‘Player Gong Eungil, I’m truly sorry.’
Vice Secretary Nam offered his private apology before stepping firmly on the accelerator.
Meanwhile, Seo Hahyun rested his chin in his hand, lost in pointless contemplation. He was strangely hurt by how she had immediately started growling at him like a mother dog, as though she had already forgotten the embarrassment of their first meeting.
‘I have no intention of lying beside your family register like a mummy.’
It was supposed to be a trap he had set himself.
Yet that intense gaze of hers had been so vivid that he could almost feel it burning into him.
He had a feeling she wouldn’t be easy to deal with.
It was only a vague intuition.
And so, exactly one month after the face-plant incident broke out—
The media and the internet were buzzing day after day, frantically spreading shocking news.
A marriage rumor had erupted between Gong Eungil, who had provided the public with at least a little amusement, and Seo Hahyun, the owner of Black Fury.
15 Days Before the Marriage Announcement
It was late in the evening, and Eungil was meeting Mina after a long time.
Having just finished her match against Korean Ginseng and returned from the provinces, Eungil headed straight to the address written in the message.
It was obviously an expensive luxury apartment.
Following Mina’s instructions, she entered the front-door password, then the elevator number, and finally the home’s password. Only after going through three separate verifications—
“Player!”
—could she finally meet Mina.
“Why is it so hard to see my fan even once? Doesn’t it feel like we’ve got things backward?”
“Hehe… I-I watched your match!”
Mina bounced up and down with her hood pulled over her head.
“C-Congratulations on the triple crown!”
“Well, it was pretty satisfying. More importantly, have you been doing okay?”
“Yes!”
“That big brother of yours is actually taking good care of you, right?”
Eungil questioned her suspiciously.
After that sudden morning encounter, Mina had moved into her older brother’s house instead of staying at the main family residence. It was essentially an escape, but even that left Eungil feeling rather displeased.
It was painfully obvious that he was only pretending to care now because he had some ulterior motive.
He should’ve done this from the beginning. From the very beginning!
Eungil clicked her tongue inwardly as she looked at Mina’s noticeably brighter complexion.
“If you’re comfortable, that’s all that matters.”
“Hehe, yes.”
“By the way, shouldn’t I get to see your room too? Fair is fair.”
“Ah.”
Seo Mina hesitated awkwardly.
“It isn’t completely finished yet…”
“What? Your brother didn’t even buy you furniture? He brought you here without preparing even that much?”
Eungil narrowed her eyes, deliberately being difficult.
“Th-That’s not it…”
Unable to withstand her player’s crooked attitude, Seo Mina reluctantly led the way.
They passed through a long hallway resembling an art gallery and reached a room with its back to the spacious living room. Mina stood in front of it, shifting nervously like a puppy that needed to pee.
Finally, Eungil couldn’t take it anymore and abruptly twisted the doorknob.
“P-Player!”
Eungil had been bracing herself with the attitude of All right, let’s see what I can find.
She was fully prepared to nitpick every little thing.
At least, until the door opened.
“……!”
The entire room was covered in pieces of Gong Eungil.
Her uniform released as merchandise by Windmarker, posters, signed volleyballs, photographs, official cheering goods, pamphlets, and even the emblems of every team she had ever played for.
There were even the insignias of Gong Eungil’s elementary, middle, and high schools.
“……I suppose I should be grateful you don’t have my school records.”
Eungil muttered like a sigh.
Mina answered shyly.
“Th-Those are at the main house…”
“What?!”
“P-Please stop looking now. It’s not finished yet, so I’m em-embarrassed.”
“……Not finished? This isn’t finished?”
“I left all my b-belongings at the main house. I had to decorate everything in a hurry, so it turned out a little, a-awkward.”
This is what she calls decorating…?
Eungil sighed with a slightly overwhelmed expression.
“Wow… That’s… creepy and touching at the same time.”
“Hehe.”
“And somehow even more burdensome because I know how grateful you are.”
“D-Don’t worry, Player. Just accept my love.”
Eungil grinned.
“Right. I’ll accept the love from you, and I’ll drain someone else’s wallet.”
She hadn’t forgotten why she’d been invited here today.
It was for her contract with that man, Seo Hahyun.
She had been summoned to work out the details of the contract one by one, and she had agreed immediately.
Her life had already been thoroughly wrecked.
Having long since fallen off the normal track of life, Eungil had nothing left to hold her back. If the contract was reasonable, she would’ve considered it even if it involved marriage—or even a funeral.
All she wanted was to protect her person and play as much volleyball as she could.
That alone was the lighthouse illuminating Gong Eungil after she’d fallen into a pit.
“So, you’ve got the whole situation figured out, right?”
The two sat side by side on the bed and began plotting.
“Yes. S-Somehow, I ended up o-offering my b-big brother as t-tribute.”
“Yeah, it’s no big deal. That’s all it is. Don’t be scared.”
They exchanged glances and steeled themselves.
“Right now, your brother—Seo Hahyun—thinks we’re a couple. I guess I acted too convincingly at the wedding.”
“You d-did act convincingly.”
“Really?”
The two giggled at the same time before continuing.
“And the fact that you’ve become rumored to be a lesbian in high society has put your family in quite a difficult position.”
“They probably want to s-sell me to a shrimp-fishing b-boat. If my brother hadn’t b-brought me here, they would’ve dragged me back to the main house already…”
Mina’s eyebrows and the corners of her mouth drooped into an exaggerated frown.
“A coward like you actually managed to cause such a huge disaster.”
“T-That’s…”
“No, you did well. That’s a compliment.”
Mina smiled as though she were about to cry.
“But this is where things get strange.”
Eungil narrowed her eyes and rubbed her chin. That morning when Hahyun had barged in with the darkness of dawn still clinging to him felt like something out of a ghost story even now.
Every conversation. Every turn of events.
“His solution to covering up your scandal is announcing his own marriage?”
“……”
Mina’s expression visibly darkened.
“So he wants to marry us? Even though he thinks we’re a couple? What a nasty bastard. He’s quite the twisted person.”
“I-It’s all my f-fault for being useless. We could just pretend this never happened and let me go on another b-blind date…”
“Don’t lose your nerve.”
Eungil cut her off firmly.
“There isn’t a single thing for us to lose in this contract.”
She was completely confident.
“Seo Hahyun acts as though he has our weaknesses in his hands. He used you as a hostage and shoved a marriage proposal down my throat. But you know what?”
“……?”
“Who do you think is going to suffer after swallowing it?”
“P-Player, your face looks so m-mean… C-Calm…”
Eungil glared at her fan, who was mumbling nonsense, and Mina immediately shut her mouth.
Honestly, what a scaredy-cat.
“I told you. We have nothing to lose. All I’ve done is receive a slightly unusual tribute from my die-hard fan.”
Through a marriage registration.
She grinned.
“You get the protection of the big brother who ignored you all this time.”
“Yes, yes…”
“And I get the owner of the number-one team as my legal husband, actual sponsor, and brother-in-law.”
Eungil’s face was filled with a strange exhilaration.
“This is exciting. I’ll crush players on the court and drain the team owner dry off the court.”
“Yes!”
Mina enthusiastically puffed out her cheeks as well.
To Gong Eungil, Black Fury was a team she hated with every fiber of her being.
Eungil had made her debut with Black Fury, and that year she achieved a six-crown sweep, taking home the MVP award in every match, the regular-season MVP, and the Championship Finals MVP.
She was showered with brilliant titles—the arrival of a terrifying rookie, Super Rookie, Athena’s Spike—and was even selected as the youngest-ever member of the national team.
Then the incident happened.
Ryu Sanghyeok, unquestionably the greatest coach of his generation and the head coach of both the national team and Black Fury, was publicly assaulted by Eungil, who had been a fresh-faced rookie at the time.
Thirty years earlier, Coach Ryu Sanghyeok had become the first Korean player to advance to a European professional team, and he remained a legendary figure in the European leagues to this day.
He was a historic player.
And Eungil had attacked such a symbolic figure without warning.
Naturally, the backlash was enormous.
It happened just as Korea was basking in the media’s praise after winning the gold medal at the World Championship—the first Asian nation to do so.
At the moment when the Korean flag was raised proudly at the highest, central position, Eungil suddenly rushed at her coach without the slightest warning.
The sight of a young woman attacking a middle-aged man was broadcast live, provoking the fury of the entire nation.
The police immediately arrested Eungil, and their investigation revealed that the assault had been committed while she was intoxicated.
Eventually, she received an indefinite suspension from professional play and was thrown out of Black Fury with nothing but the clothes on her back.
The club itself began a campaign to destroy Gong Eungil.
The club, the federation, the association, the media, public opinion—nowhere was there anyone willing to protect Eungil.
Because…
Ryu Sanghyeok, Black Fury’s legendary coach, was the benefactor and mentor who had raised Eungil when she was an orphan.
It was a famous story that had even been featured during her childhood on TBS’s human-interest documentary Human Theater, in an episode titled “The Child with Wings.”
The viewers remembered the tragic circumstances and extraordinary talent of the ten-year-old girl from back then.
So their sense of betrayal could only be twice as strong.
Then, on a day when tens of millions of vicious insults were being hurled at the player, Coach Ryu appeared at a press conference with his body wrapped in bandages.
He announced that he would forgive Eungil.
Her bruised mentor pleaded for her suspension to be lifted, saying he would withdraw the charges.
Then he knelt.
Her professional status was restored at the price of an old father’s knees.
But the public never forgave the genius player who had repaid kindness with such disgrace.
Eungil faced their anger from both inside and outside the court.
Inside, under Black Fury’s direction, she became a player who was repeatedly passed over and denied opportunities.
Outside, she was branded with the scarlet letter of “the nation’s traitor.”
And so, Gong Eungil remained unable to return to the court for a long time.
