Chapter 78

Jun Shin froze in shock and instinctively tried to stop himself, but it was useless. The buoy beneath his feet was slippery, and momentum was already carrying him forward hard. He slammed headfirst into Tommy’s huge body with a startled grunt and sprawled flat onto the buoy.

But Jun Shin’s tightly packed muscles carried plenty of force too, so Tommy didn’t come out unscathed either. Even after using his massive frame like a shield, Tommy couldn’t withstand the impact crashing into him. He toppled backward, and the buoy beneath them tilted helplessly to one side.

Then the waves rolled in and completed the disaster.

Splash!

Both of them fell into the sea at the exact same time.

“What are those two even doing?”

“So that’s why the comedy contest failed. Completely.”

The contestants burst into laughter.

Gyeol covered his mouth, but he couldn’t stop laughing either. It genuinely looked like the two of them were performing a full-on slapstick comedy routine.

We’ll begin the countdown.

5, 4, 3....

At last, the two men crawled back onto the buoy, soaked through like drowned ghosts. Even while they struggled upward, wave after wave kept crashing over them, sweeping around the bodies of the two fully grown Alphas.

“God, I’m losing it. I can’t watch this without crying.”

“Now I’m crying because I laughed too hard....”

There was no denying it anymore.

This was absolutely not a scene that preserved Alpha dignity.

Tommy and Jun really are working hard too.

Those two already found the place where they belong, and they’re still trying this hard. I should work harder too from now on.

Gyeol found himself strangely encouraged, quietly cheering them on in his heart as an unexpected burst of motivation swelled inside him.

The same scene repeated itself over and over.

Neither the contestants nor the production staff could stop laughing. This wasn’t exactly the kind of comedy Producer Yoo had hoped for, so his expression hovered in an awkward middle ground at first, but eventually even he burst out laughing at the nonstop chaos.

The fourth time it happened was when the two of them plunged into the sea while violently clinging to each other.

This time, Jun Shin surfaced first.

Tommy’s body was simply too large and too heavily muscled, which made him less buoyant. Compared to Jun, who floated up more easily, Tommy kept sinking farther down, and as the match dragged on, that disadvantage started wearing him out badly.

Completely exhausted, Tommy failed to resurface right away.

3, 2....

The narrator counted down the remaining seconds without mercy.

Jun Shin was just about to climb fully back onto the buoy—

when suddenly, a giant King Potato shot up from the water and grabbed both his ankles.

“Wah— what do we do?!”

“Oh my god, I shouldn’t laugh but this is seriously hilarious.”

“They’re taking the game seriously. Stop laughing, Jaekyung.”

It was the classic drowning-ghost strategy.

Jun Shin struggled with all his strength to break free from Tommy’s grip, but there was no defeating the savage King Potato. In the end, Jun was dragged right back into the water.

“Five! Four! Three!”

The narrator and contestants shouted the numbers together in chorus.

Yellow hair and black hair tangled and overturned across the surface of the sea.

“One!”

At the very last second, the one who burst upward onto the buoy like a polar bear—

was Tommy.

The winner is Tommy. Congratulations.

“WAAAAAH!”

Standing atop the buoy, Tommy beat his chest with a roar of victory.

Then the waves rocked the buoy again.

He slipped immediately and fell right back into the sea.

“I’m losing my mind to the very end.”

“No, seriously, if they suck all the entertainment value out of the show first, what are the people after them supposed to do?”

“...Guys, this isn’t that kind of variety show. This is R-Connect.”

Tommy and Jun Shin trudged back toward the beach looking like drenched paper towels. Watching the two of them collapse side by side onto the sand, the remaining Alphas stared with growing dread at the future awaiting them, while the Omegas simply laughed like they were having the time of their lives.

“And now... later... we still have to do the team match too....”

Tommy muttered in a near-tearful voice.

Staring blankly up at the sky, Jun Shin answered weakly,

“...Before that, you still have another game to do too. Honestly, if you’re not going to get first place anyway, it might be better to get eliminated early....”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner...? Jun, you’re mean....”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me... You charged at your elder like a raging brown bear. King Potato tears his elders apart.”

The two of them exchanged exhausted nonsense until they both started laughing limply at the same time.

Then, under relentless demands from the others telling them to get up already, Tommy stood first. He hauled Jun Shin upright and half-supported him back toward the contestants.

Both of them were covered in sand.

“You two go stand over there in the corner. Sand keeps falling off you.”

“That’s some serious discrimination....”

“This is so sad.”

They matched each other perfectly like Dumb and Dumber.

And honestly, while Jun Shin was Jun Shin... Tommy looked absurdly happy about all of it. Every time Jun played along with one of his jokes, Tommy’s face brightened another shade.

Next came Sun Choi versus Woo Seok Jung.

Nobody expected an upset.

And the result unfolded exactly the way everyone expected.

A clean victory for Sun.

Sun barely even needed to use his hands.

Woo Seok clung to him desperately while Sun simply stood there looking blankly confused.

“‘...Are you using strength right now?’”

“That’s literally perfect.”

Tommy burst out laughing at Jaekyung’s flawless Sun impression.

Sun glanced awkwardly at Woo Seok, who was struggling alone, then carefully shifted one shoulder slightly.

That single movement sent Woo Seok flying backward like a paper doll.

The buoy tilted from the recoil and both men fell into the sea together, but—

while Sun casually grabbed the edge of the buoy and leisurely demonstrated breaststroke kicks, Woo Seok couldn’t even regain control of himself and ended up swept all the way back toward the beach.

Sun Choi wins!

Standing atop the buoy, Sun gave a crisp salute before diving cleanly into the water. Cutting through the sea with smooth dolphin kicks, he reached Woo Seok in moments and stood tall beside him, water streaming down his heavily muscled legs.

Then he held out a hand.

“That was a good match, Woo Seok.”

“Tch.”

Woo Seok’s face flushed red with humiliation.

Sun had no malicious intent whatsoever. He only tilted his head in confusion at Woo Seok’s reaction.

“...Aren’t you getting up?”

When Sun waved his hand lightly, Woo Seok slapped his palm into it with a loud smack!—then immediately yelped like he was the one who got hurt.

“If that counts as talent, I guess it’s talent. I don’t even think he’s doing it on purpose....”

“That’s what makes it terrifying.”

Jaekyung whispered, and Hee Jun nodded in complete agreement.

The moment Woo Seok returned, he accepted an oversized beach towel from the staff and aggressively wrapped it around his weak frame while making his irritation painfully obvious.

Third round. Number 4, Sun Choi. Number 5, Yo Han Sung.

“Isn’t this basically the finals?”

“...You know we can all hear you, right?”

Tommy grumbled at Hanseul’s comment.

Pretending not to hear him, Hanseul simply watched Yo Han stride effortlessly across the sea and climb onto the buoy.

“At this rate you’re gonna burn a hole through Yo Han with your eyes.”

“Yo Han?”

Only then did Hanseul react to the title that rolled so naturally out of Tommy’s mouth.

Tommy flinched at the sharpness of the response, then defiantly lifted his chin.

“Yeah. Yo Han. We decided to talk casually earlier.”

“.......”

Hanseul stared directly at Tommy with narrowed catlike eyes.

Apparently deciding this was suddenly a staring contest, Tommy widened his own eyes right back.

Tommy’s seriously adorable.

Gyeol suppressed another laugh by clearing his throat.

He was already acting ridiculously affectionate with the older Alphas since this morning. Looks like they really did get close fast.

Even so...

Seeing him proudly show off something as tiny as a nickname—

it reminded Gyeol so vividly of Yuli excitedly bragging about becoming friends with an older kid at daycare and constantly talking about “Jinu hyung.”

Ah. Comparing Tommy to Yuli like this is rude.

Gyeol forcibly pushed the thought away.

Around then, the staring contest ended with Tommy declared the victor. Hanseul was the first to sharply look away.

Technically Tommy won, but somehow it still felt like Hanseul had gotten the upper hand.

Still, judging by the way Tommy huffed and turned his head the opposite direction, Tommy himself didn’t seem to care.

And honestly, that was enough.

“Tommy. You’ve got sand in your hair.”

Unable to fully hide his lingering smile, Gyeol spoke to him.

“Huh? Really? Where?”

Startled by the attention from the pretty older man, Tommy hurriedly shook his hair and fumbled around his head. Unfortunately, his wet bleached hair clung to the sand with spiderweb-like determination. The more he brushed at it, the deeper the sand seemed to get.

“Over here. No, the other side.”

“This side?”

“No. A little higher.”

“Here?”

“Mm... hold on. Sorry.”

Tommy felt like his heart stopped.

Everything slowed down.

The only thing that remained vividly clear was Gyeol alone.

Maybe this was what people meant when they said time moved slowly.

Gyeol’s hand drawing closer.

That spotless face beyond it, lightly tanned by the sun and glowing with healthy warmth.

Long lashes lowering and lifting slowly.

Even those faintly parted reddish lips. ℯℯ𝑙.

Then—

tap.

Gyeol’s hand touched Tommy’s hair.

Tommy inhaled sharply and forgot how to breathe.

The hand brushing through his hair was feather-soft.

Like he was handling something young and fragile.

A strange ache rang through Tommy’s chest.

And in that instant, realization struck him.

I think this man only sees me as a kid.

“There. All done.”

Gyeol withdrew his hand with a gentle smile.

Staring at that softly glowing face, Tommy clenched his molars and lowered his head.

“Thanks, Gyeol.”

“It was nothing.”

I can’t let this end here.

That felt unbearably disappointing.

Getting closer to the Alpha guys was fun and exciting, sure—

but after coming all the way onto R-Connect and finally meeting someone he genuinely liked...

he didn’t want things to end with that person only seeing him as a child.

The game will now begin.

“Ah, it’s starting.”

Tommy spent one last moment engraving the sight of Gyeol’s profile into his memory before finally forcing himself to look away.

On top of the buoy, Sun Choi and Yo Han Sung lowered themselves into ready stances.

Their intense gazes locked directly onto each other.