February 18, 2005

Twenty-five days. It had only been twenty-five days since Lee Jieun transferred to this school, and with every passing day, Daehyun's hatred for her grew even stronger. In their last test, Daehyun received a perfect score of one hundred; you would think that he placed first in his exam, but of course, that thought was proven wrong. Ten minutes before class was over, Ji Eun brought her test sheet up to the front and pointed out an error in the exam.

Of course she was given a perfect score as well.

And of course the teacher just had to give her an extra five points for pointing out the mistake.

So in the end, of course Daehyun was number two.

There were several classmates who tried to confront the girl; to congratulate her on her hard work and efforts and for being the first person to every beat Mr. Jung. However every single time they tried to do so, Ji Eun coldly brushed them away with an emotionless thank you, afterwards returning to her seat to pack up.

"You're so cool! Do you know how perfect we all thought Daehyun was! And you beat him! You beat him Ji Eun, you beat him!"

Ji Eun just shrugged at the same-aged boy who came up to her with glee. "It's no big deal."

Upon witnessing the scene himself, Daehyun walked up to the pig-tailed girl, outraged. He didn't like the fact that she just coolly brushed the fact off, even though he was bothered by it relentlessly for every day and night's end. Was she just being cocky, or was he just overreacting? Either way, he found it unacceptable. 

"Hey Transfer Student!" he called her out, "Are you being arrogant here? Don't think you're better than me just because of a few good marks by accident." 

Daehyun's hands were balled into two tightly done fists, and he kept that way through the duration of their chat. He had to keep himself from blowing up, for after all, they were still in school. But the minute, Ji Eun walked away in a seemingly unaffected manner, he officially blew up.

He caught up to her with big, giant steps, and forcefully grabbed at her wrist. He spoke,  "Yah, where do you think you're going? You can't just ignore me like this! I'm the heir to the Jung Corporation, the son of President Ju-"

"I am terribly sorry for interrupting your brag-fest, but I really don't care. Everything you've just said shows the success of your father, but you? You're just leeching off of him. I hardly believe you have the right to act so mighty over the things your father's done. You, excellent? I don't think so." Ji Eun tugged away from his grip, catching the boy off guard. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I have to go home. Bye."

The boy's eyes corruptly slanted down after receiving such a sharply-said response. He was never spoken with such spitefulness in his whole life time, and he certainly never wanted such a thing to come from a poor and lower-class girl. So the moment he arrived back at home, sitting his bottom ever-so-graciously at the dinner table, he confessed his own thoughts and plans to his mother.

"Mom, I want to have more lessons from my private tutor," Daehyun requested, feeling the need to outdo that country bumpkin with whatever costs.

"We can have that arranged Son, but why the sudden need for even more tutoring? You already have high marks in school."

He was about to answer, only if his older sister hadn't beat him to it. She responded for him, "There was a new transfer student in his class Mom. And apparently, she's much smarter. Ha."

"Shut up Sis!"

"But it's true! How many times has she beaten you in your tests and exams?"

It was then that Daehyun bit his lip in utter frustration, for he knew his sister was correct. Lee Ji Eun was without a doubt smarter than him, but of course with the added lessons and tutoring, that wouldn't be for so long.

March 5, 2005

For the upcoming weeks, Daehyun put studying as his first priority. He still spent a good amount of time chatting with his friends during school, but once the final bell rang, Daehyun would head straight home and get to work. He spent endless days and nights studying the notes his tutor would give, and every other day, right after having a snack at home, he would head to the nearby cram school to learn there as well.

He was busier than the average fifth year, but he knew this would all be worth it in the end.

The feeling of triumpth, that is.

On his way to cram school, Daehyun felt a tad shortness of breath. And a second later, his head began to pulsate at a ticking rate. He was overcome with dizzyness, and the longer he walked, the harder it was to even go ahead at a straight line. The world was only spinning in his eyes even though he knew that that was scientifically impossible unless the Earth's axis were to spin at that rate. He tried to stop processing his own thoughts, seeing as though it only hurt even more when he did.

And he did stop.

But along with it, he out.

Daehyun maneuvered his half-dead, half-asleep body into a more comfortable position. He was soundly asleep, eyes closed, and head bobbing every time he made a snoring sound. He probably could have had a couple more good minutes of sleep if it wasn't for the sound of a pencil scratching its lead against copy paper on a wooden desk. And so, his eyes blinked wide open. Once, twice, until he became used to his new surroundings.

He twisted his head to the side in search for that irritating sound's origin. And when he had found it, his body jumped out of the futton in full-on surprise. 

"J-Ji Eun. Lee Ji Eun," he softly whispered her name.

And she heard, to no avail. "Oh, Daehyun. You're awake. 

"Urgh, c-can you please tell me why I'm in your futton? Let alone... your house?"

She cocked her head to the side, confused by his choice of questions. "Do you not remember anything? I found you sleeping on the streets on my way home from the store, and I tried poking you with a stick to wake up, but you didn't. So in the end, I had one of the ahjussi's nearby help me take you here since I had no idea where your house was. Oh, and it's six now, just in case you wanted to know the time."

Daehyun bobbed his head, trying his best to keep to update with the sudden influx of new information. When he finished processing the deal with his new whereabouts, he said, "So I guess I better go home then."

He stood up and lightly brushed off his fitted jeans, even if there was no dust on the fabric. At that time, his stomach growled, and he ended up blushing in embarrassment. Out of all the people in this world, he just had to come into contact with her. He slightly looked up, expecting to see a smirking Ji Eun laughing at how poor his manners are. 

But she didn't do so, and instead she said, "I only know how to make simple dishes, but I hope you're fine with fried rice. Go call your mom to pick you up, and the phone's sitting on the coffee table by the way."

"Who uses telephones these days? I have a cellphone of my own," Daehyun muttered.

When he was alone, he finally took note of his surroundings. It was just him and Lee Ji Eun in a small one bedroom apartment, and he could tell that it must be hard living in such a tiny space along with her whole family. Speaking of her family...

"So I guess you cook for yourself? Where's your mom and dad?" he called out, loud enough for her to hear.

"Mom's always at work, so she comes home late every night. And my dad? He died in an accident when I was little, so I guess you could say I live in a single parent family."

"Oh, I'm sorry for asking," he spoke softly, feeling a sense of pity for the girl.

Ji Eun shook her head, placing the freshly-cooked meal down on the table. "It's okay. It happened a long time ago anyways, so I don't really remember much."

"So um, don't you attend cram school at this time?"

"No, we can't afford it."

"Then I guess you must love to study a lot. You get good grades after all. Great grades, even."

"Not really. I hate studying."

"Why do you work so hard then?"

Ji Eun sighed, taking a small sip out of her drink. "Well, my mom works hard for our family. Even when she's tired after long hours at work, she'd still take the time out of her day to raise me. So I guess you can say that I work hard to grow up and be independent. Let Mom have a better life."

After finishing their food, Daehyun's mom and the maid arrived sharply fifteen minutes after to pick him up. On their way home, he ordered for all of his tutors and cram school lessons to be dismissed. He wanted to study on his own from now on. Of course his parents were confused and even aghast by their son's willful determination. 

But he wanted to beat Ji Eun with his own strength.

Because after all, he was feeling much too disgraceful.

I just love Last Game. I love it love it love it.

Anyways, you can go ahead and search the manga up guys, but if you don't want the story to be spoiled for you, I suggest reading it after the fanfiction is done.

After all, this is the written adaption of the manga.

*** update: OTL, so a lot of you have been asking and questioning just how much of the plot I will use in my story. Well since this is based on Last Game, I will be using Shinobu's plot from elementary to middle school. Well most of it, but not all of it since I find some of the events to be unnecessary for this story to progress. However, since this is also a fanfiction, I plan to cut it off at the high school era(which is going to be the largest portion of the story) and not drag it on to college.

The whole reason I made this story was because I wanted an ending already, and I just cannot wait for updates.

So when we do get to high school, it'll be based off of my ideas and fantasies.

That's why this is just over a period of seven years, as compared to Last Game which is over a period of 10 years.

Hopefully that cleared up some things for you guys. This is a fanfiction, so I am morphing the original piece to how I would like it to be. So no worries everyone. I know what I'm doing. ^^