Chapter 15.2

Translator: Pineapple

Editor: Oer_

The two days of rest went by quickly.

He was worried that he might not be able to sleep but, on the contrary, when he got home he immediately knocked out on his bed.

People can easily get tired just by walking around and taking the subway. Plus, Han Woo Jin was jet-lagged and had also took part in a tournament, so he was exhausted.

The two parents who wanted to take him out to eat in celebration  could only go to sleep because he was already asleep.

Han Woo Jin who went to sleep early in the evening woke up in the afternoon the next day. He was grabbed by his parents who then took him out to eat. It was like he had the top scores in the SAT and his parents were absolutely ecstatic.

So the time he had to choose which tournament he wanted to partic.i.p.ate in shrunk to one day.

He looked at the calendar and saw that tomorrow was the day that he returned to the company. The sun was setting and was becoming dark but the sky was clear and the stars were s.h.i.+ning in the darkness.

'Challenger league or ATP tour. I'm agonizing over what to decide.'

There was a wide gap between present and the past. The Han woojin in the past played any games if he got supported.

If he needs to pay for the France Metz Open, it would cost a lot of money to himself and his family.

He would most likely spend all the money that he won from the Andong Futures and the bonus that he received on the plane ticket and other accommodations that will cost over $5,000.

That's why tennis players play so desperately.

What happens if a tennis player has a bad career and doesn't win any tournaments?

Then the company will lose money and will cut the player into an early retirement.

However Han Woo Jin has the luxury of choosing whichever tournament he wants to partic.i.p.ate in.

In addition, entering the challenger league doesn't always mean that he will achieve good results.

Although the challenger league is lower ranked, not only do the top Korean ranked players enter it, rookies from other countries apply as well.

"Of course, it cannot be compared with the ATP tour."

It was a matter of course.

If I say the futures or the challenger leagues is only a pond or stream in the neighborhood, then the ATP league has to be a river no matter how small it is.

Sometimes we can see the world ranking top 10 players at the 250 league which is one of the lowest ATP league.

Han Woo Jin and Choi Yeon Hyuk are considered to be pretty high leveled in Korea but in the ATP 250 League they need incredible luck to even get into the semi-finals of a tournament of that caliber.

It might just be a waste of time if they enter the ATP tour.

"Hooo… this is hard."

Han Woo Jin went to his desk and turned on his computer. Rather than doing nothing, he would rather use his hands for something productive.

He looked at the two pieces of paper that had the A4 doc.u.ments. He had already read the papers over 20 times but he wanted to read it again.

Busan Open.

Metz Open.

'Metz… should I look it up?'

Han Woo Jin immediately opened up the internet browser as soon as the slow computer turned on. He searched up Metz in the search engine and pushed enter. Many different sites showed up on the search. The amount of information about Metz filled up the monitor screen.

One of France's cities, a small city 200 km away from Paris, etc.

It is not that different from Korea that was an old country that had many old buildings that were industrialized and modernized. Metz had many historical landmarks and buildings and there were many pictures that he saw on the web.

Finally, Han Woo Jin found a blog that he was interested in about Metz. It was about the Metz

Open.

'Indoor hard court… That's good."

That was Han Woo Jin's favorite court for tennis.

The court is very important when playing tennis. The four major grand slams each have different court environments. France is clay, England, Wimbledon is gra.s.s and the Australia and America Open is hard court. The environment that the top rankers play in have a huge impact in their playing.

Some players win many games in a row in the France Open but perform poorly in other tournaments; because of the different court it is difficult for them to even get into the top eight. This is why the type of court is very important for tennis players.

The Metz open is advantageous for Han Woo Jin. The hard court is easy to predict where the ball will bounce and is good for standard players like Han Woo Jin. Also because it was an indoor court, there will be no wind or other climate conditions that will negatively affect him.

The more he thought about it the more he wanted to go to France. Almost all tennis players in Korea would choose France.

"Hoo, I can't decide."

The more he thinks about it, the more he gets sucked into it, which makes him tired.

If he enters the challenger league, he will no longer need to take part in the preliminary rounds. Also it won't be difficult for him to enter the top eight unless he was unlucky. That was how much confidence he had in himself. However, he couldn't think about anything else other than the ATP tournament.

Someone will tell him that this is only his second tournament and ask why he was thinking so hard about it. It doesn't matter which tournament he enters and whether he wins or not. There is no problem with just gaining experience from those tournaments.

However, the word "failure and giving up" is a huge burden to him. If it was another person, it's just another one or two fails but because of Han Woo Jin's past, he had a bad experience with failure and the desperation that he felt.

'Would it be fine? Is it okay if I lose?

Can't I just get up again after I fall?'

A man who tries his very best until the end yet never succeeds will never be understood by others of the pain he feels. He continued to think about it in his quiet room.

Suddenly, something stopped his train of thought.

*Knock knock*

"Are you awake?"

"Ah, yes."

He replied and the door opened.

It was Han Woo Jin's father, Han Dong Hoon. He entered the room and closed the door. That means it wasn't a simple/casual thing he wanted to talk about.

"I want to talk about something."

"About what?"

Han Woo Jin just stared at him. He hasn't spoken to his family about the choice that he needed to make about the tournaments. That's why he didn't have any idea about what his father wanted to speak to him.

Han Dong Hoon sat on his son's bed and said something.

"Are you going through something where you need to make a difficult decision?"

"Mmm…." Han Woo Jin said.

He didn't show any expression. Is it a parent's intuition? Han Dong Hoon, his father looked at his face without saying anything.

Han Woo Jin thought for a little bit.

Can he talk about this with his father and get some advice? Or is this a private problem only for himself, which is why Coach Jeon gave him a couple days to decide?

But Han Dong Hoon is Han Woo Jin's father. Han Dong Hoon was the person that always believed/faith in him even though he had a horrible career and was a bad son.

Han Woo Jin finally opened his mouth.

"Challenger or ATP 250 league… to think that my son would be blessed to be thinking about this kind of problem."

Han Dong Hoon who has been an avid fan of tennis for over 20 years, immediately thought how blessed Han Woo Jin's life is to be able to decide something like that even though he is still so early in his career as a tennis professional. He was happy that his son was being successful yet was worried that it was too early for his son to be entering that kind of tournament and had conflicting feelings.

First he decided to listen to what his son thought.

"What do you think about it? Tell me your thoughts. Which tournament do you want to enter?"

"Hoo… I want to enter the Metz Open in France."

France is one of the few countries that have huge significance to tennis players. It also holds one of the four major tennis tournaments in the world. And there are many ATP tournaments held in that country.

It cannot be compared with Korea that has a small audience and professionals. If there were many viewers, then there would be more players who would want to show better skills for the audience. Han Woo JIn was no exception.

Han Dong Hoon listening, to his son, clenched his fist and spoke without any hesitation.

"Really? Then go to the Metz Open."

"What?"

Han Woo JIn was shocked. Is that something that a father should say?

Han Dong Hoon's expression hasn't changed. He sincerely believed that his son should enter.

"You're still young. And it hasn't even been half a year since you become a pro. Right?"

"…Yes."

Although, truthfully Han Woo JIn has actually been a pro for ten years but the present Han Woo Jin was still a newbie. If he didn't have the special contract he would never think about this kind or dilemma, he would just go straight to the challenger league.

"Of course, it's burdensome. Because it's a France ATP tour. There are many players who will be better than you. And you might also fail early on in the preliminaries."

However, Han Dong Hoon didn't want Han Woo Jin to calculate which tournament was better or not.

Of course, a pro needs to know which path was better for him, but that kind of thing should be decided after he builds up enough experience. This isn't something that a newbie should be stressing about.

If a person had too used to backup plans, then they will not succeed. If they keep on backing up step by step, then they will realize that they have retreated farther than their goal. That is why they aren't able to catch up to others even if they run with all their strength.

He doesn't know about tennis, but as a senior in life, Han Dong Hoon has much experience regarding that.

"If you think you can win you fight, but if you think you can't win you don't? That's the kind of thinking that's so naive for young people like you."

"…"

After listening to what his father said, Han Woo Jin felt a little frustrated with his past self.

The Han Woo Jin in his past life did exactly what his father said because that was the only way for him to survive back then and never realized those words.

Han Woo Jin's eyes s.h.i.+ned brightly full of pa.s.sion.

Han Dong Woon, seeing his son's eyes laughed out loud.

"Push back thoughts about giving up and retreating. You're only 23. All you need to do is walk forward."

Han Woo Jin finally realized something that he never knew listening to his father. That he was still only 23 years old.

A 23 year old tennis player is very young in the tennis world. There are many players who are over 30 years old who are the top rankers in the tennis world. 23 was not the age where he should give up. Rather he should be tackling his problems head on.

Right. I'm 23. I also have a special power that others don't have and my experience from my previous life. Is there any need to hesitate?

"I might lose in the preliminaries."

"What's the problem with that?"

Han Dong Hoon answered quickly.

No matter if you fall multiple times, as long as you stand back up and walk while enduring the pain only builds your perseverance/grit/endurance to face your future.

Han Woo Jin had many worries for his future but now they were gone.

"You might be disappointed in me."

"That will never happen. Until now and even in the future."

He was always like that. He felt sorry to his son parents who completely trusted him while he accomplished nothing.

Han Woo Jin looked up at to prevent the tears from falling from his eyes.

His eyes no longer had any doubt inside of them. He made his decision.

Coach Jeon expected this decision.

However, even though he expected it he still got a headache. Coach Jeon already knew their answers just by looking at their faces. It was very clear.

"Ha…."

He sighed and the two players didn't move. They were firmly set in their decisions.

Coach Jeon spoke to them in a serious/dangerous tone.

"Metz?"

""Yes.""

The two voices overlapped. Han Woo Jin and Choi Yeon Hyuk's face both looked like they were already on the court. Was it the pa.s.sion of youth? Or stupidity?

Anyway, he doesn't care which one they choose. he results will be revealed on the court.

"I'll be frank, you guys aren't ready for it."

Coach Jeon wanted to bring them down a notch. They would have probably had a chance if they had another half year of training.

He ended the simulation he had going on in his brain regarding the level of the France ATP 250 league. He already knew the answers of the two players.

"Getting even in the top 32 will be difficult for you guys. It would be a miracle if you even got into the top 16."

He gave them a harsh criticism/truth. But they didn't waver. Instead their eyes burned with even more strength.

They weren't discouraged even with the possibility of losing so Coach Jeon gave up trying to persuade them. Anyways, the President ordered him to give them the right to choose. So Coach Jeon never had the confidence to persuade them.

But, them entering this tournament might be a good thing.

Sometimes, storms can push s.h.i.+ps forward to their destination, which is why this high level tournament has the possibility to further increase the two players skills.

It doesn't matter if they become frustrated, if they can get up again, that experience will help them improve even more.

The thing that Coach Jeon is worried about is that they won't get up ever again.

However, the only thing that he can do is believe in them. The coach's job is to support the players. Jeon Sang s.h.i.+k decided to go forward to the world with these two young guys.

"The tournament starts in August 21. You guys have to play from the preliminaries. You need to understand even that is very difficult."

The Metz Open preliminary has strict requirements regarding skill level against low level players. It was very disadvantageous against players like Han Woo Jin and Choi Yeon Hyuk who had little to no rankings.

The schedule for the tournament will be incredibly exhausting to even reach the top 32, and they might turn up completely exhausted and unable to even finish the tournament.

"I'll go print out a new schedule for you guys. You guys head over to the court."

""Yes coach!""

He looked at the computer monitor and saw English characters and numbers.

Metz Open (ATP 250) - 21~27 August

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