The basketball team of Johannes High School used a dedicated indoor stadium instead of a gym.
They consistently updated their equipment every year to maintain the best facilities, and with a total of 25,000 seats, it was by far the largest stadium for high school sports in the country.
-Run! Those who are late will have to run 10 extra laps!
Hey! Who said you could rest already? You want to die?!
Basketball training was in full swing in the stadium. With the high school league about to start, both the coaches and players were on edge.
“Why did you come alone?”
Head Coach Alonzo Russell, who was overseeing the training, called out to Deante, who had crept in from the corner.
“Well… he said he wouldn’t come, so I had no choice.”
“What?”
The head coach’s eyes narrowed.
“Was it a class? Did he say he’d come later?”
“No. That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
Deante hesitated, recalling Hyunsoo’s response, and finally answered reluctantly.
“He said he doesn’t see why he has to come just because you called him.”
“…”
“He said you’re neither a teacher nor an administrative staff member, so he doesn’t understand why you’re looking for him. But if it’s really urgent, he said he’d have some time next week.”
“Hahaha, really?”
Alonzo laughed helplessly. It wasn’t entirely wrong. His authority only applied to the basketball team members. If a general student declined an invitation, he couldn’t enforce it.
Still, he was confident that Hyunsoo would come if he called.
‘Does he not know me?’
Alonzo had been a famous player who made a significant impact in the NBA 20 years ago.
He was a skilled coach hired with a substantial amount of money to revamp the basketball team at Johannes High School, and thanks to his reputation, the school had successfully recruited many top-tier talents over the past two years.
Even now, many students wanted his autograph when he walked around the campus.
‘I thought he liked basketball…’
Hyunsoo, whom he had seen through ‘that video,’ clearly enjoyed basketball. Although he hadn’t been refined through professional training yet, he was definitely a shining gem.
Seeing his attitude towards basketball, Alonzo thought they would connect well, but he had a feeling that Hyunsoo might not have been playing for long.
This made him even more eager.
“Um, Coach?”
Deante was intimidated by the serious expression on Alonzo’s face.
“Should I go and try to persuade him again?”
“Forget it, just leave him be.”
Alonzo waved his hand with a tired expression.
“We’ll see him again anyway.”
“…What?”
Deante had many questions, but the head coach’s business ended there.
He reluctantly joined the training.
Hyunsoo met Jessie to draft his free study plan.
As soon as they met, she playfully nudged him with a mischievous smile.
“Hey, you’re quite the celebrity now, huh?”
“…Why is everyone acting like this?”
As Jessie said, many students had started to recognize Hyunsoo.
After scoring a perfect score on the level test, there were groups that whispered about him, but it was the first time anyone had directly spoken to him, invited him to play basketball, or asked him to join a party.
From Hyunsoo’s perspective, it was hard to understand such a drastic change in treatment after just a weekend, even with his two lifetimes of experience.
‘Was the impact of that basketball game really this significant?’
“You’re so strange.”
Jessie laughed as if she couldn’t believe Hyunsoo’s reaction.
“You’re smart, but you don’t understand high school dynamics?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“The varsity team isn’t just famous in school; they’re local celebrities here. It’s no exaggeration to say that when there’s a league game, the local traffic gets paralyzed. Do you know how many people recognize the players outside?”
“Really?”
Hyunsoo knew about the influence of college basketball in the U.S. However, because he had a very brief high school life in his previous life, he never had the chance to feel how popular high school basketball was.
“Among them, Deante received several offers from Division 1 college teams (the highest level of college leagues where most players turn professional). Even if Lloyd isn’t at that level, everyone in school knows him.”
“Then my performance must have been quite shocking.”
“Shocking? Just think about it. A foreign student who scored a perfect score on the level test suddenly destroyed a regular varsity team player. If academic nerds’ rebellion happened that often, it wouldn’t be a movie trope.”
“Hahaha, so I represented all the nerds in school and gave the high-and-mighty basketball team a taste of their own medicine?”
Jessie twirled her fingers as she spoke.
“No, not just the school. You represented nerds all over the country.”
“The country?”
“It went viral on Angela’s MeTube channel. Nerds all over the country must have felt thrilled watching it.”
“MeTube? The video was uploaded?”
Now that he thought about it, there was a girl student who recorded the basketball game and went around getting signatures for permission to upload it yesterday.
MeTube was so popular these days, and Hyunsoo had a good perception of social media from his previous life, so he agreed without much thought.
‘No way?’
Jessie, seeing that he hadn’t watched it yet, pulled out her smartphone and showed him a video.
[(PrankX) Shocking Basketball Game between 300lbs Basketball Player vs. 150lbs Asian Honor Student.]
Views: 2.12 million, Comments: 30,000+
‘Wow. Lloyd weighs 300 pounds (137kg)?’
The video was a short edit of Friday’s game.
The angles were more professional than he expected, and the video quality was good. The editing techniques were excellent, making it easy to follow the flow of the game.
‘It’s totally focused on me?’
The video was edited around Hyunsoo.
At first, the scenes where Hyunsoo perfectly received Deante’s passes were emphasized with speed and intensity, and the climax was when Lloyd got hit in the face by Hyunsoo’s unexpected pass.
Especially the scene where Deante fell backward after getting hit by the ball was repeated three times in slow motion, drawing explosive reactions from the viewers.
- LOL, this is hilarious. Did you see the black guy’s face? LOL What kind of athletic ability is that?
- Hey, he’s a basketball player. He’s a starter. How can you talk about athletic ability to someone who’s going to play college basketball?
- Then how do you explain this? LOL He didn’t expect the Asian guy to receive his pass at all, did he?
- I can’t get enough of this. I watch it whenever I feel down. Here’s the timestamp for the face smashing scene [3:34]. Save it.
The second half started with Lloyd’s brute force.
- Damn, this is supposed to be a friendly game, right? He’s going to kill someone at this rate.
- I know a bit about sports, and that Asian guy has a great stance. He’s holding his ground even when the pig’s smashing into him. Not everyone can do that.
- I’m getting mad. What’s the coach doing, just watching?
- But the more I watch this, it looks like the black guy is the one getting trampled? Oh, it is? LOL What is even happening here?
- Wow, look at the small Asian guy toying with him. Is he really on the basketball team? No wonder Johannes High’s basketball team sucks. I had high hopes for Coach Alonzo, but this season looks worthless too.
But the highlight was the final scene.
Lloyd tried to foul with his elbow but ended up clutching his own elbow and screaming in pain, a scene that still brought catharsis to Hyunsoo.
Especially like the endings of movies based on true stories, the captions updating the characters’ current statuses on a black screen were satisfying even at his age.
‘Maybe I’m getting into the high school spirit.’
[Lloyd was eventually referred to the disciplinary committee based on the video evidence. If it is recognized that he used violence against a non-basketball team student, he will face at least a 2-week suspension and a one-month game ban.]
[Hyunsoo, an international student who has only been in the U.S. for a year, is from Korea. He’s a genius in academics and, perhaps, a basketball prodigy who could lead the high school team to a league championship.]
- Wow, he’ll definitely get punished now. Justice served. Reality is more touching than fiction.
- Is he really from Korea? Are all Korean kids that good at basketball?
- What is the basketball team doing? Go recruit him already. I’m going to watch the games live.
Hyunsoo was shocked to realize he had watched the entire 10-minute video in an instant.
“Oh, it’s already over?”
Indeed, the angle of a million-subscriber MeTuber was sharp. The video was so well edited and entertaining that he lost track of time.
“She might not be good at other things, but she sure knows how to make videos. But you should be careful of Angela.”
“Hmm?”
“If the response is this good… she’ll keep following you around, asking to collaborate on content. I’ve experienced it. A MeTuber obsessed with views is scarier than a stalker.”
“Oh, come on.”
Hyunsoo didn’t take it seriously, but Jessie emphasized it several times.
“Remember. I warned you. Don’t come begging for help later.”
“…Haha, I’m not a kid. Don’t worry.”
Afterward, Hyunsoo created his study plan with Jessie’s help.
Since the board’s review was strict, Jessie’s diverse hints were very helpful.
“It’s already this late?”
Hyunsoo hurried to catch the school bus.
His home was about an hour away from school. During rush hour, it could take up to two hours, so he always left early to get home by 3 PM.
The closer he got to home, the more his smile deepened.
‘No matter how many times I see it, this scenery is nostalgic.’
The neighborhood where he first settled after immigrating.
The school bus dropped Hyunsoo off in front of a very special single-story house.
With three rooms and one bathroom, it was a small space, but it had a backyard and a great view, making it a decent home for a family of three.
‘At this time, I didn’t know we’d live here for another 20 years.’
When his family first settled here, they vowed to succeed and move to a better house.
Since it was far from the city, there were many inconveniences.
But after Hyunsoo’s major accident, they couldn’t afford to move.
Instead, they faced a difficult situation where they had to sell this house and move to an even smaller apartment, but his father worked tirelessly to protect this place.
‘Was it his last pride as the head of the family?’
During that time, his mother also took care of Hyunsoo around the clock, sacrificing her dreams and health for him.
Even though they always said they were happy and had no regrets, Hyunsoo couldn’t fully accept it.
‘They deserve to be happier.’
Day by day, he became more certain. This miraculous return wasn’t just for him. His parents’ lives deserved proper rewards too.
With determined eyes, Hyunsoo opened the front door. His father was out preparing for business. His mother greeted him.
“Did you have a good day, dear?”
“Yes! I’m back.”
“Did you have fun at school? Is the food to your liking? Are you listening to your teachers?”
“Mom… how old do you think I am? Aren’t you treating me too much like a kid?”
His mother responded with a puzzled look.
“Of course you’re a kid. You’ve been acting strange lately… trying to act like an adult.”
“Hoo… If this were the old days, I’d already have a wife and a son.”
“Oh, so you brought home a potential wife? Mom approves.”
Even Hyunsoo, who didn’t get surprised easily, widened his eyes.
“What do you mean by that? A potential wife?”
“A friend came by today. She wanted to wait outside, but I invited her in. It’s been about 30 minutes.”
“A friend???”
“Yes. She’s very pretty. How did you meet? Is she your girlfriend?”
His mother was very pleased, as Hyunsoo had never mentioned bringing a friend home, let alone a female friend.
On the other hand, Hyunsoo was utterly confused.
‘Jessie?’
The only girl that came to mind was Jessie, but it couldn’t be her. They had parted ways at school, and she had no reason to visit his house, let alone arrive before him.
“Where is she now?”
