‘You’re the one helping.’
‘Huh?’
‘You should help me. I’m the class president. You weren’t planning to dump everything on me, were you?’
A bright smile bloomed on Kwon Yunsu’s face.
‘Uh… Oh! Then! Great!’
‘What’s great?’
‘Everything’s great! I’ll do whatever you want to do!’
His shoulders bounced up and down excitedly. Sports festival? Soccer? What was so great about that anyway? Even as Lee Euishin openly showed his disbelief, Kwon Yunsu kept grinning brightly. He had instinctively known that once Lee Euishin assigned him something, he’d be the type to execute it perfectly.
And it was just as Kwon Yunsu expected.
‘How about we stay and practice starting tomorrow too?’
Before homeroom started, when Lee Euishin got time from the homeroom teacher and stepped up to the podium to say that, the classroom fell silent. It seemed strange since he wasn’t the type to do such things—or rather, he wanted to think it was strange, but it would be more accurate to call it a kind of overwhelming presence.
‘Everyone’s busy with academy, so it’s not mandatory, but if possible, stay behind. Whether early or late, we have to do it anyway, and it’s supposed to rain next week. Let’s think of it as warming up and start tomorrow.’
…Wow, he really talks…
‘So smoothly.’
‘Makes it sound so easy.’
‘He could be a con artist.’
‘You should learn from him, idiot.’
Getting kids to stay and practice was absolutely not an easy task. Everyone knew that they usually wouldn’t listen and would only barely coordinate together a week before the competition. Yet here he was talking about such a difficult thing as if it were easy. Kwon Yunsu grumbled together with his desk mate. The real highlight was what came next.
‘We have to show them something too, don’t we?’
It was an incredibly gentle voice, and Lee Euishin looked around the room with that handsome face of his and smiled softly.
‘…….’
Seriously. What is he even saying right now? Kwon Yunsu was dumbfounded. If Baek Seunghyun had stood up front and said something like that, he would have immediately laughed and thrown his indoor shoes at him. When even mentioning the prize money would be questionable, what kind of generic, baseless speech was this?
‘Hey, doesn’t it seem like he’s watched too many dramas?’
However, when Kwon Yunsu whispered mischievously and turned to his desk mate, the next moment he found his mouth hanging open.
His trusted desk mate was nodding with clear eyes as if suddenly awakened. The guy beyond him was the same, and the guy beyond that too. Without any questions like “Show what? To whom? Why?”, everyone was nodding their heads and becoming serious on their own. My god, that con artist. He should become a politician when he grows up. Even while grumbling, he found it somewhat fascinating. Because he knew how indifferent Lee Euishin was to this event, it was even more so.
“Ack!”
The runner’s bare foot firmly stepped on Kwon Yunsu’s back as they passed, cutting off his recollection. They couldn’t take three steps at the start because they were blocked, but before he knew it, they’d come more than halfway. Notdari was a game where everyone participated, so along with tug-of-war, it had the highest score. They just needed to train until the runner got used to stepping on backs, and until they became skilled at reorganizing the collapsed formation and laying out the bridge to the finish line—after that, they just needed to do it once or twice every day consistently so they wouldn’t lose the feeling. As expected, it wasn’t easy.
Kwon Yunsu checked his watch. 4:50. Around 6 o’clock would be time to go to academy, so around 5:30 the kids would start making a fuss. Plus, since today was the first day of practice, notdari alone had eaten up quite a bit of time. After this was the mixed-gender team jump rope, then soccer and foot baseball. …Could they coordinate today? When he looked back at Lee Euishin with ‘soc.cer.’ written on his face, the guy firmly shook his head from afar. Not today. Give it up. …Aw, Kwon Yunsu pouted his lips and moved his body. Soccer was the most important, but the overall championship was equally attractive.
“Since we completed it once, let’s try it two more times.”
“I think the kids could spread their legs a bit wider. If we hop, hop, hop and skip over quickly…”
“The runner’s legs are short though?”
“Just shut up!”
Following the line returning to the starting point, Kwon Yunsu gazed at the distant sky. The mid-September afternoon, still bearing traces of summer, was still muggy, and pale pink clouds fluttered in the blue sky. There was still time before sunset, but the air touching the tip of his nose was already evening. One, two, three cloud clumps…. He was walking along thinking about the month remaining until the sports festival when someone tapped his back.
“Be patient today.”
It was Lee Euishin.
“Okay.”
Kwon Yunsu nodded.
“How unusually obedient.”
“Right? Then buy me ramen.”
“…Why should I?”
“I’m a teenager in my prime so I’m hungry all the time. At this rate I’ll even eat dirt. Ai-gu…”
Lee Euishin silently passed Kwon Yunsu and left.
To conclude, that day Kwon Yunsu got ramen from Lee Euishin.
***
“Kwon Yunsu, over here!”
Kwon Yunsu barely managed to pass the ball he’d been rolling precariously between his legs. It wasn’t accurate, but he at least got it within range. But if this were an actual game, surely someone from the opposing team would have snatched the ball. The moments when the ball moved as he wished were very rare. It didn’t control well and rolled wherever it wanted, his breathing became labored, and eventually, rather than trusting the sensation at his toes, he ended up hoping for a stroke of luck in the moment. Kwon Yunsu always wanted to be ‘a bit better’ at soccer.
“Uwah!”
He missed the pass that came flying back to him and desperately ran after the ball rolling to the side. Idiot. How could I miss that? He felt like he’d die from frustration, but at the same time he was going crazy because it was so fun. What even is this? Why is this damn ball game so enjoyable?
“Heeyaaaa!”
With all his might, he snatched the ball and placed it between his feet. He spun around magnificently, ready to properly face whatever guy came at him, but there was no one following closely nearby. Since they were short on people, it was impossible to create a real game feeling.
After finishing team jump rope practice, a total of nine remained for soccer, so they ended up having a 4 vs 4 practice game. And the one person watching the game from a distance was none other than Lee Euishin.
‘I don’t like physical activities so I’m not good at soccer. I’ll be drafted as a referee assistant anyway so I won’t be able to play in the game.’
When Lee Euishin said that and picked up his bag, Kwon Yunsu quickly grabbed him.
‘You’re the class president so you have to stay until the end and watch over our class.’
The response came from behind.
‘Hey, you guard your own body.’
‘Why are you blocking the class president’s way? He worked hard getting us to practice, so let him go quickly.’
‘Kwon Yunsu thinks the class president is his dad. Hey, get off.’
Regardless, Kwon Yunsu stretched his neck and stared into Lee Euishin’s eyes. Who do you think you are? He didn’t know why that handsome face openly showing annoyance was so amusing. Anyway, Lee Euishin stayed.
“Stop messing around and pass!”
As Kwon Yunsu showed off flashy dribbling with in-out-in-out moves returning to center, Baek Seunghyun threw out a comment, and
“Just let him play around.”
Lee Jihoon, who was also goofing off, stopped him.
Kwon Yunsu turned his head sharply to look at the stands. Lee Euishin, who had been sitting with an utterly bored expression, slightly frowned when their eyes met. Such a cool and beautiful guy, honestly.
“I want to play around too.”
At the sound close by, he quickly turned his head to see Baek Seunghyun, who had approached right up to his nose, swiftly steal the ball.
“That’s mine!”
He chased after him with a shriek, but Baek Seunghyun was truly a monster of a guy. Those broad shoulders, thighs solid as iron, and calves with sprouting hair and bulging muscles were not those of a 2nd year middle schooler. This spring at the provincial competition, that guy had played as a starter mixed in with the 3rd years. A connection that had continued since 2nd grade of elementary school—Kwon Yunsu was as familiar with the back of Baek Seunghyun’s head as he was with the rear end of a soccer ball. He’d never once beaten him. No, he’d never even gotten close.
Baek Seunghyun pushed aside Lee Jihoon and others like baggage, dodged them, and crossed the field like a mad dog before swiftly kicking the ball. Despite being big as a bear, when it came to actually scoring goals, he was clean without making a fuss.
“Goooal! It’s a goal, you bastard!”
Cupping both hands around his mouth and shouting, Kwon Yunsu thought it was really fortunate to be in the same class as Baek Seunghyun. And he also thought it was just as annoying.
Everyone had to go to academy soon, so they shouldered their bags. This was life. It had been a very long time since he’d played soccer until he wanted to stop.
Blaming the innocent academy without thinking about his own stamina, Kwon Yunsu walked toward Lee Euishin. That long, slender body dusting off his pants and standing up. Why did I make him stay? Only now did the thought that he’d been stubborn for no reason raise its head. And he also felt a strange smugness about the fact that the guy had obediently listened to him. Did you watch well? How am I? Does our class have a chance? While he was picking through the words hovering around his lips, Lee Euishin opened his mouth first.
