KnB: The Killer Mentality

Daegu, Korea

In a brightly lit stadium, cheers resounded from the stands as it was filled with people cheering for their respective teams.

The sounds of shoes squeaking and the sounds of the ball bouncing completely set the tone of the stadium. One side of the stadium had a banner that read "Deagu Tongyang Orions" while another banner on the other side of the stadium spelt out "Wonju TG Xers".

With a tied score of 98-98, everything was tense between the two teams in the 4th quarter with 40 seconds on the clock.

On the court,

A man wearing a blue jersey with the number "47" displayed on his back was dribbling the ball while he was being guarded tightly by his defender.

The man then with a slick crossover completely overtook his defender in a split-second.

With the open space that he made, the man went for the opportunity as he drove to the rim and went for a floater.

The ball arched up and slowly fell down, hitting the rim and going in effectively. Cheers erupted as the man held his hand up, signifying a score for Tongyang (Daegu). The whole process only took 20 seconds for the man to single-handedly to give their team the advantage.

But in the next possession, everything came to a crash.

With 20 seconds on the clock, a foreigner slowly made his way towards half court with the ball on his hands, clearly delaying time.

When the 5 second mark started to count down, the foreigner made space against his defender with a quick step-back as he pulled up from the three-point line with 1 second left on the clock.

With the ball released off his hands, he fell to the ground and watched the ball float mid-air.

All eyes were on the ball as it slowly made it's way towards the rim. The ball landed on the back of the rim as it bounced.

Every person on the stadium, the players, the fans, the coaches, the announcers stood up as they watched the ball bounce once again.

With the clock reaching down to zero, the ball bounced for the last time as it went inside the rim, crushing the hearts of Tongyang and its fans.

In one side of the court,

The foreigner jumped with delight as his teammates came down running and tackling him to the ground with joy of victory.

The man with the number "47" on his back sat down dejectedly, staring at the floor while his teammates felt the same emotion running through their bodies.

Suddenly one of his teammates stood up and patted number 47's shoulder. Number 47 then thought that he was being comforted but that pat suddenly turned into a grab as his teammate pulled him up and began to grab his jersey's collar.

"This is all your fault"

After saying that, the teammate left, his other teammates followed as he was left alone in the court.

Number 47 was lost on his thoughts as he heard several boo's. One rabid fan even dared to say

"Damn Jjokbari, go back to your country"

After hearing that, Number 47 picked up a basketball that was rolling down the court and threw it at the fan.

This lead to a backlash and many fans saw this as a threat and began to lash out at him. Number 47 then left the stadium directly only to be not heard again.

The T.V was then cut off before the championship celebration was shown. In a run-down part of Deagu, in front of a electronics store.

...

A child who looked to be of 4-5 years old was staring at the T.V screen just outside the store through the glass. He had a skinny stature and wore ragged clothes.

Suddenly, the store-keeper came out and said to the child

"Oy brat, leave immediately before you prevent anymore customers from going in."

The child immediately walked away after hearing what the store-keeper said. Whilst walking through the road he made his way to a local basketball court.

The court was clearly not in the best shape as the backboards were made of wood and it looked like it would break once someone dunked on it. The child would regurarly come here to watch as it was the only thing that gave him a sense of belonging.

From the time he was born, his parents admonished him for a reason he didn't know. He was later sent away to an orphanage when he was just an infant.

During those times, he had escaped because of how violent and abusive the Matron of the orphanage was. He would then struggle to live everyday. The feeling of watching basketball gave him the emotions that he needed.

As he arrived outside the court, he saw 4 people playing. They looked to be teenagers around the age of 15-18. Alongside them were two girls who sat and watched them play.

Just as the child's mind wondered off, he felt pain on his facs as he was knocked down by a ball.

"You idiot, what kind of pass was that" One of the teenagers playing said while he ran to check on the child. The others, including the girls followed.

Seconds later, the child came back to reality. He felt several gazes on him, one of the teenagers who had a lanky build and wore glasses bowed and said.

"I'm sorry for accidentally hitting you in the head"

The teenager with the lanky build was smacked on the head by one girl and was reprimanded.

"Ouch, you didn't have to do that." He said while rubbing his head.

The other girl went up to the child and said

"This noona's name is Seo-yoon, what's your name? We would like to apologize for accidentally hurting you. By the way where are your parents?"

Seo-yoon said as she scrutinized his ragged clothing and his clearly unhygienic state.

The other teenagers realized this too as their faces filled up with more worry.

The child finally spoke and said.

"Name? I have none."

...