"Morning," Sang-yoon greets mid-yawn, opening her locker which was right next to Ryujin's. Ryujin returns the greeting through a hum, too tired to form words.
"Your shoulder is hurting again?" Sang-yoon sighs as she looks over at the elder, who had winced before massaging her shoulder after closing her locker. Ryujin assures her it was just a muscle ache, which would go away soon.
"My mother sent over so much chicken essence. I'll bring some over for you tomorrow," Sang-yoon smiles, refusing to let Ryujin protest the matter as she walks away. Ryujin shakes her head before she hears a small laugh on her side.
"Didn't mean to eavesdrop," Ji-won apologises meekly, intimidated by her senior. Ryujin flashes a warm smile, assuring her there was no harm done. They held a short conversation, their official training period only starting in half an hour.
Both girls flinch in surprise hearing the locker door slam open. Ryujin watches warily as Hyomin walks toward her locker, supposedly in a bad mood. Ji-won shakes her head as Hyomin keeps on muttering and huffing by herself.
"I'm going to go warm up. Are you coming?" Ji-won asked the elder, not wanting to be caught up in the middle of another one of Hyomin's fits. Ryujin tells the younger to go ahead first, glancing over at Hyomin.
"Hey, you okay?..." Ryujin asks carefully as she approaches the girl. Hyomin passes her a glare before she goes back to unpacking her training bag.
"Why do you care," Hyomin mutters, a bite in her words. Ryujin bites back her words, pursing her lips at the rudeness of the girl.
"We used to be friends. Of course I still care," Ryujin muttered, and she locks eyes with Hyomin when she spins around abruptly. Hyomin's eyes narrow, and Ryujin's once concerned expression turns neutral seeing that Hyomin is near trembling in rage.
"Are you trying to threaten me? I'm not scared of you Ryujin. You better fuck off." Hyomin says dangerously low, but it isn't enough to scare Ryujin off. Ryujin just cocks an eyebrow, and Hyomin lets out a short huff of exasperation, grabbing her things before stalking off.
Ryujin watches as the feisty girl slams the door behind her, Ryujin being left in the locker room by herself. She sits down on one of the benches, already exhausted despite the day not having even started yet.
"I made you some food. I thought it'd be nicer than hospital food." Ryujin hums shyly, brushing her bangs as she places the food container in front of Hyomin.
"Ryujin, you're forgetting I'm in the VIP ward." Hyomin chuckles teasingly. Embarrassed, Ryujin moves to grab the food container away, but Hyomin stops her hand before she can touch the food.
"Don't. I think I'd prefer a home-cooked meal over hospital food anytime, no matter the quality." Hyomin smiles endearingly, and Ryujin pulls her hand away. Her heart filled with warmth seeing her friend enjoy the food, despite all the machines that surrounded her and the tubes stuck to her body.
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"Again. Hyomin, I told you to tuck in your leg." Coach Yang gives Hyomin a look, telling her to focus up. Hyomin lets out a harsh sigh, walking back to her side of the mat. Ryujin also goes back, getting ready before their coach gives the command cue again.
The rest of the team watch as tension rises every time Coach Yang calls Hyomin out. She had been playing badly since the start, and everyone was well aware that she was already in a bad mood. Sang-yoon gives Ryujin an encouraging thumbs up when her eyes glance over to her.
Ryujin decides to defend, watching Hyomin charge toward her after Coach Yang blows the whistle. She frowns as Hyomin starts lunging more aggressively, managing to push Ryujin down.
Ryujin removes her mask in disbelief, ready to protest when Coach Yang gives the point to Hyomin. Before she can open her mouth, Coach Yang asks her to return to her side of the mat.
Ryujin grits her teeth, and although Hyomin was wearing the mask, she knew the girl was smirking underneath. She lets out a huff, harshly putting on the mask and returning to her side.
Coach Yang blows the whistle again, and the next round begins. The roles have completely reversed, Ryujin charging with determination and Hyomin barely stops her blade from making contact with her uniform.
Sang-yoon looks away, not being able to take the tension of the fierce match. Namra, who is sitting right next to the younger, sucks in a breath as the two girls' blades collide with one another again and again.
The team watches with bated breath as both opponents lunge at the same time. It was near impossible to tell which blade touched whose uniform was. It was pin drop silence and time seemed to drag until the machine beeped, giving the point to Ryujin.
"What the hell? It was so obvious I got that point!" Hyomin shrieks as she pulls her mask off, throwing it to the ground. Sweat coats her whole face, and her eyes are fired up in anger and disbelief.
"The machine doesn't lie. I got that point." Ryujin emphasises, also taking off her mask. Ryujin was one to rarely lose her cool, but she had enough of Hyomin's bullshit.
"Coach Yang! You saw! I was so obviously ahead of her by like 2 seconds!" Hyomin protests again, turning to their coach. Before Coach Yang can respond to the girl's angry outburst, Ryujin snaps back.
"Oh my god, can you just stop it? Not everything has to go your way, stop being a sore loser."
"Excuse me? Don't project your insecurities on me, Shin Ryujin. It's not my fault you don't fight for what you deserve, seeing you're always such a coward!"
"Yea well at least I'm not a bitch to everyone around me just because I have issues at home."
"You-"
"Enough! Both of you!" Coach Yang yells, silencing both girls immediately. Ryujin's eyes have widened to twice their size, glaring daggers straight into Hyomin's eyes. She, too, glared back with the same intensity, her hands balled into fists.
"Look, I don't care whatever unresolved friendship drama you had, you leave that outside of training. Your bickering is not taking only my time, but your teammates' time too. You have a competition coming up for god's sake. You guys are grown women, isn't it a little embarrassing you're fighting with one another like high school girls, in front of your juniors too?"
Hyomin averts her eyes, a frown evident on her face as she folds her arms. Ryujin's eyes flutter close, telling herself to calm down and give in so this conflict would resolve and the team could move in.
"You're right. I'm sorry Coach Yang, everyone. I'm sorry Hyomin. You were upset, and I should've kept quiet or offered to replay the point instead." Ryujin rationally apologises, looking over at Hyomin who refused to look in anyone's eyes.
"Thank you, Ryujin. Hyomin?" Coach Yang asks, a demanding tone in her words. Hyomin doesn't budge, letting out a small scoff as she turns around. Coach Yang exhales harshly, massaging her temples.
"Both of you, stay back after training today. You guys won't be training for the rest of the day, and instead watch the rest of your teammates play normally. You guys will clean up the place afterwards. No excuses." Coach Yang states matter-of-factly.
Ryujin releases a deep sigh, bowing to Coach Yang before wordlessly going to sit down with the rest of her teammates. Sang-yoon wraps an arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm comfortingly as she glares at Hyomin who sits down on the opposite side.
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"Bye Ryujin unnie, I'll go back first." Sang-yoon hums as she throws her bag over her shoulder, passing the elder a sympathetic look. Ryujin gives her an assuring smile, waving her off.
Once the younger girl had left, Ryujin turned back to her locker, rummaging through her bag. She releases a small sigh of relief seeing the panadol, quickly popping one into her mouth feeling the pounding of her head get stronger.
She puts down her water, wiping her mouth as she realises that everyone has already left for the day. Ryujin closes her locker dejectedly, dragging her feet to the training hall in dread.
She closes the door behind her, standing at the entrance of the training hall as she processes what she needs to do. She spots Hyomin sitting on one of the benches, scrolling through her phone. Ryujin bites back her words, deciding to give Hyomin the benefit of the doubt and join on her own will. She walks over to the mats, starting to roll the first one.
Ryujin releases a harsh exhale of breath after pushing another rolled up mat to the side of the hall. She looks over at Hyomin, pissed off that she still hasn't moved from her seat. Ryujin had already put away most of the mats despite the ache in her muscles.
"Aren't you going to help?" Ryujin finally breaks her silence, tilting her head to look at Hyomin. Hyomin looks up from her phone, maintaining eye contact with Ryujin for a few seconds before she gets up.
"Since you said you're sorry just now, you can finish the rest by yourself. Then i'll accept your apology." Hyomin grabs her bag that was already at her feet, walking out of the training hall and leaving Ryujin in there alone.
Ryujin couldn't even step forward to stop Hyomin from leaving. Ryujin balls her hands into fists, her eyes glazing over hearing the door slam close. She presses the bottom of her palms to her eyes to stop the tears from spilling.
Ryujin puts down her hands, looking around her to see what needs to be cleaned. She releases a long sigh, bringing herself to move and start getting things done so she could go home earlier.
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Ryujin only walked out of the building when it was well past 10pm. The streets were dark, street lamps being the only source of light to guide Ryujin home. She pulls her cap further down, trudging back home feeling overwhelmed and upset.
She removes her phone from her pocket feeling it vibrate, a notification coming through.
beomgyu<3
bro i jst woke up from my nap how am i going to sleep now
i was watching a kdrama with my sister and she's not even in the living room anymore
how was training
ig u have no choice but to pull an all-nighter tonight thentraining was the worst
oh no
that sucks
do you want to talk abt it?
Beomgyu's eyes widen seeing the call come through. He sits up from the sofa, accepting the call as he presses the phone to his ear. He heard rustling, Ryujin was probably walking home. Did she end that late?
"Hey, it's pretty late. Are you just walking home from training?" Beomgyu asked in concern, pulling the blanket closer to him feeling a breeze pass by him.
"Yea...today was just...a mess." Beomgyu frowned hearing the waver in Ryujin's voice, it seemed that she was truly upset. He brought his feet closer to him, waiting for Ryujin to prepare herself to tell him what happened.
"I used to be friends with this girl on the team. But we stopped being friends under bad circumstances. I guess she had a bad day today, and then we got into a fight. In front of the whole team. The coach had to get involved and she told us we'd have to clean up the place afterwards as punishment for wasting everyone's time.
So, of course, I had to stay back a little to clean up the place before I could leave. I was cleaning up and she never got up to help. So I confronted her and she just...she just walked out saying that she'd only accept my apology after I cleaned the whole place myself.
It's just...the whole thing really sucked, you know? I felt really shitty but I couldn't do anything about her walking out on me so we didn't have to receive another punishment from the coach."
Beomgyu balled up the blanket in his hand, feeling upset for the girl who obviously seemed very dejected as she explained the story. Even when she was upset, she made an effort not to tell Beomgyu who she was, and it made Beomgyu feel even more upset.
"So you just cleaned the whole place up yourself?"
"There wasn't anything else I could do,"
Beomgyu pursed his lips hearing Ryujin's voice break. His eyes widened in further concern, a small sniffle on Ryujin's side before she started to cry. He sat up straighter, the rustling had stopped which meant that Ryujin had stopped walking.
"Hey, hey, hey don't cry! It's alright, it's over now right? You did the right thing Ryujin, you're better than me. I would've started a fight, like a physical one. Like literally. She had no right to disrespect you like that, but you still took it as maturely as you could. That's something to be proud of. Hey Ryujin, you know I'm proud of you right?"
Ryujin lets out a sob hearing Beomgyu's comforting words, wiping her eyes before she starts to walk again. Beomgyu bites his lip, thinking of something he could say to cheer the girl up.
"Hey...can you come over? I don't want to be alone right now." Ryujin quietly whispers into the phone, her voice thick as she holds in her sobs. Beomgyu smiles softly, throwing the blanket off him as he gets up from the sofa.
"Of course. I'll be there in 10 minutes?" Beomgyu asks, and Ryujin hums. They bid one another a quick goodbye, and Beomgyu rushes to his room to get dressed properly.
"Yun-jae, i'm going out for a while. Don't wait for me!" Beomgyu calls out to the house, zipping up his coat as he slips on his shoes, throwing open the door before he leaves without hearing an answer from the younger.
Beomgyu snuggles his nose into his scarf, digging his hands into his pockets as the extremely cold weather made him tremble despite the many layers he had thrown on haphazardly.
His eyes shone with concern, his feet picking up speed as he thought about Ryujin who was all alone and upset. She was there for him when he was sad, and now it was his turn to provide the same support.
HYOMIN SQUARE UP HOW DARE U MAKE RYUJIN CRY
but like...what caused such bad blood?👀
also this is my first update of 2024 thats so crazy