‘Did it go in? On the first try?’
Hyunsoo’s first ever shot in his life hit the rim but eventually went in by a hair’s breadth.
“Oh, that was lucky, huh?”
Of course, Jessi thought the same. So without much thought, she brought the ball back to him.
“Here, keep that feeling and try shooting again.”
“Okay.”
‘Miss, miss.’
Feeling a bit petty, Jessi even muttered a curse inwardly.
Swish-
“……?”
But Hyunsoo made an even cleaner shot.
“This is fun. I should have played basketball when I was younger.”
After that, without needing any special advice, he corrected his shooting form and made nine out of ten shots cleanly.
Jessi asked with a face full of disbelief.
“You… you’ve played basketball before, haven’t you? You’re actually really good but pretending not to be to prank me, right?”
“……Huh? Why would I do that? I just followed what you taught me.”
“Ha.”
Hyunsoo’s nonchalant expression made her head spin.
‘Could it be that I’m a genius at teaching? Or am I just a genius???’
Hyunsoo continued to learn various shots from Jessi.
Even the same one-handed shot felt different depending on the distance and angle, and later on, he learned more dynamic running shots.
Swish-
Swish-
Swish-
Hyunsoo picked up the shots so quickly that it was hard to believe he was a beginner.
Usually, after trying three or four times, he got the hang of it quickly.
“Are you out of your mind?!”
Jessi was shocked, but Hyunsoo somewhat expected it.
‘This body is truly perfect.’
As soon as he returned to the past, he realized his body was exceptionally special.
Hyunsoo had been professionally researching to create an artificial human body for a long time.
He succeeded in building the most ideal body model by analyzing the physical data of countless men and women of all ages.
A body with the so-called golden ratio. Particularly, the perfect model with an ideal harmony of bones, muscles, nerves, and more.
‘The reason the company could succeed greatly was due to the excellence of the body model.’
Artificial limbs and various other artificial bodies made based on the model could give people with disabilities a normal life again.
A truly engineered perfect body!
‘I never thought I would get such a perfect body.’
Since it was a model he had perfected with all his heart and soul, he recognized it immediately. This body is exactly the perfect one our company completed.
Hyunsoo was more surprised to see this body than the fact that he had returned to the past.
Clearly, the body of 17-year-old Lee Hyunsoo wasn’t like this… What on earth happened?
He pondered every day, but there was no answer.
‘It’s not like someone can answer it for me.’
Instead, he became increasingly fascinated by his body.
Although he felt it while exercising, learning basketball this time made it even clearer.
‘It’s not just great physical capabilities; there’s immense potential within.’
Simply put, it felt like not only the hardware was equipped but also the software.
Maybe his extraordinary memory and intelligence are the product of this body?
Hyunsoo somehow felt confident about that.
‘Just how far are the limits of this body?’
His heart pounded like crazy.
After being trapped in a paralyzed body for half his life, he had now gained an ideal body full of vitality.
For the first time in a long while, his desire to test the limits as a scientist was stirring.
The joint physical education classes were held for an hour every day.
Hyunsoo didn’t need to attend all the sessions, but he found basketball enjoyable.
Jessie also helped him with great enthusiasm.
“Good! You’re doing great!”
“Jessi, aren’t you more excited than I am? Or is it just my imagination?”
“Hmm, not at all. I’m just an energetic person. But how about joining the basketball team? You know you can get training as a privilege of free classes, right?”
She spent several days teaching him the basics of basketball and the rules of the game in detail.
“What’s up with them?”
A guy was watching them closely.
With a thick beard, he looked more like a teacher than a student, but Dianthe was indeed a classmate of Jessi and Hyunsoo.
“Hey, who’s that guy Jessi’s been sticking with for days?”
“Don’t you know that Asian guy? He became really famous for getting a perfect score on the level test.”
“A perfect score??”
Dianthe, who entered the school as a basketball specialty student, scored in the 30s on his level test.
That was because he was unexpectedly excellent in middle school.
‘This place has insane difficulty, but I used to be quite a good student in my neighborhood too.’
Of course, now he barely maintained a C grade and was on the verge of being cut from the basketball team if he slipped up even once.
For him, a perfect score was unimaginable.
“All he does is study, and now he’s learning sports from a girl. He should be ashamed.”
“With a brain like that, what’s wrong with learning some sports? He’ll live well enough. I wonder how he studies. Does he get special tutoring?”
“……Why don’t you just go ask him yourself, idiot? If you get close, he might share his know-how.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea! I’ll go ask him now.”
His friend immediately headed toward Hyunsoo.
“That guy has no shame.”
Dianthe played with the basketball and watched as the group of two became three.
Jessi’s laughter was particularly annoying.
‘Maybe I’ll embarrass him tomorrow.’
Bang-!
He successfully made a dunk with ease and smirked.
Jessi was alone, planning and checking Hyunsoo’s basketball training schedule meticulously, and she had a satisfied smile.
‘My training is working well.’
As a mentor responsible for getting him accepted into the sports club, she was determined.
‘Should I start making basketball more fun for him?’
Jessi patted Hyunsoo’s shoulder and spoke kindly.
“Want to play a game with the others today? The guys play fiercely, even making bets, but let’s join the mixed-gender fun game.”
“Oh? Sure, that sounds fun.”
Hyunsoo readily accepted Jessi’s proposal.
It was Friday, and the coach had given them the freedom to exercise as they pleased.
“Let’s practice a bit first.”
Thud-
Hyunsoo felt incredibly familiar with the basketball’s grip in his hand. It felt like he had held the ball thousands of times.
“……Huh?”
He was about to shoot when he heard his name from the adjacent court and had to stop.
“Is your name Hyun? Anyway, we’ll take Hyun as our last team member. It’s only fair to give the transfer student a chance.”
In Jessi’s words, the boys’ basketball game was so fierce that someone would get injured within the 25-minute game.
Noticing the eyes on him, Hyunsoo pointed to himself.
“Me?”
Since there was a bet on the basketball game, the best players in the class divided into teams and played their own league, and it was the first time Hyunsoo had been picked.
“Yeah, you. We’re on the same team, so let’s do our best. We’re betting on burgers, so we have to play well.”
Before Hyunsoo could react, he was already being led onto the court by a black guy over 2 meters tall.
Hyunsoo, at 185 cm, was in the top 5% height-wise in Korea, but among these guys playing 3-on-3 basketball, he was the smallest.
The black guy who introduced himself as Dianthe was the tallest and most built among them.
“I’ll pass you the ball often, so do your best. Let’s have fun, yellow friend.”
“……”
In the blink of an eye, the team was formed.
Hyunsoo was on the same team as Dianthe, who had brought him over, and a white guy with brown hair, Charles, who had been friendly and asked about studying over the past few days.
“We don’t have a special strategy. Just go with the flow, attack when it’s time to attack, and defend when it’s time to defend. Yellow friend, you know the half-court rule, right?”
Hyunsoo frowned.
“Yellow friend?”
“Yeah, yellow friend. Your skin is yellow.”
‘It’s been a while since I’ve faced such blatant racism. Well, it is still 2020.’
He smirked and took it lightly.
“Then should our smelly friend talk from a distance?”
“Pfft.”
Charles burst out laughing. Of course, Dianthe gritted his teeth, but he tried hard to suppress his anger.
“You’re a witty friend. For this game, you’ll be in charge of Lloyd. By the end, you’ll realize the scent coming from my body is actually a fragrance.”
“……”
Hyunsoo flinched involuntarily when he saw the man Dianthe pointed to.
Lloyd, who appeared to be around 2 meters tall like Dianthe, was in a different weight class.
Dianthe had a very solid build, like an athlete, while Lloyd was super heavyweight.
‘Is this what they mean by getting injured even if you just brush against them?’
At that moment, Charles scolded Dianthe.
“Hey, you should take on Lloyd. Why are you creating a mismatch?”
As he pointed out, Lloyd was the biggest on their team, and Hyunsoo was the smallest on his.
It was likely they’d exploit the mismatch throughout the game, increasing Hyunsoo’s defensive burden as a basketball beginner.
Dianthe just shrugged his shoulders.
“On the contrary, I’ll be a mismatch too. But Lloyd is more of a center, and I’m a scorer, so our side has a clear advantage, don’t you think? Isn’t it better for the attacking me to be free? Or are you scared, Asian friend?”
“Uh, I’m scared?”
“What?”
Hyunsoo’s straightforward admission made Dianthe flustered.
“This is my first time playing basketball since starting this PE class. Isn’t it burdensome to play basketball among you guys? There’s a size difference too… And you and Lloyd are the main players on the basketball team. Isn’t it strange if I’m not scared?”
“Uh? Uh…”
Jessi, who had been watching the situation, also intervened.
“Well said. What are you trying to do with someone who’s never played a basketball game? What if he gets hurt?”
Dianthe looked at Jessi and Hyunsoo alternately with a sly face.
“What’s this, are you his babysitter or something? Don’t you think you’re sticking to him too much?”
“Ugh, what nonsense. I’m just taking care of the student I’m responsible for.”
“Hehe. Well, you’re a third-year now, so it’s about time you started dating. I support you.”
“…Ugh, you’re such a pain. Let’s stop with the nonsense, okay?”
Dianthe watched Jessi’s expression change closely.
‘Is she really shy?’
He smirked and put his arm around Hyunsoo’s shoulder.
“And you’re not the only one taking care of him. Everyone’s dying to play with us, but I’m including him on purpose. Isn’t this a good chance to make friends?”
“That’s only if he’s good at basketball. What does he even know…”
Jessi glanced at Hyunsoo, unable to finish her sentence.
‘Why is this guy suddenly doing this?’
As Dianthe said, there’s nothing like sports to make friends, and the games played by the best students during each PE class are a good stage.
For those involved, it creates camaraderie as a team, and for others, it’s fun to watch.
Especially since Dianthe is the starting player of the high school basketball varsity team. He had quite a fanbase within the school.
Most of the students were already gathered around the court, waiting for the game to start.
It’s childish, but in the high school scene, it’s one of the fastest ways for a regular student to get noticed and build a kind of ‘insider’ image.
‘But not for Hyunsoo.’
That’s only if you’re really good at basketball or have a good personality to show some showmanship.
On the contrary, if you mess up, you might become a laughingstock for a while.
“Well, you can’t force someone who doesn’t want to do it.”
Dianthe released his arm from around Hyunsoo’s shoulder.
“If you want to do it, do it. If not, don’t. …You need your babysitter’s permission anyway, right?”
-Puhaha
The watching students burst into laughter. It seemed that Jessi’s direct intervention had backfired.
‘He’ll just be embarrassed for a moment. No need to make a big deal out of it…’
“Uh…?”
Jessi gave Hyunsoo a look telling him to leave, but Hyunsoo was already loosening up his joints.
“What are you doing? You said one game, right? Are we going to stand around until class ends? Your smell is already giving me a headache, so I’d rather be on the same team. We won’t be facing each other, will we?”
-Puhaha, did you hear what he said?
-Kekeke, it’s true Dianthe does smell a bit.
-I thought Asians were only good at studying, but he’s quite good at dissing too?
‘This brat?!’
The laughter was much louder than when Dianthe teased Hyunsoo earlier.
It seemed like a fresh shock since no one had ever spoken to Dianthe like that.
Crack-
“Then let’s get started right away.”
Hyunsoo’s eyes sparkled mischievously.
‘Looks like the stage is set just right?’
