Snow and Ice || 태국

First competition

Taehyung stared at Jungkook's figure. He muttered out of a corner of his mouth "Philanderer."

Jungkook's pass had a huge effect. As it was unexpected and fast, right after his teammate received the ball, he shot it towards their opponent's net before they could defend against it. The tiny puck slipped past the gap in their defense and flew right into the net.

Whoo—

The crowd erupted into cheers, the sound reverberating throughout the stadium.

Seeing the crowd in such enthusiasm, the leading official nodded in approval. He pointed towards the rink and asked the club boss, "Who is that player?"

The ice hockey players on the field were moving faster than horses. The club boss couldn't know who he was pointing to. He could only guess, "Are you referring to the player who scored? That's Liu Yangyang, a Chinese-Canadian. He has played in the National Hockey League before."

At the present moment, their domestic ice hockey teams were keenly accepting overseas Chinese players into their ranks. Under current rules, players could choose to naturalize as Korean citizens after playing in Korea for two years and representing Korea in competitions.

The official nodded. "Oh, then what about him? Shirt number 19." He seemed to sense the club boss's problem and straightforwardly called out the shirt number.

The boss said, "That's Jeon Jungkook. He..." The boss was suddenly at a loss on how he should summarize Jungkook. He was a newbie player with limited experience. Three months ago, he was still on a school team. Compared to professional players, the competitions he participated in were relatively small-scale and he had yet to prove himself with substantial achievements. It was tough for the boss to praise him extensively. After some thought, the boss merely said, "He has great tactical acumen."

......

Hyoseop happened to chance upon the sight of Jungkook, the player with great tactical acumen, shuttling across the rink in the battle.

Hyoseop was watching television and had tuned into the sports channel. When he saw that it was broadcasting an ice hockey match, he could not help watching it.

Sejeong walked over and glanced at the screen. It happened to be a close-up and she was surprised. "Ah? Isn't that Jungkook?"

Hyoseop recovered his senses. A little embarrassed, he raised the remote to change the channel.

"Don't change it." Sejeong sat down next to him and snatched the remote over. "Let's watch for a while."

"It's you who wants to watch it."

"Sure, you can close your eyes if you don't want to," Sejeong said.

Hyoseop did not close his eyes. He kept quiet and focused on the competition.

After watching for a while, Sejeong commented, "From how I see it, this child is pretty good. The commentator kept praising him as well."

Mm, she was not good at understanding the competition. Thus, Jungkook was good as long as the commentator said so.

Hyoseop snorted, "He's too clever. With how artless Taehyung is, he'll end up helping him to count money after being cheated by him."

"There's something wrong with your logic. A person's intelligence is unrelated to his character. Must a clever person necessarily be bad while a fool is honest? There is no link. How did you become principal with your logic?"

"Slept my way up," Hyoseop was still peeved.

Sejeong was tickled. She pointed to the doorway. "Look at yourself in the mirror. What gave you the confidence to say this."

Hyoseop had finally realized that whenever they argued, he was never able to win his wife in a battle of wits.

Such was the fearsome talent of women.

The two of them stopped bickering and continued to watch the competition. The first period ended with the Dauntless Dragon Korean team taking a 2-1 lead. During the intermission, Hyoseop went to take a call while Sejeong washed some fruits. She was cutting the fruits when she heard her husband hollered from the living room, "Dear, it's starting!"

"Coming, coming!" Sejeong put down the knife and brought the fruits out into the living room.

Three minutes into the second period of the game, a little accident happened.

The Caucasian team went on an offensive with the puck. Jungkook and his teammates maneuvered into a defense in front of the net. When their opponents saw that there was no opening, they suddenly passed the puck back into the rear, where a player readily received and shot the puck. Like a bullet, the tiny puck flew towards the net.

The puck ultimately failed to score and stopped halfway on its track. Subsequently, Jungkook suddenly collapsed onto the rink.

"What happened?" Sejeong was shocked. "What just happened?"

Hyoseop's brows were furrowed. He was not sure as well. "Jungkook seems to be injured. I didn't see what happened."

The commentator was also confused. The broadcast director replayed the footage in slow motion. After replaying it twice, the commentator finally realized what happened. "At that moment, Jeon turned and the puck just so happened to hit the back of his head a little below his helmet. Or perhaps it was his neck. What are the odds!"

The other commentator added, "Indeed, I wonder how serious Jungkook's injury is. Dauntless Dragon will need to change players. Jungkook he... Ah, Jungkook has stood up. He managed to get off the rink on his own. Hopefully, it wasn't anything major. His performance today has been excellent. As a newbie, I think he deserves full marks."

Hyoseop turned his head and asked Sejeong, "Do you think it's fine?"

"I don't know..." Sejeong shook her head. Numerous severe medical cases flashed into her head. "The nerves in that area are quite concentrated."

......

When Jungkook fell, Taehyung felt as if his head took a hit as well. There was a buzz in his head and his mind went blank.

He automatically leaped to his feet and stared blankly at Jungkook's figure on the ice. His heartfelt a squeezing pain.

The world ceased to exist for him. He lost all sense of time as he watched Jungkook. After an unknown period, Jungkook finally stood up.

Thank heavens.

He stopped watching the competition as his gaze closely followed Jungkook's figure. Taehyung watched him head to the players' bench and sat down. The team medic checked his injury while the coach observed from the side. After that, they spoke for a while. Jungkook touched his neck as he spoke.

There did not seem to be a major problem. Taehyung's heart, which had been hanging on the edge, settled back in place.

"Hey, hey?" The girl behind patted Taehyung's shoulder.

"Ah?" Taehyung turned around in a daze.

"Is it possible for you to sit down? I can't see," the girl said.

"Oh, sorry."

After Taehyung sat down, he heard the girl speak again, "You seem to look a little familiar?"

He ignored the girl, his eyes fixed on Jungkook.

Jungkook seemed to sense Taehyung's gaze. He suddenly turned his head by a few degrees and quirked his lips in his direction.

After smiling, he even put two fingers to his lips and sent a flying kiss.

The girl behind him shrieked.

While Taehyung almost burst into tears.