Chapter 128

The abrupt remark brought the conversation to an awkward halt.

During the brief silence, Gyeol’s eyes met Sun’s.

Startled, Sun widened his eyes and gave Gyeol an awkward nod.

“Gyujin, you’re doing it again. I keep telling you that you can’t say things like that.”

Tommy hurriedly stepped in.

Several others laughed and agreed, smoothly loosening the tension.

After receiving their playful criticism, Hwang Gyujin shrugged as though it were no big deal.

“If he won’t say it himself, then a third party standing beside him has to speak up.”

“Your timing was completely out of nowhere, though.”

“Exactly. You could’ve told him quietly in private. What was that?”

“Wouldn’t secretly doing it behind his back seem even creepier?”

Though their remarks bounced sharply back and forth, the smiles lingering on their faces and the nuances of their voices were thoroughly humorous.

They seemed remarkably close.

While Gyeol had been away, Gyujin had already blended naturally into the group.

“Since it’s already come to this... could the two of us go somewhere and talk, Gyeol?”

Sun bravely rose from his seat.

Hee Jun Kang sucked in a breath and clapped both hands over his mouth.

Tommy, seated beside him, reacted much the same way.

“Yes, of course.”

Gyeol stood without hesitation.

It was what he wanted as well.

He had been struggling to find something to say through the awkwardness, so he was grateful for the chance to leave the lounge.

“See? Once someone beside him gives him a push, something actually happens.”

“Please be quiet, Gyujin.”

Gyujin grinned, and Tommy scolded him while nudging him repeatedly in the side with his elbow.

Even then, Tommy’s face was full of easy warmth.

Tommy had been deeply dejected after Woo Seok Jung disappeared, leaving him alone in their lodging.

Despite what he said, he liked his new roommate, Hwang Gyujin.

“We’ll be back, then.”

“Sure, sure. Take your time, you two.”

With the other contestants seeing them off, Gyeol followed Sun out.

Behind the two men leaving the lounge, Yo Han Sung’s and Jun Shin’s gazes remained fixed on them.

They watched until Gyeol and Sun reached the shore, changed direction, and disappeared behind the rocky hill to the right.

***

Squelch, squelch.

The waterlogged sand gave way beneath their feet.

Two sets of footprints, different in size, formed parallel trails in a diagonal line.

The places they had left behind were quickly swallowed by the incoming waves.

After the water swept across the sand once or twice, the footprints disappeared completely.

As though they had never existed at all.

The sunlight was so intense that Gyeol narrowed his eyes.

Noticing, Sun moved to the side where the sun was shining and blocked it for him.

When Sun’s large body shielded him from the light, shade fell over Gyeol’s head.

It became easier to keep his eyes open, and the heat grew more bearable, as though the temperature had dropped several degrees.

“Today seems hotter than any other day.”

“Yes, I think so too.”

At other times, the salty wind had at least felt cool enough to make the weather tolerable, but even the breeze was hot today.

This would be difficult even for Sun.

Gyeol appreciated Sun protecting him, but regardless of whether someone was an Alpha or an Omega, heat like this could easily cause sunstroke.

Isn’t there anywhere we can escape the sun? Should we go into the woods?

As Gyeol glanced around, a pale-pink canopy came into view.

It was a set arranged as blatantly as though someone had put up a sign saying, Talk here.

Gyeol had never used it because of its embarrassingly saccharine design, with artificial flowers decorating every side.

But this was no time to be picky.

“It’s too hot. Let’s sit over there and talk.”

“All right.”

Sun gave a quiet nod and obediently followed Gyeol.

Although Sun’s stride should have been much longer, he did not move away from Gyeol’s side before they reached the canopy.

He matched Gyeol’s pace as precisely as though he had measured it with a ruler.

The consideration behind it was obvious.

He wanted to keep shielding Gyeol from the sun until the very last moment.

When they reached the canopy, they each sat in a white chair loosely woven from strips of wood.

“Ugh, weather like this always makes me crave cold coffee. An iced Americano.”

Gyeol spoke while fanning himself with one hand.

“It makes me think of a sports drink.”

“A sports drink instead of coffee?”

“Yes. I’ve made a habit of drinking one after exercising and working up a sweat.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Wait, didn’t you film a commercial for one too?”

“.......”

Apparently embarrassed, Sun clamped his mouth shut and looked away.

That commercial had been his first advertisement and the one that had instantly launched him to stardom.

It had happened before Sun won three Olympic gold medals—before he had even competed in his first Olympics.

The offer had arrived when his public recognition soared after he won gold in the four-hundred-meter freestyle at the Asian Games.

The commercial began by slowly zooming in on Sun as he cut across a swimming pool at astonishing speed.

Upon reaching the other end, he surged out of the water, pulled off his swimming cap, and shook the water from his hair.

Then, with his muscular upper body fully exposed, he accepted the drink and gulped it down so roughly that it nearly spilled everywhere.

The blue liquid, a shade similar to the pool water, streamed refreshingly down his firm body.

Up to that point, it had been a scene that stirred the hearts of viewers everywhere.

But an ambush awaited in the next shot.

Sun finished the drink and delivered his line.

“Would you like to have some?”

The unique tension of a dominant Alpha, which had overflowed from him until the moment he opened his mouth, shattered instantly.

His delivery sounded like someone reading aloud from a textbook.

Not only was it blunt, but it was so stiff that his words and face seemed entirely disconnected.

Perhaps it was thanks to that.

Public opinion and the internet exploded with jokes that even AI-generated speech did not come out that wooden anymore.

Had his face been unremarkable, people would merely have dismissed it as an awkward commercial starring an ordinary swimming prospect, and it would have vanished into obscurity.

Unfortunately, his handsome face was the problem.

Sun became a meme, accompanied by comments such as, “He has that face, that body, and that swimming talent, but at least God is fair.”

Comedians, influencers, and other celebrities began parodying the commercial.

They would burst out of bathtubs instead of swimming pools, pull off whatever hat they happened to be wearing, shake water from themselves, then drench their shirts while drinking a sports drink before repeating his line.

Sun had been so embarrassed that he had not known what to do with himself, but television networks flooded him with offers.

He repeatedly refused.

Eventually, the swimming federation’s relentless urging forced him to appear on one or two programs, where his true nature—stiff and awkward as a robot—was completely exposed.

People began calling the contrast charming and describing him as sweet and humble.

Sun’s popularity continued to rise by the day.

Then he competed in the Olympics as a national athlete and achieved the feat of winning three gold medals.

There was a reason Sun had come to be called the king of the pool and was beloved throughout the country.

“Would you like to have some?”

Feeling mischievous, Gyeol imitated Sun’s line from the commercial.

Sun’s face turned bright red.

He rubbed both hands over it and mumbled,

“Please don’t......”

Gyeol burst out laughing.

Whenever Sun reacted like this, it was impossible not to laugh.

This must be the side of Sun that the entire country loves.

Even after reaching the very top, he remained humble and unfailingly polite.

So much so that he often seemed almost comically awkward.

“I know I shouldn’t tease you, but for some reason, I keep wanting to. Maybe it’s because your reactions are so entertaining.”

“People tell me that often, but... it’s difficult when you’re the one doing it.”

There was a slight weight behind the final words.

Gyeol did not ask why.

He merely smiled.

He had tried not to think about anything else while they were together so he could give Sun his full attention, but the truth was that his feelings remained tangled after what had happened the day before.

The guilt made it difficult to respond naturally to words that revealed Sun’s affection for him.

“Now that I look at you, you seem to have gotten a little more tanned.”

“Do I?”

Sun lowered the hands covering his face and looked down at each of his forearms in turn.

The gesture made him look like a boy.

Despite his large build and mature appearance, there were rare moments when this side of the young man beneath came through.

Was it because he was so gentle and innocent?

“You don’t seem to have tanned at all, Gyeol.”

“I don’t tan easily. My skin tends to peel instead when I’m in the sun.”

“Isn’t that worse? You need to be careful......”

Sun looked at Gyeol with concern, then rose as though he had reached a decision.

“Sun?”

Gyeol had barely spoken in confusion when Sun stepped behind him and pushed the entire chair farther beneath the canopy.

Scrape.

The chair dragged across the ground, shaking Gyeol where he sat.

“Whoa.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. The sunlight was falling across your legs......”

Sun quickly checked on him, his brows drooping.

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Thank you for looking out for me.”

Gyeol waved his hands and gestured for him to sit back down.

Sun looked down at him like a dejected large dog before returning to his seat.

Because the distance between their chairs had narrowed, their knees bumped lightly together.

“Oh.”

“.......”

Sun’s eyes shook violently.

“You actually did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“I did not......!”

Gyeol burst out laughing, and Sun buried his face in both hands again.

His ears had turned scarlet.

I shouldn’t tease him.

Stop teasing him.

Repeating the words to himself, Gyeol leaned forward, wrapped a hand around Sun’s wrist, and pulled his hands down.

“Sun, I’m sorry. I’ll stop laughing. Why do you keep hiding your face......”

His voice trailed off before he could finish.

Sun’s hand had settled over Gyeol’s.

Startled, Gyeol instinctively tried to withdraw.

But Sun was faster.

His large, firm hand closed tightly around Gyeol’s.

With some emotion behind it.

With some desire concealed.

“Gyeol.”

Their faces were closer than usual.

Gyeol could see the flames burning in Sun’s eyes.

“...I missed you. I really did.”