“Ugh, I couldn’t catch it after all…”
“Let’s promise for next time.”
As soon as the lights turned on, the summer assassin vanished.
So, in the wake of the war against mosquitoes, it was already August, right in the middle of summer.
Record heat warnings blanketed the nation day after day.
The scorching sun melted not just the central divider on the road but people too.
Amidst the stifling heat alerts, the scheduled regular event of the sports day loomed.
Is there even a point in holding a sports day in this weather when kids might end up with heat exhaustion or heat stroke?
…Fortunately, it seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking that way.
With parents’ concerned protests and the school’s appropriate flexibility, it was decided to hold the event indoors in the auditorium.
Unlike the elementary school sports day feeling, the middle school sports day was organized by grade.
Anyway, no classes today, just school.
With the day approaching, things to decide meant the classroom was noisy.
“Who in our class can kick well?”
“Byeong-hwa!”
“Me?!”
Including the time for the announcement, the homeroom teacher would occasionally visit the classroom during breaks to jot down names of students for individual events.
Of course, for team events, it was obvious everyone would participate since there were no choices.
That’s unavoidable, but the cruel process of objectivity among students led to classmates being selected for individual events.
As the events and participants started being filtered one by one, the chatter of what seemed like a normal sports day unfolded.
“The next event is… wrestling, so who do you think is the best wrestler here?”
“Dongha!”
“Ha ha ha.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, a boy immediately recommended Dongha when the teacher asked.
That suggestion, made without even that 0.1 seconds of hesitation, made some students chuckle.
People who seem likely to do well in wrestling = those who weigh more.
The boy simply put Dongha on the spot with that simple yet foolish equation.
In some ways, it wouldn’t be surprising if Dongha felt pretty hurt by that.
But Dongha, despite how he might appear, enjoys standing out.
“Yeah, I’m chubby.”
“Wow, right on the nose.”
Mimicking a comedian from some gag show, he patted his belly with jovial humor and laughed off the ridicule.
Unless someone maliciously recommended him, he wouldn’t have to participate in the individual events anyway.
For the mandatory team events, he could just pretend to participate and fill in the numbers.
“Hey guys, let’s not come in last… got it?”
“Yes!”
With students selected for the individual events, the preparations were complete.
Under the homeroom teacher’s reminder to not come in last place, the laid-back replies from classmates rolled in after the morning assembly.
Then came the morning of the sports day.
Siyeon and I, heading to school, were dressed in casual clothes.
Isn’t it obvious we should wear gym uniforms for a sports day?
Apparently, that’s an old saying now.
These days, there’s so much talk about school uniforms being a violation of rights that some places actually let students wear casual clothes instead.
There are even schools that don’t closely interfere with hair dyeing, but that was definitely not about our school.
Anyway, influenced by the trends of the times, we headed to school in perfectly normal casual wear.
The school had said it was okay to wear gym clothes, but…
‘Who would do that?’
In a situation where casual clothes were allowed, there was no way someone would be foolish enough to wear gym clothes.
We navigated through the auditorium, packed with kids in short-sleeve shirts, gathering together with classmates in an awkwardly tailor-made scene of no uniforms.
Since it wasn’t a class day, even smartphones weren’t being used.
It was obvious that we couldn’t sneak home, but I felt reassured with the optimal toy in my hand to pass the time.
“Class 3, over here!”
Meanwhile, the enthusiastic class leader in casual wear waved his hands to gather our classmates.
He had a clipboard and a piece of paper, along with a pen.
It looked like he was even in charge of attendance, checking off the members of Class 3 one by one.
“Ugh.”
Looking at the class leader’s position, which seemed like a loss on all fronts, I stifled a yawn behind my hand and took a quick breath before closing my mouth.
In my left pocket, a thick wallet; in my right pocket, my smartphone.
After all, the sports day would end before lunch.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel the need to bring along Gomteng.
Even if something related to monsters happened, Syeon was there with the Sea Snake.
Due to the limited space of the auditorium, most team events were in a tournament style.
With a fast pace, about four classes engaged in team jump rope, tug of war, and rolling a ball.
And even something newfangled like the “Wind Capturing Special Forces,” which involved flapping cloth to trap as much air as possible.
At the point when the team events were nearing completion, score calculations commenced.
Currently, Class 3 was tied for fifth place with Class 4.
Just as the teacher said, we were comfortably stuck in the middle to lower ranks, genuinely adhering to the principle of ‘just not coming in last.’
It wasn’t intentional; it was just our class’s skill level.
For some reason, the teacher, smiling widely at what was happening, returned with a plastic bag full of ice cream.
“Hey, everyone, have some ice cream!”
“Woohoo!”
In reality… the air conditioning was blasting, so the auditorium was not hot at all and was even a bit chilly.
Despite the temperature, the thought of free food entranced my classmates.
One by one, hands dove into the bag, accompanied by rustling noises and cheers as green, elongated ice creams were pulled out.
Melon-flavored ice cream bars, each priced at 700 won.
Even if it was for all the students in the class, the total would be just over 20,000 won, a fairly reasonable price.
After countless hands swept through the bag, I subtly reached in to grab two and handed one to Syeon.
Syeon preferred chocolate flavor ice cream.
That said, she didn’t dislike melon flavor.
Even picky western kids find it appealing when it comes to “Korean Ice Cream,” so in a way, it was the most neutral choice.
The melon ice cream that popped out from the long plastic wrap exuded a chill that proved it had just come from the freezer.
Rather than hastily biting into the frost-laden ice cream, I slowly took bits from the end and savored it.
As it melted nicely in my mouth, that’s when I finally bit down.
With a satisfying crunch, I rolled the reasonably solid ice cream around in my mouth, taking in the artificial sweetness.
That brief ice cream time came and went, and the sports day was back on.
With the team events neatly wrapped up, it was time for the individual events.
Now was the moment to do nothing but watch, fiddling with our smartphones.
“Alright, class 3’s score is! 28 points!”
The announcer, handling the sports day’s proceedings, shouted into the microphone, trying to muster fake energy.
The first individual event was football darts.
With a large dartboard ready to be inflated…
In other words, the task was simply to kick a Velcro football and stick it on the big dartboard.
That’s why they were looking for someone good at kicking.
The results were significantly better than the average scores of 10 points from other classes.
Our class, tied in the middle ranks, had broken free to settle into fourth place.
The next individual event was wrestling.
Aside from the vast air mat serving as the arena, it was straightforward and honest wrestling.
As I glared at my smartphone, when it was time for Class 3, I peeked up.
Fat kid vs. fat kid.
Students pushed into the arena without any technique, relying solely on their weight.
But Dongha’s stance, gripping the sash tightly, looked quite impressive.
“Here I gooo, small!”
“Grrraaaahh!”
With that bizarre shout, the match ended in under two seconds as the opponent hit the ground.
What just happened was not just Dongha using brute strength to toss the other guy.
While pulling his opponent towards himself, he extended his right leg and caught the left inside leg with his foot, yanking it while pushing strongly with his right shoulder.
Dongha truly dominated the wrestling arena; one could say he swept it away.
With a lolling tongue, he returned to our class.
“Hey, I knew I could count on you!”
With a big grin, Dongha’s unusually enticing vibe drew cheers from his classmates.
With Byeong-hwa and Dongha’s consecutive performances, our class quickly climbed to third place.
I approached Dongha, now resting in his seat, with sweat dripping in this cold auditorium as he basked in victorious glory.
Like an athlete taking a break after an intense wrestling match, Dongha had his elbows on his knees, head bowed low.
“What are you doing?”
I tossed the question, and he glanced up with a grin.
With his fingers forming a V sign, he tucked his index and middle fingers in and, after catching his breath, said briefly.
“My dad used to be a wrestler.”
Only after hearing that response did I realize that Dongha’s impressive leg hook skill was no mere coincidence.
No wonder he must have received some intense early training.
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.