Chapter 1 Gold medalist Lee Young Suk
TL: Xceed02/ ED: Obelisk
- 2016 Brazil Rio de Janeiro Paralympics Tennis Gold medal Korean Lee Young Suk (32)
- 2012, 2016 Paralympics two times Gold medal Hero of Myth Tennis player Lee Young Suk
- Risen to the world best Lee Young Suk, first in Asia
Tak, Tak.
He clicked a few times and an article popped out.It had picture of him, full of confidence, with a gold medal around his neck.
But Young Suk had a detached expression.
It was an obvious outcome.
Although he couldn"t be certain if what he felt was due to a victim mentality,but Paralympic articles would flood one with various obligatory feelings, and, likewise, those feelings would also cleanly disappear the next day. Even though it was an amazing achievement, it didn"t garner as big of a sensation as one would expect.
"Phew…."
Young Suk looked at the wall in his room. Countless trophies and awards lay there. Tens of medals were lying on the ground because of a lack of s.p.a.ce in his case.
First place, championship, the best…..
He was used to sitting at the top. The prize of winning, the height of excitement that he could feel with his full body… now all he felt was nothing.
He stared at the medals for a second before stopping, opening the "Tennis Gallery" community webpage out of habit. There were already many posts praising Young Suk there.
-Wow, kekeke praise G.o.d Young Suk!
-Whoa he really is Korea"s treasure.
-Keke did you see him hit the ball? I got gooseb.u.mps…..
-He doesn"t even need to sweat to sweep you guys out yes yes.
-I got gooseb.u.mps while watching the match. You really have to respect him. Bro"s serious.
Young Suk cracked a smile. Not because they were praising him but because of their vulgar but cute way of talking. It might have been vulgar, but it was refreshing. While Young Suk was laughing his hand stopped on a certain post.
-In truth can"t you compare G.o.d Young Suk and Federer?
Roger Federer. Alias RF. Incomparable tennis genius.
He announced the arrival of his era by defeating Pete Sampras and winning various major compet.i.tions throughout the years.
There were tens of comments alone on that post.
The comments were unexpectedly not as chaotic as they should have been.
Fans often made this type of comparison in the world of sport. It didn"t matter even if it was a different sport. In the tennis gallery, RF was the standard.
Kim Yuna VS Federer
Park Ji-Sung VS Federer
Young Suk also knew of Federer. It was common knowledge.
His elegant and overwhelming talent was sure to bewitch anybody that had ever swung a racket.
Unfortunately, Young Suk was handicapped.
He would never have the chance to go against Federer as an "athlete". After the event called wheelchair tennis was made, Young Suk possessed the most talent, but Federer was a normal athlete and Young Suk would have a hard time even beating a middle school girl athlete. No, there can never be a match between a normal person and a handicapped person. It would be awkward for both the normal and handicapped person
Crunch-
His handle crumpled under his palm, hardened from all those years of rolling the wheelchair. He was tired. He felt that his world was too small. In a small part of his heart desire and longing settled, but he had no way of resolving it. Time just pa.s.sed by.
"Young Suk Time for dinner."
He heard his mother call for him outside his door.
Suddenly all the bad aura in the room scattered like flower petals in the wind.
She carried a certain proudness in her voice.
It didn"t matter how many medals he brought home, she was always happy for him just like it was his first.
She lived as brightly as possible because of her pride in her son. Her heart was as wide as an ocean in comparison to Young Suk.
All the chaos and nervousness that was in his heart suddenly disappeared and he answered with a smile,
"Yes~ coming."
Squeak-
The cold sound of the wheel lingered behind and sank to the floor.
Early in the morning, Young Suk was in a good mood. Maybe it was all those achievements, or maybe it was because someone accepted his offer to coach. No, even he didn"t know why his mood was good. Either way, he was happy because changes were starting to happen in his life.
He was offered to coach the Korean national team.
It might be an honor, but if you looked at it another way, it was an obvious thing.
It had already been twelve years since he was picked to be on the Korean national team. Athletes had connections, and, of course, he also had connections to past and present national team coaches. Even if he had no coaching talent, he at least needed someone to accept his offer.
It was unfortunate he couldn"t be active as an athlete, but it couldn"t be helped because of his age.
He could still keep up with his performance.
The problem was recovery.
His upper body was being overtaxed from being used for balance and movement. His body was becoming rusty from all his fatigue that piled up from a young age. It was almost time for him to drop out from the professional stage.
Besides his body, or more specifically because he has to play in a wheelchair since his lower body doesn"t work, his skill significantly drops and he couldn"t stand the pain that it brought to him.
After shaking off all the negative thoughts in his head he thought about his training plan for the next few days while heading to his car.
Beep- Beep-
He sat in the driver"s seat first.
His well trained upper muscle flared up.
He pressed the trunk b.u.t.ton as he sat in the driver"s seat. As the trunk opened, the wheelchair holder was carried toward the front. Young Suk was just staring blankly as the holder came slowly towards him, he had a distant look on his face.
After he put the wheelchair into the holder, he pressed the b.u.t.ton to put it back into the trunk. The dullness of the task was something he should be experienced in but it was just something he couldn"t get used to.
Thwack! Thwack!
The sound of hitting b.a.l.l.s indoor was frightening. This was because the various sounds of b.a.l.l.s crashing and bouncing into the walls and ceiling before wandering off into who knows where echoed into the ears of those standing by. Being immersed in these sounds brought tremendous delight to players.
After Young Suk exchanged a light greeting with the coach, he stared at the players either warming up or playing a practice game. After looking at all the sweat produced by these players, who for one reason or another had become wheelchair tennis athletes, for the first time in a long time he felt emotion from his bruised heart.
Now more than moving his own body, he felt that looking at other people moving was more peaceful. He was confident that he could teach them well.
"I will get it!"
While Young Suk was lost in thought, a player yelled while he was doing his best to move his arm.
In wheelchair tennis, the ball is allowed to bounce twice but, as players advance to become a national team athletes, many players wish for the rules to change so that the ball may only bounce once. It was a change only those that have talent selfishly wish for.
Bounce, bounce, bounce.
But the ball, not caring about the player trying his best to reach it, rolled after it bounced three times. It wasn"t that the player couldn"t hit it but rather that he got a cramp in his hand.
"Ouch!!!"
Usually, when this happened the players would get angry.
Especially when they were handicapped later in life. All the shame and sorrow they couldn"t explain would cause them to explode. "Just from a practice match?" This question was amusing. To athletes, anger could come from anywhere. The more one wanted to improve themselves, the more often it happened.
This was also a common thing for Young Suk. He was so blinded by rage when this happened he didn"t know what actions he would have taken. Like right now!
"STOP!!!"