200 Meters and Team Victory
"Alright, today we'll start light. One lap around the field, some stretching, then we'll split into teams of ten for dodgeball."
"Yes, teacher."
One lap around the field? Last I checked, that was about two hundred meters. I was short, my stamina was a disaster, and there was no universe in which I kept up with everyone else's pace. At this level of fitness, I'd probably be wiped out before I even made it halfway. Would I even last long enough to play dodgeball?
Still, two hundred meters. I could manage that much, right?
"Jiyoung, if it's too much, you can sit this one out."
"No, teacher. I can run too."
The PE teacher must have figured I wouldn't be able to match the others' speed, because he told me I was free to sit out. It would have been easier, sure — but everyone else was running. I didn't want to be the only one on the sidelines.
Starting at the front would have meant getting overtaken in seconds, so I — easily the slowest in the class — lined up at the very back. Mina volunteered to run with me, just so I wouldn't be alone.
The kids up front took off. Last of all, Mina and I started running.
One, two. One, two.
I chanted the count in my head, steadied my breathing, and ran as hard as I could after the others. This tiny body simply couldn't keep up. My classmates were already pulling away into the distance, and with these stubby little legs I looked exactly like a sparrow trying to chase down a stork.
By the time I hadn't even made it halfway, everyone else had already finished the lap. I hadn't even run half the distance and I was already this tired. I'd known my stamina was bad. I hadn't expected it to be this bad.
"Mina, I'm exhausted."
Worn down to nothing, I finally slowed to a walk. At this pace, with these short legs, it would take at least another five minutes just to reach where the others were waiting. I should have sat out like the teacher said. I'd been stubborn for no reason, and now I was paying for it.
"Jiyoung, are you okay? Want a piggyback?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
Mina crouched into position, and I climbed onto her back. If I kept walking like this, we'd lose time for dodgeball, and I'd just be holding everyone up. Two hundred meters, and I couldn't even run that far. What a joke of a body.
Short, weak, and slow — looking at myself like this just made my chest ache. And it felt like everything had only gotten worse since I'd become a girl.
Carried on Mina's back, I finally finished the two hundred meters. The others were waiting for us.
"Sorry, everyone."
"Don't worry about it. Want me to carry you next time?"
"I'm jealous of Mina. I want to give her a piggyback too."
Thankfully the jokes kept things light, and after a quick round of warm-up exercises, dodgeball began.
The PE teacher split us into teams of ten — five boys and five girls each. Our school had ten boys and ten girls per class, so the teams worked out perfectly. The administration had probably never believed I was a boy, so they'd assigned me as a girl when they made the class lists. People mixed me up all the time anyway. This was nothing new.
To keep things balanced, he put Mina — easily the most athletic girl in the class — on the same side as me, the obvious weak link. Mina on my team. Our odds of winning had just gone through the roof.
"Alright, let's begin. Everyone to your positions."
The PE teacher tossed the ball up from the center line, and one of our teammates leaped and snatched it out of the air. First throw was ours.
Oh, I wanted to throw first. Were they even going to give it to me?
"Want to take the first throw, Jiyoung?"
"Yeah."
I stared at the ball with sparkling eyes, and the boy who'd caught it handed it over. Worried he might change his mind, I snatched it up fast. Ball in hand, I was buzzing. Now — who to throw at?
Hehe. Scared? You should be.
I held the ball up toward the other team, taunting them — and promptly dropped it. I'd forgotten my hands were too small to hold a dodgeball in one grip. I couldn't even hold a dodgeball with one hand.
The other team grinned at me as I fumbled. Luckily, Mina scooped it up in a flash and handed it back.
Nice one, Mina.
They were underestimating me. That much was obvious. I whipped the ball at the other side as hard as I could. It traced a lazy arc through the air — slow, and it barely went anywhere. But they'd been so busy looking down on me that they let their guard down, and the ball caught one of them clean.
Yes! My first out of the match. I threw both arms up in celebration.
"Out!"
"Ah, I was too busy staring because she was so cute—"
"I get it."
"Heheh. That was nothing."
I said it with all the swagger I could muster. Sadly we didn't get the ball back, but one kill was still a win in my book.
The other team's offense started, and hitting someone as tiny as me was no easy task. If I hid behind a teammate, they couldn't land a shot on me at all. That was the upside of being short in dodgeball. They barely even tried to target me — probably because I was always tucked behind someone.
Heheh. Being small has its perks. If they want me out, they'll have to take down everyone else first.
The game went on. Two of the other team's best players — both boys — were the last ones standing on their side. On ours, we had one boy left, plus Mina and me. I watched their attack with a little smile on my face.
The moment they wound up to throw, I tried to dodge — and went sprawling on the ground.
This was bad. No one to hide behind, and I was lying there like easy prey. At this rate I was getting hit and going out for sure. A do-or-die moment. I lay there bracing for the ball that was about to come flying at me.
But the seconds ticked by, and nothing came. Then I spotted Mina holding the ball. She must have caught the throw that was meant for me. I'd thought I was done for when I fell. Thank goodness.
"I'm alive. Hehe."
"Ugh, she's so cute."
"There's no way we could've hit her."
I couldn't quite make out what the other team was saying, but they sounded like they were kicking themselves for missing a golden opportunity.
Hehe. Being small actually helped. My hitbox was tiny, so of course they had a hard time landing a shot. They couldn't even hit me when I wasn't hiding behind anyone. That proved it.
Mina fired the ball right back and took out the last of the other team. We won.
"We won! Hehe. Mina, we won!"
"Yeah. You did great."
"I survived all the way to the end. Hehe."
Mina smiled as she said it. Normally she would have ruffled my hair, but she seemed to be holding back because she knew her hands were dirty.
Nothing beat winning at a sport you were actually good at. Mina had closed it out, but I'd gotten a kill, I'd lasted until the end, and we'd won. And since it wasn't a sport that drained you dry, the satisfaction was even better.
"Ah, she's so cute. Look how happy she is."
"How can she look that pleased when we just lost?"
"I'm so glad she's in our class."
"Kids from the other classes are super jealous of us."
Even the team that lost seemed happy about it. This time, I figured I'd treat everyone to cold drinks. Better that I buy — since I was actually making money — than making the losers pay. Thanks to my classmates, the stream was doing well, so I had more money than the rest of them anyway. I decided I'd buy drinks after every PE class from now on.
The stream was going well. Sports were going well. Everything was going well.
Except for that two-hundred-meter run.
I changed out of my gym clothes and back into my uniform in the girls' locker room, then headed toward the classroom with the drinks. Of course I didn't have the strength to carry them myself, so I needed help from my friends.
I handed a drink to each of them — eyes closed, grab whatever you touch. Random was always the most fun.
"Thanks for the drinks, Jiyoung."
"Hehe. I'm the one making money. Makes sense that I buy."
"Wait, there's no mint chocolate?"
"Huh? Yeah, no, that's a bit much."
They thanked me as they took their drinks. It was luck of the draw, but I'd left anything polarizing off the list, so there were no real complaints. Someone asked about mint chocolate, of all things. Sure, some people liked it, but I wasn't about to buy a drink that half the class would hate.
"How can someone this cute be this sweet, too?"
"My stream only took off because of you guys."
They were thanking me, but I was the one who owed them. Even with a face that viewers liked, it would have taken a long time to grow on my own. My classmates had come in from day one, posted about me all over the community boards, and gotten the word out — and that's how I'd hit a thousand viewers in a single day.
Among ordinary people who weren't celebrities and had never appeared on anyone else's stream or WeTube channel, I was probably the first to pull that off. I'd only streamed for one day so far, but I had no doubt that even more viewers would come flooding in from here on out.