The match is now tied and down to the wire. It’s currently the last set. The whole stadium is now silent as everyone waits in anticipation for the next move. The prodigy is about to make history.

Commentators around the world are saying he could be the best badminton player Korea has ever produced and now has the chance to be the youngest Korean to be World Number #1.

He was down by 4 points, but his relentless energy and quick thinking gave him the opportune moments needed to get back in the clutch. Now it was anyone’s game, but he plans to make it his game once and for all.

All he needs to do now is get two points, and he makes it to the history books.

The umpire signals the start of his service. It’s time.

He notices how close his opponent is to the net and decides to dish out a long service to the back. As he serves the shuttlecock his opponent’s already getting at the back ready to smash it right back at him, he was too predictable.

Instinctively he readies his backhand swing to anticipate the smash. It comes in at a blazing speed, the audience doesn’t even see it coming. But the prodigy’s backhand is even faster, and he deftly drops the ball to the near the right side of the net, too far for his opponent to recover.

The crowd instantly goes wild! You could feel the trembles of excitement fill the air. It was now or never for the prodigy.

He could tell his opponent was getting exhausted, but his own body was giving out and he couldn’t risk a deuce. As the umpire signals the start of the potential match point service, the crowd once again turns silent.

The prodigy shows no emotion and serves the ball close to the net. The shuttlecock barely grazes the top of the net as it loses momentum, and everything slows down from there. His opponent doesn’t even move, thinking it’s going to be short.

But the prodigy has practiced this service type of service for years.

A tense silence fills the stadium for a few seconds, and a whistle is heard from the umpire as the shuttlecock drops exactly on the line.

“Point! To Park Junseo!”

Junseo kneels on the ground. He can’t believe his ears, this is too good to be true. He has won, all the hard work has finally paid off! The crowd starts to chant his name:

“PARK JUNSEO!” “PARK JUNSEO!” “PARK JUNSEO!” “PARK JUNSEO IF YOU DON’T WAKE UP THIS INSTANT, WE WILL BE LATE FOR THE TRYOUTS!”

Wait what? Jaesung?

“JUNSEO YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE”

A splash of freezing water suddenly hits Junseo’s face and he wakes up in a jolt.

“What the hell pabo! What was that for?!” Junseo’s still dazed, but he can see Jaesung in his badminton gear.

An unfazed Jaesung starts throwing Junseo’s badminton uniform, his racket, and a towel to the newly awakened, and slightly wet, Junseo.

“Hyung don’t you remember what day it is? It’s the TRYOUTS! It’s 7:30 in the morning and if you don’t get your moving, we’re going to be late and coach is going to murder us! You’re lucky I expected this to happen.” Jaesung starts getting the pre-made breakfast and drinks from the fridge and place one in Junseo’s already packed up sports bag.

“Wait what……. CRAP”

Junseo is known to his friends and everyone who follows badminton in Korea, as the prodigy. At a young age, he showed exceptional skills that even surpassed some of his seniors.

Scouts took quick notice of this and this bagged him a scholarship when he applied for college; securing him a loft nearby campus and a reasonable allowance.

Everyone expected him to enter the National team earlier in the year when he was declared eligible, but a shoulder injury held him back. Now it’s his chance to prove he can bounce back from it.

That’s IF he can make it on time to the tryout that is.

“Why is it so hard for you to wake up EVERY SINGLE DAY? Even on an important day such as this?” Jaesung’s by the door now. A bit calmer now, but still pretty much tense.

“Cut me some slack we had last minute training yesterday! I can’t believe you don’t even look tired.” Junseo’s already in his badminton gear and the two proceed to head out to the elevator.

Jaesung shakes his head as he presses the elevator button going down. “That’s because I don’t stay late up at night watching random Youtube videos like a zombie. I swear I don’t get how you find entertainment in cat videos, it’s mind-numbing and childish.”

“Says the one who still watches Super Sentai.” Junseo says this under his breath but Jaesung hears this, playfully punching him on the shoulder. They both share a laugh as they wait for one of the elevators.

Junseo met Jaesung in his high school’s badminton club and has been his doubles partner ever since. Although a year younger than Junseo, you could describe him as Junseo’s caretaker.

A condition for accepting the scholarship was that Jaesung was brought with him. He is pretty skilled himself in badminton, not as great as Junseo, but it’s Jaesung’s foresight that keeps him one step ahead of most of his opponents.

One elevator arrives, and as Jaesung enters it he notices Junseo rummaging through his bag. “I made sure to put everything you needed hyung, so get your in here! I’ve been trying to stall coach but he’s getting too worked up.”

“Well you forgot one thing, my lucky sweatband! You go ahead.”

“You haven’t even washed it in a week! Just please hurry up, because I am NOT going to explain to coach why we are late.” The elevator door closes and as it goes down Junseo presses the elevator button before sprinting back to the loft.

He finds it under his bed and as he exits dorm another elevator had just arrived but was slowly closing as soon as he stepped out.

“Hold the door please!” He swears he saw a couple of people inside, but he wonders why they couldn’t see him or even hear him. The elevator seems so far now all of the sudden.

He mad dashes for the elevator door and in instinct (more likely desperation) instead of pressing the elevator button, he sticks his right arm in what’s left of an opening in the elevator. Completely forgetting the said right side had his shoulder injury, he crashes in the elevator door with a resounding thud.

The pain that followed felt like his shoulder was being crushed. It wasn’t as painful when it got injured, but it still felt pretty bad. He noticed 4 women were in the elevator, and both were using their earphones and listening to whatever it was on their phones.

They were pretty shocked to see a very distressed Junseo enter. They all seemed to be in… matching blue hostess uniforms? Junseo didn’t bother thinking anymore and just entered.

“What the hell, they weren’t even paying attention. That could have been worse! How rude and irresponsible.”Junseo had the restraint to say this in his mind, but he what he did not have enough restraint on was blurting out the last few words.

Unfortunately for him, the red-headed girl nearest to him heard him.
 

“Excuse me, I’m sorry if we didn’t hold the door for you but you don’t have to call us rude or irresponsible. You shouldn’t have just stuck out your arm in the first place!” The red-head was starting to fume but was currently being held in place by her blonde friend.

“Well, you’re lucky I didn’t reinjure myself! I have an important tryout today and if I don’t make the team, I’m blaming you!”

Junseo’s calmer than this, but the pressure of today and his tardiness got the better of him.

“How was it OUR fault? You ran here! And you look just fine”

“FINE? You’re not the one in pain!”

The elevator was filled with shouts, and luckily after a few tense seconds, it was ground floor. “I HOPE YOU LO-”

Before finishing those words, the redhead's friends were able to pull her out of the elevator.

The blonde girl stayed a bit behind to apologize “Sorry about that, our friend’s usually not like this. Good luck with your game.”

She bows and makes a quick exit to her friend “Exy calm down we’re going to be late!”

“Good job Junseo, what a great way to start the day”