#11

Despite the buzzing atmosphere, the scheduled fitness tests proceeded in sequence.

The fitness test was a time to evaluate the players’ stamina and agility before preparing for the new season.

As it was the first schedule marking the end of a short off-season, these tests were usually conducted in a friendly atmosphere, much like classmates reuniting in a classroom after summer break, but today was different.

Rumors that players with poor performance last season had failed to renew their contracts in droves had proven to be true. Those vacancies were filled by youthful players who had just graduated from college.

Furthermore, the newly appointed coach was standing right next to the trainer, insisting on checking the players’ physical condition himself, which naturally forced the players to take a more serious attitude.

Starting with the trainer’s short blast of the whistle, the players sprinted down the athletic track.

“Wow, damn. It’s been a while, I feel like I’m dying. Since Ho Jae-shin was running next to me, I unconsciously went all out. Ah, I’m hungry. Everything I ate this morning is already digested.”

As the players who finished the fitness test swarmed back into the locker room, the space was filled with the characteristic sour and humid air. Groans of exhaustion poured out from everywhere.

Among the players who cast off their clothes down to their underwear without hesitation, Shin Ho-jae tossed his sweat-soaked top into a plastic bag inside his bag.

“Ho Jae-shin, Dumin-ssi. You guys aren’t leaving right away, right? Let’s go recharge our energy.”

“What are we eating?”

“Meat, definitely.”

“I’m in.”

After showering and changing into new athletic wear, the three of them packed their bags side by side. Yuk Du-min, who was sensitive to the smell of sweat, came out a bit late because he was spraying deodorant until the very end.

It was just as they left the locker room and were passing the coaches’ room. The door opened, and the Blue Wolves’ goalie, Ahn Dong-ju, stepped out. Du-min greeted him brightly.

“Hyung. Have you eaten?”

“Uh, no. I’m just going home.”

“Aren’t you hungry? The new coach is scary-strict.”

“Ah… I’ve lost my appetite. I was cut from the starting lineup.”

“What?”

“Excuse me?”

Yuk Du-min and Ji Min-chul asked back with surprised eyes.

“They say a new goalie brought in from Russia is joining starting next week. It’s absurd, but looking at how things are going, I think I’m lucky to at least remain on the team as a backup…”

Ahn Dong-ju trailed off.

He was speaking while thinking of the players who had to retire overnight because their contract renewals fell through. Since he had played for the team for five years, the retirement of his peers seemed to hit him harder.

“The club is ruthless about cutting players this time. Others say it’s great that a conglomerate acquired them… but I’m not so sure.”

Ahn Dong-ju left after saying something that felt pointed.

* * *

The three of them sat in a spacious seat by the window, spreading hamburgers, french fries, and colas across the table. With Shin Ho-jae at 192cm, Ji Min-chul who was slightly taller, and Yuk Du-min at 179cm, the six-person seat was packed tight.

The back-rib place they originally intended to go to happened to be closed, so they had changed the menu to Burger King since they had a discount coupon.

It wasn’t a food they ate often considering their health, but facing junk food after a long time did stir up their appetite. Ho-jae chose two hamburgers without fries and a cola for his share.

“Coach Park was still here when we had our inauguration ceremony. It feels strange.”

“It’s scary that even the hyungs are leaving one after another. If we slip up, we might get sliced too.”

“Player Yuk, please work harder.”

“I’m doing fine, so you should work harder, Player Ji.”

“But the new coach speaks English well.”

“You speak Korean well, so take pride in that too.”

“True. It’s truly the era of K-culture.”

“Exactly. Now it’s K-sports’ turn!”

Giggling, Du-min took out his phone and typed the new coach’s name into a foreign search engine.

“Peter Choi, right? Ho-jae, Ho-jae, is he someone you know?”

Ho-jae shook his head while unwrapping his burger. Peter was someone who had transitioned to coaching around the time Shin Ho-jae was playing in the CJHL*, so there was no point of contact.

*Canada Junior Hockey League

“Oh, wow. He’s lifted the Stanley Cup* three times?”

“Next time I see him, I should ask if he’s bitten the Stanley Cup. ‘Did you bite Stanley Cup? Is it real silver?'”

“Would he actually bite it?”

“Why not? Don’t you know that biting the YouTube silver button first is K-culture?”

*The NHL championship trophy

Listening to the sounds of laughter, Shin Ho-jae took a large bite of his hamburger. One cheek quickly bulged.

He was trying to follow the advice that it’s good to chew twenty times, but strangely, there was always no food left in his mouth after about ten chews. How on earth does one eat for a long time? Since Du-min and Min-chul were faster eaters than him, they were of no help.

“Anyway, it seems the owner was serious about making us win the championship.”

“Tell me about it.”

At the sudden mention of the owner, Shin Ho-jae’s expression stiffened, though not enough for the other two to notice.

It had only been a week since he finished fulfilling the first contract with Kwon Jung-hyun. It was too early for the sensation of that first kiss to fade.

The surface of the lips that were slightly colder and rougher than expected, the hot tongue that swept through his mouth without hesitation.

“…Fuck.”

As if to erase his thoughts, Shin Ho-jae gulped down the cola in the cup. The carbonation that stung his throat made him feel a bit more awake.

Unlike him, the man was skilled at kissing. Yes, that must be why. Why that terrible sensation kept coming back.

A man who harbored an inferiority complex toward Alphas. For a reason as trivial as that, he harassed Alpha secretaries and engaged in verbal abuse and even physical violence.

The truly fortunate thing was that after that first kiss ended, Jung-hyun had stepped out to take someone’s call. Kwon Jung-hyun had told him he could make himself comfortable in the hotel room, but Shin Ho-jae left the place as soon as he stepped out.

“Whoa, you scared me. Why the sudden swearing, Ho-jae, Ho-jae?”

At those words, Shin Ho-jae looked up. Du-min was looking at him with a bewildered face. Did I swear…? As he just blinked, Min-chul nudged his side.

“Right? Ho Jae-shin is also surprised that Coach Park is gone, isn’t he?”

“Come to think of it, did he not contact you either?”

“Ah, yeah.”

“Really…?”

It was a moment when only the sound of chewing hamburgers echoed in the somewhat darkened atmosphere.

Ka-talk. Ka-talk. Ka-talk. Ka-talk.

Message notification sounds rang consecutively from Du-min’s phone, which was playing videos of Peter Choi’s active playing days. Both Ho-jae and Min-chul reflexively turned their heads toward the sound, and Yuk Du-min snatched the phone with movements almost comparable to those during a match.

“…….”

“…….”

“……Did you see?”

If it was the text content appearing on the screen, of course they saw it. A sentence starting with ‘Honey’. Shin Ho-jae’s dynamic visual acuity was among the best of the players. And the same went for Ji Min-chul.

“Dumin-ssi, you.”

“N-no! A call suddenly came in!”

“…….”

“Hello?! Ah, yes, yes, you say you can’t hear me well? Oops! Just a moment!”

Because he was fiddling with the phone so noisily, it was impossible to tell if a call had actually come in or if he had made the call himself.

Watching Yuk Du-min’s back as he hurried away from the table with the phone pressed to his ear, Shin Ho-jae and Ji Min-chul looked at each other simultaneously.

“I told you Yuk Du-min has been strange lately.”

“True. He is strange.”

“I’m telling you, he’s acting like he actually got a girlfriend.”

“Maybe he did.”

“How can you say that so easily?”

“Then what. Should I say it with difficulty?”

“No, don’t you feel a sense of betrayal?”

“Why would I feel betrayal? Is this the first time Yuk Du-min got a girlfriend? Then I should congratulate him.”

“Ha… I have nothing to say when you suddenly make a valid point…”

Shin Ho-jae glanced at Yuk Du-min through the large window.

He could see the back of the man, whose cheekbones were particularly prominent, seemingly in the middle of a call. Even to him, he looked different from usual. He thought Du-min would spend his whole life talking about Shin Yeon-jae.

For a split second, the thought ‘Surely the partner isn’t Shin Yeon-jae…?’ crossed his mind, but recalling Shin Yeon-jae, who had been exactly the same as usual this morning, he concluded that it wasn’t the case.

“Ho Jae-shin, aren’t you dating?”

Ji Min-chul, who had been chewing the straw of his finished cola, asked abruptly.

“What’s with the sudden question?”

“Seeing Yuk Du-min like that makes me feel lonely too. Suddenly my heart feels restless. If you start dating too, I don’t think I’ll recover.”

“If you’re envious, make one for yourself.”

“I’m not really into it.”

“I heard you dated a lot in high school. Why stop all of a sudden?”

Unlike Yuk Du-min, who acted like a giant elementary schooler and had no real substance in dating, Ji Min-chul was surprisingly popular.

His talkative nature was a personality trait reserved only for Yuk Du-min, and thanks to his tendency to suddenly become quiet in front of others, he was well-liked. His face was on the masculine side, and crucially, he had manners built-in—something even Shin Ho-jae lacked.

It was actually more surprising that such a guy hadn’t had a girlfriend throughout the college league.

“I found friendship more precious than dating. I realized that after a few failed relationships.”

“Whatever…”

“What do you know? A guy who skipped his childhood friend’s birthday party just to manage his condition?”

“Ah, here we go again.”

“You know Dumin-ssi was really hurt back then, right? Were you the only one with a match? It was a match we were all playing in. He just asked to eat together for one hour and go to a coin karaoke, and you rejected him so coldly.”

It was something from middle school when they attended school together. Then and now, Shin Ho-jae took terrible care of his condition. To the point of rejecting his best friend’s birthday party.

“I was a bit young back then.”

“Uh-huh?”

“If it were now, I would have shut him up with a gift first.”

“Sincerity is what matters, you punk! On a friend’s once-a-year birthday!”

“Yuk Du-min would probably like that.”

“…I guess so?”

The two of them chuckled to each other. Then Ji Min-chul looked at Shin Ho-jae with a serious face.

“You’re the one who should date. Stop just going back and forth between home and the training center. You dumped that announcer noona last year too. She was pretty.”

“I don’t have time to date.”

“It’s always guys like this who date in secret…”

“Not me. You know my family situation.”

“Hmm.”

Min-chul, knowing the situation, gave a slightly awkward look. Meeting his gaze, Ho-jae ended up grinning.

Love or dating was a luxury for him right now.

If he were to meet someone, it would be best when both his career and family had entered a somewhat stable orbit. Thinking that, Shin Ho-jae unwrapped the last remaining hamburger.

Suddenly, someone’s face flashed through his mind, but he shook his head, thinking it must be because of that damn kiss again.

12 – Puck Drop