Being determined and confident was good, but it didn’t necessarily guarantee everything would turn out well. As Jungkook had been afraid of, #1’s spike was too fast for him to touch, much less to dig.

“I’m sorry!” Jungkook shouted desperately after failing to dig the ace’s spike for the nth time.

Sejong High 20-13 Hana High

He was on the ground, his chest touching the floor, yet he still couldn’t receive it. Clenching his fists, he cursed under his breath. He’d never felt this frustrated before.

This is bad. They’ve reached twenty first, Jungkook thought anxiously.

Seokjin stood before Jungkook, offering a hand. “Well, no one expects you to be able to do it on such short notice. But, make sure you do whatever you can to bring the next ball up.”

“Yes!” Jungkook took his hand and Seokjin pulled him up from the ground.

Yoongi shrugged. “You , anyway. Glad I didn’t get my hopes up.”

Guilt crept into Jungkook and he, instinctively, lowered his head in shame. Yoongi had put his faith in him, but he’d disappointed him. Jungkook was at a loss of words.

“Yoongi,” Seokjin said in a warning tone. “You don’t need to say that.”

Ignoring Seokjin, Yoongi went back to his position in the front row and continued nonchalantly, “I’ll score more points to even our scores. Use that time to get used to his spikes.” He looked back to face the entire Hana’s players. “Because I’m this team’s ace. I won’t lose to the likes of him.”

Jungkook’s head snapped up in Yoongi’s direction. His eyes widened in disbelief and he wondered whether he’d heard wrong. Did he just tell me to keep trying?

Compared to how Yoongi had been on the day Jungkook joined the club, he’d changed. It’s quite subtle, but Jungkook could feel it. Lately, Yoongi relied more on his teammates.

“So cool!” Taehyung exclaimed, his eyes gleaming with admiration.

Hoseok approached Yoongi and lightly punched his side, grinning naughtily. “What is this? You’re being unusually cool today.” Without letting Yoongi give a response, Hoseok added, “But don’t forget. There are six people on the court.”

“I know that!” Yoongi spat. “Stop reminding me!”

Approaching Jungkook, Hoseok put a hand on his shoulder. “The same goes for you. You can always ask me to help when it seems impossible to do it alone.”

“I can help, too!” Taehyung raised his hand up.

Jungkook indeed had been thinking about how the others would be a great help to him if they played certain roles, but he hesitated. After all, Hoseok was his upperclassman.

This is a matter of winning and losing. There’s no time to waste for useless hesitation, Jungkook!

Having made up his mind, Jungkook said, “Then can I ask you guys a favor? Hoseok, can you expand your area of receiving? Since I’ll be standing near the sidelines, I think I won’t make it in time if he spikes farther away from the corner of the court. And Taehyung, can you cover the blockers’ back? In case he aims to blast through the block using his cross spike.”

“Whoa! This seems like a secret mission!” Taehyung made a 90-degree bow to Jungkook. “I shall obey the royal command, Your Majesty.”

Hoseok laughed. “Don’t worry, Jungkook. I, the great Hoseok, will live up to your expectation!”

Jimin slightly slapped Taehyung’s back. “It’s not a secret if everyone hears it. And stop with your old Korean dialect! You watch too many historical dramas!” Jimin then sighed in exasperation as he turned to face Hoseok. “I have nothing to say.”

“So mean! At least say something!”

Smiling proudly, Namjoon patted Jimin’s shoulder. “It’s been decided. I nominate Jimin to be our team’s captain next year.”

Seokjin cleared his throat. “Are you guys done yet? The referee is looking this way, you know.”

The game resumed with Sejong High’s serve. It’s the jump float server’s turn again. Taehyung, Hoseok and Jungkook simultaneously moved a step forward. The ball wobbled a lot more and it’s not as strong as before.

“Front!” Seokjin yelled from the front row.

“Alright!” Taehyung announced. He dashed forward and dove for the ball. Because of the impact of his fall, he accidentally hit the ball too hard and it flew too high up in the air. “Sorry, Jimin!”

“It’s fine! This is more than enough!” Jimin positioned himself under the ball and waited for it to fall. When it reached his hands, he tossed it to Yoongi who was waiting for him. Yoongi spiked it mercilessly towards the other side of the court.

Unfortunately, the ball hit #9’s body and bounced up in the air, giving them enough time to regroup and send the ball to their ace. Jungkook moved a step back, guessing the ace would spike the ball hard. The ace indeed spiked it powerfully, but he aimed it to drop right at the attack line. Jungkook cursed under his breath, knowing he wouldn’t make it in time to receive it. It’s impossible to receive a ball falling at more than 100km/hour towards the attack line while he was still standing at the end line.

Thankfully, Hoseok came to Jungkook’s rescue. He magnificently dashed sideways and rolled to save the ball. The other team seemed surprised that he’d managed to receive it. Yoongi took this chance to launch a sudden attack by spiking at second touch – which was usually used for tossing – and scored another point successfully.

“Thank you for saving that ball, Hoseok,” Jungkook said and scratched the back of his head apologetically. “I’m sorry I couldn’t receive it.”

Hoseok grinned. “See? Since I’m here, you can take it easy and get used to it. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon.” He jerked his head towards Yoongi. “No need to worry. No one can stop him if he gets serious.”

Jungkook nodded. “I’ll do my best to stop them from widening the gap.”

“Good determination. Let’s take back our points, shall we?”

The match had Hyewon on the edge of her seat from the start of the third set – Sejong High had won the first set and Hana High had taken back the second set. Hana High, fortunately, had always won the first two sets since yesterday. However, because of that, they’d never entered the third set during official match. She could tell that they were exhausted.

Wonwoo, who was usually chatty, hadn’t said a single word since the beginning of the match with Sejong High. And Hyewon took that as a bad sign. Sejong High was indeed a formidable opponent and Hyewon knew they wouldn’t be able to win that easily.

Hana High 24-23 Sejong High

The good thing was it’s Hana High’s match point. But the bad thing was, if Hana High let Sejong High get the next point, the match would be dragged because the score would go to deuce. And looking at how tired they were, it would be a struggle for them to score two points consecutively. The best option for them now was to use all the power they had left to win this point and end the match.

What made Hyewon worried more was that Jungkook had been looking down a lot, whether it was because of the fatigue or the lack of confidence. She clenched her fists around the metal railing, thinking hard about what to do. She couldn’t just let him be. She had to do something.

When it’s Sejong High’s turn to serve, Hyewon blurted out loudly, technically yelling, “You can do it, Jungkook!”

She hadn’t intended to shout like that. The words just slipped out from . She regretted almost right after. Not only Jungkook, but the whole spectators also turned to look at her. Her face flushed with embarrassment and she ducked her head, hiding her face in her hands.

“Don’t lose to them, Jungkook!”

Hyewon was surprised to hear Wonwoo shout beside her. She hadn’t expected him to yell after staying silent for that long. Turning to her direction, he gave her a thumbs-up as if saying, Good job!

Their shouts influenced the other spectators who were sitting on Hana High’s bleachers to show their support for the team. They also shouted their encouragements although they didn’t personally know Hana High’s players.

Hyewon’s embarrassment quickly faded. She cupped her hands around and started shouting, even louder than before. Though there’s not much she could do from the second floor, she could at least boost their morale.

After the crowd died down, the referee blew the whistle, signaling the start of the rally. Sejong High did a jump serve and Hoseok easily received it, smoothly sending the ball to Jimin. Jimin tossed the ball to Yoongi so quickly Hyewon couldn’t follow it with her eyes. Suddenly, the ball was already on the other side of the court, bouncing off the setter’s shoulder. That didn’t faze them and the ace swiftly approached the