#24

＊＊＊

He had definitely lost his mind for a moment.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys. We’ve been dating for about 50 days? It hasn’t been long. I was going to tell you before 100 days. Ah, I’m serious!”

As soon as Shin Ho-jae left that room, he headed to the nearest restroom and locked himself in a stall.

Urgent, he grabbed his sweatpants and underwear together and pulled them down in one go; his erect penis stood straight up, nearly touching his navel.

In his mind, the image of Kwon Jung-hyun he had just seen and the sensation he felt when they kissed replayed vividly, as if about to explode.

“No, as for how we met… my girlfriend was originally ‘Duming.’ Yeah, one of my subscribers. She sent me a DM saying she was a fan. I was bored in the early morning, so I replied a bit, and we just clicked really well. So we ended up meeting in person a few times…”

Ho-jae cursed under his breath and gripped his penis with his right hand. He hadn’t even stroked it a few times before clear pre-cum began to bead at the tip of the glans.

‘Ha, fuck….’

The hem of his t-shirt felt bothersome. With hurried movements, Ho-jae flipped up the hem of his shirt, clamped it in his teeth, and shook the shaft of his cock even faster.

“Huh? Ah, my girlfriend lives in Seoul. It’s true I met her back when we had our launch ceremony. Ah, I told you we weren’t dating then! Anyway, then she asked me to go out first, so I said okay right away.”

Ejaculation came with absurd speed.

‘Ha, ha….’

Ho-jae stared blankly down at the white fluid splattered on the toilet lid and the tiled floor.

His penis had lost some of its hardness, but he was still aroused.

“Hey, hey. Give me a break! Your hyung just got his first girlfriend in his life, so it’s natural to be shy about saying it! How long are you going to be salty about that!”

Compared to other men his age, Shin Ho-jae was relatively modest sexually.

When you did high-intensity training every day to the point of showering in sweat, you didn’t have time to think about masturbating.

Because of that, it had been quite a while since he last released.

“And aren’t our Cheol and Ho-jae-hojae lonely singles? That’s why it was more awkward to tell you. It was like a sense of guilt, as if I alone had slipped away into the world of couples full of dreams and hope?”

Yes, that must be why.

Why the heat wouldn’t leave his groin.

Since he was in no state to return to the dorms like this, Ho-jae had no choice but to grip the shaft of his penis again.

He planned to go back after getting one more round out of his system.

“Hmm? Why do you ask why I call her my girlfriend? What else do you call a girlfriend? Ji, I know you’re jealous and want to pick a fight, but you have to pick a fight that actually makes sense for me to want to play along, right?”

But why was Kwon Jung-hyun appearing in his head again?

The eyes drenched in lust, the moans coming from those rough, cold lips, and the story about how he had masturbated while thinking of him…

“Ah, of course I’ll introduce her! Just wait a bit. Unlike you guys, my girlfriend is quite shy. I have to give her enough time to prepare herself mentally.”

Shin Ho-jae recalled the legs full of wounds, coated in slippery lubricant. And the image of Kwon Jung-hyun stroking his rock-hard erection with his legs spread wide.

“Ah, what are you doing? Hurry up and give me 500 won each. I said it’s been 50 days.”

And at that moment, another climax hit. It was a dizzying pleasure that made his thighs tremble.

Gasping for breath, Ho-jae slammed his fist against the restroom door.

He couldn’t tolerate the fact that he had thought of him at the moment of climax.

“Ho-jae-hojae. You have to give it too!”

Slap!

Ho-jae snapped back to his senses at the stinging pain in his shoulder.

Shin Ho-jae was currently in the double room he shared with Du-min, talking with Du-min and Min-chul. Because he had been daydreaming from the middle, he had barely heard the words that followed. Ho-jae rubbed his tingling shoulder and asked blankly.

“……What?”

“I said give me 500 won!”

Du-min waved his palm in front of Ho-jae’s face. Looking closely, there was a 500-won coin on that palm.

“Uh… 500 won? I don’t have any… is 5 dollars okay?”

“Sigh. Just give me that then!”

Without knowing why, Shin Ho-jae searched his pockets and handed over 5 dollars. Yuk Du-min collected it with a satisfied face.

“It seems our Ho-jae-hojae hit his head during the teamwork training the day before yesterday.”

“Ho Jae-shin. You okay?”

“Let’s let him rest. He must be tired because Lee Sang-gon was picking fights like crazy today. That lunatic. I don’t know why he’s like that on his own.”

“Moon Seung-yeol and Ahn Dong-ju have calmed down a bit.”

“Yeah. I heard Dong-ju hyung even got pretty close with Alexei. Apparently, Alexei called him separately to the rink after teamwork training and taught him the goalie training methods Russian players use. I thought he was a cold man from the snow country, but he has a warm heart.”

Two days had passed since the teamwork training ended.

Over the last two days, the players had played matchups with the local team.

And throughout the practice games, Kwon Jung-hyun sat on the bench and watched the matches. With the face of a perfect owner whom both the players and the coaching staff trusted.

It was a look so convincing that even Ho-jae found it hard to believe he was the same person who had kissed a man, gotten hard, and talked dirty.

The players, who only thought of him as a good owner, probably had no idea.

How vulgar the face Kwon Jung-hyun used to seduce men was. How obscene the moans that flowed from that mouth were.

A dirty, messy hypocrite.

Shin Ho-jae shook his head to drive those thoughts away.

The seven-day overseas training was all over, and tomorrow was the day they would return to Seoul.

＊＊＊

『Phew. It’s too obvious that you’re staring.』

Kwon Jung-hyun was drinking coffee in the airport lounge on the way back to Korea. Turning his gaze toward the sound, he saw Peter wearing a mischievous smile.

『I was just looking because they’re our players.』

『Really? Are you going to insist that Ho-jae just happened to be there every single time?』

『Well, Shin Ho-jae is quite eye-catching.』

『Okay. Let’s go with that. For now.』

Dangling his crossed legs, Peter sipped his hot coffee. Jung-hyun looked back at the group of players.

Yuk Du-min, Ji Min-chul, and Shin Ho-jae had stopped at a franchise coffee shop in the airport and were chatting.

The lounge where Jung-hyun sat and the cafe were separated by glass, so he couldn’t hear the sound, but it was clear that the three of them looked very happy.

Do they like coffee?

Even if he watched from here, he wouldn’t know what they were ordering, but Jung-hyun continued to track Ho-jae’s movements out of habit.

After a while, Shin Ho-jae stepped away from the other two and headed toward a display of souvenir cups and teddy bears.

He seemed to examine a cup that said “Canada” carefully, and then he looked thoughtful while holding a teddy bear keychain wearing a red hoodie.

『Must be a souvenir for his girlfriend?』

『…….』

Jung-hyun had been thinking the exact same thing.

As if he had decided, Shin Ho-jae held both the cup and the keychain in his hands and stood in line at the checkout.

『He was picking out maple wine at the liquor shop earlier. It seems his lover has quite a cute taste.』

『…….』

『They must be a well-matched couple. Ho-jae has a cute side too. The way he gets flustered sometimes. You can feel it in his play, too.』

『Pete.』

『Personally, I’m grateful to Ho-jae. If you think about it, the fact that you’re acting like a human being again is thanks to that kid.』

Jung-hyun stared at the glass window without a word.

『Was it four years ago? When you suddenly returned to Korea. You said your grandfather passed away. I thought you’d come back to the States after the funeral.』

『…….』

『But you left a single message asking me to dispose of your house for you, and no matter how long I waited, you didn’t come. I couldn’t even guess the reason until you contacted me this time. To think that MJ, whom I also know, was your family business.』

Jung-hyun shifted only his eyes to look at Peter’s face. Peter raised an eyebrow and drank his coffee.

『Unlike other international students, you seemed to live without worrying about money, so I knew you were well-off to some extent. Was your time in America just a brief rebellion right before inheriting the business? Like a bachelor party guys have before marriage.』

Jung-hyun chuckled. He found Peter’s comparison of that period to a bachelor party amusing.

He had never thought of it that way. For Kwon Jung-hyun, those ten years had simply been a time of killing his own self.

『It wasn’t a party; it was exile.』

Jung-hyun corrected him simply. Peter grimaced.

『Exile?』

『Yes.』

『Hmm. Even if I ask, you won’t tell me the details, right?』

Jung-hyun just gave a light shrug.

『Still, it’s true that you returned to Korea four years ago to study for succession, right? For the sake of MJ, which will be yours in the future.』

『Haha. Pete. MJ isn’t mine.』

Peter curved his eyebrows exaggeratedly, as if unable to understand.

『What do you mean? You’re the guy who created the sports team and is even serving as the representative.』

『It’s true that for this past year, I’ve been studying for succession.』

『Are you saying it’ll be different a year from now?』

『Well, if there are no major upsets, I might become a useful tool.』

『…Sigh. I’m bad with riddles.』

Jung-hyun looked at Peter with a light smile on his face.

『I hope a day comes when I can tell you.』

『That’s just a way of saying you’ll never tell me in your life. Do you remember saying the exact same thing when you returned to Korea four years ago?』

『Mm.』

『What a spiteful fellow.』

Peter shook his head in a fed-up tone and stood up, saying he would get more coffee. Seeing the cold coffee cup at Jung-hyun’s seat, he asked if he should bring a new one, but Jung-hyun declined.

If he drank any more, he felt he wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink during the 12-hour flight. Of course, not drinking didn’t guarantee he could sleep.

Before he knew it, Shin Ho-jae had disappeared from view. He had likely finished paying and moved elsewhere with his friends.

“…….”

A teddy bear keychain, a souvenir cup. And maple wine.

Who would be the one to receive them?

The announcer who was rumored to be with him last year? Or perhaps a cute type of woman, as Pete said. Someone who would look good with a keychain on her bag.

Even imagining it for a moment, it seemed surprisingly fitting. Of course it would. Shin Ho-jae was a perfect hetero Alpha male.

If they had met normally, he was someone with whom Jung-hyun—a Beta and a gay man—would never have any point of contact.

Jung-hyun suddenly curled the corners of his mouth into a smile. It was because he recalled the two kisses he had shared with Shin Ho-jae.

Saying it just felt good was insufficient. The act of kissing and holding each other feels good to some extent regardless of who the partner is.

Kissing him wasn’t just an act of lips and tongues touching. It was a sensation as if something located much deeper inside was being touched.

It was a moment that would never have happened if he had continued to play the hypocrite and pretend to be a ‘good person’ in front of him.

Because the Shin Ho-jae he knew would never, even by mistake, kiss a Beta man six years his senior.

25 – Puck Drop