WOPE Ch 22

“It’s fine. You bought well. There’s a villa my father, who loved cypress wood, built down in Namhae. Let’s use it there later. I think there’s an ondol room too. It’ll be perfect there.”

“Okay.”

Perhaps reassured by the idea of a place to use it, Hooyoung quickly smiled again. As they lived together and time passed, Junwook often felt Hooyoung’s blind affection. Maybe because he believed Junwook’s words could never harm him, Hooyoung nodded in agreement no matter what he said.

“And, you know.”

Sitting on the sofa with Hooyoung in his arms, there was nothing more pleasant than this moment.

“That thing, I looked into it.”

Without even mentioning snake liquor, Hooyoung whipped around to look at him. His face full of expectation was so absurd that Junwook ran a hand over his entire face. Even as Hooyoung let out a surprised “ugh,” he pressed himself closer again.

“…Can you get it?”

Was it really something to ask with a voice trembling more than when receiving an award? No matter how much Junwook thought about it, he felt his real rivals weren’t other men in the world but every health-boosting item out there.

“They say it’s really dangerous.”

“…But they say expert snake catchers make it completely safe.”

His reluctance dripped like water.

“Some people’s teeth all fell out.”

Hooyoung’s eyes blinked once.

“They say some people got sick and died after drinking it.”

“Wouldn’t that be someone who was already unhealthy?”

Usually, when Junwook suggested doing or not doing something, Hooyoung would nod, but this time he was persistent. To be fair, from the moment he spoke, his desperation was so clear that if it weren’t for the snake part, Junwook might have uprooted a pillar to make it happen.

“They say medicinal liquor has low alcohol content, so parasites in the snake might still be alive.”

“…I didn’t know that.”

“And a dead snake might hold a grudge and haunt you for life.”

Hooyoung pulled back, looking at Junwook in disbelief.

“You’re into science and modern medicine. And if a snake can hold a grudge and cause trouble, what about frogs or turtles?”

“You never lose an argument at times like this.”

Junwook hugged Hooyoung and lay back on the sofa. These moments were the best. It felt like they were the only two people in the world. Like when they first met in America. The feeling of wanting to see him the next day, to keep in touch, and ultimately to hold him in his arms and lie down together, just like back then.

“But I’ve got another gift instead.”

“What is it?”

Hooyoung lifted his head to look at Junwook with an expression devoid of expectation. Junwook chuckled softly, kissed him briefly, and pulled back.

When at home, there were moments when Hooyoung’s gaze followed Junwook’s every move. Like a beast seeking its master, he clung persistently from start to finish. When Junwook tried to kiss him from behind while Hooyoung sat on the sofa, Hooyoung would tilt his head back, slightly puckering his lips. Every action of Hooyoung’s was filled with his affection for Junwook.

“Wild ginseng.”

“…Really?”

Hooyoung’s eyes widened as if they might pop out. His reaction was too transparent.

“Yeah. It’s probably way more expensive than something like snake liquor. They say it’s the top-grade stuff from this year.”

“Gasp.”

Shocked, Hooyoung untangled himself from Junwook’s hands and sat up straight. Still lying down, Junwook propped one hand under his head, watching Hooyoung, slightly flushed with excitement. He used to think love was about stripping naked, pressing skin to skin, and feeling maximum pleasure, but that wasn’t it. True love was finding him adorable no matter what he did or didn’t do. It was him treating the house as his own, casually using Junwook’s things.

“Uh, how much?”

“I heard it’s about seven or eight roots. Over a hundred years old, they say.”

“Gasp.”

Hooyoung covered his mouth with both hands. Forgetting all about snake liquor, he grabbed his phone and busily searched for wild ginseng. Junwook found the sight endlessly amusing. He could guarantee life with Hooyoung would never be boring.

After searching for a while, Hooyoung collapsed onto Junwook with a face that was either laughing or crying.

“What?”

“…I looked it up, and they’re all like one hundred million, two hundred million won?”

Laughter burst from Junwook, his body shaking uncontrollably.

“Eat it and forget about the snake. Promise.”

“But it’s too expensive?”

“I don’t mind the money, but it’s curious. I’ve never spent that much on something to eat.”

When he asked Suhwan if eating that stuff would give him super genes, Suhwan, unfamiliar with the topic, just shrugged. He did say he’d appreciate a small root if Junwook shared.

“Go to your salary negotiation tomorrow and say you’ll do even better with wild ginseng, so pay me more.”

“Okay.”

Hooyoung clenched his fist, showing fierce determination.

“My manager hyung said the raise might be bigger than expected. Probably because I did well last season.”

“Win MVP soon and get an even bigger raise. Then you can buy me wild ginseng later.”

“I’ll definitely buy it for you. And those huge abalones only sold in Jeju. They’re like the size of your palm.”

Junwook reached out, brushing Hooyoung’s bangs back. The feeling of his rounded forehead against his palm was pleasant.

“MVP is still a bit tough… No, I’ll try hard! I’ll win MVP before going to Sangmu, make at least three hundred million in salary…”

“Sangmu?”

Junwook, who had been smiling at Hooyoung’s mumbling, froze.

“Sangmu, as in the military?”

“Yeah. The Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps.”

Hooyoung, oblivious to the bombshell he’d dropped, continued talking brightly. Of course, none of it registered properly with Junwook. For a civilian who resolved military service in their early twenties, the concept of the athletic corps was foreign. Junwook had no way of knowing that most pro athletes, unless exempted, delayed enlistment as long as possible, typically going around twenty-seven or twenty-eight.

But come to think of it, he’d heard stories of soccer and baseball players getting exemptions, but none for basketball. Panicking, Junwook, who had been lying down, shot up and grabbed Hooyoung’s arm.

“…You haven’t gone to the military yet?”

“Usually, we go after some time in the league… I’ll probably discuss it with the team and go around twenty-seven or twenty-eight. They say MVP often comes after military service, when you’ve gained experience and your skills peak!”

“Peak or whatever… Ugh.”

Suhwan had said this was what people now called having their world collapse. Junwook clutched his face with one hand and flopped back onto the sofa.

“…Are you mad?”

Hooyoung started to gauge his reaction. For Hooyoung, not having gone to the military yet was obvious, but for Junwook, it was obvious he should have.

“Don’t read into it. I’m just a bit heartbroken.”

“The military’s only one and a half years now.”

“Don’t say it so cheerfully. My heart’s breaking.”

Neither of them considered the idea that Junwook wouldn’t wait during Hooyoung’s military service.

“Not seeing you for a year and a half, and you seem totally fine with it, Hooyoung. That’s hurtful.”

“No, it’s not that I’m fine… It’s still a ways off, and I’ll get leave too.”

If Hooyoung was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, Junwook would be thirty-seven or thirty-eight. Waiting for his partner at nearly forty, or what, watching pro athletes go to the military to defend the country? What am I supposed to do? Junwook muttered endlessly to himself, while Hooyoung rested his ear on Junwook’s chest, simply feeling the warmth of his lover after days apart. Clearly, with wild ginseng on his mind, the military wasn’t even a consideration.

“International competitions? An Olympic medal gets you an exemption, right?”

“…Basketball making the Olympic finals is a miracle.”

Basketball was a sport where physicality was more than half the game. With Black athletes dominating, an Asian country winning gold might take a hundred or two hundred years.

“Well, there have been exemptions from the Asian Games.”

“Really? When’s the next Asian Games? How long until then? Soon?”

Junwook asked with a glimmer of hope, but Hooyoung only smiled awkwardly.

“It’s in two years, but China’s really strong. And Australia and New Zealand compete in the Asian Games now too.”

Junwook locked eyes with Hooyoung silently. A rare fervor and determination radiated from him.

“You can do it, right?”

“…Well.”

“Gold medal, you can do it, right?”

Hooyoung scratched his forehead with an ambiguous expression and looked away.

“I want to see Lee Hooyoung win a gold medal. You can do it, right?”

“Ugh, I’m hungry. Shall we eat?”

Hooyoung shot up, awkwardly swinging his arms as he headed to the kitchen.

“You can do it, right?!”

No matter how loudly Junwook shouted, Hooyoung didn’t answer. Junwook jumped up, grabbed Hooyoung in the kitchen, tickled him, kissed him, and tugged at his clothes, but Hooyoung’s lips stayed sealed. His sulky grin seemed like he was teasing.

“Should I talk to hyung about sponsoring the Asian Games?”

“…What does that have to do with a gold medal?”

Despite it being evening, the sun lingered, keeping the house bright. Junwook and Hooyoung spent a long time mixing serious talk with playful banter. Junwook’s low chuckles and Hooyoung’s giggles never stopped.

“I feel like I got scammed into a marriage. Lee Hooyoung should’ve had ‘not enlisted’ written on his forehead in America.”

“You’d have come for me even if it was written there.”

Hooyoung’s soft words didn’t go unheard by Junwook. He was dumbfounded but couldn’t deny it.

“While I was in Jeju, I was thinking by the sea.”

“Why does our Hooyoung always make me nervous thinking by the sea? Didn’t the team book you a room with a sea view?”

“I told you before, no one talks to me when I’m alone by the sea. Anyway, I was thinking.”

They’d moved from bickering about the military in the kitchen to lying on the sofa again. Junwook held Hooyoung from behind, and Hooyoung nestled in his arms.

“Yeah, and?”

“I think it’s really lucky we met in America. If we’d met for the first time in Korea, at that sponsorship event, we wouldn’t be living together like this, would we?”

Junwook thought about it sometimes too—that it was fortunate he and Hooyoung didn’t meet as a basketball player and a company chairman’s son.

“Because I ran away, it took a bit of a detour…”

“But?”

“Falling for you in America, not knowing anything, that’s why it’s so great. I thought about it sometimes in Korea too. But actually meeting you, no matter how hard it was, I kept wanting to know more, to contact you… If we’d met at the event, I’d have thought you were cool but probably couldn’t even make eye contact.”

During basketball games, Hooyoung was famous for never missing a wide-open shot. When the defense fell back, leaving space, he’d rise and sink the ball through the rim with high accuracy. The team often used tactics to create openings for Hooyoung to take the ball and lead the offense.

“That day we met by the sea. Being overseas among strangers, everything felt so light, like I could fly. The debts, the pressure to be drafted high as a pro, all of it.”

“Yeah.”

“Like a wide-open shot.”

Like a chance to leap freely in wide-open space without obstacles. Understanding Hooyoung’s words, Junwook grinned.

“So, did you score?”

Hooyoung, laughing along, mimed dribbling in the air, then turned to Junwook and pretended to shoot.

“Shoot—!”

Even lying down, the flick of his wrist and form were as light and beautiful as if he were really shooting.

“Did it go in?”

“Yeah. It’s a score.”

A clean, perfect shot.