PUCKD Ch 5

“What.”

Shin Hojae received the look with a displeased expression.

“Oh, no. I just happened to glance over because there’s a super handsome alpha right here.”

“If you’re going to say that, you guys are alphas too.”

“Wait a minute. Are you serious, Hojae? Why don’t we get the ‘super handsome’ title?”

“Our Hojae can’t lie, can he? Minchul is a tall alpha, and I’m a pretty, handsome, and charming alpha. Agreed, agreed.”

“Give me one too!”

“Tall alpha is enough, what more do you need? Anyway, Hojae, the point here is that that Kwon Junghyun, or whatever his name is, that crazy guy’s ideal type is you.”

“That’s exactly what I was going to say.”

“Oh no! Protect your purity at all costs, Hojae!”

Yuk Dumin exclaimed dramatically, crossing his arms over his chest in an X.

“But seriously, what if that guy tells Hojae he’ll take over the team if he sleeps with him just once?”

At those words, Yuk Dumin wiped the playful expression off his face and slowly turned his head towards Shin Hojae. Thump, Yuk Dumin’s hand landed on Hojae’s shoulder.

“Hojae… Then, you’re the only one who can take on this important mission… You super handsome, dominant alpha.”

And then Ji Minchul’s hand landed on his other shoulder.

“Yeah, Hojae. Sacrifice your ass once. It’s all for the team.”

“Ah, fuck.”

Yuk Dumin and Ji Minchul burst into laughter at Shin Hojae’s low curse.

They were saying this without knowing he’d actually received such a proposal, but Shin Hojae felt incredibly complicated hearing it. Unable to listen any longer, Hojae got up.

“Thanks for the food.”

It was time to get up anyway, as he had afternoon training. Dumin, who was taking out a can of beer, furrowed his brow.

“Leaving already? It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other since the season ended. Let’s hang out a bit more, Hojae.”

“Wanna come to the rink then?”

“No, but I’m doing intervals today? How can you say something so heartless with beer right in front of you?”

“I’m going then.”

“Ah~! Stay a little longer!”

“I need to finish training quickly and make dinner for Shin Yeonjae.”

It wasn’t as if his twenty-two-year-old younger sister couldn’t cook for herself, but Yuk Dumin had said it so he’d leave quickly. As expected, Dumin straightened his back and started speaking contradictorily.

“Yeonjae? Then you have to go. Wait. Does our Yeonjae like chicken? Do you want to take the leftover box of soy sauce chicken? No, no. It’s not polite to give our Yeonjae cold chicken.”

“Ugh. Listen to the womanizer chirping again.”

“Chul, how many times do I have to tell you? I’m not a womanizer, I’m a Yeonjae-izer. Yeonjae-crazy. Know that before you call me names. Brother-in-law~ Hurry up and go! Should I order delivery to your house later, timed for dinner? You shouldn’t eat it, make sure to give it to our Yeonjae, okay?”

Shin Hojae pretended to pick his ear as if a dog was barking and put on his shoes.

Ever since Yuk Dumin saw Shin Yeonjae at a Blue Wolves game last year, he’d been making a fuss like this from time to time.

At first, he’d been wary, wondering if the guy was serious (even if she was his younger sister, it was a completely different matter for her to date his best friend), but he always just made a fuss like this, and that was it.

“I’m going. Thanks for the food.”

“Yeah. Hojae, you’re welcome to come over anytime and eat for free. Of course, on the condition that we turn on the broadcast~!”

Instead of replying, Shin Hojae gave a perfunctory wave and walked out the door.

°❀•°❀°•❀°

It was late evening by the time he arrived in his neighborhood after finishing his afternoon training.

The last apartment on the 8th floor of the innermost building, the least desirable location in the small Joo Gong apartment complex, was where Hojae and his family of four lived. Shin Hojae took the stairs instead of the elevator, walking up to the 8th floor with familiar steps.

He wasn’t out of breath, but his thigh muscles felt a bit heavy, probably because he’d just finished his afternoon training. Letting out a long breath, Hojae opened the cover of the keypad on the mint-colored front door, its paint peeling, and entered the six-digit passcode.

Beep, click.

As he entered, he saw Shin Yeonjae peeking out from the kitchen. Her long, straight hair was tied up haphazardly with a claw clip, and she was wearing the same tracksuit shorts she’d had since middle school, a sight he was used to.

“I already started on the chicken.”

As befitting their close sibling relationship, her first words were about business rather than greetings.

“Chicken?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you order it? I already ate half.”

“Ah. Dumin must have ordered it.”

“Really? Tell Dumin oppa thanks.”

“You do it.”

“Dumin oppa and I aren’t even following each other. You do it. I’m shy.”

“Shy, my foot….”

Shin Hojae chuckled and dropped his heavy bag filled with skates and training clothes into his room next to the entrance.

“Where’s Mom?”

“Convenience store. She’s covering someone’s shift since she doesn’t have her night shift today.”

“It’s late, why did you let Mom go? You should have gone.”

“Mom refused, saying it’s dangerous for her pretty daughter to work the counter alone at night. And it’s my turn to look after Dad today.”

“Ah.”

Hojae simply raised his eyebrows with an impassive face. It seemed he would have to have a quick dinner and then go work the counter himself. Mom had been getting increasingly tired lately from staying up all night. The off-season was his chance to fulfill his filial duties, which he hadn’t been able to do because of training.

Shin Hojae washed his hands before heading to the master bedroom. As he entered the dimly lit room, he saw a space filled with medical equipment and a medical bed that allowed the upper body to be raised, instead of an ordinary bed and dressing table.

Shin Hojae approached the bed without turning on the light. His father, with his gaunt face, was fast asleep as if unconscious. He heard Yeonjae’s voice from outside.

“Dad ate well earlier, and the physical therapist came and helped him exercise, and then he fell asleep. Help him clean up later when he wakes up.”

“Okay.”

Hojae sat on the stool next to the bed, carefully uncurled his father’s bent fingers, and began to massage them. He had learned this from the physical therapist who came three times a week. He could feel small calluses on the palm of his hand, a sign that he had been working hard at rehabilitation.

He had become comfortable holding his father’s hand only after his father became like this. He had been an indifferent son.

As he moved his hand, Hojae looked at the small picture frames on the nightstand next to the bed.

There were pictures of his father with his arm around young Hojae in his hockey uniform, a picture of the four of them together at Shin Yeonjae’s middle school graduation, and pictures of his mother and father when they were dating.

As Hojae casually glanced over the frames, he noticed one that was face down.

Click.

He set the frame upright and wiped away the accumulated white dust with his palm to reveal his father’s youthful face. A vibrant face, roaring in a judo uniform with the Korean flag on his chest.

He looked so healthy that it was hard to believe he was the same person as the one sleeping next to him.

Buzz.

Just then, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

Director Park Namwoong

After checking the message, Hojae immediately pressed the call button.

—Uh, Hojae. I texted you because I thought you might be working out.

“I just got home. Are you feeling okay?”

—Yeah. I had some bean sprout soup my wife made this morning and the hangover cure you bought me, and after another nap, I’m feeling better now. I used to be able to handle this much, but my liver must be getting old.

“Don’t say that.”

Hojae hesitated for a moment before asking what he was curious about.

“By the way, anything else from Director Kwon Junghyun we met yesterday?”

Well, I haven’t heard anything yet. Thanks for coming all the way yesterday, even though I called you so suddenly. Our ace is working hard, taking care of his director during the off-season.

“Of course I should go if I can be of help.”

—Haha. For your skills alone, Hojae, we need to hear some good news soon….

“Don’t be so anxious. We still have time.”

He offered words of comfort, which were met with a bitter laugh. It was a silence born from the knowledge that both Shin Hojae, who was speaking, and Director Park, who was listening, knew that if they missed this opportunity, there would be no hope left. After a moment, Director Park changed the subject.

—How’s your father doing?

Hojae glanced at his father’s face on the bed.

The sunken eyes, the protruding cheekbones, the somehow unnatural facial muscles even in sleep.

“He’s much better thanks to you.”

He couldn’t eat or go to the bathroom without the help of his family. Even so, Hojae said he was getting better. With the hope that it would come true.

—What did I do…. Your family is the one going through the most.

“It’s all thanks to you that we can take care of him like this.”

—Oh dear…

After a sigh that sounded like a groan, their usual conversation followed.

I’ll definitely visit your house sometime. Please come anytime. I hope your father is in good condition when you come. Yeah, Hojae, I’ll definitely make time to go….

And the call ended weakly.

Hojae held the darkened screen in one hand and looked at his father’s figure, lost in the darkness.

The director probably wouldn’t actually visit their house. He always had a hard time seeing his father, who was once his close friend, becoming increasingly frail.

He understood how he felt, so he wasn’t upset at all. He owed him too much to be offended by something like this.

It was Director Park Namwoong who found his father collapsed from a stroke inside the house two years ago.