Chapter Text
Daily News, a few months earlier
Oh SeHun, the star without a course: Where will he go after military service? — An interview by Kim YeRim.
In a small exclusive granted to us by Oh SeHun, National Team player and striker for the Pohang Steelers, he told us that his contract with the Steelers would soon come to an end and that after completing his military service, he would be free to choose his next destination. Where will the wind take him?
Let us remember that, as a National Team player, SeHun was exempt from mandatory military service; however, the player chose to honor our country and enlisted for active duty. This decision can be extremely hard for a high-performance athlete, as it could mean the end of his career; for that reason, we must respect and admire Oh’s decision to enlist.
I: Have you thought about what your return to football will be like once you’re discharged?
SeHun: Honestly, yes, but I keep going back and forth. There are still a few months left, and I’m seriously thinking about what I should do once I’m out. I have the feeling that I need to find the right path.
I: The Steelers want to renew your contract, and all the fans believe that’s the right path (laughs), but Daegu is also trying to recruit you.
SeHun: Yes. I feel honored by the offers I’ve received, even after being inactive for over a year. After all, I think I’ve lost my form.
I: A few months ago there were rumors about Tottenham being interested in a Korean player. Could it be that your path is opening beyond the nation?
SeHun: Due to confidentiality agreements, I can’t reveal much. Although I can say that I won’t be playing for a K-League team for now.
The interview was very brief due to the content limitations imposed by military service. Still, Oh SeHun’s statements have left us speculating. We may see him playing in Europe in a few months; if the rumors are true, this September the national star could be playing for Tottenham Hotspur FC!
We’ll be cheering for you, SeHun-ssi!
____________________
When Oh SeHun was discharged from military service, the news reached the newspaper of his hometown.
SeHun had left the town and made it to the Korean league; he had even been called up to play for the national team. He was a legend. Of course, everyone in town wanted to know about his discharge from the military. It would probably be the only piece of truly significant news for the town for the rest of the year. They had been waiting for SeHun’s discharge; they had even put up a countdown in one of the town’s bars, where the guys always went to watch SeHun’s matches, even though everyone knew he would never return to town to play for a team that had nothing to offer compared to others.
BaekHyun tried to remain indifferent while the first print of the morning paper lay beside his laptop on his desk. He had written the front-page story about SeHun. And yet, he hated it. He had wanted to sign it under someone else’s name, but they wouldn’t let him. He just wondered why the hell it had fallen to him to write it.
“Can’t they take that thing away?” he said to no one. A giant photo of SeHun on the cover, in color because it was a special edition, stared back at him.
“You just wrote the article that’s going to be read the most all year in this little town—can’t you feel a bit more pride?”
BaekHyun looked up at his coworker. JunMyeon was smiling at him from the doorway of his office. There were four people working at the newspaper office, counting the two of them. They knew each other so well that BaekHyun knew his friend was joking. Still, he wasn’t in the mood.
“This feels like a curse I’ll never be able to get rid of.”
“What an exaggeration,” JunMyeon laughed as he walked over to look at the front page. He lightly touched the paper with his fingers before dropping a bomb. “They say he’s coming back.”
BaekHyun’s heart jumped inside his chest. JunMyeon was watching him closely, so he tried not to let it show on his face.
“Really?” he asked after a moment, once he had composed himself. His voice carried not a hint of enthusiasm. “Wow. Everyone said he was going to play in Europe.”
JunMyeon shrugged, fiddling with his ring—one of his new habits since getting engaged a year ago.
“You know military service makes you reflect on all the decisions you’ve made throughout your life,” JunMyeon reminded him. BaekHyun couldn’t deny that. “It’s possible he’ll go to Tottenham, but I think he’ll come here first. It’s been a long time since the last time.”
“Mmm.” BaekHyun glanced at the paper again and flipped it face down on the desk. SeHun’s face disappeared. “I hope he doesn’t come back.”
“His mother still lives here!” JongDae shouted from the adjacent office.
BaekHyun took a sip of his coffee and then filled his lungs.
“Don’t you have work to do?!” he exclaimed, waving his free hand to shoo JunMyeon away.
JunMyeon rolled his eyes and left, gently closing the office door behind him.
Carefully, BaekHyun picked up the paper again and looked once more at SeHun’s photo. His smile seemed to pierce through the page.
He growled and tossed the issue into the trash can.
*
“I need you to cover Saturday’s match. They say Oh SeHun will be there.”
BaekHyun looked at his boss as if he’d grown a third eye. Mr. Choi was the owner of the local newspaper and, generally speaking, a pretty great guy. What wasn’t great was that he was planning to send BaekHyun to cover a story where he would have to run into Oh SeHun—the person he least wanted to see in his life.
“Sir… where did you get that information?”
His boss shrugged. He wasn’t going to reveal the source. Fantastic.
“You’re going to ask him for an exclusive. It’ll be the best-selling edition of the year.”
“Sir, I can’t. You know that. Why me?”
His boss looked unimpressed.
“You’re the only one capable of writing a sports piece that can truly move the public. JongDae is the closest thing to football besides you, but everyone wants to read your version. Come on, it’s ‘The Return of Oh SeHun.’ This is important. You could get the scoop on whether he’ll play for Tottenham. You’ll make history.”
BaekHyun’s stomach flipped three times. Heat rushed to his face and his pulse quickened. Anxiety began to crawl up from the soles of his feet, slowly working its way through his body until he felt dizzy.
“Sir!” he exclaimed, his voice barely above a whisper. His throat tightened. “I don’t care about the story. You have to understand that Oh and I are not… on good terms. It would be a disaster, I assure you. JongDae is ideal for this.”
“Really? Your article about SeHun’s discharge was magnificent. And whatever it is, you need to learn to set your feelings aside, Byun,” his boss said without looking at him, his attention returning to the computer. “You’re a journalist. Forget whatever happened… how long ago was it? Five? Seven years? When was the last time you saw each other?”
“Ten,” BaekHyun muttered bitterly. Everyone was right. He knew that. And yet, he couldn’t rationalize it. His hands trembled, his jaw trembled, and he didn’t know what to say. He stayed silent, thinking about how to get out of the situation, but there was nothing to say. “Fine,” he muttered through clenched teeth, which chattered violently. His boss looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “But I won’t do the personal interview. JongDae can do it—they knew each other too.”
“I’ll pay you extra if you do it.”
Well, shit.
BaekHyun growled and left the office, knowing his boss had won.
*
It was cold that night.
BaekHyun huddled inside his sweater as he looked around the small stadium. The whole town had shown up, and they had turned on the lighting tower, reserved only for special events—like when a small production company had once come to film a few scenes for a mediocre drama. With football being the town’s only attraction, and now with the possible appearance of Oh SeHun, the damn national star, of course everyone was there.
BaekHyun loved football, but the mere possibility of having to see SeHun made his guts churn. He hated being there because he had no choice. And now he would have to cling to that as an excuse to put on his best mask of indifference, even in front of his best friend.
As many things as BaekHyun could complain about that night—his mood completely ruined by the knowledge that he would have to see Oh SeHun after ten years—he was grateful that JongDae, even though he wasn’t working that day, was there for moral support. BaekHyun had no idea what he would have done without him.
“Stop shaking your leg so much,” JongDae complained, nudging him with his own leg to make him stop.
“I’m trying,” BaekHyun muttered.
“Let’s go, team!” Coach Kim shouted.
The town was so small that of course the coach was JongDae’s father—another of the journalists who worked with them, and BaekHyun’s childhood best friend. Despite his father, JongDae wasn’t good at football and had suffered all through high school trying to fill a position on a team he wasn’t made for. It was almost ridiculous. Still, JongDae wrote small sports columns every Monday after the matches. BaekHyun wished his friend had been given the task of interviewing SeHun instead of him.
“Come on, it won’t be that bad,” JongDae said. “Try to enjoy the match. We don’t even know if he’ll really show up—he’s super famous and must be very busy. Besides, you still have to write a column about tonight, whether he’s here or not.”
BaekHyun nodded, accepting the distraction. He took out his phone and started jotting down a few ideas before the match began. His work still had to be done.
His phone vibrated with a message. ChanYeol, the missing member of the group chat he shared with JongDae, sent them a photo riding a cable car up in the mountains of Bariloche. His friend had gone to the other side of the world to ski and had no idea the town was on fire over SeHun’s supposed return. Being the die-hard Tigers fan he was, and SeHun’s former best friend, he would probably find out soon—but BaekHyun didn’t want to talk about it over the phone, so he hadn’t said anything. At least the brief exchange served as a distraction for a while as he messaged with his friend, who was just having breakfast and sharing photos from the day before.
The night was intense. The fans were overexcited because they were playing one of their biggest rivals. BaekHyun tried to capture the feeling of excitement in the stands, fueled by the hope of winning a derby. He let himself get carried away by the match, cheering and taking notes of the key moments.
Unfortunately, the match ended faster than he expected. Before he realized it, BaekHyun was on the field interviewing players. He wouldn’t deny it was one of the appealing parts of his job: interviewing sweaty, well-built athletes was hardly torture.
“Byun, over here,” Coach Kim called. BaekHyun cursed under his breath and walked toward one side of the field, near the locker room entrance. “SeHun is getting ready in the locker room. Your boss asked me to let you have the exclusive. Do you want to go in and see him before he comes out?”
BaekHyun felt his stomach churn. He looked around for JongDae but couldn’t see him. People were restless, players celebrating on the field, and everyone was waiting to see SeHun before the night ended. No one had moved, even though it had only been a rumor—everyone wanted to believe it was true.
In the end, to his misfortune, his boss’s source hadn’t been wrong.
With a sigh, BaekHyun nodded. The coach stepped aside, and BaekHyun hurried into the locker room. It smelled of dirty socks and sweat. He wrinkled his nose as he passed through and made his way down the rows of lockers.
A figure dressed in black was sitting on one of the benches, tightening his cleats. They would probably ask him to take a few penalty shots to show his skills. BaekHyun felt his stomach clench harder when SeHun lifted his head and their eyes met.
BaekHyun remembered the last time they had seen each other ten years ago. Despite their final argument, BaekHyun had gone to see him before he left. SeHun’s car had been packed to the brim. There was no room in the passenger seat.
They had looked at each other for a long moment before embracing. There were no kisses. They hadn’t kissed in weeks. BaekHyun’s chest had burned with pain; he wanted to kiss him, cry in his arms, beg him to stay. But he knew it would be unfair. SeHun didn’t want to stay, and BaekHyun hadn’t wanted to be the shackle on his ankle, forcing him to remain in a place he didn’t want to be.
Words had been unnecessary. SeHun had kissed him on the head and pulled away with tears in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something (I love you?) and closed it again. He got into the car and disappeared down the avenue. BaekHyun never knew if SeHun had seen him crying in the rearview mirror.
BaekHyun felt his legs trembling just as they had back then.
Neither of them said anything for a long moment. It felt as if the world had stopped. BaekHyun had always thought the expression “his life flashed before his eyes” was ridiculous, but in that moment, all the memories he had shared with SeHun when they were together ran through his mind in milliseconds. His heart burned.
He didn’t know whether it was anger or something hidden, buried years ago—but there it was. It burned in his chest, and for a second, he thought he might cry.
“BaekHyun,” SeHun said, standing up. That man who always looked so confident in every interview suddenly seemed awkward, the way he approached him, swaying his long body from side to side as if he’d lost his balance. “Woah. It’s been a long time. You’re…”
BaekHyun shrugged. It was hard to find something to say.
“Let’s skip the formalities,” he snapped at last, trying to sound indifferent. “My boss wants you to accept an exclusive interview, and I’m available next week.”
“Will you do it?” SeHun asked, wetting his lips.
BaekHyun looked away—from those sweet, pink lips, from his chiseled jaw, from the small scars on his cheek and nose that he had seen up close so many times, and kissed, countless times. For a moment, he focused on his dark eyes. They seemed to shine. He regretted it and looked away again—anywhere but at him.
“He won’t leave me alone if I don’t…”
“Then yes, of course,” SeHun replied. When the footballer swallowed, the sound echoed almost through the entire locker room. “Uh… I thought you came to say hello.”
BaekHyun blinked. Right. He hadn’t even said hi.
“Yeah,” he shrugged.
“I’m glad you’re doing well,” SeHun said. His smile almost looked sincere, as if he were ignoring the fact that BaekHyun was bordering on rude in that conversation.
“Sure,” BaekHyun replied. A loud cheer erupted outside the locker room. “I think that’s your cue.”
With a nod, SeHun passed by him and disappeared out of the locker room.
BaekHyun let out all the air he’d been holding and collapsed onto the benches. Ten years. Ten fucking years. And this was the best he could do?
_______________________
Local Newspaper
SPORTS — By Byun BaekHyun.
Sunday night weighed heavily on everyone. Already halfway through the season, the Tigers are dreaming more vividly each day of lifting the cup with their own hands. Kim JongIn shone with his impeccable crosses in the second half of the match, assisting TaeMin with the only goal. On the other hand, Do KyungSoo made us believe we were witnessing a miracle, as with his bald head he managed to head away every ball that came near the box; it feels like he would clear anything the opponents threw, even a brick. A strong defense has kept a clean sheet for five matches, and the Tigers won the derby with a quality worthy of the big leagues.
As a Tigers fan, I can say this has been one of the best matches they’ve played so far, and we can clearly see how the team has grown more solid as the fixtures go by. There is undoubtedly greater consistency and determination in every moment that unfolds on the pitch. Now, if they truly want to win this tournament, they should seriously consider a bold mid-season acquisition: a new addition to the team that could either throw them off balance—or perhaps push them to their absolute best.
Tonight, a legend resurfaced among the whispers of the stands. Once the whistle stopped blowing and the players disappeared into the locker rooms, a figure dressed in black emerged from the darkness to celebrate the victory with the town. Oh SeHun has returned—a professional football star currently without a contract, a player for the Korean national team, who, if we listen to the rumors circulating among the people, may be considering joining his hometown team for the remainder of the season before heading off to Europe.
We don’t want to stoke the fire, but we’re slowly placing the logs and branches, waiting for a hopeful response from Coach Kim, who so far has declined to make any statements. Let us eagerly await the news next week. Go, Tigers! The town is with you!