Chapter 72

Tommy had been gloomy since early morning.

An hour ago, the booming wake-up announcement had dragged both him and his roommate, Woo Seok Jung, out of bed at the same time.

Today, more than anything, Tommy had wanted to use the bathroom first, so he kept glancing toward the door when Woo Seok suddenly sprang upright from the bed.

“I’m showering first.”

At times like this, he moved ridiculously fast. Normally, he barely seemed interested in moving at all, to the point where Tommy ended up cleaning not only the room itself but also all the clothes and trash Woo Seok left lying around.

After throwing out that one-sided declaration, Woo Seok occupied the bathroom. Whether he was taking forever to wash up, obsessively grooming himself, or secretly hiding snacks in there and eating alone, nobody knew, but over an hour passed and he still showed no sign of coming out.

Knock knock knock.

“Hyung, there’s only an hour left. I need to use the bathroom too.”

Tommy finally lost patience and knocked on the door, but—

“Ah, just wait a little longer.”

—all he got back was an irritated reply.

Tommy was soft by nature. It took a lot for him to think badly of someone. But after getting pushed around by Woo Seok over and over again, he was slowly starting to resent him.

“You’re not supposed to think bad things about people...”

Muttering gloomily to himself like a dejected potato, Tommy scrubbed his face hard with both hands. In the end, he had no choice but to leave the lodging. He figured he could at least borrow the bathroom from the lodging across the way. The guys in that room were all incredibly diligent, so the bathroom was probably free around this time.

Knock knock.

He knocked on the door and waited a moment.

No response.

“Huh?”

Tilting his head, he pressed the doorbell this time.

Ding dong.

Still nothing.

“What? Is nobody here?”

“Tommy?”

The answer finally came—from behind him.

Recognizing Jun Shin’s voice, Tommy turned around with a bright smile, only to freeze in shock.

“Hyungs, why are you all half naked? Even Actor Yo Han too...!”

Because all three Alphas staying in the other lodging were shirtless.

Well, technically only half shirtless.

“We went running.”

Sun Choi answered while wiping the sweat gathered along his jaw with the sports towel slung over his shoulders. His body looked even more tanned than before, gleaming bronze under the sunlight.

“The three of you together?”

“Yeah. Running along the beach feels nice.”

Yo Han Sung answered smoothly as he passed beside him and punched in the keypad code.

Beep beep beep beep. Click.

The door unlocked, and Yo Han pushed it open a few inches before gesturing toward Tommy.

“Come in, Tommy. You came looking for our lodging, right?”

“Ah—yes!”

Even right after running, he smells good.

Tommy admired Yo Han’s sweat-dampened face with pure amazement before abruptly realizing what he was doing and hurriedly nodding. Watching him, Yo Han let out a small amused laugh.

“What’s going on? Judging by the bird’s nest on your head, you haven’t even washed up yet.”

At the teasing remark, Tommy gasped and quickly flattened his hair with both hands. Just as Yo Han said, the parts crushed during sleep were sticking up wildly everywhere. He hadn’t even made it to the bathroom, let alone looked in a mirror.

Embarrassed for no reason, Tommy shuffled awkwardly into the lodging.

“Yeah, actually... I was wondering if I could borrow your bathroom...”

“The bathroom? Why? Did your room oversleep?”

Jun followed in behind Yo Han as he asked the question.

Over Jun’s shoulder, Sun was visible doing push-ups directly on the ground. His posture was perfectly straight as he exhaled sharply with each rep, not even the slightest bit sloppy. By the time Tommy looked over again, Sun had already transitioned into explosive push-ups, springing fully off the ground between reps.

Didn’t he say they’d already gone running? Wasn’t he tired?

Former national athletes really were built differently.

“It’s not exactly oversleeping... things just sort of happened.”

Tommy answered gloomily before mumbling under his breath.

“...You should’ve invited me too. I wanted to go running with you guys.”

It was a quiet but sincere confession.

Honestly, he wanted to pack up all his luggage and move into this room entirely.

Tommy’s parents, both social workers, had always told him not to discriminate against people. Everyone had both good and bad sides, so no matter who he met, he should try to look for the positive in them.

Tommy had spent his whole life trying to get along well with everyone under those teachings.

But over the past few days, his values had fallen into complete confusion.

Sharing a room with Woo Seok—who was selfish, arrogant, and constantly said things that crossed the line—while also feeling obligated to keep taking care of him out of sheer responsibility was exhausting Tommy more and more.

The irritation and resentment naturally growing inside him felt unbearably uncomfortable. If possible, he genuinely wanted to avoid Woo Seok altogether.

“Then come run with us tomorrow, Tommy. Think you can come out at seven-thirty in the morning?”

Yo Han spoke while opening the fridge, taking out several bottles of water, and tossing one toward Jun. Catching it, Jun playfully replied with a “Danke” before unscrewing the cap.

“Huh? Really? I can come too?”

“Of course. Sorry we didn’t invite you beforehand.”

Jun chimed in while drinking water.

Tommy’s eyes immediately began sparkling.

“I’m kinda heavy, so I’m not very good at running, but I’ll work hard! I really wanna run with you guys!”

“Sounds good. See you tomorrow morning.”

At Tommy’s determined expression as he clenched both fists tightly, both Yo Han and even Sun—who had just walked in—broke into laughter with their eyes curving warmly.

He was so pure it was impossible not to find him adorable.

“Hm. Is Woo Seok hyung still not out of the bathroom?”

Tommy hadn’t even said anything, but Jun instantly pieced the situation together anyway. He winked at the flustered Tommy.

“Our lodging has two bathrooms, and everybody showers fast, so it’ll open up quickly. Yo Han hyung can go first, and then you use it after him. That okay, hyung?”

“Of course. I’ll hurry.”

Yo Han hyung.

Tommy was stunned.

The fact that there were two bathrooms here was shocking enough, but even more shocking was hearing Jun casually call Yo Han “Yo Han hyung” like they were close.

Watching Yo Han head toward the bathroom, broad back and solid muscles on full display, Tommy regretted his room choice all over again.

He should’ve picked better from the start.

Everyone in this room was somebody he wanted to get close to.

Jun Shin. Sun Choi. Yo Han Sung.

“Sun hyung. It’s okay if I shower first, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll get ready quickly.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Once Jun left too, only Sun and Tommy remained in the living room.

An awkward silence settled between them.

This swimming emperor hyung was far kinder than Tommy had expected, but he was such an overwhelmingly impressive person that Tommy still found him strangely intimidating.

“Tommy.”

“Yes?”

“Want to do squats together?”

“...Huh?”

The sudden exercise attack left Tommy blank-faced.

Sun silently stared at him for a moment before adding in his usual blunt tone,

“You looked like you wanted to work out together.”

“Ah... uh...”

That wasn’t wrong, exactly, but didn’t it feel like he was missing the point a little?

Still, Tommy wanted to get closer to him so badly that he decided not to waste the rare opportunity.

“Yes! I’d love to!”

“Okay. Then let’s start now.”

Completely unaware that he was about to do over two hundred squats before Yo Han finally finished showering.

***

I’m sorry, Isu. I want things to work out for you too... but I don’t think that’s something I can help with.

Sitting in the lounge chewing on a boiled potato, Gyeol blankly replayed his conversation with Isu Yoon in his head.

He kept worrying that he’d rejected him too harshly out of panic.

Maybe he could’ve phrased it more gently. Maybe there had been some softer way to talk him down.

But no matter how much he reconsidered it, he couldn’t come up with any better answer.

More than anything, the problem was that he himself was Jun Shin’s ex-boyfriend. If he awkwardly stepped in claiming he wanted to help Isu, wouldn’t that just make him a hypocrite?

And besides...

His gaze drifted toward Jun Shin sitting at the far end of the wide table chatting with Tommy.

Apparently Tommy had been trapped by Sun and forced into doing either two hundred squats or three hundred squats. Either way, the ridiculous story from earlier that morning seemed to have become a minor hot topic among the Alphas.

It wouldn’t be fair to Jun Shin either.

A sigh threatened to escape him.

Setting down the dry, flavorless potato, Gyeol washed away the suffocating feeling in his throat with a sip of carbonated soda. Today’s breakfast menu was boiled potatoes and soda.

The soda was obviously sponsored product placement, but the refreshing lime flavor wasn’t bad.

“I seriously thought I was gonna die, okay? But wow, Sun hyung just wouldn’t stop. ‘One more. One more.’ I swear, that was the scariest I’ve ever seen him.”

“You’re saying that while looking ridiculously excited, King Potato.”

“I-I’m not excited!”

“You’re happy the hyungs are playing with you. Right?”

Jaekyung Park and Hee Jun Kang, seated near Tommy, teased him nonstop as usual.

There was absolutely nothing strange about the scene.

At this point, after days of repetition, it had practically become part of the daily routine.

And yet Gyeol felt a strange sense of discomfort.

The unease he’d felt yesterday had taken on a clearer shape today.

For example, Woo Seok was sitting beside Gyeol, and Jaekyung sat next to Woo Seok—but Jaekyung was blatantly turning his back toward them and refusing to even glance this way.

“Jaekyung, eat some more potatoes.”

Woo Seok tapped his shoulder while speaking, but Jaekyung only glanced back briefly with a forced smile. He neither took the potato nor answered.

Looking offended, Woo Seok practically tossed the potato back down before switching targets and repeatedly trying to talk to Gyeol instead.

Gyeol responded because he had no choice, but every time he spoke to Woo Seok, he couldn’t ignore the strange gazes directed at him.

Most notably from Hanseul Ga and Jaekyung Park.

What the hell? Did something else happen?

It hadn’t been this bad during dinner last night.

Right as Gyeol found himself thinking he’d rather just eat another potato than keep dealing with Woo Seok without understanding the source of the ominous atmosphere, the broadcast suddenly rang out like a savior.

“Pheromone Island, Day 7.”

“Starting now: ‘Win the Date Pass — Infinite Racing.’ All contestants, please change into swimsuits and gather on the beach.”

“The winning contestants of today’s game will receive a Golden Date Card and an Ivory Mansion date pass.”