DASH-Chapter 179

The call room was about 7 pyeong in size, filled with four rows of chairs. The five swimmers, including Jaekyoung, sat in the comfortable seats, passing the time by listening to music with earphones or meditating with their eyes closed.

The second call would ring five minutes before the race was set to start, and they would head to the second call room directly connected to the stadium. There, they would do a light warm-up and a final attire check before heading out to the stadium.

“Please be careful not to disturb the swimmers.”

The official whispered this reminder and left, closing the door to the call room again. Jiheon approached Jaekyoung in the back row.

“I told you I’m okay.”

Jaekyoung said as he saw Jiheon, pulling out the earphones from his ears. Instead of responding, Jiheon just squeezed his hand and released it, imitating what Jaekyoung did earlier.

As soon as Jiheon sat down next to Jaekyoung, Kim Giseok, in the front row, turned around and greeted them. Jiheon briefly bowed his head, puzzled about why he was sitting right in front of him. Suddenly, Kim Giseok spoke in a worried voice.

“By the way, Mr. Jeong, is athlete Kwon Jaekyoung’s shoulder really okay? I was relieved because I heard it wasn’t a major injury, but I was surprised when he suddenly withdrew from a race yesterday.”

‘......This bastard, is he being serious?’

When Jiheon just glared at him without saying a word, Kim Giseok quickly waved his hand and chuckled.

“I have no other intentions. I’m just asking because I’m really worried. Athlete Kwon Jaekyoung has six Olympic tickets, but wouldn’t it be a shame if he couldn’t compete due to injury? The remaining race is the 400m individual medley, so it feels like he’s overdoing it for no reason.”

“Mister.”

Jaekyoung suddenly called Kim Giseok. Before Kim Giseok could respond, he continued.

“Has your athlete ever really broken a new Korean record? I have no other intention; I’m just asking because I’m worried. It was already revealed that this was a lie, but in yesterday’s article, you tried to tell people to look forward to it by saying something about it being unofficial. I was wondering how you would handle this.”

Kim Giseok laughed heartily, seemingly caught off guard by Jaekyoung’s unexpected attack.

“Why are you laughing, you scammer?”

Jaekyoung snorted, acting like he wasn’t impressed. He leaned forward and spoke again.

“Did your athlete really break the 4:15 seconds record? Then why did he not perform well in the first selection round?”

“Athlete Kwon Jaekyoung.”

“I’m asking because it’s complete bullshit. Every time you scammers talk, it’s just a ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ bunch of nonsense.”

Jaekyoung quietly cursed at Kim Giseok’s face. Kim Giseok didn’t get angry; he just laughed, as if he was bewildered and had given up. He didn’t even try to stop Jaekyoung. Instead, he nodded his head as if telling him to speak more, even though Han Yuseong was right next to him with a flushed face and sweating profusely.

“Stop.”

Jiheon whispered, grabbing Jaekyoung’s thigh. Of course it was not because he was worried about Han Yuseong. That guy was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, so it didn’t matter to him whether his face was red or blue.

What worried Jiheon were the other swimmers. Swimmers at the far seats seemed to have sensed a suspicious atmosphere since they took their earphones out and looked in their direction. This kind of commotion right before the race itself was a nuisance, and if any swimmers raised a complaint, they could be penalized for sabotage.

“I’ll step out. See you later.”

After speaking to Jaekyoung, Jiheon stood up. He grabbed Kim Giseok in front of him and lifted him up.

“Let’s get out.”

“What? Where?”

Kim Giseok asked, ignoring his pretense.

“It’s a nuisance to other swimmers, so let’s get out.”

Jiheon scolded him quietly and forcibly dragged him out.

“My goodness, Mr. Jeong, won’t this become a problem if you do this? This is clearly an assault.”

Even when Kim Giseok was dragged out, he didn’t stop talking nonsense. Jiheon ignored him and continued dragging him along.

Just to be sure the swimmers wouldn’t hear, Jiheon went far from the call room and pushed Kim Giseok’s arm away as if he was pushing him against the wall, finally letting out the anger he’d been holding in.

“Fuck. Are you really going to act like a jerk?”

Kim Giseok’s eyes widened for a moment, surprised by Jiheon’s swearing, but he quickly fixed his clothes and spoke calmly.

“Why would I act like a jerk?”

“Mr. Kim Giseok.”

“I asked because I was genuinely worried. But I’m the one who has to suffer this shit. I was concerned about you and Mr. Kwon Jaekyoung, but I ended up getting curs—”

“Mr. Kim Giseok.”

Jiheon stepped closer to Kim Giseok, who was already leaning against the wall. He placed both hands on the wall, as if trapping Kim Giseok, and then spoke softly.

“Even if you have bad manners, there’s still the word ‘manner’ at the end. Your behaving like this is nothing but nonsense.”

When Jiheon, who had always been polite, openly threatened him, Kim Giseok finally winced. He looked up at Jiheon, blinked repeatedly, and spoke in a calm tone.

“But what did I do that makes you think I have bad manners? I was just worried about his shoulder.”

“It’s unethical to disturb athletes by saying things that shouldn’t be said right before the race. You clearly knew it would be a nuisance to other swimmers, but you just had to mess around there.”

The more he spoke, the angrier he became. Jiheon gritted his teeth, holding back the urge to swear loudly.

“Don’t you really care about the athletes? Don’t you think about the other athletes aside from Jaekyoung there?”

“Well, if there’s a complaint from other athletes, I will just apologize.”

Kim Giseok said with a sour expression. Jiheon really wanted to punch him, but he held back, thinking of the child in his stomach. A fight breaking out wouldn’t be good for the child. If he had to go to the police station because of that, it wouldn’t be good for prenatal education either.

“...Please, let’s just have some manners.”

Finally, Jiheon clicked his tongue and lowered his hand from the wall. Even though he pretended not to, he could feel that Kim Giseok was clearly relieved. Jiheon looked at Kim Giseok and said one last thing as if he was asking for something.

“I think you should be considerate of your own athlete. Are you just going to let him hear it right next to you while feeling all helpless?”

When Han Yuseong was suddenly mentioned, Kim Giseok chuckled.

“Don’t worry about my athlete.”

Kim Giseok said while fixing his crooked tie.

“Instead of worrying about my athlete’s complexion, just focus more on athlete Kwon Jaekyoung’s shoulder. Wouldn’t it be too sad if he lost six tickets and ended up missing the season due to his injury? It’s like all efforts going to waste, isn’t it?”

Kim Giseok said with a smile and left that place.

Watching the back of Kim Giseok strolling away, Jiheon felt a chill down his spine more from anxiety than anger.

‘Why the hell is he so relaxed? Why is he so happy?’

This thought had been on Jiheon’s mind for a while.

If Han Yuseong really came this far expecting Jaekyoung to withdraw, that man couldn’t be so relaxed right now. If he had already missed the right time to withdraw and was forced to compete, Kim Giseok should have been racking his brains by now, thinking about the content of the article to be published after the race. But instead of struggling, he simply looked happy, even eager for the race to start quickly.

‘What kind of confidence does he have?’

Watching Kim Giseok walking away with his arms crossed, Jiheon suddenly remembered what Jaekyoung had told him in the waiting room, making him frown without realizing it.

‘No way... did Han Yuseong take some drugs...?’

If it was true that Kim Giseok was really involved in doping, it would be more natural to assume it was to manipulate Han Yuseong’s results, not Jaekyoung’s. After all, even if it was the same manipulation, there would be less repercussions and the level of disciplinary action would be lower if he were caught changing his own results rather than messing with another athlete’s.

So, if Han Yuseong was forced to enhance his abilities with drugs such as anabolic steroids, it made sense for him to look forward to today’s race.

Well, even so, there was no way he would suddenly set a new world record, and he would barely surpass the qualifying time. Just winning the right to participate in the Olympics would be a huge success for them. Besides, since Jaekyoung’s condition was so bad right now, that guy could’ve taken first place if he did well.

Of course, it was all just speculation. It was like an imagination and delusion without any proof, but Jiheon felt somehow uneasy and couldn’t shake it off. Especially when he saw Kavva’s vice president sitting awkwardly in the officials’ seat. Seeing him happily greeting the KSC directors, it seemed like he already knew Han Yuseong would achieve great results today.

‘What if Han Yuseong really gets first place?’

Jiheon was so nervous that he almost jumped into the pool at the sound of the buzzer.

However, when the race started, a totally different scene unfolded before his eyes.

Instead of swimming with incredible speed through the water, Han Yuseong struggled to keep up with Jaekyoung, as if he was losing strength. Jaekyoung wasn’t at his best either, so both of them were moving slow. The 50m section record was so disastrous that it couldn’t even be compared to the first selection round, making Jiheon brace himself for rumors of an unusual mistake.

Yet, after the butterfly ended and the backstroke started, Jaekyoung picked up the pace. Since the backstroke was in a lying position, he was able to check the information on the electronic display. But it seemed that his pride was hurt after seeing his 50m and 100m section times. He must have thought that records like this were unacceptable, regardless of the ranking.

From then on, Jaekyoung gritted his teeth and started to speed up. Thanks to this, the 200m point record after backstroke was 2:19 seconds, about 8 seconds later than the first selection round.

In the following breaststroke, Jaekyoung maintained a similar speed. And in the freestyle, the final 100m and his main sport, he picked up the pace again, touching the pad with a final time of 4:09.64 seconds.

Although the record was far below the 4:04.38 seconds in the first selection round, considering the previous Asian record was 4:06 seconds and the Korean record was 4:15 seconds, this was definitely an amazing record. Moreover, given his shoulder condition, it was even more impressive.

“Wow.... He’s on a whole different level.”

Manager Yoon mumbled, half lost in thought.

“If I have another kid, I’m definitely naming him Jaekyoung.”

“Manager Yoon, you said you have no plans for a second child.”

“I know.”

Jaekyoung didn’t come out of the water even after Manager Yoon finished chattering because the race wasn’t over yet. While waiting for other swimmers, he took off his swimming cap, ran his hands through his wet hair, and shot a scary glare at Han Yuseong in the next lane, who had arrived late.

Jiheon anxiously watched, half expecting Jaekyoung to swear at Han Yuseong, but thankfully, that didn’t happen. Jaekyoung, silently watching Han Yuseong, checked the results on the display board and immediately got out of the pool.

“Great job. You did really well.”

Jiheon draped a towel over Jaekyoung’s shoulders and patted his back.

“He’s acting a bit strange.”

Jaekyoung said those words while wiping his face with the towel. Jiheon followed Jaekyoung’s gaze, looking at Han Yuseong who was still in the water. He was definitely different than usual; his face was even red and he was breathing heavily. Even considering it was right after the race, it seemed a bit odd how hard he was breathing.

‘He doesn’t seem to be in good shape today. Is he sick?’

As Jiheon was watching, Kim Giseok approached Han Yuseong in the pool. Seeing Kim Giseok’s face, Jiheon’s mood sank, wondering if he had any business with him.

Jiheon heard that during pregnancy, you shouldn’t see, hear, or think about anything bad, but considering the prenatal education was messed up because of those people, he lost any remaining worry even more.

“It’s okay. Don’t mind him.”

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

After Jiheon put on Jaekyoung’s jersey top, he led him to the back of the stadium.

JAEKYOUNG’S COMPETITION RECAP

DAY 1

400m freestyle (#1) — 3:40.76

DAY 2

50m freestyle (#1) — 21.54200m individual medley (#1) — 1:57.xx

DAY 3

200m freestyle (#1) — 1:41.88 (PB)200m backstroke (#1) — (not mentioned)

DAY 4

200m butterfly (withdrawn)100m freestyle (#2) — 48.89

DAY 5

400m individual medley (#1) — 4:09.64