Jayden Kwon's life had gotten… weird.
It had been two weeks since he flicked Kevin Walters into humiliation, and somehow, he had gone from "background NPC" to "school urban legend."
People still whispered when he walked by. Sometimes it was normal stuff, like:"Yo, that's the guy who juked Kevin."But other times it was… less normal:"I heard he dodged a bird mid-flight.""Nah, he caught it, whispered something, then let it go."
Jayden, of course, did not confirm or deny anything. Why ruin the mystery?
It was during lunch when the weirdest rumor yet started:"Yo, I heard the football team's gonna recruit Kwon."
Jayden blinked. "The what?"
Turns out, the Westfield High football team was in crisis. Their goalkeeper had broken his wrist doing something "totally not dumb" (which, according to Snapchat, was jumping off his roof into a kiddie pool). The next game was in three days, and they had nobody to replace him.
Enter Coach Donovan — a 40-something man built like he could bench-press a vending machine, famous for yelling motivational quotes so loud the birds left campus.
He walked up to Jayden in the cafeteria like a military commander."Kwon.""Uh… yes?""I've heard things about your reflexes."Jayden immediately panicked. "The bird thing was an accident.""I don't care about birds. I care about goals. And I need a goalkeeper."
Jayden opened his mouth to decline, but Coach Donovan cut him off:"Three days. Be there. Tryouts."Then he left like he'd just dropped a side quest into Jayden's lap.
Day of Tryouts
Jayden had two problems:
He didn't know how to play football.
He didn't know how to not look suspicious using his power.
Standing in the goal, he tried to remember what little he knew: stop the ball from going in. That was it. Easy.
The first shot came fast — a tall junior launched the ball like it was trying to escape Earth's gravity.
Jayden panicked, touched the ring, and the world slowed.The ball drifted toward him like a balloon in a light breeze.He casually stepped aside, caught it under his arm, and un-slowed time.
From the outside, it looked like pure reflex godhood. The whole team froze.
"Holy— did you see that?""Bro didn't even flinch.""That's insane reflex speed."
Jayden just shrugged like it was nothing. Inside, his heart was doing backflips.
The next ten minutes were chaos.Shot after shot came, and Jayden blocked every single one — not because he was actually good, but because the ball was basically taking coffee breaks in midair for him.
One kid tried a tricky curve shot. Jayden slow-mo jogged over and casually slapped it away like it was a fly.Another tried blasting it from up close — Jayden stopped it with one hand without even moving his feet.
By the end, the forwards looked like they were reconsidering their life choices.
Coach Donovan clapped him on the shoulder so hard Jayden nearly fell over."Kwon, you're starting this Friday."
Game Day
The stands were packed. Word had spread that the mysterious "reflex god" was debuting as goalkeeper.Some people were there to watch football. Most were there to see if Jayden would do something insane again.
The whistle blew.
The first half was… messy. Jayden, still clueless about actual football strategy, just kind of stood there until the ball came near. Then, whenever a shot was incoming, he'd slow time, stroll into position, and catch it with embarrassing ease.
By halftime, the opposing team's strikers were heated.One yelled, "Yo, is this dude cheating?!"Jayden just gave him a dead stare. "Skill issue."
Second half, the other team tried everything:
Rapid passes to confuse him. (Slow-mo = no problem.)
Fake shots to bait him. (Slow-mo = saw it coming a mile away.)
One guy even tried distracting him by shouting "Hey, behind you!" mid-play. Jayden still blocked the shot and threw the ball back in his face.
The crowd was losing it. Phones were out. A TikTok clip of him catching a ball one-handed while yawning was already going viral.
Final whistle: Westfield High won 3–0.The players hoisted Jayden onto their shoulders like he was a national hero.He'd just accidentally made himself untouchable socially — and athletically.
But as the crowd cheered, Jayden spotted someone watching from the far end of the stands.Kevin Walters.Hands in pockets.Smirking.
Jayden's stomach sank.Because that smirk said one thing:Rematch incoming.