look at the stars | sunsun

five.

"Next to skate, representing South Korea, Sunghoon Park!"

Some skaters, as he's noticed over the years, rely on charm and emotion to appeal to the judges, appeal to the audience. Kim Sunoo, for one, seems to have grasped the skill quickly ─ the media talks about his expressiveness in movement, the piercing energy of his gaze. Sunghoon, on the other end of the spectrum, relies almost entirely on physical mastery ─ his routines are known to be of the most technically-challenging standard in his age group.

Expressiveness isn't something Sunghoon has never tried, over the years. His coach had attempted to instill some form of emotion into his skating at some point in the past, but none of his methods seemed to prove effective.

Sunghoon never really understood the concept of it, anyway. He knew the adrenaline that coursed through his veins when he cleared a difficult combination. He was no stranger to the satisfaction of hearing his name from the crowds, feeling the weight of a medal around his neck, glinting gold in the light.

But happiness? Warmth? Friendliness, even?

It seemed they were unfamiliar to him, as butterflies were to fish. Faraway, different worlds that couldn't meet. Something about his eminence had, at some point in his life, detached him from the rest of the world, a world that Kim Sunoo seemed to belong to, along with everyone else. A world he couldn't dream of touching.

After a while, he didn't much bother with it anymore. He reminded himself stars were their most beautiful billions of lightyears away from the earth, anyway. He had no objection to being the best of the best, even if the top of the world was the loneliest place he could ever choose to be.

He didn't need to be happy to be brilliant.

I can't let my thoughts occupy my head, he thinks insistently, taking his place at the center of the rink. Focus, Sunghoon.

No one compares, you stand alone.

The first notes of his track play, and his performance begins.

"A whole new world, don't you dare close your eyes

A hundred thousand things to see!"

Sunghoon thinks of a whole new world.

He thinks of Kim Sunoo.

─

Sunghoon's next competition is the NHK Trophy in Sapporo. Heeseung leaves him after the Internationaux de France for his next stop, the Cup of China in Chongqing, and Sunghoon returns to South Korea to continue training for the two and a half weeks before he has to appear in Japan.

He's made a good start in the competition, as he wanted. His performance in Grenoble was his combined personal best, earning him a total score of 291.23 and an easy gold at his first cup, putting him in the international spotlight for new fan favorite. The press has already fanned the flames on rumors of him, the youngest ace, possibly clinching gold in the finals of his first season.

Sunghoon doesn't plan to disappoint.

Between days of grueling training, Sunghoon keeps tabs on Kim Sunoo. He performs well at his first event, the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, with a short program set to Electric Love, an energetic, lively choreography that without question suits his personal style seamlessly. The media is abuzz with the excitement that always follows the emergence of a new ace skater, proclaiming Sunoo's charms, debating on how he will fare against long-standing national junior champion Park Sunghoon, amongst the other talented, up-and-coming skaters of the season.

Sunoo's free skate routine, set to an orchestral production of Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas, is dazzling ─ his triple Lutz jumps have been replaced by flawless quads, spins and steps clean as ever, evidence that he has not spent his year away from Korea in vain, and no one is surprised to see him clinch gold at the Rostelecom, placing him second in current standings with a total score of 288.45.

There is not much else Sunghoon knows to do except continue practicing. The NHK Trophy is crucial in determining his own final placing. There isn't a night he goes to sleep without his muscles burning from the constant overuse. The ice is unforgiving to people who lack the skill, and the only thing that will push him forward is unrelenting training.

His plane touches down in Sapporo four days before the competition begins.