#126

Ho-jae climbed into his father’s old car parked in the hospital parking lot.

Recently, using public transportation had become a bit difficult. It was because more people recognized him following Ace Detective’s broadcast and Du-min’s live stream. Thanks to that, his driving had improved slightly.

As he inserted the key and turned it to the right, the engine started with a loud, noisy roar. Before the car had fully warmed up, he pulled the seatbelt strap. With a click, it locked into the clip. Every time he heard this sound, a certain story came to mind.

‘I hated this.’

‘The feeling of being constricted felt suffocating.’

Following that, Kwon Ki-hyuk’s voice echoed in his mind.

‘I strangled him. Every single night. I wanted him to just drop dead.’

At some point, he began to think that these two stories might be connected. Whenever that thought occurred, his heart grew heavy.

The phone mounted on the dashboard vibrated. It was a call from Peter, who was still in Korea doing some proper sightseeing. Ho-jae put the gear in park and pressed the call button.

“Hello.”

—Ho-jae!

Peter poured out words like a rapid-fire gun in a slightly excited tone.

—I showed a few of your videos to a scout in the States, and he was very interested. He remembered you from when you played in Montreal. He said you’ve improved significantly since then. I agree with him, of course. Do you have any intention of challenging the NHL again?

Ho-jae raised an eyebrow. It was an unexpected proposal.

—How about taking a formal tryout with a US team? I believe you’re more than worth it.

Peter chatted excitedly, then perhaps remembering his position as the manager of the Blue Wolves, he cleared his throat.

—Of course, as the manager of the Blue Wolves, it’s a bit of a shame. But I believe the Blue Wolves are strong enough even without Shin Ho-jae. I think making the team that way is the manager’s job.

The NHL. A childhood dream he had once set aside. His mind went blank for a moment at the unexpected opportunity. However, it was difficult to answer immediately. The matter of the disappeared Jung-hyun weighed most heavily on his mind. This was similar to why he hadn’t responded to the transfer offers from the Tigers and the Red Falcons. He wanted to be close by, just in case something happened to him.

“Peter, I’m truly grateful for the offer, but I don’t think now is the time for me to be far away.”

Suddenly, Peter said, “Ah, I forgot to mention the most important part,” and paused meaningfully. Ho-jae glanced at the time.

“Peter, but I have to drive right now…”

—I think Hugh is in the US right now.

Their words overlapped. But the sentence reached Ho-jae’s ears clearly.

Shin Ho-jae stood there with his mouth agape, holding the phone to his ear in silence for a long while before asking haltingly.

“…How did you know that?”

—I got an email from Hugh. He said he wanted to retrieve some of his belongings that I was keeping. I had helped clear out Hugh’s house in the US a while back. Guess what I told him? I told him I couldn’t remember where I put his things. I told him I’d find them and send them later, so he should give me his address. I used a bit of quick wit.

“…”

—Well? Doesn’t that make it tempting?

* * *

“Hugh! Are you on your way back from the hospital?”

A grey-haired man jogging in athletic wear waved happily and stopped in front of Jung-hyun. As he stopped, his chubby dog flopped onto the ground and panted.

“Lucas. Not the hospital yet, I was just heading to the general store. Hello, Crunch.”

The dark brown dog called Crunch licked Jung-hyun’s ankle with its long, lolling tongue. Seeing this, Lucas apologized and pulled Crunch’s leash, but Jung-hyun replied that it was fine. As he stroked the dog’s head, Crunch wagged its tail while lounging limply.

He was told the dog was an Irish Setter mix, but unlike a hound, Crunch hated exercising. After being neutered, he had gained too much weight, so his owner, Lucas, made him exercise three times a day. Though it didn’t seem to be particularly effective.

Lucas looked at Jung-hyun and Crunch with curiosity and spoke.

“Crunch really likes you, Hugh. He doesn’t usually like people much. If you’re okay with it, could I ask you to walk Crunch again next time?”

“I’d love to; it’s good exercise for me thanks to Crunch. Oh, more importantly, do you know anywhere nearby that sells things like buckets?”

“Buckets? Hmm. Aren’t those sold at TarX or AmaX…? Why? Did something else in your house need repairing again?”

Jung-hyun shrugged slightly and said.

“I thought it rained a lot last night, and when I woke up this morning, the living room was flooded. I think there’s a leak in the air duct, and since I can’t do anything about it immediately, I thought I’d at least buy some buckets…”

At that, Lucas spoke up passionately, asking what on earth he was talking about.

“Hugh! Didn’t you see that there’s a rain forecast for the next week? What if it pours and the buckets overflow?! You can’t spend all night emptying buckets!”

“Ah… I did try inquiring with a repair company…”

“I’ll help you! You know that’s my specialty! You’re pregnant, Hugh, you shouldn’t overexert yourself!”

Jung-hyun simply smiled.

He was grateful for the offer, but Lucas had previously stayed at Jung-hyun’s house for two days while helping with repairs. Thanks to that, the heater and roof issues were resolved well, but Jung-hyun felt a strange ulterior motive from him and was reluctant to keep receiving such favors.

“I’ll try it myself first, and if it really doesn’t work, I’ll ask you.”

“…Promise.”

After saying goodbye to a slightly sulky Lucas, Jung-hyun stopped by the neighbor’s house. Margaret, who had a warm impression, told him she could lend him a ladder that was left in her basement.

After thanking her, Jung-hyun returned to his house with the folding ladder tucked under his arm. The steel ladder was quite heavy, so his back hurt a bit by the time he arrived.

Jung-hyun set the ladder to one side of the yard and stretched his stiff back. As he leaned back fully, his slightly swollen belly finally became noticeable.

Jung-hyun smiled softly and habitually stroked his lower abdomen. His small complaint lately was that it wasn’t noticeable at all when he wore clothes. Other expectant mothers he met at the hospital seemed to have quite prominent bellies even at a similar gestational age.

Well, regardless, as long as the baby grew healthily, it didn’t matter if the belly wasn’t big. Jung-hyun adjusted the position of the ladder and carefully climbed up.

On the exterior wall of the 1.5-story detached house where Jung-hyun lived, he saw the air duct hole where the air conditioner wind passed through. Jung-hyun used force to rip off the loosely covered lid and shone his phone flashlight inside.

Nearly a month had passed since he had rented a suitable property in a residential area near New York. At first, he looked for properties in quieter areas, but since the hospital famous for its premature baby incubators was in Manhattan, New York, he couldn’t move too far away. Considering any possible emergency, it was better to be close to the hospital.

After coming to the US, Jung-hyun’s life became quite monotonous. He slept more, making sure to get his morning and afternoon naps without any interruptions, and since he heard that cooking for himself was better for the fetus than delivery or instant food, he bought ingredients and made something resembling cooking with his clumsy skills. After that, he did housework and browsed the internet for things to decorate the baby’s room, and the day passed quickly.

Although he had lived alone in the US for ten years, he had never actually done laundry or cleaning himself back then. Despite that, he hated people coming into his house, so he would let the place get dirty to the limit and then occasionally call a part-time cleaner. Naturally, there was no way he had ever tried repairing a house himself.

It was embarrassing to admit, but he hadn’t known that taking full responsibility for a house required so much effort. Furthermore, what would it be like to take responsibility for a person’s life? He felt he was a lacking father in many ways.

It would be a task easily solved if he hired someone, but unlike in Korea, people didn’t come immediately just because he called, and since there was another rain forecast starting tonight, he decided to try and solve it himself.

Things he had never dared to try in his life became tasks he felt motivated to do when he thought of the baby in his womb. He felt that if a man who was about to become a father couldn’t even handle this much on his own, he wouldn’t be a good role model for the baby.

Looking inside with the flashlight, Jung-hyun frowned. The inside of the air duct was a mess, covered in clumps of dust. It was only at this level because the rain had washed some of it away.

Should he just block this off entirely? But he didn’t know what would happen if he blocked a facility meant for air circulation.

“Sigh.”

As expected, it wasn’t something to be taken lightly. He scratched his head in frustration. It was then that the alarm he had set on the phone he was using as a flashlight went off. Today was the day of his hospital appointment.

“Welcome, Hugh. Are you still sleeping and eating well these days?”

A middle-aged doctor with a cheerful impression greeted Jung-hyun warmly. When Jung-hyun nodded, she had him lie down on the bed.

“I’m glad the morning sickness ended quickly. Or perhaps it’s thanks to the Alpha pheromones Hugh brought? In my 20 years of medical practice, this is the first time I’ve seen a pregnant woman receive pheromones separately because her husband is far away.”

Jung-hyun smiled awkwardly.

The pheromones she was referring to were Shin Ho-jae’s pheromones, which had been collected at the pheromone center in Seoul. Since Jung-hyun had been injected with Omega pheromones that had their labels swapped, Shin Ho-jae’s pheromones had remained intact at the center.

Before coming to the US, Jung-hyun had requested and received those pheromones from the center. It was because he had heard somewhere that the fetus grows much healthier if the biological father’s pheromones are present.

In fact, hadn’t he felt it enough in Namhae? That he slept better and could eat more when he was by Shin Ho-jae’s side. Even if it wasn’t as good as having Shin Ho-jae right next to him, he thought concentrated pheromones could sufficiently serve that role.

Jung-hyun’s thinking proved correct, and the fetus, which had been much smaller than its gestational age, was growing steadily without any issues. This little one really does have strong vitality, he thought. Jung-hyun smiled faintly.

“Thanks to that, the fetus is growing very healthily. At this rate, I think we can be a bit more ambitious than the initial goal of 6 months. No matter how good our hospital’s incubators are, the best environment for a fetus is everything contained in the mother’s amniotic fluid.”

Instead of answering, Jung-hyun just smiled quietly. The doctor didn’t know, but the pheromones of Shin Ho-jae that Jung-hyun brought were exactly a 6-month supply. Therefore, after that, he intended to actively utilize this hospital’s incubator system. That was why he had sought out the most famous hospital for incubators in the US from the start.

The doctor lowered the ultrasound monitor to a position where Jung-hyun could see. Jung-hyun widened his eyes and focused on the screen.

Now in the 5th month. If the first ultrasound image looked like a small droplet, it was now a profile that clearly looked like a human.

A small smile played on Jung-hyun’s lips. The protruding round forehead and high bridge of the nose were so clearly visible even in the ultrasound image. If the baby took after him, it would have been a bit flatter, so it seemed certain that the baby took after Ho-jae rather than himself.

“Do you remember I told you that hearing and taste develop during this period? It’s good to talk to the fetus whenever you think of it. What did you say the baby’s name was? It was definitely Ho…”

The doctor trailed off and looked at Jung-hyun. He had mentioned in Korea that they give the fetus a nickname, and perhaps that had left an impression, as she asked whenever she remembered.

If he had known this, he shouldn’t have brought up the nickname. Although he had lived in the US for ten years, he had only recently learned that they don’t usually give nicknames to fetuses here. Well, he hadn’t had many opportunities to be close with other pregnant women until now.

“Hmm?”

The face asking with a light prompt had, naturally, not a shred of malice. Jung-hyun eventually gave up resisting and gave the answer she wanted.

“Ho-ppang… it is.”

127 – PUCK DROP