NHL 6

While Joeon was debating whether to stop by the food court for a meal or to buy a pastry, a sign for a large sporting goods store caught his eye. It was large enough to occupy half of the shopping mall’s basement level. Joeon walked into the store like a man under a spell.

And an hour later, he was holding a pair of brand-new skates, for which the blades had just been sharpened inside the store, in his hands.

🏒🥅

As soon as he arrived home, Joeon immediately tore through the shopping bag, took out the skates, and shoved his feet inside without further ado.

He had spent a fair amount of money, but it wasn’t a waste. Borrowed skates were unhygienic, making him feel uncomfortable and unable to grow attached to them, but after purchasing his own, an unnecessary affection surged within him.

What does it matter if it’s a bit expensive? Even if he only skates hard enough to cover the depreciation period, it’s worth the price, and if he skates for the rest of his life, it’s a calculation where he would extract more than his money’s worth. Besides, since his feet wouldn’t grow anymore, he didn’t need to buy skates again. In many ways, it was a wise purchase. He even got a whopping 15% discount!

Joeon tried to force himself to rationalize today’s bold impulse purchase as he tried on the skates. Since they were for leisure, the parts wrapping his feet looked similar to inline skates. There were also lightweight items made only of thin leather for the ankles, but those with saw-like teeth called picks on the front of the skate blades were for figure skating, not leisure, so they seemed like too high a barrier to entry for Joeon.

Joeon, who knew almost nothing about skates, chose a shape as similar as possible to the skates he had borrowed and worn last time. Instead of being sleek and light, they were clunky and heavy, but the insulation was certain.

He fell in love with the sparkling black surface that had never been touched by anyone else’s hands. It was the item that had caught his eye first because its shape resembled Dylan’s skates.

That day, the memory of skating without holding anyone’s hand for the last lap kept egging him on. That this time, he would be able to finish a few laps without anyone’s help.

If it were up to him, he wanted to run outside immediately and test his athletic ability, but unfortunately, a snowstorm was still raging outside the window. Joeon prayed for that tiresome snowstorm to leave as soon as possible.

🏒🥅

Despite it being the weekend, Joeon opened his eyes early in the morning. The first thing he did as soon as he got up was to go out to the balcony like a kindergartner before a picnic to check the weather.

The world where the snow had stopped had changed into an entirely white outfit. The air was clear and the sky was blue. Every time he inhaled, the cold air poked at every corner of his chest.

Cough, as he exhaled with a cough, white breath turned into a small cloud and drifted away into the sky. The temperature was quite low, but that is precisely why today was the perfect day for skating. It was because the ice would not be soft but frozen solid.

On the map where he had searched for an ice rink, several red icons appeared. Among them, the closest place to Joeon’s house was a public school a 15-minute walk away. A moderately long distance wasn’t bad for walking to take a stroll and loosen up his body. Once the destination was decided, he was more motivated than ever. Joeon hurriedly put his skates in his backpack and left the house.

The ice rink was full of students and little kids. On the weekend, children who had come out holding their parents’ hands were roaming around grabbing onto walker-like assistance devices while wearing their respective protective gear and helmets.

If he entered that crowd, it was obvious he would bump into the kids after just one step. Imagining the scene of him waddling around in that crowd while getting hit by walkers was humiliating enough.

As Joeon turned around without even changing his shoes, the security guard nodded as if he understood and sent him a pitiful look.

“Come in the evening. There are no people then.”

“Until what time are you open?”

“Until 8 o’clock.”

It is a season where the sun starts to set at four, and the sky changes to a tangled cotton candy color after just thirty minutes pass. It’s five o’clock and the world is completely stained with darkness, and yet he says eight o’clock. By that time, it often felt like it was ten or eleven o’clock.

“It seems like it would be dark…”

To the voice muttering suspiciously, the man replied nonchalantly.

“There is lighting, so it’s bright even at night.”

“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”

Joeon, who didn’t have the confidence to jump into the crowd of kids right away, returned home with a regretful heart. On the way home, he devoured a vegetarian burger and sweet potato fries that were just fried and crispy. The taste of the patty, made using peas, mung beans, rice, and potato starch to imitate a meat patty, was excellent.

As he munched on his meal, Joeon’s movements as he lightly pulled the tip of the straw inserted into his drink cup with his lips were sluggish. Compared to when he left the house, he was clearly more dejected.

As expected, if you don’t get things done when you’ve set your mind to it, it cools down quickly. However, if it really cools down, his future self has to deal with the aftermath of an impulse purchase he cannot take responsibility for.

The present Joeon, who became afraid of being nagged by his future self, immediately began to scold the past Joeon.

“Was it really a waste to buy them? I did a useless thing.”

Not only did he sharpen the blades for nothing, but now a refund was difficult. Joeon, who had been blaming himself, turned his target to Dylan. This was all because of him. The athlete who planted an unattainable dream in Joeon with sweet praise for no reason.

The seeds he sowed sprouted and grew inside Joeon, encouraging him to hold vain hope. That you too can become the best skater.

Thinking about it again, it was nonsense. His innate body is different. Why did he believe that something as difficult as the possibility of winning the lottery was possible? Suddenly, he felt absurd. All at once, everything felt futile, and his motivation vanished.

However, he couldn’t just bury the skates he had already bought in the warehouse without even using them once. Even if he sold them to someone else as used, they were already opened products, so he wouldn’t get his money’s worth. Joeon had no choice.

He returned home, waited for the night, and after much deliberation, he put on the gear to jump back into the winter.

Beep, a mechanical sound was heard from a large ice resurfacer. While operating the Zamboni ice resurfacer to organize the ice surface every hour, the entrance to the rink was tightly closed, and people gathered together on the benches prepared around it. Joeon, who was squeezed into a corner, quietly began to take out his skates.

Just as the employee had said, there were no people in the evening. It was just an elderly couple with white hair, a middle-aged man wearing a hat pulled low and carrying a backpack, and a young woman wearing leggings and practice clothes like a figure skater.

“Opening the gate.”

Perhaps the person he saw in the morning had already finished their shift; another employee in a fluorescent work uniform opened the gate as soon as the maintenance was over. The people who had been waiting went inside one by one and began to slide softly onto the ice that was as smooth as new.

Everyone looked as skilled as people who had been skating for a very long time. Even though they had just been standing on the high-friction ground a moment ago and stepped onto the ice, they started sprinting straight away without falling or stumbling. Joeon also stood up from his seat, leaving his empty bag and boots on the bench.

The time it took to stumble on the rubber mat and go all the way to the ice was incredibly long. Uncertainty was embedded in every single step he took while holding onto the iron fence. Now, there was no one to reach out and hold him. This one step right now was an important step where he had to be fully responsible for himself.

Still, he did not hesitate. Cautious but lightly, he stepped on the ice, stood awkwardly, and shifted his center of gravity forward. Then, the skate blades with sharply sharpened edges dug into the ice, drawing distinct lines as they slid.

Joeon, who hadn’t yet figured out how to stop on his own, made his feet into an ’11’ shape and entrusted his body to the flowing speed. Even if it is ice, it is impossible for there to be no friction. If so, he would receive resistance somehow, and the speed would eventually stop. Even if he doesn’t have athletic ability, he has a brain that knows how to calculate.

While having time to adapt to the ice and his new skates in that way, other people showed off their skills by spinning around on the ice while making ellipses or S-shapes. They were skilled enough to avoid Joeon, who was a beginner, on their own, so he didn’t have to worry about bumping into them.