The Real Final | winrina

Realization

Jimin still finds it awkward to meet Minjeong after being jealous over some girl a few nights ago, but she have to keep it professional. She thinks maybe if Minjeong confronts her again about that night, she might smash her head for being a busy body. But Minjeong doesn't seem to care at all, she't too busy preparing for The Finals which disappoints her. Is she playing hard to get now? But sometimes she notices Minjeong gets shy when she accidentally (read: deliberately) touches her hand. Honestly Yu Jimin, what is that you want? She thought. But every time she did that, Minjeong would lose focus for a few seconds and she doesn't want her childish act affect her performance, especially today is the semi-final round. Minjeong is up against the current world no.1.

"Yu seonsaeng-nim, please take a good care of me."

It's almost like a ritual for Minjeong to say those same words every single time she enters the court. Jimin likes that, though. It's like the shorter girl always has her on her mind in every seconds. Again, she and her selfish thought. As usual, she sits at the corner of the back of the court, right behind the sponsorship board. The game is intense, it is dragged into the rubber set. She witnessed various type of emotions showed on Minjeong's face. Her cute dimples when her opponent was tricked by her trick. Her frowns when she made an unforced error. Her screams when she won a long rally. Her pursed lips when she's on serve. She loves all of that except one, her disappointed face when she lose the game.

"19 – 18, play."

It last only for a few seconds before the score changed again.

"19 – 19, play."

Jimin hears a groan coming from the court. Minjeong gives away an easy point through the failed serve. She mouthing something like 'stupid, that's short' and her heart can't take that. It's always sad to see her saying something like that.

"19 – 20, play."

Minjeong gains her confidence once again. She's leading again, She's one point away from winning. But that doesn't last long as her opponent fight her way to gain another point, making it a deuce.

"20 – love, play."

The Taiwanese serves and she is tricked. It seems like her opponent wants to make a low serve— a serve that barely skims over the top of the net and lands near the short service line but instead, she flicks it to send the shuttle high, pushing Minjeong to the back of the badminton court and isn't fully ready for net shot. As a result, she throws herself in front of the net and her opponent easily ends it by pushing it to the end of the the court, exactly on the baseline.

"21 – 20, play."

One more point. A point to decide whether the game will be still ongoing or will end. When she thought she makes a wonderful baseline smash, the line judge spreads his arms wide, meaning it's an out. She hears a loud cheers coming from the opponent's audience side. No. No way.

"Challenge!" Minjeong raised her hand in the air.

A player may challenge a line judge's call where badminton uses technology to rule on contentious decisions. If a line call, after review, is deemed correct the player loses one challenge. Two incorrect challenges means a player will have no more challenges for the rest of the match. However, if the player challenges successfully, they do not lose a challenge. A player should clearly state 'Challenge" to the umpire and signal their request by raising their hand or arm simultaneously. Now, all eyes are on the big screen. Few minutes later, a video illustration played, showing where the shuttle landed and it's slightly out.

"Challenge unsuccessful, match won by TAI Tzu Ying, 21 – 19, 13 – 21, 22 – 20."

And with that, marks the end of her first World Tour Finals' tournament. She has done more actually. The KBA set her target to at least qualify into quarter-final and she advanced to the semi-final. But as a player, she can't help to feel sad every time she failed to win. Jimin too doesn't like this kind of Minjeong. She doesn't want her to beat herself too much, so she asks her to meet her at the bus stop near their practice hall the next day.