PUCKD Ch 22

What followed was the sight of Kwon Junghyun starting to roll down the mountainside, holding Ahn Dongjoo’s waist.

Even while rolling and embracing Ahn Dongjoo, who was bigger than him, Junghyun was trying to use his legs to apply the brakes.

While still carrying Moon Seungyeol on his back, Shin Hojae ran down quickly, stretching out one arm and one leg. It would have been faster to throw his body, but it was agonizing that he couldn’t do so because of the injured person on his back. Instead, he tensed his thighs firmly and picked up more speed.

Quickly catching up to the two, Hojae lowered his stance and used his own body to block them.

Even after the thud! sound, the momentum carried them, and they slid back another 30 meters or so. In the end, they were all able to stop only after Shin Hojae’s shoulder collided with a large tree.

The four of them, covered in wet dirt and leaves, gasped for breath. Junghyun, the first to come to his senses, checked on Ahn Dongjoo first.

“Mr. Dongjoo, are you okay?”

“I’m sorry. I stepped on something wrong and you too, CEO….”

“I’m the one who should be sorry. I should have held on a little tighter. Mr. Hojae, Mr. Seungyeol, are you two okay too?”

The impact from hitting the tree had jarred his chronically bad shoulder. But not wanting to show it, Hojae just nodded. Their eyes met. Junghyun’s wet face was full of worry and concern. Shin Hojae looked up at his eyes as if bewitched.

In that moment, something he couldn’t identify clawed through the center of his chest.

Along with it came a gut feeling, something beyond mere suspicion, that he was missing something very important.

It was a strange sensation he had never felt before in his life, so for a moment, Hojae couldn’t say anything and just stared at Junghyun’s face.

It was then that a voice broke through his thoughts.

“Hey, hey, they’re over there! Hojae hyung! CEO!”

It was Park Hyonghoon. Behind him, the faces of the coaching staff holding flashlights, Alexei, and Coach Peter could also be seen.

“Ji Minchul’s team got Gangneung MJ Resort accommodation vouchers and department store gift certificates worth 1 million won. Isn’t that amazing.”

At Yook Doomin’s words, Hojae put down the hamburger he had been barely eating and looked into the distance.

He could see the table where Ji Minchul was gathered with his teamwork game group. Even at a glance, the atmosphere was good.

“Haah. If only Lee Sanggon hadn’t acted up on our team…. Still, thanks to you guys, we avoided last place. Thanks, okay?”

When he raised one eyebrow crookedly, Yook Doomin giggled.

The winner of the teamwork game was Ji Minchul’s team. It was only natural, as they had a captain trusted by everyone, and Ji Minchul and the other defenders were model student types who silently followed their leader’s words.

Yook Doomin’s team came in 3rd out of the four teams. Lee Sanggon had apparently nitpicked throughout the game and kept acting on his own, which eventually led to a big fight, almost coming to blows.

Considering Lee Sanggon’s attitude so far, it was entirely plausible.

The reason the same thing didn’t happen on Shin Hojae’s team was because of the unexpected accident. And the presence of Kwon Junghyun.

Shin Hojae tapped his phone, checking the screen again where no calls were expected.

As soon as they arrived at the training ground, the four of them had all gone to the medical office for first aid. As expected, Ahn Dongjoo had an ankle sprain, and Moon Seungyeol was diagnosed with a contusion on his back.

Shin Hojae just asked for some cooling spray on his shoulder. It was just a slightly strained muscle, not a major injury compared to the others.

Among them, only Kwon Junghyun went elsewhere to receive treatment. It could have been simply because the medical office was short-staffed, or because he was the club owner receiving special treatment, but the fact that he went with Coach Peter kept bothering him.

Why is he taking so long? He wasn’t seriously injured, was he?

It wasn’t that he was particularly worried, but he couldn’t understand why he felt so anxious. It was when Shin Hojae finally put down his half-eaten hamburger.

“Ji Minchul has been weird all day.”

Doomin’s serious tone stopped him in his tracks.

“In the morning, I thought it was just me because I was hungover and out of it, you know? But earlier, when he won first place, I put him in a headlock, and you know what he said? ‘Don’t.’ Just ‘Don’t.’ Do you think that makes sense? I even asked him to eat dinner together just now, and he went off somewhere by himself.”

“…….”

“Did I, by any chance, throw up on Ji Minchul’s clothes yesterday? Or his face?”

Shin Hojae shook his head.

“No? Ah shit, I thought that was the only possibility. Then why the hell is he acting like that?”

Shin Hojae sipped his cola and recalled the situation he had encountered in the hotel room last night. The towel and Yook Doomin’s phone strewn on Yook Doomin’s bed, as if he had left in a hurry.

Shin Hojae’s eyes rolled to the left.

Did Ji Minchul see something? On Yook Doomin’s phone?

But whatever he saw, would he really act so distant over something so trivial?

It didn’t quite add up, but given what Ji Minchul had been repeatedly saying recently, it was hard to dismiss it as nothing.

“When are you going to introduce your girlfriend to us?”

“Huh…? What’s with the sudden….”

Yook Doomin mumbled, unlike his usual self.

“I’m fine with it, but Ji Minchul was really disappointed. You should know that.”

“You don’t think he’s acting like that because of that…?”

“I’d say it’s a possibility.”

“Is he a grade-schooler? Getting sulky because I didn’t tell him?”

The expression on Yook Doomin’s face, who let out a hollow laugh, finally brightened a little. Shin Hojae chuckled and stood up. Seeing the hamburger Shin Hojae left behind, Doomin’s eyes widened.

“What. You’re not eating more?”

“I’m going to pop by the medical office.”

“Ah, whoa? Want me to go with you?”

Shin Hojae said no and immediately left the cafeteria. It was about a five-minute walk to the training ground’s medical office. As Shin Hojae opened the training ground door and walked down the corridor, his face was dark and subdued.

His surroundings, including himself, were filled with nothing but athletes.

Most of them were people who thought only of exercise and training 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and perhaps because of that, their dispositions and personalities were not very complex.

Of course, people couldn’t be neatly divided into black and white, but it meant that good people, like Coach Park or Yongsoo hyung, were generally good, and bad people, like Lee Sanggon or Moon Seungyeol, were generally bad.

Therefore, for Hojae, someone like Kwon Junghyun, who couldn’t be easily defined, was uncomfortable and difficult. He couldn’t understand the very principles behind what he was thinking or why he made certain decisions.

Just when he thought he understood a little, a new side would appear, and when he barely managed to understand that, another unknown side would show itself.

The state-of-the-art training ground that came with joining the club, the dedicated bus, the equipment transport truck, the business class seats… he had considered all of them to be just a part of image-making.

But could rolling down a hill while shielding Ahn Dongjoo when they fell really be explained as image-making?

That kind of thing was in the realm of instinct. No matter how much of an actor Kwon Junghyun was, not many people could roll down a mountainside while sacrificing themselves.

And this feeling that he was missing something important.

Shin Hojae, when holding a hockey stick, was the type to trust his instincts and intuition. Especially in the moment the puck drops, feeling is faster than thinking to move. This was why Shin Hojae was called a so-called genius type.

And he was feeling a sense of incongruity stronger than ever before.

And Hojae wanted to confirm exactly what was causing that sense of incongruity. No, he even felt a strong sense of obligation that he had to confirm it.

The room two doors down from the medical office among the several doors lining the corridor. It was the room Peter had taken Junghyun to.

It was when he raised his hand to knock on the door, which had a small, frosted glass window. He heard voices from inside.

『…Whenever you do something that’s not like you, that guy is always involved. The club acquisition, and back in America, too. Right?』

『That was ages ago, how do you even remember that?』

『There’s no way I wouldn’t remember. It’s about you. …And I’m a man who’s always thirsty for you.』

Shin Hojae stopped the hand he was about to use to knock and furrowed his brow slightly.

The voices of two men. One was Kwon Junghyun, and the other was….

『Pete.』

『Hmm?』

『Someone’s outside.』

At those words, Hojae stepped back. His silhouette must have been visible through the frosted glass.

Thud, thud. He heard the sound of footsteps approaching without hesitation, and the door immediately flew open. The person he made eye contact with was Coach Peter. He arched his eyebrows.

『Hojae? The doctor’s not here.』

『……No. I have something to talk to the CEO about.』

『Hmm?』

Peter made a cryptic expression, then turned his upper body halfway so the person inside could see Hojae. Kwon Junghyun was sitting horizontally on a medical bed, his back against the wall.

Upon seeing the visitor, Kwon Junghyun’s eyes widened slightly.

Hojae quickly scanned his condition with his eyes. Below the shorts that were rolled up slightly, he could see red scrapes across the outside of his thigh and calf.

The wounded area was shiny, as if ointment had been applied. Fortunately, there seemed to be no major injuries.

『Then I’ll be off. Hojae, take good care of him and make sure he gets to his room safely.』

Peter patted Hojae’s shoulder and left the medical office. The sound of the door closing was heard, and the two were left in the room.

After a bit of awkward silence, it was Junghyun who spoke first.

“How’s your shoulder.”

“Ah, it’s fine. …And you, CEO.”

“It’s not so bad that I can’t walk.”

“Pardon?”

“It means you don’t have to worry about what Pete said about taking care of me.”

“Ah…”

Hojae stood there with his mouth half-open, looking dazed. He hadn’t paid any attention to what Peter had said. It was because his mind was preoccupied with something else.

The inner thigh clearly visible due to the rolled-up shorts, the shiny ointment someone must have applied. That conversation he heard from beyond the door…….

The separate, scattered scenes connected in his head, and just like when he was chasing a puck, his instincts, not his mind, moved his tongue.

“Did you do it with Coach Peter, too?”

A short reply came back.

“Do what?”

“The act of… mixing saliva.”

He was reluctant to use the words ‘kiss’ or ‘make out’, so he used a term that felt as detached as possible. As soon as he spat it out, he thought it sounded rather ridiculous, but he couldn’t take back the words he had already said.