Chapter 287: Incident On The Track (2)
"Watch your tone when you’re speaking to me and be respectful." A bit offended at the sharp tone of the young contestant, the medic glared, expecting Ari to back down, but all he did was increase the fury visible in those green eyes.
"Then do your job properly. As a medical practitioner, why would you ask him what he thought was wrong with it or if he could hold on until the end of filming when it clearly hurts so much that he’s in tears? Does that make any sense? Take him to the hospital so that a real medical professional can check it, since you clearly lost the ethics required of a medical practitioner."
"Excuse me?"
"You’re excused. I’m going to get the PD. I suggest you get Justin a chair and begin treatment."
Without waiting for the medic to say anything, Ari turned to go find the PD who was taking his time walking over as well as the blue team members who were rushing over with worried expressions.
"What’s the issue?"
"Justin needs to go to the hospital. He’s injured."
PD Ji-ho looked at Justin’s teary face and then Ari’s angry one before sighing.
"You look quite angry. Do you have something to say to me?"
"No"
Ari actually had a lot to say, but decided to err on the side of caution for once and stay silent since cursing out a PD and calling him irresponsible and telling him that he should be fired was never a good look.
"Very well. The staff member will accompany him to the hospital, and the two of you can join the game again."
"I’ll actually be going with him."
Jamie stepped forward, his worried gaze fixed on Justin.
"You’re the team captain. You shouldn’t leave." PD Ji-ho’s words were chastising even as he gestured for a camera to be brought closer to record the touching moment.
"It’s fine. I’ll pass the captain’s arm band on to Ari, and he’ll handle it from here until I get back."
"You understand that if you leave, you’ll be putting your team at a disadvantage for the remaining games? You previously had the lead, but with this mishap and missing two players, you’ve dropped down to second place and could get passed over at any moment. We don’t plan on making any accommodations for the soccer match or the cavalry battle, so think it through. Apart from the beef, I assure you that the prize is really worth it."
"Yes, that’s fine. I’m sorry to the rest of the team, but he’s a teammate who got injured while doing his best for the team, and I’m the captain. I should be with him when he’s getting treated. It sucks going to the hospital alone." Jamie repeated with a determined expression.
"Okay...if you insist. Go along. The rest of you, go line up for the next game. We’ve delayed enough."
Not saying anything in response to the callous PD, Ari just patted Jamie’s back, wished Justin a speedy recovery, and walked away along with his solemn teammates.
As he rejoined the other contestants, they all worriedly asked about Justin, and after giving them the update, they returned to their teams while muttering softly.
Almost everyone who was involved in the crash seemed apologetic.
Everyone except for William, who was smiling happily.
Meeting Ari’s eyes, he licked his lips while waggling his fingers, and said
"Worth it. As a matter of fact, I plan on doing it again."
He was clearly insinuating that he had intentionally caused the crash, and Ari narrowed his eyes before telling William the truth.
"I think you’re a strange person who has lots of problems, and for your sake, I hope your team doesn’t play us on the soccer field."
"Why? Is that a threat? What are you going to do with that pitiful four-man squad?"
Hit you so hard with a soccer ball in that crazy head of yours so that some sense and common decency is finally knocked into you.
Rather than say what he really wanted to say, Ari just forced a smile.
"Just play a clean game and stop touching people and taking their hard work. I don’t understand why you don’t just work hard and get better on your own. You clearly have the money and resources to do so. Acting like this doesn’t make sense."
Hearing Ari’s words, William simply sneered.
"Someone who’s getting better by cheating with a magic object is telling me to get better by working hard? What a hypocrite. This is all your fault, you know. If you just handed it over, I wouldn’t have to do all of this."
"You don’t have to do it now. Literally just work hard?"
William stared at him for a moment before shaking his head, "I really hate people like you. To my core. Really and truly."
Ari: ಠ_ಠ
Same here.
What do you think you’re special?
I hate your guts.
But since he was curious about why William suddenly professed his undying hatred, Ari asked.
"What did I do for you to hate me? Apart from the obvious."
"People like you think that hard work solves everything, but you’re wrong. The world revolves around talented people telling others to work hard, even though they can’t get the same result. You only think that because you’re talented and because you lucked out with getting an item that belongs to ME."
As William swiped at him, Ari slipped back to avoid it while staring at the blonde boy curiously.
"I don’t understand what you’re saying. Explain it."
"I’m done talking with you."
As William stomped off, Ari stared at his back before shrugging.
"What is he talking about? Everyone here is talented, including him. And I work hard. Everyone here does. And even with the system, you still have to work hard?"
[Don’t try to understand the words of crazy people. It never makes any sense.]
"I guess."
Shrugging again, Ari went to listen to the order of the soccer matches while hoping that the day would end peacefully without another injury.
Unfortunately-
Ari stared at the Red Team, which was currently going against the Green Team.
William was repeatedly performing slide tackles on people who didn’t even have the ball.
Half the opposing team was offside.
Instead of trapping the ball with his foot or his chest, Jerome was performing high kicks that hit one of the twins in the face, causing a bloody nose and what looked like a black eye.
All the while, the PD looked like he had no intentions of stopping the game.
This was ridiculous!
If he were the referee, Ari would have just given everybody a red card and ended the game.
Whistle!
"That’s the game. The yellow team wins and stays on the field. Blue team, please get on the field."
With cautious steps, Ari’s team stepped onto the pitch.
Since they were short two players, Levi was acting as the backline defender/goalie since he was the tallest remaining member, while Ari would act as the midfield defender alongside Woobin, and Alonso would be their sole striker.
As William and Ari stared at each other for the coin toss, Ari tried to set reasonable boundaries with him to avoid injuries.
"No high kicks, no contact, and definitely no slide tackles because people can get hurt. We live and die by our faces. Deal?"
"No."
"Really? Are you sure about that?"
"Very."
William smirked at him, and seeing it, Ari shrugged at him.
"Don’t say I didn’t warn you."
"I’m not worried."
Seeing that they were about to argue again, Areum interrupted them.
"Blue team. Heads or tails?"
"Tails," Ari replied, and Areum flipped the coin.
"It’s heads. Red team gets the ball first."
"Of course."
As William and his team started kicking the ball down the field, Ari saw a loose pass from Jerome to Tae Young and, putting on a burst of speed, quickly cut in between them and stole the ball.
"Ari! Pass here!"
As Alfonso dashed toward the goal and Ari dribbled the ball between Insu’s legs, while gauging the distance, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blonde head rushing toward him.
Quickly retreating while dribbling backward, he avoided William’s slide tackle aimed at his legs.
"Don’t do that again."
After warning him, Ari put on another burst of speed, preparing to pass the ball to Alfonso, who had shaken off his guard.
Thud thud thud slide!
As William tried to slide tackle him from the front this time, Ari hopped into the air, while lifting the ball on his foot.
With a quick motion, he moved his foot from beneath the ball and kicked it directly at William’s face with a deft movement.
BANG!
The blonde boy’s head snapped back, and blood began to leak from his nose.
"Argh! Again!"
"I said it, didn’t I? Stop slide-tackling people. Someone could get hurt."
"My nose!"
"You should get that checked out. Looks rough." Ari said in a tone that said he didn’t feel sorry at all.
And while William was still rolling around on the ground clutching his bleeding, Ari juggled the ball several times, and with a lazy motion, shot it at the goal where it bounced against the crossbar and into the net.
"Goal?"
"It’s a goal?"
"What the hell? Why are you actually athletic?"
"How? You’re good at soccer, too?"
Ari just rolled his eyes.
"Guys. Let’s use our brains, shall we? Why would a French kid not know how to play soccer? It’s the most popular sport in the world."