God of Tennis

Chapter 19.2

Translator: Pineapple

Editor: Oer_

The game ended quickly. The rallies of a player who had a broken mentality weren’t long. Han Woo Jin won his third match easily in contrast to the second game.

As soon as the referee announced his victory, he saw words show up in his head.

[Great play! Congratulations for winning your first perfect victory in an ATP 250 league, you have gained one stat random stat point.] [Great play! All of your stats have increased by one due to you successfully passing the preliminaries.] [Great play! Your skill levels increased due to winning a matching an ATP 250 league, but your experience has also decreased because of the huge difference in skill between you and your opponent.]
Han Woo Jin ignored the notifications from the system as he held out his hand over the net. His opponent just blankly stared at his hand in a daze.

“ [You worked hard.] “

“ […] “

Han Woo Jin spoke in his broken English as Herbert didn’t reply. He just gripped Han Woo Jin’s hand once and let go. He didn’t want to say anything else, it would just demoralize him further. Han Woo Jin was about to say something but stopped himself. It’s not something the winner should say.

‘It should be something that’s told to him by his coach.’

Comfort, encouragement and criticisms shouldn’t be heard from your opponent. Han Woo Jin, with nothing left to do, exited the court. When he walked up to the stands his team, they had a festive atmosphere, because the two newbies were able to make it up into the main tournament.

Coach Jeon tried to maintain a dark expression but his lips kept trembling.

“Good, you guys did well. Frankly, I didn’t expect you guys to make it this far.”

He complimented them with a trembling voice. Although Coach Jeon made an error in prediction, he was still very happy about it. He thought that one of them wouldn’t make it to the main tournament but both of them were able to do it with great success.

‘They are maintaining good momentum.’

If they continue playing like this they might get better results than expected. Even just thinking about it made him excited.

Nobody who participates in an ATP tour as the second tournament in their career does well in that ATP tournament.

President Cho and Coach Jeon’s expectations were low in the beginning and now they had high hopes for them. Coach Jeon felt like he could already hear President Cho’s excited voice over their accomplishments.

“Hey Joonsung, when can you get the main tournament’s bracket?”

They’ve only known each other for short while but they were already speaking to each other casually. Coach Jeon was a very well known individual in the tennis world in Korea and he had experience and a good track record, so Choi Joon Sung followed him and made friends with him.

“That… will probably take a while until all games are finished. They said that they can fax it to us or email but I think it’s better to get it in person.”

“They’re so slow. You two don’t have anything you want to do here right?”

“Yes.”

“Me too.”

There was no reason for them to stay here any further. They were speaking for so long that the last game almost ended. Currently Han Woo Jin and Choi Yeon Hyuk’s HP were over the 80% threshold. That showed just how well they played during this match.

The people who exited the stadium all went to their respective vehicles but Han Woo Jin stopped for a bit and he changed his mind. Compared to yesterday, he wasn’t as fatigued. He thought he might as well take a short tour while he was here in France.

“Coach, can I walk back?”

“Why, do you think there will be something interesting on the streets?”
Coach Jeon replied sharply but didn’t deny him. A player who has good results should be treated well and be given freedom. With a short nod he approved of Han Woo Jin’s request.

“Don’t be too late. I’m not worried about you but be careful not to fall down.”

“Yes, then I’ll head off first.”

The group entered the car without Han Woo Jin. Shin Sae Yeon lowered the window and extended her hand. He thought that he forgot something and he just stared at her face blankly.

“Are you just going to walk with your racket? If you give it to me I will put it back in your room.”

“Ah… It’s fine, I’ll carry it. It’s not that heavy anyway.”

Han Woo Jin replied casually. His game was a bit boring but he won. The fact that he was able to enter the main ATP 250 tournament made him feel great.

Shin Sae Yeon, looking at his expression smirked and put her hand back and slowly rolled up the window. The car began moving and Han Woo Jin was the only one left at the parking lot.

“Let’s take it slow.”

Yesterday’s games were finished after the sun went down because the first and second preliminary games were held on the same day. But the third match of the preliminaries only had four games on that day. Han Woo Jin exited the court and raised his hands to cover his eyes while looking towards the sun.

HIs eyes burned a little but his skin was cool. In Korea, it is very hot and humid. As soon as he began walking he felt a cool breeze.

‘This is definitely a foreign country.’

It wasn’t good or bad. It was just very different from home. The sidewalks looked pretty because they were decorated with gray and white stones, and there were many pretty flower pots on the ground buildings. To his side was the beautiful Moselle river.

He walked along in a good mood. He stopped in front of a park bench.

“Hoo.”

It was a beautiful city. When he thought of Europe he only thought of splendid and expensive things. But Metz was a country city and had a lot of culture and nature. You could see many cute children running around in the park.

Didn’t he have a time like that?… Han Woo Jin laughed unconsciously. Come to think of it, there wasn’t a time when he was like that.

‘Who would play with a kid who only swings his racket all day?’

Even during elementary school, right after school ended, he would go home and swing his racket. Naturally, among his peers he was bullied and it was even more severe during middle school. After he played started to play games during high school, he could no longer make any friends.

Because of his difficult past, it was hard for him to look away from those playing children.

*Tong!*

A familiar sound entered his ears. It was a sound he would recognize even while sleeping. It was the sound of a tennis ball hitting a racket.

‘Who’s playing?’

He got up from his seat and went over to the noise.

Soon a man entered his view. He was probably 190 cm. He was hitting the ball with his racket and loosening his wrist. He couldn’t see his face.

But Han Woo Jin knew who he was and mumbled his name.

“Murray…?!”

The man who was bouncing the ball stopped. The English youth with bright brown hair looked towards Han Woo Jin who said his name.

Andrew Murray asked him.

“Who are you?”

When people encounter unexpected events that they never even thought of their body tend to go stiff. That’s what was happening to Han Woo Jin. He never thought about being able to meet this man and didn’t know what to do.

Andrew was just calmly staring at him. He was curious about this asian man who spoke his name.

“ [I’m…] “ Han Woo Jin began to speak in English.

What do I say?

Woojin Han? I’m from Korea? Pro tennis player?

If a person is cornered, they will come to their sense. Han Woo Jin answered with an honest statement. Even though he was talking about his future.

“ [Andrew, I’m your fan.] “

“ [Fan?] “

Right now Andrew is a player who has only been a pro for one year. Even though he had a decent track record so far, it wasn’t so good as someone would say that he was great. However, this man did. That’s why he couldn’t help but be confused when this man came up saying he was a fan, even more that he was Asian.

Han Woo Jin could only speak simple English so it was difficult to understand anything other than simple things. If Andrew asked him something and he couldn’t answer properly, Andrew would think he was weird.

Fortunately Andrew didn’t say anything. He stopped bouncing the ball and was thinking.

Han Woo Jin realized that he had his racket in his bag. This was his chance. He has went into his bag and held his racket. He wanted to see the stats of future world ranker Andrew Murray.

Andrew Murray’s status appeared.

“…”

His mouth couldn’t help but widen in shock.

[Andrew Murray]
Strength 60 / Stamina 61 / Agility 65

HP 2410/2440 SP 830/830

Forehand: 11/20

Backhand: 15/20

Serve: 11/20

Volley: 11/20

Smash: 10/20

Drop shot: 13/20

Lob: 12/20

Special skill: ???, ????

Insane.

He couldn’t say anything. Han Woo Jin found his hand trembling. He expected him to have good stats. However, he was beyond his expectations.

HIs total skill level was 83. He understood, because he had a great physique but he never spected his skills to be this great. He is only 19 years old but his skills were the same as a world ranker.

He was shocked. He felt as if he was electrocuted. Compared to Han Woo Jin, who couldn’t say anything, Andrew opened his mouth and spoke.

“ [Oh, I have an idea. You’re Han Woo Jin right?] “

“ [Y-you know me?] “

He never expected that Andrew Murray knew him and he was shocked. Andrew probably knew that Han Woo Jin’s English was that good so he spoke slowly for him. His British pronunciation was easy to understand.

“ [Out of all the preliminary games, yours was the best. I couldn’t recognize you because I sat far away during your matches but now I know.] “

He smiled and spoke in a friendly manner. He was still young so his personality was nicer than the future Andrew.

He didn’t know about the current him. But the future Andrew Murray has anger issues and erratic game records.

As he was reminded of that, he became more relaxed. Han Woo Jin spoke a bit more with Andrew who spoke to him. His English wasn’t that great so he couldn’t communicate that well but his chest was pounding loudly because he was currently speaking to someone who he’d only seen on TV or in the newspaper.

***

“You called me?”

“Yeah, did you have a good walk?”

Han Woo Jin, who entered the hotel was called immediately by Coach Jeon. Everyone was already here in a discussion. It looked like they already received the tournament schedule.

“Did my next match come? It came faster than expected…”

Han Woo Jin looked at the paper on the table and there were 32 players matched up against each other.

First he found his own name.

John Walter : Woojin Han

‘That’s good. He’s also someone from the preliminaries.’

The players from the preliminaries, compared to those who got directly entered into the main tournament, have some disadvantages. Physical exhaustion and exposure of their skills. However, those disadvantages disappear if those two players are in the same situation.

Han Woo Jin already knew John Walter’s skills. He was strong compared to Herbert but shouldn’t be difficult to defeat.

He is very lucky. Then he searched for Choi Yeon Hyuk’s opponent. Han Woo Jin’s game was towards the end of the brackets and he would be playing near the end. On the other hand, Choi Yeon Hyuk was at the beginning.

He moved his eyes.

He suddenly stopped.

This… is not good.

Andrew Murray : Yeonhyuk Choi