Beyond the dust of the playground, that tall figure could be seen for quite a while.
The girls’ kickball lost in the finals. Second place is also really good, but once you lose a game, tears just come. The girls cried a lot and the boys acted cool while giggling. Kwon Yunsu, who would normally have joined that group to tease the crying girls, blinked three times looking at the sky, feeling like he might emotionally relate. It wasn’t anyone’s fault and all that hard practice wasn’t meaningless, but his injured leg was his own defeat.
“Lee Jihoon pass─! Let’s go long, go long!”
Baek Seunghyun’s voice leading and encouraging the team could be heard clearly even from far away. He said that at the provincial competition, when a third-year captain from another school led the atmosphere with a loud voice, it looked really cool. Following what he saw wasn’t ridiculous. Rather, he thought it was impressive that he could follow it so skillfully. It seems like not just athletic ability but leadership is also something you’re born with.
Even though he practiced intensively for nearly a month with Lee Euishin’s help, Kwon Yunsu couldn’t shoot as powerfully and coolly as Baek Seunghyun. At best, could he maybe imitate Lee Jihoon’s assists? If he had planned to become a national team player, he should have started sports much more seriously. If he had been destined to become a national team player, well, he would have been scouted long ago.
“Why such a rotten expression?”
When he turned his head, Lee Euishin was flopping down next to him, dripping water from his head. It seemed the first-year group jump rope game had ended.
“Is it over?”
“Yeah.”
“Who won?”
“Why are you asking when you said you don’t know any underclassmen?”
After gulping down water, Lee Euishin emptied an entire bottle of water in an instant. Even the way he casually wiped his mouth was like a painting.
“What thoughts make your face get so ugly?”
“Thinking about Lee Euishin who betrayed our loyalty.”
“…Every time you open your mouth, what the…”
Lee Euishin’s grumbling had become somewhat familiar now.
“Hey Lee Euishin, why won’t you even when I say I’ll buy… whoa!”
Kwon Yunsu’s gaze instantly shot past Lee Euishin’s shoulder. The opposing team’s ball had barely grazed the goalpost.
“Whew, that was really dangerous!”
Baek Seunghyun was also one of the top skilled players in their grade, but the other class had a second-year who had provincial competition experience too. And since their homeroom teacher taught P.E., they had received coaching from an expert. The game of 25 minutes each half was now half over. Soon the desperate attacking would begin, trying to score a goal by any means. Kwon Yunsu put aside his idle thoughts and started concentrating on the game. Lee Euishin eventually took away the crutches that an excited Kwon Yunsu had been waving around occasionally.
“It’s a penalty shootout!”
He didn’t know why that clichéd shout made his heart race every time. Until the second half ending whistle blew, no goal was scored and it ended up being a penalty shootout. And the most important thing in a penalty shootout is, of course, securing a spot. An enormous crowd instantly gathered around the goalpost and the point where goals are scored. Kwon Yunsu with his bad leg was naturally pushed back even though it was his own class’s game, and
“Come here.”
The handsome and loyal Lee Euishin extended his hand.
“You’re really going to become a great person, Euishin-ah.”
Vowing to buy Lee Euishin a pizza with at least ten toppings, he grabbed onto him and broke through the crowd.
The first thing that caught his eye was of course Baek Seunghyun. And the five or six guys surrounding Baek Seunghyun—Kim Minwook, Lee Jihoon, Shin Youngjun, and others. They were probably deciding the order for the penalty shootout. That tense atmosphere. That heavy burden. The desire for achievement. The anguish and longing as if his heart would burn up. Kwon Yunsu wanted to enjoy that suffering. He wanted to be in that place more than anyone. Lee Euishin was watching the profile of a boy suffering from the greatest one-sided love of his life.
Soon the opposing team’s first kicker came out. Like Baek Seunghyun, it was that guy with provincial competition experience. The ball of that guy who defiantly raised his face split the goalpost like a painting. It was a disappointingly brief moment.
Next up was Baek Seunghyun, the captain qualified to make the start.
The whistle blew. Kwon Yunsu pressed his fist hard against his bursting heart and held his breath.
“……!”
And the goal went in. With tremendous cheers loud enough to blow out eardrums and at the center, Baek Seunghyun strongly raising his arm was incredibly cool.
…From then on, Kwon Yunsu’s memory cuts out for a moment.
Probably because the enormous weight of the next next moment overwhelmed the memories before and after.
The memory resumes at a 4-4 score. The opposing team had used all five opportunities and missed one goal. Kwon Yunsu’s class had one last kick remaining without losing any points. If we make a mistake here, it’s a tie, and the penalty shootout goes back to square one. And if we score……
“Kwon Yunsu.”
Suddenly blocking his view and rushing right in front of him, Lee Euishin grabbed Kwon Yunsu’s arm. At first Kwon Yunsu followed without knowing what was going on, but soon grasped the situation and stepped back. Don’t be ridiculous, no way. It felt like the ground beneath his feet was caving in.
Lee Euishin pulled Kwon Yunsu’s arm and spoke quickly.
“I saw you fluttering around earlier and you can kick the ball well. What are you saving that ruined leg for anyway? Coolly fire one off.”
How strong was this bastard, the grip on his arm holding him was tremendous.
“Are you crazy? You know my skill…!”
Lee Euishin looked down at Kwon Yunsu with that characteristically cool and haughty face.
“If you’re not even going to kick the ball, why did you suffer for a whole month?”
It was a tone that felt incredibly overbearing.
Lee Euishin finally pushed Kwon Yunsu inside the wall of people, into the center of the space.
“Whether we win or lose here, Kwon Yunsu has to kick that ball.”
And looking back at Baek Seunghyun’s group, he said calmly.
“He’s qualified to do it. I’m right, aren’t I?”
It was a tone that sounded extremely natural and clear.
In the hazy cotton candy clouded memory, he doesn’t remember individual faces well. Just that the fluffy lumps were nodding their heads.
“Do it.”
Lee Euishin pushed Kwon Yunsu once more.
“C-crazy bastard, just because you say that doesn’t mean they’ll give the last kicker spot… you have to be the best.”
Kwon Yunsu muttered with his soul having flown away.
“Then just be the best.”
Lee Euishin said simply.
At that moment Kwon Yunsu thought.
‘I want to be the best.’
He lowered his head and touched the ball. It was a soccer ball he was touching for the first time in exactly one week. He stepped back a few steps and steadied his breathing. All kinds of nagging he had heard from Lee Euishin flashed through his mind. Don’t bend your ankle when kicking. The ball shouldn’t bounce too much. Don’t lose your focus until the end and concentrate. He deliberately ignored his left leg that felt like a heavy lump of metal was attached.
The whistle blew.
He stomped his feet a couple times then kicked the ball.
“─Shoot!”
“Uwaaaaaaah!!!”
The ball that flew ungracefully in a near-ground ball shape made contact with the goal net with a thud.
Ungraceful but a magnificent kiss.
Beyond the mercilessly rushing crowd, he could see Kwon Yunsu collapsing. And leaving the fallen Kwon Yunsu behind, the excited guys surrounded him in several layers creating a big whirlwind. Lee Euishin pushed through the rushing guys and approached Kwon Yunsu. Kwon Yunsu was looking down at the ground. The dirt of the playground where his footprints must have been stamped thousands upon thousands of times was probably getting uselessly wet right now.
“You said we absolutely have to win soccer.”
Lee Euishin flopped down next to Kwon Yunsu and said. Kwon Yunsu’s shoulders trembled. When he lowered his head to look, Kwon Yunsu was crying, dripping chicken-poop-like tears. At that face covered in tears and snot, Lee Euishin naturally laughed. So he continued in an unusually affectionate tone.
“It turned out just like you said.”
Lee Euishin knew words that could make Kwon Yunsu cry rather than clichéd words like ‘don’t cry.’
“…Congratulations on winning.”
Kwon Yunsu turned his body toward Lee Euishin and hugged him tightly. This kid, really. While taking him into his embrace thinking he’d tease him, his lips very slightly touched Kwon Yunsu’s forehead. The scent of a good-natured, healthy, and sweet child. Lee Euishin smiled a little.
***
“How can there be mutkuk again?”
“Last time it was beef mutkuk and this time it’s green onion mutkuk.”
“Is this food for humans to eat?”
“You’ll be punished if you insult food. And all grandfathers eat this kind of stuff well.”
“Does Kwon Yunsu live with his grandfather?”
“This guy eats everything well except fish.”
“I eat fish well now too.”
“Grandfathers like things like market donuts.”
“I like ones with red beans.”
