"Boss! That means we’ve won the whole thing now, right?"

"For today, call me Supreme Commander, not boss."

"Isn’t commander bad?"

"Hmm···that’s not what that means, but anyway, right now commander is correct."

"Lee Sion, Queen of Ssireum (TL: Queen of Korean Wrestling)!!!"

Starting with Yunkyung, who seemed so excited that she came hopping over like a rabbit with both arms thrown high in the air, the Blue Team members crowded around me and offered their congratulations on my ssireum victory.

-Kyaaaah!!!

Seo Ryujin’s scream, after making one last futile act of resistance against me and then getting planted upside down in the sand just like that, was still circling sweetly around my ears.

"Like I said, Sion is freakishly strong if nothing else!"

"Ahem! Ssireum isn’t about strength. It’s about technique."

While everyone was showering me with praise, LYNX’s youngest member, Lee Jia, tried to belittle my victory as nothing more than some crude fight won through brute force, so I corrected that slightly.

Of course, I had used a bit of strength, but there was still a need to properly explain the feat by which I had thoroughly toyed with Seo Ryujin through pure technique.

Anyway, with me defeating Seo Ryujin, the overall score at the Idol Athletic Championships had become 3:1.

Now, even if we lost the fifth and final event, victory for our Blue Team had already been secured.

"We actually won just by doing what you told us to!"

"Did you see how flustered the White Team girls were?"

"Justice wins!"

Thanks to that, our Blue Team was already in a festive mood even though the last event still remained.

By contrast, the mood of the White Team gathered on the opposite side was gloomy to the extreme.

'It wasn’t easy.'

From the outside, it might have looked like a one-sided match where Blue Team had dominated from beginning to end, but if I hadn’t made thorough preparations to secure victory in every single event, we really might have suffered for it.

Even in dodgeball, the first event, victory would not have been guaranteed if not for Hansem of Yunine, who was on our Blue Team.

I knew Ryu Ayeon had good physical ability, but she had really lost all sense of human mercy, firing those balls with the mindset that it was fine if someone died.

Fortunately, thanks to Hansem’s insane performance—Hansem had shown off those no-joke forearms from the very first meeting—we were able to suppress Ryu Ayeon, the enemy team’s ace, and take the win.

Not just those two, but the other members as well showed outstanding athletic ability, as if proving they had not become idols for nothing.

Compared to the dodgeball people played against other classes back in school, it was practically the difference between amateurs and professionals.

-Wait!!! I’ve got a nosebleed!

In a sport like dodgeball, where injuries were rare unless things got really extreme, Ryu Ayeon had actually taken a hit and gotten a nosebleed, so there was no need to further explain how fierce that match had been.

As for tug-of-war, that one was easy.

-Tug-of-war is a battle of skill too, in the end.

Back when I was in the military, tug-of-war was one of the events that never got left out of sports day.

People usually mistakenly thought tug-of-war was all about size and strength, but tug-of-war, more than anything, was about technique.

You divide the rope into thirds, have the members in the back lie down the moment it starts, and place members with good grip strength in the front so you can seize momentum early.

And in the middle—

-Back row, get up again now and pull!

If you had a leader positioned there who could grasp the overall situation and command the team, then if the forces were even, you could fight a hundred times and win all hundred.

And on top of that, if you added heavy combat boots with excellent traction—basically ideal tug-of-war shoes—and red work gloves coated in rosin, then the match was practically decided before it even began.

-Combat boots? Where are we supposed to get those?

-If you’ve got an older brother in the family, borrow his. If not, steal them from company staff.

-But won’t the sizes be wrong?

-Stuff some socks in them and it’ll work out.

There had been a few minor problems during that process, but that level of obstacle was light work.

-Company Commander, I think we’re going to have to activate the project.

-Hmm···are we really that short?

-Yes, sir. We filled in what we could on short notice, but if it stays like this, it could be disciplinary-level by inspection.

-I’ll go around to the officers myself today!

-Loyalty! Wishing you victory.

Compared to the time, back in my soldier days, when we pillaged other companies to fill shortages before the Combat Equipment Command Inspection—aka full gear inspection—this was nothing.

Normally, the inspection dates differed by company, so we were supposed to help each other out, but thanks to some upper unit suddenly deciding to inspect everyone at once, our battalion had been hit by an outright looting war.

If all nine companies went into inspection as they were, every single one would be wiped out, but if we worked together, at least about half could survive. Faced with that choice, even the battalion commander shut his eyes.

As a result, the age of great piracy began, and our company ultimately emerged victorious from the looting war that mobilized not only the enlisted men but the officers too.

-No!!! You lunatics, just how short on supplies are you that you’re robbing literally everything?!

There had been the unfortunate sacrifice of other companies, but there had never been a time when our company had bonded so tightly, officers and soldiers alike, as back then.

It was the same now.

"At first I was worried because they were members from the same team, but why is this fun once you actually do it?"

"Right? I tried casually speaking down to the older girls the way Sion told us to, and it was weirdly exciting."

"Did you see it during tug-of-war? The other team couldn’t move at all and just got dragged right toward us."

People normally got close through hardship and crisis···or no, more precisely, through doing bad things together.

Of course, not everything had gone according to plan.

"Supreme Commander! We have captured Comrade Kurosawa Yuri, who failed the revolution!"

"Well done, Chief Commissioner Yunkyung. But the moment the revolution failed, that one ceased to be a comrade."

"Sion-chan, it’s not Yuri’s fault!"

"Yuri, because you failed to properly carry out the mission, our Blue Team lost the relay race."

"But Ayeon-chan said anything I handed over looked suspicious, so Ayeon wouldn’t drink it!"

"You should have made the impossible possible."

The only defeat and stain on our Blue Team’s record.

-Each member may compete in at least one event and at most three.

If I had gone out there, we could have won again, but unfortunately I was blocked by the rules, so I had given a special mission to Yuri, who was on my team.

Prune juice.

My order had been to go feed it to Seo Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon—that mysterious elixir that would fuse a person with the bathroom the moment it was consumed.

But Yuri had failed even that simple mission.

'Ryu Ayeon really is vicious.'

As if wanting to win that badly, Ryu Ayeon had run like a madwoman even with tissues stuffed into the nostrils to stop the nosebleed, looking utterly miserable.

If Ayeon had lived in Haan-dong, Ayeon could have fought me for the title of Haan-dong Usain Bolt.

"Yuri."

"Sion-chan!"

"If I were Lee Sion of Iam, I could forgive you."

"Huh? Sion-chan is Sion-chan from Iam, so what else would you be?"

"Right now, I am the captain of the ship deciding the fate of Blue Team. I have no choice but to make a decision of iron."

"No!!!"

"Yes. Take Yuri away."

The moment I finished speaking, the Blue Team chief commissioners dragged Yuri off.

Then they immediately began burying Yuri in the sand pit where that fierce ssireum match had been held just moments ago.

"So the last event is smashing the rice bag?"

"Yes! We’ve already won anyway, so I think we can take this one easy."

"Hmm···I’ve got a bad feeling."

Yunkyung seemed to have already relaxed, saying we had won anyway, but I had a somewhat different, unpleasant feeling.

Slide.

When I turned my head and looked toward the filming crew, I saw the PD and staff talking hurriedly among themselves.

Was it too wild an overreaction to feel like they were plotting something?

"I can feel the wind···."

"But there isn’t any wind here."

Yunkyung didn’t seem to feel it, but right now I could feel the southeast wind blowing in.

***

"Ugh, what is this, are we kids or something? Smashing rice bags?"

"Keep it down. At this rate the camera’s going to catch you."

"Yes, yes, understood."

At leader Kangseok’s words, Yoon Hyun nodded with obvious annoyance and sneered inwardly.

'Does he think he’s our parent or something?'

Yoon Hyun, a member of the boy group Axiom, had been irritated all day long.

It was supposed to be an Idol Athletic Championships shoot, so he had expected to get to see a bunch of girl groups he normally never got to see, but—

-The men will film in the morning, and the women will film in the afternoon.

Because the broadcasting station had separated the time slots completely, he had wound up doing nothing but sweating around a bunch of dark, sweaty men.

'I wanted to hit on at least one girl.'

If the company or his group members found out, there would be hell to pay, but wasn’t that the thrill of a secret relationship?

They were already heading into their fifth year of activities, so by now he figured it was time to enjoy a little freedom.

And it wasn’t just Yoon Hyun. Once idols built up enough years in the industry, everybody in the idol world started secretly sneaking around and seeing people on the side.

The Idol Athletic Championships in particular was famous enough as ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) an unofficial mixer for male and female idols, and Yoon Hyun had been especially interested in the members of Iam, whose popularity had been rising sharply lately.

Lee Sion.

Ever since he first saw the Agbaek episode Sion appeared on, he had been impatient to see Sion in person.

'You’ve got to lure someone in while Sion is still clueless and green.'

If a newly debuted idol who still didn’t understand the entertainment world got confessed to by a much more senior idol who was also fairly popular, that kind of person usually got flustered and ended up falling for it.

But that had all gone up in smoke.

Lately there were so many fans making an issue out of nothing more than male and female idols standing near each other that the Idol Athletic Championships production team, apparently conscious of that, had adjusted the schedule so they couldn’t meet at all. Because of that, Yoon Hyun hadn’t even been able to flirt with other girl group members, let alone Lee Sion.

'Still, heaven hasn’t abandoned me completely.'

Even when the sky fell, there was still a hole to crawl out through, and an opportunity came to Yoon Hyun.

"We will now begin the final event of the Idol Athletic Championships, rice bag smashing!"

Because the final event of the Idol Athletic Championships, rice bag smashing, was to be held jointly between the men and women.

-The male idols in the morning were won by White Team. The female idols in the afternoon were won by Blue Team. So to decide the final overall winner, the final event, rice bag smashing, will be conducted with both men and women participating together.

When they had been notified in advance, the men’s division and women’s division were definitely supposed to be held separately, with separate award ceremonies too, but for some reason the rules had been suddenly changed on site.

Everyone else was baffled and wondering what was going on, but Yoon Hyun realized that an opportunity had arrived.

'Once this is over, I’ll casually go over and talk to Sion.'

Unfortunately, he belonged to White Team, so they were not on the same side, but Yoon Hyun still kept his eyes on Lee Sion over there with the opposing team.

Lee Sion’s looks had already been insane on TV, but in person they were almost mysterious.

After seeing Sion in real life, Yoon Hyun felt like he would regret it for the rest of his life if he let this chance slip away.

He had even already worked out a plan—if the match ended in White Team’s victory, he would approach while pretending to comfort Sion, and if White Team lost, he would subtly go over and congratulate Sion on the win.

Bang!

Even after the staff member serving as referee fired the starting pistol into the air and the rice bag smashing event began, Yoon Hyun only pretended to casually pick up and throw balls while all his attention stayed fixed on Lee Sion.

"You have to throw harder! The rice bag is higher than it looks!"

"I’ll pick them up for you! Seniors, you keep throwing!"

"There are only so many balls! We have to grab them faster than White Team does!"

Of course, the other White Team members were busy.

The rice bags hanging from the long poles set up on the field.

They were positioned higher than expected, to the point that a man had to throw with full force just to reach them.

Because of that, some of the female team members had taken on the role of picking up balls that fell to the ground and bringing them to the male team members instead of throwing them.

But not everyone was like that.

Whack!

A ball hit something with a sound that made it obvious it had struck properly before falling to the ground.

'What the hell are those two?'

The balls thrown by Iam members Seo Ryujin and Ryu Ayeon were striking White Team’s rice bag with force no less than the male team members’—no, even more ferociously than theirs.

And on the other side—

"Boss, direct hit!"

"Give me a ball!!!"

"I’m bringing one right now!"

Lee Sion was hurling blazing pitches toward the rice bag.

But—

'Looks like White Team’s going to win this.'

White Team’s rice bag was being hit more often than Blue Team’s.

If Lee Sion was the only standout on Blue Team, White Team had Seo Ryujin, Ryu Ayeon, and several male team members all putting in power.

And though he wasn’t sure, somehow White Team’s rice bag subtly looked lower too.

Anyway, from Yoon Hyun’s point of view, if things continued like this, White Team would win and the final showdown, rice bag smashing, would end there.

However, Yoon Hyun’s expectation missed the mark.

Apparently even Sion thought the situation looked bad, because Sion, wearing a slightly pouty expression, stopped throwing balls and shouted toward the Blue Team members.

"From this moment on, our rice bag is the other team’s face!!!"

For a moment, everyone’s eyes—Blue Team, White Team, and even the staff—turned toward Lee Sion, who had suddenly said something incomprehensible.

"The rules were suddenly changed to steal our victory, and we cannot lose like this! Everyone, throw your balls at the opposing team!!!"

And the instant Lee Sion’s insane declaration ended—

"Follow the order!!!"

—all of the girl group members on Blue Team began hurling the balls in their hands at White Team.

"What the hell? Are you insane?!"

"Ack! They’re actually throwing them at us!"

"That’s a foul!"

White Team was thrown into confusion by Blue Team’s sudden attack.

Soon, even the male team members on Blue Team who had been watching started throwing balls too.

"Hey, we should throw too!"

And just like that, an autumn ball war began.

Yoon Hyun felt dizzy trying to process what the hell was happening.

'Have they all lost their minds? Why are they suddenly throwing the balls at the other team instead of the rice bags?!'

In one sense, it was an utterly reasonable and correct question, but he did not have time to dwell on it.

"Uoooooh!!!"

From the opposite side, Lee Sion was throwing a ball straight at him in a dynamic pitching form that called prime Randy Johnson to mind.

Smack!

At the same time as a brutal impact rang out—far too vicious to believe it had come from a specially made rubber ball designed for safety—Yoon Hyun collapsed flat onto the ground.

'Fuck···they’ve all gone insane···.'

He had never imagined he would get taken down by a ball thrown by a female idol.

Worried whether the camera had caught that, Yoon Hyun stared at the last sight visible before his eyes.

Lee Sion had stopped throwing balls and was climbing the flagpole with the rice bag on it like a monkey, while balls from White Team poured down toward Sion.

Watching that scene, which somehow brought war movies to mind, Yoon Hyun lost consciousness.