Chapter Text
"…Komugi-san!?"
When the girl heard her name, she turned her head to face the man with her unseeing eyes closing as usual. She thought for a while before smiling and saying the man's name. "Long time no see. It's been years since our last match."
The man, a national gungi player, smiled too. "Unfortunately, I was eliminated before the finals last time, and had no chance to play against or meet you. It's been a while, you have changed a lot. More beautiful."
It was rare for the girl to hear such words. She blushed shyly and shook her head repeatedly. "No, not at all, more beautiful something..."
"I mean it, really! It's like you're a completely different person." the man said from the bottom of his heart, subconsciously employing his usual technique of getting women. When complimenting women, genuine words can touch them the most, especially considering the girl's transformation had truly surprised him.
Of course, he didn’t found her beautiful before. In fact, this woman has nothing to do with the word "beautiful". She didn't have any semblance of femininity, right from the first time he saw her. Besides her unattractive features and eyebrows thicker than a man's, this woman hadn’t even taken care of herself at all. With two lines of disgusting snot always hanging under her nose, her hair messy and dry, her clothes dirty and smelly, her dialectal accent and ungraceful demeanor, one could know at a glance that she was a country bumpkin. Perhaps expecting a blind person to take care of herself was challenging, but her level of messiness didn't even meet basic standards. Normally, he wouldn’t even take a look at her, let alone outside of his hunting range.
Yet, it happened to be her, born as a gungi genius, becoming an undefeated legend in the gungi world, the winner of five consecutive world championships, and the target that all players look up to.
Perhaps while bestowing her with talent, gods also took away the corresponding price, he had thought. On the gungi chessboard, she was always aggressive and towered above the rest. But while leaving there, she immediately returned to her original form and became a miserable nobody. He'd laughed at her appearance with other losers when they were drunk in taverns. A group of young and high-spirited drunks heatedly discussed how many benefits they'd have to take in order to reluctantly turn off the lights and fuck her. The older seniors sighed with a graceful shake of their heads, lamenting the unfairness done to her by gods. She would achieve unprecedented honor in the gungi world, but would never experience a woman's happiness in her lifetime. It was impossible for such a woman, who had nothing but gungi, to be loved by a man.
Of course, no one at that time imagined she would look completely new one day.
Her features hadn't changed much, and her running nose was even still there. But her carefully combed hair was smooth and shiny, her cheeks were rosy and glossy, her clean clothes were plain yet made by comfortable high-quality fabric, and she smelled fresh and clean. The whole person had been carefully taken are of, like a dirty stray ugly kitten that has been adopted and cared for and turned into a domestic cat with clean and silky fur, ugly but cute in its own way.
Most importantly, she looked like a woman now. In the past, she was just a giggling, unrefined kid, lacking even the youthful cuteness of a maiden. But now, after puberty, she had a kind of delicate femininity in her speech and expression, and her whole person was glowing. Perhaps not extremely beautiful, but she exuded enough charm to attract men's attention. The man was familiar to this change.
"As the saying goes: love is the best beauty secret for women. Komugi-san must be in love now?"
Love makes women radiant; men's pampering makes women more charming. As a skilled player of love games, the man knows very well how love can completely change women, making them begin to spend effort to take care of themselves, using various tricks to attract men's attention without any teacher, and becoming more radiant in the sweetness of love.
She is still a woman after all, he thought. Remembering the rumors he'd heard about how she spend day and night studying gungi to a degree that staggered even other contestants, he'd thought that this woman would never care about any other thing in her life.
The girl jumped in surprise and waved her hands. "No, lover something..." not knowing how to explain, she stammered as before, embarrassed and at a loss for words, a blush rising on her face, her shy expression betraying herself. Her flustered demeanour was no longer irritated him, but rather had an innocent, adorable quality to it. A familiar desire surged in the man's heart.
If it was her now, it might be acceptable.
He suddenly remembered the dirty jokes he had made with others while they drunk. The image of her unclothed and coquettish form appearing abruptly in his mind, the undefeated king of the chessboard crying and begging for mercy underneath him, the imagination unexpectedly turned him on. A woman who defeated all men but only submitted to him in bed, bewitching him completely; imagining the expressions of other players when he showed off, he couldn't help but feel smug, a secret and subtle sense of pride rising in his mind. In an instant, he made a decision.
Whether she had a lover, he would take her. She is the undefeated king of gungi, but he is also a constant winner of love games. Although she couldn't see his attractive appearance, winning a woman's heart wasn't just about looks. This inexperienced woman couldn't possibly escape from experienced him, and he would become the only man to defeat the undefeated champion.
The man deliberately lowered his voice and gently took the girl's hand. "If Komugi-san doesn't have a lover, does that mean I have a chance too?"
The girl looked confused. "What chance?"
"A chance to make Komugi-san even more beautiful." He placed a light kiss on her hand.
She was startled by the warm touch on her hand. "What…"
“Komugi.”
A deep voice that the man had never heard before sounded. A chill ran down the man's spine. The sudden pressure made his body involuntarily step back before his brain realized, subconsciously trying to escape from the owner of the voice.
Contrary to the man, the girl's face instantly lit up, as if she had completely forgotten about the man beside her and the episode just now. Her sweet smile bloomed towards the coming person like a flower.
“Meruem!”
She looked like she wanted to rush towards that person immediately. But before she could do so, the person had already reached her and picked up her small hand, which the man had unknowingly let go of. "Who is he?"
The girl smiled innocently. "This is the national gungi champion of this country, formerly the third place winner in the world competition."
"I see." The person called Meruem was wearing a cloak, revealing only a stern face, and a pair of sharp eyes only glanced at the man. In that instant, his eyes were as cold and sharp as fangs, rendering the man frozen and unable to move, fear exploding in his mind. His biological instinct instantly made the man realized that the cloaked man in front of him was a predator at the top of the food chain, had already extended his claws against his throat, and that he could end the man’s life here at any moment with just a thought. The man looked in horror at the girl patting the cloaked man's arm, like looking a rabbit naively rolling around on a lion's stomach.
But the cloaked man then withdrew his gaze, ignoring the man and only casually kissing the back of the girl's hand, gently caressing it with his fingers. "Who is stronger in gungi, me or him?"
The girl looked surprised and raised her head from his arms to face him. "Of course Meruem is stronger." The tone of her voice was as if the answer to this question was so obvious, a common knowledge that everyone should know for sure.
The corner of his mouth quirked. "You’re right. It's a stupid question."
"I've never met a stronger opponent than Meruem in my life." She said seriously in her usual innocent tone.
The man couldn't help but ponder her words, wondering she say it as a woman or as a chess player? As a woman, it could have been a sweet lie to coax an angry man, to preserve his dignity and pride. But from the mouth of an undefeated gungi king, it is the highest praise for a chess player. The pride of being a chess player makes the man secretly wish it was the former.
"But still, I can't win a single game against you." He chuckled softly, his tone tinged with resigned and joy.
"Fortunes change on the chessboard. One day you will win.”
"And no matter how long it takes, I will defeat you." He took her hand which was not holding the cane."We should go."
"Okay." Her attention finally turned back to the man. "Sorry, we have to leave first. I hope we can play chess together again next time."
The cloaked man looked at the man again, as if he had just now remembered that there was such a person here. The man thought they would just forget about his existence. In fact, he wished that the cloaked man would utterly forget about him.
But the man was still forced to meet him eye to eye. The predator's eyes under the cloak were no longer filled with murderous intent of earlier, but were replaced by a kind of pressure, pinning the man in place. It felt like only a moment had passed or a long time, before the cloaked man finally opened his lips and said his first words to the man.
"Next time, don't do anything unnecessary."
Once the pleasant gentleness in his voice disappeared, it would be as cold and indifferent as it was now, as were his gaze. It was as if he had just thrown out a natural order, but the words hit the man so hard that he could hardly breathe.
The rhythmic tapping of the cane gradually faded away. When the man came to his senses, the two figures had already walked far away.
***
The night in the tavern is as usual, engulfed by men's talk and laughter. The lively atmosphere and alcohol stir up the emotions of the guests. In a corner, three men are happily discussing something, and when they get to the good part, they can't help but burst into laughter.
“Yeah, the gungi world is really worse and worse.”
“The players used to have boobs at least…but what’s goingn now? Malnourished?”
"It's probably over-nutrition instead. Remember the one I played against a few days ago? Her weight should be twice as mine. Won't a man be crushed at night?"
"How could she get a man? Just see how she looks like, she already gave up being a woman. She could only marry to gungi.”
“Hahahaha…”
One of the men with a pockmarked face takes a sip of beer. "Speaking of which, guess who I saw few days ago."
Another man with glasses chimes in with interest. "Woman? Pretty?"
"Only half right. A woman. I saw the gungi king."
The glasses man freezes, as he squeezes the glass in his hand.
The current gungi champion may change every year, but when it comes to the Gungi King, there was only one player referred to - the one who has never lost.
The third man with curly hair widens his eyes. “No way! Didn't she die or something!?” There was a catastrophe in East Gorteau before, and thousands of people died and were displaced. The gungi king from East Gorteau also went missing after the disaster and no longer appeared in the tournament again.
The pockmarked man takes another sip. “Firstly, she is just missing, not dead. Secondly, your news updates too slowly. She was seen a few months ago. She just hasn't participated in any competitions."
The curly-haired man asks, "How is she?"
"Surprisingly, she looks pretty good, even better than before." The pockmarked man ponders. "She feels totally different, even... prettier."
"Seriously? The kid always with a snotty nose?"
"She's not a kid anymore, she's a woman now. Girls change a lot when they grow up, you know. She’s very close to the type you like now, a bit like the girl you didn't catch last time."
"Well, I'm single now anyway. Maybe I could give it a try..."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
An angry yell abruptly interrupts the cheerful conversation.
The two stunned to look at the glasses man who has been silent for a while, and only then do they notice his deathly pale face. The reason they don't scold him for his inexplicable reaction is that they have never seen the glasses man look this bad, as if he has heard something extremely terrifying.
The glasses man also knows he is overreacting. He takes a deep breath and a sip of drink. “She... has a man already. Don't say such things so lightly.”
This statement from the glasses man, who has never cared about the general ethics in the relationship between men and women, is so different from his usual opinion that the other two are confused, but do not say anything. The pockmarked man clears his throat. "I saw a man with her, probably her family or husband." The pockmarked man's inquiring gaze turns to the glasses man, expecting him to provide some additional information.
That man. Sweat slides down his forehead. The nauseating chill once again surges through the glasses man's head. The predator's eyes, the stagnant and thin air, the heavy pressure, the words that have been seared into his mind; that day, he originally intended to bury all these with the dirty thoughts deep in his heart, never to be recalled again.
Out of years of friendship, he takes a deep breath, finally squeezing out a word of advice.
“Don't hit on her. That man...is dangerous. Don't mess with him.”
Fin