You’d think who would stick to such old-fashioned thinking these days, but reality was different. For Seohee, romance and marriage weren’t about personal feelings but a kind of business that had to benefit the family and the company. It was also a weight he had to bear as the successor leading a chaebol family.
Hyowoo, who had been repeating to himself ‘He’s really such a burdensome person,’ suddenly found it absurd that he was even having such thoughts.
‘There you go again, getting ahead of yourself, Ji Hyowoo… It’s not like you’re going to date him, so why are you wasting time on useless worries?’
Deciding not to think about it any deeper, he took a sip of the iced coffee in front of him.
‘Besides, why did I come out 30 minutes early and end up like this…?’
Wondering how to kill time, he picked up his cell phone. He opened the messenger app and entered the chat room with Seohee.
It had already been over two months since they’d video called by chance thanks to Saewoo.
In the end, he hadn’t been able to answer his question about what he thought of him that day. Noticing Hyowoo’s difficulty, he hadn’t tried to force an answer out of him.
It could have become awkward, but even afterward, there was no particular change between the two of them.
Hyowoo attended school while preparing for the second exam, and Seohee continued to perform well in matches. Unless something special came up, they exchanged messages every Friday night as always.
Then last night, the topic of the ‘bet’ currently popular in Korea came up.
Before meeting Seohee, Hyowoo had thought the Premier League was all there was to English football. However, in reality, besides the league, there were also the EFL Cup, the FA Cup, and even the Champions League. He belatedly learned that they had to compete in four tournaments simultaneously during one season.
‘Is that even possible? Are football players not human?’
The team he belonged to, FCC, was an unlucky team that had narrowly missed winning all tournaments for five consecutive years up until last season.
Perhaps because of this, they were given the nickname ‘Forever 2nd Place,’ and mocking memes even circulated.
Unable to understand this psychology of people, Hyowoo unconsciously took his side.
‘Isn’t finishing second even with such a murderous schedule amazing? Why are they laughing at that?’
But this season, that perennial runner-up team had completely changed.
In August last year, an unprecedented situation occurred when the league champions failed to participate in the FA Community Shield, which signals the opening of the season, due to unexpected internal circumstances. Instead, FCC, whose participation was decided at the last minute, achieved a dramatic victory.
After that, they won the EFL Cup in February, achieved an undefeated Premier League championship in May, and consecutively secured the FA Cup, accomplishing an amazing feat.
Now what remained was tomorrow’s UEFA Champions League final.
If they won here too, they would achieve the Treble by winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League, and would set an unprecedented record in English football history as the first to achieve five titles in a season.
Could a team with a Korean player truly accomplish that feat? Not only Korean sports fans but the entire nation’s attention was focused on Seohee.
During this time, a popular idol group member known as an ardent fan of Seohee on a TV variety show made a bet with the members about whether the Treble would be achieved, which became a hot topic.
The conditions of the bet were as follows.
If they succeeded in winning five titles, the other members would parade through the streets wearing middle school uniforms, and if they failed, only that fan member would wear a uniform alone.
When that scene was broadcast, the ‘Lee Seohee Treble Achievement Bet’ became a huge topic centered online. Related hashtags poured out all over SNS. Not only fans but also the general public began to support his championship achievement without exception and started making various pledges.
Seohee himself, who didn’t watch Korean broadcasts much and didn’t use SNS, had no idea about this. When he belatedly learned about it through Hyowoo, he immediately suggested they make that bet together.
**What are the conditions of the bet?**
**Don’t tell me you want to parade through the streets in uniforms like that idol?**
**Seohee**
**That’s not bad**
**I kind of want to see Hyowoo-ssi in a uniform too**
**If you say weird things, I’m leaving the chat room**
**Seohee**
**ㅋㅋ Okay**
**Just kidding**
**Then how about the winner gets to have one wish granted?**
**Which side are you betting on, Player Seohee?**
**Seohee**
**Of course I have to bet on our team succeeding**
It was such a natural choice for him, but Hyowoo also desperately wanted his team to win more than anyone.
He wanted to see the moment the Treble was achieved, and to see him accomplish the dream he’d cherished for so long.
**I want to bet on success too**
**Seohee**
**You want our team to win?**
Even without hearing his voice, his joy was conveyed directly.
**How could I hope for Player Seohee to lose?**
After hesitating for a moment, he added, ‘Please definitely win the match this Sunday.’
**Seohee**
**Let’s do it like this**
**If we achieve the Treble, we each grant each other one wish**
**If we fail, we just forget about it**
**…What’s that?**
**Seohee**
**Then should we change it to the two of us wearing uniforms and parading through the streets side by side?**
**Please let go of your obsession with uniforms…**
Looking at his absurd message, Hyowoo let out a small laugh.
He wasn’t particularly fond of frivolous conversations or small talk, but conversations with him were always enjoyable.
Even when he said absurd things or teased him, he was an interesting person.
He made the other person comfortable and was endlessly kind. The more he talked with him, the more he wanted to share, and he wanted to hear his voice. And eventually, his desire to meet Seohee grew stronger and stronger.
That was Hyowoo’s true feelings.
**Seohee**
**The wish aside**
**Since Hyowoo-ssi told me to win, I absolutely must be victorious**
He might already know these feelings. Because he was someone more perceptive than anyone. However, he couldn’t convey these feelings with his own mouth, nor should he.
For that person’s sake, he resolved that they would have to part soon.
‘Still, just a little… Would it be okay to be just a little bit more greedy…?’
Praying in his heart to please forgive this much selfishness, Hyowoo put down his cell phone on the table.
Perhaps because the weather had gotten quite hot, small water droplets beaded up on the surface of the plastic cup containing the iced coffee.
‘It should be about time for Taeseo to arrive…’
It was just as he was about to check the time. Someone lightly tapped his shoulder, tap tap.
Thinking it was her arriving, he turned his head, but who he faced wasn’t Taeseo.
“By any chance, Hyowoo hyung?”
Next to him stood a quite young man who was at most seventeen, or maybe eighteen.
He was definitely someone he didn’t know, but strangely, his face looked familiar.
‘He looks younger than me. How does he know my name? Could it be… someone from the neighborhood where I used to live…?’
Hyowoo’s expression hardened in an instant. A cold sensation flowed down his spine. He hid his faintly trembling hands under the table. He clenched both hands tightly and tried hard to calm his mind.
“That’s right… Who are you?”
“It really is Hyowoo hyung! It’s me, me. Don’t you remember?”
Looking at the happily smiling face, a young child vaguely surfaced in his memory.
“Could it be… Jaeik? Lee Jaeik?”
“Yeah, that’s right! Hyung, it’s been so long!”
The tension in his body that had been gripped by anxiety released all at once.
Jaeik was the son of his mother’s friend. Since they’d had frequent contact from childhood, Hyowoo had doted on Jaeik, who was five years younger, like a real younger brother.
However, the last time they’d met was around autumn when Jaeik was in first year of middle school and Hyowoo was in third year of high school. After ‘that incident,’ their mothers cut off contact.
“Yeah, it really has been a long time.”
He finally let down his guard and expressed his delight.
“How do I run into hyung here? It’s really an incredible coincidence. What brought you here? A date?”
“No, meeting a friend.”
“I see. I came because I have a friend appointment too.”
Looking at Jaeik continuing to talk like rapid-fire, the corners of Hyowoo’s mouth lifted. He was exactly the same as before, talkative.
“I go to A University just in front of here. I got accepted this year. Music school, piano major.”
“Really? I go there too.”
“Wow, really? That’s really an incredible coincidence!”
Only his build had grown, but his brightness and loud voice hadn’t changed at all. Hyowoo felt relief at Jaeik’s appearance, treating him just as he had back then.
‘Right. Jaeik probably doesn’t know what happened…’
When that incident occurred, Jaeik was barely the age of graduating elementary school. No one would have told such a young child about the terrible thing that had happened to his close hyung.
“Is Gyeonwoo hyung doing well too? What about Hyeonwoo noona? Are your aunt and uncle healthy?”
“Everyone’s doing well. Your parents are healthy too, right?”
“Yeah. Mom and Dad are both healthy.”
Even while exchanging news about each other’s parents, there was someone else he was truly curious about.
“Is Woosung also… doing well?”
Lee Woosung.
Jaeik’s older brother and Hyowoo’s childhood friend of the same age. A dear friend he’d had to forget along with the painful memories of that day.
“Of course he’s doing well. My hyung is in Seoul now.”
“He’s in Seoul? When did he come up?”
At the unexpected news, Hyowoo’s voice grew louder.
“He got accepted to B University’s graduate school. It’s already been two years since he came up from Busan.”
The moment he heard those words, his heart swelled.
“B University… Woosung is attending B University…”
Woosung had returned to Seoul and was attending the school he’d originally aimed for.
It meant his friend’s life was also gradually returning to its proper place.
‘Thank goodness. Really… thank goodness…’
Suppressing the surging emotions, Hyowoo muttered ‘That’s great’ to himself over and over.
