Chapter 7
Until now, Jaehyuk had lived thinking he was quite a decent person.
In fact, the general assessment of him was that while he wasn’t friendly or kind, he was cold, calm, objective, and well-mannered.
Because of that, not many people approached him closely, but there were also few who personally disliked him.
Since he was equally indifferent to everyone.
But at this moment, for the first time in his life, Jaehyuk was questioning his own temperament.
Wearing a black hood, reduced to rags.
The beginning of this entire tragedy was 10 hours ago.
* * *
“Clearly, there’s something wrong with this…”
With a sky full of dark clouds behind him, lightning repeatedly striking from the black sky, and frighteningly violent waves as the backdrop, Jaehyuk stood with the sound of thunder as background noise, looking down at Junghyun who was sleeping on the sofa without waking up even once despite the chaos.
By this point, he wasn’t even angry anymore.
Just yesterday morning, he had been desperately trying to wake him up by pulling off the blanket, kicking it, rolling him around, and doing everything possible, but today he was purely amazed.
The fact that he could sleep so soundly even through this thunder and lightning.
Due to the intense schedule that continued throughout the week, they had arrived at the hotel reserved for their honeymoon at 1 AM.
Until then, the weather had been very good.
The sky was clear, and the stars shone brilliantly as if they would pour down. The wind was moderately cool and moderately gentle.
So he had been excited about surfing for the first time in a while.
Until he lay down on the bed after entering the hotel.
The Presidential Suite had three bedrooms, so they had considered sleeping in different rooms, but because rumor could spread if two beds were disheveled, they decided one person would use the sofa. After they each took a shower, they would decide on their sleeping arrangements, but when Jaehyuk came out after his shower, Junghyun was already asleep on the sofa.
Using a cushion, not even a pillow.
As usual, he was a heavy sleeper, regardless of time or place.
Jaehyuk had neither the strength nor the energy to wake him, so he covered him with a blanket and returned to the bedroom.
But for some reason, sleep didn’t come easily last night.
Lying alone in bed for once, his nerves were on edge as he couldn’t fall asleep, when suddenly he saw flashing light.
That alone was frightening, but when an enormous thunderclap sounded moments later, he bolted upright and looked out the window to see lightning striking under a sky suddenly full of dark clouds, with even the moonlight obscured.
It was a lightning strike. Falling very close to the ground.
Surprised by this rare sight, he stared out the window before finally lowering the curtain and trying to sleep again. This time wearing an eye mask.
But that was short-lived. After a sudden thunderclap, there was a pattering sound, as if something was tapping on the window. Startled, he got up again and pulled back the curtain to see hail falling beyond the glass window.
Wondering what was going on as small ice fragments hit the window, he still needed to sleep, so this time he put in earplugs and tried to rest.
However, with the howling wind that pierced through the earplugs, the continuous thunder, and the heavy downpour replacing the hail and pounding against the window, he fell asleep briefly only to wake up, then fell asleep again only to wake up, repeating this cycle several times.
As if that wasn’t difficult enough, the peak noise that woke him up didn’t come from outside.
7 AM.
That demonic sound rang out again.
The disaster alert sound, louder than thunder.
“…What is up with this guy?”
One of the living rooms in the Presidential Suite was more like a reception room. So it was located in a more interior room, and one wall facing the sea was entirely made of glass. It didn’t even have curtains drawn.
Beyond the massive window, lightning and waves were surging repeatedly, and the raindrops, like spears rather than arrows, were pounding against the huge glass as if they might break it.
And above all, despite the disaster alert sound blaring right above his head, Junghyun was sleeping soundly without moving.
Still in the same position as when he fell asleep yesterday, with one leg on the back of the sofa and one arm hanging down below the sofa.
Looking at him sleeping so deeply in weather that would wake even a corpse, Jaehyuk was deeply contemplating how to wake him up.
Normally, it would be time for morning surfing, but it was impossible in today’s weather.
So he needed to quickly change plans. For that, he first needed to wake this guy up, but…
“Wake up.”
Of course, he knew he wouldn’t wake up, but after saying that once out of courtesy, Jaehyuk approached the sofa and first turned off the disastrous alert sound.
Then, without hesitation, he pulled off the blanket and kicked Junghyun’s buttocks.
“It’s morning, wake up.”
But he knew this wouldn’t wake him up. So he decided to use the most comfortable but time-consuming method.
Jaehyuk placed Junghyun’s phone, which was on the table, right above his ear. Then he started calling Junghyun from his own phone.
Right in front of him.
And while reciting the Heart Sutra in his mind, he kept calling Junghyun continuously.
Observing in detail when he would wake up and how he would move.
As a result, Junghyun woke up exactly on the twenty-fourth call.
At that moment, Jaehyuk sincerely thought about getting a divorce.
* * *
“I’m tired…”
“That’s why I said we should rest more before coming out.”
As Junghyun yawned at the pool where he had been forcibly dragged by Jaehyuk, grumbling while wrapped in a blanket, Jaehyuk, taking off his hoodie, quietly looked at him.
With a face that said, “Where’s your conscience?”
Of course, among the reasons Jaehyuk was tired was that he hadn’t slept properly in a long time, but that was only about 20% of it. The remaining 80% of his fatigue was because of Junghyun.
“No, I mean, do we really have to swim in this storm?”
As Junghyun said this, he pointed beyond the glass wall where the storm was still raging.
Lightning was even still striking.
Thanks to this, the pool was completely empty. Not just the outdoor area, but the indoor area as well.
“Wow, amazing. This looks like a sign of the world ending.”
“It won’t end because of something like this.”
Jaehyuk, who had reserved a wide two-person sun bed at the hotel for all five days just in case, threw the hoodie he had been wearing onto it and immediately gathered his swimming cap and goggles.
As he began to warm up, Junghyun, sitting behind him, was observing him with curiosity.
Perhaps because he was wearing a black 9/10-length tight swimsuit, he looked even more massive than when he was clothed.
Each muscle was clearly defined as if recreating a human anatomy chart, so much so that not only the minor and major gluteal muscles but even the serratus anterior muscles were visible.
But despite that, he didn’t look clumsy, giving a sleek impression due to the finely divided, delicate muscles. Moreover, his shoulders formed a beautiful right angle, and his arms were extremely straight and long.
“…You really work out a lot.”
As Junghyun checked his own shoulder muscles, saying he did quite a bit too, he made a slightly annoyed face.
Maybe due to his constitution, despite all that exercise, he didn’t develop much muscle. Though he didn’t really focus on strength training in the first place.
“Muscles are basically something you’re born with.”
As Jaehyuk put on his swimming cap with a face that suggested it was obvious, Junghyun sighed, thinking that dominant Alphas even have beautiful skeletal structures.
As he said, these weren’t muscles produced through force.
They were muscles that were beautifully born on a beautifully born skeletal structure, positioned just right.
Neither too much nor too little. With an amazing sense of balance.
“Life really is about genes.”
“You’re just realizing that now?”
“I knew it, but still, the best spoon isn’t a gold spoon or a diamond spoon, but a gene spoon.”
“Most of the important aspects of human life are indeed determined by that DNA.”
Looking at him, who became even more handsome with the swimming cap on, Junghyun nodded in agreement and lay down leisurely on the sun bed.
Then he waved his hand.
“Have a good swim.”
Seeing Junghyun subtly lying down on the sun bed and carefully covering himself with the blanket, Jaehyuk approached with narrowed eyes and a pretty smile.
“Get up. You’re coming too.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
With those words, again, Jaehyuk swiftly pulled off the blanket Junghyun was using and immediately grabbed him, forcibly dragging him to the pool.
“I don’t like swimming.”
“Do it anyway.”
Junghyun, whose wrist was forcibly grabbed and dragged to the front of the pool, half-heartedly warmed up and then lazily put on his swimming cap and goggles.
“I don’t exercise without motivation.”
“What kind of motivation?”
“A bet, revenge, or maybe fun?”
“Is your life all about dopamine?”
“Correct.”
“It’s surprising you’re not gambling yet.”
“Gambling is too short. The utility time.”
Standing side by side in front of the long pool, stretching their ankles, shoulders, and waist, Junghyun suddenly asked as if something had just occurred to him.
“Then, want to make a morning bet?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
