Climbing Up to You - Minsung

Chapter 13

The taxi rolled along the smooth tarmac as Jisung took in the sights before him. He had visited South Korea a couple of times in his life, after all, he had grandparents that still lived here. His family had always tried to make trips in the winter to visit the country when it was Christmas break. Unfortunately, that only happened a couple of times since his climbing took precedence over being able to travel and see his family.

The humming of the vehicle was drowned out by Jisung blasting music in his ears. Ever since they had taken off his brain had been riled up with anxiety, not just from the plane ride. He was going into an unknown place to train with people he barely knew. One in particular he hated.

At some rate, he wished one of his parents were Australian so he could hang out with Felix while training.

The car rolled to a stop in front of a guarded gate, Chris tapped Jisung's shoulder to get his attention.

"We need to show our passports and paperwork."

Jisung paused his music and reached into his rucksack to find his passport and paperwork which gave him access to the grounds and showed the guards that he was allowed inside. Their taxi driver had been given a short free pass to be able to drive in and drop them off.

"What's up with all the security?" Jisung peaked out the car window to spot three guards looking and reading at their paperwork and checking their passports.

"This place isn't just for the climbing team, it's for all Olympic participants in South Korea. It's a state-of-the-art facility. It's heavily guarded so that drugs and other substances can't get in." Chris explained as the taxi driver spoke to the guards and gave a nod before passing back the papers and passports.

"It seems a bit excessive...just for drugs?" Jisung raised an eyebrow. Sure, taking drugs would cause a termination and disqualification. But to go to such great lengths for a training facility seems like a lot.

"It's not just for drugs, there's a whole list of our precautions they take to ensure the safety of their athletes.You'll most likely also have weekly drug tests done on you incase you are doping." Chris continued as Jisung looked back out the window and spotted a large building in the distance.

Jisung sat in silence for the rest of the short trip up to the entrance. There was a South Korean flag flying against the wind as well as the Olympic flag. As they drove around the driveway and a water fountain the statue wasn't a person or a mermaid. It was the Olympic rings decorated in the dedicated colours of red, yellow, blue, green, and black. It seemed to have been newly painted as it looked almost glistening against the water that fell just in front of it.

Chris wasted no time in climbing out of the car. Jisung grabbed his bag and headphones and quickly followed behind as a member of staff walked out and assisted in grabbing Jisung's suitcases from the boot.

"Oh, I can carry them don't worry." Jisung sputtered out in Korean as they loaded them onto a trolley.

"It's quiet already Jisung-ssi, we will take them to your room so that you don't have to worry about dragging them around whilst you have a tour of the buildings. Welcome to the South Korean training facilities." The female staff responded and continued to push his luggage away from and into the entrance where See-Yung was exiting.

"Ah! Jisung, glad to see you've arrived in one piece. We are all excited to have you join the Korean team to represent us in Climbing." See-Yung held out his hand for Jisung to awkwardly shake.

"Thank you for having me join," Jisung responded quietly, he was exhausted from the flight and knowing the rest of the day was going to be jam-packed he wasn't looking forward to having to interact with so many people.