Finding my Power in You

Chapter VI : Should This Have Gone That Easy?

"I noticed that our stands during practice have been a little more. . . Loud," One of the basketball team members notes as he eyes the stands while dribbling.

"I'm sorry, Minhyun. When Minghao and Jun told me some people were coming, I didn't expect this many," Mingyu passes the ball to another teammate of his, who goes by the name of Dongho.

"Who're they here for anyway?" Dongho asks after passing the ball to Mingyu again.

"Mr. Popular over there," Minhyun responds to Dongho as he nudges his head in the direction of Mingyu. Mingyu has to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the remark. Then again, looking at the stands, he only sees a couple of girls, girlfriends of some of the players. About fifty percent of the audience is with him. Minghao, Junhui, Soonyoung, Jeonghan, Vernon, Seungkwan, Wonwoo, and Chan are gathered in the stands. Some are watching intently, like Soonyoung, Wonwoo, and Chan. The others are watching as well, but they're also socializing and goofing around.

"I mean, the people Mingyu invited are eye candy, so I'm not complaining," Another teammate of theirs, Minki, says as he finishes a tight cone dribbling drill.

"Enough chattering you guys. People or no people, we have to be able to perform under pressure. We've had bigger crowds at games," The team's current captain, Jonghyun, jogs over to scold the others for having a conversation after having done a layup. He gathers the team over to have a little pow-wow and discuss what they need to work on for the next game since they are flying solo for that evening's practice.

"We're going against SN University in a couple of weeks. We need to come up with a game plan to counter what we know while the coach and manager are scouting them out," Jonghyun says as he looks around at his team before continuing, "I remember only a few things about their team from playing them the past few years. I remember them being a very athletic and high-scoring team. I remember them having a lot of taller-than-average players. What I remember the most is their very intense player. The plays kinda revolved around him. He was on scholarship, was an adaptive guard, and was the team captain the last two games I played them. He was kind of a special case. He was completing some courses at the KNPU and finishing a Bachelor's, which is almost too good to be true and just a little odd if you ask me. . ."

The team is blanking out when Jonghyun starts to ramble about this mystery player that he seems to be fangirling over.

". . . He received offers to go pro when he graduated, and he turned them all down because he wants to be a PI. Damn, I wish I knew his full name. I remember his player number, last name, and what he said to me at the end of the last game I played him in and that's it," Jonghyun pouts as the team tune back in. Now, something in Mingyu clicks when he hears this last statement. He knows someone like this, but he doesn't remember ever hearing that this person played basketball. He knows a lot about it though, gets a couple of pointers from him before games, and he even trains him and guides him using basketball terminology and warm-ups. He does remember being told what Universities they went to and how they became a P.I.

So to quell that curiosity, Mingyu asks, "So what was his name, and what did he say?" He can hear some of the team members almost groan at the next series of fangirling that might escape his lips again.

"I'm so glad you asked. So, his last name is Choi, and he said, verbatim, 'You can't control the game, your teammates, and your opponents. Everything around you won't be perfect. Accept that. What you can do is challenge yourself and change the way you see and react to everything around you. The game might still not be perfect, but you'll find your strength in that. And, finding your strength will almost guarantee your victory.'" They can almost see the stars in his eyes as he speaks about the mysterious, almost too-good-to-be-true player who chose not to go pro.