Love for Love’s Sake - Chapter 82
Chapter 82
I didn’t know what she meant, so I dumbly asked back.
“Mister Myeongha seemed more mature than your age.”
Was that her way of saying I didn’t seem that way now?
“Yeah, you look a bit more like your age now compared to before.”
“Did I say that out loud?”
“No, but your face says it all.”
It reminded me of the kind of things I’d said to Cha Yeowoon before. I was on the verge of feeling embarrassed when the server brought our food.
Choi Jinseo picked up her fork and quietly began to eat. The basil pasta disappeared at an astonishing speed. I was surprised by how fast she ate.
“The contract is going smoothly. He was originally an athlete on a scholarship, but it got cut off recently, so our brand decided to step in and sponsor him. We’re providing full gear, too. It just so happens that the running shoes he’s currently wearing are from our brand. If he sets a new record in the Asian U20 Championships like he did at the Fall Nationals while wearing our new line, it would be perfect.”
It was already surprising how quickly she was devouring her food, but I was caught off guard when she suddenly brought up work. She was speaking clearly, even though it seemed like she barely had a moment when her mouth wasn’t full.
As she placed her fork down on her now-empty plate, she gave me a small nod.
“You were curious, weren’t you? Am I wrong?”
“…I was curious.”
I had been dying to know how things were going. Whether they were taking good care of him, and whether or not it was some strange contract.
“I heard Mister Myeongha bought Mister Yeowoon’s running shoes.”
“Sia picked them out.”
“He cherishes them so much. It worked out well for us because it makes for a good image. Anyway, about Mister Cha Yeowoon’s father…”
One of the things I’d been worried about came up, and naturally, my attention shifted to Choi Jinseo. Just as she was about to continue, she caught my gaze and stopped.
“You should hear it from Mister Yeowoon himself.”
How could she leave me hanging like that?
I couldn’t even complain. She was definitely doing this on purpose.
“I’ll talk to him anyway.”
“When?”
“Maybe today.”
“Maybe?”
Her questioning made me lower my eyes. My plate was nearly untouched. I didn’t have much of an appetite.
Honestly, I had thought about going to watch Cha Yeowoon’s practice in the morning. After I woke up and saw the notification that the sub-mission had resumed, I kept wondering how I should meet with him.
“I believe people have a certain energy to them.”
Choi Jinseo suddenly said something out of the blue again.
“Team Leader, you’re not in some kind of cult, are you?”
“I’m Catholic.”
She smiled warmly as she made the sign of the cross, though for some reason, it made her seem even more suspicious.
“In that sense, Cha Yeowoon had a lot of energy around the time of the Fall Nationals, but lately…how should I put this…”
“…”
“It’s like his energy’s faded. Feels like it’s gone.”
Was she saying that Cha Yeowoon was in such a state that people would notice something like that? Even though I didn’t agree with the idea of ‘energy,’ the context of her words bothered me.
“That’s why I’m a bit worried.”
“…”
“Mister Myeongha also. You’ve barely eaten.”
“I’m about to start now.”
Choi Jinseo wrinkled her nose in a teasing smile. I wasn’t able to finish my plate by the time we left the restaurant.
Outside, the air was damp. The sky looked like spoiled milk, thick and overcast.
The weather still wasn’t great. Even when the sun briefly broke through, it quickly became cloudy again. It rained so often that you had to carry an umbrella everywhere.
“You didn’t bring an umbrella, did you? Want to borrow mine?”
Choi Jinseo offered, noticing my empty hands as she checked if it was raining.
“No, I’m fine.”
If it started raining, I would just get wet. For some reason, it felt wrong to borrow an umbrella to avoid the rain when I had let Cha Yeowoon stand there in the downpour.
It was a pathetic sense of guilt, but that’s how I felt.
Fortunately or unfortunately, it didn’t rain on my way to the school after parting ways with Choi Jinseo.
“I thought you were dead, but you’re still alive, huh, brother?”
“Thanks for the warm welcome.”
Cheon Sangwon greeted me on the track where the track and field team was training. We had exchanged messages earlier, and he was the one who let me know they were training now.
“You’re actually sticking with training, huh? I thought you’d quit soon.”
“I almost skipped today, but I came anyway. Thanks to that, I got a call from you, a guy who was practically dead, so it’s all good.”
“Are you just babbling because you’re exhausted from practice?”
“I’m serious. Who was it that ignored my messages while I worried? You’re looking for Cha Yeowoon, right?”
I looked around the field from the stands, but there was no sign of Cha Yeowoon. If he were there, I’d have noticed him right away.
“He’s not on the field?”
“I think he’s doing an interview inside the school.”
“Another interview?”
“Yeah, it’s for a local newspaper. Even the principal is with him.”
A proud product of New Leaf High School. I hated that I felt relieved I wouldn’t have to face him right away.
In the school garden, short yews, crepe myrtles, azaleas, and marigolds were planted. I absentmindedly brushed my hand against the tall green leaves and casually asked,
“How has he seemed lately?”
“He hasn’t missed any practices. He’s still hitting his records, more or less.”
It was a relief that he was training diligently, but something about his answer left me feeling uneasy.
“Do you get the sense that he might get hurt?”
Sure enough, his response was unsettling.
“You think he’s going to get injured? Is he training too hard? Is his form bad? Is he running recklessly?”
I bombarded him with questions, but Cheon Sangwon just hummed in his throat.
“You’ll see when he comes out to run.”
His words sounded ominous. After narrowly avoiding a car accident recently, I really didn’t want to hear about him getting injured while running. I had heard rumors that his training intensity had increased lately, and it made me feel even more anxious.
“Did you two really break up?”
“…”
“So, it’s true.”
Just when I thought he was answering surprisingly well, he started poking at me.
“I was going to tell you to dump Cha Yeowoon and switch over to me, but you look so terrible I can’t even make fun of you properly.”
“What’s wrong with me?”
“You haven’t looked in the mirror, have you?”
Cheon Sangwon grabbed my hand and pulled it away from the tree.
“You didn’t starve yourself and collapse after the breakup, did you?”
“What do you think this is, a drama?”
I hadn’t been able to eat much, though. I probably skipped a few meals. It was because of how pitifully Cha Yeowoon had cried. Anyone who saw him crying like that, even if it wasn’t me, would’ve felt like their throat was closing up just trying to swallow food.
“Why are your hands so cold?”
Cheon Sangwon touched my fingers. I was about to pull my hand away, but he seemed genuinely concerned, so I let him.
“Anyway, about the interview…”
I didn’t get a chance to ask when it would be over.
Because I saw Cha Yeowoon behind Cheon Sangwon.
He had just come out of the lobby and was standing there, staring in my direction.
Noticing what I was looking at, Cheon Sangwon turned around. The half-obscured figure of Cha Yeowoon came fully into view.
Cha Yeowoon didn’t move.
I could still feel the warmth of his tear-stained cheeks, but his face now was dry and unreadable. I couldn’t look at him for long enough to figure anything out.
Every moment of silence over the past few days seemed to settle between us at once. The wind carried a faint scent of the river.
Cha Yeowoon bowed his head to me in greeting.
It ended with a polite nod. He didn’t come any closer and instead walked down to the field.
“What’s with this atmosphere?”
“…”
“Brother.”
“…”
“Brother Myeongha, have you passed out?”
It was only when Cheon Sangwon shook our still-clasped hands that I pulled mine away.
I realized too late.
He had been so close, but I hadn’t seen a thing. The notification for entering the ‘Love Supremacy Zone’ hadn’t appeared this time.
* * *
I hadn’t said a single word to Cha Yeowoon and just watched his practice. That was when I understood what Cheon Sangwon meant by saying he looked like he might get hurt.
Sprinting was all about reaching maximum speed in an instant, but it looked like Cha Yeowoon had completely abandoned pacing himself and was running with reckless desperation.
Ahn Sia had once said that Cha Yeowoon had a natural instinct for knowing when to increase his speed. But now, it was like a broken-down car about to crash into something. I could almost see smoke rising from an overheated engine.
Even after crossing the finish line, Cha Yeowoon continued to grimace. His back, hunched over as he gasped for breath, reminded me of the riverside again.
I walked down the steps of the stands, but the notification was still silent.
No entry message, no buffs.
Even though I was close, Cha Yeowoon wasn’t running any faster or lighter.
It felt like a severed connection.
It was as if someone had cut me open and stolen my insides. My stomach felt empty, hollow. The throbbing pulse that had once made my toes tingle and ears ring had disappeared.
[ Reward Preview ]
[ You can now learn about the most immediate danger Cha Yeowoon is facing. ]
The message appeared before I could even process my disappointment. It wasn’t the information I had been hoping for.
* * *
[ Sub-Mission: Find 100,000 (90,000) fans for Cha Yeowoon. ]
It seemed like I could reach 100,000 even if I just let things play out. But waiting around was making me anxious.
“He’s in danger, isn’t he?”
If the condition was to reveal the most immediate danger to Cha Yeowoon, then didn’t that mean he was in danger right now?
“What’s dangerous?”
Cheon Sangwon plopped down beside me, drenched in sweat after finishing his practice.
“You came at just the right time, Sangwon.”
“Why do you sound so ominous?”
“Do I make you nervous when I welcome you?”
“You’re never this happy to see me.”
“When did I ever say that?”
“Almost always?”
“Sometimes I’m happy to see you.”
“Which means almost never.”
He scoffed beside me.
“So what is it you want me to do? Do you want me to go tell Cha Yeowoon to meditate and calm down?”
“No, not meditation.”
“See? It’s because of Cha Yeowoon that you’re being so nice to me…Wait.”
Mid-sentence, Cheon Sangwon suddenly stretched out his arm and waved.
“Hey, Yeowoon.”
Cha Yeowoon had appeared at the edge of the stands, but he remained at a distance.
He didn’t say anything in return, just stared at us.
Suddenly, I became very aware of how close I was to Cheon Sangwon. Until a moment ago, I hadn’t even noticed our shoulders were touching, but now the warmth there felt oppressive.