The Final Day of Camp
Amid the endless stream of articles, Eunbi scoured the web desperately for any news about Jaehyuk.
But for some reason, there was nothing to be found.
As if someone had applied pressure behind the scenes to keep the articles from being written at all.
Something's off. Really off.
She picked up her smartphone and checked the family group chat.
There, as always, were photos of food taken with obvious pride at some nice-looking restaurant — photos of Jaehyuk flexing for the camera.
"So he didn't get eliminated, but honestly, I have no idea what's going on over there. Not a word today."
"No news is good news, isn't it? The important thing is he survived."
Minhyuk answered her muttering from the living room, where he was watching football on TV. Just as he said, Jaehyuk didn't seem to have been cut, which was a relief. Well, truthfully, a camp like this wasn't the kind of thing that left a mark on a career anyway — even an elimination wouldn't have changed much.
"If you're that curious, why don't you just ask him?"
"Ask him what?"
"That part I don't know either. You're the one who kept whining about it."
"I did not!"
The same old sibling bickering as always.
Watching them, their father happened to walk into the living room and chimed in. "Has Jaehyuk not been in touch since then?"
"I think he's already asleep. Rest is training too, or something like that."
"As long as he comes home safe, that's all that matters."
That's what he said, but judging by the way his lips kept smacking, Kim Kyungtae clearly had plenty of questions of his own.
At the same moment, Park Heewon, who had brought out fruit for Eunbi and Minhyuk, asked carefully, "Is there really no news anywhere else? Social media or anything?"
"Hmm, let me take a look."
Eunbi pulled up his social media accounts, while Minhyuk, as usual, went to check Lejit.
His social media was nothing special.
The only thing worth noting was that his follower count had grown even larger than before.
And the season's already over, yet it keeps climbing steadily.
Well, any true football fan would keep digging for related news long after the season ended. Most of the attention was focused on the NFL and college players, of course, but some of it trickled down to the high school scene too.
With the recent camp coverage and the way he'd sent Raysheen Guillory packing, Jaehyuk's stock was rising by the day. If he made it safely through the rest of camp, who knew — it might climb again.
"Huh? Found it."
"Huh? Found what? What is it?"
Minhyuk, who had been sprawled across the couch scrolling through Lejit, bolted upright, and the whole family crowded around him.
"What is it? Show me."
"This."
On the screen Minhyuk pointed to, there was a single post.
The content was vague at best.
It looked like the usual fuss kicked up by one of Jaehyuk's fans, the kind of thing that happened all the time.
But this wasn't the only post.
Reading the posts, Minhyuk kept gasping whoa over and over, utterly awestruck.
"So he beat college players too? But how is that even possible?"
"If it's Jaehyuk, it's possible. Though... what is this site? There's so much profanity, it's kind of uncomfortable."
"Huh? Oh — I think it's just these people. It's normally a pretty normal site, so..."
Minhyuk had been so worked up over the news about Jaehyuk that he'd completely forgotten the parents were reading over his shoulder.
Oblivious or not, Eunbi asked in a voice bursting with excitement, "If he beat college players, then the scouts and officials must have seen it too, right? I mean, Jaehyuk oppa even went there with one of the Alabama scouts in the first place."
"I'd imagine so?"
"Then couldn't he earn a starting spot? At a D1 school?"
At Eunbi's words, Kyungtae and Heewon's hearts began to race.
For a family where everyone except Jaehyuk loved football, a starting position at a D1 program was nothing short of a dream.
Football was, by an overwhelming margin, the biggest sport in America. So big, in fact, that college football rivaled even the famous MLB and NBA in scale.
And where the stage was that large, the competition was just as brutal. For a freshman to walk straight into a starting job was the kind of thing that got written into the record books.
"Then that would be incredible. Shouldn't we invite the whole neighborhood and throw a party?"
"We should! We definitely should!"
At the sudden talk of a neighborhood block party, Eunbi and Minhyuk's faces froze. For the kids, this was decidedly unwelcome territory.
But Kyungtae and Heewon, seemingly blind to their children's feelings, were already drawing up plans for the party preparations.
"...Jaehyuk oppa's just going to sneak off alone again with some training excuse, isn't he?"
"Haah."
It was great that Jaehyuk was doing so well.
But the two siblings could already feel a headache coming on.
The final day of camp had finally dawned.
Today's schedule was simple: the 22 players who had survived to the very end would compete against each other in an 11:11 matchup.
After that, no more coaching — the winner would be settled cleanly on the field, followed by a brief speech from the sponsors and an awards ceremony to close things out.
Frankly, I didn't care what came after.
I just wanted to win, and win fast.
'Picking out the last man standing would've been cooler, though.'
Shame about that.
Then again, everyone played a different position, so it was never going to work anyway.
When I stepped onto the field, a few players were already there, looking like they'd shown up since the crack of dawn.
But for some reason, the moment I arrived, the atmosphere shifted in a subtle, unmistakable way.
"......"
"......"
Watchful eyes everywhere.
Nobody stared outright, but the furtive glances flicking my way were honestly hard to ignore.
Some of them looked at me with expressions wound tight with tension, and from that alone I could guess what was going on.
'They're wary of me.'
Unlike yesterday, today's game was between us — the players themselves.
Which meant, depending on how the teams shook out, I could become the enemy.
Made sense, really. Even if it was only seven of them, we'd beaten a college team. From their perspective, their stomachs had to be churning.
If they didn't end up on my team.
Then losing today was basically a foregone conclusion.
"Hey."
"Oh, Mateo."
Just then Mateo appeared out of nowhere and greeted me abruptly. Normally Hopkins would have been the one playing that role, but he hadn't made it onto the field yet.
"Thanks for yesterday."
"Yeah."
Thanks was right.
Thanks to him, I'd managed to grow my potential too.
'Time to put it to the test.'
My upgraded Position Aptitude.
Sure, it had only gone from C- to C, but I figured I'd feel the difference.
Come to think of it, I'd grown quite a lot since I first started playing football.
My durability and strength had both started at Grade D.
Now they were both at Rank C — and I'd gained abilities on top of that.
My speed had climbed from C to B as well, putting it in a completely different league from before.
And it wasn't as if raising one stat simply boosted that one isolated ability, either.
'My strength went up, and my 100-meter time got shorter.'
Every stat was organically interconnected like that.
In other words, I was growing stronger at a relentless pace.
Even with a monstrous talent like the Gift already in my pocket.
"I'm giving it everything today."
"Hm?"
Mateo's voice carried a hard-edged resolve. When I turned to look at him, he pointed a finger straight at me.
"I'm going to beat you, Jaehyuk."
"Ah, right. We probably won't end up on the same team."
For the sake of team balance if nothing else, the staff were sure to split the two of us apart.
Which meant Hopkins would probably end up on Mateo's side.
"I'll show you the difference between us. I know your situation — don't expect any mercy."
"Good. You shouldn't give me any."
Mateo flashed a small grin instead.
The guy who was always expressionless has been smiling a lot these past two days.
Let's see if he can still smile once the game starts.
This insufferable punk.
'It's definitely not because I'm jealous of that S+ aptitude. I just can't feel satisfied unless I win, that's all......'
The thought made me feel like some petty little man, so I shut it down right there.
I spent the time loosening up my body, and before long every player had come down to the field.
Hopkins made a big theatrical show of greeting us, and then the staff appeared, old man Nick at their head.
"You've all worked hard these past days."
A few short words.
Not that anyone said it out loud, but the coaching after the testing had been brutal.
I'd personally welcomed the challenge and thrown myself into it, but who knew how the others had taken it.
"Honestly, a skills camp isn't some grand occasion. It's a place for everyone to come together, share what they know, and sharpen each other."
Unlike usual, Nick spoke gently, meeting each player's eyes one by one. When his gaze finally landed on me, he flashed a sly smile.
"Anyway, today it finally ends. Use the techniques and instincts you've built through our coaching, and go run your hearts out."
When Nick finished, one of the coordinators stepped forward and spoke.
"We'll be assigning teams now. As you know, today is the final event of camp, and we'll be playing an 11:11 game. When your name is called, move to my right."
One by one, names rang out, and with each one, faces lit up or fell.
"Huh? Ah—"
"Mmm......"
How would the teams shake out?
Frankly, from a sponsor's perspective, they'd want to sign the very best players for endorsement deals. To make that happen, the sensible play would be stacking one side with all the strong players and dumping the weaker ones on the other.
But.
"Kim Jaehyuk. Right side."
"OOOOH!!"
"Holy crap......"
The moment my name was called, gasps erupted from every corner of the field.
The teams settled exactly, to the inch, the way I'd predicted.
There was just one strange thing about it.
"So this is how they balance it."
The strong team versus the weak team.
Except the weak team had me on it.
They'd swept every player who'd shown even a hint of strength over to that side — and dropped me here all by my lonesome.
"Eh, I can work with this."
"I don't mean to disrespect you, but honestly, if you take Kim Jaehyuk out of the equation......"
Mateo's team, brimming with swagger.
Our team, on the other side, visibly rattled.
"Is this even right?"
"I know Jaehyuk's on our side, but still......"
Haah, there they go again.
Do I still have something left to prove?
"Hey."
"Uh, y-yeah?"
"Don't worry about it. Just give me half a player's worth of effort. I'll handle the rest all by myself."
If I'd said this on the first day, a torrent of curses and dismissive heckles would've come flying at me.
"Gulp."
"Oh......"
"Not bad."
But now, there wasn't a single soul on this field who could afford to look down on me.