Chapter 62

Gyeol flinched and lowered his hands to find Sun standing beside him. Sun set a cup down in front of him and peered at his face with concern.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“Ah, no. My head just hurt for a second...”

Making an excuse, Gyeol looked at the cup. Steam rose gently from inside the pale sky-blue mug.

“It’s warm water. The sea breeze gets colder after sunset, and I thought you might be bored sitting here alone...”

“Thank you. I already feel bad because everyone else is working and I’m the only one not helping, but you’re even taking care of me like this.”

“You’ve been doing enough work for ten people by yourself this whole time. It’s only natural for an injured person to rest.”

For once, Sun ended his words in a firm tone.

It felt like the first time Gyeol had ever been scolded by Sun, so his eyes widened without him realizing it. Seeing that, Sun’s ears reddened. He pressed his lips together before speaking.

“That... I think I spoke a little rudely just now. I didn’t mean to, but I was worried, so...”

Sun looking guilty within a single second was cute.

Gyeol let out a soft laugh and shook his head.

“No, it’s not that I thought you were rude. For a second, it just reminded me of when you were the Emperor.”

“Pardon...?”

“When you won three Olympic gold medals. Back then, after breaking the record, you checked your time in the water with that completely calm expression... You were incredibly cool. I really never imagined you’d be this kind and easily embarrassed.”

“Ah.”

Sun’s ears turned even redder.

Gyeol wrapped both hands around the mug. The warmth spreading from the cup felt just like Sun.

“I’m not saying that side of you is bad. Just now, it felt like I’d seen a new side of you in person.”

“...You mean that in a good way, right?”

“Of course. Obviously.”

“Then I’m glad too.”

“What exactly are you glad about?”

The tension left him all at once, and laughter kept slipping out. Sun smiled as he watched him.

“To be honest, I wanted to bring you another drink, but there was no coffee, juice, or tea... And I thought milk might fill you up too much before dinner.”

“Thank you. I like warm water.”

I like.

That clear pronunciation tickled Sun’s ears.

Gyeol’s face, smiling at him with gentle eyes, seemed to shimmer as if it held light of its own.

To Sun, Gyeol Go had always been like that.

From the beginning until now.

“Seeing you smile... makes me happy.”

Sun stopped there and swallowed the rest of his words out of habit.

That seeing him cry in the Time Booth had hurt unbearably.

That he had been worried ever since because Gyeol’s complexion had not looked good.

That the way he sat alone at the table, watching people, had seemed far too precarious.

And so, he could not stop paying attention to him no matter what.

That every night as he fell asleep, he tried to quiet the feelings growing larger day by day, yet he had no idea how to stop.

“Will you be all right without headache medicine?”

“I think I feel better thanks to you, Sun. And I think I’ll feel even better once I drink this water.”

“Then since everyone is busy... I’ll go back and lend a hand again.”

“Okay. Thank you so much, Sun.”

After bowing his head, Sun turned away, but his heart was filled with lingering reluctance.

Even as he walked calmly, he kept being aware of what was behind him.

While chopping firewood and helping with small dinner preparations, Sun glanced at Gyeol again and again. The cameras captured all of it, but he did not care.

To begin with, he was not an entertainer, and he had come on R-Connect with the lightest possible heart.

He had never imagined his heart would turn toward anyone.

And then Gyeol Go appeared.

Sun, who did not know how to overthink or weigh calculations, accepted both Gyeol’s existence and his own feelings easily.

My eyes keep going to him.

I can’t help freezing up in front of this person.

Every time Gyeol smiles at me, my heart aches.

So declaring that he would go straight for him had not been difficult, and even after using the Time Booth today, admitting his feelings on only Day 6 had not been difficult either.

Sun Choi had come to like Gyeol Go.

It was the first time he had ever come to like someone this quickly.

But even that did not feel strange.

Sun was that kind of person.

Once he made up his mind, once he set a goal he wanted to achieve, that alone was enough.

“Hup, I’ll sit here.”

So even when he saw Woo Seok take the empty seat between Jaekyung Park and Gyeol Go, he did not think much of it.

He was disappointed he could not sit beside Gyeol, but he could simply ask to talk to him separately later.

He knew the gazes of Woo Seok and all the other Alphas were directed at Gyeol, but that did not bother him either.

After all, Sun had decided to look only at Gyeol Go, and that feeling would not change until the end.

That did not mean he would disregard Gyeol’s feelings.

If Sun had to name the person among all the participants he worried about and cared for most, it was unquestionably Gyeol.

“This stir-fried eggplant is really good. I don’t usually like eggplant, but I keep eating this.”

“Right, Gyeol? I chopped that eggplant.”

“You only chopped it. Didn’t Tommy do the actual cooking? If someone heard you, they’d think you cooked everything by yourself, Woo Seok.”

“Hee Jun, there you go again. You’re always like that to me. Right, Tommy?”

“...I think I did do all the cooking.”

“Our Potato is sulking! What are you going to do about it, Woo Seok?”

Even amid the nonstop comedic banter and teasing that continued again today, Sun quietly held his place and simply worried about Gyeol.

As if it had become a habit over the past few days.

“Sun, isn’t the stir-fried eggplant too far for you to reach? Should I put some on your plate?”

“Then please. Just a little here...”

As he passed the plate over, his fingertips brushed Gyeol’s.

That trivial friction alone sent a tingling spark through him.

“Enjoy.”

Watching Gyeol’s soft smile, Sun thought that perhaps he had not decided to go straight for him after all.

Perhaps he had simply been left with no other choice.

***

“The current time is exactly 8:00 p.m.”

“Tonight’s favorability vote is scheduled for 10:00 p.m.”

“There is a saying that it isn’t over until it’s over.”

“For the remaining two hours, participants may freely enjoy dates.”

Not long after the announcement rang out, someone rang the doorbell of Gyeol’s lodging.

Gyeol and Isu Yoon, who had been discussing whether to wait here or go to the Alpha lodging first, both looked toward the door.

“I think you should answer it.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Mm... because it’s probably someone looking for you?”

Isu smiled with a slight grimace. Somehow, he looked bitter.

Gyeol instinctively realized that something must have happened between Isu Yoon and Jun Shin.

He did not ask about Isu’s relationship with Jun unless Isu brought it up first. Since he was hiding the fact that he was Jun Shin’s ex-lover, he did not want to feel any more guilty toward Isu.

At first, Isu had told him all kinds of details about what happened and what he talked about with Jun Shin. But as time passed, he talked less and less about anything related to Jun.

There was nothing strange about that.

Isu must know full well that Jun was showing interest in Gyeol.

But this was the first time he had shown bitterness so openly.

It could simply be the feelings he had accumulated breaking through a dam and spilling out... but for some reason, Gyeol’s intuition told him there was something more.

“Okay. I’ll open it, Isu.”

Last night, he had received a sweep of Alpha votes right to his face. Acting coy about it now would only look obnoxious. It was better to acknowledge it cleanly and act accordingly.

But when Gyeol opened the door, the person who greeted him was, of all people, Jun Shin.

Because he had not expected Jun to suddenly appear, Gyeol could not open his mouth right away. Noticing that, Jun gave him an easy smile and spoke first.

“Let’s go talk, Gyeol.”

It was a statement that did not need the question, Who did you come here to talk to?

It was much better than Gyeol asking whether he had come for him or Isu Yoon... but Gyeol could not help feeling troubled.

“Ah, I came to talk to Gyeol too.”

A sigh burst out from behind Jun Shin.

The person hidden behind his shoulder approached with a grumble.

It was Woo Seok.

“Then I’ll reserve the slot after Jun. I’ll go talk with Jaekyung first while I wait.”

Gyeol had no idea what kind of reaction he was supposed to show.

He was aware of Isu behind him, and also aware of Jaekyung Park, who was not even here.

Then, suddenly frustrated by how much he was thinking about everything, Gyeol decided to leave this place first.

“Let’s go. To talk.”

He gave Jun a look and passed in front of the two Alphas.

Behind him, Woo Seok nagged as if repeatedly emphasizing it.

“Talk for exactly twenty minutes and pass the baton, got it?”

“I’ll try.”

Jun answered lightly, patted his shoulder, and followed Gyeol.

Left alone in front of the closed door, Woo Seok turned toward Jaekyung’s lodging while fuming inwardly.

Every last one of them—did they think other people’s shoulders were public property?

***

Gyeol, walking ahead, stopped at the beach.

He was not thrilled about always talking with Jun in front of the sea, as if it were some symbol of romance between them, but he had no confidence in speaking with Jun somewhere quiet.

He felt like he needed the noisy sound of the waves as white noise, at least, to keep his grip on sanity.

In any case, this conversation could not avoid the cameras.

After checking the position of the camera following them from a certain distance, Gyeol stopped a few steps away from the waves washing in and out of the shore.

“Let’s talk here.”

“Okay.”

Whoosh.

The sound of the waves filled the silence.