Closer with you (ongoing)

CHAPTER 26

The week after returning from Japan was the only peace Byul came to know for months. Her senior year of college snuck up on her, grabbed her by the throat, and hadn't eased up since.

Academics weren't even the issue—her classes were manageable this semester. With the summer courses she'd taken the past couple of years, including the two online classes she completed this past summer, Byulyi only had four classes left to complete over her next two semesters. The thought of taking all four in the Fall had crossed her mind, but to stay eligible for athletics, students had to be at least part-time, meaning at least 2 classes each semester. What that meant big picture was that compared to her peers, the senior had a lot of time not spent in class. Most other undergraduates were taking four to seven classes at a time.

All of this to reinforce that academics were not her main stressor this year. It was everything outside of the classroom that, from the first week of the new school year, gripped her.

For starters, Byul was physically tired. Exhausted, even. Yongsun had asked her about this over the summer, asked if she would be okay with the quick turnaround from high-level international basketball into training for the college basketball season. At the time, she'd waved off the older girl's concerns.

At the time, she felt on top of the world.

At the time, she was at the Olympics, playing well and learning a lot. It was fine then. However, after the brief family vacation in Japan and the week of downtime upon her return to SNU, Moonbyul began a rigorous individual training regimen—the summer taught her that to take her game to the next level, she needed to be stronger, faster, and more skilled. Although official team training began in October, she was committed to her own pre-season training throughout September, holding herself to two sessions each day—one for weightlifting and the other for basketball-specific drills. Able to keep up at first, the senior was beginning to feel the aftereffects of having put herself through the ring as she had.

There were additional basketball responsibilities this year, too. Most people expected it, but it was officially announced at the start of the school year that Byulyi would be the sole captain of the team this year. A huge honor bestowed upon her by the coaches and team, but also a new source of stress. She had never been a vocal leader, preferring instead to lead by example, lead from the back. While she could still set the tone by modeling proper behavior in accordance with the culture of SNU Basketball, Byul knew she'd have to push herself to speak up and be more proactive about organizing team events that facilitated bonding and cohesiveness. Heeyeon was an invaluable resource when it came to this, sharing a lot about her experience as a captain and helping Moonbyul brainstorm ways to reconcile being a peer and a firm leader that held people accountable.

Business school applications also had to be dealt with. Although not due until January, Byulyi was serious about presenting a well-curated portfolio to admissions teams. She'd narrowed down the list of schools she was interested in and put a lot of energy into networking with alumni and administrators. The intention was to learn more about her programs of interest while leaving a positive, lasting impression on each person she meant. She hoped that the connections cultivated came back to benefit her in the long run.

Then there was Yongsun.

At every step of the way, the graduate student did things that, to others, might have seemed small or insignificant but made a world of difference to Moonbyul. For starters, Yongsun introduced Byul to yoga. A few weeks into her weight training with Taecyeon, the blonde picked up the new activity in hopes that it would help improve her flexibility and form when lifting. Of course, she eventually forced Byul to try and, of course, the athlete went along with it. She found yoga to help tremendously with recovering from her own brutal workouts. Watching Yongsun stretch and twist and bend wasn't half bad either.