A Family Outing and a Monster on the Way
Apparently, I'd made quite the impression on him.
I was standing there quietly, reading the message Ramon had left behind, when Minhyuk called out to me.
"Hyung, we're all set to go!"
"Coming."
I answered with a playful grin and headed outside.
Today was the day of a long-overdue family outing. More precisely, it was the day we were going to watch a football game.
I've been curious about this. Perfect timing.
It overlapped with the regular season, though the game dates didn't. High school games were usually played on Friday evenings after classes, while college games, though not always, were sometimes held on Saturdays.
And so, the day after our own game, we were able to go watch one thanks to tickets Coach Sanders had gotten for us.
"Be sure to thank Coach Sanders again for us."
"Will do."
Today's matchup was Oklahoma State University against Kansas State—both D1 schools in the conference known as the Big 12.
Oklahoma State also happened to be Coach Sanders' alma mater.
Honestly, I would have preferred to watch an Alabama game, the one I kept locked away in my heart, but it was simply too far away. Out of the question. So with tickets in hand, we decided to head to Oklahoma State, which was comparatively close.
Still, this is something.
Even if they belonged to a different conference than the one I'd eventually join, these were bona fide D1 teams, exactly my level.
"Got everything? We're leaving."
We piled into the car and set off for Stillwater, Oklahoma—about an hour and twenty minutes from our house. Listening to my sisters and parents chatter away, the drive flew by. The topic, naturally, was football.
"Oppa, you need to start getting ready."
"Hmm? Ready for what?"
"NIL!"
That rang a bell, but what was it again?
As I sat there blankly, Eunbi let out a sigh.
"You really don't care much about money, do you, oppa?"
"Me? I want money just fine. Who doesn't?"
—I said that, but truth be told, I hadn't given it much thought. The money would come on its own eventually, wouldn't it?
"You know we've been managing your social media, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, two businesses reached out to us recently. You know the Huddle Grill, oppa?"
"The burger place near our house?"
"Yep. They asked you to do a promotion. They don't really need the advertising, but the owner is apparently a football fan, so he wants to hand it to you."
"A promotion, huh..."
"It's not hard at all! You just go eat, take a picture, post it on social media, done. Minhyuk oppa and I will handle all the rest."
All I have to do is show up and eat?
Sounded pretty simple.
"Sure, I can do that. That's the place we'd grab takeout burgers from now and then. Easy."
"And the other one is Level Up Gaming Lounge."
"Where's that?"
"A gaming cafe. It's got computers and console game systems set up."
I didn't play games much, so I had no idea. Still, dropping by for a bit didn't sound bad. The fact that they'd reached out to me at all was flattering.
Me. In an advertisement.
Man, being a good person really pays off. Back in my track days, nobody ever paid me a scrap of attention.
"You just go and hang out for about an hour. Same as before—leave the photos and the promo reviews to us."
"Eunbi, you're more professional about this than I expected."
"In exchange! We're taking a 10% cut of the ad money."
"10%? Is that enough for you two?"
"More than enough!"
After all, if I'd been on my own, I wouldn't even have been on social media, and this was income that wouldn't have existed at all. Ten percent of it was nothing.
"So how much are we talking?"
"The Huddle Grill is offering $350 for the photo upload plus a story post."
"Oh. That's almost 500,000 won."
That's steep, no? For one visit to a burger joint?
Sure, it paled next to what I'd received from the Nike and Under Armour sponsorships, but that had been an exceptional case. And this time, all I had to do was show up and enjoy a delicious burger.
What a steal.
The gaming lounge was offering $400. Probably a little higher since the review would take about an hour.
Put the two together and that was $750 total—roughly a million won.
"That's insane."
"And it's only going to get bigger!"
Eunbi shouted, absolutely buzzing with excitement. Minhyuk, watching her with a fond smile, looked like a man doing mental math. Our parents, for their part, said nothing at all—which probably meant the whole thing had been discussed in advance.
"But you two are really okay with just 10%? Split between you, that's 5% each."
"Oppa! Making money has clearly warped your sense of money. This is a whole 10%! Promote twice and we pocket $75 between us."
Really? Well, good deals are good deals. This was pocket change I never could have earned on my own, and handing them 10% of it was nothing. I'd have given them more if they'd asked.
"We're here."
We'd been talking so long that before I knew it, we'd arrived at Oklahoma State.
The area around the stadium and the parking lots were already awash in a rippling tide of orange.
"Ooooh!"
"Amazing!"
My sisters were beside themselves. I was pretty impressed myself.
The energy here really is something else.
Wherever I looked, there was orange. Across the streets, tents stood in long rows and people were knocking back beer well before noon. The whole place had the air of a giant picnic. Families and friends, all dressed in orange, gathering in little clusters to eat together—it was a sight I'd never seen before.
"Whew! Now I really feel like we're at a game!"
My dad said, his face lit up with excitement. Was college football like this everywhere, not just here? At some point, it stopped being a mere sporting event and became a kind of regional culture all its own.
"When can we go in?"
"We can head in right now."
And speaking of which—there were so many people. The place was going to burst at the seams. This was really a college game, not the NFL?
We parked the car and made our way toward the stadium. The strains of unidentifiable instruments drifting in from every direction, the roars of the crowd, the fight songs—it all had a kind of romance to it. Add in the smell of barbecue and food that stung at the nose, and we were standing in the very heart of a festival.
"It's Pistol Pete!"
Eunbi shrieked, pointing at something. Pistol Pete, Oklahoma State's mascot, all cowboy hat, was taking pictures with fans. Kids and grown-ups alike were gleefully high-fiving him.
"..."
But for all this staggering energy and atmosphere, the real stars of the show were, in the end, the players out on that field. The thought made my longing to get to college swell up all over again.
Prove that I'm the strongest.
Even there. In front of all those thousands of people. Proving that I was the strongest of them all.
Just imagining it sent dopamine flooding through me.
When we reached the stadium entrance, we found a line stretching far into the distance. By the time our turn came, we'd bought some orange towels street vendors were selling, wrapped them around our necks, and filed inside.
"Whoa!!"
"Wahaha! This is incredible!"
For the record, this was my sisters' first time at a college football game in person, too. They'd only ever watched on TV, and seeing it live, they seemed doubly moved. The enormous field spreading out beneath the open sky, and the orange crowd already filling the stadium—the scale was beyond anything a high school field could offer.
"How many people are even here?"
Apparently hearing my murmur, my dad supplied an answer. "Boone Pickens Stadium holds about fifty thousand, give or take."
"Fifty thousand...!"
Our most recent game had drawn 9,000. That alone had been electric—the heat, the atmosphere, all of it no joke—and this was more than five times that number. The seats were filling up with barely an empty one in sight, and in the blink of an eye the whole stadium was drowning in orange.
"WAAAAH!!!"
"Go Pokes!"
"We have to win! Don't you dare lose at home!"
With that blazing energy all around us, we went to find our seats. Ours were in the central section with a clear view down onto the field—a really prime spot. Coach Sanders had apparently put some care into it.
"Great seats, too!"
"Ooh, nice, real nice."
Everyone settled in, thoroughly satisfied. And then the cheering hit me with far more force than it had on the walk in.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
"Go! Go! Go! Pokes!"
At some point Minhyuk was chanting along with the fight song, and the rest of us couldn't help laughing at the sight. Meanwhile, the giant jumbotron was playing highlight reels alongside footage of the players warming up.
"Look over there—they're stretching! They're huge!"
At Eunbi's words, I focused, and sure enough, there they were—truly enormous players. The physicality of college athletes was on a completely different level from high schoolers. Far more hardened, thicker frames, and power and speed radiating from every single movement.
These guys are barely three or four years older than me at most. Why are they so weathered already?
"I could beat them."
"I'm sure you could, oppa."
Hmm. Time to hit the weight room harder.
While I was mulling that over, Eunbi pointed at something again.
"That must be the running back!"
Oklahoma State's running back was running drills, and his footwork, his change of direction, his ball handling were unmistakably a cut above. Even from this distance, the sheer level came through loud and clear. So this was why college football drew popularity that high school leagues couldn't even compare to.
I want to go up against him.
Could the current me actually beat guys like that? At the camp I'd gone 11-on-7 with them, but those hadn't been starters, and the numbers were small. The players I was watching now were all D1 starters. They'd surely be stronger than the college players I'd seen back then.
Even watching just a few minutes of warmups, their speed and athleticism were clearly a dimension apart from anything at the high school level.
And then there's Alabama...
Comparing conferences was tricky, but word was that the SEC was among the strongest in the nation. And at the top of that SEC sat the Alabama Crimson Tide.
"Oof."
My blood's heating up more and more, isn't it?
Just from imagining it, my heart was pounding.
As time ticked toward kickoff, the stands grew hotter still. Fifty thousand fans gathered in one rolling wave of orange. It was, simply put, a staggering sight.
"GOOOOO!!"
"Pokes!"
At some point my sisters had been swept up in the madness too and started cheering for Oklahoma State. But it didn't feel awkward in the least. If anything, it felt so natural it was almost inevitable.
THOOM!
In that instant, every light in the stadium died, and the floodlights fell upon the field alone.
BOOM-boom!
Drums rising, louder and louder. At last the lights swung toward the gate where the players would enter, and with a billow of orange smoke, orange flags went whipping through the air.
"GO POKES! GO POKES!"
The roar of the crowd erupted, and with it, the home team burst through the smoke onto the field.
PAANG!
"WAAAAAH!!"
A cheer that shook the very earth. Before I knew it, the entire crowd was on its feet, towels whipping, fists thrust skyward.
...Damn.
Emotion came surging up from somewhere deep. The heat and the excitement made my head go numb. And if this was how it felt in the stands—looking out over a stadium drenched in orange in every direction—what must it feel like for the players walking onto that field? How could your blood not boil?
I want to run.
On a colossal stage like this. I wanted to run in front of everyone.
Gulp.
And Alabama's stadium held a hundred thousand—twice the size of this one.
On that stage, I would become, without question, the main character.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The flagship public university of the state—the University of Alabama. It offered outstanding programs across a wide range of disciplines, with law, business, and engineering especially renowned, but worldwide, its fame rested above all on its football team. One of the most decorated programs in the history of college football, with more national championships than almost anyone. A school that sent more players to the NFL Draft every year than nearly any other, churning out first-round picks year after year.
And so countless prospects dreamed of playing at Alabama—a university where the very best, the ones called elite, came to gather.
"A freshman? As a starter?"
"That's what I'm telling you."
In the locker room of this place, deep in the thick of the regular season, a bizarre rumor was making the rounds.
"Who said that?"
"I overheard the athletic director on the phone. He promised a starting spot to some kid enrolling next year."
"Who the hell is it? What kind of player gets promised a starting job the moment he walks in the door?"
"Could it be Dakorien Moore?"
"Nah, isn't he going to LSU? Pretty sure he's not coming here."
"Hmm, I've got no clue. Seriously, who is it?"
And just then, Isaiah Horton walked into the locker room. Lately he'd been seeing playing time at wide receiver as a substitute, and he was putting up respectable numbers. He hadn't cracked the starting lineup yet, but he was steadily building his footing with consistent snaps every game.
"Hey there, Horton. You've been flying out there lately, man. Seriously."
"Haha."
Horton gave an awkward smile at his teammate's praise. One of the guys who'd been chatting turned to him.
"Yo, but did you hear about that? Word is they're making an incoming freshman a starter next year."
"Wh-what?"
Horton froze. Then, after a beat, he shook his head stiffly.
"I—I'm hearing this for the first time too."
"...Really now. You sure you don't know anything?"
"Nope."
Suspicious eyes bored into him from every side. Dodging their gazes, Horton cleared his throat once and made for his locker. And when he opened the door and his face slipped out of view behind it—
a smile spread across his face.
He's coming!
The monster he'd been waiting for.
The one who would leave everyone speechless was coming here at last!