Chapter 13.3
Translator: Pineapple
Editor: Isalee
[You are ½ way to completion for your "special-smash" skill.]
He looked at it multiple times and the words didn"t change. Han Woo Jin had no idea what it was saying. This system of his didn"t simply hand out free lunches.
"What was the condition? A perfect score?"
There was no way for him to confirm his theories. Up until now, Han Woo Jin just wrote down stuff and tried his best to confirm whether his a.s.sumptions about the system were correct or not. This was his first time receiving notification from the system about him halfway completing a new skill. Thus, he couldn"t use prior experience to deal with this.
There was only one thing that he could do to confirm his theory and that was to win the next set perfectly.
"Getting two perfect sets off Okuta?"
If Okuta continued to be mentally affected by the first set loss, then he could easily win the second set. However, seeing Okuta"s eyes, that seemed unlikely. He wasn"t the type of player that would easily crumble just because he lost a set.
There was no time to think as it was time to play as he got up from his seat. Han Woo Jin stared at Okuta"s back as he was heading back onto the court. When they arrived at their positions, the referee spoke.
[Player Han Woo Jin won the first set perfectly and now we will move onto the second set of the match!]
After he cleanly won the first set with a score of 6-0, it was once again his turn to serve. That meant that Okuta would have to keep going through h.e.l.l during his service phase.
Han Woo Jin looked over at Okuta from across the net. His face looked calm and steady compared to the first set. He didn"t show his emotions and he was wearing a stony expression.
"He recovered quickly."
For a young player like Okuta winning at a young age, if a player like that encountered an obstacle, it was easy for them to crumble.
Yet he was able to stand up without any help. He definitely had the qualities of a future world ranker.
"Love all! Han Woo Jin serve, play!"
Han Woo Jin threw up the ball at the sound of the referee"s signal. Although he looked calm, he had used up a lot of his physical and mental energy during the first set so he wasn"t fully recovered. Han Woo Jin wanted to keep his momentum going from the first set.
He once again used 15 SP to use his special technique. He twisted his entire body for the serve.
*Pang!*
The ball flew to Okuta"s right side. In the first set, Han Woo Jin just did what he wanted by placing the b.a.l.l.s to the left and right of Okuta, but this time he wondered how he would deal with it.
Okuta grabbed his racket with both hands and used the forehand double that wasn"t complete yet.
*Tung!*
"15:0!"
He got the direction of the ball correctly and hit it with his racket frame. Okuta frowned and touched his wrist because of the slight pain he felt.
However, this response was meaningful. Han Woo Jin realized Okuta"s thoughts and clicked his tongue.
"Did he give up on worrying about winning or losing? He"s quick to change his mindset."
The difference skill between Han Woo Jin and Okuta"s skill wasn"t that wide and although Okuta changed his strategy, the outcome of the match would still be the same.
Okuta completely lost the first set without winning a single game, and therefore the likelihood of him winning the match was less than 20 percent.
Han Woo Jin knew what Okuta was thinking: he knew he was going to lose, but he was still going to try to do his best. He was going to try to improve and gain experience from Han Woo Jin.
In this type of situation, Han Woo Jin just wanted to play like it was a practice match and not care that much…
"d.a.m.n."
However, Han Woo Jin needed to get a perfect set in order to clear the mission from the system for a new technique. It was an advantageous situation for Okuta. If Han Woo Jin hadn"t shown him the Sparrow back then, Okuta would have just lost without seeing anything special and wouldn"t have learned much.
Han Woo Jin once again used Sparrow and Okuta received the ball with his forehand double.
"30:0!"
Okuta"s return hit the net this time. He kept improving as the match progressed. At this rate, he would sooner or later be able to return the Sparrow.
Of course, Han Woo Jin wasn"t the type to just sit back and let that happen. As he got in the position to use Sparrow by rotating his body, he tricked him and just used a flat serve.
*Pang!*
"40:0!"
He served once again and drove it through.
The ball curved to the sideline and hit the court. Service ace.
"Game Han Woo Jin! 1-0!"
The second game that they were going into made Han Woo Jin a lot more nervous.
Han Woo Jin was still winning and Okuta was calm, but Han Woo Jin grew anxious because of the pressure he was under to win a perfect game.
The winner should be calm and the losing player should be nervous, but the emotions were flipped in this current match.
However, the outcome had already been decided: Han Woo Jin was going to win.
Like a ghost, Han Woo Jin"s serves quickly scored him four points and his score rose.
But the rallies became longer and Han Woo Jin became more exhausted. Yet the score showed that Han Woo Jin was completely dominating.
It had only been about 30 minutes but they were almost already finished with the second set. If he won one more game, the match would be over.
"Game Han Woo Jin! 5-0!"
"f.u.c.k."
Han Woo Jin cursed under his breath.
Han Woo Jin felt terrible even though he was winning.
Whenever he hit the ball with all his strength, he could see Okuta continuing to improve his skills. It might not be now, but if they ever met each other again in the future, he might not be able to win.
"Okuta to serve, play!"
He only needed to win this one last game.
This would be his first time winning a tournament throughout his entire tennis career. A worthwhile victory for any tennis pro.
Han Woo Jin"s body consumed half his stamina. He took a deep breath and hope came back to him.
This new energy was only temporary and it wouldn"t last for long.
Han Woo Jin stared at Okuta"s face who looked slightly depressed.
He gave up on winning but he continued to play. However, losing always felt bad. Up until now, he had always been the winner and had the best score.
"Han Woo Jin… I"ll remember you."
Average face, average height, st.u.r.dy body, and a frightening rally skill.
Every movement of Han Woo Jin"s felt like a threat to Okuta. Other his serve, he didn"t have any special qualities. But that didn"t mean that he was weak.
An all-rounder player with low-level skills was a fool, but a player with high-level skills was G.o.dlike.
That was probably Han Woo Jin"s goal. Okuta met a rival that he never expected to meet in a place like this.
Okuta tossed up the ball for the last game of the match.
Since all of his overhand serves were returned to him, Okuta had been using underhand serves since the fourth game of the set.
The fact that he was now using the underhand serve was to shake things up a bit.
*Pang!*
Underhand serves were considerably slower than overhand serves. However, the advantage was that you could put a spin on the ball and make it go in any direction you wanted it to.
b.a.l.l.s with a spin on them had the ability to curve in strange directions after the bounce. It could surprise the opponent, causing them to hesitate and thus miss the ball.
Seeing his movement, Han Woo Jin quickly ran up to the ball. If he didn"t respond quickly, the ball will quickly bounce twice because of the weird direction of the ball"s bounce.
The ball bounced incredibly low and Han Woo Jin had to dive and stretch for it.
It was an unexpected slice.
"Will it go in?"
The ball just slowly flew up to the air.
Going off topic, there were some world rankers who were capable of slicing the ball to make it return to their side of the court after the ball bounced over the net.
"Toong!*
"0:15!"
"Hoo."
The ball that Han Woo Jin barely reached somehow returned to his side of the court because of the spin on the ball which was completely unexpected for him.
Okuta served again.
He kept on changing his hands to serve and he won two points against Han Woo Jin, but he didn"t win the game. The reversal didn"t happen and the match ended.
"Game set! Match won by Han Woo Jin! Score 6-0, 6-0!"
Han Woo Jin was the victor.
He was too focused on getting a perfect score that he wasn"t too excited about winning. He finally came to his senses when Okuta came near him.
"What?"
He didn"t speak. There was nothing to say.
Han Woo Jin looked at Okuta curiously and Okuta was the first to put out his hand.
"[Thank you.]"
He knew what "arigatou" meant.
Han Woo Jin"s expression wasn"t that great. Okuta thought that Han Woo Jin was playing his best until the last moment. But the truth was, Han Woo Jin just wanted to finish the mission from the system — which is why he awkwardly shook his hand. Seeing that, the audience applauded.
He had a strange feeling now that he was the winner.
[Perfect player! Since you won the match with a perfect score, you have earned a special skill.]
[Because you won the Futures Tournament, all of your stats have increased by one.]
[Additional Notice — "Special-smash" mission cleared.]
"Ah, so annoying."
He didn"t like hearing the system"s notifications because it was too loud.
There was Han Woo Jin who didn"t look too happy after winning the tournament and Okuta who was smiling. The reporter took a picture of them.
The two players" expressions were completely different.
There were three things that Han Woo Jin gained from winning the Andong Futures.
A crystal racket-shaped trophy cup.
27 ATP ranking points.
$1,500 cash prize.
He touched the trophy with a strange feeling. Shin Sae Yeon spoke to him with a smile. Han Woo Jin usually didn"t display his emotions, but he looked like a child right now.
From the middle of the award ceremony to when they arrived at their hotel room, he didn"t let go of the trophy.
"Do you like it that much?"
"Of course. Because I won."
Han Woo Jin smiled but it looked kind of bitter.
He had played tennis for over ten years and he longed for this trophy — this was his first time holding this light trophy. It was difficult for him to let go of it.
Shin Sae Yeon typed on her laptop and then suddenly spoke to him.
"Mr. Woo Jin, Would you like to convert your cash prize to 3000 won? Or do you want to leave it in dollars?"
"3000?"
He asked her back in surprise. He had only won $1,500. Shin Sae Yeon shook her head and reminded him of the contents of the contract.
"If you win a tournament, they will give you 100% of the prize money and double it. Don"t you remember?"
"Ah… I remember."
$3,000. The exchange rate for a dollar to won was 1,200 won to one dollar. So he received roughly 360,000 won. He couldn"t say that it was a large amount of money, but it wasn"t a little bit either. At the very least, it was much more than the salary he had in the past.
"Please convert it into won."
"…ok. It"s done. You can check your account later."
"Hoo, alright."
He still didn"t feel like this was real, that he won and got the prize.
He felt strange but someone pulled him back into reality.
*knock knock knock*
Han Woo Jin, who was lying on the bed, got up and asked, "Who is it?"
He heard a happy and familiar voice coming from outside.
"Hey, excuse me. I"m Kim Sang Pil from Daehan Sports. I"m a reporter. Is Han Woo Jin here?"
Daehan Sports? Reporter?
Han Woo Jin and Shin Sae Yeon made eye contact at the same time.
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