Skating At Last [ORV Fanfic]

ONE [The Reformer]

'Cause I've spent my whole life searching desperately
To find out that grace requires nothing
Grace requires nothing of me

He was known to be competitive during a game, but on this specific day, during the semi-finals of the National Seoul-Dome Ice Hockey Tournament, the 'Punisher', Yoo Joonghyuk, was going a bit too far. Through an accumulation of penalties and time-outs ranging from not trusting his allies with the puck, roughing to unsportsmanlike conduct, the Center player of the 'Regressor' Team was, to the crowd's greatest disappointment, holding them back several turns.

Regressors: 4 - Dokkaebi: 7

Right Wing Forward, Lee Hyunsung, glanced at the scoreboard then turned to Joonghyuk in the penalty box who had his head down as their coach, Namgung Min-Yeong, gave him another lecture. Hyunsung had tried comforting Joonghyuk, telling him that everything would be alright and that they would eventually overtake their opponents like they always do. However, with only 5 minutes left on the timer, he doubted that would happen anytime soon. The ringing of the horn sounded across the ice rink and the Dokkaebi gathered together near the goalpost, cheers of victory carried as opposed to the silent defeat of the Regressors amongst the penalty box. The youngest member of the group, Namwoon Kim, was the first to speak.

"What is this bullshit?!" He screamed to the Punisher, fury overtaking his fear of possibly being pulverized by his senior later, "Joonghyuk-Hyung, we know you're rough on the ice and like doing things solo, but now you cost us the game! We could have gone to finals if it wasn't for-"

"Enough."Namgung Min-Yeong held up her hand before rubbing the side of her head as if she were developing a giant headache, "He knows he fucked up, though it's not like him. We just have to keep practicing and work harder on teamwork and skating techniques. I noticed a lot of you struggle to stop before going offside."

Yoo Joonghyuk knew that Coach was trying to shift the blame to the improvement of the team in general, but from the looks on everyone's faces, it was clear that what Namwoon said was right. Joonghyuk cost them the game and their trust in him. The news would be spread on social media sites like 'Star Stream' soon enough: Punisher Being Punished; Centre pushed to the Side; Regressors' Sunfish, Yoo Joonghyuk, kills the team's chance at finals.

Joonghyuk did not apologize for his actions, they knew he was not the type to do that. He headed to the changing room first, packed his belongings, and quietly left the rink through the lonely space of a silent night. He switched his phone off to avoid the notifications that bombarded his phone.

* * *

As I raised my hands to the audience, my final move of the agonizing choreography, the time came to a temporary stop as the crowd cheered. I noticed a blur of standing ovations and splatter-paint of colorful petals littering the ice while I gasped for air, tears threatening to escape. Why? Why are you celebrating when I failed so miserably? When I tripped on a crack in the ice, they certainly saw that, and when I messed up my spin in the bridge of the composition. I should have known that a specific combination of lutz and axel would be detrimental to my performance in the competition. My first time in the World Figure Skating Tournament and one slip up cost me the chance of ranking in the top five.

The next movements I felt as if I were existing outside of my body, watching myself glide to the edge of the ring, waving to the audience with a fake smile plastered on my face. Three. I made three crucial mistakes during my performance. It was bad enough that I could barely land a simple toe-loop at the beginning, but I completely crashed on my back for the quadruple axel in the second verse. To average watchers in the stands, they would not care that much and be impressed with the rest of the dance, but to the judges, my competitors, and all the media writers, including that of Star Stream, it was the worst thing that could happen to a participant in the finals.