#39

Du-min swiped away the endless stream of notification windows with a single motion and calmly sent a message to Hyeong-hun. Tap, tap, the sound of him drumming on the screen echoed. I met up with Min-chul and Ho-jae. Thanks for staying with me earlier.

Even as he finished the sentence, notifications filled with indiscriminate criticism, insults, and sexual harassment continued to pour in. Watching this, Ho-jae felt his chest tighten once again.

The moment Du-min pressed the send button, Ji Min-chul snatched the phone away.

“Sent it all? Turning it off.”

“Huh?”

“You’re banned from using your phone for a week.”

With that, he pressed the power button and shut down Du-min’s phone. Surprised by Min-chul’s sudden action, Du-min blinked a few times and then abruptly laughed.

“But I really didn’t think you guys would actually come. I thought you’d feel the same way.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Earlier, my brother told me I was disgusting. He said he was going to remove me from the family register. Not as a joke, but for real. You know, right? My brother doesn’t joke. Isn’t that crazy? In this day and age, over something like that…”

“…….”

“…Ah, fuck, why am I crying again? I thought I cried it all out earlier.”

Tears began to stream down between his plump, swollen eyes.

He had always been an excessively bright kid. Just as Ji Min-chul had said, he was the type who tried to avoid dark topics.

This was the first time they had seen him look so unstable. There was a vast difference between vaguely imagining that he would be struggling and actually seeing a friend cry. It was almost shocking.

“I know I’m disgusting too. Being an Alpha and a guy, but wearing women’s clothes and all that…”

Du-min’s shoulders trembled. His voice, thick with tears, was heartbreaking. Shin Ho-jae hesitated, looking at Du-min. He couldn’t bring himself to speak.

“You’re not disgusting at all.”

As if reprimanding Ho-jae’s hesitation, Ji Min-chul spat out the words without a moment’s doubt. He then pulled the sobbing Du-min into a tight embrace.

Du-min began to wail loudly. With a dark expression, Shin Ho-jae stared at Du-min’s back for a long time.

He, too, wanted to take Du-min’s hand and tell him. That he wasn’t disgusting, that he had done nothing wrong. However, his lips felt as if they were glued shut.

Wasn’t this hypocrisy?

To comfort someone using the very words that had been used to hurt others.

* * *

It began to rain late at night.

Kwon Jung-hyun propped his throbbing head up with his hand and very slowly pushed himself up. It had become too difficult to ignore the rhythmic sound of knocking.

The studio-style room, where one could see the small table, the TV, and the door all at once while sitting on the bed, was a tourist hotel in Gangneung where the players were also staying.

The schedule to return to Seoul immediately after the practice match had been postponed due to the sudden series of events.

Jung-hyun stood up from the bed without turning on the lights. The texture beneath his soles felt chillingly cold. Come to think of it, had the air conditioner been on this whole time? He must have fallen onto the bed like he’d fainted after showering, without even thinking to turn it off. As soon as he realized he was slightly cold, chills ran through his body.

Jung-hyun tightened his open robe, found the remote, and completely turned off the air conditioner, which had been set to 21 degrees. His condition, which had been poor since the morning, felt as though it were about to hit rock bottom.

It had been a long time since he had been overwhelmed by such a feeling of lethargy. At least, it felt like the first time since he had started acting as the representative of the sports organization.

However, representing the club came with responsibilities. Especially on a day when an incident involving one of the club’s players had broken out. During the countermeasure meetings that lasted late into the night, Kwon Jung-hyun had to whip his body, which kept trying to sink, to stay awake.

He had barely returned to his room after 11 PM. Since it was an unplanned overnight stay, Jung-hyun had no extra clothes or underwear. That was why he had simply laid down in his robe after showering.

The knocking sounded again, as if urging him. There was only one person who would knock on his door at this hour. It must be Peter.

Jung-hyun put the air conditioner remote back in its place and told him in English that he was coming. Peter had asked if he was okay even after the meeting ended. He thought he had hidden it, but it seemed it was obvious. Even back in the States, Peter used to take care of him whenever his condition worsened.

It was quiet outside the door. Jung-hyun casually unlocked the chain on the door and pushed the handle. As he checked the visitor’s face through the gap of the opened door, Jung-hyun’s eyes slowly widened.

It was Shin Ho-jae.

Standing with the bright hallway behind him, a deep shadow fell across his face. Since all the lights in the room were off, he was backlit. Because of this, his expression was not clearly visible.

Jung-hyun hesitated for a moment before stepping back slightly to make room. At the gesture to come in, he slowly stepped into the room.

Jung-hyun turned on the lights first. When he pressed the master button next to the door, the entire room, including the bathroom, lit up.

The digital clock next to the bed displayed ’00:47′. It was a very late hour for a guest to visit.

“…Would you like something to drink?”

Jung-hyun looked at the coffee pot, which wasn’t plugged in. It was an old item that showed its age. Next to an overturned coffee cup, two green tea bags were visible.

To brew green tea, he would first need water. Jung-hyun looked around and, after two attempts, finally realized that the bottom drawer was actually the door to a small refrigerator.

Inside the refrigerator were unopened bottles of water and small cans of soda. Every single one had a brand he’d never seen and crude packaging, but he figured a drink would be better than using the questionable coffee pot.

“No. I’m fine. More importantly…”

The refusal came a bit late. Feeling slightly deflated, he closed the refrigerator door and turned around. Shin Ho-jae was standing awkwardly in the small room.

The room Jung-hyun was in was a standard room of very ordinary size, but with an ice hockey player over 190cm standing there, it had the effect of looking more than twice as small.

Now that he looked, it seemed Ho-jae was having trouble finding a place to sit because of Jung-hyun’s clothes hanging over the back of the chair. Jung-hyun leaned forward to gather his shirt, jacket, and pants.

A gaze followed his chest. Only then did Jung-hyun realize that he was wearing nothing but a robe.

Had he been hesitating not because there was nowhere to sit, but because he was surprised by his attire? Jung-hyun instinctively tightened his robe.

Even though Shin Ho-jae was the one who had suddenly entered his private space late at night, he felt as if he were the one who had done something wrong. It was probably because he knew that the other man found him disgusting.

Swallowing a bitter smile, Jung-hyun picked up the clothes he had intended to clear away and stood back up.

“Wait a moment. I’ll go put something on.”

“No. I’m the one who came suddenly… You can just stay as you are.”

The voice saying it’s fine grew gradually quieter.

Jung-hyun hesitated for a moment and decided to follow his words. He had also felt a bit uneasy about wearing clothes he had already worn once.

It wasn’t as if he had intentionally stayed in a robe, so it would be strange to feel guilty for no reason.

“…There is something I would like to ask of you.”

The two sat in chairs with the small coffee table in the room between them. In the awkward atmosphere, Shin Ho-jae slowly spoke.

“About Du-min’s situation… it didn’t happen because Du-min wanted it to.”

“…….”

“Du-min said he consented to the photos, but uploading them to the internet without permission, blackmailing him, and spreading them is clearly a crime. Right?”

“…….”

“All I see on the internet are posts insulting Du-min. But Du-min…”

Shin Ho-jae’s expression was dark as he spoke.

“He has never… done anything that deserves such insults.”

A brief silence followed. Jung-hyun quietly gazed at Shin Ho-jae’s face as he looked down.

“That’s why I came to ask for your help. The original distributor of those photos, Kim In-jung from Daily One who helped spread them through internet articles, and the people who are still producing and spreading rumors—please make sure they are all punished.”

“…….”

“You can do it, Representative.”

Shin Ho-jae’s eyes looked straight at him.

Unexpectedly, what lay within those eyes was trust. Shin Ho-jae truly believed that he would help him.

Kwon Jung-hyun wrinkled his nose slightly. An indescribable feeling made his chest grow cold.

“For free?”

That was why a spiteful answer came out.

Just how far would he go for a precious friend for a man he considered disgusting? One corner of his mouth curled up crookedly.

He wondered if a bad personality was hereditary. Jung-hyun thought with a cold face.

“…I have no intention of asking for this for free.”

“Then?”

“I’ll do it. Anything.”

40 – Puck Drop