Chapter 20
“May I take my roommate with me?”
Despite the fierce gaze directed at them, his voice was polite as he asked for permission. But they knew. That wasn’t a request for permission. And with the foreboding feeling that if they didn’t give the answer he wanted, things would get difficult for them, the seniors stammered out their approval.
“Thank you.”
Taekyung politely bowed to them before supporting the unconscious Igeon and taking him out. He didn’t care what trouble those seniors might cause him tomorrow. Right now, his only thought was to get away from this place and let Igeon rest. Fortunately, the bar was right in front of the school, so he could quickly bring him back to their dorm room and lay him down. Igeon wouldn’t remember, but he threw up several times in the early morning, and Taekyung was the one who took care of him each time. Seriously considering whether to take him to the hospital, he even called his fathers for advice. Han Taeseok sighed and said, “Just make your friend some honey water in the morning.” But there was no way they’d have honey in the dorms. As soon as he hung up, Taekyung went straight to the convenience store to buy honey and waited for Igeon to wake up.
Thankfully, Igeon woke up once in between and drank the honey water, but seeing him fall back asleep from exhaustion, Taekyung made a decision. He would never let Seo Igeon touch alcohol again. After tucking the blanket snugly around him and placing the cup Igeon had carelessly dropped into the sink, Han Taekyung ran his hand through his hair when he noticed his phone vibrating on the bed. He immediately picked it up and pressed the answer button.
[Taekyung.]
It was his younger father.
“Ah, Father.”
[Is your friend okay?]
“Yes, he drank the honey water and went back to sleep.”
[That’s good. And you? Are you alright?]
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Despite drinking almost as much as Seo Igeon, Han Taekyung somehow neither got drunk nor had a hangover, as if he was naturally good with alcohol.
[You must take after your father. Your father is good with alcohol too. Fast at detoxing as well. Still, don’t drink too much. It’s not good for you.]
“I was forced to drink for the initiation. I probably won’t drink again from today. I didn’t find it that tasty anyway.”
[That’s good to hear… Don’t push yourself too hard. Understood?]
“Yes. Don’t worry.”
Taekyung hung up and checked the time on his phone. It was about time to wake Igeon up. No matter what, he would be sad if he missed the first training session.
â—†
“Ugh, my head.”
“Are you okay?”
Han Taekyung handed a plastic bag to Igeon, who was still groaning in pain even as he changed into his uniform.
“What’s this?”
“Hangover medicine. They say you’ll feel better if you take it.”
“Wow, I never dreamed I’d be taking this.”
Igeon quickly alternated between taking the hangover relief pills and liquid medicine, then exhaled deeply.
“Han Taekyung, are you okay?”
“Surprisingly, I seem to have a high tolerance for alcohol.”
“Lucky you. You’ve got it all, don’t you?”
Calling him an annoying bastard, Igeon smacked Taekyung’s back hard before grabbing his aching head again. With a deep sigh, he finished changing into his uniform and entered the training hall. In the training hall, all the freshmen looked like zombies due to the aftereffects of yesterday. The seniors were unpleasantly snickering, and the professor in charge (coach) had his hands on his hips, looking disapprovingly at the freshmen as if he knew exactly what had happened.
“How can you all be so weak?”
“We’re the victims here.”
When one freshman spoke up as if truly wronged, the coach clicked his tongue and glared at the seniors. The seniors cleared their throats as if they hadn’t been laughing at all, pretending to practice and train, which was really irritating to see. But they had to endure it.
“Today I’m going to see your skills. The freshmen will have a tournament among themselves. We’ll go with three rounds of two minutes each, without electronic hogus. I’ll be scoring the points. I’ve brought a tournament bracket, so come over here and check your positions and get ready.”
As soon as the coach finished speaking, the freshmen staggered over to check their positions. Except for those who had to start their matches right away, everyone plopped down on the floor, trying to deal with their headaches before anything else.
“Still hurting?”
When Taekyung asked worriedly, Igeon shook his head.
“It’s better after taking the medicine. I guess I don’t have a liver strong against alcohol, but one that’s good at metabolizing medicine?”
“That’s good then.”
“But why am I matched against you in the very first training?”
“Haha. I know, right?”
Since the coach had made the tournament bracket himself, there must be some intention behind it. Still, it was a bit disappointing that he wouldn’t get to compete with the other guys. But sparring with Han Taekyung was always enjoyable.
“Wow, there are so many spectators today.”
At the words of another classmate sitting next to them, Igeon looked up to see unknown people gathered at the upper part of the gym, by each window, and at the entrances.
“Is something else happening at the gym today?”
Igeon naturally assumed that something else would be happening after today’s training. But the other freshmen looked at him strangely, as if they couldn’t understand his thinking.
“Is that the nonchalance of the privileged?”
“Or is he just stupid?”
Igeon felt a surge of anger at these comments from classmates he’d only met two days ago.
“What are you saying?”
“I bet you anything these people came to see you and Han Taekyung today.”
“What? Me and Han Taekyung?”
When Igeon rolled his eyes in genuine confusion, his classmates’ faces twisted even more. Feeling like he might get hit if he asked further, Igeon backed away slightly and looked around at the people. Then he realized something was strange. He made eye contact with several people. As if they had been watching him. And almost half of them appeared to be omegas.
“Ah, it might be true.”
Igeon scratched his head, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
“Now you get it?”
His classmates grumbled and nudged Igeon’s arm.
“But I understand why they’d come for Han Taekyung… but why me…”
As Igeon spoke with genuine confusion, Han Taekyung laughed beside him.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“Of course not. I just thought it was so like you.”
“Were you two already close?”
Another classmate suddenly asked. Igeon hesitated slightly. Should he consider them close? They hadn’t been friends for long.
“Closer than with you guys.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
Haha, I know right. Igeon could only laugh.
“During the entrance test, outsiders couldn’t attend the first pheromone test, but they could attend the second test, right? I heard that a ton of seniors came to see you two at that time. The supervisors had a really hard time controlling it.”
Ah, now that he heard this, Igeon remembered. The people who had gathered to watch Han Taekyung’s test. Was it the Sports Psychology department?
“I think I saw that too. When Taekyung was testing, there were tons of people gathered.”
“From what I know, there were also tons of people gathered when you were testing.”
“Ah…”
Igeon could hardly believe what these guys were saying. The reason he couldn’t strongly deny it was that Igeon tended not to look around when he was focused. That’s why Instructor Jin would sometimes tell him that while concentration was good, it was also important to be aware of his surroundings.
‘You need to make sure innocent people don’t get caught up when you attack.’
The reason he said this was because of Seo Igeon’s monstrous concentration, and thinking about it, what his classmates were saying might be true.
“Han Taekyung! Seo Igeon! Come out!”
After the previous team’s match ended, Seo Igeon and Han Taekyung were called. As the two stood up, both the seniors and the spectators began to stir.
“This is crazy.”
Now the people’s gazes were starting to bother him. Once he became conscious of it, it bothered him so much that his hair stood on end. Igeon worried that this might actually work against him. In contrast, Han Taekyung remained as calm as he had been 10 minutes ago or 1 second ago.
“Are you okay?”
Igeon asked quietly.
“About what?”
“Those people. They all came to see you and me, apparently.”
“I don’t care.”
“Wow, that’s cool.”
“Does it bother you?”
“I was cool about it until just now, but since those guys mentioned it, it’s starting to bother me. I understand why they’d come to see you, but I don’t get why they’d come to see me too.”
When Igeon expressed his genuine confusion, Han Taekyung smiled meaningfully. He wanted to explain something but shook his head, feeling it might create unnecessary complications.
“Focus on me.”
“What?”
“The match, focus on me. Then those stares will be nothing.”
“That’s obvious. If I don’t focus, I’ll get hurt.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Ah, that’s true. Once they get into the match, they’ll focus on each other, and eventually, only the two of them will exist. He was worrying needlessly. Igeon scratched his cheek.
“There are high expectations for you two.”
The coach patted Igeon and Taekyung on the shoulders with these words. And as many watched with bated breath, the two began their match. As if by magic, both showed a frightening level of concentration from the start, and as Han Taekyung had said, Igeon soon forgot about all the spectators and focused solely on Han Taekyung. Satisfied with Igeon’s undivided attention, Han Taekyung smiled slightly.
“Seo Igeon wins!”
In their first match since the selection trials where they couldn’t determine a winner, Seo Igeon defeated Han Taekyung. Both were drenched in sweat, breathing heavily as they gave each other a fist bump and stood to bow formally. Only then did they break free from their world of two, and their field of vision widened. They both became a bit uncomfortable with the seniors’ meaningful gazes, the admiring eyes, and the spectators who were now stirring even more than before.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
