Love for Love’s Sake - Chapter 64

Chapter 64

I had noticed that during the competition, Cha Yeowoon and Cheon Sangwon were subtly close. Maybe that was why the other track and field members didn’t seem to bother Cha Yeowoon anymore.

After Cheon Sangwon heard my request, he bent his knees and flopped down. As he swept his hair back, dyed strands of hair protruded between his tightly clenched fingers.

“This is so annoying…I wish I had been born as Cha Yeowoon.”

Cheon Sangwon sighed dramatically and picked up his phone again. After a few minutes, he unexpectedly handed the phone to me.

On social media, under posts tagged with phrases like ‘Autumn Track and Field,’ ‘New Record,’ there was a tag forwarded to Cha Yeowoon’s username that read, ‘Cha Yeowoon, congratulations on the new record.’

There was also a photo of Cha Yeowoon, captured from the side as he stood at the competition venue with visible sweat, which appeared to be deliberately chosen for its aesthetic.

“That’s enough.”

Cheon Sangwon hurriedly put away his phone. It was obvious that he was very embarrassed.

“Thanks.”

Cheon Sangwon had said he would never help Cha Yeowoon because he didn’t like him. But perhaps it had been on his mind this entire time.

“Haa, I really have to like girls next time.”

“Meet a good girlfriend. I’m serious.”

“Seriously, next time I should like someone who never says things like that.”

[ Entering Love Supremacy Zone. ]

Seeing the familiar alarm, my back straightened.

“Yeowoon is here. Thanks, Sangwon.”

“The Association Officials also came and made a fuss. It’ll be a while before he comes back…”

Cheon Sangwon stopped talking. Cha Yeowoon could be seen walking through the entrance.

“Hi, Yeowoon.”

Cha Yeowoon, who found me as soon as he came, also stopped in surprise. Then, he quickly adjusted his gaze and smiled.

It was the same smile as when he had reached the finish line and found me. He had kept his promise.

“I have something to give you.”

This time, I struck first before Cha Yeowoon could speak.

* * *

It was almost midnight outside.

Cha Yeowoon and I came to the park we had visited on the first day, finding a place with well-installed streetlights.

Although it was a deserted park with no sign of anyone else, it didn’t feel empty. The rustling wind, bugs near the lights, and the stars in the sky each contributed to their own atmosphere. The night felt alive.

We sat side by side on a bench. As he fidgeted with the hand I had held on the way here, he turned his upper body toward me.

“What did you want to give me?”

“Oh, this.”

I opened a bag and took out the things I had brought. There were quite a few, so the weight was substantial.

“I was planning to wait until the last day to give them to you, but I decided to give them to you now.”

As I was watching the competition, I realized that I couldn’t wait. Lifting the bundle of straps all at once, round metal objects shook as it left the bag.

“Medals…”

Cha Yeowoon recited absentmindedly when he saw what I had taken out.

“Are these my medals?”

At the ensuing question, I nodded.

These were the medals Cha Yeowoon had won in the past.

I thought they must have been exchanged for money nearby, so I searched everywhere around his home where it could have been sold or left as collateral for money.

“…You bought them back?”

“They were left as collateral so I came to collect them.”

“How much did they cost?”

“Do we really have to break the mood and talk about money at a moment like this?”

The money I had saved wouldn’t have existed if not for Cha Yeowoon. Furthermore, it was collateral from a pawnshop, so rather than the cost, explaining and repurchasing was more challenging.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the pawnshop owner had a very bad impression of Cha Yeowoon’s father. Having lost contact with him, they canceled the collateral interest and sold it to me.

Cha Yeowoon’s eyes, which had been alternating between me and the medals in a daze, became distorted.

“I told senior to spend the money on yourself. Something like this for me… ”

“Don’t say you don’t need it.”

“…”

“They’re the records you achieved through hard work.”

These medals were proof of Cha Yeowoon’s efforts. Records he had achieved since middle school. They were simply priceless.

Among the six or so medals, I held a gold medal separately.

“Was this when you broke the record?”

“…It was when I entered high school and participated in the national competition for the first time. Spring track and field.”

“And you broke it again this time, right?”

Cha Yeowoon’s record was fast then, but it was even faster now.

There were tough times, but he had done it again. I hoped that he would remember these medals when he looked at them.

Even once I was no longer by his side, the medals would remain.

“Congratulations, Yeowoon.”

As I whispered and hung the medals around Cha Yeowoon’s neck, he lowered his head deeply.

“…”

Cha Yeowoon remained silent for a long time in that state.

The light from the lamp drew a pattern along his hair on the back of his head. The moist sweat on his exposed neck fragmented the light into small pieces.

Just when I was about to touch his shoulder and ask if he was okay, an alarm appeared.

[ Calculating Cha Yeowoon’s favorabilty. ]

[ Favorability: 65 ]​

While I was swept away by the sudden deepened affection, Cha Yeowoon was staring at me.

“Senior is strange.”

Was that all he could say after keeping silent for a while? Although I wanted to joke, for some reason my mouth wouldn’t move.

“You gave me something I never thought about or wished for. But everything you give me…”

Cha Yeowoon took a deep breath.

“Senior shine too much, like someone from another world.”

Someone from another world…Cha Yeowoon raised his hand to my cheek. Unlike before, his attitude seemed calm, but when his fingertips touched my cheek, they involuntarily trembled. His fingers were so hot I thought my skin would burn.

“I like senior. I’ve come to like the things senior like.”

Cha Yeowoon’s confident tone collapsed into a shortness of breath. Like someone who had run a 200m sprint at full speed, his words spilled out. The speed increased and the rhythm became tangled.

“Now, no matter what happens, I can’t give up.”

A voice that pulled and held me.

Without realizing it, my face leaned against the hand that was cupping my cheek. I could feel the heat entangling my mind.

Cha Yeowoon strained his fingers as if he didn’t know how to touch me. When my lips touched his palm, a gasp escaped.

“Please like…me.”

I liked Cha Yeowoon.

More than anyone I had ever known.

“I’ll do my best. Whatever it is, I’ll do my best and become someone senior like.”

[ Accumulated favorability: 184 ]

[ Hint triggered. ]

The hint alarm suddenly appeared. It felt like there was something the system wanted to tell me urgently.

Above Cha Yeowoon’s forehead, a twinkle appeared.

[ 3 ]

What was that small, cute number?

The floating number seemed familiar. Similar hints had appeared before.

A plausible guess pushed away all the previous thoughts and firmly occupied my mind.

Could it be…Cha Yeowoon’s favorability of himself?

“Yeowoon.”

“Yes.”

“Brother is so proud of you.”

Unable to overcome the overwhelming feeling, I inadvertently hugged Cha Yeowoon.

From -100 to now 3. Another personal record broken.

I was happy with the track and field records, but I was also thrilled with this.

“…I’m suffocating.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Did I hug Cha Yeowoon too tightly? I quickly let go, but he seemed somewhat disappointed.

“…Did you just tell the person who confessed to you that you were proud of them?”

“Coincidence. I wasn’t responding to that.”

Cha Yeowoon mumbled bitterly. Perhaps my response wasn’t what he had anticipated after his heartfelt confession.

“And even now, you’re more than good enough for me.”

“Do you like me?”

“Of course…”

I liked Cha Yeowoon. The words were stuck on the tip of my tongue and didn’t come out.

[ Time remaining: 202 days ]

Because of this, I found myself hesitating involuntarily.

I should have forced myself to speak, but I had made a mistake. Hurriedly saying it now would only make the timing sound even more awkward.

Due to the abrupt pause, an awkward silence filled the air.

“I should have liked senior a bit earlier.”

I thought Cha Yeowoon might have questioned me, but he immediately changed the subject.

“It’s unfair that we went to the same school and there was a time when we didn’t know each other. If we had liked each other as soon as I entered high school, we could have been together last year. How was last spring, what did you do during the summer…I regret missing those times.”

I wasn’t here last year, but as I focused on Cha Yeowoon speaking earnestly, I was able to see it from his perspective. Him running on the field with a dull face as a freshman and me sitting alone in the 2nd year classroom. Crossing paths in the hallway and not recognizing each other.

It was like when I had read the novel. Because I liked Cha Yeowoon, I read while imagining what he might be feeling. What kind of world he lived in.

“I also want to see what the 18-year-old senior was like.”

I smiled bitterly. Cha Yeowoon would probably be disappointed if he had seen me at 18.

“Brother’s personality was worse back then.”

“Still, it’s okay.”

Cha Yeowoon asserted.

“It’s senior, so it’s okay. I really want to see.”

I was curious too. What was Cha Yeowoon like at 17?

It would have been good if I could have been there for him during the difficult times when he was visiting his grandmother in the hospital.

What would he have felt like with more baby fat than he had now?

And what about him at 19, at 20?

As I followed these thoughts, I bit the inside of my mouth hard.

“I want to spend the winter break with senior. Let’s be together for the new year.”

Cha Yeowoon grabbed my hand and made me extend my pinky finger.

“Next year with me.”

After I folded each finger one by one and left only the pinky finger, Cha Yeowoon hooked his own pink finger around it.

On the first day of the new year, he was trying to give me another first.

“Okay. Let’s watch the sun rise.”

There were about 200 days remaining. I could at least promise January 1st and satisfy Cha Yeowoon’s heart. I was happy.

Cha Yeowoon’s mouth twitched. He had said I was a bad liar, but he was also bad at hiding his emotions.

“Are we going to stay up all night until the sun rises?”

“If we’re going to do it, let’s see it through. If it snows in the winter, I’ll make a really cool snowman. I’m the god of snowmen.”

“Wow.”

“You don’t seem impressed?”

“A snowman might look cool, but it’s still just a snowman…I think senior making it would be cute.”

“The snowmen I make are different. On New Year’s Day, I’ll make you Tteokguk. I’m the god of Tteokguk.”

“What can I do for you? Should I buy Mandu?”

“You can eat the delicious Tteokguk and grow well.”

“You’re treating me like a child again…I’m the tallest in my class.”

“Grow well, my Yeowoon.”

As I ruffled Cha Yeowoon’s hair out of habit, he sighed with resignation.

“Let’s go inside. It’s late.”

Even after getting up, Cha Yeowoon moved sluggishly. Instead of heading to our lodging, he stopped without warning and pulled on my hand that held his.

Why? When I silently asked with my eyes, Cha Yeowoon, having stopped abruptly, spoke quietly.

“I don’t want to part.”

For a moment, I almost said I felt the same.