#13

“Ho-jae, Ho-jae! Did you hear? Did you hear?”

“What.”

“Our training camp location!”

Yuk Du-min and Ji Min-chul, who had arrived at the locker room first, stood before Shin Ho-jae, making a fuss. Ho-jae responded indifferently as he untied his skate laces.

“Isn’t it Ulsan?”

It had always been the custom for the Blue Wolves’ summer training camp to be held in Ulsan. The reason was that it cost less since they could use the vacant dormitories of a university located there.

Yuk Du-min curled one corner of his mouth up mischievously and flicked his index finger from side to side. Beside him, Ji Min-chul was adding sound effects—”Tutu-tutu-tutu!”—making the scene utterly distracting.

“Forget the money, surprise! Our summer training location is~ Can-a-da!”

“……Where?”

“Canada! Isn’t that insane!”

“Shout it out, God MJ!”

Yuk Du-min pressed his index and middle fingers to his lips before throwing his arms up in the air in a cheer. Ji Min-chul followed suit with a face full of emotion.

“…….”

Shin Ho-jae stopped untying his laces and stared at the two of them.

Only then did he hear the other older players talking with excited faces. Everyone was unable to hide their excitement at the news of an overseas training camp.

Until now, the Blue Wolves had frequently suffered from a lack of proper support due to the indifference of their former parent company, Daeyang Shipbuilding.

Having played in Canada, Shin Ho-jae felt this more acutely than anyone. Not to mention the facilities, even the cafeteria had been poor and cramped.

However, many things had changed since they came under the MJ Sports Group.

First, the cafeteria menu was completely overhauled. Second, the technician who managed the skate sharpening was hired as a full-time employee. He had been working there since the ice rink in Suwon was first built, and it was surprising that he hadn’t been a permanent employee until now.

According to the technician, the club had even replaced old equipment that had been used for nearly twenty years. Since skate blades were the most important part for ice athletes, the players were extremely satisfied.

The next change was the fitness center. An extension was built, and the latest equipment was brought in. They were specialized ice hockey training machines, the same kind Shin Ho-jae had used in Canada.

Furthermore, physical coaches brought from abroad by Peter began managing the players’ skating skills, strength, and conditioning, categorized by position.

Was it just his imagination? He felt as though every change, including the training camp location, reflected the conversations he had shared with Kwon Jung-hyun in the office.

Well, it was probably a coincidence. Since they said they were working on improving the Myeong-jeong Group’s image, they were likely just pretending to care about the club for a while.

Regardless, these were very satisfying changes for Shin Ho-jae. Last season, he had felt overwhelmed internally while acting as a mentor to the coaches, but now that experts were systematically managing the players’ bodies, he could focus solely on his own training.

“This is so fucking annoying. The physical coach says all the training I did with my personal trainer was wrong. Fuck, what am I supposed to do?”

“Ah, I wasn’t sure either. Don’t you think it was more comfortable when we did it alone?”

“Just pretend to follow along and hire a separate personal trainer. They aren’t interested in us anyway.”

It seemed not everyone felt the same way, though.

“That’s true. Even earlier, they spent over thirty minutes looking after only Shin Ho-jae.”

“The club and the coaches are openly discriminating against players, huh?”

Shin Ho-jae looked up toward the source of the voices.

It was forward Moon Seung-yeol, center Lee Sang-gon, and backup goalie Ahn Dong-ju, who had been dropped from the starting lineup this season. Ahn Dong-ju wasn’t originally part of that group, but it seemed Moon Seung-yeol had pulled him in after he lost his starting spot.

Moon Seung-yeol and Lee Sang-gon were the only two players in the Blue Wolves with the Beta trait.

In the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, there was a pervasive atmosphere of excluding Beta athletes regardless of their ability. Because of this, it was common for those who failed to manifest as Alphas in childhood to give up their athletic careers, though there were cases like them who continued sports despite not manifesting.

These were cases of having so-called ‘connections.’ Lee Sang-gon, who drove a Ferrari to work, fell into that category, while Moon Seung-yeol was slightly different.

Rumor had it that he had been a speed skater but switched to ice hockey in middle school because he didn’t manifest. Since the stronger the association, the stronger the atmosphere of excluding non-Alphas, he must have switched sports out of necessity.

He had likely spent his life from childhood until now protecting his position while overcoming countless prejudices and rejections. In that regard, he was undoubtedly a respectable athlete, but it was difficult to respect him as an elder when he behaved like that every time.

When Shin Ho-jae looked over, they stared back with sharp glares. As the standoff lingered, Yuk Du-min lightly tapped Ho-jae’s shoulder, signaling him to stop.

Only then did Shin Ho-jae turn his head away. He wasn’t avoiding them out of fear, but because they were like filth. He didn’t want to create unnecessary noise within the team.

* * *

“Shin Ho-jae, Shin Ho-jae. You absolutely have to buy this. They say it’s a liquor with maple syrup in it.”

Shin Yeon-jae burst into the room. He was just in the middle of packing for the training camp.

“It’s cheaper if you buy it at a liquor shop downtown, and expensive at the duty-free shop. I’m having a pajama party at a friend’s house, and it would be perfect to open it there. Ah, look at me properly!”

“Ah, you’re annoying.”

“And can’t you buy me just one mug from the Starbucks in Canada? You broke my cup while washing dishes last time.”

“Yeon-jae. Stop bothering your brother while he’s packing and get out.”

“Wait, just a second. I’ve wanted this since we tried to visit Canada a long time ago. Just buy me one of each. Please? I’ll send them all via KakaoTalk, okay? If you buy them, I’ll call you ‘Oppa’ for a week.”

Ho-jae, who had been pushing the clingy Shin Yeon-jae away without even looking at him, suddenly turned his head. His face was quite serious as he called out the other’s full name.

“Shin Yeon-jae.”

“Yeah? Why… No way. I already narrowed down the list as much as I could.”

“It’s not that. By any chance, are you not in contact with Yuk Du-min?”

“Du-min Oppa? No? Why? Does he want to be in touch with me? I’ve been interested in YouTube lately. Introduce me!”

Shin Ho-jae waved his hand at the sparkling-eyed Shin Yeon-jae.

“Never mind. Forget it. Go do your own thing.”

“Then you’re buying me the presents, right?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Ah, come on!”

Even after that, Yuk Du-min hadn’t given detailed information about the existence of a girlfriend. No matter how much he thought about it, there was no reason for it. Unless he had actually started dating Shin Yeon-jae in secret.

That thought had prompted the question, but since the Shin Yeon-jae he knew couldn’t possibly be such a good actor, that wasn’t the case.

“I’m so jealous of Canada~”

Shin Yeon-jae, who showed no sign of leaving, shouted while flopping onto the bed.

“It’s not a vacation.”

“Still. You get to fly. I’ve always wanted to go.”

Ho-jae stopped folding a t-shirt and glanced at Yeon-jae.

Shin Yeon-jae, who was two years younger, had never been to Canada.

Originally, two years ago in the summer, the father, mother, and Shin Yeon-jae were all supposed to go to Canada for a vacation. However, the family trip was naturally canceled because their father suddenly collapsed before spring had even arrived.

It wasn’t as if Shin Ho-jae had visited Korea frequently since then. Even when he did come back, he had never once brought back the common maple syrup.

Shin Ho-jae spoke as he tossed the neatly folded t-shirts into his bag.

“Send them via Kakao. If it’s something I can carry back, I’ll buy it.”

“Really!?”

Shin Yeon-jae jumped up and down, cheering with his arms raised, before leaving the room.

Taking advantage of the newfound silence, Ho-jae packed all the clothes and toiletries he would need for the training camp into a single duffel bag.

It was a small amount of luggage for an 8-day, 7-night trip, but since he had to carry a 25kg equipment bag containing protectors, sticks, and skates, it was better for personal luggage to be as minimal as possible.

On the day of departure, the meeting point was in front of the Blue Wolves’ home stadium.

Arriving a bit early, Ho-jae was greeted with loud greetings from three rookie players who had recently joined the team. The 29-inch suitcases standing beside them caught his eye.

They were large enough to hold at least ten times more luggage than Shin Ho-jae’s duffel bag. Being their first time, they clearly didn’t know that they had to move and check their equipment bags separately from their personal luggage.

“Ho-jae, Ho-jae~ What a beautiful day~!”

Yuk Du-min arrived noisily, filming himself with a camera. When Shin Ho-jae avoided the camera, the clueless rookies became the targets and were held captive by Du-min for a long while.

“Whoa. Is that our bus?”

And just as almost everyone had gathered, two large buses glided in front of the rink.

They were luxury limousine buses, brilliantly wrapped with the new logo and an image of the Blue Wolves’ mascot, a blue wolf, roaring with its mouth wide open.

Furthermore, a medium-sized freight truck with the ‘MJ Transport’ mark was pulling in behind the team bus. The truck carried the equipment that the players had previously had to move by hand during every training camp.

Head Coach Yoo Gu-hwan shouted with a proud face.

“The club has decided to take charge of the dedicated bus and equipment transport. Do you kids have any idea how hard the owner is working to boost your morale!”

“Wooooo!”

Genuine cheers erupted from the players.

Until last season, the Blue Wolves didn’t even have a dedicated bus and had to rent buses from other sports teams. During away games, if they were unlucky, their luggage wouldn’t arrive on time, and they had even played matches using other people’s equipment.

“What should I do. I’m starting to see our owner in a new light,” Yuk Du-min muttered, holding his camera.

And those words were retracted exactly one hour and thirty minutes later, after the flight tickets were in hand.

“I think I love our owner.”

“No. I love him more.”

“Cheol, are we finally going to try the ramen they brew on planes?”

“Player Yuk!”

“Player Ji!”

Yuk Du-min and Ji Min-chul hugged each other, pretending to shed tears.

Ho-jae looked down at the ticket in his hand. The class designation, ‘Business Class,’ was clearly printed.

14 – Puck Drop