Jungsu sat down next to Jiwoo who started talking about her doll and how her doll was jealous of her for having Jungsu as a finace. Jungsu silently listened to her chatter as he kept his attention on her while also taking note of the man who was now walking towards them. He sat down next to them on the bleachers, causing Jungsu to look up at him in question as the man had turned his body completely to stare at Jungsu.
"Can I help you?" Jungsu asked as he turned his head towards the man.
The man merely squinted his eyes for a second, to which Jungsu pressed down onto the mask on his nose, wondering why the stranger was staring at him so intently.
The man cleared his throat and bowed his head in greeting.
"Sorry to startle you, I assure you that I have no ill intentions. My name is Lee Hyuntaek."
He passed him a card which Jungsu took, but his eyes followed the luxury watch on the man's wrist. Looking down at the card he examined it for a brief moment. Jungsu nodded his head but did not offer his name in return, causing the man's smile to drop slightly. He cleared his throat once again.
"Um, so... it seems like you have some experience playing soccer..." The man trailed off and Jungsu simply stared back at him, neither confirming nor denying his claim.
The man felt quite intimidated by Jungsu as he couldn't tell what Jungsu was feeling given the hat and mask that were blocking his facial features.
"Well... the thing is, if you would be interested in doing it, we are having a charity match, it's called the Unity Kickoff Charity Cup, I'm sure you've heard of it..." The man trailed off.
Jungsu again did not respond, this time, he truly did not know what the man was referring to.
The man seeing the lack of reaction, decided to explain it to Jungsu.
"The Unity Kickoff is basically a charity event that raises money through ticket sales and sponsorships for cancer patients. The participants are mostly influencers or small celebrities, but occasionally there are people there for their talent rather than their status." The man raised his eyebrows, hoping that he had trapped Jungsu with the promise of exposure.
Jungsu did not even blink.
The truth was, once the man had spotted Jungsu, he had practically ran over to the bleachers to get a closer look. He was assigned with recruiting participants as a youtuber had recently dropped out of the game without notice. There was only a week left before the match started, so Hyuntaek was quite desperate to cast someone. The catch was that Hyuntaek had bet a lot of money on the red team winning. What he hadn't expected was that the red team's contestants would by a majority be so... unathletic. So here Hyuntaek was now, hoping to cast a good soccer player regardless of their lack of influencer status. Simply by seeing Jungsu from afar, Hyuntaek could tell that he had great potential to be an influencer.
"Where exactly is the money going to be distributed?" Jungsu finally spoke up. He knew what often happened to fundraised money as there were many greedy people in the world.
Hyuntaek listed a couple of hospitals and research facilities that were well-known for their targeted treatment of cancer.
After carefully considering for a moment, Jungsu nodded his head and said, "Okay, when's the match?"
"Y-Pardon?! That's fantastic! You won't regret it, it's a great event especially for exposure if you are interested in a career in media." The man grinned at him as he sighed in relief.
"But, would you mind taking off your mask?" Hyuntaek asked, feeling odd that he had yet to see his face or even learn his name.
"Ah, sorry I'd prefer not to." Jungsu said firmly.
"Why not?" Hyuntaek was now getting nervous as he wondered if perhaps Jungsu was ugly. While it was not a requirement to be handsome, the truth of it was that there would be more money coming in with prettier contestants. Still, it was not that big of a problem so long as he could aid in winning the game for the red team, Hyuntaek thought.
"I am what you might call an influencer." Jungsu said silently, wary of the girls sitting nearby.
Hyuntaek simply raised his eyebrows, pleasantly surprised but also a bit critical of Jungsu. How famous of an influencer did he have to be for him to be wearing a mask and a black hat?
"I see... could I get your name then?..."
Jungsu leaned in a little closer, and taking off his hat, he held it at an angle to shield his face from others before pulling his mask down slightly and saying, "Song Jungsu."
He pulled his mask back on, brushing his hair back before wearing his hat again.
The man blinked. He blinked again before he got up from his seat and screamed, "What?!"
Jungsu shot him a look to silence him, which had the man stumbling back down onto his seat.
Hyuntaek took a good long look at Jungsu before nodding his head in recognition and letting out an "Ah! How did I not see before?"
"What times are you looking to call the participants? I'm assuming there will be practice events to develop skills?"
"Yes," Hyuntaek nodded his head, "but you have missed most of them. That's okay though, as there is one last practice match happening on Tuesday if you are able to make it at around three?"
Jungsu shook his head, "I have a shooting that day."
"Oh." Hyuntaek scratched his head. Playing as a team was a very important part of soccer. If one did not know their opponents, or their own team members very well, then they would not be able to play as efficiently. Strategy was a big part of soccer as well.
"Then how about next Sunday? That is the day of the match, however, I'm sure the other teams will definitely be practicing together the morning of."
"Yes, that works for me." Jungsu nodded and stood up as he saw Ha-joon running towards them from the field.
Hyuntaek stood up as well and quickly, seeing as Jungsu was in a rush, asked for his number. Jungsu entered his number into the man's phone and then waved goodbye as Jiwoo grabbed onto his hand and pulled him down the street in the direction of a playground.
Ha-joon ran towards the swings along with Jiwoo who was trying to hop onto the swings that were meant for the big kids.
"Jiwoo, this swing isn't made for little kids." He picked her up then and placed her into the swing for little kids.
At first she seemed mad, but after Jungsu started pushing her, she started kicking her feet and smiling giddily.
"Jungsu? Is that you?" A voice sounded from behind him and he turned around to see a woman standing next to a little boy with a white mask covering her face. Despite that, Jungsu could immediately tell that it was Yuri from Double shift. What he didn't understand was how she had recognized him.
"Yuri, it's nice to see you." Jungsu smiled slightly behind his mask, despite the fact that she wouldn't be able to see it.
Her eyes squinted as she smiled and Jungsu wondered what she had been up to lately as her skin glowed in the sunlight.
Jungsu would have been confused as to why she was here if he had not remembered that she lived near this neighbourhood from the time he had seen her dancing in her room.
Glancing down at the boy who was looking up at him, he gave him a brief nod before asking Yuri, "Is this your brother?"
She nodded her head, brushing back the silky strands of her hair behind her head.
"This is Seokmin. Say hello." She said as she looked down at her brother.
Seokmin simply narrowed his eyes at Jungsu and stuck his tongue out at him.
Jungsu nodded his head in understanding. If Jungsu had a sister as beautiful as Yuri, perhaps he too would be wary of other men.
"Hey! Seokmin, that's not very nice. Say sorry right now!" Yuri said angrily.
"No! I'm not gonna say sorry to him! He's trying to steal you!" The boy, who looked to be no older than Ha-joon, stepped in front of Yuri and glared harder at Jungsu.
"Who is trying to steal my Oppa?" Jiwoo said from behind him in the swing, her voice breaking as tears started welling in her eyes.
"Oh no, nobody! This is just Seokmin's misunderstanding!" Yuri raised her hands in a surrendering manner as she spoke to Jiwoo.
Jiwoo blinked her tears away slowly, nodding her head as she was now busy staring at Yuri.
Yuri turned her eyes towards him again and Jungsu could see the amusement that was dancing in her eyes. And then, his eyes went right back to tracing the small beauty mark under her right eye.
"Is that your cousin... or sister?" Yuri asked.
"Well, I suppose you could say that." Jungsu pondered on that as he supposed he did consider Jiwoo his little sister, but he wasn't sure what he should say in public considering the fact that they were not actually related.
"Oh, so she's not related to you." Yuri nodded.
"No! We are in a relationship!" Jiwoo said, grinning widely at Yuri from her swing.
Jungsu's eyes widened, along with Yuri's as he looked around to see if anyone else had heard. His eyes then connected with Yuri's and he swallowed hard under her inquisitive and shocked eyes.