“……”
“I’m sorry.”
When Sungjin apologized in a small voice as if crawling in, Yeonjin let out a short sigh, “Hoo,” and shook her head.
“No, well… it can’t be helped. You didn’t do it on purpose.”
Those words stabbed his heart quite sharply. It was an attitude that said she was quite pissed off because she was pushed back in the competition because of him, but since she couldn’t openly yell and get angry in front of the camera, she would graciously forgive him.
The relief from getting good results in Round 1 was brief, and he soon felt like he had become a person who shouldn’t be here. Sungjin was constitutionally a faint-hearted type who would never match with competition even if he died. Even though his appearance had changed, that hadn’t changed one bit and remained the same.
***
A little later, when all three rounds were finished, Sungjin felt like running home right away.
‘……’
Round 3 was a physical competition again. Also, this time as well, physical work was required. If the first round was a game using the body on water, the third round was a game using the body on sand.
Each pair was allocated one sandcastle of a certain size, and the method was to carve the sides and stack them upward, with the team that stacked the highest winning. If the sandcastle collapsed, the record was reset and three chances were given.
‘Th-this, if it’s this….’
Sungjin was quite confident. Wasn’t his major architecture? He knew best in what form to stack it so that the material called sand could hold stably. He had even done an assignment similar to this when taking lower-grade classes.
The problem was that Sungjin’s pair wasn’t like that. Each team was distributed one tool to use, and the tool Sungjin’s pair drew by lottery was a spoon.
‘This is it.’
As soon as Sungjin held the spoon, he became overconfident. Originally, work handling such delicate materials was more advantageous the more delicate the tool. Sungjin, who had drawn an advantageous tool incomparable to a ladle or bowl, unconsciously cheered inside. If his partner just performed averagely, he was confident he could somehow carry and stack high.
However, the tragic fact was that that very partner was a professional far from this kind of manual work.
‘Ah… I’m sorry.’
Jui, who said she worked as a negotiation expert in the US, seemed to have no sense of balance no matter how many times Sungjin explained. Whether she was confident in verbal fights but had no talent for manual work, she repeatedly knocked down the tower Sungjin barely built.
In the last challenge, he just asked her to scoop one spoonful at a time and place it on top, but she inevitably pressed down on the spot where weight was placed with the spoon and collapsed it.
‘Ah, it collapses like this…. What do I do, I’m so sorry….’
I should have just stacked it moderately and stopped right away. Although Sungjin regretted it belatedly, he couldn’t avoid the path of becoming last place among only two teams that couldn’t even record a time.
It would be a lie to say he had no regret at all. Because it wasn’t just any game, but a game most closely related to his major, and the result was disastrous.
However, conversely, thinking that another person was disqualified without even reaching the finish line because of him, there was no more terrible assumption than that. This was better than him becoming a burden.
‘I didn’t need a date ticket in the first place anyway….’
It would be a better result if the date ticket was given to someone else who needed it more than him. That way, the broadcast would produce couples according to its original purpose and could show viewers a picture that looked good.
So one first place, one middle, one last place was a satisfactory result with fairly balanced results.
‘I wonder how other people did?’
It didn’t really matter, but he hoped Yeonjin would have good results in this round at least. She seemed to be aiming for the date ticket more passionately than anyone, so if she failed because he held her back, it would weigh too heavily on his mind.
Sungjin, who glanced to check the results of other pairs, was startled. A tall sand tower was stacked in front of Yuwon. It was a tower with perfect balance like someone who majored in materials engineering class, even though it seemed like he would have no occasion to try something like this.
‘……?’
Sungjin doubted his own eyes even after seeing it. How on earth did he do that? He couldn’t even guess. It wasn’t a sense an ordinary person could learn overnight. Did his partner Yunchae carry it? He didn’t ask exactly what her major was, but since she worked at a hospital, her manual skills would be better than ordinary people.
It was a surprising result in many ways. However, Yuwon still had a displeased expression.
[Then we will announce the final results.]
[Today’s two winners of the date ticket battle are….]
[…Women’s division total 24 points Kwon Suyeong, Men’s division total 20 points Lee Yuwon. Congratulations.]
[While the participants who acquired date tickets go on dates with their respectively designated partners, the remaining participants can rest inside the resort.]
‘Oh….’
Sungjin’s total score was 14 points. Even though he scored 10 points in the first round, it became an ambiguous score after being automatically processed as 0 points in the last round. Compared to Jiyoon not even exceeding 10 points, it was a decent score, but he couldn’t even touch the top ranks.
‘I’m glad at least Suyeong did well.’
Other partners didn’t look very happy, but it was fortunate that at least one person did well. If all three members of one pair had unsatisfactory results, as always, he would have familiarly blamed himself.
Although it was somewhat unexpected that Yuwon took first place, looking at the process of the past three rounds, he seemed to have a personality that couldn’t stand losing, so it was fortunate he got a fairly satisfactory result. He already seemed to have resentment toward him, so if his mood got worse from there, it was unpredictable what he would do.
‘If he goes on a date, changes his mood, and comes back after enjoying himself… will he get a bit better?’
It wasn’t easy to imagine Lee Yuwon enjoying a date, but if he could be liberated from Lee Yuwon even for just a few hours like that, it was a good thing.
I should find a space where I can be alone for a bit and catch my breath. At this rate, he might end up with something wrong with his head from frustration.
The moment Sungjin thought that and was convinced the date was someone else’s business, the speaker continued the proceedings.
[Will the two winners please come forward and select the partner to use the date ticket with.]
Following the speaker’s instructions, Yuwon and Suyeong came forward.
[First, participant Kwon Suyeong, please select the date ticket user.]
Sungjin was blankly staring at the waves breaking in the distance, thinking he wanted to go in and rest quickly. I’m thirsty, so I want to drink water and go to the bathroom too….
He would wash again at dinner later, but since he did outdoor activities outside in this hot weather, he wanted to wash first. On such a hot day, washing twice was also a wise choice.
The moment he made his own order and plan in his head, an unexpected name came out of Suyeong’s mouth.
“I will use the special date ticket with participant Yoon Sungjin.”
“……?”
“……?”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Sungjin. Among them, Yuwon’s expression was particularly terrifyingly hardened. It was the expression of someone who had been robbed of something that should naturally be given to him. However, Sungjin himself was thinking about other things without interest in who was being called, so he didn’t even realize his name had been called.
Looking at the horizon with slightly relaxed eyes, only after Jiyoon standing next to him lightly touched his foot did he raise his head and look around.
“……?”
The moment Sungjin blinked in bewilderment, a situation no one expected occurred. Lee Yuwon, who was standing next to Suyeong, also selected him as his partner.
“I will also use it with participant Yoon Sungjin.”
“……?!”
“……?”
“……?!”
Everyone doubted their ears even after hearing. Sungjin, who belatedly realized from the word choice “also” that Suyeong had chosen him, couldn’t accept how this happened and fell into confusion.
“Uh….”
The first to speak was another participant.
“Then what happens? Two people chose the same person….”
The situation had been open to possibilities from the point when choices weren’t fixed to men only for women and women only for men. If they could only choose opposite-sex partners, two people pointing to the same person wouldn’t occur, but if they could point regardless of gender, it wouldn’t be impossible for overlaps to occur if someone chose a same-sex partner.
But who would have predicted such a thing would really happen? No matter how much it was a dating show with no restrictions on sexual orientation, the mainstream was heterosexuals.
A brief silence descended on the situation the production team hadn’t anticipated either.
