For any sport, the festive atmosphere on game day would change subtly as the day progressed. In the first place, it would start with the information playing on every screen on campus, announcing the discipline, the team, time and place with some pictures and videos. Then, during the day, students would start talking about it, gathering as many friends as possible to go with to share a last ecstatic moment before the weekend. Finally, when classes were over and the school was empty of those who preferred returning home early, supporters would start hanging around waiting for the awaited time. And they were numerous this Friday late afternoon.

Most of them weren't that tremendously interested in hockey. As might be expected. What would rhythmic gymnasts and volleyball players be doing in an ice rink watching their comrade skate behind a puck, sitting in the cold for more than two hours? But still, they were all looking forward to the moment when the winter sports stadium's doors would open to the public. Skaters were mysterious to them because they couldn’t imagine purposely enjoying ice, cold and falls. However mysteriousness is attractive, and for sure, the rink lovers were.   

Figure skaters would leave for the rink the second the bell rang, barely sparing glances to anyone else. They were always elegant, calm, with pretty hairstyles, looking gracious while doing absolutely nothing. Maybe it was the fact that they were always standing straight, chin up, lost in their own little skating world. In addition, they were only hanging out with other skaters or dating hockey players. Those ones, besides, would walk by in groups, laughing out loud, sticks in hand, thick helmets hanging from their bag, wearing oversized clothes and an abnormal amount of caps and beanies. Somehow they were disconcertingly low-key yet remarkably eye-catching. So, of course, other athletes were all keen to attend the games of this sport they knew so little about.

Moreover, despite the differences in age and discipline, all the HTC students were one big team, basically. It was natural for basketballers to give encouraging high fives to every hockey player they crossed during the day and for the synchronised swimmers to giggle and wish good luck with round fists. Whenever possible, students would unite and support each other to increase the centre's community spirit, which positively affected the results. In fact, in recent years, the HTC scholars reigned supreme in Korea, and as the number of national competitors increased, junior Korean athletes gained more and more ground. In the end, one person's achievement was everyone else's. But once again, who wouldn't want a night of loud music, screaming, adrenaline and an exciting mood? No one, right? And free with a student card, no less.

That's why two hours before the beginning of the post-match training session, the entire National 3 Team was gathered in the rink's relaxation room, slumped on light blue sofas. They emptied energy drinks from the vending machines, laughing about everything and anything, just to have a good time before the game. According to the club's sports psychologist and many others, serenity is the key to success, and especially for young people, serenity is gained by doing nothing. They had spent the week practising relentlessly and had already done a physical training session before the start of classes to free up the evening. So, apart from Jiung, who was fast asleep, curled up in a ball on the corner of the sofa, the team was playing their third game of PUBG in a relaxed yet chaotic atmosphere.

At the same time, and despite her critical situation with a lack of ammunition and a level one helmet, Minjoo smiled brightly. Firstly, she had just completed her fifth kill as a sniper. Something that didn't happen frequently. Usually, she played the game by only jumping in and shooting at anyone without aiming. But right now, she happened to be texting one of the swimmers who had encouraged them. Hence, it was rather convenient for her to lie on a rooftop and only shoot when someone was approaching. Next, she was smiling because she had, once more, managed to get on Sumin's nerves with her two-bit pick-up lines. In between kills, she promised Sumin to dedicate a goal to her, and the synchronised swimmer had just sent back a picture of her saying she was going to miss it anyway. Fortunately, Bae Sumin was straight, completely straight, which allowed Minjoo to hit on her without restraint as she wasn't expecting anything more than fun. Which, strangely enough, she couldn't do with Chaewon.

Because before Minjoo saw Chaewon as the epitome of perfection, many others were much more so in her eyes. The hockey player didn't have as many crushes as Yena, let's not push, but girls appreciated her company for some reasons, and she enjoyed it. Bae Sumin was the most good-looking girl in school in her eyes. She had a radiant smile, big expressive eyes and beauty that would make heads spin. Yet instead of being intimidated, Minjoo shamelessly responded to every picture Sumin sent with heart-eyes emojis. At this moment, she even offered her a date, if she won the game —Sumin responded with half of her smiling face, a caption saying 'i'll think about it,' and Minjoo sent back three more ‘😍’ and a new pick up line—. However, she muted her notifications after glancing at them for a second, focusing more on her sniper role. She still hadn't opened Chaewon's last message.

That was the third reason for her perky smile. Sure, it had taken Chaewon over fifteen hours to reply with a simple crying emoji, but Minjoo couldn't help but grin every time she saw her name on her phone. With anyone, Minjoo would have kept the conversation going with a silly line or something like ‘stole your hair tie, may I steal your heart next?’, but it was Kim Chaewon. And everything about Kim Chaewon made her feel things she wasn't accustomed to. 

Comical, almost, how nothing more than a crying emoji made her giddier than the idea of a potential date with Bae Sumin. Anyway, she executed her sixth kill, jumped off the building to recover ammunition, hid next to a car to text Sumin back, and finished the game in the top five with her team, all while looking forward to the start of the game.

Currently gathered in the large locker room with black absorbent foam floor and dark blue walls, the N3 team was dressing up to music. As it was just a matter of putting on skates, socks, jerseys and layers of protection, the team only three girls went to the boy's locker room to get in the mood with them. Jiung, now wide awake, was blasting rap from his speaker to which they sang the iconic lyrics, letting the excitement build gradually. All their bags were strewn on the floor, making walking around a challenge as they were getting ready. Individual seats were separated by wooden panels where their jerseys were folded and stored between games. On one side of the wall, a flat-screen showed photos and videos of the season's games with the centre's emblem, and on the other side, a table supported a small beverage dispenser. Several rolls of more or less neutral tape were scattered around the table, and some of the guys borrowed them to reinforce their sticks before the game started.

The Osaka team had arrived about half an hour ago with a big bus, dressed head to toe in red. They were in the visitors' dressing room, and now that screens were showing the first pre-match images and the doors were opening to the eager public, everything was about to begin. Perceiving the sound of spectators climbing the bleachers' steps in the distance, Minjoo couldn't help but hop despite the heaviness of her skates. Yena did the same, gripping her hands, equally excited about engaging in their first game of the season against another country, which was a drastic change from the domestic divisions of Korean clubs. Definitely, playing against Japan was a new challenge, and all their equipment didn't prevent the two friends from fidgeting in excitement like children.

That was what they loved as much as swimmers about to dive, football players entering the pitch, figure skaters hearing other contestants' music. That adrenaline that only comes in those moments, intense and vivid, giving them the feeling of being invincible. Seohan, proudly bearing his captain's jersey, tossed a smile over his shoulder, checking if the whole team was ready before leaving the local locker room's corridor.

Instantly, the music became much more raucous, almost deafening. As usual, and this was an inside joke within the centre, they were bombarding the crowd with latest hits that everyone knew the lyrics of and the entire Bangtan discography. Anything to get the mood going. Over the footsteps, conversations and beat resonances, Minjoo and Yena were doing what they knew of Fire's choreography, smiling widely as many voices joined in with the music. The first game was predicted to be crowded, but it was way more than expected. Despite the early hour, blue and black stands were filling up fast with students who had come with their groups of friends to celebrate the weekend, dressed in their white school t-shirts.

There was a rush of cheers as the team approached the rink where the Zamboni was smoothing the ice. The two friends took the opportunity to try and spot as many familiar faces as possible. Yena noticed at least three of her crushes, while Minjoo continued in vain to find Chaewon, if only she was there. Meanwhile, the synchronised swimmers were sitting a little higher up, and Minjoo blew a theatrical kiss that Sumin caught and carefully returned, making her friends giggle at the interaction. Two basketball teams, all of whom had swapped their jerseys for school t-shirts, were singing aloud. The entire track and field squad had gathered at the top of the bleachers, and the badminton players were pimping their old rackets to utilise them as supporter signs. It was all the more motivating, so Minjoo beamed one last time at Yena before following the rest of the team to their seats. 

Simultaneously, the Osaka team had also left their changing room, still in red and white, visibly looking amused by the loud kpop playing and the number of students in the stands. Despite a pretty long-distance flight, they had a few supporters draped in red, probably family and some club members that flew too. Either way, they all seemed impressed by the fantastic atmosphere, as one could tell by those smiles on their faces as they equally made their way to the player seats.

As usual, the National 2 occupied the places glued to the plexiglass separating them from the bench, and they were all happy to bang against it as soon as the more junior team took their seats. The N2 were the best supporters and perhaps future teammates at that. At least for the most outstanding ones, of which Minjoo was one, already on their list. Besides, Taeho waved encouragingly with an excited gummy smile. At just eighteen years old, the N2's center, Son Taeho, was the only upgraded high schooler to play for both his team and the professional division. Hence, he was popular with coaches, trainers, scouts, girls and other players. He had everything for him; an exceptional player, the club's lead scorer, two places ahead of Minjoo, high stats, good team management and a sense of competition. Clearly, Minjoo was rather proud to be friends with him. After all, if she joined the N2 in the new school year, Taeho would be her captain. As a result, she waved back to him and fervently nodded when he told her to do her best, more determined than ever.

Cocho and the other coordinators arrived in suits and ties, hair slicked back, a stern look painted on their faces. It was frightening, but more importantly, it signalled the game's importance. So all the players hastily gathered in the dressing room again, facing the screen that finally displayed the strategy. As expected, Cocho was going all out on the offensive, unlike those last few practices. Coordinators had communicated the opposing teams' lack of defence facing attacking elements. Thus, the centers and wings were at the heart of the strategy, to their great pleasure. After a powerful encouraging team handshake, they returned to the rink, this time fully equipped, skates free of blade guards.

That's it. The feeling of cool liquid ice, the mild euphoria of the crowd and loud music, wearing the club's jersey flocked with her name Kim and number 11, the blue and yellow floodlights, the commentator announcing their names and positions. It was all addictive and intoxicating. That excitement rush overtook Minjoo as she began to skate around the rink to warm up between Jiung and Yena, whose speed increased with each turn. At this point, the ambient noise was nothing more than a hissing sound that had managed to filter through the imposing helmet. Everything became blurred as if only the ice existed so that a new wave of surprise seised her when they finally halted warmup to start the pre-match training, to music and in full view of hundreds of people. It was intimidating as hell, and became unexpectedly more the moment Yena grabbed her shoulder as they waited for their turn.

"Look who's over there!" Yena exclaimed over the music, pointing in vain at the bleachers as Minjoo quickly looked around before she had to take her turn at making a slapshot goal. Yena executed the same move and said her words a little louder, back in line. "Behind the exit!"

Minjoo wanted to look once more, but she already had to re perform the exercise by skating backwards to the other lane, ready to execute another slapshot. Only then did she grasp the opportunity to glance towards the front bleachers and immediately spotted the pink hair she kept thinking about these last days. Oh , Chaewon was at the game? Yet Minjoo had heard the nationals were performing at a gala that night. Then what was she still doing there? The incoming puck captured her attention, so she performed her slapshot before returning to the opposite line and glancing back at the skater.

She was with Jimin, Wonyoung and Sunghoon, all of them carefully dressed up and coiffed, from what Minjoo could tell. Chaewon had her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, plastered with probably glitter hairspray, while unlike the other students who had come to the game, she was wearing her Nationals jacket. Minjoo did her backward crossover, couldn't help but look at her again, and then executed her slapshot before being shoved on by Yena, who ran into her, giggling. Minjoo would have asked her friend what was so funny, but it was necessary to remember these were the last few minutes before the game, thus she finally focused completely on the exercise.

Irrevocably, a superhuman-like strength took over her body, as if a spider had bitten her, and she could move from building to building. Except Minjoo was afraid of spiders and her only power was to skate faster than her teammates. Therefore that's what she did, buoyed by the sensation of potentially having Chaewon's attention on her. It was indeed the best motivation. In addition to the crowd, the music, the stakes, the support of the N2 and their opponents being from Japan. It added something, for sure. And when Minjoo received several handshakes after executing an unstoppable slapshot, she assuredly knew that this match would be hers.

As the commentator gleefully announced the last three minutes of practice, Minjoo noticed with displeasure that all four skaters stood up, large bags in hand. It seemed to her that Chaewon occupied something that night preventing her from coming to the game. However, for the first time, their eyes actually met. Chaewon nodded with an encouraging smile, her lips miming 'fighting', and even though she disappeared after that, Minjoo pumped her lungs with extraordinary strength and adrenaline, eager to start the game. Literally. Like she just took some sips of liquid power.

The N2 guys shouted like crazy as their successors went back to the blue seats, already well warmed up, some free from polished helmets to drink a bit. Cocho stood in front of them, hands in his suit trousers' pockets, a thin smile of excitement visible behind the falsely stern look he gave himself, scanning players one by one. The commentator announced the team line-ups, the music's volume dropped, and the referring coach glanced at his watch. That was it. Just about to start.

Always the same entrance music, the one selected by the team as they all entered the ice to thunderous applause. Behind the plexiglass, perhaps two thousand people were looking forward to the start of the game, and when Seohan shook hands with the opposing captain, in the leading position at the first face-off 's centre, everyone cheered. The Haneulae team was already attacking.

From the seats, Minjoo and the others tapped their sticks against the foam floor to congratulate the successful face-off. It was essential to announce the colour. Such a dazzling start towards their goal could only intimidate the opponents who found themselves caught off guard, struggling to assert defence. Minjoo clutched her stick tighter, eager to get in on the action.

The opposing goalkeeper saved five shot attempts as the reds' defence began to organise more effectively around Seohan, Jiung and Yena. They anticipated collective counter-attacks more, intercepting passes between the three attacking elements who were starting to tire. After the sixth try, Minjoo promptly took a deep breath, only waiting for Seohan to reach her and shake her glove before finally getting onto the ice. That was it. Her heart rushed. She thought of her parents somewhere in the rink, Sumin in the middle of the stands, all her mates, the N2 coordinators, Chaewon's fighting, then the puck, the game, the opposing defenders and how to catch them by surprise.

As soon as she crossed the red line, she received the puck straight from number 04. This was her moment. The enthusiastic crowd, the adrenaline, the ultimate joy, the astonishing speed. With unreal agility, she passed the defender who struggled to turn around in time, letting her dangerously penetrate the offensive zone. Minjoo didn't think twice. With a sleight of hand, the puck had gone behind her back, rounding the last defenseman before she crossed the goal line, behind the net. Her sport, her pride, her incredible strength, her thing. Her first goal and the first round of generous applause as a horn sounded to announce triumphantly the opening score. Kim Minjoo, the unpredictable and inevitable hockey prodigy, got the ball rolling. And it kept on going on and on. Causing the crowd to be restless and speechless at her talent.

Later, in the second period, she and Yena exchanged fervently embraced each other while gliding rapidly, celebrating the sixth goal for their team that the right-wing had just scored. They had supported each other to get past the exhausted defence, and instead of shooting, Minjoo had fooled the goalkeeper by sending the puck to her talented teammate, eliciting another roar of applause. The momentum stopped with an unusually crushing 8-3 scoreline, sending the Haneulae Training Center N3 into the Asian junior league's top tier, defeating the second-placed team.

Saving all the big speeches for the next practice session, Cocho simply offered each of his players a special handshake before letting them go. They were all showered, drained, and impatient to go home, but they had those big bright smiles that made it all worth it. However, Cocho couldn't help but give his exceptional player an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder, offering her a wink that said it all; so much pride and confidence could be seen in his eyes. "You and I, we're going to do great things," he had said after the first practice as he handed Minjoo her HTC 11 jersey, and he had never been wrong.

Nevertheless, despite the euphoria of the game and their victory, the drive home was almost unnervingly calm. The two childhood teammates were profoundly sleeping in the back of the car, each on one side of Minjoo's little sister, comfortably dressed in T-shirts given the ambient temperature. Yena had fallen asleep first with her head resting against the window while Minjoo told her parents about her day before giving in to tiredness in the same position as her friend.

A little bit past midnight, the car stopped near Doksan's school. Yena was quietly woken up by Minjoo's parents while hers, both working in medical, were on night duty that night. Used to those small arrangements between their families, Yena gave a final, still-sleepy bye to the Kim parents before entering her closed house with two big bags.

-

When she arrived home, after being completely crushed in the arms of her older brother, who was going out for the night, Minjoo rushed to her dear room. Like every Friday night, it was perfectly tidy, but at night, so apart from a packet of chocolate sweets and some new skate guards on her duvet, she didn't notice anything else. As soon as she got under the sheets, her mother came to chat for a few minutes. Then she left after leaving an affectionate kiss on her forehead, making sure to praise her once again on her incredible game.

Finally able to be in bed and knowing she could sleep through the next day, Minjoo sprawled out on the soft mattress she missed more than she cared to admit. She could feel her heavy legs slowly decompressing, melting under the feel of the soft blanket around them, while her stomach seemed to recover from the stressful evening. She could have fallen asleep in the next few seconds if her phone hadn't emitted a reminder sound to put an alarm that made her frown. But at the same time, it was a good thing. Because as soon as she took off the airplane mode, many notifications appeared, including one from chae1kim.

chae1kim replied to your story.

🎉

good gameee

And maybe after that message, Minjoo finally found some courage to reply with a silly pick-up line. Maybe Chaewon replied within a minute. And maybe they talked until the hockey player couldn't fight fatigue any longer. Not only had she just won a meaningful game with her prowess, but she had also just spent at least three hours non-stop texting with the skater. Three hours of night conversation about everything from their zodiac sign to their grades, laughing about on-ice stories and so many other things.

Anyway, Minjoo fell more than happily asleep that lovely night in her warm, cosy bed, her phone locked to a message from Chaewon, who had replied to her 'let me sleep😒' by 'gn🙄'.