Chapter 280: Field Day (3)
The team members were Levi, Jamie, Alfonso, Justin, and Choi Woo-bin.
Since he had never been in a team with Woo-bin before, Ari nodded at him before glancing at Jamie, who had the captain’s band.
Seeing everyone looking at him and very in his element when it came to sports, Jamie began confidently speaking.
"I want us to go around the circle and have everyone say what they want to do, but before we do that, I think we can all agree that Ari should be the top in the cavalry game since he’s probably the lightest."
5 pairs of eyes turned to look at Ari before nodding in unanimous agreement.
For some reason, he felt a bit bad about those looks.
"Good, then I’ll put myself for Ssireum and the cavalry battle. I can also play goalie in football if needed, but I’m no good at tennis. If it were baseball or American football, I’d be fine, though."
Jamie then glanced at Levi, who answered shortly.
"Wrestling, calvary game, relay race. I’ve played tennis before, but I’m not the best."
"Woobin?"
"Relay race and cavalry game. I’m no good at tennis." The slightly stocky Korean boy responded.
"Justin?"
"I want to do the relay race and tennis. I used to play tennis in middle school, so I have some experience."
"Okay. Good. Alfonso?"
"Relay race and cavalry game."
"Okay. Finally, Ari? You’re participating in 2 events already, and the relay race is full. Anything else?"
"I can do tennis."
"Tennis? But I said I want to do it." Justin looked at Ari in surprise since Ari wasn’t someone who was usually greedy to stand out.
"I haven’t played in a couple of years, but I’m pretty good at it," Ari said confidently.
"Really? Can you really?" Justin looked Ari up and down with a skeptical look.
"Oi respect me. I guarantee I can beat anyone here. I’d put my own money on it."
Knowing how Ari was about money, Justin nodded.
"Really? Then fine, you can have it. Does anyone want to give me something? I need to participate in 2 events."
"You can have my calvary battle spot. The height will be a little more balanced that way."
Woobin shrugged before handing it over, and seeing that things were peacefully resolved, Jamie threw his hand in the middle while staring at the rest of them expectantly.
One by one, they piled their hands in the center of the circle and glanced at Jamie to give a speech.
Clearing his throat, Jamie’s sunshine-like smile disappeared as he became deathly serious.
"Blue team, let’s work hard and win for all you can eat barbecue. Chicken, pork, beef! On three, let’s yell out your favorite type of protein. One! Two! Three!"
"PORK!"
"BEEF!!!"
"MEAAAATTT!!!"
"RIBS!"
Although he was a bit confused at the strange chant, Ari went along with it as they separated and began stretching in preparation for the impromptu field day.
Ari glanced around at other teams doing the same, specifically in William’s direction, before grabbing Jamie’s arms and pulling him to the side.
"What’s wrong?"
"If it’s William who’s doing the wrestling, let Levi do it. Actually, try to avoid touching him throughout this whole event."
"Why?"
"Because you can’t touch him."
"Why not? That’ll be pretty hard since we’re playing together."
Meeting the blue eyes earnestly staring at him and waiting for a response, Ari quickly racked his brain for an answer that wouldn’t make him sound crazy.
"He’s intentionally making other singers sick to make himself look good. Have you noticed how all the good singers who are not his friends get sick whenever he starts getting their help? From Carlos, to Rex, and others. They always get sick, but none of his friends do. Isn’t that suspicious?"
"Hmmmm. Now that you mention it-" Jamie began tapping his fingers on his crossed arms as he thought about it.
Although it sounded strange, the pattern was consistent.
The best singers who interacted with William were constantly sick right before it was time to perform, and Ari, as the person who fought with him the most, had lost his voice twice, which would be detrimental to someone on a show such as this.
Thankfully, Ari had miraculously recovered, but it was quite suspicious.
"How is he doing it?"
"I don’t know-"
[Liar]
You just shut up.
"But I figure if he can’t touch you, then you can’t get sick, right? Better safe than sorry, right? Just don’t touch him, okay?"
"Hmmm...okay. I’ll do my best. Thank you for letting me know."
"Of course."
Smiling in his usual bright way, Jamie patted Ari’s shoulder and turned to stare at William with an expression that quickly became cold.
*******
"Gather up, the first game we’ll be playing is tennis! Are you all excited?"
Areum glanced over at the contestants, who actually looked a bit tired despite their chatter and excitement.
Since many of them were pretty young and not even trainees, it was obvious that they weren’t used to having such early schedules, as none of them thought to put on foundation or at least a skin tint to help cover up the tiredness.
But as someone who had been an idol for well over a decade and had gotten notified last-minute about the opportunity from their manager, this much was just standard in the industry that was quickly becoming overcrowded with new groups debuting constantly.
Still, it was quite nice to see cute juniors following the path that she once did, even though it seemed that the PDs that were once upon a time the incarnation of both a god and the devil had mellowed down significantly.
Smiling at the contestants who couldn’t stop gawking at her and her team members, Areum waved before continuing her job as the MC.
"To decide the matchups, we’ll be drawing lots. One team will get to sit out the first round, while the other two will be competing. Can the individuals on both come forward? Sakura will hold the cups for you all to draw lots."
The Red Lace member with bright pink hair, aptly named Sakura, stepped forward with a cup filled with folded papers, while a production staff member rolled out a tournament tourney drawn on a whiteboard.
One by one, 5 contestants walked forward.
From the blond William dressed in bright red, to the person who was last in line, dressed in blue.
Areum watched as the contestant with red hair that was brighter than hers stepped forward as if he were on a stroll through a garden.
It was a face that you couldn’t help but recognize since it belonged to a person that was constantly trending for one thing or the other.
Instead of the starstruck eyes or eyes that surreptitiously checked her and her team members out that she was expecting to see, she saw the beautiful green eyes focus on her face before he bowed his head politely and focused on the cup that Sakura held out.
"Here you go!"
"Thank you."
Bowing his head politely, the contestant retreated, and Areum began speaking again.
"Please open your papers. Would the two people who received the card that says ’prelims’ raise their hand?"
Two contestants, Ariel dressed in blue and Mathew dressed in purple, raised their hands, and Areum nodded before continuing.
"Excellent, the two of you will have the first round battle. Best 3 out of 5 games win."
"The rest of you have numbers on your papers, so please come and place them in the appropriate location on the tournament board, and we’ll get the match started."
Once the tournament board was set up, Areum made herself comfortable in the umpire’s seat while her team members handed over rackets and tennis balls to the two contestants playing and pom-poms to those who were spectating.
"Game Start! First Serve, Contestant Ariel!"
Expecting a relatively slow game since they clearly weren’t experts, Areum prepared to watch with a relaxed mind and even began thinking of other things as the two contestants stepped onto the court.
She watched as the contestant in blue twirled the racket in his hand repeatedly before plucking at the strings until several snapped.
Then, taking a ball out of his pocket, the slim figure bounced the ball repeatedly with the racket before lining himself up on the baseline.
Slender fingers of the left hand wrapped around the ball and tossed it straight into the air while the owner lightly jumped into the air.
Surprised at the almost professional-looking form, Areum sat up in her seat while the other contestants began whispering.
- Oh, he’s going to miss
- I’ve tried playing tennis before, and it’s much harder than it looks.
- Watch, this will be so embarrassing.
THWACK
Instead of the miss that everyone thought would happen, the tennis racket firmly connected with the ball and launched it at a fast speed toward the other side of the net.
- He hit it?
- What the?
While those who were on the sideline were shocked, Mathew, who was on the receiving end, was prepared as he had actual tennis experience.
With the racket already in position to hit the ball once it bounced, he was more surprised than anyone when the ball suddenly curved in the opposite direction from where he was waiting for it.
Mathew could only watch as the ball repeatedly bounced until it left the court before turning to Ari with a shocked expression.
And naturally, he saw the usual cheeky smile and peace sign staring at him, and then the umpire, who had her mouth open.
"15-Love, right?"
A bit stunned at the beautiful smile, Areum stuttered as she responded.
"Y-yes. Point to Ari. Please continue."
"Sure."
With a relaxed stance, Ari moved to the other side to serve, and naturally, after that shocking example, Mathew adjusted his position to prepare for the weird bounce.
Unfortunately-
THWACK
Instead of being hit with the racket in Ari’s right hand, Mathew watched in slow motion as Ari hit the ball with his left, causing it to bounce in the complete opposite direction than earlier.
What the heck?
"H-how? With both hands?"
"Why are you surprised? I’m ambidextrous? You watched me do things for weeks with my left hand when my right was sprained and then watched me switch back to my right." Ari looked at him as if he was crazy