# Chapter 19
The classroom was emptying out as most of the students left.
After changing completely into my gym clothes, I considered going out first but decided to wait for Moon Seoheon to finish getting ready. When his thighs were exposed as he changed his pants, a “Wow” escaped me. The triceps were nothing compared to this. With that thickness, no wonder he runs so well.
Without realizing it, I was staring intently at his sturdy thighs when his hands stopped putting on his pants, and I looked up to find our eyes meeting. Moon Seoheon was gazing at me thoughtfully. An awkward atmosphere suddenly swept over us.
“Ahem, hurry and get dressed.”
I cleared my throat unnecessarily and turned my head to do something else, and Moon Seoheon soon pulled up his pants. After he finished changing, he made eye contact with me and gave me a look that said let’s go.
I nodded, and as we went outside together, the other guys who remained started gathering around us.
“Are you playing again today? Moon Seoheon, let’s be on the same team this time.”
“Wow, this bastard’s trying to ride on someone’s back. We should do the drawing again.”
“Hey, he played on your side yesterday.”
The guys soon started chattering, mixing in light curses as they discussed who played well or poorly in yesterday’s soccer game.
While the noise of male students gathering and talking loudly felt energetic, it also gave me a headache. I can’t play soccer well.
I enjoy watching it, but I’m not particularly good at it, so I didn’t feel like playing. Plus, it’s been years since I last played soccer. Even though my body has become younger, I’m not sure if it will move well.
I quickly looked over Yoon Taeho’s body. It didn’t seem like a body that could run properly. I’d replaced lunch with the bread Ko Kyungsu gave me, so I still felt empty inside. Far from having energy, I wondered if I’d just be a burden.
Our class, making a commotion all the way to the field, warmed up at the teacher’s instructions after the bell rang. After starting with simple exercises, we ran one lap around the field.
Is it because the field is so wide? Certainly, after running just one lap, I was already dying from exhaustion.
“Then today we’ll divide into teams and have a match again. I remind you to be careful about injuries.”
“Yes!”
Whether they always played soccer or if this was a special activity, when the teacher finished speaking, a student brought out a basket full of vests and told us to each take one. Not knowing which color vest to wear—orange or purple—I hesitated, and Ko Kyungsu approached me.
“Taeho, I got yours too. Wear this.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Thanks to Ko Kyungsu handing me a purple vest, I naturally put it on over my gym clothes. Meanwhile, the guys who seemed to be team captains started fighting over who would take Moon Seoheon on their team.
Couldn’t they just take turns? I understand wanting to have Moon Seoheon, who seemed to be a promising player, but why fight? Just as I wondered how long this would go on, Moon Seoheon quickly resolved it.
“I was on the purple team yesterday, so this time I’ll play on this side.”
He took an orange vest and put it on. Unlike the purple team captain who sighed in disappointment, the orange team captain looked satisfied as he took care of Moon Seoheon and led him away.
And the match began. I played as a left-back defender. I was nervous since it had been so long since I’d played soccer, but fortunately, the ball rarely came to my side.
Even when the soccer ball did come my way, I rarely got to kick it. This was because a few seriously playing guys would rush over and take it.
Moreover, the game flowed differently from what I’d expected. This wasn’t even chaotic soccer, but despite Moon Seoheon being on the opposite team, most of the guys on our side were all marking him. The rest who weren’t putting much effort just moved back and forth in place, passing the ball when it came their way.
Of course, even when I tried, I only moved a few meters from my assigned position. Thinking I could finish the match without kicking the ball once, I began to relax from my initial tension.
Moon Seoheon twisted his body this way and that to find an opening, trying to escape from the guys blocking him from all directions. As I was admiring his agile movements and silently muttering “He’s good,” Moon Seoheon broke through the blocking guys and ran quickly.
Like a rocket or something. The guy who ran toward my side in the blink of an eye kicked the ball hard with no chance for me to block it.
As I stood there frozen, blankly watching the scene that happened in an instant, one of the teammates who had been jeering shouted at me.
“Ah, what? Yoon Taeho, aren’t you going to block?!”
“Sorry!”
Coming to my senses, I raised my hand and shouted an apology to my teammates. Unlike the outward appearance of saying I’d do better next time, I didn’t mean it inside. How am I supposed to block that? Even the goalkeeper is in a daze. Inwardly shaking my head thinking it was impossible, I still put strength in my legs, feeling I should at least pretend to be trying hard.
But even if I tried to make up for my mistake, nobody could block Moon Seoheon. Our team got increasingly frustrated as he kept assisting at the right moments, leading to goals. With the score already 2-0 despite not much time having passed since we started, it was natural to feel angry.
I also ran with all my strength in the heated atmosphere, but perhaps because the mood had become too intense, someone from our team made a dangerous tackle, excessively knocking down an opponent.
“Ah! Hey, are you okay?!”
Surprised guys ran over to check on the player from the opposing team. But strangely, it was our teammate who was clutching his leg. Seeing him suffering in pain, everyone seemed to think we needed a moment to calm down, and a brief break was given.
The injured guy immediately headed to the infirmary.
“Ah, damn. Moon Seoheon, aren’t you especially energetic today?”
“Yeah, why is your condition at its best when you’re on the opposite team?”
During the short break, the guys muttered while looking at Moon Seoheon. I clicked my tongue at the sight of Moon Seoheon, who indeed seemed overflowing with energy, as I caught my breath.
Wow, will I be able to run properly next time? The bread I’d eaten seemed to have already been digested, as my stomach churned slightly. My eyes were trembling too, and I felt like I might collapse at any moment.
“Yoon Taeho, you play midfielder next. There’s no one else to do it.”
As I was wiping the sweat from my face, the captain approached and spoke to me. Since the guy who had just been injured was apparently a midfielder, he was asking me to play in his place.
“Um… I don’t think I can play well.”
“Just connect the ball properly.”
The captain left after speaking as if it was no big deal, and suddenly I was about to play in the center. When the match resumed, I swallowed the curses that were about to escape and decided to run moderately, but that wasn’t easy. I kept getting cursed at for not receiving and passing the ball properly.
As the guys passed the ball and ran around, I couldn’t afford to fall behind and ran like my life depended on it. As I moved intensely to pressure the opposing team out of stubbornness, suddenly all my strength seemed to drain away, and my body swayed. Because I had been running continuously without rest, my face was drenched in sweat to the point where it was difficult to keep my eyes open.
With rapid breathing and a spinning sensation, I bent my upper body, holding my head. Dizziness overtook me, and I had to stop, closing my eyes.
“Hey, Yoon Taeho!”
As someone called my name, my body completely lost strength, and I collapsed as if sitting down. Once I became aware of it, even my hands began to tremble slightly. Damn it, if I’d known this would happen, I would have forced myself to eat. No, no matter what, I can’t stand carrots.
As I was lamenting after collapsing, the guys approached asking what was wrong, and the first one to run over grabbed my arm to help me up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, well…”
As I tried to speak while looking at Moon Seoheon who was supporting me, my mouth felt dry, and my tongue stiff, so no voice came out. Just as I gritted my teeth, trying to pull myself together somehow, Moon Seoheon, seeing my condition, furrowed his brow and picked me up.
“…?!”
I was so shocked I couldn’t make a sound. Behind Moon Seoheon, who had picked me up, the surrounding guys stared blankly for a moment before Moon Seoheon told them he’d go to the infirmary and then ran off.
“Hey, hey. I’m fine. I’m just a little dizzy.”
Honestly, I had no strength in my body, but even in my dizziness, being carried by him was embarrassing, so I managed to speak, and Moon Seoheon looked down at me and said:
“You’re in a cold sweat. Your complexion is pale too.”
I was about to argue, but since I was only conscious and could hardly maintain my body, I just quietly closed my eyes. Yeah, let’s just be grateful for the help. But it was still embarrassing, so I preferred to close my eyes.
Being carried by him somewhat comfortably, I felt us stop, and when I opened my eyes, we had arrived at the infirmary.
When we entered, the health teacher wasn’t visible. I thought she might really treat me like a regular customer by saying “You’re here again?”, but perhaps that was fortunate. Still, she must have been here just earlier, as the guy who had come first with a leg injury during the match had apparently been treated and was leaving when he saw us and said:
“She just left, so you’ll have to wait a bit.”
The guy, who didn’t seem to be severely injured, left after saying that. I turned my gaze away from him, collapsed onto the bed, and gave Moon Seoheon a look that said he could go now.
But instead of leaving, he looked at me for a moment and then took out a fruit juice from the refrigerator in the corner. It seemed prepared for students to eat, but I wondered if it was okay to open it without permission. As I looked at him with a “what are you doing” expression, he approached me, opened the cap, and held it out.
“You skipped lunch, right? I think your blood sugar dropped. They say drinking something like this helps.”
Ah, so he took it out for me to drink. I stared at his hand offering the juice, and since my stomach was definitely hungry and the dizziness hadn’t subsided, I thought drinking would be good, so I extended my hand with a word of thanks.
But perhaps due to lack of strength, my hand was clumsy in grabbing the bottle. Moon Seoheon seemed to notice this too and came closer to me. Then, supporting my neck with his right hand, he lifted the bottle.
“Open your mouth.”
At those words, I slightly opened my mouth, and he tilted the bottle, pouring it little by little into my mouth for easier drinking. Perhaps sensing that I was having trouble drinking, I felt his hand gently caressing the back of my neck, which made my mouth open wider, and the juice went down gulp by gulp.
After drinking it all and straightening my head, I finally met his eyes as Moon Seoheon moved away. In a strange silence, seeing his somewhat mischievous expression, I unconsciously turned my head and said:
“I-I’m okay now, so you can go.”
