Y13 [EN]: Chapter 235

Y13-235 2011-2012 Regular Season

Screech-

“Yoon!”

“…”

Emily opened the door with a welcoming expression, as if nothing had happened, and approached Youngjae. Youngjae tried his best to hide his anger and forced a smile, giving Emily a light hug. He didn’t want to worry her about basketball anymore.

“You worked hard today.”

“Worked hard? I didn’t do… anything…”

Seeing Youngjae smile wryly with a self-deprecating expression, Emily looked worried, but soon picked up an apron, thinking of how to cheer Youngjae up.

“Are you hungry? I’ll make you a delicious dinner. Just wait a little bit?”

If it were the usual Youngjae, he would have smiled, snatched the apron, and said gently and kindly that he would do it since she had a tough schedule, but Youngjae, who had been irritated to the core just moments ago, unknowingly spoke to Emily in a grumpy tone. If he had a little more time to cool down, it would have been better, but not having that time was the problem.

“It’s hard. You must be tired too, don’t pretend you’re not because of me. That’s even harder. I’ll do it.”

…

“Why… are you talking like that? I know you’re having a hard time… I also…”

Youngjae bit his molars, feeling irritated without realizing it. He wanted to talk nicely now, but Youngjae’s mouth was already out of control, blurting out words carelessly.

“I know it’s hard. I know you have a lot of schedules. Then you should have rested at home.”

“I came because I missed you. I really missed you, and you told me to come last time because you missed me too. That’s why I came. But why are you talking like that? I’m having a hard time too. You’re not the only one.”

At Emily’s words, which were slightly tearful, Youngjae ended up saying something he shouldn’t have. Emily was suffering because of him, and she was being gossiped about by reporters. That’s why his head kept telling him to be patient and treat Emily well, but Youngjae couldn’t control his anger and irritation at the moment. Instead, he hurt Emily with his twisted words.

“If you know it’s not, then why are you doing this? I just said I would make dinner.”

“You played a game. So you must be tired. That’s why I’m trying to…”

“Do you know what it’s like to play a game? Have you ever played basketball? It’s not just, it’s not just hard. It’s not that hard.”

…

Emily soon trembled in her small body, wiped her eyes with one hand, and shouted.

“Then! Have you ever acted?! Have you ever stayed up all night acting, and spent days working on one song for recording?! How… how can you say that? How!”

The moment Youngjae saw Emily’s tears, he realized his mistake. He had vented his anger on his teammates earlier, and now he was lashing out at his girlfriend, who was worried about him. Even though he knew he shouldn’t be saying such things, even if he was furious.

“Emily, wait. Just a moment…”

Thump!

Emily shook off Youngjae’s hand and kept shouting.

“I, I! Even if I have a lot of schedules and filming… even if I barely sleep one or two hours a day, I come here to see you! I come here… to see you… I’ve even collapsed to see you!!!”

Emily couldn’t control her sadness any longer and sat down on the floor, crying as if she had lost the world. Youngjae couldn’t hide his embarrassment and knelt in front of Emily, trying to comfort her, but Emily just kept crying, saying she didn’t need anything.

“I know… I know! That you’re having a hard time these days… that you’re hurting and suffering! But you can’t do this… you can’t say that!”

Youngjae knelt in front of Emily, who was crying for a long time, and hugged her without saying anything. He had vented his frustration at not being able to play well on poor Emily. Youngjae felt more pathetic and like trash than ever before, and he felt disgusted.

No job is easy. Emily was also working on a tight schedule since joining the Walking Dead [presumably a popular TV show or film franchise], and like Youngjae, she was not exercising, but she was repeating filming to capture the reality, enduring the cold and heat with her whole body, and going on a forced march, recording OSTs [Original Soundtracks] and even going to performances in between.

Even so, she was sacrificing her rest during Youngjae’s season to see Youngjae. Youngjae resented his mouth for asking Emily if she knew how hard basketball was.

“Emily, Emily… I, I was sensitive. I was only thinking about myself… I didn’t realize I was talking like that. I’m really sorry.”

“…”

Emily just kept crying without saying anything, and Youngjae brought a handkerchief and wiped Emily’s tears.

“I was wrong. I’m just, I’m just trash. I haven’t acted or sung like Emily said. So I just said whatever… I’m really sorry. I don’t know what to say or what to do to make Emily feel better… I’m really sorry.”

Emily continued to cry for more than 30 minutes after that, and then she finally calmed down a little, wiping away her tears with a handkerchief, her eyes and nose red, and then tidying up her disheveled hair.

“Emily. No matter what, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have said those things even if I was having a hard time. Really, I’m really sorry. I’ll take whatever you say.”

Seeing Youngjae sincerely apologize, Emily seemed to calm down a little. Emily’s accumulated hardships had also caused her sadness to explode.

“You look a little younger now. Yeah, it feels like the first time.”

“…”

“What you said during the All-Star break… I didn’t know it would come so soon.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry.”

“No. But… it feels a little better to cry like this, get angry at each other, and say everything we’ve been holding back. They say it helps to tell someone everything when you’re having a hard time, but it turned out like this.”

Youngjae also felt a sense of relief for some reason, and he carefully reached out and stroked Emily’s fair hand.

“I keep telling myself not to do this, but my mouth just wouldn’t stop. I was so confused about how to react and how to respond… You must have been very disappointed. I’m really sorry.”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but I’m glad I can trust you a little more as much as I was disappointed.”

Youngjae tilted his head without realizing it, and Emily smiled faintly, holding Youngjae’s hand tightly.

“At least… you were holding back like this for me. And you… you get angry too. You’re always holding back a lot for me.”

“That’s… the same for Emily. It’s not just me. Rather, Emily… comes all the way here every time. When I think about that, I’m far from enough.”

…

“I don’t do that kind of calculation. Just because I miss you. That’s all. And… I’m glad we can talk more honestly about each other now.”

Youngjae’s heart was about to collapse as he recalled himself getting angry just a moment ago at Emily’s heart, which looked at things positively even after this fight and transcended calculation.

Tightly!

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I won’t just say what I’m going to do. I’ll just… I’ll love and cherish you with all my heart, without calculating or arguing like you do. And I’ll say it again.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll never let you go.”

“Yeah.”

That’s how the two people’s first fight ended.

“You’re here?”

After the home game against the Utah Jazz, Nowitzki subtly called Kidd and Chandler and invited them to his house for dinner. The two were puzzled as to what was going on, but they attended, thinking that Nowitzki must have wanted to talk about something if he had invited them to his house.

“Oh my, what kind of wind is blowing that you’ve set up such a luxurious meal that the table is about to break? Well, I did pretty well in the Utah game, didn’t I?”

Chandler sat down, joking in a light tone, as if he didn’t want the atmosphere to become heavy, but Kidd seemed to have roughly guessed what was going on and nodded slightly before sitting down in his chair.

“It’s nothing special. I just wanted to talk about how our team is doing right now.”

Chandler looked puzzled at Nowitzki’s words.

“It’s going well, isn’t it? We lost three games in a row before and after the All-Star break, but we won two games in a row against New Orleans and Utah Jazz. 26 wins and 13 losses. Oklahoma is 29 wins and 9 losses, and San Antonio is 25 wins and 11 losses, but I don’t think we’re in that bad of a situation. If you look at the league as a whole, Chicago is 30 wins and 8 losses, and Miami is 28 wins and 8 losses, but I think we’re doing pretty well considering our team’s circumstances.”

In fact, the Dallas Mavericks were enjoying a high winning rate of 66% in the hellish Southwest Division, contrary to initial concerns. Of course, there were teams with monstrous regular season records above them, but as Chandler said, Dallas was doing well considering that they had many veterans and players who didn’t have a good offseason.

“Yeah, there’s no problem with the record. That’s not what Nowitzki wants to talk about.”

“Ah…”

Chandler also nodded, as if he understood what the problem was. The problem was that Jason Terry, who had been a free agent since this season, was starting to voice his opinions about his contract little by little, although he had passed smoothly last year.

He originally enjoyed speaking directly and was the most media-friendly player on the team, doing many interviews. This worked positively when the team was doing well and when he was performing well, but when he wasn’t performing well or when the situation he wanted wasn’t unfolding, it was just gossip. So much so that fans called him ‘Lip Terry’.

Terry had already embarrassed Cuban [Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks] by demanding an extension after winning the championship last year. Carlisle [Rick Carlisle, then coach of the Mavericks] was giving him as much consideration as possible because he had complained a few times about his role being reduced in the last year of his contract.

Terry considered being on the court during clutch time as a matter of pride, so Youngjae often sat on the bench during clutch time last season. This season, Kidd himself agreed to sit on the bench during clutch time due to injuries and slumps. Thanks to this, they have been living without much noise, but his personality, which is still high in pride compared to his declining skills, is like a time bomb.

“…”

In addition, Terry has been living in harmony with the players as an 8-year veteran of Dallas and a 13-year veteran of the NBA, but he is not a very gentle person. However, Youngjae had proven himself with his skills, so he acknowledged Youngjae, gave him advice, and got along well with him. However, he often got angry and criticized Beaubois, who was similar to him in style and a defensive liability. These days, as Youngjae’s slump continues, he is raising his voice and his will to solve the problem himself is getting stronger.

“He’s such a proud guy. In the case of Beaubois, I felt like he was keeping him in check because he was so similar to him in style. Youngjae has shown his skills in the meantime and has been good to him as if he were raising a junior on the same team, but these days, he seems to be obsessed with his own record because he’s in a slump and the club hasn’t clearly shown its intention to extend his contract.”

Nowitzki sighed. It was because he remembered teammates like Finley and Stackhouse before Terry. They also maintained high pride compared to their declining skills, and eventually had trouble with the club and were traded. They were also the vocal leaders of the team like Terry, and they were the same as the 2nd and 3rd options.

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

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

＠Couples often fight when they are under excessive stress from their main job. Basically, couples who are considerate or have been dating for a long time end the fight quickly, but I’ve seen couples who have just started dating break up because of that. They can’t be as considerate as usual in their relationship because of work stress, and then they fight. Romance has so many case-by-case scenarios…

＠Lip Terry… left a famous saying in 2012. “I’m playing in the game with the mindset of auditioning for 29 teams.” Is that something a veteran who has been on the team for the second longest time should say…… There are many other famous sayings, but maybe I’ll use them later.

＠Personally, I don’t think regression or reincarnation is a panacea [a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases]. Especially if you haven’t experienced a lot of joys and sorrows and life events up to old age. It’s a setting used in some novels, but I think that if you go back to a young age, your mental age will follow to some extent. For example, even if you live to be 60 years old and go back to 20 years old, you won’t have the mentality of a 60-year-old. Maybe 30s or 40s? Even Youngjae only regressed 9 years. Right now, Youngjae is 10 years younger than Duncan in terms of mental age alone. His mentality is almost the same age as the 03 draftees, including LeBron, Wade, and Carmelo. Is their mentality that perfect?

Above all, no one has ever experienced regression or reincarnation, and everyone is just making hypotheses. I think it’s up to each individual to choose which of those hypotheses to choose. I don’t think there’s a right answer. Of course, there may be some wrong answers that don’t make sense.

Thank you to Tamsik, Witted, Sosimjjijil inferior man, goimosp, -DarkANGEL-, BLADE11, Yabes, and Blue Gauri/// I used Messi as an example because everyone would know him. Maybe everyone will have different thoughts on this. Personally, I just thought that even if Korea had Messi, it would be difficult to get above 20th place while watching Argentina.

Witted/// Yes, that’s right. The sharper the knife, the easier it is to break.

Inkling Two/// Hehe thank you^^ Thank you again for the sponsorship coupon.

Yauro/// I admit that Duncan is a great player, but he can’t win 20 or 30 games on his own. Of course, Duncan is a player who shows influence beyond his record. It’s true that San Antonio would have a hard time winning without Duncan. However, 5 basketball players are definitely more influential than 11 soccer players, but I don’t think it’s that hard to compare. Juventus also collapsed in midfield without Pirlo, and collapsed in attack without Tevez. Soccer has no salary cap, so there are enough replacements, but the influence of a player who can’t be replaced is similar. Barcelona without Messi or San Antonio without Duncan would both have a hard time winning.

Sampyeon/// I don’t really like dirty players. Same with trash talking… This is the taste of the writers^^.

H0h, Rango/// Legends in their late 30s often have slumps and mental breakdowns. Kobe and Nowitzki also experience it, so if you say that Youngjae is soft for experiencing this much, um…

Kai-Guelda, Rango/// I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding in the afterword of the previous episode, so I added a comment. What I said was that he can’t do things like Kobe’s season average of 35 points or 81 points in a single game, or LeBron’s 56 points, 19 rebounds, and 15 assists. I really hate it when those personal stats are abnormally high compared to the team members. It’s not like A and his lackeys. Of course, LeBron in Cleveland 1 and Kobe in the dark ages had no choice because of the team composition, but Youngjae’s team members are very decent. I already told you in the last episode who Youngjae’s role model is. Nash, Kidd, Allen, Ginobili. Of course, he will rise to the level of the best NBA player as the introduction says. I didn’t write the introduction to fish.

Ultra 10/// I don’t know if I can solve it as well as I expected… I don’t intend to dig too deeply into this part. It seems like it will be too long if I drag this out for too long.

Vanishing Soul/// Thank you for your comment!!

Lee Dong-seok/// These days, Joara is completely BS. Both mobile and web.

Earth Resident/// Time is the cure haha. And it’s enough to have someone around you who can give you advice.

Kingofking/// lol, it’s already a made team, so it doesn’t seem like there will be anything like a D-Tongsu… Well, maybe a hard foul or something is possible.

Sleep.Sleep.Rain/// That’s right. Regression or reincarnation is not a panacea.