*Disclaimer: I know nothing about basketball so sorry in advance if I got some details wrong. 

_______________________________________________________________

Two days later. School starts for the rest of the students but to Seulgi, tryouts for the basketball team was the priority.

Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, with a hoodie over it, Seulgi shows up at the basketball stadium at 3:50 pm, 10 minutes before the designated time. As expected from such prestigious school, the stadium is grand and luxurious. Judging from the number of benches elevating toward the ceiling, the capacity of the stadium is roughly around 4,000 people. The seats are painted in alternating colors of red and blue, the school colors. Decorating the walls is an outline of the school mascot, a ferocious tiger, and flags from championships won.

Seulgi approaches the benches and notices some students that probably showed up early for the try out also. She sits down and glances around. There are 3 people around so far but more will probably stroll in as the time approaches.

“Hi. I’m Kang Seul.” Seulgi greets the guy next to her.

“Park Joy.” The guy greets back curtly after a quick glance at Seulgi. Joy is a cool guy with not much expression. People think he’s a cold person but in reality, he is just straightforward and likes to be concise. 

 “Are you trying out for the basketball team too?” Seulgi asks.

“Duh” Joy responses.

“Ruuuude!” Seulgi drags the word out with a little whine.

Joy smirks at the response.

“Hah! I guess you’re not so cool when you smile” Seulgi teases. “Cool hairstyle by the way” Seulgi continues.

“Thanks. Took me awhile gel it this morning though. I don’t think I can keep it up every day” Joy reveals with some disappointment. He had put in so much effort in dyeing the tips on his hair and spiking it up this morning that anyone who compliments it will go on his good list.

“Are you a freshman? So what position are you trying out for?” Seulgi bombarded Joy with questions once she notices that Joy had opened up.

“Mmh hm. Small forward” Joy returns to his curt answers since they’re no longer talking about his hair.

If Seulgi notices the change, she wasn’t bothered. They continue with this Q&A session until a group of people walks in. The basketball team.

There are quite a number of people the basketball team but all eyes are on the regulars, or the first string players, or the star members, however, you want to call it. Basically, the best players that are in the game 80% of the time. There were 8 such members before but two graduated last year. Meaning that probably only 2 or 3 people will make the official team this year.

The current team captain is Kwon Yul, 4^th year and the point guard. Flanking him are Im Yoong and Moon Byul, a 3^rd and 2^nd year. They are the power forward and shooting guard of the team. Looming behind Yul is Choi Sooyoung, another 4^th year, tallest member and, obviously, the center of the team. Together with Im Yoong, they are known as the wall of the team, one of the best defensive duos in Korea. The other two on the team are Kim Sowon and Liu Amber. They are very versatile second-year players on the team and are able to sub in for any position needed.     

“Welcome to the basketball tryout!” Yul starts off the speech.

“I’ll just be frank. It’s been four years since we last won the championship and we’re not planning for a fifth year. We are aiming for the top and that means that our training will be long and rigorous. You will be pushed to your limit and there will be days where you feel like every bone in your body is cracking. If you are not up for that and don’t have the ambition, leave now!” Yul’s voice is powerful and commanding.

The new students glance around nervously but no one got up to leave.

After a minute, Yul nods and continues. “Good. The tryout will run for the whole week for 2 hours a day. We will observe your skills, your potentials, and your teamwork for the next few days and sort you into either first, second, or third string by the end of try-out.” He lets the information sink it and then added with a whisper but still loud enough for them to hear, “Assuming you survive that long.” Yul smirked

The captain starts all of them off with a one-mile warm up on the track, the team members included. When everyone regroups inside the gym, they jump straight to pushups and sit-ups. Next is 5-step footwork drill where they are split into teams of 4, where one person completes a set of drill across the court before passing the baton to the next member to continue. They did this until everyone finishes the 5 drills starting with regular sprinting, then jump steps, two-foot jump stop, tripod lunge step, and finally crossover step.

By the time they are done with the drills, everyone collapses onto the floor. Seulgi’s legs feel like jelly.  She has never been pushed to this point before. She is wondering if her stamina is just weaker because of her gender but when she looked around, the other guys weren’t fairing that much better. Some even look pale. Joy looks expressionless but from the heavy breathing and beads of sweats on his face, you can tell he, too, is tired.  For the last 20 minutes of try-out, the captain finally rolls out the basketballs and have them practice some lay-ups.

Seulgi musters every ounce of energy she has left to pack up her stuff in the duffle bag and walks back to the dorm after practice was over. She catches up to Joy on the way back and the two acknowledge each other with a glance before slowly walking back to the dorm in silent.      

Once inside the elevator, Seulgi is surprised to see that Joy also reaches for the number 4 button.

I guess we’re on the same floor, she thought. Then they start to head in the same direction and through the same doors.

“You’re in Velvet suite too?” Seulgi gasps. She has only met one of her suitemates so far. A cute baby-faced guy named Umji. The owners of the other two rooms remained a mystery but she didn’t expect one of the owners to be her future teammate. Small world.

“Hm.” Joy nods in response. He is surprised too but is too tired to react.

 “Wow! We’re going to be both teammates and suitemates! Gosh, I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.” Seulgi faints annoyance.

“You talk like we already made the team.” Joy scoffs

“Hah! I saw your lay-ups and footwork. You got skills. If you don’t make the cut, then they’ll probably just take me and no one else” Seulgi says confidently.

Joy hates showoffs but he admires the confidence oozing out of Seulgi. He is not arrogant just self-assured. He knows his skills and where he stands with it. For good reason too. Joy was observing everyone during try-out and can’t help but admit that Seul has skills. Especially those quick step lay-ups that he pulled off near the end.

The two went into their respective room, showered, and knocked out in mere minutes. They didn’t even hear the last member of their suite enters with loud whispers and giggles.

“Byul! Aren’t you tired after practice?” The female voice said with giggles as her partner showers kisses on their entwined hand.