1―14. Vacation
Mid-June, the final exams were finally over. Summer vacation had begun.
What is a fourth-year student’s summer vacation?
Preparing graduation projects, job hunting, language studies, getting certifications, etc…. Just until last year, Jeong Minha thought he would be doing the same. He’d looked into preparing for civil service exams while working part-time.
However, after meeting Seo Sihan, Jeong Minha regained his dreams.
There was only about a month left until the Olympics. This Olympics was also being held overseas.
Before departing early next month, Jeong Minha decided to relieve stress by doing things he liked during the remaining vacation.
The first was shooting.
For Jeong Minha, shooting was a goal, a specialty, and a hobby. Even if he was at the training facility all day, it was fine because he liked it that much. Every time he shot a perfect score, stress was automatically relieved.
The second was just Seo Sihan. Just seeing his face calmed him down.
“……”
Even though Seo Sihan had given him a huge sense of betrayal…….
“…Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Take off your clothes.”
“Hu, huh…?”
Jeong Minha suddenly unbuttoned the shirt Seo Sihan was wearing. It was so fast that Seo Sihan just stood flustered and his clothes were taken off.
Having thrown the shirt aside, Jeong Minha briefly turned his gaze to Seo Sihan’s back. It was full of scars. Feeling sorry for a moment, he carefully picked up the shirt again and placed it properly on the sofa.
“Why… why?”
Seo Sihan looked at Jeong Minha with surprised eyes. Jeong Minha looked at Seo Sihan’s upper body. From neck to waist, moderate and firm muscles no less than his own were positioned there. It was an ideal body that perfectly matched his sparkling face.
“This doesn’t make sense….”
When he saw it at night it was dark and he always had his eyes closed so he didn’t know well, but seeing it properly in broad daylight under bright lights, he could definitely see clearly. He couldn’t believe it.
“Hyung… are you exercising in secret…?”
Jeong Minha felt a great sense of betrayal. After all, even though he always asked Seo Sihan to exercise together until now, Seo Sihan would avoid it by changing the subject when it came to that. The time Jeong Minha meant by exercising together was 6 AM morning jogging.
Seo Sihan, who had no confidence in waking up early, said let’s go during the day on weekends. Even so, because he always planned weekend date courses, Jeong Minha, who accepted as if enchanted, ultimately had never exercised together with him until now.
Jeong Minha ate a lot. He was a big eater. If he didn’t exercise daily that much, his body would quickly become soft. Rather, before meeting Seo Sihan, he ate little and did hard part-time jobs every day so there was no room to gain weight. But now, luxurious food appeared even when he was just sitting still. In the end, Jeong Minha ran around every day.
“I’m not particularly….”
But Seo Sihan in front of him was different.
Seo Sihan definitely wasn’t someone who ate a lot, but he also wasn’t someone who exercised a lot. Because of his busy work, he could only see him sitting all day. That’s why it made even less sense.
“Then why… why is your body like this?”
“Hm?”
“Why is your body the same as mine when I exercise all the time….”
“Minha is cooler though….”
“…Th-that’s not what’s important right now! Did you really not exercise?!”
“Mm…. Other than me going to the gym sometimes during lunch break….”
Jeong Minha couldn’t close his mouth in shock. A body that maintains itself with just a little exercise…? Jeong Minha, who had only thought Seo Sihan’s face, wealth, abilities, etc. were all just amazing, for the first time that day felt envious to the point of jealousy.
“This really doesn’t make sense! Looking at you, hyung, your stamina is also… pr-pretty good! I knew it, you did other exercise in secret!”
Seo Sihan wasn’t as much as Jeong Minha, but his stamina was better than ordinary people. Being able to sit all day was also amazing stamina.
More than anything, even while working until late every night, he went out to play with Jeong Minha every weekend. He perfectly completed the courses Jeong Minha wanted to go to.
The more he thought about it, the more unbelievable the stamina was, so when Jeong Minha asked suspiciously, Seo Sihan finally brought up his own story.
“When I was young… the thing they do at school?”
“A club?”
“Yeah, that kind of thing. I did it for a few years when I was in England….”
“Huh? Really? What?”
At the fact he was hearing for the first time, Jeong Minha asked with shining eyes. Anyway, if you didn’t ask first, Seo Sihan didn’t bring up his own stories well.
Suddenly curious, Jeong Minha tried various imaginations. A club that calm and gentle hyung would do? It seems like he would’ve only done study-related things. If it’s sports-related at least….
“Horseback riding suits you, hyung.”
“I did that briefly.”
“So you did do it….”
Jeong Minha imagined Seo Sihan horseback riding. With that face riding and running on a horse, he was totally a movie protagonist. Isn’t this just a prince? It suited him well.
As Jeong Minha was imagining alone and grinning, Seo Sihan spoke up.
“What I did the longest was swimming and….”
“Swimming?!”
Jeong Minha was flustered at the exercise that used the body more than he thought. Hyung did swimming? Sw-swimming is done with clothes off, isn’t it? Hyung? When he only ever layers clothes?
He tried to picture Seo Sihan swimming cutting through the water. Wow… please, I want to see it so badly.
However, Seo Sihan brought up another shocking story.
“What I did even longer… ice hockey.”
“…What?”
Jeong Minha doubted his own two ears. Even though my hearing dropped a little because of shooting, there’s no way I misheard words spoken this close…….
“H-how long?”
“Until I came to Korea… about 4 years?”
“What?!”
Jeong Minha flailed his hands with a surprised face.
“Why are you only saying this now?!”
“Huh? Was I supposed to say it…?”
“You did it longer than I thought! I think I went to the Olympics for the first time after doing it about that long too? Why didn’t you go in that direction, hyung?”
“I just did it as a hobby feeling….”
“And suddenly ice hockey?! That… isn’t that where you have to do physical fights…?!”
“It’s not that intense.”
Seo Sihan answered with the same smile, but Jeong Minha continued to be in a state of shock. This gentle and slow hyung did such a strong sport…?! Horseback riding suited him well, he wanted to see swimming, and he absolutely couldn’t imagine ice hockey.
“Didn’t Minha do other sports too? Soccer and skating.”
“That’s true, but….”
Jeong Minha recalled his own past. He had tried them all after stopping shooting because his mother recommended it.
First, second year of middle school. He joined the soccer club at school.
And during a match, the opponent tripped him and he fell, causing a nosebleed.
―Hey, Jeong Minha! What are you doing! Get up quickly!
Jeong Minha quit the next day.
After that, third year of middle school. He started learning short track at the skating rink.
However, while turning a corner, he collided with an opponent and was flung outward, also hitting the wall. Jeong Minha, as if experiencing an action movie, froze while clutching his heart that felt like it would burst in surprise.
Jeong Minha quit a few days later.
In the end, he returned to the shooting range again.
―You! Why do you keep skipping practice these days and running around everywhere!
Jeong Minha calmly shot a 10-point score.
―Oh… clean…. Work hard.
―Ahaha…!
―Wh-what, are you crazy. Don’t laugh like that while holding a gun. It’s scary.
Jeong Minha, who had perfect aptitude for shooting, ended up only doing shooting like that.
“……”
To summarize in one sentence, Jeong Minha didn’t fit with sports that required colliding with others. He liked games where he could do everything alone.
And Seo Sihan did the exact opposite sports from Jeong Minha. Excluding the period when Jeong Minha quit, the time they each exercised wasn’t very different.
“I understand now….”
“Hm?”
“If that’s the case….”
Jeong Minha lowered his head and started laughing strangely alone. Feeling uneasy, Seo Sihan stepped back slightly.
As soon as Seo Sihan stepped back, Jeong Minha immediately grabbed Seo Sihan’s arm.
“So hyung was also an athlete! Great! Until now I couldn’t properly take you because I thought it might be hard. Let’s go now!”
“I, I really did that a long time ago, and now 10 years have passed…!”
“Looking at your stamina being good even now, you’re already complete, let’s go out!”
After that, Seo Sihan wasted an entire precious day off exercising. It was because Jeong Minha dragged him to the gym.
“That’s not the right form. Lift your arms a bit higher and pull in your chin.”
“Mi, Minha-ya……”
“Put strength in your stomach!”
“I feel like I’m dying……”
“You won’t die. Just 10 more.”
“You just said that….”
“You can do it! Say it.”
“I can do it….”
Watching Seo Sihan exercise, Jeong Minha gave him a pleased smile.
However, Seo Sihan couldn’t see it. Every time he looked at Jeong Minha, he was scolded to look straight ahead properly.
