His Reason to Fight (Weak Hero Class 1)

8

Two days later, it was Sooho's birthday, and a party was being prepared. Yoojin had rented out the second level of the café she worked at. While Sieun and Youngyi decorated the place, Yoojin had the difficult task of keeping Sooho distracted at the arcade. Yes, he was well distracted, but it was hard work Yoojin as he kept running around everywhere. The place was full of kids and teenagers, and the game sounds resonated from every corner.

"Let's play another game!" he cried after they played a ball game.

Yoojin groaned. This babysitting was exhausting. Why couldn't he just sleep like he normally did?

"I'm not paying for it this time. I already spent so much on your birthday present," Yoojin said. "This was not in my job description."

"What did you get me?" Sooho eagerly asked as they explored the arcade.

"I'm not telling you, it's a surprise."

Sooho's eyes lit up when he spotted the air hockey, immediately wanting to play with Yoojin and forgetting their current conversation. After three rounds of that, they then moved on to a basketball game and then a shooting game. When Yoojin got a text from Sieun telling them to come, she gave an exaggerated shout of happiness.

"What? You don't like spending time alone with me?" Sooho joked.

Yoojin raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry, I don't want to fight with Wooyoung," the boy put his hands up in a surrender.

She snorted. At least they could use it in friendly banter. They checked what prizes they could get from their tickets and ended up with lollies and a bouncy ball.

Then, clearly walking a metre apart and making jokes, they arrived at the café. But for some reason, only Sieun was present. Sooho sat at the table and Yoojin followed, popping a grape in her mouth.

"Where's Youngyi?" Sooho asked.

"She went to the store, but she said she'll be back soon. I thought she'd get here before you guys," Sieun replied.

"Let's just wait a bit," Yoojin suggested.

So, they did. They waited. And waited. While Yoojin talked to the birthday boy at the food table, Sieun went to the couch, where he left his phone. He checked his phone, but it was empty. The other two weren't paying attention when he picked up Sooho's phone that lit up with a message. The text punched his gut, making it hard to breathe. His eyes blinked and read it several times. Beomseok had kidnapped Youngyi as bait for Sooho.

Sieun glanced at the birthday boy and then finalised his plan in his mind. He texted back Beomseok before deleting the messages and turning off the phone. After hiding Sooho's phone between the couch cushions, he jumped up, announcing that he would be back soon. Sieun then went to rescue his friend with determination, hopefully saving the other friend too.

Yoojin and Sooho watched him go, shrugging at each other.

"He better be back soon or I'm going to eat all the food without him. Why did Youngyi even need to go the store so late?" Sooho complained.

"Don't ask me," Yoojin said.

It was déjà vu. They waited. And waited. While they did, they slowly ate some chips. Sooho also decided to open Yoojin's present, which was the latest smart watch, along with a drawing she did of Sooho grinning. 

"Damn, I love it!" Sooho thanked her as he put on the watch. 

"I'm glad you like it," Yoojin replied. "Your watch was getting a bit old and hopefully now, you can put alarms on your watch that wake you up for class. Or I can call you and that'll wake you up."