God of Tennis

Chapter 27.2: Finals #2

Translator: Pineapple

Editor:

There was something wrong/uncomfortable from the beginning. It was a like a strange pressure that was pushing down on his neck. However, he didn’t pay too much mind about it. Because he usually feels this kind of pressure during his matches.

Now, Yoon Kyung Soo berated himself for being careless 30 minutes ago.

‘Fuck…!’

He glared at his opponent who was standing across the net. Han Woo Jin was still in the same condition from the first game of the first set. Aside from the small amount of sweat his breathing was still calm and unhurried. Compared to him, Yoon Kyung Soo was in a much worse state as he tried to control his breathing.

Yoon Kyung Soo normally enjoyed in partaking in activities such as drinking and smoking which causes his body’s condition to not be that great. However, it wasn’t that big of a problem too him because he has never played to his full limits before. Most of the tournaments that he played in were in Futures or Challenger league tournaments in Korea. So he was usually the more skilled player in the tournaments.

You reap what you sow. Han Woo Jin’s style of play completely countered his own style. Yoon Kyung Soo was currently at a terrible disadvantage.

His tricks couldn’t be used more than once against Han Woo Jin. In order to put pressure on Han Woo Jin, he needs to continue bringing out higher level tricks where he won’t be able to respond. But Yoon Kyung Soo wasn’t able to use those tricks.

*Pang!*

“Game Han Woo Jin!”

The referee emotionlessly announced. Yoon Kyung Soo currently had a very negative frame of mind because of his disadvantage so he heard the referee’s words very negatively. He felt like the world was mocking him right now. He was barely able to control his anger and stop himself from smashing his racket onto the ground.

The score was now 5-2 so the players switched sides. You could see that they had completely different expressions.

‘This bastard…’

Yoon Kyung Soo bit his lip as he furiously glared at Han Woo Jin as he passed by. Even though Han Woo Jin had no expression on his face, Yoon Kyung Soo perceived it as a mocking expression. Han Woo Jin’s face didn’t change whether he scored a point or not and his just pressured Yoon Kyung Soo even more.

In fact, it looked as if the result was already decided. Although Yoon Kyung Soo used all of the tricks he had in his pocket, Han Woo Jin won the first set with a score of 6-4. He currently had emptied his pocket of tricks and he was now barehanded.

“Eighth game, Han Woo Jin to serve!”

The referee’s voice got the two players ready. Han Woo Jin raised his hand with the ball alongside his usual expression. That small movement looked as if a grim reaper was here to take his life with his scythe in Yoon Kyung Soo’s eyes and end the game. Ever since the second set began, Han Woo Jin’s serving speed began to get even faster than the first set and Yoon Kyung Soo, who has never experienced a serve as fast as this before was completely unable to react.

There was a reason for this. Han Woo Jin was actually just warming up the first set and was slowly using more and more strength as the match went on.

‘This is over.’

He had a simple reason why he didn’t go all out in the first set. He just wanted to learn the few tricks of Yoon Kyung Soo’s serve as he observed it during the first set.

His topspin serve curved in a weird direction and the drive that he put into his stroke was interesting to Han Woo Jin and surprised him. This showed that personality had no correlation with how skilled a player is.

However, regardless of his surprise skills, he couldn’t use it during the second set. It was obvious this would happen, because he didn’t have an unlimited amount of skills and he was lacking in physique.

In the first set, Han Woo Jin’s serves were maintained at about 180 km/h. Because this was a speed where his opponent could return the ball as he wanted to rally with him. That’s why Yoon Kyung Soo was more confident during the first set and showed all of his techniques during that time and now he had nothing left.

*Pang!*

195 km/h.

This was the highest speed that he could use without burdening his body. Yoon Kyung Soo who was only used to 170 km/h serve, this serve was impossible for him. The green line that was as fast as lightning hit the court and flew by.

“15:0!”

He had no need for any techniques. Leonard’s style showed Han Woo Jin that a high strength level will be able to pull the weight of the lower stats and cover the weaknesses.

“30:0!”

Yoon Kyung Soo’s stamina his rock bottom. He reached his limit with his technique alongside his stamina. He was breathing heavily with his shoulders moving up and down and standing with trembling legs.

“40:0! Han Woo Jin match point!”

Han Woo Jin had continuous service aces. Yoon Kyung Soo finally had no more strength to move and was just lifelessly holding onto his racket. He couldn’t believe this situation. He wanted to deny this outcome to being defeated by a rookie but Han Woo Jin’s skills wouldn’t let him do that.

But reality is harsh.

Until he saw the last serve coming towards him, Yoon Kyung Soo couldn’t accept this reality.

*Pang!*
“Game Han Woo JIn! Game won by Han Woo Jin! 6-4, 6-2!”
The match was over.

Han Woo Jin turned his back to Yoon Kyung Soo who couldn’t accept his defeat. There was something that could be learned from this match.

‘This is regretful.’

Yoon Kyung Soo was still a player who had room for improvement. If he practiced really hard and with his talent, then maybe Han Woo Jin would have lost. This victory wasn’t just because of his hard work but his opponent’s laziness contributed to his win.

After this game, if he changes his ways and begins to seriously start training, then he can become a great player.

‘I shouldn’t be worrying about this.’

Smirking, he erased those thoughts from his head.

A few seconds later, Han Woo Jin’s head was full of notifications from the system.

The Kim Chun Open ended.

***

There is only one level difference between a Futures and Challenger league but the prize money for the champion of the tournament was drastically different. The Andong Futures gave 27 ranking points and a prize money of $1,500. But the Kim Chun Open?

“I sent the $30,000 to your account. Please contact me after you check your account.”

“… Yes.”

Han Woo Jin was at a loss for words. Han Woo Jin was the type of person who took care of his status and condition more than the prize. That’s why he never expected how much money the Kim Chun Open gave.

15000 dollars and 110 ATP ranking points.

He gained four times more ranking points than the Andong Open and he gained more than ten times the prize money. Han Woo Jin felt like now he could finally earn money like a pro. He was amazed that he could earn $30,000 in just a week.

Because of his contract with President Cho, he earned $15,000. The other half of money is repayment for the amount of practice and training that he received from the company. He didn’t really have any plans for the money. Because he was a normal person, he didn’t have any grand plans.

‘Should I splurge a bit?’

It wasn’t a bad feeling. Rather he felt a strange feeling as if he was on the clouds. That’s why he needed to get a breath of fresh air.

This Kim Chun Open also gave him some more benefits and learned a few things. This only regarded him and not anyone else.

[Han Woo Jin]

Strength 61 / Stamina 62 / Agility 60

HP 1820/2480 SP 690/690

Forehand: 12/20

Backhand: 9/20

Serve: 12/20

Volley: 8/20

Smash: 10/20

Drop shot: 9/20

Lob: 9/20

Special skills: Sparrow (serve), Slug (smash)

He was actually participating in a lower level tournament from the ATP 250 league but he was fine with it. Han Woo Jin earned two stat points that he could use freely and his forehand and drop shot level increased by one.

Han Woo Jin realized something about the system. What the most important stat was.

‘Agility is the most important.’

This wasn’t a guess it was a fact. Strength and stamina were something that he could improve through training but agility isn’t something that you could do that easily and can only be gained through talent. It wasn’t easy for him to increase agility even with an insane amount of training. During his training, his agility went up by one while his other stats increased by five.

Also agility was important for various other things. It impacted his reaction time and dynamic vision.

So Han Woo Jin decided to invest every stat point into agility. He can slowly increase the other stats through training but not agility.

“Woo jin ssi?”
“Yes?”

Han Woo Jin was surprised by his name suddenly being called out so his voice was bit higher than normal.

She probably felt like she woke him from his sleep and spoke to him softly.

“Are you tired? Then I’ll talk to you later.”

“I’m fine, I was just dozing off.”

Han Woo Jin wasn’t too fatigued as he maintained his condition during the game. Han Woo Jin thought that she won’t speak too long anyway.

The stop light was red so she stopped the car and began speaking.

“I heard some good news earlier. It’s about a seed position in the Seoul Open…”

She looked back at him. Han Woo Jin, didn’t know anything and just blinked his eyes while looking at her.

“You’re going to the Seoul Open right?”
“Yes.”

It was a confident answer. He replied confidently because of her. She was the one that helped him figure out his worries about the Seoul Open and Kim Hyung Tae. There was nothing that could change his mind.

Shin Sae Yeon sighed at his confident reply and spoke about the situation from Coach Jeon.

“In this Seoul Open. Player Kim Hyung Tae is the first seed and you are the 18th seed. You guys won’t meet until the finals if you win all your matches because of your seed placements.”

“18th seed…”

Number 18 was a little bit behind from 16 which was in the first half. Because there will be 32 players in the tournament, the first and 18th seed will be in opposite sides of the bracket, so they won’t meet unless they both make it to the finals.

He didn’t know whether this was good or bad news. In Han Woo Jin’s mind it was hard to decide. Whether it was better to play against him when they both had full strength before they get tired during the tournament or to play against him when they were both low on stamina. He couldn’t judge which was better.

As soon as he thought about the seed placements, Shin Sae Yeon wasn’t finished speaking as she moved her lips.

“This is just news, the good news is something else.”

“What?”
Han Woo Jin tilted his head as he didn’t have any clue. She smiled and spoke.

“The player that was seeded as your opponent gave up due to an injury. There was no one to player to replace him so you get a free pass to move onto the next round.”
“Then?”

“It’s a free win for you.”

A free pass.

Han Woo Jin didn’t have a happy expression. That means that he will be playing in the top 16. She didn’t think that was bad for him. Because he had one more day of rest. He organized his thoughts before speaking.

“So the tournament will begin the day after tomorrow for me?”
“Yes.”

The traffic light turned green. Shin Sae Yeon turned forwards and began speaking softer.

“Today I will drop you off at your home. They said you should take a good rest with your family until tomorrow so spend a good time with your family.”
“… Thank you.”
After the Metz Open his schedule was filled with training. It was a repetition of run, eat and sleep. And then he entered the Kim Chun Open.

There was no time for him to spend time with friends and family even after he won the previous Futures tournament.

‘Ah.’

He thought about buying a present to his family before heading home. He spoke.

“Sae Yeon ssi, can we possibly stop by a department store first?”

“Of course.”

She answered with an expression as if she knew what he was thinking about.

Han Woo Jin looked outside the window and closed his eyes. There was about a one hour drive to the store in Jam Shil. He fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

The car became silent.