For the new season, Changmin was encouraged to specialize at his best two events, the freestyle and the butterfly. Changmin barely even seemed to think before he agreed in that meeting with the coach and the representative from Korean Swimming Association.

"We already have a really great all-arounder who's going to do better than I ever could at the medleys," he'd shrugged, pointing to Yunho with his chin. "I'm not great at backstroke and I hate the stroke anyway, so."

Once Changmin began to specialize, it was clear to not just Yunho, but to everyone that he was something special.

Shim Changmin was going to be something special.

Changmin broke the national record at baseline, at every practice, in every event he trained for. He always trained at the same pace, the same way, regardless of whether it was World Cup event that was coming up or the Asian Games. Every day, he focused on polishing his swims to shave off those milliseconds – his dives, his turns, his pacing, and building his endurance for a strong finish.

Changmin was assigned to compete in four events at the Asian Games, and then again at the Short Course Aquatic World Cup.

It would have been an understatement to say that he exceeded expectations.

He won the gold medal at the 200-metre freestyle at the Asian Games and came away with two silvers and a bronze, winning a medal in every event he entered. He had similarly impresive results at the Short Course World Cup event, winning two silvers and a bronze. In the end, he actually ended up winning more medals than even Yunho at both competitions.

If he wasn't a media celebrity already, he was now.

Because Changmin didn't have an agent, and didn't plan on getting one any time soon ("It's too complicated, plus, I don't want to sign over my life"),  there were potential agents and sponsors leaving their name cards and offers every day at the Village.

Changmin returned some of those calls, and he left the Village about once a month to discuss new sponsorships and then again for photoshoots – the coach always made it clear that he didn't approve, but Changmin ploughed on with his schedule.

However, about three months before Nationals, he completely stopped accepting any sponsorships.

For some reason, he also started training harder than ever, even outside the scheduled workouts. Instead of doing homework after their day, Changmin did extra sit-ups and push-ups.

Yunho had assumed that it was for a small World Cup event coming up, but when he'd walked into their room and saw Changmin at his desk, filling out an application form, was when Yunho finally wondered whether it was for another reason.

"What are you doing?"

Changmin looked up for a split second before focusing on his application again. "Applying for Classics."

"You're doing Classics?" asked Yunho incredulously.

"Yeah?" said Changmin seriously, like he didn't understand why Yunho was even asking that question.

Yunho gawked.

"Why? You don't have to prove yourself at domestic meets like that! You can just file a request to swim at Nationals, and if you're already on the National Team, they'll approve it by default."

"I can't risk it. And I have to do well at Nationals."

"My god, you've already been to Worlds, and you're an Asian Games champion. Why are you so hung up on Nationals?"

"Because I can't get kicked off the National Team," said Changmin. "Not yet. This is the meet that I have to peak for. Nationals is what counts."

Yunho rolled his eyes. "You're not gonna get kicked off the National Team. If anything really ridiculous happens, you could file an appeal and make your way back in."

Changmin gave Yunho a look and finally put down the pen.

"You know why I do a timed sport like swimming instead of a judged sport like diving or something?" said Changmin.

Yunho took a guess. "Because you don't want to wear the speedos?"

Changmin snorted. "You know I competed in one of those for elite qualifiers and at Classics, right?"

Yunho tilted his head towards the side. "No. Obviously I wasn't at elite qualifiers last year, and I didn't go to Classics either."

Pretty impressive, though, in hindsight, that Changmin did it all without borrowing the help of modern technology in the swimsuits they wore nowadays.

"I only got sponsored for swimwear after Classics. But anyway," said Changmin, shaking his head. "I swim because what I achieve can't be doubted. I know that no one's ever going to speak for me. No one can argue with me when I win, when I make the National Team, when I make the Worlds Team, or the Olympic Team."

"I thought you didn't care about winning any of those things," said Yunho.

"Might as well make some more money off endorsements while I can," shrugged Changmin.

Yunho couldn't argue with that.

Changmin completely killed it at Classics.

He won gold on all six freestyle and butterfly events he entered and a silver on the 200-metre medley.

It was true that the field wasn't that deep and Changmin was the only National Team member to compete at Classics to begin with – this was a meet for swimmers to try to qualify for Nationals – but nevertheless, it took the media by storm again.

The night of Classics and Changmin had come back with his medal haul – Yunho's parents called Changmin to relay their congratulations – Yunho and Changmin, along with some of their other teammates went to the common room together to watch the segment on TV. They replayed Changmin's swims over and over, and then they aired an interview with Changmin, which made Changmin laugh out of shyness.

"Changmin, you're the only National Team member to compete at Classics. Why did you decide to compete here?" asked a reporter.

"Uh – Because I wanted to qualify for Nationals," said Changmin, looking a bit lost.

Yunho chuckled at just how genuine Changmin was.

"None of your National Team teammates are here today, because they will be qualifying by default. Why didn't you take the same route?"

"Uh – I don't think I'm quite at a point where everyone agrees that I deserve to compete at Nationals. I think I still have a lot to prove."

"Well, you've certainly proven yourself here today. How do you feel about having such a great meet?"

"Um, honestly, I'm just glad to have qualified for Nationals," said Changmin. "And I'm going to keep working hard towards Nationals. I really hope I can make the National Team again this year."

Those comments became raved about as well.

This star swimmer is also so humble, said the media.

Yunho and Changmin laughed about how his comments were taken later in their room.

"I mean I really wasn't being humble," said Changmin, amused. "It's literally how I felt. I guess I also should have told them that making the National Team is the end game for me, not Worlds or Olympics or whatever. Humble is definitely not the right word. But… like… I'm really happy to have made Nationals. And now, I really want to kill it at Nationals this year too. It's going to be tougher because it's pre-Olympic year, all of you are getting better."

"So are you," said Yunho. "You're getting better faster than any of the rest of us."

Changmin decided to ignore him.