“September 22nd is the day of the decisive battle. Comrade Kim Eorin, please explain the overview of the sports festival!”
“The sports festival is a class competition. Third-years don’t participate, and a total of 10 first-year classes and 10 second-year classes compete for supremacy by grade level. The games are run tournament-style, and all ball game preliminaries are held before the sports festival, with only the finals held on the day of the sports festival. After determining the winner by grade level, the first-year winning class and second-year winning class compare total scores to determine the overall champion. The prize for winning by grade level is 150,000 won in class funds, and the overall championship prize is 300,000 won in class funds. Up until now, the second-years have taken the overall championship every year, but what is our goal!”
“Overall championship!”
“That’s right. Let’s win everything, take the 300,000 won, and go to a meat buffet for the after-party!”
“Waaaah!”
The kids banged on their desks. While Eorin wrote the sports festival events on the blackboard, Yeongjin continued the meeting.
“Next, there will be information about the events and number of participants. Soccer, 11 people. Basketball, 5 people. Foot volleyball, 4 people. Tug-of-war, 15 people. Arm wrestling, 1 person. Obstacle race, 3 people. Cavalry battle, 8 people. Relay race, 4 people. That’s all.”
Every time an event was called out, the kids were busy checking which games they wanted to participate in and forming their own dream teams. I was also busily writing minutes while sneaking glances at basketball.
“Next, there are precautions for each event. First, excessive fighting and pheromone use are strictly prohibited in all games. Since pheromones leave traces, if there’s a report that pheromones were used, it will be immediately verified and result in disqualification. Let’s not become beasts blinded by victory who abuse pheromones. Understood?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Disqualification conditions and rules for each event will be individually announced once the player roster is finalized. Any other questions?”
“No!”
“Good. Then let’s select the players.”
When Yeongjin called out soccer, hands shot up from all over. They were the kids who always grabbed a soccer ball and rushed out to the field during lunch break. My desk mate Lee Kanghyeong also raised his hand.
“You like soccer too?”
“Yeah. I’ve been on the soccer team since middle school.”
I see. I nodded.
“We’re short two people. Anyone else? Multiple events are allowed.”
“Won’t Comrade Kim Eorin participate!”
“I’m devoting myself entirely to basketball…”
“Objection overruled! Fast feet are important military strength!”
“Then I don’t have to participate in basketball, relay race, and obstacle race?”
“…”
“You’re not telling me to do everything, are you?”
“…I accept the objection. Comrade Kim Eorin cannot be deployed to soccer.”
“Anyone else! We also need substitute players!”
Since we had to pick thirteen people, soccer took unexpectedly long. We barely managed to pick eleven players and two substitutes, and next was basketball. I raised my hand. Eorin, Woojin, and Junsu also raised their hands. Yeongjin took the remaining spot. Basketball was over in an instant.
“If it’s Chiwon, well.”
“Basketball is a guaranteed win.”
The kids looked at me and grinned. Wow, that’s pressure. I shook my head awkwardly. I was worried I might ruin everything if they had high expectations.
“Next, foot volleyball!”
A few of the kids who had raised their hands for soccer raised their hands again.
“Good, it’s going smoothly. Next, tug-of-war!”
Kids who looked like they had build were nominated without fail. Woojin was called first. Woojin didn’t have bulging muscles, but his bones themselves were big, and everything from his height to shoulder width and chest circumference was different from the other kids in class. It was one of the things I was most envious of.
“Next, arm wrestling. Arm wrestling is a special event where only the class of the final winner receives bonus points. We’re counting on you, Comrade Jung Woojin.”
For arm wrestling, they didn’t even take applications and just wrote down Woojin’s name. Woojin whined “Ehhh,” but no one paid attention. Even without checking, it was obvious Woojin would beat everyone in our class at arm wrestling.
“Let’s be cold-hearted. We must run toward victory.”
The kids nodded with stern faces. And so Woojin’s lonely protest was dissolved. After that, discussions about player deployment for other events and class shirt concepts continued, so that day’s class meeting ended with nothing but sports festival talk.
From that day on, we rushed out to the field whenever we had time. Since the preliminaries were starting right away, we realistically only had a week to practice. So the territorial fight over the field between all twenty classes, including second-years, was extremely fierce.
“Ah, it’s already taken!”
“What about the gym?”
“Ah, there might still be room there. Let’s go check.”
No matter how quickly we ate and went down to the field, unless we were in the early lunch group, someone was usually already occupying a spot. Even the 10-minute breaks became competitive. Skipping lunch and dinner was commonplace. Since every minute was precious to stick with the ball, the school store was packed with kids trying to buy bread without any space to step.
A mere week flew by lightly. The preliminaries opened, and we received the tournament bracket. It was the start of the sports festival.
The events with preliminaries were soccer, basketball, foot volleyball, and tug-of-war. Originally tug-of-war was also supposed to be held on the day of, but the schedule changed. Junsu, our class PE representative, drew lots with the PE representatives from other classes for the brackets—if we won up to the second preliminary round in soccer, we could advance straight to the finals with a bye. For basketball, if we won the first preliminary round, we could advance to the semifinals with a bye. We didn’t get byes for tug-of-war and foot volleyball, but considering there were ten classes and byes were given to one class each in the second and third preliminary rounds, this was pretty lucky. And today was the day of the basketball first preliminary round.
“You know, right, guys? If we win this, we go straight to the semifinals.”
“I know. I know but… Ah, I’m dying.”
“Don’t be nervous, Chiwon. I worked hard gathering info on Class 9 and there’s nothing special. There’s no one like you.”
Yeon Jaejeong said. Yeon Jaejeong participated in soccer and foot volleyball, and easily passed the first preliminary rounds for both. I heard the opposing classes didn’t have any kids who were good at sports so they just entered anyone, so that’s probably why there weren’t any nervous kids even on game day. But Woojin and I, who didn’t have much game experience, were so nervous we were almost throwing up.
“I… I forgot the play. What was screen again?”
“This.”
Eorin showed Woojin the hand signal. It was the screen sign. Woojin didn’t have the ability to score goals, but he had natural strength, so Eorin assigned him center and up until now only taught him marking, screens, physical play, and rebounds.
“Ah, I feel like I’m dying.”
“Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous. It’s fine, I tell you. They’re all weak.”
Our strategy wasn’t anything special. We did practice during club time and lunch breaks, but I was still clumsy at stealing or protecting the ball from opponents. So I decided to just run during offense, go to shooting position, and wait for a pass. Of course, since it wasn’t PE class, even taking position would be difficult, but I planned to somehow hold out with what I practiced hard. Since Woojin, who would play center, would come out next to me during offense, it would be difficult for him to suddenly switch back to defense, so there was no one to guard me unconditionally either.
“What if I miss the shot because my hands are shaking?”
“I’ll catch everything and bring it back to you.”
Eorin grinned.
“Aren’t you nervous?”
“No, I’m super nervous. If we win this, it’s the semifinals. That’s totally great.”
“I guess your nervousness is different from mine…”
Eorin, who said “That’s totally great” while smiling, had an unexpectedly quite calm face. Needless to say about Woojin and me, Yeongjin pretended not to be but went to the bathroom three times, and Junsu couldn’t let go of the basketball, but he alone was fine.
“Okay, let’s relax. Everyone spread your palms.”
At Eorin’s words, we gathered around and held out our hands. Then Eorin drew a smiley face on our palms with a black pen. Everyone knew about Eorin’s drawing skills, so when Eorin uncapped the pen, we were shocked, but when we saw the wrinkly smiley face drawn, we burst out laughing.
“When you’re nervous, make eye contact with this guy. No problem.”
“Ah, right. It’ll definitely help.”
“Right?”
After clutching our stomachs laughing that we were dying, I grabbed the pen and took Eorin’s hand.
“Hm?”
“I have to draw yours too. I’ll draw it for you.”
Eorin obediently spread his hand. I drew a smiley face there.
“Draw it cutely, Chiwon.”
“I’m trying.”
Since I didn’t have the talent to draw out a smile at first glance like Eorin, I instead wrote “Fighting” below the smiley face. Seeing that, Eorin clenched his fist a few times then grinned.
“It’s time. Let’s go.”
At Yeongjin’s words, we got up from our seats and warmed up. When we went out to the gym court, cheering rang out. It was the cheering sound of our classmates.
“Class 5 fighting!”
“Destroy them all!”
“Chiwon, we’re counting on you!”
My name was called out among the noisily mixed cheers. I turned that way, smiled slightly, and waved my hand. “Ooh, he’s relaxed, impressive”—cheers like that rang out again. I also saw our homeroom teacher’s face in the middle of the audience, red-faced and yelling. We all giggled seeing that. Soon after, the player roll call was heard. Standing face to face with the opposing team, I looked at the face on my palm and took a deep breath.
“Are the players ready?”
The referee was the PE teacher. The assistant referees seemed to be second-year teachers. We lost rock-paper-scissors, so Class 9 got first offense. In the short strategy time given before the game started, Eorin whispered.
“Don’t worry even if we lost first offense. We’ll just steal the ball and take it. Woojin, don’t give up under the basket. If they come close, stand firm and don’t move aside. It’s okay, there’s no one stronger than you. If you block with your body, they’ll bounce off. If they try to shoot, just match the timing and jump while stretching your hand out. Got it?”
Eorin patted Woojin. Woojin, who had been extremely tense, straightened his back a little.
“You’re the tallest.”
“I know.”
Woojin nodded and let out a long breath. Eorin turned to look at me.
“Chiwon. You know the strategy, right? We’ll bring you the ball. If someone tries to mark you, you just have to not get pushed back. I’ll come shake them off for you, so don’t worry. You’re good at basketball.”
