#73

It seemed that the person he had been leaning on was Kyung Seung-hee. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he felt a dull desire in the way her hand brushed against his flat lower abdomen. Jung-hyun lifted his heavy eyelids and barely managed to squeeze out a voice.

“Just… home…”

“Can you walk? Get back in the car. There’s a hospital I know very well right nearby. To be this sick from just indigestion—you need to get a proper check-up.”

“No, just…”

Then, suddenly, his shoulder was yanked to the other side. Jung-hyun’s body followed weakly. He felt something soft, like a fluffy blanket, touch his cheek. It was Shin Ho-jae’s padded jumper.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been chatting away uselessly this whole time knowing the CEO was sick?”

“That’s why I’m saying I’ll take responsibility and get him to the hospital. Why don’t you let go of that hand?”

“How can I trust the words of a criminal who smeared pheromones without consent? You’re the one who should let go and get out of here.”

“Criminal? That’s a bit harsh. I told you the pheromones were a mistake. Jung-hyun said he was fine, so why is a third party chiming in?”

“…Third party?”

“If you understand, then let go of that hand. I think we need to get to the hospital quickly.”

“…I’ll be the one taking him to the hospital. How can I trust someone who left a clearly sick person abandoned on the street?”

“And what exactly do you plan to do with him, Shin? Make a sick man wait in the hospital waiting room the whole time?”

“…If we go to the emergency room.”

“It’s much faster and provides higher quality care if I drive him to my personal physician than calling an ambulance.”

“…I’m sorry to interrupt your intense debate, but.”

The two of them turned their heads simultaneously to look at Jung-hyun.

“CEO, are you okay?”

“Jung-hyun, how are you feeling?”

Jung-hyun slowly twisted his waist and shoulders, peeled away the hands gripping him, and stood up straight. Fortunately, the pain had subsided slightly while the two of them were making a racket beside him.

Sigh. He let out a breath and tidied the strands of hair falling over his face. Shin Ho-jae and Kyung Seung-hee were watching him with worried eyes.

To think they were fighting like elementary schoolers while a person was so sick they could barely keep their balance. Jung-hyun cast a cold gaze toward the two of them.

“I would like both of you to go home now.”

Despite the words, a smile appeared on his lips out of habit.

As if they hadn’t heard Jung-hyun’s polite request for them to leave, the two reached out for his arms again from either side. Shin Ho-jae subtly grabbed one arm, while Kyung Seung-hee reached for his waist.

“CEO, are you feeling a bit better?”

“Jung-hyun, you really need to go to the hospital for a check-up. Don’t just stay here…”

“No.”

Jung-hyun took a step forward to distance himself from the two.

“It’s just indigestion. I’ll be fine after taking some medicine and resting. I don’t need your help.”

“CEO.”

“Jung-hyun, still…”

“I want to be alone.”

At the chilly tone, the two finally shut their mouths. Jung-hyun asked them one last time.

“Do I need to say more? As you know, I’m not feeling very well right now.”

“Ah, no. If you say so, then I suppose that’s how it is…”

“…Get some rest, CEO.”

“Yes, then.”

With those final words, Jung-hyun opened the gate and stepped inside alone.

Before closing the door, he felt their gazes piercing his back, but he clicked the gate shut, acting as if he felt nothing at all.

* * *

Jung-hyun suffered for a full two weeks.

Whether it was severe indigestion or not, he suffered from body aches for three days, and just as he began to feel slightly better, he was hit by Alpha pheromones again, which completely wrecked him.

In the meantime, Jung-hyun’s phone never had a moment of peace. It was due to the missed calls and messages from Shin Ho-jae and Kyung Seung-hee.

Are you feeling better? I was rash back then. Jung-hyun reflected on himself as he saw messages arriving that were identical down to the last syllable. It seemed he had gotten quite angry that day because he was in so much pain.

It hadn’t been that serious, though. Jung-hyun left a message for both of them saying he was fine and not to worry, then flipped his phone face down.

This was the first time he had been this sick since having the flu as a child. Whenever he regained consciousness, he would swallow whatever Tylenol he had at home and fall back into a dead sleep, repeating the cycle.

His fever rose, making his whole body ache and throb, and he shivered with chills even as cold sweat poured off him. The thought occurred to him that he should visit a hospital, but he didn’t have the strength to lift a finger.

After being bedridden for two full weeks, Jung-hyun canceled his center appointment for the first time since he started receiving Alpha pheromones.

Now that he wasn’t receiving pheromones, his condition finally seemed to be returning. It appeared that Dominant Alpha pheromones did put a significant strain on the body.

Meanwhile, the Blue Wolves embarked on a long three-week away game tour.

The destinations were Sakhalin in Russia, and Yokohama and Hokkaido in Japan. Since there were two games every weekend, the schedule involved moving from one away destination to another without returning to Korea.

Although his condition had improved, he hadn’t recovered enough to board a plane, so he ultimately couldn’t attend the Hokkaido game, which fell during the Christmas week.

Jung-hyun sat perched on a chair at the island table, sipping warm water. Having swallowed nothing but medicine for days, his stomach was beyond stinging; it was screaming. He knew he should put something in it, but his mouth was so dry that nothing appealed to him.

Thinking he would starve to death at this rate, he mixed sugar and salt into the warm water, but the taste was bizarre. Still, it would be more nutritious than plain water. Jung-hyun swallowed the liquid remaining on his tongue without complaint. If he ate like this, he might be able to manage some porridge starting tomorrow.

He connected the charger to his phone, which had been dead for a long time. As he sipped a few more mouthfuls of warm water, the power turned on along with the apple logo.

Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.

The accumulated notifications piled up, and the vibration finally stopped after a long while. Jung-hyun looked down at the notification window scrolling up rapidly.

Among them, he first clicked on a message from Peter, which had a photo attached. A group photo taken at the Hokkaido rink filled the screen. Since it was the season, the rink was bathed in red with Christmas decorations.

Jung-hyun used two fingers to zoom in on the photo. Among the brightly expressioned players, there was one grumpy face sticking out. Resting his chin on his hand, he stared quietly at that face.

Since it was Christmas and the end of the year, many of the players and coaching staff had brought their families along to the away destinations. This was thanks to the club’s active encouragement, providing flight tickets and accommodation costs.

Suddenly, he wondered if Shin Ho-jae’s mother and younger sister had come along. It must have been a long time since the family had taken a long trip due to caring for his father.

Just then, a rectangular message window dropped down on the screen.

[Player Shin Ho-jae]

[Merry Christmas]

[It’s late, but]

Jung-hyun blinked slowly. A Christmas greeting. It had already been two days since Christmas. Did he think it was still closer to Christmas than the New Year?

Such a sentimental greeting. It was the kind of thing he had never imagined receiving from Shin Ho-jae.

It seemed that because he had gotten angry at the end and shown his sick side, he had made the man worry. He was subtly a diligent personality, after all.

Jung-hyun held up his phone and slowly typed a reply.

[Thank you. Have a great end of the year.]

After typing it all, he pressed the send button. Less than a minute after sending the message, the phone rang again. This time it wasn’t a message, but a call. Moreover, it was an international call.

Jung-hyun stared at the familiar number on the screen with surprised eyes for a moment before pressing the call button slightly late. Before pressing it, he didn’t forget to clear his throat several times to loosen his tight voice.

─Hello?

The voice over the phone was a bit more understated than in person. Jung-hyun thought this blankly before responding a beat late, “Hello.”

─This is Shin Ho-jae.

“I know.”

When he spoke with a slight smile, Shin Ho-jae gave a small cough.

─I… just wondered if your body was feeling a bit better.

Come to think of it, was this their first time speaking on the phone? They weren’t on terms to contact each other personally, and the location and time of their meetings had always been notified via message.

Pushing away the feeling of becoming slightly sentimental over this newfound fact, Jung-hyun replied lightly.

“Of course. That was a long time ago.”

─Ah, really? I thought… since you didn’t come to the stadium…

Then his voice trailed off. Since you didn’t come to the stadium—what came next? Was he going to say he thought Jung-hyun was too sick to come? Jung-hyun replied appropriately, mixing half truth and half lie.

“I was very busy with work because it’s the end of the year. A CEO can’t keep leaving the company empty just to follow the games.”

─Ah… I suppose so. I didn’t think of that.

It was true that he had a lot of work. Of course, he spent far more time lying in bed without even going to the office, let alone processing half of the accumulated work.

However, he had no intention of telling Shin Ho-jae the truth about how sick he had been. What would be the point of saying that? It would sound like he was asking for sympathy. It was a very embarrassing thing for a healthy man six years his senior to say.

“I received the report on the game results. Red Falcon Hokkaido has few points this week, so if things go well, you might rise to 2nd place in the league in the next game.”

─Ah, yes.

“Besides, I heard it’s likely that Player Shin Ho-jae will be the top scorer this season as well.”

─Well, we’ll know that once the season ends. More importantly…

As if he had no interest in talking about himself, Shin Ho-jae answered briefly and continued to hesitate before asking in a small voice.

─If you were that busy, you probably couldn’t have met that writer either.

It was an unexpected question, so Jung-hyun blinked a few times with the phone still pressed to his ear.

“Writer Kyung Seung-hee?”

─Yes.

Come to think of it, there had been no contact from Kyung Seung-hee since the short reply he had sent.

“Even if she asked to meet, I wouldn’t have.”

Now that he knew she had some level of interest in him, he had no intention of creating a situation that could be misunderstood. The same would apply even if she contacted him later.

At his answer, Shin Ho-jae said, “Is that so?” in a somewhat brighter voice. Jung-hyun laughed softly. It seemed he really didn’t like Writer Kyung.

Then again, Writer Kyung Seung-hee had been too rude to Shin Ho-jae upon their first meeting. He must have been sufficiently offended.

Even though he knew it was simply that kind of emotion, Jung-hyun’s mouth itched to say this one thing to him. Eventually, Jung-hyun couldn’t resist and asked.

“Why are you curious about that? It sounds almost like jealousy.”

Then, there was silence on the other end of the phone for a long time. He must have been flustered.

74 – Puck Drop