Sports Festival: Sabotage for Victory
With the basketball championship and a third-place finish in kickball, Yeoncheong's Class 2-1 had wrapped up the major team events. All that remained were the obstacle race and the relay — the traditional grand finale of every sports festival.
Yeoncheong, who had slipped off somewhere to change back into her gym uniform top, returned to her friends' side. Suyeon, who had been watching the first-years' kickball finals, gave her a look.
"Why do you keep changing clothes and coming back? Just wear one thing."
There was a method to it, actually. When competing, Yeoncheong wore the school gym uniform top; when cheering from the stands, she showed up in the class T-shirt.
"The class shirt's awkward to move around in. We've got the relay later, so I changed ahead of time."
Hasol, picturing how the class shirt had fit Yeoncheong, chimed in.
"Didn't you order it a size too small on purpose?"
"Did I? It was about the same size as my school uniform."
At Yeoncheong's answer, Hasol and Suyeon spoke at the exact same moment.
"Then it fits you perfectly."
"Huh?"
"School uniforms are made to fit like that."
This was news to Yeoncheong, who had spent her life wearing nothing but baggy boys' uniforms. Suyeon, staring openly at Yeoncheong's chest, snickered to herself.
"Aren't you going to have to buy a new uniform soon?"
"Why?"
"You're still growing, aren't you?"
Suyeon jabbed at Yeoncheong's chest with her elbow. The moment the implication landed, Yeoncheong's blue eyes sharpened.
The touching continued anyway, until Seoha — who had been quietly observing the two of them carry on — pulled Yeoncheong over to her own side. Now she was well out of elbow's reach.
"Aw, Seoha stole her."
But Suyeon seemed satisfied with how far things had gone, and let the prank drop.
"Yeoncheong's reactions really are the best."
From the front row of the stands, Nayun muttered under her breath.
"Ha... I wish every girl bigger than me would just die..."
For a murmur, it was loud enough for everyone to hear. Suspiciously so.
The remaining events proceeded grade by grade. Watching the first-years' obstacle race, Yeoncheong had a thought.
That was... surprisingly boring.
Standard stuff: a cylinder to crawl through, a balance beam masquerading as a tightrope. Missions like kicking a jegi five times or eating a hanging candy without using your hands, capped off with the scavenger hunt at the end.
The structure itself was fine. But the race as a whole lacked any real intensity, any sense of urgency.
"Is the obstacle race always like this?"
"Huh? Yeah. Why?"
"It's just kind of dull..."
Suyeon tilted her head, puzzled — wasn't this perfectly watchable? Yeoncheong swayed her head side to side for a moment, then stood up from her seat.
"Bathroom?"
"No, I need to ask the teacher something."
While Yeoncheong was off with the teacher, the first-years' obstacle race ended and an announcement called the second-years down. Hasol and the others headed to the field, and Yeoncheong came back.
"That was quick."
"Yeah. I asked about the obstacle race — turns out there's no rule against it."
There was no time for Suyeon to ask what it was. The runners took off in unison.
Because the obstacle race determined running order by random draw, luck mattered enormously. It had been chosen for the sake of fun, sure — but it also meant the gaps between classes could widen dramatically without warning.
That was exactly why Yeoncheong had found it so lacking in tension.
The second-years' race played out much like the first-years' had: a decisive gap opening at a specific stretch. A class cruised comfortably in the lead, entering the final event — the scavenger hunt. Yeoncheong's class was still floundering in the early obstacles.
Spotting the lead runner, Suyeon spoke up.
"Oh, look — Siyeon's running the anchor leg over there."
Even from a distance, Suyeon picked her twin out of the crowd with ease.
Siyeon read her slip of paper, then crumpled it up in sheer irritation. She scanned the stands, and started walking straight toward Suyeon.
"Hey! Baek Suyeon!"
"Huh? She's looking for me? What did I have on me...?"
Siyeon was walking over without even saying what item she needed. Yeoncheong, who had a pretty good guess, leaned in and whispered to Suyeon.
"Suyeon, you want to win, right?"
"Wh-what? Of course I do, obviously?"
A sudden left turn into a conversation completely unrelated to the race. Suyeon cocked her head.
"Then run away and stall for time. That slip — it's asking for you."
"C-can I really do that?"
Yeoncheong nodded. She had, after all, already cleared it with Teacher Jisu on her way back.
"Trust me?"
Suyeon bolted immediately, dodging Siyeon and darting into the middle of the field. Caught completely off guard, Siyeon's flustered panic was plain as day.
"Hey! Baek Suyeon! ...Ugh! Stop right there!"
Judging by her reaction, Yeoncheong's prediction had been dead on. Siyeon, who had made it all the way to the front of the stands, shot Yeoncheong a glare before taking off after her sister.
The broadcast club seized on the sudden chase and began commentating live, and the lower-ranked classes — who had been watching the race in bored silence — started to stir.
Then, when Yeoncheong confirmed that the second-place class had finished their leg, she too rose quietly from her seat.
"Seoha, that's the first-place class overall, right?"
"Yeah... what are you about to do?"
"Hm..."
Watching the top class's runner head toward the stands to find their item, Yeoncheong answered.
"Sabotage?"
Apparently because they were all girls — or maybe because they hated working up a sweat — Teacher Jisu had said that in all her years of sports festivals, no student had ever tried to sabotage a rival class before.
But Yeoncheong had four years of all-boys middle and high school sports festivals under her belt — four years that had come to resemble outright warfare. With victory now within reach, her body had begun to remember those old instincts.
The moment she saw the runner about to hand over the found item, Yeoncheong quietly went to work.
The anchor runner of the first-place class had sighed in relief when told what item she needed to find. It was something that had refused to turn up no matter how hard they searched — she'd genuinely worried they might lose first place over it.
The instant she raised both hands to receive it, a girl with sky-blue hair darted between them.
The runner stumbled back a step in surprise, then held out her hands again and demanded the item be tossed to her.
"Hey! That girl just grabbed it and ran!"
The student who'd been holding it was already empty-handed. The anchor runner stared, utterly dumbfounded, at Yeoncheong's retreating figure.
For a moment, everyone stood frozen by the back-to-back antics of Suyeon and Yeoncheong. Then the quicker students from other classes caught on and began spilling onto the field one by one.
Some joined the chase to recover the stolen item.
"Baek Suyeon! Stop right there! Everyone, hurry up and catch that girl!"
Others went to work obstructing runners still hunting for fresh items.
"They're looking for a red hat! Over there!"
And Yeoncheong's own classmates pooled their efforts to track items down through sheer word of mouth.
"Anyone with size 250 shoes! We need someone with size 250 shoes!"
Nayun watched the butterfly effect the two of them had set in motion and roared with laughter.
"BAHAHA! Ha Yeoncheong, Baek Suyeon — you absolute lunatics!"
In the blink of an eye the field had descended into total chaos — and yet the crowd was hotter than it had been for any event all day.
Students who had been mere spectators to the obstacle race had, at some point, become runners themselves.
Every last competitor ended up stuck at the final scavenger hunt, and a ferocious free-for-all broke out.
It was a scene you would never, ever have witnessed at an ordinary sports festival.
The grade head teacher and the PE teachers darted frantically back and forth worried about injuries, while even the older teachers, unable to hold it in, burst out laughing.
The second-years' obstacle race ended in pandemonium, and as the third-years prepared for their turn, the teachers went into an emergency huddle.
Suyeon and Yeoncheong dragged themselves back to the stands, utterly wrecked. Yeoncheong's first act was to check the results.
"Hasol, where did we place?"
"Sorry... fifth."
Nayun handed water to the two of them, half-collapsed across the stands.
"Hey, forget it. It's fine. Yeoncheong dropped the class that was in first down to fourth, so the gap's not even that big."
Seoha looked the two of them over with a worried expression.
"You're both not hurt?"
"Nah, I saved enough energy to run the relay. Suyeon, you holding up?"
Suyeon sucked in a ragged breath. The heaving of her chest suggested things hadn't been exactly calm on her end either.
"Exhausted. Don't talk to me. Baek Siyeon chased me like she was literally trying to kill me."
"Well, she's your family. Meanwhile every single person in that class looked at me like they wanted me dead."
"Really? Careful, then. Baek Siyeon said she's not letting you off either."
Yeoncheong — who had made more enemies in ten short minutes than most people make in a lifetime — suddenly burst into loud laughter. Startled, her friends turned to her in concern.
Her head resting against the floor of the stands, Yeoncheong shook it slowly. Her blue hair swept side to side against the boards.
"No... it's just... that was fun."
There was something so unguarded in her laughter that it spread to the others, one by one.
When the teachers emerged from their meeting, the second-years' obstacle race results were officially recognized. As for the third-years, it was agreed the event would proceed with a cap placed on the number of saboteurs per class.
It wasn't quite the free-for-all the second-years had enjoyed, but the third-years' obstacle race heated up plenty all the same.
Perhaps because everyone had burned through their energy in the obstacle race, the all-class relay ended in an almost anticlimactic fashion.
The relay runners from the top class in overall points had sprinted themselves into the ground chasing Yeoncheong, leaving nothing in the tank for the actual relay. Yeoncheong's class only needed to beat that one class — so they took first place with ease.
The entire student body lined up on the field once more to close out the sports festival.
The principal wrapped up his address — a reminder that the students had worked hard for two days, and should apply the same diligence to their studies as they had to running around the track.
Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for: the rankings.
The wildcard of the cheering-score bonus had gone to an entirely unrelated class, and from there, no surprises materialized. When Class 1 was named overall champions of the second year, Yeoncheong and her classmates erupted in cheers.
The second- and third-place rankings were announced in order, followed by the third-years' results. The principal cleared her throat once and looked out over the students.
"Now then... time to announce the prize, I believe?"
She let the suspense linger, then spoke.
"The first-place prize is a class movie outing."
"Huh...?"
An oddly underwhelming prize drew an oddly muted reaction. The bigger the expectation, the bigger the disappointment. Just as the students who'd narrowly missed first place burst out laughing —
"During class hours, of course."
"WHAAAAT!!!"
A single sentence flipped the entire mood. The principal went on to explain that, accounting for the school calendar, it would take place after the final exams — but nobody cared about that.
They would get to leave school and watch a movie. Legally. During class time.
Everything else they might get up to once outside was pure bonus.
Even while the second- and third-place prizes were being explained, Class 2-1 of the second year was still in an uproar. Teacher Jisu scolded her homeroom for the disturbance, but there was no sign of them calming down.
The principal soldiered on through the commotion with dignity and delivered her closing remarks.
"There will be no self-study session tonight. No club activities either. You've all run yourselves ragged, so go home early, rest well, and get back to studying hard tomorrow."
Then the mic was passed to the third-year grade head teacher.
"All right, everyone hear that? Third-years, go home today too. No end-of-day homeroom, so grab your things in the classroom and head straight out. No detours, and I mean it."
The third-years chanted the head teacher's name in unison.
"Second-years too."
The second-year head teacher relayed the same news in brief. Sure enough, the second-years celebrated by chanting her name as well.
"First-years have homeroom. Stay put."
At the final announcement from the first-year head teacher, the students — who had been quietly hoping all along — burst into groans of despair.
"Just kidding. Don't stay out playing too late — get yourselves home."
"We love you, Teach!"
"Teacher, marry me!"
With the first-years' joke taken in good stride, the sports festival came to a close.
Everyone filed out of the classroom still in their class T-shirts. There was hardly any reason to change back into school uniforms while still drenched in sweat.
Yeoncheong had just gathered her bag and was about to head out when Suyeon planted herself in front of her.
"Yeoncheong. I'm hungry."
"Hm? Go home and eat."
Suyeon puffed out her cheeks slightly.
"I can't walk another step..."
"Ask Seoha for a ride."
The comeback came without a beat of hesitation. So Suyeon laid a hand on Yeoncheong's waist.
"Hey. You know exactly what I mean, don't you?"
"Suyeon, I'm seriously exhausted... can't this wait till next time?"
"We'll just eat. Seriously, we'll eat together and then go our separate ways. That's it."
"Can I actually trust you on that?"
Suyeon linked arms with Hasol and Seoha on either side of her, then grabbed Nayun by the hem of her uniform as she tried to slip away.
"Obviously. I swear it on my friends."
"Hey, pledge your own stuff. Why are you pledging us?"
Nayun shot Suyeon a withering glare. It had no effect whatsoever.
"Great, let's go. Off we go."
Yeoncheong — who couldn't be bothered to cook at home anyway — accepted the invitation.