Chapter 36
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Halftime Intervention
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“That's charging!”
Jeong Inseong bellowed.
I didn't know the rules that well, but slamming into someone like that had to be a foul, right? Anyone could see it.
Sure enough, just as Jeong Inseong predicted, the foul was called, and the ball came back to our team.
Our team's number one jumped up and took the ball, tossing it in from the out-of-bounds line.
“Huh?”
But something was off about her throwing motion.
“...That kid—looks like she hurt her wrist or elbow?”
Come to think of it, she'd braced herself with her hand when she fell earlier.
“What?”
I'd been watching number one's ball-handling and movements pretty closely, amazed at how she was dominating the game. But now, her wrist was trembling in a way it hadn't before.
A bad feeling settled in my gut.
Beep!
At first, I was the only one who noticed, but it wasn't long before the whistle blew.
The moment number one failed to catch Kim Ijin's pass and lost the ball, Coach Kang Cheolgyu seemed to catch on to something and shot to his feet.
“Hope she's okay...”
He immediately subbed her out for another player.
“No worries~ Even without Rira, Ijin's the strongest anyway!”
Min Juyeon flashed a big grin and gave a thumbs-up.
No... it wasn't about winning or losing. It was that kid's wrist.
Did she sprain it bad? No fracture, right?
I could see Coach Kang icing number one's wrist, and the game stumbled on somehow.
“Let's go, let's go~ Kim Ijin~!”
Kim Ijin was still playing great.
No denying that.
But with number one out and three defenders glued to Kim Ijin, the ball wasn't coming her way half as much as before.
The rest of our players seemed average against their stronger opponents.
The momentum had shifted.
Our team called another timeout.
The coach and assistant lined up the players and laid into them.
The players listened quietly.
But Kim Ijin suddenly looked up.
Our eyes met.
She was staring right at me.
Unlike her confident vibe before the game, she looked desperate, like she had something urgent to say.
Despite dominating the first quarter with a huge lead, we got massively caught up in the second.
The atmosphere during Jungun High's second timeout was utterly grim.
“Sorry, captain. If I hadn't gone for it. No, if I hadn't braced with my hand...”
“It's not your fault. It was their foul.”
No one blamed Chae Rira.
Choosing to dribble instead of pass in that moment had been a clever, unexpected play that could've led to a score.
And wrist injuries... they happened all the time when people fell trying to avoid ankle twists.
Coach Kang didn't scold Chae Rira even once. What good would empty words like “be careful” do?
“That Myeong Seonju jerk—did he do it on purpose?”
But the grumbling from the other players was different.
Bam!
Kang Cheolgyu slammed the bench.
With one player out, the others' mistakes were piling up.
Was it because the strategy revolved too much around Kim Ijin and Chae Rira?
They'd planned for injuries and stamina drain, but it wasn't grabbing any momentum.
“Yeonwoo, mark their number three properly. Know how many times you've let her slip? Heemin, don't just pass to Ijin—watch the whole court! This is when the team needs to pull together!”
The coach pointed out every player's shortcomings, bench and all, barking orders.
But...
Kim Ijin saw it differently.
“We won't win like that.”
Teamwork? No way.
Even setting aside underestimating Hwayeong High, without Chae Rira, the others couldn't unite.
Hwayeong had studied Jungun High intensely, shutting down Kim Ijin, but our supporting players—who'd only ever backed her and Chae Rira—couldn't hang with them.
“What're you trying to say?”
Coach Kang asked harshly.
Even though it was pretty rude, he listened to Kim Ijin seriously.
Motivational talks were fine, like he said, but the teammates weren't snapping out of it in minutes.
“Put Rira back in for the second half.”
Kim Ijin stated the only way to win.
“You want me to risk ruining Rira's career just to win this game?”
“I'm fine! It doesn't even hurt that much. Little tweaks like this happen all the time. Earlier, my strength just gave out suddenly...”
“That's the problem! You said you were fine too, Ijin, and suffered for months!”
Kang Cheolgyu snapped, but Kim Ijin looked up at the stands.
“Director Han Yeowon is in the audience. With the two minutes left and fifteen-minute halftime, she can treat me.”
The coach and assistant looked up too, in the same direction.
Han Yeowon stared down with a face that screamed she wanted to rush over right now.
“...Timeout's over. Get back out there.”
Coach Kang quickly convinced the head coach.
And bolted up to the stands.
Right before halftime.
I hurried down from the stands following Kang Cheolgyu and was led to the players' lounge.
The patient was, as expected, number one—Chae Rira.
“This is the Korean medicine doctor who treated Ijin's knee.”
“Hello!”
She'd been anxiously rubbing her wrist but shot to her feet at his introduction.
A true athlete's greeting.
“Could you take a quick look at her wrist? Normally, we'd wait till after the game and bring her to your clinic, but...”
“Please, I beg you. I really want to play the second half.”
“Rira and Ijin begged me to ask. Please check if she's fit to go back in.”
I was going to help anyway.
Judging if she could play wasn't hard.
“No visible swelling or bruising. Can you flex and extend your wrist?”
“Sure.”
Chae Rira did flexion, extension, and rotation—no limits in range. No pain complaints either.
“Let me press around. Tell me if it hurts anywhere.”
I palpated the tendon attachments—extensor digitorum, extensor carpi ulnaris, extensor digiti minimi—at the yangxi, yangchi, and yanggu points on her wrist.
“A little? Hmm. That spot feels okay.”
“Tell the truth, or no treatment!”
“It really doesn't hurt.”
Kang Cheolgyu urged anxiously, but even to my touch, it felt fine.
Checked the radius and ulna, inner wrist—nothing major. At worst, slight extensor digitorum strain.
“Not a serious wrist sprain. Could be nerve compression in the elbow or neck.”
I checked her inner and outer elbow, near the olecranon and radial head at xiaohai and quchi.
“Ah.”
This time, I spotted it without asking.
“Doctor, no way...”
The bone was slightly subluxed from the joint surface.
Chae Rira felt the difference when I pressed her elbow.
Her face went pale, eyes pleading with me to say it wasn't so.
To confirm, I fully extended her arm.
Pop!
A sound from the joint.
“Radial head subluxation. Looks like damage to the annular ligament. Falling with the arm extended can cause this.”
“Subluxation? Oh, then...”
“She should sit out the second half, right? And all upcoming tournaments too?”
Chae Rira covered her face with her hands, too scared to hear the answer.
Kang Cheolgyu asked urgently for her.
How to put this.
Normally, rest—no question.
‘But Ijin...’
She'd looked at me so desperately.
Kim Ijin had been desperate for the tournaments since her knee treatment months ago.
Chae Rira was young, but no less urgent.
I couldn't give her the textbook answer.
“You really want to play?”
She bit her lip and nodded fiercely.
“Yes. I have to. I've waited a whole year for today. If not now, Ijin-sunbae will graduate...”
“I'll make it work. Finish the game with good taping and minimal impact.”
I wrapped her arm without another word.
No need to convince like a regular patient. No time either.
“You can fix it right now?”
“Yes.”
Left hand supporting her elbow, thumb pressing the radial head lightly.
Right hand pulled her forearm slightly...
External rotation and sharp flexion.
Click!
“...!”
Chae Rira felt it snap back. Kang Cheolgyu heard the click.
They blinked at me, stunned.
“No time, so disinfecting while I explain.”
I swabbed her elbow, wrist, and neck with alcohol from my bag.
“How's this spot now?”
“Fine!”
“Phew. Luckily, just compressed—no vessel or nerve damage. Needling now.”
Faster to needle everywhere possible than pinpoint.
I barraged the potential damage sites on tendons and loosened the muscle bellies.
“Put the annular ligament and radial head back, but it's still slightly damaged—be careful. I can kill the pain, but ligaments and tendons aren't 100%. Come in daily starting Monday.”
“Yes, yes!”
“Halftime ends at 48 minutes? I'll reduce inflammation and promote recovery by then.”
Zap zap zap!
I stabbed needles like marking with a pen.
“Ankle got shaken too.”
After a big fall and elbow sublux, other parts weren't unscathed. Tomorrow morning, shoulders and back would ache once tension eased.
After wrist, elbow, and neck, I released her hand.
“Thank you, thank you.”
Chae Rira bowed without knowing what I did.
Athlete like Ijin—maybe sensitive to qi infusion?
In fleeting moments, ligament recovery that'd take weeks happened.
“Director!”
Just before halftime ended, Kim Ijin burst into the lounge.
“Sit on the bench and recover stamina! Why come here?”
“I'm not tired at all.”
Kang Cheolgyu scolded, but she ignored him.
Her eyes sparkled brighter than when asking about her own treatment.
“Rira okay? Can she play? I, I...”
I smiled at her.
“Already treated.”
47 minutes.
One minute till halftime end.
I pulled the needles as swiftly as I'd placed them.
Retention time short, but no choice.
“How is it?”
“Perfect. Just like before the fall!”
“Still be careful.”
As I spoke, Kang Cheolgyu taped her arm.
Now the players could shine again.
I finished my clinic duties and returned to the stands.
Third quarter started.