When Dance Time was finally over, Si-dong took the mic again.
“And now, we will start the match!”
“Yaaaay!” we all cheered.
‘Wow, he’s loud,’ I thought once more, glancing over at Si-dong. I bet he could roar louder than a lion.
“There are three competitions. The first one is…ta-da…tubes!”
Si-dong pointed towards the pool as we all turned to look. The moment I saw it, I understood instantly. We were to go stand on those tubes and fight each other while trying to not fall off.
“Whoever makes their opponent fall off of their rafts first wins! Got it?”
“Yes!” we all shouted.
Then, he proceeded to explain the second and third competitions. The second one was an obstacle course. The third one was a relay race. I had no doubt that I’d be the fastest. Anyways, after Si-dong finished telling us about the games, we had a short break.
“He’s really loud,” I muttered to Christine.
“Who? Si-dong?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t it nice?” Christine asked.
“No. Just loud,” I said. I wouldn’t be surprised if I became deaf after this.
“What are you guys talking about?” Ham-sung said, walking over and plopping herself next to us. Maybe it’s because she’s an adult film actress, but even her voice was sexy to listen to.
“Oh, nothing. But, um…Ham-sung? Can I call you Ham-sung? How old are you?” I asked.
What? I was curious. She looked to be in her early 30’s…
“Twenty-eight?”
“What?”
Did she just say she hates me?
“I’m twenty-eight.”
“Oh, okay.”
She’s younger than I thought. Actually, she’s younger than me. My body may be twenty-one, but my spirit is thirty, remember?
“But you know, I’ve heard a lot about you,” Ham-sung said as she looked at me.
“Oh, really?”
Well, no surprise there.
“They call you Spiderman.”
“Oh.”
Right. I remember Ako-san calling me that.
“Go and climb that wall,” Ham-sung said, pointing at a building nearby. I made a face. Who does she think I am? I’m not going to just walk up the side of the wall. This girl was really weird.
I remained silent so Ham-sung spoke again.
“I knew it was just bullshit. Japanese people are so weird, aren’t they? Calling you Spiderman. They also say that you’re Hulk?”
“Oh.”
Right. There was that kid.
“Go and break that boulder,” Ham-sung said, pointing at a large boulder in the distance. I made another face. Ham-sung laughed.
“People are so funny. Don’t you think, Sian?”
“I guess,” I said with a smile. Then, when no one was looking, I punched the floor and it trembled. Ham-sung gasped.
“People are funny. There’s no such thing as Spiderman or Hulk. Right?” I said with a big smile.
Ham-sung stared at me, unable to talk anymore.
***
It was time for the first match.
The idols and the athletes stood on either side of the pool. Oh yeah, the athletes chose to call themselves the Invincible Team. Si-dong was riding a floaty shaped like a whale and was floating in the middle of the pool. That floaty must have been strong to hold out a guy like Si-dong. Then again, it did look like it would sink at any moment.
“Everyone onto the rafts!” Si-dong shouted.
The Dream Team climbed onto it. It didn’t look like it, but there was plenty of room for the six of us.
“Sian, take my hand,” Hyunsoo said, but I stuck out my foot. Hyunsoo didn’t like that. To be honest, if he had grabbed my foot, I would’ve kicked him in the face.
“Move,” I said, pushing his hand away. Hyunsoo raised his eyebrows.
“You know,” he said, “You’re the first girl to treat me like this.”
“What the hell?” I ignored him and continued my way onto my tube. All of a sudden, Jun-gyu was standing next to me. The one who could read my mind. There really are all kinds of people. You have that Gap-chan or Gap-sun guy who can see the future. Then, there was that guy who could make people fall asleep. Then, there was Jessican who tried to paralyze me. Now there’s mind-reading? Han Entertainment sure knows how to pick them.
‘You guys the Avengers or something?’
Seriously.
“The Avengers?” Jun-gyu repeated, having read my mind again.
So I told him, “Quit reading my mind, or I’ll break yours.”
I said that with the sweetest smile possible. I meant it as well. I guess I drew up some of my murderous wrath with it, because all of a sudden, Jun-gyu tried to back away from me. He fell off and into the pool. Everyone laughed at the sight.
Soon enough, we were all on the tube rafts while the staff got into the pool to hold it in place for us. Si-dong floated towards us on his whale floaty, holding his mic.
“Dream Team! You ready?”
“Yes!” we all shouted. Dongmin, who was the most athletic out of all of us, was in the front, guarding the women and Hyunsoo and Jun-gyu. The girls were standing towards the back, making up the rear of the group.
“Invincible Team! Are you ready?” Si-dong asked the other team.
“Yes!” they shouted loudly. They were standing together as well, but unlike us, the men and women were all standing equally together. They were ready to fight with us the moment the match started.
“Let’s have the team leaders both say something. Dongmin?” Si-dong said, holding the mic out.
Dongmin took the mic with a smile.
“We might be the weaker team, but we’ll do our best to show you that strength is not the only thing you need during a match. I’ll do my best to show the viewers our skill and determination!”
The other team leader then took the mic.
“Well, I’m glad you know that you’re the weaker team. That much is obvious since we’re the athletes. As for skill and determination, I bet we have more of that too. I’m confident that the Dream Team has nothing on us. If you guys even manage to beat one of us, I’ll consider that a win for you guys.”
The Dream Team all made a face at that speech, so did Si-dong. I guess he forgot that he’s supposed to be neutral. When he saw that, the team leader continued.
“And it doesn’t matter if Si-dong joins them either.”
Suddenly, Si-dong burst out laughing.
“Ahahahahaha!”
‘Wow. He’s loud. Can I kick him now?’
Seriously. Was it humanly possible for him to be that loud?
Soon, we began to battle.
***
You would think that the athletes would come to the center as soon as the match started, but no. Dongmin was actually really fast as he immediately ran for the middle. I was admittedly impressed. Soon, Gi-chun Lee, the Invincible Team leader, also came out to the middle. He and Dongmin then began their 1:1 match.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
This was the sound of the two of them trying to push each other off. To others, it may look fast, but to me, they just looked frustratingly slow.
‘Ugh. Hurry up.’
If it were up to me, I’d push myself to the front and beat the lot of them, but I had my image to think about. I was getting rather sick of people calling me an alien. Not that I had any intention to lose. I hate losing more than anything else.
“If you’re so frustrated, why don’t you go up front?” Jun-gyu said, turning around to speak to me.
I smirked. So he’s still reading my mind, huh. Now he’s dead meat. Just then, Gi-chun took hold of Dongmin and pulled. Wow, he was strong. Dongmin was pulled onto the Invincible Team’s side and with their combined strength, they pushed him into the pool. As if on signal, the Invincible Team suddenly came for us, flying over to our side of the raft. The Dream Team tried to hold it together, but…
“Ah!”
Splash.
Hyun-soo was the first to go.
“Ah!”
Splash!
Jun-gyu was next. Though he did manage to take one of them down with him.
Soon, it was just us three girls while the other team had five left. Two men and three girls. I guess Si-dong felt bad because he immediately began to cry out.
“Oh no! All the men from the Dream Team are out!” he shouted. It was almost as if he was chastising the men. He shook his head.
“Should I join you guys?” he asked, sounding almost hopeful.
“Nope! We’re good!” I shouted back. Si-dong then made a face.
Just then, Gi-chun spoke up.
“It’s not right for the men to fight with the girls, so we’ll just leave it to our women since we’re going to win anyway.”
With that, Gi-chun jumped into the water and the other guy next to him jumped in as well. Now it was just the girls – 3:3. The girls seemed confident, looking at us like we were prey. I couldn’t blame them. I did seem like an obvious win. Just look at them. They were all ripped, and their muscles were no joke. They even had six-packs. You could tell just by looking at them that they were powerful. Their physique was nothing to scoff at. Though their faces weren’t to my taste. Actually, no. One did seem rather attractive.
Anyways, the three women started to come for us.
“Kyaaah!”
Ham-sung, having tried to back away, ended up falling over the edge. Christine was also pushed off by one of the opposing team members.
Splash!
That left just me. I was backed into the corner as the three surrounded me. Everyone was watching.
“It’s three against one, Sian.”
The one who spoke had the sexiest physique out of all three of them. I guess she was somewhat of a leader of the other two.
“I guess.”
“I heard you’re good at fighting.”
“I see you’ve been watching the news,” I said with a shrug.
“I’m good at fighting too though?”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I’ve always wanted to have a match with you.”
With that, she stood in the front while the other two backed away slightly. So now, it was just me and her, one on one. Everyone started to cheer for us.
“What’s your name?” I asked. Considering how hot she was, she was definitely going to be a hit when the show aired.
“Soo-jung Yang.”
“Nice.”
“Here I go!”
Soo-jung and I ran for each other. But just then, Soo-jung ducked and went for my waist. So, I jumped and used her shoulders as leverage to leap frog over her. As I did, I gave a slight push, sending her down into the water.
“What the hell?” I said, disappointing that it ended so quickly. Of course, my surprise was nothing compared to the others. Soo-jung especially a gave me a look of disbelief.
