One-Sided Love
“Wh-whoa!”
“What, what’s wrong?”
Jeong Minha screamed and bolted up from his seat. Seo Sihan was also startled and immediately stood up.
Even when Seo Sihan asked what was wrong, Jeong Minha couldn’t answer honestly. Only nonsense came out automatically. N-no, it has more sugar than I thought. I need to manage my body, so hyung, you eat it all. You can eat it, hyung. No, hyung, please eat some. After rattling on, he just plopped the whole wrapper into Seo Sihan’s hand.
“But Minha, you already just now….”
To suddenly say he needed to manage his body when he’d just been walking around eating ice cream, takoyaki, tteokbokki, hotteok, hot bar, and so many other things. Of course, before coming out to play, he’d already eaten a meal at home. So Seo Sihan wasn’t hungry and didn’t eat. Meaning Jeong Minha had eaten everything alone.
Just when the excuse he’d suddenly given felt like nonsense as expected, Jeong Minha quickly changed the subject.
“H-hyung. I think there’s a shooting gallery over there. Want to check it out?”
“Huh?”
Jeong Minha, with 20/20 vision in both eyes, was able to safely change the topic thanks to his good eyesight. Seo Sihan, who showed sudden interest at the word “shooting,” eagerly followed Jeong Minha who was walking ahead.
After that, when they entered the game center, it looked even smaller and more shoddily made than expected. A middle-aged man who seemed to be the shop owner was just watching the news and gave half-hearted guidance.
The price was even quite expensive. No wonder there are no people even though it’s a festival. Jeong Minha sighed and suggested they just leave, but Seo Sihan hesitated as if disappointed.
“I want to see Minha shoot….”
“You come to watch me train at the shooting range all the time though?”
Literally, Seo Sihan, truly faithful to his fan heart, went to watch Jeong Minha train whenever he had time on holidays.
In situations where they’d be alone together in the large shooting range, Jeong Minha would be flustered each time, but once he actually started shooting, he shot well with a serious attitude.
Seo Sihan would just watch quietly until Jeong Minha finished, then always left endless praise after it was all over. You’re so cool, you really seem like a genius, and on top of that you work hard so you’re even more amazing, Minha can I film this? Are you going to do this tomorrow too?
Seo Sihan, who usually had a slow way of speaking, would talk faster only at times like these. His expression would noticeably brighten and he’d get extremely excited.
That’s how much Seo Sihan wanted to see anything involving Jeong Minha shooting. But since he was saying he wouldn’t do it after coming all this way, desperately thinking about what to say, he spoke up.
“I… want that doll.”
Seo Sihan pointed at some hamster doll. Suddenly wanting a doll? Jeong Minha was dumbfounded but soon changed his mind. It had been burdensome always only receiving, so this was a good opportunity to give Seo Sihan a gift himself.
Jeong Minha looked around the shooting gallery again. The setup looked shoddily made to anyone’s eyes, so the difficulty wouldn’t be ordinary.
But he couldn’t back down here. After all, Seo Sihan was looking at him with sparkling eyes wanting some silly doll!
“If it can’t be done, make it happen. That’s my motto.”
He took off his transparent glasses that were only for protecting his vision and picked up the gun. It was a BB gun not much different from the so-called self-defense gun he usually carried around. Jeong Minha immediately took his stance.
“……”
The shop owner who’d been watching only the news looked at Jeong Minha. Unlike ordinary people who held it with both hands to shoot, some young man who looked young was standing with one hand in his pocket, taking his stance with only one hand, so the owner just scoffed. What, did he watch TV and copy it?
Soon Jeong Minha fired the first shot, but as expected the doll didn’t fall. He shot two, three times while slightly changing position, but the doll only wobbled a little without falling over.
“It seems like it’ll work but it’s strangely not falling, so it’s making me stubborn….”
The owner felt relieved and turned his gaze back to the news. Well, of course. These were dolls designed with their center of gravity so they wouldn’t fall unless you aimed at exactly one spot. Additionally, seeing Jeong Minha only paying more money, the owner was pleased as he provided bullets.
And when Jeong Minha started taking his stance again, Seo Sihan, who’d been watching quietly, said,
“Minha, want to try hitting the mouth?”
“Ye… yes?!”
Jeong Minha momentarily mistook it as saying let’s kiss and quickly looked at Seo Sihan. However, Seo Sihan was looking at the doll.
Ah, he meant to hit the doll’s mouth. Jeong Minha cleared his throat unnecessarily, shook off his hands, and took his stance again.
At that moment, the owner stood up from his seat with a surprised face. How did he figure it out? Was it just a random guess? Well, even if he knows, it won’t be easy to hit that small dot of a mouth from that distance….
Bang, with the following sound, the doll immediately fell.
“……!!”
“Wow, it really worked?! How did you know?”
“When you hit other spots earlier, looking at how much it wobbled….”
“I’m not sure but that’s amazing?”
“Minha who hit it right away is more amazing though? So cool.”
While the two were cheerfully being lovey-dovey, the owner rushed over to Jeong Minha.
“Student, you have talent! You’re the first person to actually knock down a doll at our shop!”
“……Then isn’t that a scam?”
“Anyway, it does fall! More than that, do you have any thoughts about practicing in this field? I’m saying this because I really see talent.”
The owner who’d been watching the news with sleepy eyes until just now was actually someone affiliated with the shooting association in his own way. Not quite a competitor, but he enjoyed shooting as an enthusiast and even opened a shop.
And after only seeing a daily routine of ordinary people shooting for fun, missing, getting angry and leaving, someone who hit the trick he’d carefully designed in one shot appeared for the first time that day. The owner, whose passion began to boil, became full of desire to discover this talent.
“Ahem, hmm.”
Following Seo Sihan’s praise, even some ahjussi praised him saying he had talent, so Jeong Minha tried his best to hold back but couldn’t help the corners of his mouth from rising.
“I’m not joking, I’m serious! What, are you busy with studying or work? That’s important too, but this thing called shooting is really cool…!”
As the owner spoke at length about the cool points and advantages of shooting with an enthusiast’s heart, Jeong Minha sincerely nodded and answered.
“You’re absolutely right. Nothing is cooler than shooting.”
Not treating him like an old fogey and even listening earnestly, the owner was greatly moved. This kid even has the right mindset? I definitely need to take him and register him. The owner asked for his name while imagining having a student. His imaginary student answered.
“It’s Jeong Minha.”
“I see, student Jeong Minha…… Hm?”
It was a strangely familiar name, so the owner paused for a moment then soon recalled a memory from a corner of his mind.
―[202X Olympics Shooting Air Pistol Division, South Korea’s athlete Jeong Minha takes silver medal… ‘Genius athlete’ sets ‘new record’ in first participation]
“Wh-whoa…? That Jeong Minha…?!”
