwon got is probably the one he had in the future. I’m pretty sure that Juwon is gonna go back to the present and the past Juwon will forget what happend in that time period and continue with his life. Poor inheon.
I’ve so obsessed with this novel, I’ve tried finding spoilers for it everywhere and finding the raws.
😭 Why is the so good???!!!!
u can tag me in the spoiler channel of the discord server if u want spoilers or anything haha im happy to send paragraphs and paragraphs about yess & yes
Spoil me please!! 🫣
u can find the spoilers in the spoiler channel of the discord ^^
dont despair translator, there will always be fans, just not always fans that can create new fan content. I quite like this novel so far so thanks for the update.
THANK U FOR THE CHAPTERRR!!! Reading this whole chapter made me want to make fan art so badly…but it’s so hard to when there’s no fanart of yess&yes so I can’t base it off of anything. I tried so hard to find any sort of fan art or fandom, but could not find anything😭
theres a total of one(1) fanart and its by @/manganannaroong on twitter 😭😭
thank u for sharing the fanart crumb (literally) 😭
np we gotta stick through this wasteland together 😔😔
found what the art was and omg😭😭 THE SCENEE THAT WAS COMMISIONED
the only fanart and they decide to choose the most devastating one 😭😭
I found it too.. Nooo 😭
What does it look like? I can’t find it T.T
oh I found it. WHY THAT SCENE 😭
RIGHTTTT? Like this novel is soo good but I don’t find anything about them 😩 so I am very happy that you put your time in the translation. Thank you so much for the chapter as always ♥️
Thank u for the chapter ❤
I’m so surprised that the fandoms small, this is literally amazing T^T
I love this novel so much, so I’m grateful to you. Thanks for the episode ❤️
Thank you for translating this chapter !! ❤️❤️
At least the brazilian fandom of Yess & Yes now have update to a total of 1 FAN (and its me) but hoping that the novel keep growing with your beautiful translation and we can all talk together about it in the future.
Gracias traductor-chan tu trabajo no pasará desapercibido 😊
if this novel got a webcomic I have no doubt it’s popularity would sky rocket
This novel is such a gem!! Thanks a lot for your translations without it I wouldn’t know of the story…I just hope it gets more popular:)
‘OUR CHAMPION’
so that’s why the fandom name is “Champion” huh.
anyhow, that “Lalala” “Okokok” trend on tiktok is on point! 😩
Dw translator. I’m a newly discovered this gem and will definitely recommend this to others as well o7
and I think the story is so good. As someone who love orv, a webtoon adaptation would be nice as well. Time paradox thingy is so right up my alley
..es una historia muy bien construida, muy bien contada…muy bien traducida…ojalá trascienda hacia otras expresiones gráficas.
literallyyyy wheres the fanart? the fanfic? the edits? why is it a void down here beep beep
aaaaaaaa is that why his fans are called Champions? 😭