Three hours before Chanyeol’s semi-final match would start the day, Kyungsoo was already knocking on Chanyeol’s hotel room door at seven in the morning. Kyungsoo had woken up at five in the morning, a normal time he was used to waking at when he was on the morning shift rounds.

Kyungsoo, then, had to take three different subway trains before reaching Chanyeol’s hotel in another district than the one he lived in.

Kyungsoo had managed to take the day off but only in a partial sense because he still had to come to work for a few hours later in the evening, but just for a while to cover half a shift.

Until then, Kyungsoo had enough time to be “adult”-sitting Chanyeol. Babysitting felt like a more proper term but when the person you had to watch in question was thirty years old and over 6-feet tall, it seemed a bit odd to be calling them a “baby”.

But, Kyungsoo never would have thought that Chanyeol would end up like this.

“Chanyeol, it’s me Kyungsoo. Are you awake?” Kyungsoo knocked on the hotel room door. He had been doing that for a while now but Chanyeol didn’t seem to be responding.

Kyungsoo shifted the strap of the duffel bag on his shoulders, as he stretched his arm out again to knock on the door. Kyungsoo didn’t want to be too loud and wake the other people from how loud he was knocking and calling out for Chanyeol.

Knowing Chanyeol now, Kyungsoo was rather worried about the unresponsiveness. If this lasted any longer, Kyungsoo would have gone down to the hotel receptionist and asked them to call the phone in Chanyeol’s hotel room.

To make matters more pressing, Chanyeol didn’t even own a cell phone and Kyungsoo wondered if Chanyeol even knew how to use one anymore.

He wasn’t likely going to call or accept calls but he could text at least, couldn’t he?

Moments later, Kyungsoo felt something poking on the toes of his shoes and he looked to the floor to see the hotel key card slid under the door towards him.

Instead of opening the door for Kyungsoo from the inside, Chanyeol had slipped the key card from under the door and Kyungsoo had to bend down to the floor to pick it up and unlock the door from outside.

“Good morning, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo greeted the moment he unlocked the door and swung it open, stepping one foot into Chanyeol’s hotel room.

Chanyeol nodded but did not greet Kyungsoo in return.

Chanyeol was already dressed in his white dress shirt and grey trousers but he still had a towel around his neck and his hair was obviously still very damp, having just gotten out of the shower and changing into his clothes.

“Your match is at ten this morning. I think we’ll just take a taxi there. You might get uncomfortable with the commuter rush at the subway station especially at this time of the day.” Kyungsoo announced, putting his bag down on top of a drawer. “That Takeda guy is coming to Seoul this evening so until then, I have to watch over you.”

Chanyeol nodded again, tugging on the ends of the pink towel hung around his neck.

“Your match today is against uh…” Kyungsoo pulled out his phone and double-checked on the email sent by Takeda, “…some guy named Chou Ming-hsun from Taiwan.”

“Oh”, Chanyeol responded, “I know him.”

“It says here that you’re playing for your best of three matches. You already won yesterday’s match so if you win today, you’ll advance to the finals immediately.” Kyungsoo repeated what was informed to him in the email.

“If he wins, then I need to play another match since we both have one wins each,” Chanyeol informed, pulling the towel off from his neck.

“Yeah, that’s how it is.” Kyungsoo affirmed, “This is all professional stuff I’m not familiar with. I still play one-off matches against middle school students for class promotions,” Kyungsoo chuckled to himself. “It will take me two decades to get to your level if I ever do.”

Chanyeol picked up his Go book from a table and stared at the cover for a while, before turning his head to Kyungsoo, “Why are you playing against kids? Aren’t you a bit advanced for that?”

“No, I am not,” Kyungsoo explained, “I actually just rejoined the Go association less than two years ago and as of now, I’m still at the 6-geup rank. I did rise from the beginners 30-geup to my current intermediate amateur rank in that time though.”

“That’s odd. I remember signing you up to join the association when were in high school,” Chanyeol noted, putting the book down on the table. “Did you quit Go?”

Out of all the times that Chanyeol chose to talk, now was a rather bad time for Kyungsoo. How was he going to explain to Chanyeol that yes, he did quit Go indeed and had forgotten about it for over ten years until only recently?

It wasn’t about quitting the game that Kyungsoo was worried about. It was that Chanyeol really loved Go and Go was all he lived for now.

Sure, Kyungsoo hadn’t been a good friend by going off contact until now but quitting what used to be an activity they used to spend all their time on, where they formed lots of treasured memories with felt like a betrayal to Chanyeol. 

Hell, if it wasn’t about Go either, Chanyeol wouldn’t even be talking this much like he was doing now.

“Yeah, I sort of did,” Kyungsoo admitted. “I got busy with school and then I went to the military so I didn’t have the time for all of that.”

“I’ll just have to teach you again, I guess,” Chanyeol looked towards Kyungsoo, smiling softly.

Kyungsoo was worried that Chanyeol would be angry or upset at the revelation but he did not. At least, that was one thing about Chanyeol that did not change.

Kyungsoo began to wonder how much of the Chanyeol he used to know was left inside there. In fact, was it still there or had it all gone away?

Kyungsoo called a taxi to pick them up in front of the hotel. As they were getting ready to leave the hotel room, Chanyeol handed out his black tie to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo stared at the tie for a good minute, confused, before he had an idea of what Chanyeol meant by the gesture. “Do you want me to put your tie on for you?”, Kyungsoo asked.

Chanyeol nodded, “Yeah”.

Kyungsoo hadn’t gotten used to this yet and he had yet to learn the full list of what Chanyeol was capable and incapable of doing by himself yet.

Kyungsoo thought he knew Chanyeol but it didn’t seem like it. Maybe he never got to know Chanyeol or he just had to relearn the entire existence that was Park Chanyeol.

“Sure, bend over a little bit,” Kyungsoo requested, turning Chanyeol’s collar upwards and fixing the tie in a Windsor knot around his collar.

Chanyeol did as he was told, bending his neck and head forward and slightly lower so Kyungsoo could easier reach his collar without having to tiptoe to match the height difference.

To have Chanyeol bend his head over like that only made Kyungsoo realize that Chanyeol had not even properly dried off his hair, least to say comb it.

After Kyungsoo finished knotting the tie, Chanyeol had picked up his briefcase and was about to walk to the door when Kyungsoo caught him by the hem of his coat.

“No, not yet,” Kyungsoo halted. “You are a professional Go player going to play in one of the largest tournaments. You can’t go there looking like that.”

“But I look like me,” Chanyeol responded softly, puzzled.

“I wasn’t talking about that.” Kyungsoo shook his head.

Pointing it out was useless. Chanyeol wouldn’t understand and even if he did, it would take ages until he did. There was no time for that now. Today’s main event and the important schedule was to make sure Chanyeol arrived at the tournament safely, played his game and returned after the match safely until Takeda arrived.

Kyungsoo rummaged through Chanyeol’s luggage and found a comb, fortunately. Kyungsoo pulled the pink towel off the rack again and sat down on a chair, while Chanyeol sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the chair with his back facing Kyungsoo.

“Does Takeda comb your hair for you?” Kyungsoo inquired, curious at how Chanyeol seemed presentable in the pictures compared to in real life.

“Only before a match. Sometimes it’s Saito-san,” Chanyeol muttered.

“How about your clothes? Who takes care of it for you before a match?”, Kyungsoo further questioned, combing through some tangles in Chanyeol’s moppy and thick black hair.

“I don’t know. The association gives me clothes to wear in the morning before a match,” Chanyeol answered, flatly.

“I think I might have to speak with the people from the Japan Go Association,” Kyungsoo stated.

“Sure”

“Why did you stay back in Japan anyway? I know you went there to train under a master but why didn’t you come back after you were promoted to professional?” Kyungsoo asked the questions he wanted the answer to even if he was unsure whether Chanyeol would be able to give him the answers he was looking for.

“It’s harder to be a professional here in Korea. Only four people are promoted to professional every year. If I didn’t go to Japan, it would take longer for me to become a professional. Besides, my mother and sister are there now. I can’t leave them,” Chanyeol answered.

Kyungsoo was quite taken aback by Chanyeol’s answer. Takeda’s words began to ring and echo in his head like a warning alarm. Chanyeol still believed and talked as if they were alive.

Kyungsoo was afraid that he had dug too deep and he didn’t want to frighten Chanyeol just yet by unintentionally inciting unwanted memories, especially considering what Chanyeol was going through and that he had an important match in a few hours.

Kyungsoo quickly changed the topic to Go instead. At least that got Chanyeol talking even if a little.

Before the match, Kyungsoo managed to pick up breakfast for himself and Chanyeol at a fast food restaurant on the same street as the hotel.

Chanyeol, of course, only stood behind the shorter Kyungsoo and pointed on the menu to what he wanted instead of relaying it verbally to the lady taking their orders.

If ordering food involved a Go board and the pieces, then Chanyeol probably would be able to talk just a little bit more.

After being dropped off by the taxi on the street in front of the large convention hall in the middle of a business district in Seoul; Kyungsoo was about to reach into his pocket for his staff pass as a member of the South Korean Go player’s association but instantly retracted his hand when he realized he was holding Chanyeol’s hand.

It wasn’t because he didn’t want to let go of Chanyeol’s hand but the fact that he was just about to walk up there into the tournament hall and present himself as a staff member of the South Korean Go association; while accompanying and being in charge over a player from the Japan Go Association.

Then again, Chanyeol was a former member of the South Korean Go association and was well respected and liked by his fellow countrymen, even if he was playing for the other team now.

That seemed like some sort of television drama-like betrayal, even if Kyungsoo wasn’t really a staff member of the tournament for the South Korean Go Association. He had just gotten the pass from Sehun, who was conveniently the association’s president’s nephew.

In reality, Kyungsoo’s rank was too low to be playing in such a tournament and he hadn’t been in the association long enough to be considered as a staff member either.

Kyungsoo ditched his intention to use his staff pass and hold Chanyeol’s hand instead, walking him up the stairs and down the hall leading to the venue.

Outside the match hall in the hallway, lines of people were waiting outside against the wall. There were people from all over the world ranging from staff members, players, association committee representatives and even a few journalists and people from the press.

Kyungsoo gulped at the sight of the crowd leading up to the desk for Chanyeol to register his participation in the day’s match.

Kyungsoo halted near the glass doors, refusing to take the step inside yet.

Almost everyone here would recognize Chanyeol and try to come up and talk to him. The press would be likely shoving their cameras in Chanyeol’s face and trying to interview him too.

How was this so inconvenient that Kyungsoo was not briefed what to do by Takeda.

Kyungsoo was more uncomfortable at how Chanyeol would handle this than not knowing what to do.

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asked, leaning over Kyungsoo’s shoulders.

“I’m good,” Kyungsoo bluffed. “Are you alright, though? There are a lot of people here who want to talk to you.” Kyungsoo sighed, slapping a hand over his forehead, “Why am I asking you this anyway? You’ve been in hundred matches before. You know what to do obviously but I’m worried about you.”

“You are nervous, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol pointed out, tugging on Kyungsoo’s sleeve.

“Yeah, I am,” Kyungsoo admitted, removing the hand from over his forehead. “What do you usually do with so many people around like this?”

“Uh…” Chanyeol gaped, “They ask me questions and I answer them to Takeda. Then, Takeda answers them for me.”

“Okay then, but are you okay with the crowd? Will you be alright?” Kyungsoo asked, concerned.

“Don’t leave me alone, please,” Chanyeol pleaded, tugging harder o