Chapter 131: Idol Athletics Championships (3)
The sports field where the <Idol Athletics Championships> was being held.
After the lunch break ended, the place gradually became busy as everyone prepared for the afternoon schedule.
In the afternoon, only e-sports and the relay race were left.
Since I was in the very last event, I still had some time, but it was time for the e-sports hyungs to get ready.
Likewise, my fellow relay member, Seo Haim, had been tapping away quickly with his fingers for a while now.
He seemed to be chatting excitedly, his face full of energy.
When I glanced over his shoulder, I saw a name pop up that I didn’t exactly like.
[Jung Wonjae sunbaenim]
Sunbaenim or not, this felt like my kid was hanging out with the wrong crowd.
My mood instantly soured, and I snatched Seo Haim’s phone away.
“Ah, why.”
Caught off guard by his phone suddenly being taken, Seo Haim frowned and turned his head.
But that didn’t last long.
“Hyung, let’s take a picture together.”
“Should we?”
The moment I said it, he immediately grinned and struck a pose.
“Are you going to upload it to Universe?”
“I’ll send it to the fans through messages.”
“Upload the one with me too. Ah, and send me the photo!”
Click- click.
After snapping a few pictures that captured the atmosphere of the Championships, I also sent them to Seo Haim.
Since the topic came up, I decided I should upload them to Private Message too, so I opened the app.
[Choco Haim]: Filming Idol Athletics ><
[Choco Haim]: (photo jpg) Took this while waiting with Seohan
[Choco Haim]: Junseo hyung seems passed out lolol
In the meantime, it seemed like he had briefly forgotten about his chat with Jung Wonjae….
He wasn’t a little kid, and I couldn’t exactly block his chatting while sitting right next to him.
It felt unpleasant, but there was nothing I could do about it.
If it ever turned out to be a bad connection, then I’d definitely have to cut it off.
While I sat there worrying about that, Jin Sehyun suddenly jumped up from his seat.
“I’ll be off to e-sports. Hoot.”
“Already leaving?”
“Waaah! Make sure to take first place~!”
“Of course.”
Jin Sehyun, Seo Ian, and Ha Junseo.
They were the three who had practiced together until late last night, determined to claim first place in e-sports no matter what.
With the utmost seriousness on his face, Jin Sehyun had said something like this.
‘Games, you see… are about teamwork.’
‘Right.’
‘If we want to prove our teamwork… then we absolutely have to take first place.’
‘…Do we really have to prove it that way?’
He especially added that they had to beat The Core no matter what.
It seemed Ray’s provocation had fired him up in a strange way.
Anyway.
“Shine bright! Stardust fighting!”
“Fighting! Fighting! Fighting!”
Universe Dust fighting.
Under the scorching sun, Dusty’s Yoojin’s irritation level kept rising.
She tried fanning herself desperately to cool down, but it didn’t work.
“Has the weather gone crazy?”
She swore she could collapse at any moment.
If even the audience seats were like this, then how much worse must it be for our kids who were running around in that heat? The thought made her temper flare.
“Ah, when is this shitty program ever going to get canceled?”
“Probably never, since there are people like us who keep watching every time.”
Not just watching every time—she even followed them all the way here to cheer in this hellfire.
Cursing MBN once again, Yoojin let out a deep sigh.
When she logged onto the community, a few posts about the Championships had gone up.
[How’s the atmosphere at the Championships?]
I wanted to go see it
It’s my dream
-Feels like I’m gonna die of heat
└lolololololol today’s weather is brutal, seriously insane
└my idol is lying passed out on the ground right now
└Junseoni?
└Ah lololololololololol
└A candid just dropped, and Ha Junseo was one with the ground and water ㅠㅠ
└Heung-Junseo is Heung-ing again today
-It’s your dream? You can only say that if you haven’t been here
└lololol run away….
└I’m sitting in the back, and everyone’s cheering while swearing at the same time lololololol
└Guys, cheer upㅎㅎㅎㅎ but damn, what’s with this weather?
└lolololololol are they seriously like this right now?
└I saw a review, and apparently, they really are lolololol
└This year feels especially… insanely hot….
-It’s seriously sooooo exhausting, please save me
└I can’t even cheer right now, haha
└I’m thirsty, feels like I’m losing weight in real time
└Is this some kind of Idol Athletics diet?
└lololololololololol
└They don’t give us food or water, just force us to cheer, is this a fasting center?
-What event are they on now?
└Relay is probably next after this
└Oh, almost at the end then
└Ah, the relay’s gonna be fun
Even though everyone on the community looked half-dead, strangely, the fans in this section had unusually high energy.
They didn’t seem to tire at all, and in the meantime, other fans raised their voices as if refusing to be outdone.
“Waaaah!”
“Ray, you’re so handsome!”
“Jin Sehyun! Marry meeee!”
Seriously, such overflowing energy.
Dusty’s Yoojin let out a sigh as she grabbed her Deokchin.
“Ah, I wanna go home. I’m drained.”
“But the kids are cute, though.”
That was true.
For some reason, our kids looked especially cute today.
“Are our kids introverts?”
“They must be really shy since they’re rookies.”
While other groups were busy exchanging greetings with each other, Stardust stuck close together except for giving light greetings to their seniors.
Was it really okay for a survival show group to have this much unity?
Even from here, you could clearly see how close they were.
No matter how much malicious commenters tried to drag them down, they couldn’t touch the team’s atmosphere.
Just then, a fan in the front row shouted with a booming voice.
“Seohan-ahhhh!”
“Whoa, that startled me.”
Without realizing it, Yoojin blurted out loud.
It was no wonder—the woman’s voice carried so well, it seemed it could reach all the way across the sports field.
“Do Seohan is so cuuuute!”
Flinch.
From the first floor, Seohan visibly reacted in awareness.
Deokchin poked Yoojin in the side excitedly.
“Hey, he heard that, didn’t he?”
At that level, he really must have heard it.
The fan in the front row shouted again, even louder this time.
“Do Seohan!!! I want to put you in my pocketttt!”
This time, he definitely heard it.
He even smiled a little.
“Ah, damn, that’s so freaking cute.”
Even the way he shyly hid behind Seo Haim’s back was unbearably adorable.
“The maknae is definitely the maknae.”
“Baby idol Do Seohan….”
Deokchin stomped her feet in excitement.
Then, an announcement came over the speakers.
“The relay finals will begin shortly.”
At last, it was time for the relay finals.
The eyes of the Dustys in the same section sparkled.
“Look at them all getting excited when it’s relay time.”
“Hey, but I’m excited too.”
Stardust had won first place in the preliminaries to get here.
They had said in a Yui App live a few days ago that the relay was the event they were most confident in, and apparently, it wasn’t just empty bragging.
“They ended up taking first in e-sports too.”
“Jin Sehyun looked so happy.”
“Haim and Seohan said they really wanted to win the relay.”
“Our kids are pretty serious about running.”
As the two chattered away, the members lined up in order next to the starting line.
Do Seohan, Seo Haim, Cha Seongbin, Kang Siwoo.
Stardust’s relay team had four members in total.
Dusty’s Yoojin tapped Deokchin on the shoulder and said,
“Hey, looks like Do Seohan’s the last runner.”
“He’ll run a full lap then.”
Finally, all preparations were complete.
“Hey hey, it’s starting.”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
Bang–
With a roar of cheers, the starter gun went off.
“Stardust fighting!”
“The Core! The Core! The Core!”
“Hyper, let’s go for first placeee–!”
The stadium roared with cheers during the relay, the highlight of the Athletics Championships.
A total of five teams had advanced to the finals.
Among them were Stardust, Hyper, and The Core.
Seohan lifted his head slightly and glanced around the dust-filled track.
“……”
Right beside him, Hyper’s Jung Wonjae was stomping the ground with his foot.
He, too, had been blatantly conscious of Seohan from earlier.
Their eyes briefly met before Seohan quickly looked away.
From the speakers, the excited voice of the commentator flowed out.
[Hyper’s Jihoon! Yes, he just surged ahead into first place!]
[The Core’s Ji Yeojoon is chasing closely behind him!]
[Yes, it’s still uncertain—ohhh! Cha Seongbin is also picking up speed!]
Hyper was in first, The Core in second, with Cha Seongbin quickly catching up behind them.
They all said they wouldn’t push themselves, but in the end, their competitive spirits got the better of them.
Seeing them run with gritted teeth only made the fans cheer even louder.
“Cha Seongbin! Cha Seongbin! Cha Seongbin!”
“Ji Yeojoon! Yeojoon-ahhh!”
Meanwhile, Hyper’s Jihoon surged forward even faster.
The Core quickly fell behind, and with the baton in hand, Cha Seongbin gritted his teeth and ran.
The gap kept closing, and by the time he rounded the corner, Cha Seongbin had pulled ahead into second place.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Cha Seongbin! Cha Seongbin! Cha Seongbin!”
The gap had narrowed enough that even Hyper could be caught.
That was Seohan’s judgment.
‘This is doable.’
At just the right distance, Cha Seongbin was racing toward him.
Ta-at–
As Jung Wonjae received the baton first and began to sprint, the cheers roared even louder than before.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Jung Wonjae! Jung Wonjae! Jung Wonjae!”
There was still one full lap left, plenty of time to catch up.
Right after, Cha Seongbin rushed in, panting.
“Seohan, run!”
Seohan snatched the baton that Cha Seongbin handed over.
[Universe Dust took 1st place in e-sports]
Ha Junseo is lying flat here too, saying he’s going to endure till the end.
Seo Ian is surprisingly good at PUBG.
Jin Sehyun went down showing a reaction with 1000% job satisfaction.
-Ah lol what is Jin Sehyun, is his job a pro gamer or what lolololololol
-So funny how he was chanting for a week straight about needing to win first in e-sports lololol
└“This is teamwork.”
└Where did he even say that lololol
└On Yui App
-Why is Ha Junseo whining here too?
└lololol he’s hiding flat so he doesn’t get caught
└In the end he got caught and died, then said he was craving caffeine and went looking for coffee ㅠㅠ
└Heung-Junseo himself
-This was funny too, Seo Ian was all shy saying, ‘If you go in first… hyung will shoot them dead…!’
└lolololololol shoot them dead
└Ah lol if you just listened without looking at the screen, you’d be like ???
└But Seo Ian was surprisingly strong in silence, he killed three people.
└The rabbit… tears people apart….
The flow that had briefly shifted to e-sports quickly returned to the relay finals.
At this very moment, the relay finals were blazing hot.
Urgent posts were going up in real time.
[Is it relay right now???]
Give me a briefing.
Is the last runner running now?
What place are our kids??
Underneath that post, a short comment was left.
-Yo, Do Seohan runs insanely well
└He was always quick like a mouse
└?
└??