Chapter 25.2: Kim Chun Open #1
Translator: Pineapple
Editor:
Jealousy.
Han Woo Jin felt refreshed. He never imagined that anyone would ever envy him and not the other way around. He was usually the person that was jealous of others. It was his first time receiving envy from another individual.
‘… I’m pretty sure that I looked at others with those eyes.’
In his previous life, Choi Yeon Hyuk never attended the Metz Open. He won a Futures tournament for his debut and after that he won again at a Challenger tournament and then he soon became a tennis star. It was probably around that time that Han Woo Jin kept thinking about Choi Yeon Hyuk.
While he was going through mixed feelings, the referee tossed up the coin and hid it in his hands. The two players spoke their sides.
“Front.”
“Back.”
The referee frowned because Park Sung Min spoke rudely while Han Woo Jin spoke respectfully. The ref didn’t say anything as he opened his hand. The coin was heads up. Park Sung Min won the coin toss.
‘He’s a young dude.’
He thought as if he was looking at his past self and in Han Woo Jin’s eyes, Park Sung Min looked like a kid. He was just a kid that didn’t know how to hide his emotions. If there was something he didn’t like, he just acted out against it. He was the type that was the easiest to deal with on the court.
Realizing that, Han Woo Jin looked at him with no emotion and walked to his side of the court. Park Sung Min got ready to serve. The referee signalled to begin.
“Han Woo Jin on my right! Park Sung Min on my left! Park Sung Min to serve!”
He spoke English well but it sounded a bit awkward. Han Woo Jin repeated the referee’s voice in his head and got ready to receive the ball. Because Han Woo Jin didn’t know anything about Park Sung Min’d serve style, he just got into a basic receive position.
If he looked at his status window then he would know how to counter his serve and his other levels.
‘I decided not to use it…’
First, he won’t use the system. If he can’t beat a Korean ranker without the system, then he shouldn’t even aim for the top spot in the world. That was how Han Woo Jin looked at it. Also, he just wanted to see what level he was currently at without the a.s.sistance of the system.
“Love all! Play!”
Park Sung Min tossed the ball right before the referee finished speaking, which was pretty bad manners in this sport. But the timing was just enough that the ref didn’t call a fault.
*Pang!*
In a game of tennis, the server usually gets the first point of the first game of the first set. Because the serve gives such a huge advantage. Furthermore, the receiver is in a still position where he has to react to a fast-moving ball.
But Han Woo Jin knew about his serve. Park Sung Min already hit the ball but Han Woo Jin was confident that he could return it easily.
He just moved his body according to his gut feeling.
He walked up two steps forward. He put up his racket towards the ball that was bouncing up in front of him. Surprisingly, his body wasn’t slow to react to his thoughts. The timing of his return was practically perfect, which even surprised him.
*Pang!*
The return was perfectly timed as it bounced back onto Park Sung Min’s court. Park Sung Min couldn’t even react to the ball as his eyes just widened.
“0:15!”
The referee’s voice brought the two players back into the court. The two players got back into position with completely different feelings. Han Woo Jin was just pleasantly surprised at his reactions, whereas Park Sung Min thought that return ace was a fluke.
‘I was unlucky! There’s no way that he could have returned my serve that easily!’
Any tennis player would think like that. Park Sung Min was a player that had confidence in his serve. Recently his serve speed reached up to 190 km/h. Of course, it only occurred when he was in top condition. In Korea, that was a speed that he could boast about.
It’s just that Park Sung Min’s opponent wasn’t a good fit for him.
*Pang!*
“0:30!”
Compared to Park Sung Min, whose mouth was wide open. Han Woo JIn was completely calm with the outcome.
‘It’s not that bad… but it’s not that great of a serve.’
Park Sung Min’s serve was decent but that was it. His serve was nothing compared to Choi Yeon Hyuk’s 220 km/h serve and Leonard’s 236 km/h serve. Han Woo Jin who went up against world cla.s.s serves, it was a compliment if he said that a serve ‘wasn’t bad’. The ball looked slow in his eyes.
If he walks with sandbags tied to his legs, and then once he takes them off, it would be like he can fly. That’s what it feels like. He’s been playing against world cla.s.s serves, and suddenly facing against Park Sung Min’s serve was like slow bug.
*Pang!*
“0:40!”
Park Sung Min’s serve game reached a break point already. He looked like he couldn’t believe this situation and wanted to deny it. His hand was trembling as he gripped his racket. His first expression of when he met Han Woo Jin disappeared and now he looked anxious.
That’s what Han Woo Jin thought as he moved. In the world of pros, being kind to your opponent is being mean to yourself. And also, because Park Sung Min gave Han Woo Jin a bad first impression, he didn’t care about being nice to him.
The last return ball of the first game hit the court. The sharp whistle noise filled the court.
*Pang!*
“Game Han Woo Jin! Change courts!”
Park Sung Min seemed to have lost his soul during that first game. Never in his wildest imagination did he believe that he would lose the first game. If Han Woo Jin were in his shoes, he would probably be acting the same. The present break had a different meaning to Han Woo Jin.
‘Is this because of my increase in agility? I’ve never reacted this fast before. ‘
That was possible. Han Woo Jin’s agility stat increased almost by 20. It wasn’t just his training but it mostly came from the system as rewards. The stat increase that he got from training wasn’t that much.
All athletes would agree. Anyone can increase their strength and lung capacity with time and training and as long as they put in effort. But can high reflexes cannot be achieved through just intense training.
That’s not possible. Increase in reflexes in such a short amount of time will only be seen in novels and fiction. And Han Woo Jin’s rapid advancements were like a fairy tale.
‘I should check some more.’
Han Woo Jin received the b.a.l.l.s and got into position. The second game was his serve. He felt like he didn’t even need to use the Sparrow. He had confidence in his serves even before he got the system. Han Woo Jin tossed up the ball with a refreshed feeling as it has been a while since he played without the system.
*Pang!*
The sound of the ball bouncing was loud. Han Woo Jin didn’t think that that was his serve as the ball was already flying extremely quickly towards his opponent’s left side of the court. A flat serve that doesn’t change direction has the greatest speed of all the serves. There is no waste of strength which is why it’s the fastest.
Han Woo Jin’s reactive speed which was increased drastically, Park Sung Min’s situation was different. He couldn’t even see the ball that was already flying out the court.
“15:0!”
The speed gun showed that the serve’s speed was 192 km/h. Did he even try his best? But Han Woo Jin was still satisfied with this outcome. If he used all his strength, then could he possibly reach 200 km/h?
Han Woo Jin felt his strength was also increased from before. Compared to his first tournament in Seoguipo the skill difference was huge.
He felt that he needed to examine his body changes more frequently .Han Woo JIn opened and closed his hand a couple times before tossing up his second ball.
Park Sung Min was blank as he didn’t even know how to receive the ball. A single point became a game as a game became a set.
[The break of the first set is over! Player Han Woo Jin and Player Park Sung Min! Please return to the court.]
Han Woo Jin frowned because of his sweat because he constantly had to wipe it. In Korea the temperature in the summer was ridiculously hot. Playing outdoors on the court felt like he was in a sauna.
There was a reason why players avoided playing outdoor tournaments during the summer. It was because it was frequent to see players become dehydrated and their condition becomes bad and they could even get a heat stroke. Han Woo Jin couldn’t even complain because he didn’t choose the tournament. He just thought that the only way he could escape this heat was to finish the game as soon as possible.
‘He’s even weaker than the previous me.’
That’s what Han Woo Jin evaluated about Park Sung Min, even though he couldn’t see his stats. His strength and strategy were lacking. He had enough experience but he didn’t know how to use his brain. Park Sung Min didn’t even try to use fouls or anything like that, whether it’s because of his pride or he didn’t know how to. It was most likely because he didn’t know how to do so.
Han Woo Jin was wrong. Park Sung Min wasn’t his previous self from the past. He was all bark and no bite.
“Second set! Park Sung Min to serve!”
It was Park Sung Min’s turn to serve because Han Woo Jin won all six games the previous set. Han Woo Jin decided to change his play style during the second set. He chose to lean more towards his strengths. Anyway, the first part of the Kim Chun Open is only two days long. That means that he can rest tomorrow.
The first set, was him seeing the changes in his body. In the second set, he decided to see the improvements in his skills. He didn’t want to check the skills he used frequently, but wanted to check things like lobs and dropshots that he doesn’t use as much.
From another point of view, this looked quite bad for his opponent because Han Woo Jin wasn’t taking him seriously. Park Sung Min was basically a practice dummy at this point. Park Sung Min lost his will to fight and so Han Woo Jin didn’t feel threatened at all.
Park Sung Min served with his shoulders drooped. The ball was probably around 160 km/h. If he played the same like in the first set, he would probably get a return ace.
But it was different this time.
*pang!*
“… uh?”
Han Woo Jin returned the ball lightly. The ball didn’t land too far from Park Sung Min. He was confused as to what happened but just ran to the ball.
*Pang!*
A pro is still a pro. Park Sung Min returned the ball. Han Woo Jin hit the ball lightly back. He was playing completely different from his previously fast ball.s
*Pang!*
It was a lob. Hitting the ball towards the back of the court to make the opponent unable to come up to the net. Han Woo Jin didn’t use this often.
“0:15!”
The ball barely hit the baseline and the referee announced Han Woo Jin’s point. Park Sung Min tilted his neck with a confused expression as to why Han Woo Jin used a lob so suddenly. He wanted to know why Han Woo Jin kept rallying with him with lobs.
Han Woo Jin smiled and laughed inwardly. He will find out soon. He will probably get mad. But Park Sung Min wouldn’t be able to do anything. The thing that Han Woo Jin is doing right now isn’t very polite in tennis.
‘I’m not going to apologize.’
As long as he wins without using any foul play then as the winner, he is in the right. This was Han Woo Jin’s thoughts. This was the mentality of the previous Han Woo Jin from before he got the system.
He planned on using him as a training tool until he gets what he wants. Even if he gets angry at him. As long as the result bring Han Woo Jin an advantage, then he won’t hesitate to take it. Han Woo Jin wanted to test his skills against Park Sung Min.
Han Woo Jin looked down on Park Sung Min who was still confused and he gripped his racket.
‘It probably won’t take that long.’
He hit his slow serve and hit the ball lightly which made Park Sung Min run forward to return the ball. Han Woo Jin used a dropshot this time.