One Kick Girl — Chapter 90: "Rise of the Buffer King (Loading… Loading…)"
1. The First Signs of Lagged Doom
HQ cafeteria.
Lunch time.
Rice bowls. Calm.
Then the Wi-Fi died.
Screens across the room froze mid-frame:
Raon's video paused mid-kick
Shion's research tab stuck at "99% loaded"
Yuno's marketing deck glitched into Comic Sans
Everyone stared at their devices.
A faint hum vibrated through the air— not electrical, not mechanical…
Digital.
Raon blinked.
"My phone just froze."
Shion closed her laptop with the severity of a surgeon.
"That wasn't a glitch. That was a prelude."
From the speakers came a single metallic whisper:
"BUFFERING."
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2. The King Introduces Himself
The cafeteria lights dimmed.
Pixels drifted from the ceiling like static snow.
A figure materialized from corrupted bandwidth:
A silhouette wearing a cloak of loading bars,
face half-covered by a swirling circle that never completed.
The Buffer King.
He raised a hand.
Every screen in HQ dropped to 240p.
Raon stood.
"Oh no. Not again."
The King spoke, voice layered with lag:
> "I consume impatience.
I feed on loading screens.
I was born when you kicked the router.
I am your consequence."
Shion pointed at Raon. "This is literally your child."
"My child would be beautiful," Raon protested.
"You killed a server with a toaster," Shion hissed.
---
3. Yuno Tries Diplomacy (Mistake #1)
Yuno approached cautiously.
"Hi! We're the One Kick Initiative and we'd love to partner with you on—"
The Buffer King extended a finger.
Her screen went from HD → 144p.
Yuno gasped. Her marketing: blurry. unreadable. unshareable.
She fell to her knees.
"No… my BRAND."
---
4. Synthra Byte Attempts Tech Magic (Mistake #2)
Synthra spun her cyber gauntlets.
"I'll reroute the flow—"
The King blinked.
Her arm display froze at: Updating… 1%
Synthra screamed.
"No! IT'S ONE PERCENT. IT WILL STAY ONE PERCENT FOREVER—"
She curled into a ball.
---
5. Maestro Dome Tries Something Absolutely Stupid
Dome stepped forward.
He raised his hands like he was baptizing a star.
"Oh great warrior of delay… we honor the stillness between moments…"
The Buffer King looked at him.
A silence.
Then:
> "AD BLOCK FAILURE."
A tsunami of pop-up ads flooded Dome's sunglasses.
"You won't believe what she did!"
"Do THIS ONE TRICK to get abs!"
"Local singles are—"
Dome collapsed.
---
6. The Challenge of Lag
The King floated toward Raon.
> "You… impatient child.
You kicked progress before it finished loading."
Raon cracked her knuckles.
"You should've loaded faster."
He lifted both arms.
Time slowed.
Raon's heartbeat stretched like rubber.
Shion's voice became a dial-up modem.
The world around them pixelated.
> "You cannot strike what never fully renders."
A spinning circle pulsed across his face:
∞% — stuck forever.
---
7. The Kick of Cached Fury
Shion whispered through slowed speech: "Rae… don't… attack…"
Too late.
Raon vanished in a blur.
The lag tried to trap her.
But she didn't wait.
Waiting was weakness.
Patience was death.
She kicked mid-buffer— a heel slicing through half-rendered code.
The Buffer King staggered.
Reality snapped.
He screamed:
"YOU SKIPPED—YOU SKIPPED—YOU SKIPPED!"
Raon roared back:
"I SKIP EVERY AD BEFORE FIVE SECONDS!"
Her leg became lightning.
BOOM—
She delivered a roundhouse of pure impatience.
Error packets exploded.
The King's body fragmented into buffering icons— glitching, pixelated, spiraling into a digital cyclone.
Then he shouted:
> "IF YOU STRIKE ME DOWN…
…YOU WILL BECOME THE ONE…"
Raon's eyes sharpened.
"The one what?"
A whisper:
> "…who waits."
He dispersed into digital confetti.
HQ screens rebooted.
---
8. Aftermath
Everyone blinked, dazed.
Synthra checked her display—
Update complete.
She burst into tears.
Yuno looked at her slideshow.
4K resolution.
She sobbed harder.
Maestro Dome crawled out from under a pile of Instagram ads.
"I have seen the algorithm.
It hungers."
Raon dusted her shoe.
"Was that it? He talked big."
Shion leaned close.
"You do realize you just punched the embodiment of delay."
Raon shrugged. "I'm allergic to waiting."
---
9. Stinger
Deep in the network's shadows… a cluster of half-loaded icons pulsed.
Three buffering circles merged.
A chorus spoke:
> "Protocol incomplete."
"Phase 2: SPINWHEEL EMPEROR."
One circle turned red.
> "Calculating Raon's impatience…"
The loading bar moved to 2%.
That was enough.
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END OF CHAPTER 90