Moon Byulyi

“Timeout!” From the sideline I heard my coach’s voice and him signaling to the referee, asking for a tactical break. It was completely understandable considering how we were being bullied at the moment. It wasn’t pretty. It’s the last set of the game and we’re trailing behind 13-6 by the opposition team. It’s so unlike us to be behind by such a massive gap. We were the defending champion and we wore the title for 2 years now. We were in fact so dominant in the last 2 finals, we won them both by straight set. This one right now is obviously different. It’s certainly not a ing stroll in the park. I made so many damn mistakes and unforced errors and I couldn’t believe it. I’m not used to being at disadvantage or in losing position before. Especially when it comes to the sport that I’d embraced with my whole heart.

Getting myself involved with volleyball had been a turning point in my life. I never thought I would get to settle so well when I first stepped in to this school. I was just thinking of getting away. To a place that I know I’d be unrecognizable. To a place I know I wouldn’t be questioned about myself and the things happened in the past. But I would have never thought I’d be acquainted with this sports, let alone to be so good at it. I was just so ing depressed and down and I would like to be alone. But when this one certain brunette; who later turned out to be my crazy- best friend; Kang Seulgi asked to join her hitting balls at the gym hall, I didn’t even one second hesitated to come along. I don’t even know why and unexpectedly, I fell in love with it. When I’m playing, it feels like I’m in my own world. When I’m hitting the ball as hard as I can, it feels like I’m letting out all the pains I’ve felt in the past along with it. And being with all the players, it finally feels like I’m finally found some real people. People who don’t care at all about your family background, your financial status, your past lovers, or your parents’ whereabouts. Just a bunch of people with strong mentality, hunger for winning, and crave for self-improvements. So I just keep coming back. Being dubbed as the next star team player by the head coach felt just as great too.

Seul on the other hand has been playing since she’s a kid. Her father was once a national player. His intelligence came down straight to her and she reflected that every time she’s playing. Sadly, her so-called y brain people kept labelling her only valid in the court. She’s not a smart- outside the gym hall. She even often forgot to zip her pants’ zip. Trust me, that’s the least embarrassment she ever done when I’m around but I don’t bother to care at all. She’s not pretentious, she’s crazy, and she’s not all soapy and tissues on the inside. Now that we’re in our senior year, almost everyone in this school knows about our friendship and the chemistry between us. And that chemistry can be seen when we’re playing together too. The partnership between me and her has made quite an issue in this region. We are definitely a lethal combo. Not to mention we got one damn fine of a setter in our team. Together, we make a very formidable offense. But now that we’re missing that one puzzle piece, everything started to crumble slowly. And I know that the coach knew that too. We weren’t prepared to lose Seul while playing in important games like this. She’s not the type to get injured. She’s in fact never got hurt all this while. And I can clearly saw from distance the frown on our Coach’s face.

“Come on, talk to me Yubin, Moonbyul. How’s the team holding up?” the way Coach Lee asked right away to us, the captain and co-captain; about the team is a serious sign that he’s restless about this situation. Just like the rest of us.

“We are not going to lie, coach. With Seulgi gone injured at the end of last set, we have no one to block their hitters from raining us down with their thumping spikes. We’re missing Seulgi’s brain. She’s the one that’s really good in reading opponents’ offense. It’s a good thing you called us out, we need to come out with a plan to fight back.” Yubin; the team captain said. Not sure how this girl still sounded so composed at times like this. It reflected on how she is in the court as well. She’s simply our team’s best player so far in this last set, despite how ing terrible we were both on offense and defense at the net. It wasn’t exaggerating to say that we got those 6 points because of her defense at the back and of course, the opposition team being courteous enough by making small mistakes. But I know, we can’t just depend on her defense at the back every freaking time. We need to react. Fast.

“How’s she doing, coach? What’s the damage?” I can’t hide my worry towards the brunette who I still yet to see her face since the accident. The way she screamed in pain when she tried to block a spike at the end of last set still vivid in my head. And , I can tell she’s hurting so bad. Seeing her lean silhouette disappeared down the hall to the infirmary broke my heart so much than I thought I wouldn’t be.

“She’s in pain that’s for sure. She broke her pinky finger; which both she and I think that it’s actually a lucky call. There’s a chance she’ll be back in a few knowing her determination. Moon, can you buy us some time?” There’s desperation in his tone and he rarely does that. My shoulders felt heavy right away. But I know I’m needed to turn this thing around.

“You got it, coach.” I sounded and looked confident and I saw how my teammates smile hearing what I just said. Deep down, what I showed was actually only half true. I never felt this nervous and anxious when playing before.

“How about we try that quick attack again? I know that’s where Seulgi’s most needed but we have to try anyway.” Amber, our setter suddenly said. She’s still panting so I handed her an energized drink from the bench. Understandably, because the setter is the heart of the game and the most important player. She’s the playmaker and she’s the one running and thinking all the time. So there’s no doubt about the degree of her exhaustion if to compare with the rest of us.

“Thanks, bro.” She flashed a smile before letting the fluid stream down her dry throat.

“Yeah, let’s try that again. You and Yezi can go down the flank while I try to play Seulgi’s role.” Krystal who got subbed on in place of the injured Seulgi offered a suggestion to me. She hasn’t been in the team much but is always ready should anything happen to Seulgi. And it never bothered her much with how many minutes she got in the court. She knows Seulgi’s like a ing mountain she needs to tackle if she wants to be at her place.

“I got an idea. Yeah let’s do what Krystal said, but let me be the bait instead. Krys, you go hit them from outside. Take my place. Be bold, I know you’re not feeling confident but cut the crap about ‘The Bench Warmer’ thing for now.” I know Krys is not really comfortable being an outside hitter but she can’t really block just as good. I never really like being the main blocker too but I’m actually pretty good at it so I’m going to take this risk and give up my role to her. She hasn’t got the power like I do but she’s quite flexible. She’s good at finding spaces so adding some ball placing wouldn’t hurt. And I know Amber would do just fine setting for her if she ever feels like hitting them balls down.

“I agree. Amber, you know Krystal the most. What she likes to eat, what’s her favorite movie/drama genre, her kinda clothes she likes to wear--”

“Straight to the point please, Bora.” Amber rolled her eyes before focusing back on the bobbed-hair girl, expecting her to continue.

“What I’m saying is, be her white knight. Try to figure out ASAP on how she likes her...balls.” Bora said, wiggling her eyebrow and a playful grin decorated on her face.

“Ugghh Bora please.” Yezi who has been a listener since the beginning, patted her head with her palm in disbelief.

“That doesn’t sound right.” Krystal said while laughing.

I can’t help but to crook a smile as well. A little positivity is needed so I won’t even one bit complain about the ing ridiculous double-meaning joke that Bora just made. But I totally agree with her. Deep inside I know Amber would serve Krystal just fine. I wouldn’t worry a thing about her. I’d just need to focus and do my job. A quick offense with me as the hitter would catch them off guard if I were to be ing honest.

Yubin who’d apparently has been looking at me kind of read what I was thinking perfectly. She nodded with a little smile and I felt a little giddy. “Okay, I think this could work. Don’t afraid to set Krys up, Amber. Just try. You’ll never know if you’d never try. You already know how lethal Yezi is on the right so I’m not going to remind you again. And try to use Moon as many as you can on the quick. Bora, run and jump hard when they’re about to do it. Leave defense to SinB and me. Moon, hit those balls down hard okay?” I simply nodded. And it’s clear that the others fully understood what they’re instructed to do as well.

The referee blew his whistle and we’re 20 seconds away from continuing where we left.

“Try to hold on as long as you all can, Seulgi will be back very soon. And SinB, you’re about to be wounded up at the back, think you can handle it?” Coach Lee voiced out his worry at our youngest and the libero of the team, SinB. She’s the only one clad in a jersey with a different color than the rest of us. She wore a green-shouldered black jersey, opposite to what the rest of the team wear; black-shouldered green jersey. It’s the privilege of being a libero in the volleyball team. The rule of being geared in different color is to make it easier for the official referees to identify them since what liberos can do are limited to defending. Any offense would cost the team a point to the opposition.

“I’m good, Coach. Don’t worry, I got this.” SinB said. Her sweet smile can melt any heart there is out there. She crouched to tidy up her shoe lace before come back up again to do light stretching. She’s good. Everyone seems to get their confidence back and eager to play and try to turn the tide of the game, but that’s not the case for me. My palms kept sweating, my heart beats in a ing ridiculous pace and it’s getting harder to breathe. Why I am suddenly feeling like there’s not enough oxygen in this hall?

The referee blew his whistle again, it’s Go time and my teammates were already in the court. But here I am just outside the line of the court, can’t seem to take a step forward. It’s like my nervous system stopped operating. I can’t move a muscle and my head’s spinning. The roaring crowds deafening my ears and all the sounds started to slowly disappearing. It feels like I was put in a vacuum room. I closed my eyes, trying to control my own breathing. Steady Byulyi, steady.

“You can do this Byulyi.”

My heart stopped and my eyes fluttered open and beginning to wander, searching for the source of the voice.

“I believe in you. It’s going to be fine. You’ll be fine.”

I used to tear up right away whenever I heard this voice ringing inside my head. It’s been a while since I last hear this voice; my mom’s voice. But unlike any of those days, I feel encouraged instead. I raised my head and look up in the crowd; trying to search for her but can only see people cheering for yet another great set of plays in this competition’s finals. I chanced another look in the crowd, and somehow I finally found my mom. She’s there watching me just like everyone else. I found her in those crowds; smiling and waving at me. From the look upon her face I can see how proud she’s of me. Suddenly everything feels okay. “I’m going to do my best till the end, mom. I promise.” I smiled back at her and I finally found the strength to move my feet. Settling in my position, I yelled “Let’s turn this around, guys!”

***

Jung Wheein

I really am not a sports person. I might be into running and I do jog a lot in the morning but sports? No uh. I’m really not good with balls, I don’t hate them but they are the ones that more probably hate me instead. When I was a kid, I have so many balls-related incidents. My head got hit by a soccer ball when all I ever did was passing by the field. My cousin slipped over a balloon ball that accidentally rolled towards her path and fell into the pool. Guess what? That balloon ball was mine. I once tried to play throw-and-catch a tennis ball with my dog and she almost got into an accident with a car because I misthrown it. I mean, every single incident involving balls happened in the past got either me or people around me into a more serious incident. There’s no in-between. Balls have never been good to me. And the fact that almost all sports in this world has got to do with hitting, kicking, and throwing that round thing just made me gave up without even bother to give them a try.

But here I am, standing right in front of our school’s main sports hall where a volleyball championship’s final is being held. I’ve been standing here for 10 good minutes now since my so-called best friends in the gym hall wouldn’t bother to pick up my calls. Too caught up watching the game I’d assume. I’m starting to wonder why I agreed to join them here in the first place. I groaned when yet another call has gone to the voicemail. I’m going to kill these kids istg. A few people passing by have been staring weirdly at me and I decided to just walk into the hall. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a very loud noise of people screaming and cheering for their favorite team, thumping sound of balls hitting the ground, and high pitched whistle sound blew by the referee. It was roaring, echoing even and I actually got scared but thrilled at the same time. It’s a new experience since all of my favorite places are all quiet and tranquil. Going further into the hall I saw the stands occupied the shape of the hall. It was all filled with audience today. It’s a full house and it’s totally fathomable, it is after all the final game of the championship. And there are 2 courts in the middle of the hall. One of the courts is currently looked more like a battlefield where instead of swords, guns, and grenades, they use a ball and literally any part of their body as their weapons. I may not know much about any of these I am witnessing but even a sports noob like me wouldn’t miss the intensity that exists among those players. This is more than just a game for them.

My thoughts got stopped by the sound of whistle, and those players one by one starting to walk out of the court to be with their coaches respectively. I just realized I’ve been standing here and got immersed with the game when there are seats available on the stand beside me. I fished out my phone when I felt it buzzed through my long denim skirt. I immediately recognize the voice at the other end.

“Hello! Hey Wheein where are you?” Yongsun asked with a rather loud voice. Can’t blame her. The noises inside this hall would’ve drowned her voice if she didn’t.

“Oh really, are we not going to talk about 50 calls I made that you missed?” I yelled sarcastically.

Yongsun’s dolphin-laugh at the other end suddenly made me feel sorry towards the people sitting anywhere near her right now. “Do not exaggerate please and come on up first. You can continue your rant on me once this game’s finished. We can see you from up here. Try to look for us, we’re waving at you right now.”

I began to search for them in that ocean of people and walked to them once I spotted them waving half-heartedly. They look exactly like SkyDancers, it’s definitely a sight that could make me dead laughing. It’s a wonderful feat I could muffled my laugh. Ahn Hyejin; whom I’m closest with offered me a drink as soon as my touched the seat.

“What took you so long? This last set is already halfway before it ends.” Hyejin said while eating her favorite potato snack. Well, that’s actually only half-true. Almost all snacks in this world are her favorites.

“Seriously? Did you even check your phone? I called you guys gazillion times.”

“Oh right. I forgot I put it on silence mode. Sorry…” Hyejin said apologetically after confirming several calls she missed on her phone. She then pets my head lovingly. I rolled my eyes before saying, “Treat me to dinner then.”

Hyejin scoffed, “Fine.”

I look to my left where Yongsun and her best friend Joohyun are sitting. Joohyun who happened to notice that I’m looking at her said, “Hi there Wheein.” She flashed her million-dollar smile that I found so beautiful. Seriously, Joohyun and Yongsun are like from another planet. With bodies and faces like they have? I refused to believe they’re from here.

“Hi Joohyun unnie. Just what’s going on here right now? How’s our team? Can you explain how this game works? Is Seulgi unnie down there too?” I asked way too many questions apparently.

“Whoa, breathe Wheein-ah we’re not going anywhere, you can ask one question at a time.” Yongsun said before laughing. Joohyun seems to find my antic funny too.

“We’re trailing at the moment. Seul have gone to infirmary and apparently she’s okay even though she broke her pinky finger at the end of last set. And her absence kind of affected the team because they’re behind by quite a large margin at the moment.” The lack of expression when she explained about her girlfriend’s condition made me curious.

“Is she hurting badly? And are you okay?” I asked and hoping I didn’t push her too much.

“I’m okay. Well, not really the first time happened but it does bother me a bit when she said she wants to come back out and rejoin the team later on.”

“Not sure if she’s going to make it though, this team is running out of time. And points.” Hyejin butted in.

“We’re the ones in green and black jersey right?” I asked. And all 3 of them nodded in sync. I wanted to ask more but a very loud sound of whistle blew by the man at the net surprised me and I’m starting to see both teams going back into the court. There’s this one girl who has a very short, boy-like hair walking into the court and stopped right in front of the net.

“That girl whose position at the net? That’s Amber. And you see that one crowd all in black shirts? That’s her fangirls.” Yongsun pointed to a certain audience and explained all of a sudden. I was almost choking. She’s like reading my mind.

“All of them girls but she only has her eyes on Krystal.” Hyejin butted in again.

“Who’s Krystal?” I asked, feeling curious.

“You see that blonde who’s behind the one with a silver hair? That’s Krystal.” Yongsun answered while her finger’s pointed to the person mentioned.

“Oh wow. She really is gorgeous.” I said in agreement.

“She’s a killer.” Hyejin added. Obviously star-struck. Definitely her style.

“Seulgi said that Krystal doesn’t even know Amber likes her. And Amber herself doesn’t want to ruin their good friendship by confessing her feelings.” Joohyun said, decided to join in the conversation.

The conversations about Amber and Krystal went on and on but slowly faded out when my eyes got fixed on the silver-haired girl instead. Looking all serious and determined discussing with the coach before walking away in small-light jumps. Trying to get herself warmed up again. Her silver hair tied into a low ponytail looks really good on her. Her biceps and stoned abs flown when she stretches were flawless. The way she rub her palms on her shorts out of nervousness before bringing her shorts down a bit made her looks hot. Everything that she does screams y. Who is this girl? Why do I find this ultimate stranger so attractive? And the way she’s frowning right now? I can tell she’s nervous. I couldn’t quite to even fathom at myself having the thought of running down to her and give her a hug. Just for the sake of her to loosen it up a bit. What has gotten into me?

I was so busy trying to memorize every inch and detail of this stranger that I didn’t even realize that this beautiful stranger was looking right back at me. Everyone else already settled in their respective positions and there she was, just right outside the back line of the court, standing and fixing her gaze on me. After what it felt like forever, I suddenly saw her shoulders relaxed and she’s no longer gripping the hem of her shorts. Frown was replaced by a sudden amused expression on her face. I too felt relieved seeing her easing up. She looked like she’s about to do nothing but greatness from that moment to the end of the line. And when she suddenly gave me one of the most charming smiles I have ever seen, I wasn’t even sure if I was still breathing after that.