Snow and Ice || 태국

Roses

Ice hockey was an event with an extremely fast competition pace. The possibilities of what could happen in an instant were endless. Sometimes, spectators could lose sight of the puck despite fixing their attention on it. On whether his reaction had indeed slowed, even Jungkook himself was not sure, not to mention Taehyung when he only sat in the stands without a first-person view. Like the rest, he merely felt that Jungkook's condition was poor and his tempo was off.

Of course, what differed him from everyone else was that others only cared whether Jungkook was playing well while he was worried about his health.

"You might be facing too much stress," Taehyung said.

To be honest, Taehyung could understand Jungkook's pressure. The world was holding too many expectations for him. From the media to ice hockey fans, everyone praised him to the skies. Some even claimed that he was the "savior of Korea's ice hockey". It was overblown praise that could cause trouble and yet many had followed along blindly to praise the same.

"Mm, I don't know." Jungkook was distracted as he replied. With how Taehyung was mounted on his waist and his firm butt pressed against his lower abdomen, it was hard for him to focus.

Taehyung said, "How about, you take a rest?"

"Hug me."

"I'm not talking about now..." Taehyung was a little embarrassed. But he still got down from Jungkook's body, snuggled into his embrace, pillowed his head on Jungkook's arm, and wrapped his arms around him. Taehyung continued, "I'm talking about taking a break from the club to adjust your state. The way you're playing in competitions without stopping is too taxing."

"I can't take a break."

"Why?"

Why? The answer to this question was a bit complicated.

There was too much attention on him now. Many audiences had bought competition tickets because of him. Some sponsors required that he appear on the rink for a certain amount of time before they decided to provide sponsorship. His every single action was now tied up with the interest of too many parties, making him unable to simply do as he wished.

Of course, there were pros to this as well. It was difficult for competitive sports to be purely focused on the competitive spirit. Competitive sports needed to go through certain steps and involve financing before they could have enough strength to thrive. For instance, the speed skating team lacked funding, and Coach Jung was always poring over their performance and the prizes they could win. Headteacher Hong was also constantly thinking of ways that the prizes they won could be used for them to climb even higher. Needless to say, even more, needed to be done when it came to carving a share of the large pie that ice hockey was.

A purely competition-driven match that did not involve any commercial value could probably only be held by the elderly uncles and aunties playing table tennis in the park. Of course, for people participating in such matches, the chances were high that they might be defeated into tears by some hidden experts as well.

Jungkook briefly explained it to Taehyung. He played down the issue but Taehyung's heart still ached when he heard. He tightened his arms around Jungkook and asked, "How about we return the sponsors' money? We didn't spend much of it anyway. Once we return the money, you can rest for a few competitions and take a breather."

"It doesn't work this way." Jungkook did not know whether to laugh or cry. He rubbed Taehyung's head. "I'm fine."

——

However, not everyone could accept Jungkook's frequent appearances on the rink. Many ice hockey fans felt that if a person was going up, they should be doing their best. It was not only a matter of Jungkook not playing well. It was the fact that he was monopolizing a spot while playing poorly, the fact that he was hogging the team and dragging them down legitimately.