ALL NOVEL Chapter 88
Chapter 88. Soccer is Played with Feet, Basketball with Hands (2)
Kang Hajin asked the writer in charge of the Yellow Team seriously.
“Writer, I have a question.”
“Yes, Hajin.”
“Is this really the scene you wanted?”
The writer looked at the spot Hajin was pointing to, as if he were a waiter politely guiding them at a high-end restaurant.
The largest size still didn’t fit his shoulders, so Lee Doha couldn’t straighten his back even with the zipper fully open.
Kim Wonho had one pant leg rolled up to his calf and had the top slung over his shoulders and under his armpit like a cross-body bag.
Lee Yugeon had pants so short that his ankles were fully exposed, and his face was half-buried in the zipper pulled all the way up.
And if I turned my gaze, I could see Kang Hajin right next to me, looking at me with a jacket half-zipped down and hanging off his arms.
And honestly, that sight….
“Ah….”
It was incredibly funny!
The visuals of these ferociously handsome guys sprawled on the ground in bright yellow training sets!
“They look like chicks.”
“Not YX-ryong?”
“…Oh.”
“Writer, you seem to have realized something.”
Fortunately, the team uniform was made of windbreaker material, with a design combining yellow and white. Thanks to this, it didn’t look as tight as they had imagined, but even the writer admitted that the visuals were quite incongruous.
However, there was a reason for this.
“Well, I would like to change it, too… but the only remaining team uniform is either this or black, and the main PD said that black would be even worse for this team….”
Hajin wanted to retort, ‘Why black? Why the black that 80% of Korean men wear!’ but he didn’t. He fully understood PD Kwon’s sentiment.
“He said they would look like children of darkness in black….”
The nuance was that it would be better to be cute gangsters rather than real ones.
Not finding a rebuttal, Hajin moved on to his next argument.
“But don’t you think we need a balance patch? Our team seems to be full of just muscleheads….”
It was about team balance.
At least if there were one or two members with a cute image, it would slightly resolve the severe cognitive dissonance.
Luckily, there was Seo Taehyun, who was handling it amazingly well, so if they could just switch him out with someone like Dan Haru or Yuki….
“Oh! That’s fine. Taehyun is on the Yellow Team.”
The writer answered cheerfully with a bright smile.
Hajin, who had watched all of Boys’ World, already knew one fact.
“Taehyun is really bad at sports, so it’s okay!”
Seo Taehyun was notoriously bad at sports. (He was famous for running 100 meters in 18 seconds since Boys’ World.)
Having achieved nothing, Hajin dejectedly accepted reality and began to pull up the bright yellow jacket.
‘Well, if it’s come to this, turn the crisis into an opportunity.’
Kang Hajin decided to enjoy it since he couldn’t avoid it. He would exploit everything he could.
Thinking that way, this combination didn’t seem so bad.
‘Raise Lee Doha’s trust, consider recruiting Kim Wonho as a colleague, and get on speaking terms with Lee Yugeon.’
Even achieving one of these would be worth it.
It wouldn’t be easy during the shoot, but he had confidence in his broadcast portion. Hajin looked at Taehyun sitting next to him with a sly smile.
“…? Why, why are you looking at me like that?”
Taehyun, who had been waving a cheering stick made of balloon, felt that gaze and flinched, moving back.
Ignoring it, Hajin gently patted Taehyun’s curly hair, just enough not to mess it up.
“Taehyun, Grandpa trusts only our grandchild.”
“What, what do you trust? Don’t look at me like that.”
“I believe our broadcasting genius Taehyun will handle everything.”
Since Taehyun would take care of the broadcast, Hajin planned to leisurely gather clues on the Chosen Regressor today!
* * *
But then!
“Now, each team’s captain has a special privilege today! It’s the right to assign players!”
I had planned to slack off, but!
“Captains, assign players suitable for each event to secure as many victories as possible! The winning team will be blessed with an incredible benefit!”
Taehyun’s eyes lit up at this point.
“But wouldn’t it be boring if we just went like this?”
“So, with my special MC authority, I just added a rule!”
“In each game, the first-place team captain gets the right to choose a player from the opposing team for the next event!”
Nam Daun cutely winked as she shattered Hajin’s happy delusion that, with four team members, there would be plenty of people to send out besides him.
And as a result.
“Kangha hyung, do you play foot volleyball with your feet? Oh, foot volleyball is originally played with feet.”
“….”
Kang Hajin. (20 years old, regressor.) Currently, he was being dragged into all five events!
“Hey!!!! Kang Hajin, you were in the elementary school track team!!!!! Can’t you do it properly!!??”
“Oh~ Unable to bear it, Yellow Team’s captain Seo Taehyun finally yelled at Kang Hajin!”
“I’ve been thinking this for a while, but Taehyun has a really good voice.”
“Indeed. It’s great that they chose a remote location for this! Kudos to the production team!”
The commentators were more annoying than the furious Seo Taehyun.
Hajin awkwardly raised his foot to intercept the ball flying toward him, but it hit his toes at an odd angle, sending it flying far away.
As they conceded another point and the scoreboard changed, Seo Taehyun clutched the back of his neck and collapsed.
[System Alert: The system expresses regret for the fixed regressor’s despairing foot volleyball skills…. (;´ Д `)]
‘You have no right to say that after penalizing my athletic abilities.’
[System Alert: That was a joke? ( -_・)?]
This guy…?
Seemingly unwilling to miss this opportunity, Thirteen teased the exhausted Hajin and disappeared. It seemed he was determined to repay all the scams and harassment he’d suffered until now.
“Ah~! Captain Seo Taehyun requests a player substitution!”
“Wouldn’t it have been better to substitute from the start, Nam Daun caster?”
“Since the player designated by the opposing team must play for a certain amount of time, Captain Seo Taehyun made the best choice. But the score gap caused by Kang Hajin’s mistakes is painful.”
They were having a blast.
Hajin, walking back to his team’s camp, gave the commentators a glare. But he gave up frowning as he didn’t even have the strength to do so.
Back at the camp, Seo Taehyun sighed as he handed him a towel and iced water.
“This is an insult to the nickname ‘Fence Jumping Leader.'”
“Taehyun, sometimes life is just too hard for me.”
“Can’t you see our team’s scoreboard is suffering because of you?”
“…I did my best, trust me.”
So let me explain.
Kang Hajin’s athletic ability was never subpar. In fact, it could be considered excellent compared to others. His parents were also good at sports, and he enjoyed it himself.
Except for ball games. Specifically, ball games ‘played with feet.’
‘The reason that damn senior harassed me was because I was bad at soccer.’
The senior liked soccer, but Hajin couldn’t play soccer? That was a sin. Hence, Hajin was a sinner. Although he did everything else well, avoiding being treated as a reject.
-You’re good with your body, but why do you turn into a klutz when it comes to balls?
Another senior, who was friendly with him, used to say that with fascination. But Hajin had a lot to say about that, too.
‘I should’ve had a chance to try!’
Kang Hajin was someone who went to the practice room when others went to the playground during lunch. Sometimes, trainees played one-bounce or ball games, but they never included him, claiming he didn’t practice with them.
And unfortunately, all the events held so far required using his feet!
‘Who starts with futsal as a warm-up game!’
It wasn’t played by the rules, but a variety where you rolled around in soap bubbles on the pool while playing futsal….
Because of that one futsal game, Hajin had been nominated by the opposing team every time, making him participate in every game.
He even got a nickname. Yellow Team’s X-man.
“They told you to play soccer, and you hit a home run with the ball, they told you to play jegichagi, and you did a shoot….”
“Ah, I said I’m sorry.”
“Sigh, really…. It was funny, so I’ll let it slide.”
“Really?”
Fortunately, Seo Taehyun, who was as obsessed with broadcast portions as with benefits, seemed to consider Hajin’s comedic value as extenuating circumstances. (It was hilariously funny how terribly he performed.)
As if all the shouting earlier had been an act (it probably was), Taehyun’s expression returned to calm.
“Well, the team score isn’t that different anyway.”
Taehyun’s gaze turned to the scoreboard displaying each team’s points.
<1st – Phoenix Team>
<2nd – Yellow Team>
<3rd – Lilac Team>
<4th – Blue Dragon Team>
Surprisingly, the Yellow Team was ranking second overall (despite Kang Hajin’s epic trolling)!
And the key player for that victory was
right there.
“Ah~! Lee Doha catches that! It’s truly amazing!”
A fast-flying ball, bouncing high, was perfectly redirected by Lee Doha’s header, setting it up nicely for an attack. Kim Wonho, who let out a refreshing whistle, delivered the final strike.
“Ah! Finally!! Finally, the Yellow Team wins!!”
“Lee Doha is amazing. He turned the game around as soon as he was substituted in!”
“Lee Doha’s performance today is remarkable~ Even wearing acupressure slippers, he’s moving like that! In reality shows, that’s a penalty! The rule is that every step should come with a scream when wearing those!”
The production team, who were serious about variety shows, didn’t just play foot volleyball.
Players had to wear randomly chosen shoes, and Lee Doha got the acupressure slippers.
Normally, just wearing them should make your whole body tingle from improved blood circulation!
However, Lee Doha was returning to the team camp with a peaceful face, high-fiving other team members.
Taehyun pointed his chin at Doha, smiling in satisfaction.
“Who would have thought Doha hyung was an athlete?”
“…Exactly.”
Lee Doha, who clearly seemed to have good athletic skills, turned out to be the youngest son of a gym owner.
Before seriously starting music, his father made him learn every sport, teaching him various disciplines.
As such, Lee Doha was showing outstanding performance in this athletic meet. The fact that Hajin was forced to participate in all the events was also due to the opposing teams trying to check Lee Doha’s dominance.
“We should’ve known when we took the concept photos as sportsmen. That hyung is good at sports, but why is he like that with dancing?”
Taehyun tilted his head in genuine curiosity.
Watching Taehyun repeat the words his senior used to say to him, Hajin awkwardly laughed and gulped down the bottled water.
‘That’s different, you idiot…!’
He had a feeling that today was going to be a very long day.