It’s only an intrasquad match. Calm down, Jungkook reassured himself as he took a deep breath while stretching his body. His breath was shaky and his heart pounded loudly.

There’s no way I can calm down! This is the instrasquad match!

A few minutes from now, the coach would start the instrasquad practice match – last year’s starting members versus last year’s benchwarmers and this year’s new members. Their performances in this match would be the standard for determining the starting line-up for tomorrow’s practice match against Sejong High. It was basically a test. Simply, if Jungkook didn’t perform well, he wouldn’t be included in the starting line-up.

Knowing that made Jungkook even more nervous than ever. This was his first volleyball match outside P.E. class. Any mistakes he made would affect the coach’s opinion about his competence.

“You’ll be fine.” Jimin tapped Jungkook’s shoulder. It surprised Jungkook that Jimin noticed his nervousness. He seemed to be a good observant, though he looked like he couldn’t care less about anything.

Taehyung frowned. “No, he’s nowhere near fine.” He gave Jungkook a worried look. “Jungkook, don’t you need to go to the toilet first?”

Hoseok burst out laughing, placing his elbow on Jungkook’s shoulder. “He’s right. You look constipated, man.”

Pushing away Hoseok’s elbow, Jungkook grumbled, “Gee, thanks.”

Hoseok didn’t give up and wrapped his arm around Jungkook’s neck. Since Hoseok was shorter than Jungkook, Jungkook had to bend his back so he was on his level. With a smug grin Hoseok said, “I know you’re nervous, but sorry, I won’t go easy on you.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened in disbelief as he turned to look at Hoseok. “You’re a starting member?”

Pulling back his arm, Hoseok arched his eyebrow at Jungkook, looking offended. “I’m one of the regular wing spikers of the team.” He crossed his arms across his chest and smirked. “Hey, what’s with that look? Don’t underestimate your upperclassman, first-year. I call myself the future ace.”

“Yeah, right,” Seokjin said as he strode in their direction, totally unconvinced. “Stop spouting nonsense, future ace.” Facing Jungkook, he continued, “You don’t need to be nervous, Jungkook. Especially when you can do that amazing pancake.”

One thing that crossed Jungkook’s mind when he heard the word pancake was the food he sometimes ate for breakfast. But obviously, that wasn’t what Seokjin was talking about. If it was one of the volleyball terms, then it must have not been the one that was used often. Because he’s not familiar with the word although he had watched a few volleyball matches.

Well, it’s more likely that he just wasn’t that knowledgeable about volleyball.

Tilting his head to one side, Jungkook asked, “What is a pancake?”

Taehyung’s jaw hung open. “Seriously? You don’t know what a pancake is? You did it before! Alongside the amazing sliding tackle.”

Jimin explained, “A pancake is when you dive for the ball, lay yourself flat on the ground, place your hand with your palm down on the floor, and use the back of your hand to receive a spike. But basically, the ball bounces off your hand.”

Seokjin added, “A pancake is a last ditch effort for defense as it is extremely unreliable. People only try a pancake when there’s no other way to reach the ball. But apparently, you’re great at doing it. ”

Jungkook wanted to laugh at Seokjin’s last sentence. He’d just known the term pancake a few seconds ago so there’s no way he was great at doing it. It might be true that he’d done that once, but it had been completely coincidence. It had been his reflexes, not an intended move.

“Come on, gather up!” Namjoon clapped his hands to draw their attention to him. “The game will begin shortly!”

The twelve players and the two managers quickly gathered around Coach Bang and Teacher Lee. The managers were holding white sports bibs with big black numbers on the front and back and black sports bibs with white numbers.

“I will call your number and you get your sports bib from the managers.” Coach Bang lifted up his clipboard and focused his gaze on it. “I’ll start with the starters’ team. #1, Middle Blocker, Seokjin. #2, Wing Spiker, Yoongi. #3, Setter, Bogum. #5, Wing Spiker, Hoseok. #6, Middle Blocker, Namjoon. #7, Wing Spiker, Kangjoon.”

So they have been playing in matches all this time without a libero? From what Jungkook had learnt, it’s not a must for a team to have a libero, but having a libero increased the team’s defense greatly if the libero was highly skilled in receiving. Sadly, in his case, he wouldn’t be of much help for the team with his current skills.

The members whose name was called went to get their respective sports bibs from the managers. They were given the black colored ones, meaning Jungkook and the others would be given the white colored ones. The coach was waiting until the starting members were done putting on their sports bibs over their practice uniform.

“Now, the benchwarmers’ team,” Coach Bang continued. “#4, Middle Blocker, Hyungsik. #8, Wing Spiker, Minjae. #9, Middle Blocker, Joohyuk. #10, Setter, Jimin. #11, Wing Spiker, Taehyung. #12, Libero, Jungkook.” Coach Bang frowned and looked up from his clipboard, turning to face Teacher Lee. “Teacher Lee, what’s your position in your volleyball club?”

“My current volleyball club?” Teacher Lee asked. “Wing spiker. Why?”

According to the other members, Teacher Lee was still an active volleyball player in a volleyball club in Seoul. He looked like he’s in his early thirties and if he had been playing volleyball since he’d been in high school or even before that, then he must be an awesome player now.

“Can you help us by joining the benchwarmers’ team as a wing spiker?” Coach Bang asked. “The benchwarmers’ team is short of members. But don’t put too much effort into it.”

There were six players on the court, not including the libero. Because there were twelve of them and they were divided into two teams. So naturally, the team with the libero was short of members.

Jungkook had learnt that libero was a special position in the team. A libero could replace any back-row player – usually middle blockers when they were rotated to the back row – without prior notice to the officials. This substitution didn’t count as regular substitution as it was unlimited. However, a libero couldn’t be switched in or out with the player that was about to serve or be switched in or out when the ball was in play.

Teacher Lee glanced at the team members, seemingly unsure with the idea. “I’m okay with that. But are you sure?”

“Of course.” Coach Bang looked at all the members who had done wearing their respective sports bibs. “Okay then. Teacher Lee will join the benchwarmers’ team as a wing spiker. The managers will flip the scores. And I will be the referee.” He took a quick look at the clock. “You have five minutes to discuss about your strategies. Teacher Lee isn’t allowed to say anything. The starters’ team will serve first and the benchwarmers’ team will receive first.”

Each team went to different side of the court. The starters’ team took the right side of the court from the entrance and the benchwarmers’ team took the left side. Jungkook and his teammates formed a circle and waited for the only third-year in the benchwarmers’ team – Hyungsik – while he was scribbling on a paper.

“Since we’ll receive first, let’s go with this starting order,” Hyungsik said while showing the paper he’d just written on. “We have to strengthen our back-row defense for receiving their serve because they have members who can jump serves which I guess they will use them right away to break down our motivation to win. Jungkook will replace me in the beginning and I will put Minjae and Teacher Lee at the back row to support Jungkook because they’re good at receiving. Any objections?”

Front Row

Taehyung WS – Joohyuk MB – Jimin S

Back Row

Teacher Lee WS – Hyungsik MB (Jungkook L) – Minjae WS

WS: Wing Spiker

MB: Middle Blocker

S: Setter

L: Libero

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