DASH-Chapter 146

Since the morning, the snowfall had been unusual, and heavy snow warnings were issued in Seoul and Gyeonggi province before noon. Jiheon got an emergency alert in the car on the way to Incheon Airport. Luckily, he reached the airport just before the roads closed, avoiding being stranded, but the flight got delayed.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur, initially set to arrive at noon, ended up coming well after 2 p.m. This upset only the reporters at the airport. Waiting for over two hours at the airport was already crazy, but with closed roads, the return journey became even more difficult.

“It’s not an Olympic team disbanding ceremony, just a press conference about the national team’s training camp. KSC is so lousy.”

“I heard they spent a lot of money on this. The accommodation was like a hotel. Of course they’re going to take the credit.”

“Do they really have to make the athletes talk about it?”

“Not the athletes. I’m sure they’ll just let Kwon Jaekyoung talk. They’ll send out a press release around.”

“Oh, why did he go to a training camp he normally wouldn’t go and make people suffer like this?”

The reporters grumbled as they set up cameras upon hearing that the plane had finally arrived. Since everyone was in a situation where they only saw Kwon Jaekyoung, they now seemed to just resent him.

“By the way, Kwon Jaekyoung is now KSC’s golden boy, isn’t he? That maverick learned his lessons from the war.”

“Hey, of course. KSC even abandoned the federation to save him. Of course he should be loyal.”

“But what if Kwon Jaekyoung doesn’t win gold at the Olympics?”

Someone tapped the giggling reporter. The reporter looked around, asking, “Why? Why?” Then he made eye contact with Jiheon standing right beside him, shocked, and closed his mouth.

“You had a hard time getting here, didn’t you? It’s a tough day.”

Jiheon smiled and greeted him with a smile.

“No, it’s not. It’s not that hard.”

The reporter mumbled with embarrassment as the athletes entered the temporary conference hall. Due to the small venue, it wasn’t possible to gather all the national swimming teams consisting of over a hundred people. Consequently, only two athletes from each event were invited to answer questions from reporters.

Of course, almost all the questions were centered around Jaekyoung. He avoided personal questions, perhaps pre-informed, and focused on talking about the sports center and accommodation in Kuala Lumpur, the training camp location. His responses were limited to phrases like “It was great,” “It was excellent,” and “KSC was very considerate of me.” While he managed to deflect with these three answers, reporters weren’t expecting more from Kwon Jaekyoung anyway. Everyone mainly took pictures with the aim of getting as many views as possible. Surprisingly, the press conference, lasting over two hours, concluded quickly and in a peaceful atmosphere.

After the conference, the athletes dispersed on the spot. Jaekyoung approached Jiheon while carrying a large Boston bag.

“Good job.”

When Jiheon spoke, Jaekyoung just shrugged instead of answering. He then gestured to the outside where the snowstorm still raged.

“Can we go now?”

“No, the roads are still jammed.”

Feeling like they might be stuck at the airport for two or three hours, they decided to grab lunch first. When Jiheon asked Jaekyoung to choose what he wanted to eat, he quickly pointed to a fast-food restaurant.

“Don’t you usually crave rice when you return from abroad?”

As they sat down in the restaurant, Jaekyoung tilted his head with a curious look.

“I kept eating rice in Malaysia anyway. Fried rice.”

Jiheon thought it was a bit different from that, but didn’t say anything.

While Jaekyoung enjoyed his burgers and fries, two men in jerseys and carrying sports bags entered the restaurant. Though large in stature, their faces were youthful, clearly athlete-students.

Jiheon watched from the corner of his eye, wondering if that was correct. And sure enough, the two, who had been laughing and chatting wildly, looked at Jaekyoung and started freaking out. They bowed and greeted them in unison.

“Hello!”

“Yeah.”

Jaekyoung answered without looking up, holding the hamburger in both hands. The two then bowed to Jiheon and hurriedly walked to the corner of the restaurant as if running away.

“I’ve never seen those kids before. Are they swimmers?”

Jiheon asked, taking a sip of Jaekyoung’s milkshake.

“They’re backup national athletes.”

“Oh, no wonder. Are they high school students?”

“I guess so.”

Jaekyoung answered as he took a bite of the hamburger. Then he added belatedly.

“They’re good.”

“Really?”

It was the first time Jaekyoung spoke about other athletes’ skills. Jiheon asked in a half-amused mood:

“What are their names?”

Jaekyoung munched on the hamburger for a while and spoke as soon as he swallowed it.

“I don’t know. One of them is Jong-something, and the other is Taewon or something.”

It seemed like Jaekyoung only knew they were good but didn’t know their names.

“One of them is in the 100m freestyle, and the other is in the 50m freestyle. I think they will both go to the Olympics this year.”

He didn’t know their names, and yet he knew what events they would compete in.

‘That’s a talent.’

Jiheon chuckled, wiping his hands on a napkin.

“They were backups just last year, so it’s great that they passed the qualification in just one year. Not to mention, this year’s Olympic qualifying time has been strengthened.”

“Yes. They’ve been working hard.”

Jaekyoung spoke indifferently, took a sip of his cola, then put down the glass.

“But I don’t think they can make it through the preliminary. Not to that extent.”

“But just participating is already a great experience. I hope they can do well in the selection round.”

Jiheon said with his arms crossed. Jaekyoung stopped picking up the hamburger and stared at him.

“Why?”

“How can you be so affectionate to all athletes, hyung?”

“What......?”

When Jiheon laughed with a puzzled expression, Jaekyoung quickly interjected:

“No, well. I’m not really interested in other swimmers. I don’t have such a thing as wanting our country’s athletes to do well or something; they’re all the same to me. It’s not my concern if they’re good or not, and frankly speaking, I don’t even know who’s good or not. But it seems that you like all athletes, whoever they are, and feel sad when they don’t perform well. You don’t even know them.”

Jaekyoung said it was really interesting, but ‘interesting’ was just a simple word. The way he expressed it made it seem like he couldn’t really comprehend.

Well, it wasn’t untrue, but hearing it phrased like this made Jiheon feel like a total idiot and somewhat embarrassed.

“I just like to see hard-working athletes do well.”

Jiheon said with an embarrassed smile.

“I don’t particularly have a soft spot for athletes. If anything, I’m a bit twisted in some way. I don’t want athletes who don’t put in the effort to succeed with tricks. That’s why I hope to see hard-working athletes do well. I can be a bit insidious, right?”

Jiheon deliberately said it as a joke.

“What are you talking about? That’s only natural.”

Jaekyoung muttered, sounding a bit puzzled. Jiheon laughed while looking at him and continued.

“And as for those swimmers... well, I have a sense of debt.”

Jaekyoung narrowed his eyes, silently asking, “What kind of debt?”

“If I had kept going in the past, we would’ve received more funding. Such grants are clearly performance-based, you see, so if there is even one more athlete who scores at an international competition, there will be more funding.”

“Oh, who says that?”

Jaekyoung frowned, questioning the sense in Jiheon’s words.

“Hyung, trust me, even if you kept going, there wouldn’t be any more funding. And even if there were, the federation would have kept everything for themselves, not giving a penny to the athletes.”

“Yeah, you have a point.”

Jiheon chuckled.

“Anyway, I couldn’t find a better way to put it, so I called it a sense of debt. But there’s no need to make it sound so grand. It’s just that I felt a one-sided sense of pity or something. The swimming conditions in our country are very poor after all.”

Jiheon spoke, crossing his arms and resting his elbows on the table.

“It’s a shame because I know how hard everyone is training. I just hope it pays off as much as the effort they’re putting in.”

“If someone works hard, the effort is worthwhile.”

Jaekyoung stated plainly.

“There’s a saying that sweat doesn’t lie. I don’t think there’s any truth beyond that in this industry.”

Jaekyoung seemed to convey that there was no need for Jiheon to worry, and he had no reason to worry either.

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Jiheon looked at Jaekyoung for a moment and smiled quietly.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

Fortunately, after they finished eating, the snowfall had lessened a lot. Some road restrictions were lifted, but traffic jams still lingered. They decided to head out once the road conditions improved and searched for a place to sit and wait.

To avoid bumping into other athletes and reporters, they went to the back of the terminal. However, on the bench they managed to find, they encountered the high school athletes again. They seemed surprised, stood up quickly, and were about to greet them, but Jiheon stopped them.

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about us, just stay there.”

Since those kids were there first this time, he thought it would be right for him and Jaekyoung to move in case things would be awkward.

“What do you wanna do? Should we go somewhere else?”

“That’s too much trouble.”

Jaekyoung answered and sat on the bench before Jiheon finished his words. Jiheon sat next to the high school athletes for no particular reason. Fortunately, the benches were far enough apart that they couldn’t hear each other talking.

“By the way, is the new chip okay? Any side effects?”

Jaekyoung asked as he put down his bag and jumper in the empty seat.

“Yeah, not yet.”

Jiheon also took off his coat and placed it on the back of the bench next to him.

“And I guess the new medication is more effective. I checked a few times, and there was almost no detection of pheromones. I don’t think you’ll be particularly affected by my pheromones even if you’re with me.”

Jiheon leaned towards Jaekyoung and whispered softly.

“But they told me to avoid doing that for the time being.”

He only said that, but Jaekyoung understood it instantly like a ghost and asked in a lower voice.

“Why not...?”

“Well, it’s because I just changed the medication type. The new one needs time to adapt to the body, so I should avoid stimulating the pheromone glands as much as possible during this period. That’s the best way to reduce side effects.”

When he gave a (fake) excuse that he had been pondering all night, Jaekyoung immediately nodded and said, “Oh, that makes sense.”

Jiheon was surprised by that compliant reaction. Knowing Jaekyoung’s personality, Jiheon understood that he would be disappointed even if didn’t express dislike.

When Jaekyoung was worried about Jiheon’s condition, he’d come up with all sorts of excuses to refuse, but now that they were discussing side effects, he didn’t even consider saying no.

As Jiheon watched this, unsure whether to feel happy or sad, Jaekyoung seemed to notice his gaze a bit late and blinked.

“Why?”

“No, it’s just... you’re amazing.”

“What.”

Jaekyoung immediately frowned, looking genuinely annoyed. While he now took being called cute as a compliment, being told he was amazing didn’t sit well with him.

Thinking it was quite difficult to please his younger lover, Jiheon took out his cell phone from his coat pocket.

He was checking road conditions using the navigation app, but perhaps because he had his head down for a while and was focused on his phone, his vision became a bit dizzy, and he started feeling nauseous.

‘Oh, here it comes again.’

Jiheon closed his eyes tightly. He’d occasionally felt nausea on an empty stomach since the day before yesterday. Even though he knew morning sickness was about to start, he tried his best to pretend not to know, wondering if it was really that bad. But seeing that he’d been like this for three days, it seemed like he really had morning sickness.

Jiheon would have tried searching on the internet if he was alone, but he couldn’t since Jaekyoung was right next to him. Putting his ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) cell phone in his pocket, he tilted his head back for a moment. When his stomach showed no signs of calming down, he eventually stood up, taking his wallet.

“Jaekyoung-ah, I’m going to the convenience store. Do you need anything?”

“Why the convenience store?”

Jaekyoung asked, lifting his head. But then he suddenly stood up and said:

“I’ll go there for you.”

“No, I’ll do it.”

“It’s okay, hyung. You don’t look well right now.”

Jaekyoung said, taking out his card from his jumper pocket.

“What do you need? Want me to buy you some medicine?”

“No, not medicine.”

Jiheon sat down on the bench helplessly. Then, covering his mouth with his hand, he took a deep breath and said.

“Can you just get me a sports drink and some candy from the convenience store?”