DASH-Chapter 182

"Han Yuseong. According to Manager Kim Giseok, you named me as the cause of your pheromone reaction. Is that true?"

The moment Han Yuseong stepped up beside Kim Giseok, Jiheon asked the question. Han Yuseong didn’t answer right away—he glanced at Kim Giseok first. Only after Kim nodded did he finally say, short and flat, "Yes."

"You can’t even answer for yourself?"

Jaekyoung let out a laugh, baffled.

"Pretty sure he didn’t even understand the question."

Provoked, Han Yuseong raised his voice. "No, I understood."

"A pheromone reaction occurred right before the race today, and I believe it was caused by Deputy Jeong Jiheon."

He spoke with a sharpness Jiheon had never heard from him before. Still folding his arms, Jiheon tilted his head slightly.

"Is that so? And you’re sure about that?"

"Yes. I’m certain."

"And what are you basing that on?"

"Because the moment you entered the first call room, I started feeling something wrong with my body."

"And so... that was because of me?"

Jiheon nodded like he understood, then asked again.

"Is there absolutely no chance the reaction started earlier, from a different source, and you just ran into me afterward?"

"There’s no chance of that."

"And why not?"

"Aside from about ten minutes in the waiting room after warming up, I was with Manager Kim the entire time, inside the lounge in the building. I didn’t encounter anyone else. And I didn’t feel any pheromone reaction until I entered the first call room."

Han Yuseong shut down every possibility with stone-cold certainty. He was so firm that Jiheon, who had deliberately led the conversation there, clicked his tongue inwardly—Look at this little shit. This wasn’t someone who’d changed—it was someone who’d always been like this, who'd walked a straighter path for a bit because of sports, and was now just snapping back to his default.

People like that only caused collateral damage when you let them stay in sports.

"Fine. If the athlete’s that certain, then I’ll take the test."

Jiheon took off his jacket and handed it to Jaekyoung. The look on Jaekyoung’s face was murderous. He clearly wanted to say, Forget this. Let’s just kill these bastards and get the hell out of here. Jiheon met his eyes and gestured: It’s over, so just hang on. Then he turned and undid the cuff buttons of his shirt. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

As he sat in the chair guided by the inspector to draw blood, a flash went off at the entrance. One of the reporters had managed to snap a photo. Maybe someone planted by Kavva. Maybe they’d been told ahead of time, We’ll take responsibility—just publish it.

These sons of bitches really cover all their bases.

Smiling faintly, Jiheon offered up his arm. ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Just as the inspector wrapped the tourniquet around his bicep, Jiheon raised his voice.

"Just so we’re clear—if even 0.1 millimoles of pheromone is detected in my blood, that means the results were tampered with. Or something went wrong during the test process."

Kim Giseok’s eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"What I said is exactly what I meant. If this test shows that my pheromone levels were high enough to affect someone else, then there was contamination, machine failure, misreading—something went wrong, plain and simple."

"But... why are you drawing that conclusion?"

Still looking confused, Kim Giseok asked. Jiheon looked up and met his eyes.

"Because I’m currently pregnant."

"......What?"

Kim Giseok blinked, stunned.

"He’s pregnant, old man. Pregnancy. Baby."

Jaekyoung snapped, his voice dripping with irritation. He spat out pregnancy, baby like it was an insult. Clearly pissed that something he’d hoped to announce at a proper press conference, with commemorative ultrasound mugs for the press, was now being dragged out like this.

Then, perhaps worried people didn’t realize he was the father, he gently rested his hand on Jiheon’s shoulder and said in a more composed tone,

"It’s still early. Just into the 14th week."

Then, with his voice booming toward the gathered reporters, he added:

"And the baby’s name is Genie!"

Reporters stared with jaws dropped. A few even gave him a thumbs-up while laughing.

"I mean... if you’re pregnant..."

Kim Giseok muttered, looking back and forth between them with a dazed expression.

"If he’s pregnant, then... then..."

"Yeah. No pheromone secretion."

Jiheon gave him a smile.

"You’d know that if you graduated middle school, right?"

"And yet, if the test result shows anything above zero, naturally I’ll have to question its validity—whether that’s the sample’s integrity, the equipment’s accuracy, or the competency of the examiner."

The inspector holding the tourniquet flinched at that.

"Deputy Jeong, one moment—"

Ignoring the now-panicked Kim Giseok, Jiheon turned to the hesitant inspector.

"Go ahead. Draw the blood."

"Just a moment, Deputy Jeong. I think there’s been a misunderstanding, or perhaps we were hasty. Can we talk this through—"

"No. Just draw the sample and run the test."

Jiheon thrust his arm back out in front of the inspector. Then, looking back at Kim Giseok, he added,

"And everything that follows... we’ll discuss in court."

"Deputy Jeong..."

"I’m filing a complaint with the Fair Sports Commission about today. Since this happened during Olympic qualifiers, I’ll also be submitting petitions to the Olympic Committee, the Sports Ethics Bureau, the Clean Sports Center, and the FINA Disciplinary Board. Obviously, there will also be a separate civil suit. For defamation, slander, whatever applies—you’ll be seeing it all."

He raised his voice and turned toward the doping control officials, who had been silently observing.

"Depending on the test result, I may also report the Korean Anti-Doping Agency. Maybe this’ll finally get them audited."

Most of the KADA staff looked bewildered, like why us?, but one man stared grimly at the floor. Jiheon made a mental note of his face before turning back to Kim Giseok.

"You remember, don’t you? I’ve done this before. You, of all people, should know exactly what happened to the Swimming Federation back then."

"Deputy Jeong..."

Now pale as a sheet, Kim Giseok practically bowed as he stepped forward.

"Do we really have to take it this far? It was just a misunderstanding, a lapse in judgment. We’re acknowledging our mistake, we’re apologizing. Isn’t that enough—do you have to blow this up like—"

"Old man."

Jaekyoung cut in, voice low. He didn’t wait for a response before yanking Kim Giseok up by the collar.

"Your athlete personally said he had a pheromone reaction to hyung. He said he hadn’t encountered anyone else. He said it multiple times. And now you’re calling that a mistake?"

Voice like a loaded gun, Jaekyoung yanked him even closer, staring directly into his eyes.

"If all that was a mistake, then me beating the shit out of you right here would be a mistake too, huh?"

Officials from the event rushed over, panicked—not for Kim Giseok’s sake, but because they were terrified Jaekyoung would land a punch, get suspended, and miss the Olympics.

Shrugging off their hands, Jaekyoung stormed toward Han Yuseong and shouted,

"You. Say it. Was this a mistake?"

"......"

Han Yuseong stood frozen, drenched in cold sweat. Even now, pride wouldn’t let him look away—he glared up at Jaekyoung with bloodshot eyes. Jaekyoung sneered at the display and looked down at him.

"You said with your own mouth that there was no other possibility but hyung. You dragged in my injury, you threw around accusations of intent. And now it’s all a mistake?"

Han Yuseong said nothing. He just clenched his jaw and kept staring, eyes red and rimmed with tears.

"Answer me, you fucking coward."

Jaekyoung grabbed him by the collar. Han Yuseong flinched, eyes wide, breath ragged, but still didn’t speak. Seeing that, Jaekyoung let out a bitter laugh.

"Right. You can’t say shit unless your company tells you to, huh?"

Still nothing.

Eventually, with several people tugging at his arm, Jaekyoung let go of Han Yuseong’s collar.

"Don’t you ever get in the water again."

He rubbed the shoulder where people had grabbed him and added,

"You’ll just make it filthy."

As soon as Jaekyoung turned his back, Han Yuseong burst into tears. Even then, he kept his mouth shut, just breathing hard through his sobs. An official from the event staff gently led him away. No one from Kavva moved—not a single soul. Not even in the booth. At some point, the VP had vanished, probably already starting damage control.

As Jaekyoung returned to his side, Jiheon turned back to the inspector.

"Well? You’re not going to take the blood?"

After a moment’s hesitation, the inspector tied the tourniquet around Jiheon’s arm again. His hands were efficient—alcohol swab, vein found, needle in.

As blood filled the vial and the tourniquet was released, Jiheon finally looked back up at Kim Giseok.

"Manager Kim. Do you know what made me think you’re truly scum?"

He asked without expression, then answered himself.

"Even with suppressants, Omegas still release trace amounts of pheromones. Usually more so if they have a partner. But you already knew that, didn’t you?"

Of course he did. Jiheon didn’t give him a chance to speak.

"You knew that, and that’s why you set this up. Because as long as my test result came out slightly elevated, you wouldn’t need to fake anything—you could twist the truth just fine. And it just so happened that Han Yuseong wasn’t taking anti-pheromone meds, and you’d already planted articles about it."

Jiheon had tried to stay calm, but as he kept talking, his voice rose. The moment the inspector pulled the needle out and pressed gauze to his arm, Jiheon stood and shouted:

"If I weren’t pregnant right now, I’d be branded a shameless Omega who deliberately triggered a pheromone reaction before a race. And since it involved Kwon Jaekyoung, the whole thing would’ve exploded into the biggest scandal in Korean swimming history."

"......"

"And you still want to call this a misunderstanding? A funny little accident?"

Kim Giseok said nothing. Jiheon just smiled and nodded.

"Sure. You can say that. I’ll say it wasn’t. Let’s see what the judge says."

He rolled down his sleeves and turned away. Jaekyoung handed him his jacket. Even though his expression was still stormy, his twitching brows said everything—at least for now, they’d successfully cleared out the filth in the pool.