Chapter 249

Idol (7)

***

At first glance, it seemed that way.

In his past life, he lived like a statue, keeping his mouth shut, and in this life, he was a guy who only exercised until his breath smelled sweet. Even in such a life, the existence of friends adds shape to it.

Knock knock-.

“Oppa-, Seul-chan oppa is here. Eun-jeong unnie is here too-. Mi-kyung unnie is here toooo-.”

At Yoo-jin’s call, he neatly folded the test paper he was studying and put it in the drawer.

It’s good to have friends living nearby.

You can meet them anytime, and you can laugh while chatting about trivial things.

The good thing about Jo Seul-chan living right next door is that you no longer have to worry about Jo Seul-chan, who used to be as anxious as a child left by the water. Also, there’s the fact that he has come to understand and become friends with Kim Eun-jeong, who he once dismissed as a strange girl due to their distant relationship.

There were other advantages too.

Jo Seul-chan, who saw the blueprint spread out in Jin-hyuk’s room, widened his eyes.

“Jin-hyuk, what’s this?”

“Um-, this is-.”

“It’s a shiiip-. Our oppa promised to make a ship for us. Eheuk-! Keuk! Aigooo-.”

Yoo-jin, who was sitting on the bed eating boiled sweet potatoes, chimed in.

What’s the rush? After finishing her sentence, Yoo-jin thumped her chest to send down the sweet potato stuck in her throat.

“A ship? Jin-hyuk, can you even make a ship?”

“No. I haven’t made one yet.”

“Hmph-. Everyone has a first time.”

Kim Eun-jeong, who was cuddling Jeong-won, acted like she knew it all.

“The first time is hard, but it gets easier from the second time. So, Jin-hyuk. Just make the ship first. Then it’ll be easier next time.”

What kind of nonsense is this······.

I think I need to take back what I said about understanding Kim Eun-jeong.

“Eun-jeong is right. I also found drawing difficult, but now I get it a bit.”

Even Choi Mi-kyung has gone weird.

“Jin-hyuk, should I try drawing it?”

“Really? I guess Seul-chan is better at designing than me.”

“Hey, it’s not that I’m better than youuu-. It’s just that I have a natural talent for it.”

He’s a braggart, but he also knows how to be humble. As always, Jo Seul-chan seems to regard Jin-hyuk as more than just a friend.

I could guess why Kim Eun-jeong was drawn to Jo Seul-chan.

Living among friends who subtly ignore her, she must have discovered a new world of connection when she saw a man who listens to her and is humble in front of her.

“Wait a minute-. Is the ship Yoo-jin wants a rowing ship?”

“Keuk-. Yes, ehehe-.”

Yoo-jin, who seemed to have another sweet potato stuck, laughed while hitting her chest.

“Rowing ships are lame. Yachts are cool.”

“Eun-jeong unnie, what’s a yacht?”

“A yacht is······.”

Kim Eun-jeong frowned slightly like a sage on the verge of enlightenment.

She’s the type to blabber non-stop about the appearance and performance of UFOs, but it seems explaining a yacht is difficult.

“I know what that is. I saw it in a magazine; it looks like a shoe.”

With Choi Mi-kyung joining in, the conversation is getting weirder.

But it’s not entirely wrong, so Jin-hyuk nodded.

There are shoes called yacht shoes, after all.

So, a yacht is a ship that looks like yacht shoes.

Wait, what kind of nonsense is this?

‘Hanging out with these guys is making me weird too!’

While someone was talking nonsense and someone else was daydreaming, Jo Seul-chan, holding a 2B pencil, quickly sketched on the sketchbook.

“Oh-.”

“Oooooh-.”

“Wow-, Seul-chan draws really well.”

It was a talent of Jo Seul-chan that I hadn’t known before.

Jin-hyuk was also quite good at drawing, but after being reborn, he only drew for grades, sticking to textbooks. But Jo Seul-chan was expressing his imagination with his hands while listening to his friends’ explanations.

“So-, is this what Eun-jeong meant by a yacht?”

It was a ship that looked like a shoe.

With a windshield at the front and a roof.

“That’s right. It’s not what I had in mind, but that’s also correct.”

“Eeeh. I don’t get what you’re saying, but I think I understand.”

Even though both of them have weird ways of speaking, they understand each other······.

These two might actually be aliens.

It’s not a strange assumption at all. There’s that guy Dugu Elil, after all. He hasn’t appeared because we haven’t been desperately looking for him, but he’ll show up whenever he feels like it.

“Like this, like this-.”

Jo Seul-chan added a sketch under the roof.

He placed a driver’s seat and a steering wheel in the center, with seats on either side, and the texture expression that made it look like a sofa caught the eye.

“Jo Seul. You’re good at drawing. Draw a UFO too.”

“Let’s take it one step at a time. Today is the yacht.”

“Got it.”

Jin-hyuk was secretly surprised.

Jo Seul-chan rejecting Kim Eun-jeong’s request? It seems their relationship has become more equal.

Not just that.

“Seul-chan, can we make that with our own hands?”

“Later, when we have time.”

Huh······. Jin-hyuk felt pleased.

It felt like the roles of questioner and answerer had switched.

The once dependent relationship between Jo Seul-chan and Jin-hyuk finally felt like a friendship.

Jo Seul-chan looked at Jin-hyuk, who was giggling like a fool, with curiosity.

“The competition is less than twenty days away, and you’re slacking off like this?”

“Ah······.”

Look at this guy?

He’s even nagging now that he’s grown a bit.

***

Although it’s an unofficial practice record, he broke the 10-second barrier a month ago.

Since then, Jin-hyuk has been shaving off 0.01 seconds every two days for two weeks.

“Hmm······.”

Yoo Se-ra, who received Jin-hyuk’s practice records from Min Yong-rak, had trouble sleeping for several days. It’s almost admirable that she didn’t go to the hospital. Her heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst through her throat.

‘It’s time to take a gamble with the determination of a martyr throwing herself into the Indangsu.’

Yoo Se-ra picked up the phone with a grave expression.

Hmm-.

Trrrrr-.

She turned her head this way and that, checking the mirror······.

Perfect as always.

– Hello.

Right, she answered.

“Jin-hyuk’s records are unusual.”

– It’s always a pleasure to hear your voice, but I’m a bit busy right now.

Oh, geez. Businesslike yet romantic.

How many Korean men can pull off such a line? Yoo Se-ra, more captivated by Hong Ki-jun now than when they were dating, felt honey dripping from her eyes.

But why did she call, what was she going to say······?

Ah, right.

“It seems the guy who wanted to live an ordinary life has grown some guts.”

– That’s how it should be. He’s grown enough, now he needs to get his act together.

“Wouldn’t it be better to prepare in advance?”

– Of course.

At this rate, passing the qualifying record by May, when Olympic qualifications are decided, is a foregone conclusion. That is, if the weather and the federation’s bias don’t interfere. The weather is beyond human control, but changing the federation is within Hong Ki-jun’s capabilities.

He’s more than capable.

“So what I’m saying is-.”

– You mean we should prepare in advance instead of rushing at the last minute after qualifying.

“Hehehe-.”

I couldn’t help but laugh like a fool.

It’s nice when someone saves you the trouble of explaining.

– Why, don’t you have confidence?

Oh, come on-.

Nothing ever comes easy.

First, the silent treatment.

“Uh-, I, I called to ask how to, to do it-.”

– How about visiting the federation once? You haven’t met them yet, right?

Sharp guy.

He not only reads people’s minds but also keeps tabs on what they’re up to. Did he plant a spy on me? Yoo Se-ra looked around her solitary office.

“What should I do when I meet them?”

– Negotiate.

“Negotiate what?”

– Sigh, Yoo Se-ra······.

“Just tell meee-. Huh? Oppa.”

Even the ultimate weapon, the nasal voice, came out.

If he still doesn’t tell me, I’ll have to ask a high school student.

‘Maybe I should have asked Jin-hyuk first.’

He never sighed, though.

Sometimes the phone goes completely silent.

– Bet on the record you’ll set at the competition. It’s easy.

“And then?”

– ······.

Strange.

He didn’t sigh, but there’s no sound at all?

Now isn’t it time to explain what, how, why, who, when, and where it’s easy?

***

「Tae-yang Army」

There are many meanings behind the uniform printed with the regional name, but Jin-hyuk only thought of one important meaning.

‘I am a pro. I am a pro.’

A representative.

He had defined what it means to be a pro for himself.

Buzz buzz-.

The noise of the people he once wanted to avoid is now familiar.

If the noise from the audience were removed from the stadium, the most disappointed would be the athletes. Even if the noise distracts their focus.

[The white snow that endlessly fell, now I can never see your back again-]

Even though winter has ended and spring has come, the intermission music is still about winter.

Nothing beats a dance tune to lift the mood.

Beep-.

[Beep-.]

Finally, the music stopped.

Whoosh-.

Not the high school division, but the general division.

Except for Jin-hyuk, the athletes are from city teams or corporate teams. As they shook their hands, rotated their ankles, and warmed up, those in the nearby lanes turned their heads towards Jin-hyuk.

“Hey-, celebrity.”

Everyone laughed and said a word, so Jin-hyuk also nodded and smiled in response.

“Take care.”

Yeah, right.

“Do you do Manda athletics? Basketball, volleyball. What else-? There’s a lot, right?”

Nina gara.

“Jin-hyuk, you need to be humble in this field.”

Humble my ass. You first.

“Wow-, what did you eat to grow so well?”

Mom’s cooking.

As expected, the adult athletes were relaxed.

But the laughter was short-lived, and like pros, they immediately got into their mindset routines.

Stretching and warming up aren’t the only routines. They regulate their breathing, over and over, to steady their minds. It’s a process of self-affirmation that they can do it and sharpening their hearing to burst out faster than anyone else.

[Lane 7, Tae-yang Army, Son Jin-hyuk.]

He already broke the Korean record in the semifinals and won the lottery ticket given to the top three semifinalists. And he drew the lane said to be the best.

He raised his clenched fist.

Waaa-!

As Jin-hyuk’s name was called, cheers erupted from one corner of the stands.

It was a competition with quite a crowd, with family, friends, and juniors who came all the way from Busan on a chartered bus sponsored by Sein Group.

“Oppaaaaaaa-!”

Kyaaaa-!

Is that cheering or a ploy to scare people to death?

Jin-hyuk even shrunk his neck at Yoo-jin’s roar that instantly subdued the buzzing.

Jeong-won’s mouth shape as he cheered was roughly saying, “Yeah, my dad is a fool-.”

And.

‘Look at them?’

Jo Seul-chan and Kim Eun-jeong, sitting close and waving their fists, were also visible.

Choi Mi-kyung and Lee Seung-hoon were, of course, there too. These brats came all the way here to flirt.

Students not studying······. Ah, never mind.

Anyway, it’s the first time such a large crowd has come to a competition.

Throughout this competition, he kept recalling the words of his friend and mentor, Choi Mi-kyung.

– “It’s a bit of a nasty thing to say, but you’re not running alone, man. See those kids running around the field? See the fire in those little kids’ eyes? Who do you think lit that fire in their chests?”

It was a stretch to call them little kids since they were bigger and darker than Choi Mi-kyung, but Jin-hyuk always listened quietly when Choi Mi-kyung had something to say. Even though his personality is a mess, he often says things that are beneficial. After all, it’s said that friends are life’s mentors.

– “If you have balls, you have to take responsibility for your actions.”

What kind of nonsense is this about giving a free pass to people without balls?

But it’s not like Choi Mi-kyung meant that people with congenital ball deficiency syndrome are free from responsibility.

– “When our blockhead oppa collapses during training, gets up, and collapses again until he can’t anymore. Seeing that, I felt something. It’s not just about not wanting to regret later or being too far to give up, but isn’t it also about those chubby juniors who are obsessed with the name Choi Tae-yang? You too, man, do it until you feel like you can’t do it anymore. That’s the biggest lesson for them.”

Well, it seems he wanted to give some golden advice now that he’s grown a bit.

Choi Mi-kyung sometimes seems like a sly fox peeking into Jin-hyuk’s inner thoughts.

Whenever he tries to live comfortably alone, he treats people as cowards and guides them to set an example.

– “History isn’t just written between men and women. Like Choi Tae-yang, you should write history too.”

As you wish.

As expected of someone who adores his oppa, the sermon ended with oppa praise.

After giving a glance to the juniors sitting quietly on one side of the cheering squad, he placed his foot on the starting block.

[On your marks-.]

A headwind blew, but it was laughable.

He didn’t even give his all in the semifinals and slowed down at the end.

It wasn’t about saving energy for the finals.

He just wanted to show off his leisure.

[Set-.]

You are no match for me.

Whether it’s the athletes or the federation.

In skill or in power.

Now that he’s fully grown and established as a human, isn’t it time to make his name known?

Don’t be stingy with your name, right? That’s what Chairman Yoo Myung-sun said when he held Jin-hyuk’s hand.

That shadowy figure, Dugu Elil, also said something like that. If you have talent, use it to live; that’s an ordinary life.

He expressed the reckless bravado that any immature man would have with his raised buttocks.

‘Starting my history in Busan-.’

[Bang-!]

Click-!

‘Ah, damn! The set time is ridiculously short!’

For Jin-hyuk, who was the first to escape the starting block, it was no longer bravado.