Closer with you (ongoing)

CHAPTER 12

Midnight Madness weekend at SNU was one of the most highly anticipated times of the year. It wasn't only SNU students and staff that looked forward to it, tickets for the events were also highly coveted and sought after by young professionals and students and staff at other South Korean colleges and universities. Essentially, for anyone between the ages of 18-30, Midnight Madness was the place to be.

Seoul National University had long been regarded as an athletic powerhouse. Their sports teams were always filled to the brim with some of the nation's most talented athletes and were always considered contenders for championships. SNU Basketball, though, was something else entirely. The men's and women's programs had storied histories of dominance. Only the most elite basketball players were invited for recruitment visits, but the exclusivity was not reserved only for players. Revolutionary coaches and leaders in the fields of Athletic Training, Sport Science, and Sport Psychology were headhunted and brought in to establish a culture of excellence from top to bottom. This was the original reason for the Midnight Madness hype. Each year, the SNU community would gather to witness the official introductions of the athletes that made the final rosters for the impending season.

What Midnight Madness at SNU had since evolved into was a spectacle very few thought possible in college sports. Yongsun was not familiar with it. SKKU had Midnight Madness—every school did—but it was nothing compared to SNU's. As such, when Moonbyul had asked her if she was going this year, she, of course, said yes. At SKKU, anyone that wanted to go could go; there were no tickets. Entry was free to all. She assumed it was the same here. Until Wheein and Hyejin jumped into the conversation to ask what seats her tickets were for. It was the same day that Moonbyul had opened up to her about her struggles handling the pressure that came with being "the star" of SNU's Women's Basketball team. Wheein and Hyejin had come over a bit later, completely unaware of the serious conversation that had transpired earlier.

"Tickets? I had to buy tickets?"

The resulting silence was deafening.

"Unnie," Wheein looked to Moonbyul, "you didn't get her a ticket? Midnight Madness is this weekend!"

"I didn't know I had to buy a ticket. They didn't sell tickets at SKKU! Anyone that wanted to go got to go," the eldest responded frantically.

"Don't worry about it, unnie." Moonbyul soothingly responded to Yongsun. "That's why I asked. I made sure to get tickets to everything for you, but I didn't know if you had already gotten your own. The tickets for Friday should be next to Wheein and Hyejin. For the parties, your names are on the list. You should be good to go." Yongsun visibly calmed down at hearing that.

"Byul-unnie takes care of us when it comes to anything basketball-related," Hyejin exclaimed.

"It's the least I could do. You both always support me and come to games and stuff," the blonde responded bashfully, trying to downplay her actions.

"She's being humble," Hyejin turned to Yongsun, swiping more of the food Yongsun had ordered for her and Moonbyul. "It's cutthroat here for those tickets. This weekend is huge. Everyone tries to get in. Things get sold out quickly."

"Why is it so hard to get tickets for this thing? They're just announcing the teams and moving on."

"Ohhhh," the maknaes spoke in unison.

"No, unnie," Wheein started, "it's a full weekend thing. On Friday, the festivities start at 7:30 pm. The teams do the usual entrance where the staff and players are introduced individually. At around 8:30 pm, all of the players get paired up with someone from the audience and they have to take part in a bunch of games. They give out prizes and all that. Then the action starts. There's a concert from 9:00 pm until 11:00 pm; this year we got Loopy and some of the other SMTM rappers. After that, there's a party at one of the clubs here to celebrate."