His heart was restless. In the corner of his field of vision, the remaining time was steadily dwindling. Although there was no shortage of time, Sol, who had already experienced the worst once, was being chased by anxiety and restlessness.
Facing a challenge first was mentally easier for him, with the mentality that if something had to happen anyway, it’s better to face it quickly. Above all, it seemed that if the quest window that loomed before him didn’t disappear, he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything else.
Sol brushed off Tae-oh’s hand listlessly and entered the practice room. Perhaps thinking that Sol wouldn’t come back, the three people once again lined up and stood in formation.
Due to Sol’s unexpected reappearance, DK made a surprised sound. “Uh, what?”
Sol, huddled, passed by the three people and stood in the center of the practice room. Tae-oh, who followed late, closed the practice room door. Sol tried hard to concentrate on the unfamiliar music flowing from the speakers. Unable to see his reflection in the mirror, Sol closed his eyes tightly.
Sol took the center position, and Ga-ram stepped back into a corner first. When he vacated his place, DK and Ji-ho also glanced at Tae-oh and then stood leaning against the wall, watching Sol.
Trying to loosen up, Sol rolled his feet a couple of times and even tried to move his pelvis to the side. Instead of moving with the music, he found it difficult to move, and it was uncomfortable to breathe. Without doing anything, his rough breathing made his shoulders, which were slightly twitching with each breath, look very unstable.
His palms were damp with sweat. Trying to hide his trembling fingertips, Sol once again brushed his hand forcefully and took a deep breath. Rather than a hopeful determination like “I can do it,” the words “If I can’t, I’ll die” were deeply embedded in his heart.
If it had been the Sol of the past, he might not have been able to withstand the impending explosion of anxiety and would have likely rushed out of the practice room. But now, that was no longer an option.
More than the overwhelming anxiety, what he feared even more was the pain and death that would follow failure. While he continued to move his arms and legs to shake off the tension, the music, with a tempo as fast-paced as his heartbeat, began flowing right after the energetic music ended.
Sol took a deep breath, then bobbed his head in sync with the rhythm, matching the pace of his heartbeat. Then, as if he had made a decision, he gritted his teeth, stretched out his arms, and threw himself backward. His body fell backward, revealing a rounded waist and a tautness that extended to his toes. Already this one move showed that he had been dancing long enough and well enough that it had become second nature. His limbs felt heavy, his chest tight, like a soaked rag doll, but he didn’t stop moving.
I apologize for the confusion. That phrase doesn’t convey the intended meaning well. Let’s rephrase it:
Sol’s dance, while diverging from conventional dance styles, seemed to validate the past claims of him being a prodigy. Even in seemingly ordinary movements, there was a unique and lively quality. And yet, unlike his graceful movements, he was moving haphazardly, as if to say that whatever he did here would be inarticulate and would not meet the standards of the four.
His movements, a manifestation of his specialty, were charged with emotions as his fingertips reached diagonally into the empty space. The white fingertips, full of the anxiety he was feeling, trembled slightly. As the rhythm, which was as fast as his heartbeat, started flowing, Sol nodded his head precisely in time with the rhythm.
As if he had made a big decision, Sol bit his lip and extended his arm, pulling his body backward. As he turned his waist, pulling his arm behind, the arm, which turned to the ground, smoothly passed over, making the slender movements easy. It was a move called a rainbow. The movement was so natural and effortless that it flowed like water, without any force at all.
The movements weren’t difficult, but each one was graceful and restrained. While Sol danced, there was a sense of anxiety, as if his heart would burst, and he wanted to scream, but the onlookers didn’t perceive any discord in Sol’s body lines. As the dance continued, Sol’s face noticeably paled. It was uncomfortable, but deemed bearable, so Sol’s movements grew more pronounced.
Despite the fear that gripped him, he endured with remarkable patience. His throat felt dry, his chest felt tight, and the clenched fingertips trembled subtly, yet no one noticed. Syncing with the music to conceal his unease, Sol danced faster and more energetically. As the music progressed rapidly, a warning appeared in Sol’s field of vision.
[Special ability ‘Unlucky Genius Dancer’ has been activated.]
[Activation of the ‘Unlucky Genius Dancer’ ability reduces dance performance by 2 levels.]
As soon as the warning appeared, a pain, akin to a needle piercing his shin, shot through his body. Sol, who hadn’t made any sound of pain, lost balance and slipped as if being stabbed.
Tae-oh, who had been observing his movements, was the first to react. Approaching swiftly, he reached out and grabbed Sol’s trembling wrist. However, despite Tae-oh’s grip, Sol, having completely lost balance, slid across the practice room floor. Half of his body, from the left foot to the thigh and waist, felt an intense pain as if being stabbed right at the midpoint.
Rationally, he knew it was just an intangible pain, like an echo in an empty chamber. However, his body felt the pain without restraint. Sol was well aware of it, too. At this point, Sol, who had just turned twenty, had already fully recovered from the injuries sustained in that car accident. Despite the scars, there was no hindrance to his daily life.
Dancing was the same. There shouldn’t be such pain, yet every time Sol danced, he felt this kind of pain. And every time he collapsed like this, unable to endure, he had to shake off the humiliation of destroying everything himself. It was embarrassing.
As Sol sat down on the floor and remained motionless for a while, the faces of the four people watching turned pale. Thanks to Tae-oh’s quick intervention, he avoided the spectacle of rolling on the floor, but it was enough to surprise those who were watching.
“Are you okay?”
Almost reflexively, Tae-oh, who had caught Sol as he nearly fell, released the grip on his hand and urgently asked in a concerned voice.
“Are you okay?”
Starting with Tae-oh’s voice, Ji-ho and others also inquired about Sol’s condition. Though everyone’s tone had softened, Sol, overwhelmed by embarrassment from stumbling and the pain that seemed to pierce through his spine randomly, couldn’t properly recognize whose voices they were. Distracted by the discomfort, he couldn’t even utter the empty words, ‘I’m okay.’
The faces of the four men surrounding Sol grew increasingly serious as he struggled to get up from the ground, his face crumpled and his legs limp. They were worried that their unnecessary aggression had hurt him badly.
“Do we need to go to the hospital?”
“Deuk-yong, it’s not that serious. Don’t make a fuss.”
“Oh, right. I told you guys not to do it in the first place. He’ll be out soon, anyway...”
“Kim Deuk-yong!”
Seeing Sol frown, when DK tried to console him, Ji-ho glared at him with a stern expression, admonishing him with a firm voice. When Sol didn’t respond, Tae-oh, who had approached, cautiously held his leg. Only when someone touched him did Sol belatedly snap out of it, and he belatedly brushed away the hand.
“Can you get up?”
“I’m okay, really.”
When Tae-oh asked about his condition, Sol nodded vigorously. The sense of relief was greater than the pain and embarrassment. The relief stemmed from avoiding the crisis of thinking, ‘They probably won’t mock me after this.’
Ga-ram, from the corner of the practice room, took out an ice pack and a bottle of water from the refrigerator and handed them to Tae-oh. It seemed like they were prepared to deal with minor injuries that might occur during practice. As Tae-oh took the ice pack from Ga-ram and lifted the hem of Sol’s pants, Sol suddenly sat up and grabbed the hem himself.
Sol’s face was drenched in sweat, not just from the pain, but also from the tension of dancing. It was a kind of phobia, similar to the fear that dancing would lead to injury and pain. Suppressing that fear and dancing forcefully had drained him.
Despite Sol insisting that he was fine, Tae-oh lifted the hem of his pants. A vivid red scar was visible behind his pale calf. All four of them surrounding Sol saw his wound, but no one commented. They just watched as Sol chewed his lips, trying to pull down his pants to cover the scar.
Tae-oh held Sol’s ankle, immobilizing it, and applied the ice pack to the reddened area. In the awkward and unmatched situation, Sol, as always, laughed with a ‘haha’ sound.
“Even small injuries accumulate and become chronic if you neglect them.”
“No, really. I’m fine.”
“I insist.”
“I’m really okay... I guess I was too nervous.”
No one responded to Sol’s words, who was obviously trying to dispel the awkwardness. As Sol clung to the ice pack on his ankle, his fingertips brushed against Tae-oh’s hand. When Sol hid his hand, startled by the awkward contact, Tae-oh placed the ice pack on the floor.
“Yoon Tae-oh, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
As Sol picked up the ice pack that Tae-oh had placed down and applied it to his ankle, another ice pack unexpectedly appeared in front of Sol. It was Kang Ga-ram.
Responding to Ga-ram’s inquiry, Tae-oh nonchalantly answered, twisting his wrist a few times. Trying to prevent Sol from falling, Tae-oh, who grabbed him, seemed to have strained his wrist. Sol, feeling uneasy in a situation that seemed like he had caused harm for no reason, blurted out the thoughts swirling in his head without hesitation.
“Well, isn’t it better if I’m not okay? You said you didn’t want me on the team, so it’s better if I get hurt and get off...”
Sol’s words drew the attention of the four people back to him. The atmosphere became tense.
thank you for translating! the concept for this story is very interesting. I'm excited to see where it goes.
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