ATGRA 85

Contrary to my worries, Jung Pureum returned with a perfectly fine expression. Thankfully, there wasn’t a trace of dejection to be found, no matter how hard I looked.

“What did the coach say?”

“He said he understood when I told him it was my rut.”

I bet he understood.

I looked at Jung Pureum with a skeptical face.

Ever since I graduated from university, Jung Pureum hadn’t opened up about himself as easily as before.

Looking back now, I realize he used to bring things up about himself first as a way to get me to talk about myself. Was he cunning, or just deeply considerate… It’s a fact that Jung Pureum was extraordinary, even back in middle school.

“You don’t really tell me about yourself these days.”

“…I don’t?”

“Yeah. You, after you went to high school, you rarely said you were having a hard time.”

Jung Pureum rubbed his cheek with an awkward expression. Even though I was sending him a look that said ‘Spill what you talked about with the coach right now,’ he didn’t seem to have any intention of confessing easily.

“That, um… that’s, because I was worried I’d seem like a kid.”

“Huh?”

“You see me as a bit, uh, young, hyung.”

It’s not that I see him as young, Jung Pureum is actually young.

My social decency, which had run away, came crawling back. My dead conscience also opened its coffin lid and showed its face. It’s true that at twenty, the ink on his national ID card is barely dry.

If someone else were to say, ‘I’m thinking of dating someone eight years older,’ most people around them would respond with, ‘Are you out of your mind?’

They say that back in the day, even a twelve-year age gap was considered the same age, but aren’t we in the 21st century now? I earnestly hoped that the World Ethics Standards Association wouldn’t condemn me. I am also a victim, a victim…

“Because of that, I felt like I shouldn’t act childish, so I think I was unconsciously a bit careful.”

“Hey, if you’re going to put it like that, don’t I act more childish towards you?”

“It’s okay because I don’t see you as young, hyung.”

“That’s ridiculous. What kind of logic is that?”

I pushed myself up from the bed. I couldn’t just lie around all day.

As I reached out and touched Jung Pureum’s shoulder again, he pulled me into his arms. I gave up on escaping and groped around Jung Pureum’s upper body.

“See, even now. You’re only concerned about my shoulder.”

“How can I not be concerned? It’s the shoulder that’s going to win three gold medals. The nation’s prestige is riding on you.”

“Our imprinting and marriage are riding on it too.”

“…”

“That’s more important to me.”

My social decency, which had just returned, raised a white flag and left again. My conscience also closed its coffin lid. The World Ethics Standards Association must forgive me. How can I hold out until the end when Jung Pureum acts like this?

A series of small kisses followed. I thought it was a very cheesy act, but both Jung Pureum and I still had the afterglow of our rut cycles, so we couldn’t easily push each other away.

The atmosphere quickly became strange. At this rate, we were in danger of wasting today’s work as well. I remembered the coach’s call at four in the morning and barely managed to pull Jung Pureum away.

“No more. Your rut is over now.”

“…I don’t know if it’s completely over or not.”

“There he goes again, making his moves. When you look at him, he’s a total fox.”

Foxes are canids, so they do resemble Jung Pureum. Though in terms of size, he’s more like a bear than a fox.

At my words that he was like a fox, Jung Pureum clung to me again as if whining. The guy who said he wouldn’t act childish for fear of being seen as a kid was now whimpering and hugging me again. I was so dumbfounded by his double-talk that I was speechless. Good grief, is being cute everything?

If the coach hadn’t called again, I wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed, unable to resist Jung Pureum’s charms and whining. Come to think of it, I still haven’t sprayed deodorant in the elevator.

Jung Pureum’s phone vibrated like crazy. Jung Pureum’s words that the coach understood because it was his rut cycle seemed to be a lie after all.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to answer the phone?”

“It’s okay if I don’t answer.”

“Stop lying.”

“It’s true… I won’t hear anything good if I answer now. It’s probably just that the coach felt he spoke too moderately just now, so he’s calling again.”

“What does that mean?”

“The coach is a bit harsh with his words. He’s the type who has to say more if he’s not satisfied.”

“What kind of guy is like that?”

I know the coach has a foul mouth. Because Lee Seolwoo told me. Even if Lee Seolwoo hadn’t told me, I had long suspected that the coach’s character was at rock bottom. Though I haven’t met him in person, it wasn’t just once or twice that the coach had chewed out Jung Pureum.

“Can you really not change your coach?”

“It’s okay, I don’t need to change him. Besides him being a bit harsh with his words, he’s okay in his own way.”

“You tend to view almost everyone favorably.”

Jung Pureum’s ‘okay’ cannot be trusted at all. Because it’s a different kind of ‘okay’ from the one a sensitive person like me would say.

I pondered how I could get the coach ousted.

Since even the Mister next door couldn’t do anything about him, I probably can’t take him down myself, but the thought of Jung Pureum training under such a coach, listening to harsh words, was unpleasant no matter how many times I thought about it.

“If it were in the past, I wouldn’t have cared this much. It’s funny for the hyung next door to be meddling.”

“If you had told me to put it down, hyung, I would have even put down a shine muscat.”

“The coach isn’t a shine muscat.”

“That’s true, but.”

“I’m not just the hyung next door anymore. I’m worried sick.”

My expression kept getting more serious, but Jung Pureum’s expression was getting better and better.

It seemed he liked it when I cared about him in this way. Or perhaps he liked the expression that I wasn’t just the hyung next door anymore.

“I’ll have to endure it until the Olympics. The coach has deep connections with the Olympic committee…”

No matter when I hear it, the power struggles in the sports world were incredible. The fact that someone could speak harshly to athletes just because they were the family of a high-ranking official in the Olympic committee sounded like a lie no matter how many times I heard it. Is this really the 21st century?

“Still, it’s not difficult to endure for a few more years. After the Olympics, the coach will have to train other athletes besides me.”

Unlike me, who wanted to get rid of the coach right away, Jung Pureum seemed to think that time would solve everything. How is he going to live in this harsh world, being so naive?

If Jung Pureum really sweeps the gold medals, the coach will just attach himself to Jung Pureum like a leech instead of fostering younger talent. I could guarantee this, if nothing else.

How many sports-related corruption scandals have I seen on the front page of the news? Short track, speed skating, basketball, volleyball, baseball… countless sports flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.

“The coach knows about your shoulder problem too, right?”

“For now, yes.”

“You need to get better quickly before the training camp. Stop by the clinic when you have time. I’ll take a look at it.”

I will definitely show you the greatness of moxa…

While I was deeply contemplating moxa and the coach, Jung Pureum changed his phone settings to silent. It seemed he had decided not to answer the coach’s incessant calls at all.

Contrary to his gentle-looking impression, Jung Pureum was also secretly strong-willed. Come to think of it, he shares the same bloodline as Jung Saebom, so there was no way Jung Pureum would be that much of a pushover.

“Pureum. Can hyung ask you just one thing?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Are you, by any chance, this nice only to me?”

“…”

“…Never mind, hyung was just being self-important just now. Don’t worry about it.”

Jung Pureum rolled his eyes.

After observing him for eight years, Jung Pureum was a gentle and polite young man. Still, you can ignore the coach’s calls, of course. The coach isn’t a good guy, so what’s the point of being so polite to him?

I decided not to question Jung Pureum’s biased attitude any further. Anyway, he’s good to me, so that’s enough.

The moxa treatment was incredibly effective, just as I had expected. Oriental medicine is truly great! I once again marveled at the wisdom of our ancestors and the endless development of oriental medicine.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes, it doesn’t hurt anymore even when I go in the water.”

“You’re not lying? What does your team doctor say?”

“He said that going to the oriental clinic seems to be effective.”

Jung Pureum’s team doctor seemed to be an open-minded person. Seeing as he’s close to Lee Seolwoo, he might have a bit of a loose tongue, but he didn’t seem like a bad person.

The acupuncture room was filled with the scent of moxa. The smell of moxa at an oriental clinic is probably several times stronger than the pheromones of a trait-user going through rut or heat.

I checked Jung Pureum’s back, which was left with moxa marks. I couldn’t tell exactly where it hurt, so I had placed moxa in several places, and as a result, Jung Pureum’s back was quite splendid with moxa marks.

“You won’t be able to show your back to anyone for a while.”

“Well, there’s no one to show it to besides you anyway, hyung.”

“Right, from now on, be modest and only wear a full-body swimsuit.”

At my words, Jung Pureum laughed out loud. I was being serious, but it seemed he took it as a joke.

“When did you say you were going into the training camp?”

“Next week. After the weekend.”

“It’ll be hard to contact you once you’re in.”

“I’ll still call you regularly.”

Jung Pureum’s entry into the training camp was just around the corner.

Is this how parents feel when they send their son to the military? The reality is that he’s going in to win a gold medal to get a military exemption, but my heart ached. Because I won’t be able to see him for much longer than usual training camps.

“I won’t be able to see you for a while once you’re in the training camp…”

Jung Pureum stealthily leaned his body against me. It wasn’t much different from what he used to do 100 days before the college entrance exam.

However, I now knew the implication of Jung Pureum’s actions.

“You’re probably not doing this to ask me to buy you a meal.”

“…”

“What, you want a kiss or something?”

“…Sometimes I can’t believe you’ve progressed this much, hyung.”

“You can’t believe all sorts of things.”

“A year ago, when I asked for a supportive kiss, you pushed me away saying you’d make me some gongjindan…”

“Why is your memory so good? Forget about that quickly.”

“How could I forget that.”

Come to think of it, the contract that Jung Pureum and I wrote was weighing on my mind. Even though it was a contract written without notarization, I couldn’t just leave it in limbo.

“We’ll have to look at the contract we wrote again later.”

I’m pretty sure there was a clause that said it would be voided if either of us got into a relationship…

After the Olympics, if Jung Pureum and I start dating, the contract we wrote back then will become useless. I think I was trembling with fear that Jung Pureum would sue me when we first signed it, time really flies.

I suddenly kissed Jung Pureum on the lips. Jung Pureum’s eyes widened at the unexpected surprise kiss. Haha, how about that! My surprise attack skills!

However, before I could indulge in the pride of being a genius of surprise attacks, Jung Pureum pulled me in again. A kiss that was a bit too much to be called a peck followed.

It’s truly a cheesy and embarrassing thing.

I smiled helplessly and hugged Jung Pureum. What in the world is happening in this sacred oriental clinic…