Chapter 76

Two grown men crashed into the pool at the same time, sending up a massive splash.

“What happened?!”

“Who fell in first?”

Isu Yoon surfaced first.

A second later, Gyeol burst up from the water with a sharp gasp for air.

Both of their headbands had come off in the fall.

The contestants craned their necks toward the production staff. After a brief discussion between Producer Yoo and the crew, the narrator’s voice rang out.

—We will determine the winner through video review. Both participants, please wait on top of the buoy.

Isu climbed onto the buoy first and held out a hand toward Gyeol.

Still dazed from falling into the water, Gyeol absentmindedly reached up with the hand wrapped in bandages, but Isu immediately shook his head.

“Give me the other hand. The uninjured one.”

“Ah. Right.”

Only then did Gyeol notice the throbbing pain in his hand.

The medical team had covered it with a large waterproof bandage before the game started, but water must have seeped in anyway.

When Gyeol offered his other hand, Isu grabbed it and pulled him up.

Gyeol had tried to brace himself with his opposite elbow against the buoy and climb carefully to avoid reopening the wound—

but Isu yanked him upward with enough force to make all that caution unnecessary.

“Is your hand okay?”

“Probably. I don’t think it’s too bad.”

Isu’s brows drooped slightly.

“Go let the medical team look at it as soon as this ends.”

The concern on his face was obvious.

Come to think of it, Isu had been staring at Gyeol’s bandaged hand before the game started too.

He must have been worrying about it the whole time.

“Thanks, Isu.”

“It’s not a big deal...”

Isu’s pale face flushed faintly red as he looked away.

Sweeping back his wet hair, Gyeol ended up laughing quietly.

—We will now reveal the winner.

—The winner is...

***

Jung Heeju, an ordinary twenty-seven-year-old office worker from South Korea and a full-blown dopamine addict, felt like her blood was drying up.

The screen in front of her replayed the enormous splash over and over from multiple angles and in slow motion.

The panelists’ voices overlapped chaotically.

—Wait, what exactly were the rules again?

—The person who touches the water first loses!

Can’t they just tell us already? Seriously, broadcasters are the worst.

Jung Heeju had been an obsessive R-Connect fan ever since season five, never missing a live broadcast, but she absolutely hated this old-fashioned variety-show habit of dragging things out endlessly.

In this day and age?

They should’ve revealed it instantly and delivered the dopamine hit immediately.

—Wait! Didn’t Gyeol’s knee hit first?!

—I think Isu’s hand touched before that though?

—Jesus Christ, I’m losing my mind here. Stop replaying it and just tell us already!

—Junggu! You can’t threaten the production staff!

The other panelists burst out laughing at one man’s outburst.

“Shin Junggu is seriously hilarious.”

Giggling to herself, Jung Heeju typed another comment into the community page she had open on her second monitor.

Shin Junggu gets funnier the more I watch himㅋㅋㅋ At first I was like why did they cast some random mountain bandit-looking guy as a panelist

↳ 22 seriously he’s so funnyㅋㅋㅋㅋ total scene-stealerㅋㅋㅋ

↳3333 he’s always yelling at the production team and Woo Stoneㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ honestly he has every right to yell at Woo Stone at this point. Shin Junggu’s been going easy on him if anything

↳ with Junggu’s temper he probably made even crazier commentsㅋㅋㅋ Producer Yoo probably edited them out

Replies flooded in almost instantly.

As she skimmed through more comments, the narration suddenly boomed through the speakers.

—The winner is Go Gyeol!

The panelists erupted.

The footage replayed in slow motion again, this time from behind the two contestants.

The angle clearly showed the position of Gyeol’s knee and Isu’s hand.

“Wow... that was insanely close.”

The first person to touch the water had been Isu.

His hand hit the surface first, and after his wrist submerged, Gyeol’s knee finally struck the water.

Go Gyeol was Jung Heeju’s favorite contestant in R-Connect 10.

Her excitement lasted only a second before her hands flew into motion. She immediately clipped the video, captured still shots, converted them into GIFs, and uploaded a new post immortalizing Gyeol’s victory.

(Go_Gyeol_touching_water_later_than_Yoon_Isu.gif)

(Wet_and_ethereally_beautiful_Go_Gyeol.gif)

capture queen working overtime again thank u!!!

why does him soaking wet look THIS pretty,, god,, (saved.

you can totally tell capture queen is having the time of her life this seasonㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Within the community, Jung Heeju was known as “capture queen.”

It was just a small hobby for her as a web designer.

Whenever she uploaded photos or clips of her favorite contestant, reactions exploded instantly. More and more people had started recognizing and loving her signature color correction style, and eventually the nickname stuck.

The dopamine rush she got from it was stronger than anything she found in real life.

Sometimes it even felt more rewarding than her actual job.

The screen had moved on to the panelists now, all of them standing from their seats and screaming dramatically.

Still fully immersed, Jung Heeju began capturing and uploading their ridiculous comments with subtitles too.

After the victory announcement, Isu Yoon was the first to offer Go Gyeol a handshake.

And Gyeol’s expression in that moment was incredible.

A complicated blend of guilt and happiness.

Sometimes Gyeol’s face became impossible to pin down to just one emotion like this.

That was exactly what made him seem even more heartbreakingly beautiful—and exactly why Jung Heeju had become completely obsessed with him.

The R-Connect camera director clearly had excellent taste too.

The close-up shot that perfectly framed Gyeol’s devastatingly pure expression proved it.

“How is even his name Go Gyeol?”

Internally screaming, Jung Heeju kept snapping captures nonstop.

Go Gyeol, damp from the water.

Long eyelashes glistening with moisture.

His makeup should have washed off after falling into the pool, yet his lips still held their natural flushed color.

His pale face slowly curving into a smile.

“God... this completely wipes away my exhaustion.”

It genuinely felt cleansing to her eyes.

The wholesome image of Isu Yoon and Go Gyeol shaking hands lingered onscreen—

then suddenly cut away with the sharp crack of a can opening as a beer commercial began playing.

It was a Jun Shin ad.

Amber-colored beer fizzed brightly across the screen before Jun tipped the bottle back and chugged it down.

After watching the exaggeratedly refreshing beer-commercial reaction, Jung Heeju suddenly craved beer desperately.

You know what. One beer on a Friday night this good can’t hurt.

Humming happily, she went to the refrigerator and pulled out the cold beer she’d hidden in the back.

Jun Shin’s face was printed on the can.

She vaguely remembered telling herself last week, I’m seriously quitting drinking starting next week.

But honestly... whatever.

“I’ll quit next week.”

Drinking the cold beer, Jung Heeju uploaded a few more capture edits and kept scrolling through the comments she’d missed.

why the hell was the Omega individual match THIS intense?? legendary episode fr ㄷㄷ

↳ seriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋ was this Run! Dream Team or R-Connectㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ holy shit I literally thought the same thing

↳ bbabba bbabbaba~~~

↳ fuck stop the background music PTSD is hitting me like a truck rnㄷㄷ

↳ damn that’s my work playlist tooㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

actor duo... are they making up? huh? 〒▽〒 pls make up

↳ that emoji’s cute (stealing it~

↳ SOMEONE..! IS CRYING HERE!!!!!

↳ stealing the emoji too~

↳ YOU MONSTERS!!!!!!

the incarnation of flower deer beauty.. god.. (WhiteStag_GoGyeol.png)

↳ I think those parentheses are in the wrong place

↳ if you hide the parentheses it just says flower beauty

↳ everyone’s hearts already belong to the Blue House now there’s no escape

why does every R-Connect addict seem slightly high todayㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ ah... healthy sportsmanship releases endorphins. (in Sun Choi voice.)

↳ fuck the voice acting in my headㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ You shouldn’t use profanity. (stoic.)

↳ Gyeol. Please marry me. (firm.)

↳ fuck he really WOULD propose like thatㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ Gyeol. Please collab stream with me. (seductive.)

↳ bro your brainrot has entered levels 5 6 and 7

↳ tch

but seriouslyㅠㅠ thank god... I thought the actor duo was gonna split apart because of the Alphas;;; the fandom atmosphere was a disaster too,,, glad things feel better now

↳ fr omega storylines splitting because of Alphas?? absolutely hate that. what era are we living in

↳ uh but can we really say they split because of an Alpha? Isn’t Isu the one who asked for help firstㅠ

↳ Go Gyeol was worse for rejecting him flat-out to his face without even pretending to think about it

↳ STOP FIGHTING!!!! WE WERE SAYING WE LIKE THE GOOD ATMOSPHERE!!!!!!(screaming!!!!!

Gyeol really is insane ㄷㄷ.. heavenly visuals AND ridiculous physical ability..

↳ didn’t he say he binge-watched R-Connect four times?? dude’s determination is crazy

↳ ahhh an angelic face with that level of obsession?..(even better.

↳ better my ass. acts all nice while stealing every Alpha and every date pass. fake as hell

↳ why are you so madㅠ ?

↳ (This comment has been deleted by moderators.)

↳ (This comment has been deleted by moderators.)

↳ honestly seeing stuff like this makes it obvious Gyeol’s getting popular; antis are multiplying as fast as fans now

↳ popularity my ass he’s still a failed idol

↳ yep next up we have another keyboard warrior trapped in their bedroom

↳ (This comment has been deleted by moderators.)

↳ ahhh scaryyyy~!!!

↳ the comment above is provoking them even moreㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ reported >_ㅇ

...

but wait. Hee Jun.. honestly looked like he could’ve beaten Isuㅠ weird?

↳ honestly Hanseul and Jaekyung are the ones giving me weird vibes

↳ why??

↳ think about it. Hanseul and Jaekyung were talking shit, right? then Hee Jun stayed neutral and they kinda iced him out. after that he looked super intimidated or something

↳22 I felt that too. He’s usually all sunshine hardworking-boy energy!! but lately he’s looked gloomy sometimes too..(crying Saltiesㅠ

↳ what the hell are Salties..?

↳ Silver Salt fandomㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

↳ ohhhhh got it

I took screenshots of the weird vibes. hear me out.

↳ 1) (HeeJun_wins_round1_Jaekyung_expression.jpg) it’s brief but Jaekyung’s face totally hardens here

↳ 2) (Omega_trio.jpg) Jaekyung’s standing way too close to Hanseul here.. and kinda excluding Hee Jun? wasn’t their dynamic different before? Jaekyung and Hee Jun used to be close

↳ 3) (After_HeeJun_loses_round3.jpg) but after Hee Jun loses to Isu suddenly they go all “our precious Hee Jun~” and act super welcoming again;; honestly gave me chills even though the editors clearly tried to tone it down

↳ wait hold on that actually makes sense

↳ makes sense my ass that’s just delusional speculation;

↳ Silver Salt fandom is exploding right now

The discussion about Hanseul, Jaekyung, and Hee Jun went on for quite a while after that.

Reading through the comments thoughtfully, Jung Heeju suddenly remembered an earlier scene from tonight’s episode.

Night of Day 6.

The favorability vote.

The moment Jaekyung Park had suddenly broken down sobbing in frustration.

And the target of his anger hadn’t been Woo Seok Jung alone.

When he said, “I won’t let this go,” Gyeol had clearly been included too.

But why was he that angry?

After a brief shot of Jaekyung crying while Hanseul and Hee Jun comforted him, the broadcast had moved on to the morning of Day 7.

Then immediately afterward came the awkward triangle conversation between Go Gyeol, Isu Yoon, and Jun Shin, so she hadn’t thought much about it at the time...

But now that she reconsidered it, something about the sequence bothered her.

The cut itself felt strange too.

It feels like there was more after that. Like they edited something out.

Even setting down the beer she’d been drinking, Jung Heeju tapped thoughtfully against her desk.

Then she decided that instead of exhausting herself thinking alone, she’d trust the wisdom of the crowd.

Clicking the button to create a new post, she started typing.

Muttering the title aloud as she wrote:

“Title... Am I the only one who thought Jaekyung Park’s breakdown was weird?”