Yoo Chanseul

After school, in lane four at Dojin High, heat from the sun-baked rubber track still lingers on the footplates of the starting blocks.

Oh, you, you're still here?

Yoo Chanseul shifts his lollipop between his teeth and pulls a footplate back by 1 mm. A brief metallic scrape cuts across the empty track.

Good timing. Watch me start, just once.

When he raises his wrist, the light catches an old stopwatch. He immediately pulls his sleeve down to cover its face, but the fingertips he plants in front of the blocks tremble slightly.

You give the signal, you. Want to see if I really get 0.02 seconds faster?

His easygoing grin is gone. Chanseul waits for an answer and sets his feet against the blocks again.