episode_0071

A soccer match is held for each class prior to the sports day.

Lunchtime soccer is something that boys play every day, but this time it carries a special weight.

Unlike usual, where offsides are dealt with appropriately, a referee is appointed to take charge of the game, and even the kids who don’t care much about winning or losing and just want to play soccer play the game quite seriously.

but…

“Miss, I’m screwed.”

“Who can we pinch-hit?”

“The remaining kids said they would skip the game because they couldn’t play soccer. I guess I should add one of them?”

“What is it? What’s going on?”

A group of boys gathered together in the morning with serious expressions and talking.

And another guy who didn’t yet know what was going on came up and asked what was going on.

I, too, was sitting in the corner of the classroom with Yuri, quietly listening to their stories.

It was immediately clear why the boys were upset.

When school was in full swing, one person showed up on crutches.

“Ha, fuck… I’m sorry.”

“What’s wrong with this guy?”

The guy on crutches muttered with a gloomy expression, and some guys who didn’t yet understand the meaning asked back in surprise.

“That guy was looking at his phone when he got off the bus and lost his footing and fell.”

“Asshole…”

“Oh, if you’re going to roll, do it after the sports day.”

“Not a single person asked if the fuckers were okay.”

There was a vacancy in our class because the guy who was supposed to be playing sprained his ankle for some stupid reason.

As for the other 10 people who were going to participate in the game, I went around asking people who weren’t part of the team to find a way to find enough people before lunch time.

And among them was Gong Young-bae.

“Hey, Youngbae! Do you want to play soccer with Class 6 at lunch later?”

“Ah… I think if I really lose track of my athletic skills, I’ll end up holding you back. sorry. It would be much better to recognize other kids other than me.”

“Mr. Ha, he said he doesn’t do it either… I’m really screwed. What should I do?”

Yuri, who was quietly watching the scene, whispered softly to me.

“Seongjin, how about you go out instead? Aren’t you good at exercising? The strength is also strong.”

“I’m not good at soccer.”

“Still, you’re in such good shape, shouldn’t you have the basics? They’re having trouble because they don’t have anyone right now. I said I was going to participate in the sports festival this time, so let’s give it a try this time, okay?”

“Why do you seem more interested than me?”

At my words, Yuri looked a little sad and held my hand.

“That’s right, he’s my boyfriend, and I hate seeing him acting like this in class. You might not have known it before, but you’ve really changed a lot now, but they still have a hard time with you. You’re already having a hard time, and I’m sorry that I can’t do anything for you.

It would be nice to use this opportunity to become closer to the kids in the class. I heard that boys especially become friends while playing soccer, right?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Then go and ask. I’ll be here.”

◦ at

“Come on, give it a try. Fighting my boyfriend!”

Yuri smiled and gently pushed my back and made a ‘Going!’ gesture.

I couldn’t ignore my cute girlfriend’s request, so I got up from my seat and walked towards the group of anxious boys.

“Hey.”

“Eck… Ha, Seongjin Han… Uh, why?”

The boys flinched momentarily when they saw me.

“You’re looking for soccer players?”

“Huh? Right…”

“Did you save someone?”

“No, not yet…”

“Should I run? I’m not good at soccer.”

At my remark, the boys widened their eyes and looked at each other’s faces.

Of course, some of them may have been in the same class as me in the first or second year, and even if not, everyone would know about me.

This is because the old boy who has no interest in class work and who gets into all sorts of troubles with women has said that he will be the first to participate in the class sports day.

The boys just looked at each other with anxious expressions and couldn’t readily answer what I said.

“Mr. Ani, he said he needed someone. You need it, you don’t need it. Don’t do it if you don’t need it.”

“Not necessary. I need it, but…”

“Then what, you need people but you don’t need me? Because I’m not human?”

Yuri Lee touched her forehead from a distance and sighed.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean that! Just because it was a bit unexpected. Then I’ll put you in. Right after lunch.”

“Yes.”

I returned to my seat and spread my fingers in a V shape towards Yuri.

“Successful.”

“I wish I had spoken nicer! I told you to treat me like you would treat me!”

“They are not as pretty as you.”

“Extreme… Anyway, if you really can’t say anything. Anyway, it’s been a while since you get to hang out with other kids, so do your best. Can’t we fight? Promise me.”

“Okay, okay. Promise.”

I bet the glass and pinky.

Yuri couldn’t hide his smile, as if he was looking forward to seeing me hanging out with the other kids in the class for the first time.

#####

After lunch, I participated in a soccer game with the boys in my class.

And while eating together, Soo-yeon Choi, who knew that I played soccer, sat down with Yuri on the stone steps at the edge of the playground and cheered us on as we went to the game.

“Going senior! Be sure to win! Even if I die, I win!”

“No, we’re not going to the National Sports Festival. We’re just playing a game of soccer with the class.”

“Still, I want to see my senior win rather than lose! Fighting senior! I’ll be here cheering you on!”

As Sooyeon Choi hugged me, Yuri became uncomfortable and came to the other side of me and wrapped her arms around me.

“This is your first activity together with my boyfriend and classmates, so do your best. It’s good if you win, but you can’t fight with other kids just because you can’t win, okay?”

Yuri cheered me on by saying things that sounded like a mother’s nagging.

With the two girls cheering on me, I headed to the playground and we started the game with class 6.

Since I wasn’t confident in shooting, I took a defensive midfielder position and went on defense.

Abbreviated soccer with 20 minutes in the first half, 5 minutes intermission, and 20 minutes in the second half.

It wasn’t an official soccer team, it was just an ordinary high school soccer level, so there was nothing special about it, but my class and Class 6, both boys and girls, gathered together on the stone steps of the playground and cheered hard, and bored kids from other grades and classes also came and watched the soccer game together. did.

……

Meanwhile, the people gathered around recognized Han Seong-jin as the particularly tall and bulky person among the participants and became excited.

“What is it, him? Isn’t it Seongjin Han?”

“Why is he involved in the kids’ soccer game? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

“When I saw you in the morning, I saw someone going to class 3 with crutches. I guess that’s why he was a pinch hitter.”

“Why is this guy who won’t do anything even if I ask him to, suddenly do it? I feel sorry for the kids in class 3. If you lose, don’t you go back and get criticized and beaten for no reason?”

However, Han Seong-jin, who thought he would just run around without any motivation, was quite motivated.

“Hey, stop it! Wow! Don’t follow the ball, one person go over there!”

Han Seong-jin, who took advantage of his height, which was much taller than others, to dominate the air, cut a fly ball with a short header, and because he was so big, he blocked the view of the 6th class attackers, preventing the 6th class from digging deep.

And above all, the power struggle is so strong that the moment they collide, the 6th class players are likely to fall down.

Although he was not a striker who was easy to stand out, Han Seong-jin easily caught the attention of others due to his protruding height and large size, and even performed exceptionally well.

“Nice!”

“Hey, Han Seongjin, that was just so fucking good!”

When Han Seong-jin blocked Class 6’s attack with his defensive skills, the men of Class 3 asked Han Seong-jin for a high five.

Wow!

High fives from men sweating profusely.

“Pass!”

“Seongjin! Come this way! Float!”

“Hey, stop it!”

The boys, who had found Han Seong-jin very difficult and reluctant just before the start of the game, quickly let down their guard by playing soccer together, as Lee Yu-ri said.

When you look at them when they play soccer, they just seem like friends who always hang out together in everyday life.

“Seongjin is good at it! Class 3, fighting!”

“Cheer up, senior! pass! Pass!”

Lee Yu-ri and Choi Soo-yeon, who were sitting on the stone steps, cheered for Han Seong-jin at the top of their voices.

And Jeong Eun-ji, who was running on the track laid around the playground as per her usual routine, also kept her eyes on the soccer game between classes 3 and 6 throughout the run.

It was hard to believe it when I heard that Han Seong-jin would participate in the soccer game first, but seeing him play with such enthusiasm and work well with his classmates was almost unbelievable.

Considering his original personality, I thought he would be a top striker and it wouldn’t be strange for him to immediately curse at the other kids and throw a tantrum when he didn’t get the ball.

Watching Han Seong-jin play surprisingly altruistically and sacrificially, Jeong Eun-ji became increasingly suspicious that everything she had believed in might not have been true.

‘Really… did I really just not believe it? Actually, Han Seong-jin changed a long time ago…? But if you look at what he does to me… No, but compared to when he was in middle school, it seems very normal… My, why do I keep thinking about this while looking at that kid?’

#####

2:0, Class 3 win.

“Nice!”

“Hey, everyone did a great job!”

“Oh, I’m out of breath. Everything I ate will come up.”

“Hey, if it weren’t for Seongjin, we would have been really screwed. You said you couldn’t do it, but you said you were so fucking good at it?”

After the match, the men in class 3 were friendly calling me ‘Seongjin’ and bumping their fists.

“What are you good at? I stood back and chased the ball.”

“No, really, I’m not kidding. Your defense is terrible, right? Hey, why don’t you just play soccer until sports day?”

“No, then what about me?”

A guy who had sprained his ankle while getting off the bus while looking at his phone came up to me and asked, and he immediately became prey to the other friends.

“What do you ask about being the cheerleader? Dancing in front of you with your pants on and shaking your head.”

” Even if your ankle gets better, you won’t be able to run properly until the sports day anyway. It would be better for you to just squeeze in and have Seongjin stand up on defense.”

“Aren’t we more likely to win now than when we had a bad leg?”

“These bastards…”

As Yuri said, we quickly became familiar with one game of soccer.

As I successfully completed my first group activity with my classmates, I gradually began to blend into the class.

I feel like I miss it, but it also feels like something I was longing for in my heart has been quite fulfilled.

not bad.