Y13 [EN]: Chapter 193

Y13-193 2011-2012 Regular Season

While Youngjae’s debut performance last year was indeed sensational, the real question was his improvement in his second year. Typically, top-tier NBA players see their stats improve over their first few seasons as their bodies adapt to the league, and their experience and skills grow. Of course, some players experience the “sophomore slump,” where their rookie season remains their career peak.

He eased some concerns with his preseason performance against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but preseason games don’t hold much weight for established starters. What was certain was that Youngjae would face even greater scrutiny and pressure than the previous year.

“Yoon!”

Youngjae, the subject of all this debate, was waiting at the airport around lunchtime on December 24th, Christmas Eve. He waved when he spotted Emily pulling a cute rolling suitcase.

“Whoa!”

Youngjae hugged Emily tightly as she ran into his arms, stroking her hair, clearly proud of her for managing her busy schedule and returning.

“Have you gotten even prettier while I haven’t seen you?”

“Have you gotten more muscular while I haven’t seen you?”

The two, now comfortable sharing potentially embarrassing compliments, looked every bit the established couple to onlookers.

“You didn’t have to pick me up… I always feel bad.”

Emily knew enough about the NBA and Youngjae to understand, without being told, that he had a team training session that morning to prepare for the regular season opener tomorrow. As she suspected, Youngjae had arrived at the Dallas Mavericks’ facility earlier than anyone else, completed his personal workout, diligently participated in team practice, and finished just before lunchtime to meet her.

“Me? I’ve just been lazing around at home all day, so of course, I had to come pick you up.”

Youngjae said playfully, gently wrapping his arm around Emily’s waist and strolling towards the parking lot. Emily playfully nudged him, telling him not to lie, but Youngjae retaliated by tickling her side, making her burst out laughing.

“Hmm~ Is your side your weakness?”

“Ugh… N-No, it’s not! If you’re determined to tickle me like that, anyone would…”

Youngjae, feigning innocence, said, “Is that so?” and tickled her again. Emily, who meticulously maintained her physique, had a fit and resilient body, but Youngjae found the softness, both firm and pleasant to the touch, a bit mischievous. Still, mindful of their public location, he eased his grip on Emily, who was squirming and giggling.

“Ugh, seriously. You’re always joking around.”

“Because I really like you.”

At Youngjae’s sudden confession, Emily giggled involuntarily but quickly adopted a sulky expression as she got into the car. She appreciated Youngjae opening the door for her, but now that her ticklish spot was exposed, she wanted to play hard to get.

“Are you sulking?”

“I don’t know.”

“What should I do to make my baby feel better?”

Before Emily could protest being called ‘baby,’ she closed her eyes as Youngjae leaned in to kiss her. The two, inside the parked SUV, started the engine and left the airport more than ten minutes later.

Thump, thump-

Youngjae stood smiling in front of the half-court basketball court in his front yard, left hand raised, watching someone dribbling awkwardly.

“Watch closely?”

Thump, thud!

“얏!”

The person dribbling clumsily was none other than Emily. Youngjae couldn’t help but find it adorable that Emily had taken up basketball as a hobby and practiced in her free time. He admired her for lowering her center of gravity and dribbling low to avoid steals, showing she had diligently studied the basics.

Suddenly, Emily shouted, “얏!” and extended her right foot. Even though her advance was obvious to Youngjae, what surprised him was what followed. He could clearly hear her muttering.

“Extend your right foot and use your left foot as a pivot…”

It looked slow to Youngjae, but Emily was meticulously executing the form. She was attempting a spin move. Of course, it was impossible for Emily, who barely knew the basics, to have mastered it in the two months they’d been apart due to their busy schedules. Still, Youngjae found her dedication, practicing during her limited breaks, incredibly endearing.

“Uhhh!”

Youngjae pretended to be flustered with exaggerated acting, but his movements were realistic. As he stepped back and Emily spun around, he fell backward, carefully observing her shooting motion.

Her shooting form was awkward due to a lack of strength, resembling the push shot often seen in women’s basketball. Youngjae earnestly hoped the shot would go in.

Thump-

“Ah!”

It was difficult to practice shooting without a rim, and it was amazing that Emily, who hadn’t properly practiced, managed to get the ball to the height of a student basketball hoop, even if it wasn’t NBA standard.

“Hot!”

콰아앙!!

Before he knew it, Youngjae jumped up, grabbed the missed ball with both hands, and slammed it through the hoop.

Squeak- Squeak-

As the putback dunk echoed, Emily stared at Youngjae blankly. He laughed, gave a thumbs up while hanging from the rim, and smiled.

“Emily! Amazing! Following the spin move, even an assist!”

Youngjae dropped from the rim, approached Emily, who was still dazed, and stroked her head.

“When did you practice this much? I was so surprised.”

He praised her, saying he was truly fooled, and Emily smiled contentedly.

“Well, Yoon came to my filming set and even did a cameo for me. I wanted to play basketball with Yoon too.”

Youngjae was surprised when Emily suddenly suggested playing basketball after he arrived home and asked what she wanted to do. He thought they would just shoot around, but he found it incredibly touching that she had practiced basketball thinking of him.

“Thanks to you, I’ll be able to block all spin moves?”

“Tch, how slow and clumsy was my spin move! Tomorrow’s home game against Miami’s shooting guard is Dwyane Wade. A player who can break through at the speed of light.”

Youngjae said, “Oh~” and picked Emily up. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“So I watched the video, but he only does things that are too difficult, right?”

“That’s right. That player is a bit difficult.”

Youngjae nodded in agreement.

“I’ve tried practicing this and that, but the only things I could imitate were this and the crossover, so this time I practiced the spin move! Next time, I’ll do a crossover in front of Yoon.”

“Oh, scary. You fell on your butt today, so if you do a crossover next time, you’ll get an ankle breaker [a move that causes a defender to lose balance].”

Youngjae carefully laid Emily on the bed and lay down beside her. Emily turned to him, took his arm, used it as a pillow, and smiled.

“Yoon, it’s only 3 PM?”

“Well, exercising is tiring. So I was thinking of taking a nap.”

At Youngjae’s words, Emily said innocently, “Oh, I see!” and closed her eyes in his arms. Watching her, Youngjae couldn’t help but laugh at her feigned innocence, knowing she understood perfectly.

“Honey.”

“H-Huh? H-Honey?”

Youngjae’s voice was now low, and Emily was surprised by the unexpected endearment.

“I’m hungry.”

…

“U-Uh. Me too… Ugh!”

Since Emily also said she was hungry, Youngjae didn’t hesitate and began to devour her soft lips.

“Wow…”

Chandler Parsons looked around with a dazed expression, overwhelmed by the tension and pressure that was completely different from the NCAA stage. Tyson Chandler smiled at Parsons and surprised him with a “Wah!”

“Huh!!”

“Hey, if you have such a dazed expression, you’ll get eaten alive.”

Relieved by Chandler’s playful tone, Parsons looked slightly more comfortable than before.

“I don’t know if I’ll even play in today’s game, but anyway, it’s my debut game on the active roster… I’m nervous.”

Chandler said, “Is that so?” and smiled slightly, pointing to one side of the audience. A placard with a large enlargement of Parsons’ model-like face was waving, and Parsons smiled awkwardly.

“As expected, you’re worth your face value? Don’t you think so, Chandler?”

Looking at Youngjae, who had joined the conversation, Chandler nodded, saying, “Yeah! That’s right.” Parsons just smiled awkwardly, saying it wasn’t like that.

“Hey, Parsons. Be honest. You know you’re handsome. I heard that handsome men and beautiful women all know they’re handsome and pretty.”

“W-Well, that’s… Honestly, I don’t think I’m ugly, but… I still want to be recognized for my basketball skills.”

Chandler gave Parsons a thumbs up, saying, “Oh~” and Parsons just smiled awkwardly.

“Well, handsome people do know they’re handsome. It must be tiring to live up to their face value. Sigh… That’s why I’m a bit tired these days. And because I’m growing a beard, my appearance is even more…”

Youngjae nodded, agreeing with Chandler’s nonsense.

“Of course. Chandler’s face is one that works anywhere. A sturdy appearance, a rough beard, and a tightly cropped sports haircut. It’s a typical man’s appearance.”

“Right? You have an eye for it. Huh?”

“It’s a shame you were born in the wrong era, Chandler. No, if you were only in your 20s, there would have been hope…”

휙!

“Oh?!!”

Youngjae, nimbly dodging Chandler’s light punch, smiled slightly.

“Ah, is your punch getting slower now?”

Parsons, watching the two bickering, didn’t know what to do and just stood there awkwardly.

[Welcome! 2011-2012 NBA opening game and Christmas match! The game between the defending champion Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat is being broadcast live on ESPN! It’s a revenge match between the two teams that faced off in the finals last year! Reggie Miller is on commentary, and Craig Sager is the caster. Reggie? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you!]

Craig Sager was really happy to see Reggie Miller, and Miller laughed and nodded.

[Really, I was wondering what I should do this season? I’m so happy to be broadcasting the game with Craig now that the league has opened.]

[I feel the same way, and I’m sure the fans feel the same way too. So, it’s a match between the defending champion Dallas Mavericks from last year and the Miami Heat, who unfortunately finished as runners-up. What do you think?]

Miller made a cold judgment and let out a short exclamation.

[Both teams are very promising. But if I only think about the results of today’s game, I think the Miami Heat will be more dominant.]

============================ Author’s Notes ============================

★Thank you to those who gave advance reservations, recommendations, comments, and coupons!!

★Thank you for the support coupons from Sleeping Pig, 잠룡객, asdsdds, ceracs, chaikopusuki, 穹河!! I hope you have a good remaining holiday^^.

＠Did you all have a good Chuseok [Korean Thanksgiving]? Now that 3 days of the holiday have passed, there’s only one day left, which is the substitute holiday tomorrow. I hope you have a good day tomorrow too^^.

파이넨시아, Han512, -DarkANGEL-, ㅎ0ㅎ, chaikopusuki, 이동석동, 사라질영혼/// Thank you for your comments!! Have a good time for the remaining holiday tomorrow~~

Ultra10/// A player like LeBron is an ideal player from the perspective of the owner or general manager. However, he may not be satisfactory to strategists-style coaches. There are many cases where star players and coaches fight over role allocation and play calls. And usually, it ends with the coach’s defeat. From LeBron’s point of view, he probably wouldn’t want to go to teams that mainly use motion offenses that circulate the ball a lot and have less offense centered on him, such as the Warriors, Spurs, and Hawks. Not only LeBron but also players with high possession rates such as Westbrook, Harden, and Kobe don’t seem to prefer such systematic tactics. Because their role decreases, their shots decrease, and their ball possession time also decreases.

goimosp/// I heard that the moon was the biggest and most visible around midnight yesterday. I fell asleep early, so I couldn’t see it. Did you see the supermoon well yesterday?^^