Melting Point — Chapter 33

GANGNEUNG HOCKEY CENTER

KOREA

WOW, I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS MANY PEOPLE AT A FRIENDLY BEFORE!

LUMINOUS

EVERYONE SEEMS REALLY HAPPY, I GUESS 'CAUSE THEY WON BOTH GAMES BEFORE.

GOOD THING IAN HYUNG GAVE US TICKETS, OTHERWISE WE'D NEVER GET IN. RIGHT?

FOR REAL.

HYUNG, WAIT.

ARE YOU GOING TO BE OKAY GOING INSIDE THE RINK?

AH...

SURE I'M OKAY.

I PRACTICALLY LIVE AT THE RINK THESE DAYS, SINCE I'M IN CHARGE OF IAN'S ACCOUNT.

THAT'S WHEN OTHER PEOPLE AREN'T AROUND.

THIS IS DIFFERENT.

YOU ALWAYS WATCHED MY GAMES ON VIDEO, AND NEVER CAME INSIDE.

DIDN'T YOU SAY IT WAS ALL THE EYES WATCHING YOU THAT FELT SCARY?

OH, ABOUT THAT...

...IT'S MORE LIKE RESENTMENT, ACTUALLY.

THINK ABOUT IT. I KNOW FIRSTHAND JUST WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO HAVE THE CROWD ROOTING FOR YOU AS A PLAYER...

WOULDN'T YOU FEEL JEALOUS IF YOU WERE A LOSER, TOO?

THEN YOU’RE GOING TO COLLAPSE IF YOU WATCH IAN HYUNG PLAYING TODAY.

I MEAN, YOU DON’T EVEN LIKE HIM.

THUNK

UH... ...OH, THIS IS JUST WORK.

AND WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LOSER?

HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO STOP PUTTING YOURSELF DOWN LIKE THAT??

OKAY, OKAY.

I TOOK MY MEDS JUST IN CASE, TOO. LET’S GO NOW.

OH, LOOK! THEY'RE COMING OUT. GREAT TIMING.

HEY, IT'S PARK YEONGJUN!

THAT'S MY BUD, HYUNG. NO. 92!

NEXT TIME, IT'S GOING TO BE YOU ON THE STARTING LINEUP.

AND I'LL BE WATCHING YOU. RIGHT HERE.

...YOU BET!

RYU IAAAAAAN!!

Ice Prince Ryu Ia

RYU IAN!

WOW, DO YOU HEAR THAT?

HE'S PRACTICALLY AN IDOL.

RYU IAN!

OH...

FLINCH

HE SMILED AT US!!

Ice Prince

Ryu Ian

HYUUNG!! WE LOVE YOU!!

ARE YOU THERE NOW?

YEAH, WE'RE INSIDE THE RINK. I CAME WITH EUNPA.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE COMING WITH PEOPLE FROM THE OFFICE.

ALL MY COLLEAGUES HAD URGENT BUSINESS.

I JUST BARELY MANAGED TO WRIGGLE OUT OF IT BECAUSE YOU'RE MY CLIENT, AND EUNPA WANTED TO COME, TOO...

DOES HE EVEN KNOW HOW TO DRIVE?

NO, HE HASN'T EVEN GOT HIS-

WHY DO YOU ASK, THOUGH?

BECAUSE WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW HE'S GOING TO GET BACK BY HIMSELF?

SINCE YOU'RE COMING WITH ME AFTER THE GAME TODAY.

CONFIDENT MUCH? DON'T GET TOO COCKY.

SUNBAE, I'M RYU IAN.

AS LONG AS YOU'RE WATCHING ME, I NEVER LOSE.

WHY DOES THAT SOUND SO FAMILIAR, THOUGH?

OR IS IT JUST MY BRAIN PLAYING TRICKS ON ME BECAUSE OF HOW COCKY HE IS ALL THE TIME?

GUARDED BY HER PEOPLE, EVER MAY KOREA STAND...

LIVE FROM GANGNEUNG HOCKEY CENTER, IT'S KOREA VS NEROVA...

...IN THE LAST FRIENDLY GAME SCHEDULED TODAY.

TEAM KOREA WON BOTH OF ITS GAMES BEFORE THIS ONE, DIDN'T IT?

Republic of Korea VS Nerova

MBS SPORT

THAT'S RIGHT. NEROVA'S RANKED HIGHER THAN KOREA, SO THIS WAS DEFINITELY A SURPRISE.

THOSE NUMBERS ARE BASED ON A CRITICAL ERROR, THOUGH.

INDEED. KOREA'S CURRENT RANKING IS BASED ON FIGURES BEFORE RYU IAN JOINED THE TEAM.

HE ONLY PLAYED TWO GAMES AT THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS LAST TIME, AT THE VERY END.

IT'S JUST AMAZING WHAT A DIFFERENCE HE MAKES TO THE ENTIRE TEAM AS A SINGLE PLAYER.

I AGREE. THEIR OFFENSE HAS DEFINITELY GOTTEN MORE CREATIVE, AND TEAMWORK HAS IMPROVED, TOO.

HE'S A POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON THE OTHER PLAYERS, THAT'S FOR SURE.

FIRST PERIOD BEGINS!

NEROVA ON THE ATTACK!

COMING RIGHT IN WITH A SHARP PASS!

OH! PARK YEONGJUN BLOCKS IT!!

YES!

WATCH OUT, NEROVA'S GOING FOR THE KILL IN THE BEGINNING BEFORE EVERYONE'S WARMED UP!

AAAAND, IT'S NEROVA ON THE ATTACK AGAIN.

THEY'RE PASSING THE PUCK AROUND.

A LOT OF EXPERIENCED PLAYERS ON THIS TEAM.

LOOK AT THOSE CLEAN PASSES. KOREA TO THE DEFENSE!

BLOCKED BY THE GOALIE! TOO BAD.

BUT HE MANAGED TO BREAK THEIR FLOW, THANKS TO SOME SPEEDY BACKCHECKING BY RYU IAN!

THAT'S RIGHT. HE'S THE QUINTESSENTIAL TWO-WAY FORWARD, IF YOU ASK ME. GREAT AT DEFENSE AND OFFENSE.

RYU IAN INTERCEPTS NEROVA'S PASS, COMING ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE DEFENSE LINE!

KOREA STRIKES BACK! JEONG MINGYO SHOOTS!

KOREA

SUBS COMING IN NOW.

...THAT NUMBER 23, HE PLAYS YOUR POSITION, RIGHT?

YEAH, THAT'S KIM JAEWON, THE DEPUTY CAPTAIN.

HE'S NOT REALLY GROOVING WITH THE DEFENSE LINE.

I PLAYED WITH HIM JUST ONCE, AND YOU WON’T BELIEVE HOW STUBBORN HE IS.

THROWS A HISSY FIT IF YOU DON’T GO WITH HIS STRATEGY.

I BET IAN HYUNG HATES HIM, TOO.

DON’T LOSE THE PUCK TO THE OTHER TEAM LIKE A DUMMY, THEN.

YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WATCHING AT HOME WONDERING WHY RYU IAN’S BEEN SUBSTITUTED ALREADY...

ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN. I KNOW THAT NOT SO LONG AGO, A LOT OF KOREANS HADN'T EVEN HEARD OF ICE HOCKEY.

MBS SPORTS

ICE HOCKEY IS AN EXTREMELY INTENSIVE SPORT, RELYING ON EXPLOSIVE BURSTS OF ENERGY. AS SUCH, FREQUENT SUBSTITUTIONS ARE THE NORM.

ON AVERAGE A PLAYER IS SUBSTITUTED AFTER ONE MINUTE WITH ANOTHER IN THE SAME POSITION, WITHOUT ANY PAUSE IN THE GAME. THIS IS CALLED A "LINE CHANGE."

AH! AS WE SPEAK, HERE'S RYU IAN AGAIN.

KOREA

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!

PASS!

RYU IAN HAS THE PUCK.

OH! IT'S THREE AGAINST HIM.

THAT'S FOUR TO ONE NOW!

AND ONE MORE FROM NEROVA'S OFFENSE!

HE NEEDS TO PASS THE PUCK FIRST!

HUH?! HE JUST WENT STRAIGHT IN!!

PAST THE DEFENSE, ONE BY ONE!

AND SHOOOT!

GOOOOOAL!!!

KOREA SCORES THE FIRST GOAL IN FOUR MINUTES OF PLAY!

IT WASN'T EASY THERE WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM STILL WARMING UP...

...BUT HE JUST SAILED RIGHT THROUGH THE DEFENSE AND SCORED BY HIMSELF!

SO PRECISE, AND SO POWERFUL!

DID YOU SEE HOW THE PUCK STAYED ON HIS STICK THE WHOLE TIME?

I THOUGHT SOMEONE MIGHT’VE GLUED IT ON IN SECRET!

MY FIRST TIME WATCHING IAN REALLY PLAY...

RYU IAN DOES IT AGAIN!

...WAS BEAUTIFUL.

THOSE FLAWLESSLY EFFICIENT MOVEMENTS. THAT POWER, AND THOSE BRAINS.

ALL I COULD THINK OF WAS PURE BEAUTY.

AND AS THE ELATION THAT EVEN I COULDN'T EXPLAIN HIT ME LIKE A SLEDGEHAMMER...

...I REALIZED WHEN I HAD HEARD IAN SAY THOSE WORDS BEFORE.

PROMISE. SAY THAT YOU'LL KEEP WATCHING TO SEE HOW MUCH I GROW IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS.

EVEN IF WE'RE APART...

...AS LONG AS I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING ME...

...I CAN NEVER LOSE.

IAN RYU

...EUNPA, WHEN THE GAME'S OVER...

...I THINK YOU'LL HAVE TO FIND YOUR OWN WAY HOME.