Eungil was staring at her phone screen, her face so red it looked ready to burst.
It was an anonymous forum on a certain website that Mina had specifically told her never to read.
The comments hanging off the little post someone had tossed into the forum were absolutely outrageous.
Category > Sports > Volleyball
Views: 55,439 | Likes: 31,085 | Comments: 4,490
Title: The Face-Plant Incident
The funniest part is this. Gong Eungil was so focused on chasing the ball that she had absolutely no idea what she had crashed into. Then, once she realized what had happened, her face looked like it was about to explode from embarrassment. Meanwhile, Black Fury’s handsome owner didn’t change his expression at all. Honestly, wouldn’t anyone be shocked if someone suddenly came flying at them and crashed into them like that? But he had this expression like he’d merely noticed a flyer rolling around by his feet. He was so calm he practically looked merciful. The difference between Gong Eungil’s face and his reaction is freaking hilarious.
re: The difference in reactions is real LOL. To me, they look like a dog that caused trouble and its owner. LOL.
re: I’ve been replaying the video nonstop. It’s hilarious every time. LOL. She completely struck him with her face.
re: LOL. They say Gong Eungil used to fly all over the court back in her prime. Guess that wasn’t an exaggeration. Her timing is insanely accurate. Zero margin for error.
┕re: Nobody’s mentioning it because of the face-plant, but she has insane instincts. She actually saved the ball that had been sent flying by a powerful hit right before she fell.
┕re: True. When Gong Eungil first debuted, all the old-school volleyball guys wouldn’t stop gushing over her. Calling her a goddess, Athena, and stuff like that.
┕re: LOL, those guys were seriously something.
┕re: Damn LOL. My embarrassment tolerance can’t handle this.
re: LOL. I used to follow the women’s volleyball team Sky Cats. Here’s some useless trivia: apparently Gong Eungil absolutely loves anything round in the world. Especially volleyballs.
┕re: LOL, that’s freaking hilarious.
┕re: Ugh, that’s gross… 🤢
┕re: One thing we can learn from this: Gong Eungil was born to be a volleyball player.
┕re: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
“Ugh…”
A sound like someone scraping the floor escaped Eungil’s mouth.
Yeah, have your fun. Go ahead and make me your entertainment!
“P-Player!”
Mina hurried into the café and quickly sat down across from her. Eungil casually turned her phone face-down as though nothing had happened. However, there was no hiding how red her neck had become.
“You came ridiculously early again when there’s still plenty of time.”
“Y-You came even earlier, Player!”
“I just wanted to beat you here at least once.”
“Heh, hehe…”
Though Eungil gave her a reproachful look, she eventually ended up smiling along with her.
Honestly, Mina was such an innocent and loyal sto—no, fan.
“But what’s going on? What was this thing you said you absolutely had to tell me?”
“…Ah.”
Mina’s expression became darker and darker. She bit her lip, her eyes darting nervously from side to side.
“Don’t tell me, you…”
Eungil narrowed her eyes.
“I’ve seen plenty of people with expressions like yours while living at the boarding house… That’s the face of someone thinking, My life is ruined.”
“…!”
“Did you borrow money you weren’t supposed to?”
“What? No—”
“…Are you in debt?”
Eungil turned pale as she questioned her.
“Medicine, food, clothes… Don’t tell me all of that was actually debt…? I believe in gratefully accepting sympathy and affection, so I’ve just quietly accepted everything you’ve given me all this time. Were things actually worse for you than they were for me?”
“…I-I…”
Seo Mina’s face turned as red as a plum.
If she had been good at clearing up misunderstandings, she probably wouldn’t have spent her whole life being so timid.
I have plenty of money…
That one sentence would have been enough.
But if she said the wrong thing, she might end up revealing that Black Fury was her father’s company’s team, that her eldest brother was its owner, and that he was none other than the man involved in the face-plant incident that had left Eungil so mortified.
Even though she knew she’d be found out soon anyway…
She wanted to keep it hidden.
She was going to be exposed sooner or later. If Eungil abandoned her then, she could accept it at that point.
For now, she wanted to enjoy this warmth a little longer.
“P-Player, it’s not that…”
Mina hesitantly pulled something out of her bag.
A neatly squared white envelope.
“What is it? An IOU? Or a waiver giving up your rights? A slave contract? Ha… So there really was somewhere even more old-fashioned than my boarding house?”
Eungil irritably brushed back her falling hair.
“…A-a wedding invitation.”
“What?”
“A w-wed—”
Mina clamped her mouth shut as though she absolutely did not want to say it twice.
“A wedding invitation?”
Eungil blinked slowly.
It was a piece of paper she had never personally received even once in her life.
Had something as ordinary as the usual march toward marriage ever really belonged in Eungil’s life?
And more than that, her one and only fan was giving her a wedding invitation?
“What is this?”
“Pardon?”
“No, I mean… why are you giving it to me? Did you get a job? Did you design it yourself? Or did you hear the buffet here is really good? Are you asking me to come eat with you?”
“…”
“Don’t tell me you’re getting married.”
Even Eungil found the idea absurd, waving her hands as she denied it.
“I’ve never seen you dating anyone in the nine years I’ve known you.”
“…I-I-I’m getting married. Next week.”
“…Huh? Who is?”
“I-I’m getting married. Next week!”
“What?”
“I’m getting married next week!”
“C-crazy—”
Mina squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
“So now…!”
It was the moment Eungil’s one and only fan announced her forced hiatus.
“I-I’m getting married, and I’m going to America. My husband—no, the person I’m marrying—hasn’t finished his studies yet. So I’m going with him, and I don’t know when I’ll be able to return to Korea… Maybe… maybe never… Y-you don’t have to come to the wedding. I just… you’re the only person I could give this to. I’m sorry…”
The morning of the wedding arrived.
Eungil had no idea how she’d gotten through the past week.
Is this what it feels like to send a younger sister off to get married?
Eungil entered a luxurious hotel wearing a gloomy-looking dress.
“It’s really here…?”
One expensive foreign car after another lined the entrance. Security guards communicated through earpieces. Distinguished guests stood against the backdrop of red carpets, and endless rows of flower arrangements filled the venue.
But more dazzling than the flowers was the status of the people who had sent them.
The names of prosecutors, judges, lawmakers, mayors, chairmen, professors, deans, CEOs, prime ministers, and even a former president were all there.
It seemed as though every prominent person in Korea had gathered in one place.
Feeling awkward in the dress and shoes she’d pulled out for the first time in ages, Eungil kept tugging at the hem of her skirt for no reason.
Does everyone really feel like this when sending off a younger sister?
Does it really feel this heavy?
Surrounded by the mixed scent of expensive perfumes, the guests smiling like figures from a painting, and the soft piano music in the background, Eungil finally realized what she was feeling.
That’s right.
It feels like someone is stealing my side away from me.
The small, clumsy person who had sincerely supported Eungil’s play had been her salvation.
Without Mina, my volleyball will become ugly again.
Volleyball had already become nothing more than a means to an end.
She had become a player stained by countless scandals and disgrace.
Yet because she had one fan, Eungil could occasionally live through a day without feeling ashamed of herself.
Still… Still, now…
Seo Mina, you have to live your own life too.
Nine years.
At the end of the relationship that had begun when Mina was seventeen and Eungil was twenty, Eungil had come today intending to send Mina off with a smile.
So today, I’ll be your fan.
Mina had taught her how to clap and cheer so many times that Eungil knew it by heart.
She didn’t know where Mina had met a man and secretly dated him, but the bride’s gloomy expression, so unlike that of a woman about to get married, kept bothering her.
Still, Eungil had come determined to congratulate and support Mina as she began her new life.
And then—
“Jekyung Group really managed to sell off a daughter like that?”
“It’s still a profitable deal. It’s the union of Jekyung and Daeyang, after all. People say it’s a pretty even match. Neither side has much to lose. Apparently, they’ve already secured a project worth tens of billions of won.”
“Even so, she’s still a halfwit. Seo Mina.”
“Well… She really was exactly the same as she was in middle school. Still gloomy and frustrating.”
Eungil stared in disbelief at the women casually badmouthing the bride right in the wedding hall lobby—not even in a bathroom or some secluded emergency staircase.
What the hell kind of situation is this?
Then one woman whispered,
“Oh, right. Seulyoon told me to look forward to it. She said Mina didn’t have any friends to catch the bouquet, so she was going to find someone to do it instead. But apparently she deliberately didn’t find anyone. She wants to humiliate her.”
“She’s still like that, seriously. Doesn’t she have any fear? It’s her sister-in-law’s wedding, of all things.”
“Have you ever seen Seulyoon get caught doing anything? She’s always been ridiculously good at things like that.”
They looked sophisticated at first glance, but their faces were full of mockery.
“In a way, Heo Seulyoon is impressive too. She even married the brother of the girl she used to ignore and torment. I can’t tell whether Heo Seulyoon is frightening or Seo Mina is just pitiful.”
“Heo Seulyoon is the impressive one. She’s the only woman who managed to survive at Jekyung. No mother-in-law, and soon she’ll have her sister-in-law out of the way too.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. The eldest son of that family is still unmarried. Nobody knows what’ll happen until the first daughter-in-law comes in.”
“According to Seulyoon, she’ll be the only daughter-in-law in Jekyung.”
The women continued on, carrying out their careless conversation.
Eungil forced herself to ignore the uncomfortable heaviness in her stomach.
This is supposed to be a sacred wedding hall, isn’t it?
More importantly, this was an event involving both families. Acting rashly without knowing the circumstances could be dangerous.
“Heh. That bastard is finally getting buried.”
But there seemed to be land mines everywhere she went.
“I thought that Park Danjae would be the one man who’d never get married. After living such a wild life, he’s suddenly pretending to be a respectable one-woman man. His glorious past must be crying.”
“Keep your voice down, idiot. The bride might run away.”
“Heh. As if she’d run away. I never thought I’d live to see Park Danjae actually get married.”
“Hey, let’s make a bet. How many households will Park Danjae end up supporting?”
“Three at minimum. A thousand.”
“Five. Three thousand.”
Are these guests from the groom’s side?
A group of men in suits with sharp-looking expressions stood together in a circle, snickering.
They were dressed so impeccably that they looked like the kind of people who spent their days signing contracts and ordering others around.
Yet every word that came out of their mouths was terrible.
Mina. Are you sure your future husband is actually okay?
Come to think of it, Mina was rather unreliable in many ways, and Eungil hadn’t even seen the groom’s face once.
Considering Mina’s judgment—the fact that among countless athletes, she had chosen to support Eungil, who carried the title of the nation’s public enemy—
There really is no hope.
