Jungkook had a reputation for regularly trying new hobbies and quickly excelling at them. Football was a recent passion, but he had given himself body and soul to it and was on his way to becoming a champion.

In the eyes of Seokjin, he was an athlete that this competition had made it possible to recognize in just one year and who had not usurped his reputation and his position unlike the other players that Seokjin played with. The latter admired him a lot as a sportsman and he seemed so friendly that Seokjin did not hesitate for a second to shake the hand he held out to him.

"Delighted as well, Jungkook, you can call me Jin," he said with a big smile.

Even though he was his rival, Seokjin suddenly longed to become his friend, and he wondered if he too planned to go to Whimoon High School. He would have liked it. This high school was not the most popular with the very wealthy students who preferred more upscale establishments - which obviously delighted Seokjin, but perhaps Jungkook was a boy from the same world as him and had been able to be enrolled in a private school thanks to his talent for football and was then going to join a sports high school?

Seokjin was about to ask him when he suddenly felt another cold look on him. This time he felt it, it had nothing to do with the previous curious look of Jungkook. It was a cold, threatening look. While still clutching Jungkook's hand in his, he looked up in the direction of the stands and saw Taehyung and Jimin leaning against the barriers, watching him from up there. Jimin watched him with a curiosity that bordered on amusement, but Taehyung had the hard look of someone who was visibly upset.

Did Taehyung want to see if he collapsed from what he told him before the match? Did he feel humiliated for having lost his bet with himself? Seokjin, who never felt more confident than when he was on the football field, smiled triumphantly and glared at Taehyung defiantly, to show him that it was quite the opposite: he didn't give up.

He would never give up when he was so close to realizing his dream, not even under threat. The main thing was not what Taehyung and the other classemates thought, but what the recruiters thought, he was sure: the country needed to train talented footballers because it was sorely lacking in international competition so sports high schools had to look for real sportsmen like him or Jungkook, not fake rich sportsmen who paid to give the appearance of being talented like Dae-Ho.

In addition, Seokjin had a serious opponent in front of him that day to beat for this match and out of respect for him, he could not show himself weak otherwise the match would not be interesting.

"Um..." Jungkook said, clearing his throat to get his attention, before nodding his hand.

Seokjin turned away from Taehyung and Jimin and noticed with embarrassment that he was still shaking hands with Jungkook. He dropped it hastily and exclaimed:

"Oh sorry!"

"No problem," Jungkook said, before pointing at the two boys who had lost interest in Seokjin and started moving, one going to sit down and the other going down the stairs probably to go back to the school building. "Who are these? Not your supporters I imagine, regarding the way they were looking at you."

If Seokjin wanted to become Jungkook's friend, he absolutely didn't want Jungkook to become Taehyung and Jimin's friend. The two boys would have either harmed Jungkook as they had harmed himself, or perverted him with their evil personalities. So Seokjin presented them in his own way:

"They are the two richest and most pretentious guys in the school, and that's saying something considering the school in question! Taehyung thinks he is the prince of the school but in fact he only won this title because the last prince abdicated leaving middle school to go to high school, in reality he never won the war of princes, he just inherited his title. Do you know Harry Potter?" he suddenly asked, out of nowhere, taking Jungkook by surprise.

"Of course I know, why?"Jungkook asked, confused, not understanding anything of the speech of the other boy whose remarks were flying in all directions.

"Good!" Seokjin appreciated, "well, I call Taehyung Lord Voldemort, or The-One-Whose-Name-Should-Not-Be-Pronounced if he is around because he can be dangerous when he's mad. I call him like this because he is evil and confident in his power but his only ambition in life is to become the master of Hogwarts and he lost all credibility."

"Uh?"

"You know, it's better to say "I beg your pardon?" insted of "uh?" in this school, otherwise they say you're badly brought up. Of course, that's not what I think!" Seokjin hastened to clarify. "Going back to what I was saying about Taehyung and Voldemort, I assure you that the resemblance is striking! Well, apart from the fact that Taehyung has a nose and hair," Seokjin commented a hand on his chin and a frown as he imagined a portrait of the handsome Taehyung and the ugly Voldemort side by side to analyze the differences.

"Oh really?" Jungkook reacted, amused. "What about the other one?"

"Jimin is just his idiot house-elf who obeys him finger and eye and follows him like his shadow. He's happy with everything Taehyung gives him, like the freedom to beat everyone at school. He's like Dobby and his precious sock given by his master. He thinks he's physically imposing just because of the power Taehyung gave him but he's very short and ridiculous with his high-pitched voice when he starts singing to scare us at the other end of the hall and announce his presence and that of Taehyung. Not that he sings badly but I refuse to give him compliments, you understand?"

"Yes, I think so," Jungkook chuckled, as, confident, Seokjin continued after catching his breath he seemed to miss after talking so much.

"You can call him Dobby or simply the dwarf, that's how I call him when he's not there to hear me," he explained candidly to a bewildered Jungkook, "Ah and they're the two biggest slackers in our middle school too! If I can advise you, don't ever try to become friends with them or they will make you do all their dirty work, like doing their homework or hitting those who don't want to do their homework for them."

Jungkook kept giggling and Seokjin was glad he made him laugh because if he laughed at those two obnoxious boys, he probably wouldn't care about them anymore.

"Voldemort and Dobby? Sounds like the title of a bad remake of Harry Potter! Thank you for this hilarious mental image, I'm not going to be able to get it out of my head, you really are something Jin! It's okay, you convinced me, I won't become friends with them then. What about you, can I become friend with you instead?"

Seokjin's eyes widened. He was asking him to be... my friend? He hadn't had one for so long. He didn't want to make Jungkook feel that he was pathetic so he blinked his eyes not to let them mist up with tears of joy but he was already looking forward to telling his mother and grandfather that he finally made a new friend.

"It would be my pleasure!" he exclaimed, a bit too fast, shaking Jungkook's hand again and bowing slightly, while cursing that he looked so happy to be made a friend. He wasn't even 7 years old, so why was he reacting like he is?!

But that didn't seem to make Jungkook feel like he was pathetic, even though he was amazed at so much excitement.

"Cool!" He simply said. "Listen Jin, it was nice to meet like this before the match but now we have to prepare to face each other as an opponent. I know you're like me as a competitor so I'm going to tell you without fear of losing your new friendship: I will do whatever it takes to win this match, and that means beating up your team."

"Likewise!" Seokjin confirmed, suddenly serious, and Jungkook began to realize that the sudden emotional changes were completely part of his personality.

"Perfect then, good luck to you and your team," Jungkook told him before joining his team in a trot, waving his hand, "see you later!"

Seokjin happily waved his hand until Jungkook moved far enough away from him, a smile drawn on his face.

"Oh no, I wanted to ask him if he's going to Whimoon next year..." Seokjin lamented, "it's okay, I'll ask him after the game."

The referee's whistle sounded and the match began. It was Seokjin and his teammates who had the ball and who was racing towards the opposing cages. His strategy was offensive and he led the attack at full speed, with will and passion.

Very soon the first confrontation between the captain of Choseon and the best striker of Gugbo took place because it was obvious that Jungkook was going to take care of marking Seokjin during the match.

"Come on, show me what you can do Jin!" Jungkook teased him.

Seokjin didn't answer, preferring to save his breath, but he didn't need to be asked. On the football field, he was not the same candid boy as before. He wasn't just a footballer player : he was an artist. That was how the recruiter who had scouted him had described him and his impressive footwork, and Seokjin was proud of that title even though no one else called him that and that he hadn't boasted about it to anyone.

Their first duel was intense. Seokjin's dribbles, fast and precise, however, faced the wall that was Jungkook and which blocked all his forward movements. Yet, this first duel made them both realize that Seokjin was faster than Jungkook when he managed to escape the captain's grip. He felt Jungkook's frantic race to catch him but he quickly outdistanced him and won his team the first goal of the game, just a few minutes after kickoff.

In the stands, Gugbo's students exploded with joy and taunted the Choseon camp on the other side of the bleachers. The players also expressed their joy but when they crowded around Seokjin completely hiding him from the eyes of others to allow Dae-Ho to approach Seokjin so close that their foreheads touched and Seokjin felt Dae-Ho brutally grab him by the back of his neck to prevent him from stepping back.

"W-what's wrong?" Seokjin asked, unsure why his captain was angry when he allowed the team to open the scoring.

"What are you playing today, Seokjin?!" the other boy yelled, visibly enraged, "first you had those nonsense about being captain and now you're scoring the first goal?! Don't you remember I am the one to open the scoring?!"

Oh. That. Seokjin was so excited that he forgot some rules that had been following him all year. He had to make an assist, serve Dae-Ho on a silver platter.

"I'm sorry, I completely forgot," he said honestly, "I was in so much trouble against Jungkook that as soon as I saw I had the chance, I jumped on it and shot on goal."

"I don't care about your excuses, my father came to see me today for the final, he's in the stands and he has to see me score!"

To be able to brag, thought Seokjin who replied nevertheless:

"You will score next, okay? Just position yourself at the far post and you should not miss."

Dae-Ho gave him a suspicious look but he knew that Seokjin always kept his word so he growled:

"You better do that well."

The players took their places and Seokjin looked at the large clock hanging on the middle school principal's building in the distance. The match had only started ten minutes ago and he was already starting to feel the end-of-half fatigue rising in him. He was going to have to take it easy and let the others lead important actions up front soon.

But as soon as in the second action, he had avoided the confrontation with Jungkook, served Dae-Ho perfectly with a long cross pass and waited for his captain to score the second goal, the latter missed it and Seokjin was really frustrated. How was he supposed to delegate the attack to other players if he was the only one who could play properly?

"How could he missed it?" Seokjin protested for himself, disappointed because he thought that this goal was unmissable.

"What a pity, your pass was perfect!" a sorry voice beside him remarked.

Seokjin turned around and saw Jungkook whose voice sounded apologetic but showed a smile. Obviously, he was glad that Dae-Ho missed the offensive.

"Yeah..." Seokjin said darkly, "he'll succeed next time, you'll see."

"Who are you trying to convince, me or you?"

"Hum... both?" Seokijn laughed nervously.

Yet, Jungkook didn't seem to want to laugh anymore and frown.

"Jin, why are you trying to get your captain to score?" he wondered. "If he wants to score he will take the opportunity, he is a captain, he should be able to, right? And above all, why do you prevent yourself from facing me and shooting on goal because of him? I'm disappointed, I thought I had found a worthy opponent but I find myself facing a passer instead of striker."

Seokjin's eyes widened, aware that he had just disappointed Jungkook and that was the last thing he wanted to do, especially if it was just so Dae-Ho could show everyone including his father that the captain didn't even know how to score a goal.

"I... I'm sorry, my intention is not to avoid confrontation!" he defended himself, "You're right, I'll let him fend for himself a bit and get back to attacking."

Jungkook nodded and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder before resuming his position as his keeper returned the ball to the defenders.

Then the confrontation resumed more intense between the two strikers but this time, Seokjin didn't pass the ball to his captain and scored a second goal. At the same time, he also prevented Jungkook from scoring several.

The match seemed to be played between the two boys only but Seokjin dominated most of their duel and advantaged Gugbo who glimpsed the victory when halftime had just been sounded.

On the Choseon bench, weariness and nervousness began to creep in among the tired players and many blamed Jungkook for being defeated by Seokjin who wasn't even the captain of his team.

"You must have a speck in your eye not to realize that he is the real captain of his team, the other is just a clown, he missed a perfect assist that even a first player year would not have missed and is incapable of leading an attack or score a goal without Seokjin. It is Seokjin who leads his team in reality. But he leads it without their support, the others don't appreciate him, that's obvious."

He pointed to the opposing bench where Seokjin, the most sweaty and panting player, was getting picked on by his captain yet again while the other players looked away. Jungkook did not understand why that boy was not appreciated when he had seemed to him particularly sympathetic and competent in what he did. There were obviously things he didn't know about him, but it was not his problem. At the moment, he wasn't Seokjin's friend, he was only a captain to lead his team to victory.

"He manages his team and fights to make it win, he goes on the attack to score when he can and falls back in defense when necessary to prevent us from scoring. If he continue like this, he will eventually wear out, it is already visible. The second half is not going to give him any gifts. We will make sure of that."

"So that's why you made him run like that?" another player asked Jungkook. "To tire him out and regain control in the second half?"

"Without him, this team is worthless even if they have a good preparation. You are going to focus all of your chasing and blocking on him. Make him run, it doesn't matter to score at the moment. We'll do that later when he will be out of the race."

"You just want us to make him run everywhere without trying to break through the defense?!" the number 8 of his team asked.

"You saw yourself that it was useless," Jungkook annoyed. "He'll never let you through and we can't stop him when he slips through our goals. The players of Gugbo are not united while we are: let's put that to good use and have fun making Seokjin run everywhere. I'm sure his teammates won't even come to help him create an opening for his attacks. The poor guy will have to handle it all on his own."

"But Jungkook, is a bit anti-game, isn't it?"

"If he does that, he admits that Seokjin is better than him," laughed another player.

"Shut up!" Jungkook said with an annoyed tone to the boy who was now smiling to him quizzically and who was striker like Jungkook. "Yeah, call it like this if you want, it's anti-game and then what? Do you want to lose the match and missed out on first place in the championship?"

"No!" his teammates exclaimed with one voice.

"Me neither," Jungkook said abruptly, "I don't care if it's anti-game, you've seen that he's blocking us everywhere with his player repositioning maneuvers so the solution is to get rid of him. Without him, it will be a piece of cake to win the match. We have to win this game and come away with the title of best team and me, with the title of best player in the league, it must be my victory and not his" he concluded fiercely, "get ready, we will make him useless to the point of knocking him out of the football field."