Seo Sihan stared at the closed door with his mouth agape. What was that when he himself had been almost expressionless until now…. He let out a hollow laugh and leaned his head against the wall.
“Hah….”
It felt like some kind of whirlwind had passed by. But strangely enough, somehow his mind felt at ease.
He was so dumbfounded that laughter came out naturally. What kind of person was that? After pondering for a moment, he immediately got up and drank water from the water purifier. His mouth was too bitter.
* * *
Gradually, people began to fill the waiting room.
Seo Sihan had no choice but to move his steps again and sit in the seats for officials inside the stadium. There was still time before the meeting started. Also, a match was just starting at the stadium.
4 PM, the air pistol shooting finals.
Announcements introducing the athletes in order flowed out. Athletes from various countries entered.
Seo Sihan, who had been staring blankly, spotted an athlete coming out next and opened his eyes wide. He almost stood up from his seat but sat back down.
—Republic of Korea, Jeong Minha.
Along with the English announcement, a man walked in.
Neatly swept-back hair, bare eyes without glasses, properly worn athletic uniform.
Although it was a completely different appearance from earlier, Seo Sihan recognized him at once. Just in case it was really some strange drug he could sue over, he had carefully memorized the man’s face.
Seo Sihan immediately turned on the live broadcast on his phone. The commentators began explaining about Jeong Minha. An explanation flowed out that he was a rookie competing for the first time this year from Korea.
He had that kind of confidence even though it was his first time competing? The moment he even heard that he was 20 years old, Seo Sihan was shocked again. It was because he had just received all kinds of comfort and advice from someone younger than himself.
Seo Sihan, feeling slightly embarrassed, raised his head and looked at Jeong Minha in the stadium.
Still, it was when he was watching without much expectation, considering it was his first competition.
[10.3]
“……!”
From the start, he scored in the 10-point range and cheers erupted from the spectator seats. Even Seo Sihan, who didn’t know much about shooting, could feel that Jeong Minha had shot well by looking at the other athletes’ scores and the stadium atmosphere.
It was loud enough even for Seo Sihan sitting far away, but Jeong Minha calmly raised his score with amazing concentration.
Jeong Minha was only wearing small earplugs. He didn’t have the glasses device that other athletes wore either. He just shot with bare eyes, both eyes open.
With a completely different serious expression from earlier, his eyes could be seen staring only at the target. Before he knew it, Seo Sihan was looking only at Jeong Minha with his phone put down.
[10.4]
[10.6]
Along with the gradually increasing score, his own heart began to beat faster. Even though he was just watching quietly, he himself was getting nervous. The sounds from the surrounding spectator seats grew louder.
And finally,
[10.9]
Jeong Minha shot a perfect score.
Seeing the score displayed on the scoreboard, people shouted in various ways—cheers, curses, each in their own way.
But Seo Sihan couldn’t hear them. It was as if the world had stopped.
Jeong Minha, who had been staring at the target with an expressionless face, finally smiled.
While looking at the score, he raised one corner of his mouth and let out a refreshing laugh.
Thump, thump. Suddenly, he could hear his heart beating like crazy.
While unable to take his eyes off Jeong Minha, Seo Sihan brought his hand to his chest to check.
What is this? Why am I suddenly like this? …Did that person also give me some strange drug earlier? Or was there a side effect to the drug?
It was supposed to be a sedative but he wasn’t calm at all. The sound of his heartbeat grew louder. Even though the surroundings were completely noisy, he could only hear the sound of his own heartbeat.
Jeong Minha kept shooting perfect scores. Commentary flowed out saying he set a new record with consecutive perfect scores. Seo Sihan stared at Jeong Minha’s shooting as if mesmerized without even blinking. He absolutely couldn’t take his eyes off him.
Jeong Minha maintained first place for quite a while, scoring high points.
……However, in the middle of the match, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.
Jeong Minha, who had always shot immediately when it was his turn, froze while holding the gun.
When the given time was almost over, he barely pulled the trigger.
[8.1]
Jeong Minha’s condition began to become strange.
‘…Why is he like that?’
Even from a distance, Jeong Minha looked considerably anxious to the point where he could notice. His appearance of only looking straight ahead kept looking around as if surveying something. It seemed like he was looking for something. Then, pressed for time, he had no choice but to shoot.
[9.2]
For the first time, he fell out of the 10-point range. He thought it was just a momentary mistake.
[8.5]
[8.1]
However, the score kept falling. Seeing Jeong Minha’s expression visibly worsening in real time, people thought: Was he a player with big ups and downs?
But it felt different to Seo Sihan. He remembered their earlier conversation.
—How can you be so confident? What if you make a mistake by any chance….
—I’ve never done that before.
The tone was too confident to be a joke. In fact, until just a moment ago, he had been shooting perfect scores continuously to an amazing degree. He thought he really must be a genius athlete.
But now it was different. It was the same expressionless face, but it looked darker somewhere.
“……”
It could just happen, so why am I so worried? Seo Sihan felt something strange about his own emotions.
He looked around. Among the same Koreans, he could see people shaking their legs and getting anxious. Ah, it’s not just me. That’s a relief. Seo Sihan was reassured again and looked at Jeong Minha.
Before he knew it, Jeong Minha had fallen to second place.
From nearby seats, he could hear sighs of disappointment, and from afar, he could hear mocking sounds. From Seo Sihan’s perspective of not knowing shooting well, even that score looked sufficiently impressive, but the Olympic finals were fierce. Rankings changed even with slightly lower scores.
The match was running through the second half.
Jeong Minha, whose score had kept dropping, soon brushed his hair back hard and suddenly removed the earplug from his ear.
“……?!”
In the continued loud noise of the spectators, Jeong Minha squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.
Sounds that seemed to deliberately interfere kept echoing. But Jeong Minha rather discarded his protective equipment in that situation. Seo Sihan stared at the small earplug thrown on the floor with his mouth agape.
Jeong Minha raised his score again.
[8.9]
[9.7]
[10.2]
At the returned 10-point range, the murmuring sounds of people grew even louder.
Jeong Minha was now just shooting without any equipment at all. He didn’t even blink. He acted like someone who couldn’t hear any sound even though it was this noisy.
—I might suddenly make a mistake this time.
—If I make a mistake, I just have to recover right away.
“…Ha.”
Jeong Minha was really keeping his word.
Seo Sihan briefly looked down at the live broadcast. Before he knew it, the score gap with first place was narrowing.
Also, now there was only one last shot remaining.
‘Please….’
Seo Sihan, who until now had no particular emotion even when watching such matches, for the first time that day sincerely cheered for one athlete.
Clutching his trembling heart, he moved his gaze following the trajectory of the last bullet. The scores of first and second place appeared on the scoreboard.
“……!”
1.0 point.
By just a 1-point difference, Jeong Minha couldn’t reclaim first place.
The live broadcast immediately displayed a silver medal graphic while zooming in on Jeong Minha’s face. Compared to the cheerful music, Jeong Minha’s expression looked dark. The commentators said it was disappointing about the mistakes that continued in the middle, while also congratulating him on the silver medal.
As if his bright smile when shooting the perfect score was an illusion, Jeong Minha didn’t smile afterward, even at the awards ceremony. He expressionlessly and calmly only received the silver medal.
Seo Sihan wanted to meet Jeong Minha right away and talk with him again. However, it was now time to go to the meeting.
The last time he saw Jeong Minha was when he was rushing out somewhere while on the phone.
