Chapter 222: A Rowdy Sports Day (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 222: A Rowdy Sports Day (3)
After a brief chat with the fans, we moved to the futsal arena.
Park Ju-woo had carefully brought along the slogan a fan had given him: “Cheong-hyeon, the best defense is a >>visual<< attack.” It was a brilliant phrase.
Kang Gi-yeon scanned the area and spoke up.
“The pitch is much smaller than a regular soccer field, isn’t it?”
“That’s futsal for you. There are only five players per team, and substitutions happen way more often.”
I heard Lee Cheong-hyeon was starting, but Choi Je-ho wasn't. I wasn't sure if Je-ho had been benched because he couldn't play as a team or if he was their secret weapon; we’d have to see how the match played out.
Lee Cheong-hyeon, dressed in a pitch-black uniform, spotted us and waved. We waved back with both hands to show our support. Only Park Ju-woo muttered with a look of pure shock.
“He’s not wearing gloves… What if he hurts his hands…?”
“A lot of people don’t wear them in futsal,” I tried to soothe him, but my words didn't reach his heart. He seemed worried that Lee Cheong-hyeon’s delicate fingers—the ones destined to play the keyboard for Spark—might get damaged.
The match began soon after, and it was quite thrilling. There was the minor inconvenience of having to sit all hunched up to avoid blocking the other idols, but Lee Cheong-hyeon’s god-tier saves made me forget all the discomfort.
With his long limbs—having finally hit the 180cm mark—Lee Cheong-hyeon sent the opposing team’s shots flying helplessly away.
“Go, Lee Cheong-hyeon!”
“Fighting!”
I could hear the voices of fans cheering for him from the stands above. Every time Lee Cheong-hyeon swept back his bangs to get a better look at the ball, screams erupted from all directions.
Behold, everyone. This is the power of Lee Cheong-hyeon’s face seen in person. I, Kim I-wol, will burn my very soul to relay this miracle to those of you behind the cameras.
Thanks to Lee Cheong-hyeon’s performance, the other team barely scored. The problem, however, was that we weren't scoring much either.
The first half ended at 1-0 after twenty minutes, and the two teams went into a break for a strategy meeting.
If Team D’s match gets completely edited out, will that vicious System even count Lee Cheong-hyeon’s participation? Choi Je-ho is at least doing basketball with me, but for Cheong-hyeon, it’s either this or the billiards he just learned.
Would it be okay if I secretly uploaded a video to MeTube titled something like ‘2X Year Adan-un Chuseok Special: Team D Cheong-hyeon’s Masterful Defense Compilation (feat. Futsal)’? Or should I claim I have sudden, acute body aches and can't play basketball, then put Lee Cheong-hyeon in as my substitute?
But that guy needs to protect his knees more than anyone right now. That’s why I sent him out with strict instructions to play goalie instead of running around if he wanted to do futsal.
Should I just pray that the God of Archery, Park Ju-woo, hits all tens and send Lee Cheong-hyeon in as my sub?
‘No. My sister told me never to gamble or take out private loans…’
Making one member a sacrificial lamb to burden another… that choice would shatter both the idol spirit and the spirit of sportsmanship. I can’t do something so pathetic at my age.
While I was lost in my internal conflict, Jeong Seong-bin, whose eyes had been darting back and forth following the ball, suddenly looked toward one spot.
“I think Je-ho Hyung is coming in!”
“Really?”
Just as Jeong Seong-bin said, Choi Je-ho was standing up from the bench. As he shed his black zip-up, his white uniform was revealed. Sensing the change, the atmosphere in the fan section heated up even more.
Lee Cheong-hyeon put an arm around Choi Je-ho’s shoulder and said something to him. Choi Je-ho simply nodded silently.
“I hope that Hyung doesn't just charge straight ahead like a bulldozer…” Kang Gi-yeon muttered to himself, sounding genuinely concerned.
“I’m worried about the same thing, but isn't he the only one we can rely on right now?”
“You think so?”
“Look at his height. With that physique, if he can’t score a single goal, he shouldn't be allowed to leave the gym for a week.”
As I said, Choi Je-ho was a full head taller than the other players. When he was with Lee Cheong-hyeon, he just looked like a slightly tall older brother, but since there were idols who were still in high school, he ended up looking like an uncle who had tactlessly joined a neighborhood futsal game.
Jeong Seong-bin, who must have overheard my conversation with Kang Gi-yeon, chimed in with a question.
“I heard that unless you’re a professional athlete, the taller you are, the harder it is to have delicate control. Is that not true?”
“Judging by how he plays basketball, I don’t think that applies to him. Besides, none of you have bad athletic nerves.”
When you guys went to ‘Adan-un’ in the past, you won gold medals in every event you entered. It’s just that you barely participated and spent most of your time stuck in the waiting room, which led to people badmouthing you for being rookies who were already slacking off.
“Anyway, with him there, how could we not get a single point?”
To put it simply, I was right.
The moment Choi Je-ho entered, he hammered two points into the opponent's goal.
『Je-ho from Team D! His power is on another level!』
『I wondered if his height would be a disadvantage, but it seems those worries were misplaced.』
The commentators' voices echoed through the arena.
It’s true that futsal requires more delicate individual skills and less endurance compared to soccer. But that’s only a story for professional players.
When it comes to amateurs clashing, how are they supposed to beat that human dump truck? Especially when he’s a high-spec dump truck with cheat-level horsepower.
Though unintentional, Choi Je-ho’s fan service was also perfect.
Waving to the fan section every time he scored was likely intentional fan service—the kind of thing an idol is expected to do—so I’ll give him that, but…
“Waaaaah!”
“Je-ho!”
Every time sweat ran down his face, he pulled up his shirt to wipe it, exposing his abs for the whole world to see.
Whenever the light hit his tanned skin and the sharply defined muscle lines revealed beneath the white uniform, screams erupted from above.
Since it wasn't on purpose, Choi Je-ho’s abs sometimes faced the fans and sometimes faced away. Thanks to that, the Sparklers and the rest of us got to see both his abs and his back muscles.
What a thoughtless fellow. I wasn't curious about your muscles at all. But since I can feel the fans' joy from here, I’ll let it slide.
Thanks to Choi Je-ho’s continued fiery performance, Team D successfully advanced to the finals.
What a relief. Spark managed to protect their right to a camera massage.
While we watched the matches of the other groups, Choi Je-ho and Lee Cheong-hyeon returned after showering and getting restyled. Perhaps because they had exercised and then gotten all dolled up again, they all looked radiant.
I hadn't known this, but apparently, the shower facilities had been closed off until recently. They said it was due to various issues like unauthorized entry by outsiders, but many felt it was cruel to leave athletes who had been sweating for nearly ten hours unattended.
If the operating policy hadn't changed, we might not have even been able to go near the fan section after the basketball game.
“Hyung, I’ve been wondering about something for a while.”
“What is it?”
“What’s up with the back of your hand?”
Lee Cheong-hyeon asked, looking at my hand. The pink lipsticks the Sparklers had meticulously applied were showing off their excellent color payoff.
“The fans put it on me. I was getting lipstick recommendations. You could see this from the pitch?”
“Yeah. At first, I thought a cat or something had scratched you.”
“If the wounds were that big, it would have to be a tiger, not a cat, wouldn't it?” Kang Gi-yeon chimed in with something terrifying. And here I am, unable to even catch a tiger with my archery skills.
“I did a bit of market research to become an idol who survives even close-up fancams. For you… this color would suit you. I think they said the product name was ‘Cool & Shower Ash Deep Pink 032.’”
“Hyung…”
Lee Cheong-hyeon wore a look of pure shock.
What? Is my effort to cover up my lack of natural features with modern aesthetics funny to you?
“When did this Hyung get so interested in self-grooming? Is my position as the visual under threat now? Am I going from Cute Pretty Visually to just Cute Pretty Jewelry?”
“Huh?”
“They say having two members with the ‘indifferent’ attribute in one group is bad enough, so why are you aiming for a Cool Beauty duo? Cheong-hyeon is feeling so betrayed right now that his eyelashes are about to fall out.”
“Does it usually connect like that?”
Lee Cheong-hyeon didn't answer me. Instead, he just kept stroking his own face with a sorrowful expression.
“At this rate, I’m going to lose my title as the face worth 850,000 won per unit area.”
His eyes were out of focus. I have no idea why he’s acting like this after a good game of futsal.
“Why are you worrying about that? No matter what anyone says, you’re the face our group officially recognized as being worth 950,000 won per unit area.”
“Did the price of gold go up?”
“It went up a lot.”
At my words, Lee Cheong-hyeon’s eyes regained their light. Then, he suddenly dashed up toward the fan section.
“Sparklers! A mirror! Does anyone have a mirror?!”
“I do!”
At Lee Cheong-hyeon’s urgent voice, a fan hurriedly pulled out a hand mirror and lent it to him. It was a yellow mirror, heavily decorated with ribbons, beads, and charms.
Apparently, that kind of… kitschy? style was the trend these days. I’d seen it a lot while monitoring the Sparklers’ vlogs.
Regardless, having successfully obtained a mirror, Lee Cheong-hyeon stared intensely at his face. He checked his left side, then his right. He held it at arm's length, then brought it right up to his nose to inspect himself.
After all that fuss, Lee Cheong-hyeon breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness. It’s still pure gold.”
Of course it is. Who do you think nags you every night to put on face masks?
“Thank you. I really put the mirror to good use! I’d love to give you an autograph, but… there’s no room on the mirror!”
Lee Cheong-hyeon looked at the back of the mirror and seemed flustered by the extravagant decorations. The fan then bestowed a great mercy upon him.
“You don’t have to give it back. Take it and use it!”
“Really?”
“Of course. Our Cheong-hyeon’s face is precious.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon covered his mouth. He looked incredibly moved.
He returned, clutching the Princess Mirror dearly. He didn't forget to bow several times to the fan, thanking her.
After finishing his long expedition, he immediately went back to checking his appearance, diligently performing the task of preserving his 24K beauty.
I only found out after ‘Adan-un’ was all over, but on this day, Spark became quite a hot topic on social media as the ‘pretty boys huddled around a Princess Mirror.’ Very much so.
“Hyung, they say we need to go get ready for the second round of archery.”
“Really?”
Following Jeong Seong-bin’s lead, we returned to where we had first done the archery match, and several teams were gathered there.
According to the bracket we had checked beforehand, our next opponent was…
『Spark, the rising powerhouse, is facing off against Berion!』
『Both groups are rookies who debuted this year. This will be a battle between peers.』
…It was Berion, whom I hadn't seen in a while since the Idol Dynasty Annals.