After watching the club members take turns training, Hwan stood in front of the goal when his turn came, the last in line.
Naturally, this wasn’t official training—it was a kind of “just for fun” service game. The proof was in how the goalkeeper blocking the goal had a much more relaxed stance than before. The soccer club guys watching shouted teasingly, “Three laps around the field for every goal you let in!”
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With the whistle, Hwan started moving.
The previously playful atmosphere changed as Hwan, true to his earlier boast, sent shot after shot sharply into the goal, and the goalkeeper’s expression became somewhat more serious. After all, his opponent wasn’t even an official soccer club member—it would be embarrassing to get beaten too badly.
Nevertheless, Hwan flew around like a fish in water, unbelievably quick for someone who’d taken a break from sports.
The soccer club guys watching murmured among themselves.
“See, I told you he wasn’t ordinary.”
“Let’s take him to tournaments and use him for penalty shootouts. As a mercenary.”
“That’d be pretty cool. A prince as a mercenary.”
Perhaps pleased that more goals were going in than expected, Hwan ran around in front of the goal and performed a goal celebration by blowing a kiss toward Huiseo. Since they’d become quite comfortable with each other, watching this brought a mix of cheers like “Oooh” and jeers like “Booo.”
‘Is he crazy?’
Huiseo put his palm up in front of his face with a cold expression, making a blocking gesture. But in truth, his inner delight at Hwan’s performance showed clearly. His flushed cheeks and twitching lips said it all.
In that atmosphere, the same training continued with one of the newcomers.
His name, from what Hwan had overheard, seemed to be Donghyeon. His last name… he didn’t know. He wasn’t interested.
In any case, he’d come all the way here specifically to complain about the soccer club matter, so he probably hadn’t managed to join directly, but at minimum he must be someone very interested in soccer. Moreover, since he was the representative of the three who came today, his skills were expected to be the best among them.
But even so, Huiseo was confident that Hwan would do better.
He believed in Hwan’s abilities, and besides, this came after Hwan—who they’d been keeping in check—had “brilliantly” demonstrated his true skills. Unless someone had an incredibly strong heart, they couldn’t help but feel the pressure.
Also, unlike Hwan who was somewhat familiar with this environment, this was his first time, so naturally it would feel unfamiliar. In such an environment, could someone who hadn’t been consistently exercising fully display their abilities? No, it would be difficult. Huiseo viewed it skeptically.
Watching his subsequent training, Huiseo let out an exclamation.
‘As expected.’
It was exactly the level he’d anticipated.
While decent, it wasn’t superior to Hwan either. The number of goals differed from the start. There was perfunctory applause, but the temperature difference was clear. The person who’d kicked the ball directly would know this best of all.
It might be a somewhat cruel method, but for Huiseo, protecting Hwan was more important—it couldn’t be helped. He thought they surely wouldn’t blame today’s events, even their own defeat, on Hwan.
Going on about special treatment and whatnot from here would only make them look foolish.
‘So just quietly go back.’
That would be best for them.
As expected, he noticed the three people looking quite dejected.
However, Huiseo pretended not to notice and carefully wiped the sweat from Hwan’s face with a towel. It was such an exaggerated scene that anyone watching might think he’d played an actual match. Of course, Hwan, thinking this was an unexpected windfall, naturally just grinned happily.
The soccer club guys had all come to accept this by now.
***
The situation flowed exactly according to Huiseo’s calculations.
If that was the case, things should have been settled to some degree. But unexpectedly, a deviation occurred.
It was because the guys’ persistence exceeded Huiseo’s expectations.
That day they’d gone back quietly, looking deflated, but somehow they must have regained their spirits, because when they ran into each other the next day, they were glaring daggers at Hwan. That alone was absurd enough, but then they went further and deliberately came over to roughly bump into Hwan’s shoulder.
“Ah, damn it. Are you kidding me?”
What was even more outrageous was that after doing that, they turned around and cursed while throwing a fit.
‘What the hell is this bastard?’
This is practically asking for a fight, isn’t it?
Compared to Hwan, who was momentarily stunned, hurt and bewildered by the sudden incident, Huiseo, who knew the full situation, absolutely could not stay still. Regardless of how that guy felt, physically threatening Hwan, a member of the imperial family, through physical contact was something that should never happen.
‘I let him go on and on saying “What’s so great about being a prince” like it’s his favorite phrase, and now his guts have completely spilled out.’
If he let them start poking and prodding, they could become even bolder at any time.
He had to nip it in the bud before that happened.
With that thought, Huiseo quickly pulled Hwan’s arm and hid him behind himself. Of course, Hwan, being bigger than Huiseo, didn’t get hidden at all contrary to the intention and stuck out conspicuously behind him. The sight was a bit comical, but Huiseo’s expression was extremely serious.
Anyone could see the other side had deliberately come and bumped into them, but let’s say they could frame it as both parties’ fault in the narrow hallway. However, cursing out of nowhere crossed the line. It seemed to imply that Hwan had done something wrong. He couldn’t let it slide.
If he hesitated cluelessly here, they’d end up taking the blame.
Huiseo, who couldn’t let that happen, asked loudly enough for the surrounding guys to hear.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
With that one question, the situation reversed and the other party became the person who had “done something” to them.
Looking at Huiseo, Donghyeon laughed as if dumbfounded.
‘Who’s really the dumbfounded one here!’
Huiseo’s eyes sharpened.
***
Around the time the other guys started voicing complaints about Hwan’s treatment as if possessed by something, Donghyeon had until then just thought, ‘I suppose so.’ No matter what, he was a prince, so naturally there would be some preferential treatment. However, their words also seemed to have merit, so while he didn’t belong to the group actively making a fuss, he didn’t stop them either.
His attitude changed drastically from the moment he heard the rumor that Hwan was temporarily filling the soccer club vacancy. Once that fact became known, the things he’d vaguely felt finally became real.
“…What’s so great about being a prince anyway.”
Before he knew it, Donghyeon was muttering the same thing.
Donghyeon had actually wanted to join the soccer club for a while. That’s why in his first year, he’d even taken a separate entrance test. They said he had quite a bit of talent, and the results weren’t bad—all that was left was filling out the application form.
His family, who’d been watching silently, perhaps not expecting him to actually pass, suddenly came out in opposition.
“Won’t it interfere with your studies?”
“It’s not like you’re going to become a soccer player.”
Unable to overcome that subtle pressure, he ended up crumpling the application form he’d filled out so excitedly and throwing it in the trash. So naturally, deep regret remained in his heart.
It wasn’t that he thought the position Hwan took should naturally have been his.
He just meant they should have selected more fairly. The Imperial Higher Education Institute shouldn’t have casually tossed it to a prince like some commoner experience, but should have given the opportunity to people like him who truly wanted to do it.
At first, he had such rational thoughts.
But after actually competing yesterday in what felt like a penalty shootout showdown, he couldn’t believe he’d lost to a prince who’d “received that position for free,” and he couldn’t stand the shame. He felt so pathetic and worthless.
That’s why Donghyeon hated Hwan.
Because he couldn’t hate himself.
That hatred transferring to Huiseo was honestly only a matter of time. In fact, if you really thought about it, the person who’d led things to this point was none other than him. Because this guy was doting on and protecting that Lee Hwan character. Hwan receiving such treatment was all because of this guy.
Dissatisfied, Donghyeon glared back at Huiseo without backing down and challenged him.
“Did you rent out the hallway? How are people supposed to pass if you block it like that?”
“Everyone else passes just fine though? You could just ask us to move aside, right? Don’t you have a mouth? Oh wait, you do. You curse loudly just fine.”
Huiseo countered every provocation without backing down even once. No, he was actually taunting the other party more skillfully.
So this was what it meant to have a sharp tongue? Huiseo, who normally wasn’t like this, was going wild, and just as Hwan grabbed Huiseo’s hand in bewilderment, saying, “I’m really okay though…”
Huiseo snapped.
“No! I know you’re NOT okay! There’s a limit to everything, but he just shoved a prince!”
The surrounding gazes gathered even more intensely.
Donghyeon couldn’t hide his flustered appearance. Just like with the dodgeball incident before, from their usual sensible attitude, he’d apparently thought they’d let it go without saying anything this time too. In fact, he’d planned to smirk at the sight of them getting hit and saying nothing before passing by, but it seemed the matter might blow up bigger than expected.
“He hit a prince?”
Those murmuring words among the guys made Donghyeon’s shoulders shrink.
But he couldn’t just take another loss and end it like this. The bitter taste of yesterday’s defeat still lingered in his mouth. Because of that, Donghyeon thought, since things had come to this, he might as well say what everyone had probably been holding in their hearts but couldn’t say.
Having made up his mind, Donghyeon took a threatening step toward Huiseo.
“You should quit showing off too.”
