Her Captain, The Gamemaster

Acting Upon Thought

'...let's play it seriously,'

*Jiyeon's POV*

Part of me felt excited about playing with my idol but another more rational part of me was insanely freaked about it. I'm very aware that she's an all-rounder, she can do everything on a continental standard but this is one-man-court. The most important thing in one-man-court is your defense and Liling Tang just happens to have an untouchable defense on an international level.

'Sure,' I agree, feeling a little something going onto my face.

*Third Person's POV*

Everyone could tell that this game would be more exciting than the previous. Two internationally strong players versing each other head-to-head, performing only for the elite in the sports world.

The two of them walked to opposite sides of the court and began to warm up. Many raised their eyebrows as they watched the Chinese girl stretch, knowing she never stretches or warms up, not even in the morning or before exercising.

The other teenagers on the court immediately ran to their teammate, spouting millions of questions. On one side of the court, you could hear a bunch of Chinese girls scolding a Korean brunette but she didn't care at all. On the other side, you can see a much smaller girl pulling her leg over her head, sliding into a perfect split easily, ignoring the questions of her teammates.

'Are you going to verse her, Captain? The Jeon Jiyeon?'

The girl rose up smoothly from her mini acrobatics routine, opening her eyes to her maximum radius, relaxing as she pulled her elbows over her shoulder. 'Mhm,'

Although the other girls continued to pester her, she only replied to one other person. 'Do you want me as a second? We could 2v2,'

'No thanks, Soo-ah. I'm all good,'

The girls made eye contact with each other and both let out a smile, knowing that their earlier dilemma was now in the past.

However, that wasn't the biggest shocker. Walking over to the centre of the room, the Chinese girl turned around and let out a smile.

Her team gaped.

A smile. And a really fucking big one as well.

They turned to the Korean girl in search of an answer who only smiled.

'So Li-ah's finally awake,'

*Lang Ping's POV*

'Ah yes. This is the true face of Liling Tang,' I smile as I watch the girl flex her long legs as she placed her hands on her hips.

I hear excited whispers coming from the other scouts, all of them knowing that the two of them were both playing for China or at least soon-to-be. I think back to my conversation with the young girl earlier that night.

~Flashback~

'...but you may be something even better,'

The girl's head snapped up and looked at me for answers. The real Liling Tang is intuitive and curious, not the stone-faced, cold girl everyone thinks she is. I would assume only few people know her.

'What am I?' she asked, almost whispering.

'You've worked so hard your whole life. What do you think?' I ask her, genuinely curious on her take.

She pondered a minute before replying.

'I think there are some people who will be born with abilities other people don't have. And it's up to them how they want to use it. But if someone else were to compete with someone born with talent in that specific area, it's obvious who would win. At the end of the day, people born with talent are completely out of ordinary people's league,'

'Hm, but you've worked so hard to this point, haven't you? Didn't you win nationals three times in a row? And all those awards and medallions?'

'I guess,'

I smile a little. 'Xiao Li, I think you are a hard-working person. You work hard so no one will see you fail,'

No response.

'I think there might be things you can unlock that other's can't,'

She looked me in the eyes with curiousity and warily asked 'What do you mean?'

'There might be things only your unique mindset can achieve,'

There was a moment of silence.

'I think you can become a prodigy,'

~Back to Present~

*Li's POV*

No one can become a prodigy. You might only realize your abilities late, but you can't just unlock talent. I've worked all my life to be number one. I don't think there is anyone else out there who has my type of mindset or reasons like my own to become stronger.

I flip a coin and Jeon serves first. She jumps serves to a corner and I finally feel the way I did as a kid. Playful. Determined. Stubborn.

I've always been quite playful but not for a while. I'm not as lazy or boring as people think I am. I may take long to do things but that's because I take in more information than what's visible.

I follow the wind before her palm even hits the ball and immediately she smacks the ball right onto my arms. Holy shit, it was heavy. I might need some of Grandma's cream for this. (is it bad that i immediately thought of really disgusting things when i wrote that?)

I send it perfectly and for the first time in over a decade, I feel my adrenaline running again. I let out a pant as the ball went up to the setter's position where I set to myself.

One-man-court is essentially the same as volleyball except there is only one person on each side. It's pretty self-explanatory. Volleyball is kinda like don't let the balloon touch the ground extreme version but when it comes to one-man, it gets intense. I grew up playing one-man using auto equipment and that was how I progressed faster than others.

In this game, it's only you. I spike directly at Jiyeon who dug it messily but she then launched a back row attack which I blocked, sending it a little bit behind her. She got it up with her foot and I take a few steps back to prepare something I've been thinking about ever since Jiao Lian mentioned prodigies.

She then spiked then ball but instead of blocking it at the front, I jumped from the back row, in line with her, reaching out my hand as I watch the ball move towards me. 3, 2, 1-

SMACK. 

The ball instantly went backwards onto the service line and the brunette fell.

BAM.

1-0.

I hear whispers erupt as the two of us on the court began panting.

'Spiking a spike?'

'That n-noise,'

'The timing was ridiculous. Is she crazy?'

'Playing with elites are terrifying. If I even touched either of their spikes, all my limbs would go flying. But to spike back a spike with THAT much power...,'

'How did the momentum not die? The spin is completely reversed...,'

'A back row attack straight down the middle hitting the service line perfectly,'

I pant for a while, my ears now taking in everyone's words, my adrenaline pumping up my hearing and sight. My reflexes and intuition was now at around 85%.

I haven't gone past 30% recently. But even then, I've never really reached past 60%, even in my practices as a kid. I pant a few more times and I search for a pair of eyes.

'Is this what you mean?'

Author's Note:

so the title kinda means to like perfectly execute an action by thinking about doing it like its second nature

thxx.