1. AUDITION(3)

Dad. It seems the United States has a lot of bigheaded people.

*Swoosh*

"(Just one point to go, Ronny!)"

I tried to stay positive by saying self-motivational lines as if it was a cartoon show. But none of it seemed to help. What is this guy? Is this really the low-level street basketball I know of?

When I played basketball as a youth, I remember playing against an American team.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"What?" The kid with his hands on his waist said to me while gazing straight into my soul. "16"

"…"

Wait, hold on. Did I just hear him wrong?

16? At this age? With these skills?

Besides his basketball skills, he was also very charismatic. Oh, right. Calculating someone's age is a bit different here in the States compared to Korea.

It could be that he's 17 rather than 16 if we were to use the Korean system.

"High School?"

"(What? Why do you have so many dumb questions! Just give me the ball! It looks like I'll be getting that watch very soon.)"

"…"

He continued to gesture for me to pass the ball, but I held it tightly between my arms and hips, waiting for a response.

The kids around us began to get noisier, but that didn't matter to me.

"(I'm in the graduating class. Is that good enough for you? Now give me the dang ball!)"

Senior, huh? What did that exactly mean again?

"Whoa, what was that?!"

While I was once again lost in thought, someone snuck up behind me and pounded the ball out of my grip. The ball that was between my arm and hips bounced over to the hoop and hit the pole and came to a stop.

He slowly went to pick it back up and walks towards me.

"(I don't need you to pass the ball. I'm just gonna start.)"

After putting together words that I could understand, I figured he was trying to say the game was going to start right away. For now, time to focus on the match.

This time, his first step was a bit unusual.

"…"

He lowered his back and kept the ball near his hips as if he was about to do a pivot move.

With my palm close to his face, I lowered my center of gravity as well. He would either go for a jump or push forward. That was the best I could think of in the given circumstance.

Although it wasn't necessarily my best, I was called a good player even when I was mainly playing defense in high school.

Even though I've never faced someone so small and fast, I couldn't let him get 5 points on me.

I was also quite competitive.

"(Ooooh! He looks pretty serious now!)"

"(Come on, Ronny! Just take him out!)"

These guys are so loud! It's making it hard to concentrate.

This whole time he was cleverly testing me out to see my skill level. He first went aggressive and, while I was being defensive on the second play, he directly shot the ball.

Finally, on the third play, he once again went aggressively forward. As he did this, I took a step closer, expecting him to take a jump shot. At this moment I realized it would be impossible for me to pick up speed if he went forward.

For his game point, I decided to let him play forward and steal the ball from behind.

But as if he knew what I was going to do, he simply switched the ball to his left hand and went for a layup.

The only choice I had left was to do my best.

"…"

Hmm?

*Bounce… Bounce, bounce, bounce…*

When I wasn't paying attention, he went back to the spot where he started and began dribbling the ball. As he did this, he began dribbling the ball between his legs, picking up speed.

Does it seem like I'm stuck in a rut?

"(It does seem like he knows how to play, Chingy. But he's lacking in a lot of ways.)"

"…"

"(Which way do you think I'll go? Left? Right? Maybe I'll shoot from this spot?)"

Usually, players who talk a lot are the ones who dig their own grave, however, even some professional players were like this.

Why is this guy talking so much? Whatever, I don't even care. This game doesn't matter anyway.

I guess it's just a cultural difference?

"(Psh, that was boring. I don't know if you're just traveling, but how about you learn how to speak English?)"

*Ba-BOOM*

It switched!

His dribble and breathing tempo changed. He increased the pace, after dribbling a few times, he tried to do a crossover a few times.

As his body leaned towards the right he crossed left and, as he leaned to the left, he crossed right. This time I was able to follow where he was going.

"Huh?"

However, when he leaned left, he swiftly pulled back his right leg and moved backward.

Impossible. How is he doing that at this speed?

Connecting the crossover with a step back, the distance between him and me instantly increased to over 1 meter. I tried to quickly regain the distance, but the ball has already left his hands by now.

As a 16 years old South Korean representative, I lost to a street player who's barely 17 0:5.

How does this even make sense?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

January 10, 2012. Beverly Hills, California. California Loot. JEM Computer Center.

I was in terrible condition.

After getting my watch taken from me, I couldn't remember exactly how I got back to the motel. Without even washing I lay in the bed, barely getting any sleep because of all the thoughts in my head.

At most, I got around 30 minutes.

"Are you sick?"

"Nah, I just couldn't sleep well."

"Seems like you're a bit nervous. Hmm… the situation doesn't seem so good, Minhyuk."

"…"

It's only been 24 hours since the official clock started, but my self-esteem was to the ground.

The people that David brought over yesterday to watch me was only down to about 20% today.

While trying to find new and fresh players at workouts of over 10 places, some people have given up on me.

Although scouts try their best to hide information from each other, they try even harder to give unnecessary information to other scouts.

Therefore, it seems like the American College judges didn't seem to be impressed by my skills.

"The timing was all bad. We're near the deadline for the recruiting period. "

"Ah, how comforting to hear that."

The season for Division 1 usually starts around November.

The regular season for conferences usually lasts around 3 months. The winners of this season would all gather in March and participate in the famous March Madness.

During this particular time, NCAA tournaments were more popular than the titans of the NBA. For an amateur tournament to get this much attention was a real feat.

"No, seriously. The season is pretty full right now. Once the hype dies down, it'll be much easier for us…"

It seems like David is really disappointed.

Although scouting goes around all year, their focus during this time of the season is usually on the top ranked new players. That's because these new excellent players will change up the game as a whole.

The aspect of recruiting in American sports is one of its biggest elements. And it was my goal not to fall into that trap.

"But still. I am going to continue thinking positively. So, keep trying your best."

"Haha. I'll try!"

David put up his fist, trying to keep me motivated.

But in the end, I still had a hard time getting rid of discouraging feelings. I'm supposed to be showing my physical ability today, but I just hope I don't get hurt on the court.

"Damn"

For some reason, my wrist felt strange and, as I touched it, I remembered the missing watch.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

January 11, 2018. Beverly Hills, California. California Route. Royal Santa Monica Motel.

"!#@$$%!@#$%:"

"…"

I'm feeling pissed off.

For the past 3 days at the JEM Computer Center where the workouts were being held, there seemed to be quite a few Korean reporters. According to the news that I saw online, people were expecting me to qualify for the NCAA.

But it seemed like the people who left comments on the news knew more than the reporters themselves.

In one interview a reporter posted, Dalton State College says that they were impressed by my basketball skills.

However, Dalton State is part of the NAIA 1's Southern State Athletic Conference. That means Dalton State is a tier 4 league.

There are about 200 better teams than Dalton State.

"What the heck…"

David, who just hung up the phone, did not look happy. Unlike what we thought, it seems like the NCAA Divisions 1,2 and 3 did not want me on their team.

The second and third day of the workout, San Francisco State University showed up to JEM 2 days in a row. We targeted them but, due to their lack of information, they rejected me.

It seemed to be a similar story with most of the people here.

Because of all the activities going on, we had to blame it on the competitiveness. At that time, representatives from American and Canadian teams were only at the skill level of the high school team I used to be in.

Back then we tried hard to beat those guys.

With that being said, the fact that they beat us by 20 points was no secret as well.

"Whew. We need a change of plans."

"How do we do that?"

"If we go on like this Minhyuk, you'll become a laughing stock.

Obviously. Thanks for telling me something I already knew.

"Wait a minute. I'm gonna make a quick phone call."

"Well, you couldn't be doing something else, right?"

In a week from now, I am going back to Korea.

In February, I will be joining the team that will be representing Jamsil Gym. If I'm not able to get anything done by then, I'm going to be a mockery for the rest of my life.

"Ugh…"

I couldn't help but let out a deep sigh because of the grave situation.

Getting up from the chair, I decided to watch the TV at the motel. I was going to watch some sports channel, but I stumbled upon the channel WWM who was talking about basketball.

It doesn't seem to be the NBA. NCAA maybe?

"Wait, hold up."

What is this? Did I see wrong? It can't be…

The face coming from the television screen was no stranger's face.

"What the hell!"

West Chester high school's player #2. It was none other than the guy who hustled my watch from me.