Practice
With my lovey-dovey time with So-young so rudely interrupted, I had to carry on. When I met So-young the next day for the 100 meter freestyle practice run, she couldn't look me in the eyes.
'Well, that's a bit hurtful. I'm sure she doesn't mean anything though'
I wryly smile and return to my training for the actual race that will be held the very next day, along with the 200 meter freestyle practice.
The total amount of time that a single category will take is about 2 days and one day overlaps with another from another category.
It's a weaving of events and practice and boy does it produce a lot of stress.
It's very common to see the coaches rushing about the place with hair falling off in real time. They don't even have to do anything.
They are just going to arrange their swimmer to have a 1 hour practice for one day and then the actual swim the next. So, they can't train too hard,b it they don't have to be too relaxed.
See? It's stressful.
Luckily for me, Seung-ri had planned the entire day out for me, down to the minute. It seemed almost magical how he took every single minute of that hour long practice and squeezed.
However, that day, the rest of the swim team received a grim reminder...
"Uhhhh, coach? Why is there a combined 35 minute bracket missing in my itinerary?"
"Same here! For me it's 25 minutes! Is this rest?"
"Coach? What is the meaning of this?!"
I hear the complaints of my teammates and then promptly look down to check my own laminated itinerary given not Seung-ri, but by the high school swim coach.
The gap between how I'm treated and how my teammates are treated is a bit telling on who is the leader and who is the support. I'm sure that the missing brackets in their time should be "breaks".
Since I'm competing in both events, the 100 meter and 200 meter freestyle, there are only two other swimmers here from RF and they aren't too bad themselves.
In fact, nobody here is bad at swimming...I just make them look foolish with my long legs and my two cheerleaders named So-young and A-yeong.
To find out what the fuss was about with my teammates, I go over to them to ask about what is actually wrong with their schedules.
"Uhhhh, may I see your schedule?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, why not"
'.....yup. It matches up'
In fact, the brackets of missing time in each of their schedules for the day matched up perfectly with when I was going to swim. It was clear as day.
Their practice was scheduled AROUND my practice. There's a distinct difference between the break times of them and I.
For me, my break times are slowly and gently reached, from starting off intense and then slowly becoming a leisure swim.
For them however, some of their breaks are right after intense swims and some are just cutting in on their practice with no particular reason.
This would make their muscles more tired and they wouldn't have a good time, as for I, I'll be mostly comfortable throughout the day with my muscle hurting lightly.
I feel a bit bad for them, but what can I do? It isn't my fault that I'm too good at this. Well, there's Feelie, so it's more of a 50/50 split with Feelie and I on why I'm good.
They are a bit confused with their schedules, but they have to roll with it. No matter what they say, they can't change the fact that they are the secondary swimmers.
So, the practice day starts and all of the good swimmers are sitting back and chilling. This is so that the water is warmer after being used for a bit.
Right now, we are in the TYM swimming pools and there are three in total. One way is 25 meters long, 25 meters shorter than the Olympic swimming pool length.
In the stands...was well, nobody. There were some parents and scouts, but aside from them, nobody cares about the practice. Even my and Beom-sok's fangirls are nowhere to be found.
As the secondary swimmers are tiring themselves out in practice so that their body heat can warm the pool, the other primary swimmers and I are like the nobility.
We are chatting, sipping from water and juice and generally having a good time, while the secondary swimmers are out of breath, unknowingly warming the pool for us.
It's a technique that I thought was cold-hearted, but I guess I'm fine with it as long as I'm the one using the heated pool.
"Alright Min-chul. You're up"
"Beom-sok! It's time"
"Owen...do whatever"
As the coaches all call us up, we start our stretching routine before stepping into the pool and the water noticably warmer than it should have been.
When I first came in, I stuck my hand in the water and it was fairly cold. Now, it feels like there might be a heater installed in the pool or something.
It feels great.
The practice went well and my hip, which was barely damaged at all wasn't acting up again, so that was another plus.
Seung-ri and some of the other coaches from RF were crying about me missing the 400 meter freestyle, but it's fine.
However, it wasn't all too fine...
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Qualify in the 400 meter freestyle! (1/1)┃ Hard ┃
Reward: ₲5,500
Failure: -₲5,500
Qualify in the 400 meter medley! (1/1) ┃ Hard ┃
Reward: ₲5,750
Failure: -₲5,750
Agagahahaha! You failed such a quest? Seriously? I thought you were above that. What a disappointment...
—————————
Yeaaahhhh. The only reason I wanted to qualify for the 400 meter freestyle and the 400 meter medley was because it was a quest. Thankfully at the time, the coaches thought I'd be a good fit, so they allowed me.
Unfortunately, the hip thing happened and all the coaches panicked. They didn't want to waste my talent by pushing me too hard and so, let me take a break.
By "let me", I mean that they forced me. They wouldn't allow me to participate and even removed my name from the list the moment they heard my hip might be injured.
However, it was all that bad since when I qualified for the 100 and 200 meter freestyle, it basically paid back most of the failure penalties.
So now, my status looks like this:
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Name: Kim Min-chul
Age: 15
Titles:
Cutest Meat Shield (Charm x1%)
Little Snitch (Charm -10%, Social Skills -5%)
Sailor! (Charm x20%, Social Skills x5%) [IN USE]
Pirate (Charm x10%, Social Skills x5%)
HP: 31/31
STR: 70+31 (LOCKED) RES: 70+15 (LOCKED)
SPD: 70+17 (LOCKED) STAMI: 70+15 (LOCKED)
INT: 121
₲Coins: ₲9,920 (TAX 25% OF EARNINGS)
———Gear———
Head: Slightly Larger Brain ┃ INT +4 ┃ Charm x2%
Torso: Steel Cast Abs ┃ (Steel Set) COMPLETE +2 ALL STATS┃ STR +11 RES +9 ┃ Charm x12%
Arms: Steel Molded Arms ┃ (Steel Set) COMPLETE +2 ALL STATS┃ STR +14 ┃ Push x22% ┃ Pull x22%
Legs: Steel Made Thighs ┃ (Steel Set) COMPLETE +2 ALL STATS┃ SPD +11 STAMI +9 ┃ Kicking Power x10%
—————————
The reason that the amount of coins keeps changing is due to my constant doing of the daily quests such as working out or making Jung laugh.
It's only 5-10 coins per quest, but they add up. If I do a 10 coin quest daily, I'll have 3,650 coins from that one quest after a year.
At the end of the day, the secondary swimmers' abdomen was burning, their legs were wobbly and their arms were weak.
Meanwhile, the primary swimmers were more ready and even more energetic after the practice. We all went home and when I arrived, Jung was there waiting...
...waiting to tease me about So-young. He hasn't stopped.
"Ahhh, good afternoon, Go Min-chul? I've been thinking a lot and I think that a good boy's name would be Kim Sang-min? Ehh, ehh? Not too shabby no?"
"Yeah yeah"
After that time when I was hugging So-young, he started calling me by her last name, Go. He also suggested many many child names.
I can't get angry at him since this is exactly what I'd do. I'm sure he knows this and is taking this chance to embarrass me.
Well, too bad I was a known playboy in my previous life. This is nothing to me. Some examples of the previous named I've been called a devil and even a rabbit.
This is nothing to me, young Jung hyungnim. You'll need another 100 years of training if you want to even come close to this.
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