#131

But for some reason, Kyung Seung-hee and Jung-hyun did not marry. Had she discovered she was pregnant after the engagement was broken? Whatever the reason, it was an opportunity given to him by God.

“CEO. I still….”

I love you. So, wouldn’t you like to start over one more time? If you’re okay with it, I want to be Ho-ppang’s father.

That was what he intended to say. Had the ringing of a phone not shattered the silence.

Because he hadn’t changed the settings on his old phone, the ringtone was one of the cheering songs of the Montreal Highlights. As cheering songs usually are, it was incredibly loud and passionate.

The atmosphere was completely unsuitable for a serious conversation. Ho-jae awkwardly cut himself off and checked his phone.

The caller was a scout from the US. Only then did he remember an important schedule he had completely forgotten. He was supposed to meet the scout this afternoon for meetings and tests with two different clubs.

『Hello. Yes, I’ll get ready and head out soon. I’ll see you there.』

After finishing the call, Ho-jae looked up and spoke to Jung-hyun, who was still inside the kitchen.

“Something urgent came up, so I think I have to go now. Um, would it be okay if I washed these clothes and returned them to you later?”

Jung-hyun nodded.

Though his attire was somewhat embarrassing, he was glad that Lucas’s house wasn’t very far. He had to hurry to get back to his room, change his clothes, pack his gear, and reach the place where the scout was waiting. Just as he put on his sneakers and looked up, Jung-hyun had come out to see him off.

“I guess today is the day of your test. Do well. Though I’m sure you will.”

“…I think I’ll do even better thanks to that.”

Instead of answering, Jung-hyun smiled. Ho-jae’s cheeks flushed. Just as he was about to step out the front door, Jung-hyun called his name. With a glad heart, he turned around immediately, and Jung-hyun handed him an umbrella.

“It’s raining, so you should take an umbrella.”

He had almost forgotten to take one despite the rain. At the same time, he felt a twinge of regret that it was still raining.

If it hadn’t been raining, Jung-hyun would have forgotten to hand him the umbrella, and then he could have used the excuse of the left-behind umbrella to visit his house once more. Ho-jae moistened his lips, hesitated, and then spoke.

“Can I come pick up my clothes tomorrow? I didn’t bring many. I’ll come around this time tomorrow. Oh, but I can’t give back the clothes I borrowed tomorrow. It’ll be late by the time I get back from the test, and Lucas asked me not to run the washing machine late at night. I’ll wash them and give them back the day after tomorrow. Is that… okay?”

Because he was trying to do something he wasn’t used to, he became talkative. As he beat around the bush, trying to say he’d come tomorrow and the day after while gauging the other’s reaction, Jung-hyun, who had been listening quietly, slightly wrinkled his nose and curled one side of his lip.

“Are you hitting on me right now?”

The expression on Jung-hyun’s face as he said that was so handsome. Ho-jae was momentarily dazed, staring at his face, and reacted a beat late.

“Huh? Hitting on you…?”

He was about to deny it out of habit, but a sudden thought struck him, and he looked straight into Jung-hyun’s eyes.

“But if I were hitting on you… would you fall for it?”

After blurting that out, his heart pounded so violently. It was painfully obvious that he had no immunity to such words.

Jung-hyun bit his lip slightly, and in the next moment, he gave a bright smile.

“No.”

“…Then I’m not hitting on you. I’ll be going now, see you tomorrow.”

If he had ears and a tail like Crunch, they would undoubtedly be drooping low.

He was glad he hadn’t confessed earlier. He had been rejected in Korea; there was no way his confession would be accepted just because the location had changed. He had realized the obvious far too late. Or perhaps he should be glad he realized it now….

“Phew.”

Stepping out the front door, Ho-jae slapped his own cheeks. Get it together.

If he wanted to be with him in the future, he had to successfully complete today’s tryout.

* * *

While clearing away the cup Shin Ho-jae had used, Jung-hyun’s gaze fell upon the uniform neatly spread out on the dining table.

To think that the person who had left this uniform behind was Shin Ho-jae’s father. It felt both regrettable and fascinating. The only regret was that if the lighting had been a bit brighter back then, he might have recognized him as Shin Ho-jae’s father. The father he had seen in the funeral portrait looked very much like him.

If he had, he could have talked with his father longer, and he could have told the struggling Shin Ho-jae that story much sooner at the funeral home.

Jung-hyun let out a thin sigh and placed two mugs into the dishwasher. Then, he brewed a new tea capsule. This time, it was the same rooibos tea Ho-jae had.

Sip. After taking a sip of the warm tea that had cooled to a suitable temperature, he quietly placed his hand on his lower abdomen.

He felt a small, fluttering throb. He couldn’t tell if it was Ho-ppang’s heartbeat or his own. His own heart had been beating too loudly for a while now.

“Phew.”

Let’s admit it. The fact that he had been feeling restless ever since seeing Shin Ho-jae. Hadn’t he realized firsthand last night that trying to force himself to calm down with warm tea was useless? Jung-hyun let out a long sigh and set the tea down on the table.

This feeling is only for now. Dreaming a happy dream until Shin Ho-jae finished his business in the US was enough.

It was right for him and Shin Ho-jae to be apart. No matter how much of a confirmation he had gotten from his father, as long as Kwon Ki-hyuk existed, the threat toward him would remain. Thus, Jung-hyun’s thoughts were not a single inch different from when he had broken up with him.

It was a matter that required no deeper thought. If he had wanted to be with him, he should have done it when he told him to run away; what right did he have to feel this way now?

To divert his thoughts, Jung-hyun picked up the mug and headed to the living room. The living room was in a slightly better state than the morning’s carnage.

This was thanks to him roughly wiping up all the pooled water and placing the emptied bucket back under the air duct while Shin Ho-jae was washing in the bathroom.

Jung-hyun sat down using the sofa as a backrest and opened the laptop on the coffee table. He planned to move the bird’s nest to a safe place as soon as the rain let up. As he opened a YouTube window and typed ‘how to move a bird’s nest,’ he suddenly saw a video with a strange title below the search bar.

[The Situation Where Korea Aviation VP Kwon Ki-hyuk is Fucked (feat. Murder Evidence Found)]

“……?”

The words following the name Kwon Ki-hyuk were extremely dissonant.

The public’s evaluation of Kwon Ki-hyuk was flawless. It was only natural, considering there was a separate department within the group dedicated to managing his reputation and cleaning up his messes.

Fucked situation… and murder evidence…?

As if possessed, Jung-hyun played the video.

Whether it was an information YouTube channel that dealt with public issues, a calm voice quickly summarized the current situation of Myeong-jeong and the ‘murder evidence’ that Jung-hyun was most curious about.

To summarize, a few days ago, a worker at the Incheon Container Terminal picked up a piece of trash. It was a broken pen, but when he accidentally pressed the button, a recorded voice played. It wasn’t a pen, but a pen-shaped recorder.

The worker immediately recognized the voice coming from the pen as ‘Kwon Ki-hyuk’s.’ He, too, had seen the Ace Detective YouTube video that had garnered a whopping 8 million views.

Sensing that this broken recorder would be a crucial piece of evidence in the case, the worker immediately delivered the recorder to the jurisdictional police station, and the content explained that intense interest was gathering over whether this could be the decisive evidence that Kwon Ki-hyuk murdered Kim In-jung.

Jung-hyun couldn’t snap out of it for a long time amidst the pouring information.

Since arriving in the US, he had intentionally built a wall between himself and any news regarding Shin Ho-jae and Myeong-jeong. Regarding Shin Ho-jae, he did so because searching for him only left lingering regrets, and regarding the latter, he believed it was the right thing to do for his mother.

Jung-hyun clicked through the videos about the case that the algorithm suggested. By the time he had checked every video, article, and reaction, two hours had flown by.

Gurgle.

“Sorry, Ho-ppang. Daddy isn’t in a position to eat anything right now.”

Since arriving in the US, he had always put Ho-ppang first, so if Ho-ppang could hear him, the baby might feel hurt. However, there was no way he had the leisure to put anything in his mouth. This was because Du-min’s live video was filling the laptop screen. With a trembling heart, Jung-hyun pressed the play button.

At the beginning of the video, Shin Ho-jae was lying on the ground in athletic wear. It was just as he unconsciously leaned closer to the screen to see more clearly.

Jung-hyun’s shoulders flinched.

Kwon Ki-hyuk swung his foot and kicked Shin Ho-jae’s shoulder hard. A dull sound, like hitting a punching bag with all one’s might, was heard, and Shin Ho-jae clutched his shoulder with a pained expression.

Unable to watch any more, he slammed the laptop lid shut. His heart was beating violently fast.

132 – PUCK DROP