Chapter 79

Beep—

“Looking forward to this, athlete Choi.”

“The feeling’s mutual, actor Yo Han Sung.”

After exchanging those polite greetings, both men drew in steady breaths.

Beep—

Tension settled heavily over the beach.

The noisy, playful atmosphere from moments ago vanished completely. Every contestant fell silent as they watched.

Nothing remained except the sound of waves.

BEEEEEP!

The instant the final signal rang out, the two men charged straight at each other.

Thud.

A heavy impact echoed out.

Even though the waves constantly rocked the buoy beneath their feet, neither man budged an inch. They planted themselves firmly, pouring force into one another as they endured the collision head-on. Veins rose sharply across their straining arms and legs, muscles pulled tight enough to burst.

“Eek... okay, this is kinda scary....”

“Seriously. Feels like I’m watching MMA or something.”

They broke apart only to crash together again almost immediately.

Sun Choi.

Yo Han Sung.

Neither of them looked remotely willing to back down.

Then it happened.

A massive wave crashed over the buoy, throwing both men off balance. Their shoulders slammed hard into each other as they staggered sideways.

“...!”

Sun sucked in a breath and instinctively grabbed his arm.

Of all places, the collision had struck his injured shoulder.

Yo Han paused.

Bracing one hand against the buoy to steady himself, he lowered his gaze and studied Sun carefully.

And Sun instantly realized it.

Yo Han had noticed his weakness.

After years competing as an athlete, Sun trusted his physical instincts more than anything. There was no way he could fail to recognize the meaning behind that gaze lingering on him.

Warning bells blared in his head.

The memory of losing to Yo Han during the previous Death Save Match flashed through his mind. Anxiety surged up again—the fear that he would lose the same way this time too.

Especially in a close-contact fight like this.

The moment someone discovered a weakness, it became fatal.

And there was no time to argue fairness in the middle of combat.

But Yo Han didn’t immediately exploit it.

Even though there was no way he could fail to realize that yanking Sun’s injured arm would leave him completely helpless.

Instead, he reset his stance and deliberately created distance, almost like he was giving Sun time to breathe.

On purpose...?

Sun’s confusion didn’t last long.

The two of them collided several more times after that, tangling together and rolling across the buoy in a chaotic mess.

But Yo Han never once touched the injured shoulder.

Even amid the chaos, he avoided it with eerie precision.

Sun clenched his jaw.

A strange surge of strength welled violently upward from deep in his abdomen.

He lunged forward and drove Yo Han down beneath him, climbing over his body before pressing firmly against Yo Han’s left shoulder—the same side as Sun’s own injury.

Then he spoke in a voice rough enough to scrape his throat raw.

“What exactly are you doing right now?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Yo Han let out a low laugh between broken breaths as pain flickered across his face.

“As far as I know... we’re both looking at the same thing.”

He meant Gyeol.

The person both of them wanted.

The unspoken objective behind this game.

“If you want to beat me, I don’t think you have time to waste talking.”

Twisting sharply, Yo Han shook Sun off and drove a knee into his side.

Sun slid across the buoy, and in the next second Yo Han climbed over him instead, instantly reversing the situation.

“...do you?”

“.......”

Sun panted harshly.

Yo Han did too.

The two of them continued overturning each other again and again across the buoy. They fell into the sea several times, but before more than a few numbers could be counted, one of their hands would already be gripping the buoy again.

“This could’ve been over fast. They’re being ridiculously careful.”

Still sulking from his merciless defeat earlier, Woo Seok grumbled irritably.

“Ahhh. So Woo Seok likes the straightforward style.”

Jun Shin replied with a bright smile.

In Woo Seok’s ears, the unspoken So that’s why you lost echoed clearly anyway.

“...If you’ve got something to say, just say it directly, Jun Shin.”

Even though they had already dropped formal speech with each other, Woo Seok deliberately switched back into polite language.

“Hm? No? You finished your game quickly without wasting energy, right?”

“So?”

“I thought it was strategy for the team match later.”

Jun widened his eyes innocently and tilted his head.

His entire face practically radiated Wasn’t it?

“Ahem. Right. Yeah. That’s what I was doing.”

“Yeah, that’s totally what I thought too. Honestly, I regret not ending mine quickly too. Like Woo Seok did.”

Jun Shin carefully stressed the words Woo Seok.

Woo Seok stared at him uncertainly for a moment before finally puffing out his chest, apparently arriving at the most flattering interpretation possible.

“Yeah. You should’ve finished fast too.”

Watching Woo Seok get effortlessly led around by Jun Shin, Gyeol felt oddly conflicted.

Jun Shin’s definitely mocking him.

That shamelessly innocent expression.

The way he sliced people apart indirectly while sounding perfectly harmless.

There was no mistaking it.

Back during their trainee days, Gyeol had watched countless people get dismantled exactly like this.

He remembered Jun warning him to be careful around Woo Seok.

The Jun Shin Gyeol knew had always been cautious.

When it came to protecting Gyeol from harm while quietly destroying the people who bothered him, Jun had always been unrivaled.

And that Jun had directly warned Gyeol?

Which meant he’d probably already been quietly keeping score in his own head for a while.

In the end, it meant Jun was still watching people who might hurt Gyeol.

The realization made Gyeol’s chest ache.

And left a bitter taste behind.

Idiot. He’s seriously an idiot....

Though honestly, maybe idiot wasn’t strong enough.

If Jun’s goal was really to win back Gyeol’s heart, then he’d completely missed the point.

No matter how hard you chase after a bus that already left...

Gyeol thought he’d made himself perfectly clear before.

Yet Jun still hovered protectively around him anyway.

He wanted to stop noticing him.

Wanted to stop caring entirely.

But his feelings refused to cooperate.

The contestants’ sudden gasps shattered Gyeol’s thoughts.

He jerked his head up.

Sun and Yo Han came into view.

After such a long fight, the buoy had drifted all the way near the beach with the waves.

Both men were half sprawled over the buoy and half tangled onto the sand. Bruises and red marks bloomed across every place they’d grabbed or slammed into each other.

Gyeol swallowed nervously.

From this point onward, if your entire body leaves the buoy, you will be disqualified!

A special rule got added on the fly because the wrestling match had escalated so completely out of control.

Even then, the game refused to end easily.

Whenever one person got pushed back, the momentum would reverse almost immediately. Even the one knocked down stubbornly forced the other back again.

Eventually, the two men separated slightly and glared at each other while dragging rough breaths from their lungs.

Then Sun moved first.

What the spectators failed to notice—

was that he deliberately rammed Yo Han with his injured shoulder.

Yo Han hadn’t expected that.

For once, genuine surprise crossed his face.

And reflexively, his body tensed.

A moment later, one of them rolled violently sideways toward the sand.

Dust burst into the air before slowly settling back down.

And the one who remained kneeling on the buoy until the very end—

The winner is Yo Han Sung.

The instant the victory was announced, the contestants who’d been holding their breath erupted into awe-filled cheers.

Yo Han didn’t celebrate.

He simply rose quietly and extended a hand toward Sun.

“Good match.”

“Good match.”

Sun clasped the offered hand and used the momentum to pull himself upright.

After brushing sand roughly off his body and hair, Sun grabbed Yo Han’s wrist and raised his arm high.

The gesture earned applause from the contestants.

Even several staff members found themselves clapping blankly along.

At last, the final round would be between Tommy and Yo Han.

Before the game resumed, the staff paused to reset the buoy and reorganize the arena.

After watching the previous match, Tommy had become visibly fired up and busied himself stretching and warming up.

Meanwhile, Yo Han sat off to the side, pouring cold water over his head and drinking some of it as he calmed his breathing.

Instead of brushing the sand off, Sun simply walked back into the sea and swam lightly before returning.

Then he sat alone on the beach with a towel draped over his head.

The half-hidden expression beneath it looked strangely empty.

After hesitating briefly, Gyeol picked up a bottle of water and walked over.

“Sun. You worked hard.”

“...Gyeol. Thank you.”

Sun accepted the bottle and immediately drained half of it in one go.

Then silence settled between them.

The atmosphere was completely different from usual.

The excited energy Sun always showed whenever he saw Gyeol was nowhere to be found.

Now he sat quietly still.

Deep and heavy as the sea itself.

Gyeol desperately searched for something to say, but no words came. Anything careless felt like it would only become a burden right now.

After turning countless thoughts over in his head, Gyeol finally decided it would be better to leave Sun alone.

Giving him space would probably help more than offering clumsy comfort.

“Then get some rest, Sun. I really enjoyed watching the match.”

Gyeol bowed lightly and turned away—

when sudden heat wrapped around his fingertips.

Sun had grabbed his hand.

“Don’t go, Gyeol.”