RCKS 28

The Summer of 18

Lee Yoonsan, who had stayed at 173cm from age sixteen to seventeen, grew to 175cm upon turning eighteen. Lee Yoonsan, now in the summer of his eighteenth year, was a little more mature and was now almost free from his stomach pains.

The frequency of taking painkillers had decreased, and the hormone levels checked during his regular hospital examinations had entered a fairly stable trajectory. The restored reproductive organs had also settled in quite well. As long as nothing out of the ordinary happened, he would likely finish growing up safely just like this.

Physical stability led to mental stability. It was only natural since his hormone fluctuations had actually subsided. Instead, he found himself getting fluttery over trivial things more often.

For example, things like the photo of the gold medal that Hwang Haekyung, who was selected for the 20th Asian Men’s U21 Championship at the beginning of the year, sent only to him via DM, or the pictures he took of Tehran, where the championship was held at the time. Besides that, Hwang Haekyung would also take and send pictures if he saw something like a black rabbit doll on the street, and on very rare occasions, he would send a selfie.

Sometimes a photo would come of him with his arm around a cushion that had a black rabbit ear headband on it as if they had their arms around each other’s shoulders, or a photo that seemed to have been taken by another player during a break. And those photos existed only in Lee Yoonsan and Hwang Haekyung’s DM window. Because Hwang Haekyung still hadn’t posted a single photo of himself on his public SNS feed.

The Saemyeong High team, which Hwang Haekyung belonged to, lifted the championship trophy every time they competed in a domestic match, and in the case of Ham Sejin and Hwang Haekyung, they had already achieved the splendid feat of being selected for the Korean national team for the Tokyo Olympics and the U21 World Men’s Volleyball Championship.

Of those, the Tokyo Olympics were originally supposed to be held a year earlier in 2020, but due to the country’s circumstances, they were being held a year later in 2021. Although the schedule was pushed back due to unforeseen variables, additional selections were made for the same reason, and Hwang Haekyung and Ham Sejin joined the men’s and women’s volleyball teams, respectively. The selection was based on their match results from previous years, including last year.

In the case of Hwang Haekyung and Ham Sejin, they also had the experience they had built up by being selected for the prestigious Saemyeong High volleyball team and the Korean national team. And so, both Hwang Haekyung and Ham Sejin got to wear the national team mark side by side.

When he heard that news, the Betas around Lee Yoonsan—excluding Shin Soohyun and Kim Jihoo—mentioned Hwang Haekyung’s military exemption first.—Of course, the Betas around him were only Lee Yoonsan’s private tutor or Shin Soohyun’s and Kim Jihoo’s families— This was because, for secondary genders, military exemption is granted for winning an Olympic medal or a gold medal at the Asian Games. Betas could also perform alternative service, but it was not unreasonable for them to envy Alphas or Omegas who could receive a full exemption rather than that.

However, the fact they were overlooking was that a voluntary enlistment system was currently in place for Alphas and Omegas. The enlistment conditions were even quite strict. A specialist’s note stating that hormone levels have been stable for the past three years from the date of application is required, and if one is prescribed a medication with strong ingredients among the drugs they are taking, they are excluded from the conditions. In a word, it meant that if one’s hormone levels were too low or too high, they would not be accepted for enlistment.

So, Hwang Haekyung would probably be exempt anyway, even if he didn’t win a medal at the Olympics. Just a little while ago, when he overheard his mom video-calling Hwang Haekyung’s mom, he heard that Hwang Haekyung’s hormone levels had not dropped from within the top 3% at all. That was why she had said she was worried he had to take more expensive and stronger suppressants.

Hwang Haekyung’s mom seemed to have desperately hoped her son’s hormone levels would drop during his growth period. Because she was a Beta, she had said that the fact alone that he had to take ‘strong medicine’ for his entire life was scary and worrisome. It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand.

Lee Yoonsan’s hormone levels weren’t on the low side either. They were just at a stable, textbook level—not too high, not too low—to the point that even the doctor wasn’t particularly worried. But Lee Yoonsan’s parents didn’t seem to worry about the suppressants Lee Yoonsan would take for the rest of his life, nor did they seem to have any intention of sending Lee Yoonsan to the military.

The reason for the medicine was that both parents, as secondary genders, had the perception that it was something they had taken and had to take for their entire lives, and the reason for the military was their unusual concern that it could be dangerous for an Omega.

Perhaps if Lee Yoonsan had been a Beta, they would surely have had him faithfully fulfill his duty of national defense, but Lee Yoonsan was an Omega who had ‘heats.’ The fact that Alphas or Betas sometimes exploited an Omega’s heat was a story that had already graced the pages of the society section numerous times. Regardless of the punishment and its severity, their firm stance was prevention over post-treatment.

The story has taken a long detour, but anyway, Hwang Haekyung wouldn’t have to go to the military even without a medal. But even so, numerous people were cheering for Hwang Haekyung’s international competitions. There were many people who were already counting the days and looking forward to the Olympics held from late July to early August and the World Championship held in September, and the number of Hwang Haekyung’s SNS followers was rapidly increasing day by day. Of course, the influence of the vlog channel that Lee Seokjae had opened was also a factor behind this.

Instead of Hwang Haekyung’s feed, where he didn’t post a single photo of himself, Hwang Haekyung’s face would often appear on Lee Seokjae’s vlog. The longest he was on camera was in a scene where Lee Seokjae was forcing tanghulu into Hwang Haekyung’s hand, and Hwang Haekyung, who had been consistently annoyed and refused the tangerines, cherries, and strawberries, accepting the black sapphire tanghulu was quite a surprising choice.

In the video, Hwang Haekyung took the tanghulu with the black sapphire grapes skewered in a row, then pulled out two of the long black sapphire grapes, held them up in a V-shape, and made eye contact with the camera. At that action, Lee Seokjae laughed so hard that the camera shook.

And Lee Yoonsan, who was watching that scene just as it was in the video, felt his face turn as red as it could be. It was because it reminded him of the ‘rabbit ear ceremony’ that Hwang Haekyung was still doing at every match. What’s more, it also made him think of the ‘black rabbit ear headband’ that Hwang Haekyung had taken from him two years ago.

That video recorded the highest number of views among Lee Seokjae’s vlog videos, and that segment was immortalized as the ‘most rewatched scene.’

People now seemed to completely misunderstand that Hwang Haekyung liked rabbits, and in fact, most of the gifts sent to Hwang Haekyung seemed to be related to rabbits. This was also a fact he had confirmed from a screen that passed by in one second with the caption, ‘Gifts sent to Hwang Haekyung by fans,’ which briefly appeared in Lee Seokjae’s vlog video. On the bench seat next to where Hwang Haekyung was sitting, rabbit dolls and various rabbit merchandise were piled up.

Only Lee Yoonsan, who knew the truth, would spend his nights unable to sleep because of Hwang Haekyung’s actions like that. It was clear that Hwang Haekyung was using the rabbit ears as a pretext to tease him or treat him like a cute little brother, something he hadn’t even done when they were actually kids.

He couldn’t dare to think beyond that. Because the same thing hadn’t happened again since that one night when he was seventeen, when Hwang Haekyung had suddenly come to see him. Hwang Haekyung still sent DMs occasionally, the two of them had fewer conversations than their time knowing each other would suggest, and they hardly ever talked on the phone. Hwang Haekyung coming to visit like he did last year didn’t happen at all.

To misunderstand that Hwang Haekyung had feelings for him, his attitude was too lukewarm, so Lee Yoonsan made a habit of calming his heart to avoid getting hurt by recklessly getting his hopes up and making assumptions.

And on the night Lee Yoonsan watched that tanghulu video, a photo arrived from Hwang Haekyung. It was a photo of him holding up two black sapphire grapes like rabbit ears. Below it was a DM that said, ‘Kkamto ears.’ Hwang Haekyung now knew what Lee Yoonsan’s friends called Lee Yoonsan.

Daily life was flowing by like that. In his daily life, Lee Yoonsan had now started to switch his academy classes to private tutoring to prepare for the entrance exams, and he had come to know the rules of volleyball a little better. At least now he had reached the point where he could distinguish between a block-out and a touch-out at a glance while watching a match video.

While Lee Yoonsan was diligently accumulating volleyball knowledge, time passed, and summer vacation began.

Lee Yoonsan was busy playing an online soccer game, sitting on the living room sofa with the air conditioner blasting, and Lee Gaeun, who was resting at home on leave for the first time in a long while, was sitting at the kitchen table having a video call with Hwang Haekyung’s mom.

They had video calls more often than regular calls. The first reason was that they were afraid they’d forget each other’s faces, and the next reason was that they found it bothersome to hold a phone to talk. They would usually drink coffee or tea while sitting at the table, with their phones propped up on phone stands, and talk in an atmosphere that felt like they were really meeting in person. Thanks to this, Lee Yoonsan could also often eavesdrop on news about Hwang Haekyung or his family.

—I’m wondering about Jeju Island. I keep looking at different places, but there’s no place like Jeju Island.

“Jeju Island is nice. But wouldn’t it be difficult to manage if you build a campground there? Both of you have jobs in Seoul.”

—I plan to move down as soon as Haekyung graduates. My husband seems to be thinking about hiring more people for finance and operations to separate the work and going back and forth between Jeju and Seoul. We were thinking of a site for a training center and campground in Jeju anyway.

“Since the company has grown. You’re retiring early~”

—But I still have to look after your family and my husband’s family’s businesses.

“Set up a separate small corporation and just handle our work and your family’s.”

—Okay. Even if I retire, I have my accountant experience, so it would be a shame not to review the books. And I owe you a lot from the early days of the business. Ah, what happened with you guys looking for a vacation home in Jeju?

“Well, we haven’t found a suitable one. And I’m a bit worried about leaving Yoonsan here alone.”

The conversation, which continued like a complaint, trickled into Lee Yoonsan’s ears. It was a topic his mom had been discussing frequently with Hwang Haekyung’s mom lately, so he had a good idea of what the situation was.

Hwang Haekyung’s mom, Ahn Sunmi, had said her hometown was originally Jeju. So she had always had a desire to return and live in Jeju, and it seemed she was now preparing to slowly turn that future into a reality. The security company run by Hwang Haekyung’s dad had now become quite a large corporation and had reached a level where it needed a training facility for its employees.

Therefore, it seemed they were planning to build a company-owned training center in Jeju and, at the same time, buy a large plot of land to operate a campground as well. It seemed they had even made a plan to create it so that company employees could go and enjoy their vacations or use it, and to usually operate it by opening it to the public for a fee. And along with that, Ahn Sunmi was also making plans to live back and forth between Jeju and Seoul.