Seeing that the second half of the match was about to begin, Seokjin gave his ventolin back to his coach, who absentmindedly stuffed it into his pocket, and went to replace himself on the field. The ball was at Choseon but at the referee's whistle, the first pass was intercepted by a player who had stung like lightning. Seokjin. He wanted to immediately regain control in this second half by burying Choseok's hopes with a third goal.

"Dae-ho!" he shouted to his captain, telling him to get on.

But he suddenly found himself surrounded by the opposition midfielders and had to dribble past them one after the other with agility. He got away with being faster than them but he was so out of breath that he was delighted to get rid of his ball and sent it to another of his teammates who quickly passed it to Dae-Ho... who scored.

Gugbo's camp roars with delight. Their team had just scored after a few seconds thanks to the speed of action of Seokjin. The Choseon players were upset that they let Seokjin through and allowed his team to dig in the score 3 to 0. It now seemed impossible for them to catch Gugbo in this final which seemed to designate them as the winner of the tournament.

"Keep pressing, it's only been a few seconds since we started," Jungkook encouraged them as he saw Seokjin, panting, praising his captain from afar instead of going up to him, in a desire to preserve his energy.

Unlike Seokjin who did not celebrate his goals in a bombastic way but walked away from the goal in all humility, Dae-Ho swaggered across the field, did not hesitate to taunt his adversaries in passing, and took so long to recover his position to allow the match to resume that the referee administered him a yellow card which annoyed Seokjin. Jungkook approached him:

"If he takes a second yellow card and he goes off the fields, you'll be the one to become captain I hope. But it will be hard to manage a ten-man final match."

"I can do it, don't fear for us, you can continue to fear our attack," Seokjin affirmed with a tired smile. "We will beat you at 11 or 10 player if we have to."

But not if the missing player is you, silly, Jungkook thought, smiling at him nonetheless.

"If you say so!" He said.

Jungkook went on the next attack, eager to show that he too was dangerous in this match. However, he frustratedly felt Seokjin stalking him behind him. So you never give up, Jin?! No doubt, this boy was definitely too fast and persevering for his own good. But he had a disability that was becoming more and more obvious to Jungkook's ears hearing just behind him his inconstant and noisy breathing. It was almost as if he had no control over his breath. Weird for a sportsman, thought Jungkook. So then, at that moment, he understood.

I know your biggest weak point Kim Seokjin, that means my strategy was the right one, Jungkook jubilant.

"Jae!" he shouted to one of his teammates.

He passed the ball to his teammates to continue the attack and as for himself, stopped abruptly. Seokjin, carried away by his too fast running and not expecting to see him stop so suddenly, hit him head on. He felt like he had hit a wall as Jungkook was so physically imposing and was thrown back onto the lawn with a groan of pain. He was so stunned that he didn't get up right away.

"Oh sorry, Jin!" Jungkook said, turning around and seeing Seokjin on the ground, and reaching out a hand to help him up. "Do you want me to call the medical team?"

Seokjin shook his head as he grabbed Jungkook's hand and standing up, gestured to the referee that everything was fine to save Jungkook from receiving a yellow card like Dae-Ho. He didn't realize his nose had started bleeding.

"N-no, let's not interrupt the game. Look, your team opened the scoring, congratulations on this great comeback," the unfortunate Seokjin weakly congratulated him, massaging his slightly dizzy head.

You really are a hell of a number Jin, I've already told you that before. How can you be happy for me when I just stopped you from intercepting that goal ball? Jungkook thought as he watched the boy in front of him. He had also just protected him with a yellow card. He didn't understand if Seokjin was simple-minded or just too kind. Maybe both?

"Okay, but watch out for yourself," he told Seokjin as he walked away from him to celebrate his team's first goal.

"Okay!" Seokjin said giving a thumbs up before finally noticing the blood flowing from his nose and profusely staining his t-shirt. "Oh no..." he muttered, wiping himself quickely with his arm..

Blinking to make sure his eyesight wasn't flickering anymore, he ran into the center circle for the new kickoff. However, he had the impression of being slower than before and felt strangely surrounded and hounded by a large part of the central players of the opposing team while Jungkook stayed behind to regain the ball as soon as possible and rush towards the goal to score as fast as possible. Did Jungkook give up his duels with him to focus on his breakthroughs? This was understandable as his side were still losing 3-1 and the clock was ticking inexorably.

Running in all directions, Seokjin started inevitably to feel his breath sorely miss him and, while in full pursuit of an opposing attacker, he slowed to a complete stop, breathing heavily and coughing while the match continued without him in the penalty area as his team tried to defend themselves as best they could. He desperately wanted to join them to help them but he couldn't take a step, he badly needed to catch his breath. His tired body was shaking and his vision seemed to blur slightly.

He heard a voice encouraging him from the bleachers and without seeing it, recognized Jimin's cheerful voice which he imagined next to Taehyung, followed immediately by the hysterical cries of the girls in their class. His promised fangirl led by Yoona... After having wanted it so much, he didn't want it anymore, he had too much headache. Why were they encouraging him now? Furthermore, why encourage him and draw people's attention to him when he felt so pitiful? Seokjin wished the match was over already to disappear from people's sight. He tried to resume his run but he stopped after a few steps, his chest and throat on fire and his body shaking violently with exhaustion.

I can't take it anymore, he realized painfully, tears in the eyes, without letting them flow.

Without thinking much about his terrible disappointment, he began to be very afraid because he never felt like that before. Yet, he knew himself very well: he understood with annoyance that he could no longer continue like this even if it was detestable to him.

No one cared enough about him to understand that he was in bad shape and should have been out a long time ago, but he himself felt it perfectly now, even if it was probably a bit late: he had ended up crossing the limits he had set for himself. He had to stop otherwise it could be dangerous for him and for the rest of his career.

Sorry for his team, for Jungkook, and for himself, he raised a shaky hand to signal his coach to pull him off the field. It was necessary to make a change of player and send a substitute as soon as possible to the warm-up to bring him in at the end of the action in place.

It was a tacit agreement between the coach and Seokjin: the man knew about the boy's illness and he had to take him off the field when he no longer felt able to hold on, which rarely happened because the boy always preferred to take it upon himself. and stay on the ground. If he himself asked to go out, it was because he felt that he had totally reached his limit, he was certain that the coach will understand.

The only one who cared about him, by far, was Jungkook, who watched him discreetly as he led his team to the victory he promised them. To his great satisfaction, he saw that his plan of attack, although unworthy of a sportsman, had worked : Seokjin was asking to leave the field, which meant he was no longer able to continue.

 It took you a long time to realize it, man, he thought, thinking that Seokjin still deserved to be rewarded for the feat he had just accomplished.

However, it was not long before he noticed that despite Seokjin silent pleas, his coach didn't seem to see him and was staring at players who were far away from Seokjin.

What is his idiot coach doing?

Seokjin felt panic overcome him as he realized he had to get out as soon as possible and his coach didn't notice him.

"Coach!" he then shouted weakly to get his attention.

Forced to turn towards him, the coach, without worrying about his request and annoyed to see that he remained behind the action when the opposing team risked scoring, signaled him to go down at full speed towards his defense to prevent Choseon from scoring his second goal.

What the hell is this man thinking? Well, too bad for you Jin, but if your coach thinks you're not broken enough to get out of the field, I'm going to have to give you a boost, Jungkook thought to himself.

Seokjin, unaware of the attention he was getting from Jungkook, only aware of the coach's indifference to his suffering,  had understood that he had to do it in order to get out: he had to put his last efforts in this last action and then he could go breathe and rest while witnessing his team's victory from afar. 

So, under the bewildered eyes of the spectators who thought he was already out of the race, he went up the field at a phenomenal speed for a boy of that age and in a few seconds, had joined Jungkook and his circle of attackers who had entered the penalty area of Gugbo and faced the defenders.

He was so fast that he was able to face Jungkook again for yet another duel.

"Jin!" yelled Jungkook who didn't expect to face Seokjin again at this part of the field, thinking him too slow now to have joined him so quickly. 

"I'm still here," Seokjin breathed, "and I won't let you pass!"

You should already be out of the game!

"We'll see," sneered Jungkook who perfectly felt that Seokjin didn't have the same energy at all as he did at the start of the match.

The tension of the duel was perceptible even in the bleachers where people fell silent, the silence making it possible to hear the grunts of frustration and fatigue of the two players, Jungkook did not want to let his ball be snatched from him by Seokjin and Seokjin refused to give up his pressure.

Around them, the others could not intervene at the risk of injuring them with a clumsy kick and waiting for the ball to circulate again outside their small circle. But out of pride, Jungkook didn't pass the ball to his teammates even if it was the least dangerous solution for his team. He wanted to take on Seokjin and pass it himself to show everyone that he was stronger than Seokjin even though he wasn't the fastest. But the more Seokjin blocked him, the more the grimace of rage that now distorted his face intensified.

Ultimately, his pride was fatal to him since Seokjin, after an exhausting duel, once again managed to snatch the ball from him and prove his superiority. Jungkook screamed in rage as he chased after Seokjin who was already dashing towards Choseon's goal in hopes of scoring a fourth, an ultimate goal before leaving the field since he now had the opportunity.

However, as he ran towards the Choseon goals to clear the danger away from his team's goals and still struggled to breathe properly, taking erratic deep breaths, his head was spinning, his vision began to severely blur, and he saw thousands of white spangles twinkling before his eyes, an absolutely terrifying sight for him who was running almost blind. That's when his body left him.

Under the horrified cries of the crowd, he felt himself falling to the ground, barely aware of having hit the ground harshly. All he knew was that he couldn't breathe as a vise seemed to grip his chest and he felt like the air didn't want to get in there anymore. And it terrified him but he felt very alone despite the crowd surrounding him and would not have known where to turn to help him. The bad habits of the solitary life he had been forced to lead ; he was a sick boy but he had no one to watch over him.

Was he going to die in front of hundred people who would just look at him because he wasn't rich enough to make his life worth saving? As his consciousness slowly left him along with the oxygen, he wished his mother was there like Dae-Ho's father was. Unfortunately, she had not obtained permission to come and see him, play, the Kims had forced her to stay at work. They never let her come to his school. He hated them so much! If his mother had been there, she would have done everything to get him out of the field before being in this state, he knew it because she cared about him unlike all the people around him. 

But her mother was not there.

Close to him, he heard Jungkook's voice shouting his name and yelling at his teammates to put the ball in touch to interrupt the match. Right. Jungkook was there, so he was not completely alone among them, Seokjin remembered. He then thought that maybe, his new friend will save him. But he especially wanted to apologize to him for being so pathetic and ruining the first game they played together. However, he didn't have the oxygen to breathe a word.

"JIN!"

In the distance, he heard his name again, pronounced by a familiar voice, consumed by worry. 

Please come and save me, he wanted to shout at the person to whom this voice belonged

Much closer to him, felt someone tunred him on his back to check if he was breathing, but his eyes were already closed and he could not see who was above him to help him survive nor thank them.

In a few seconds, Seokjin heard nothing more and passed out.

He didn't hear a different voice from the first shout at him, keeping calm:

 "Hold on, I'm going to save you!"