YHP 26

Lying on the bench, he planted his feet firmly on the floor. As he straightened his thoracic spine, his chest muscles stretched taut. He gripped the bar, paying attention to the setup of his shoulder blades and the load on his wrists, and slowly lifted the barbell.

Exhaling between his teeth, Ho-jin lifted the barbell resting on his solar plexus in one swift motion. His sufficiently warmed-up muscles effortlessly withstood the 100 kilograms.

“Should we add another 60 pounds?”

The trainer asked suddenly after confirming that one set was complete. Ho-jin nodded and racked the barbell. Soon, another 30-pound plate was added to each side of the bar. Approximately 130 kilograms. It was a sufficiently burdensome weight, though it fell short of his maximum strength from last season.

During the short break, he gulped down an ion drink, checked the values on the monitor, and lowered his heart rate with deep breaths before starting again with the grip and getting into position.

The trainer placed his hands between his shoulders in preparation for any possible safety accident. Ho-jin withstood the slowly descending weight. He exerted all his strength to lift it up with each exhale, and his muscles swelled as if they would burst.

‘Think about it again.’

It was then. Jeong-in suddenly came to mind.

“Whoa, hold on a second. Your wrist.”

The trainer quickly intervened and grabbed the bar. The movement of the barbell, which had been descending toward his solar plexus, stopped. Ho-jin quickly came to his senses and checked his posture. He had been distracted by other thoughts for a moment, and the weight had somehow shifted onto his wrist.

“Let’s rack it slowly, one, two.”

With the trainer’s help, he racked the barbell. Then, the coach, who had been watching from afar, approached Ho-jin.

“Ho-jin’s concentration is off today, isn’t it? It was like that during the power clean too.”

“I’m sorry.”

He took off the heart rate sensor and got up. The coach immediately held out the Centaur results.

“There’s no major problem other than a difference of about 5 degrees left and right at 135 degrees. It’s best to maintain 70 percent of your 1RM this week and focus on conditioning.”

“Understood.”

“And it looks like we should start preparing for the competition soon…”

He patted Ho-jin’s back, who was still panting, and continued.

“The step test results weren’t bad either, so how about lightly entering the So-cheong competition first?”

He was referring to the competition that would be held in mid-April. Ho-jin hesitated for a moment without answering immediately. Then, the coach chuckled and sat down next to the bench.

“Is it because the scale is too small?”

“No, not at all.”

Ho-jin quickly waved his hand.

“We can’t not have a competition for an entire season. Just win one gold here, and the media will be quiet for a while.”

Just one gold.

It was such an easy thing to say.

“Yoo-young and Jeong-woo said they would compete together if you said you would go. So please consider it positively this time, okay?”

“…I’ll think about it.”

“Okay. Then I’ll see you next week.”

The coach patted Ho-jin’s shoulder once more and left with the trainer. Ho-jin stared blankly at their retreating figures before getting up as well.

His whole body was hot because he had squeezed every muscle for well over three hours. His tired steps eventually stopped in the empty shower room. Standing under the pouring water, Ho-jin stared silently at the mirror.

‘Just win one gold.’

The light voice, as if it were nothing, was weighing down on his heart.

In fact, the So-cheong Swimming Competition was a stage for young athletes who had their sights set on the national team selection. Ho-jin’s participation might motivate them, but as the coach said, it wasn’t a competition of the scale that Ho-jin should be participating in. The same was true for Yoo-young and Jeong-woo, who also had experience competing in the Olympics.

Nevertheless, the reason they said they would compete together was simply to help Ho-jin’s comeback. He knew that it was to help him bring out his abilities by matching his pace with them in the arena.

He was truly grateful. But he couldn’t help but feel heavy-hearted.

‘Because of that,’ even small mistakes would not be tolerated.

“…….”

Ho-jin quietly closed his eyes. He recalled the day he first participated in a competition. It was a time when he was training in a much harsher environment than now, when he was systematically managed under the supervision of a dedicated team director.

He didn’t have professional knowledge or the same strength as he did now. He didn’t know anything and just filled the lanes with the amount of practice he was told to do. In that brief moment when he stood in the lane, mixed among the taller older guys, looking out at the water with a pounding heart.

A miraculous scene flashed through his mind like lightning. The process and number of entries, dolphins, strokes, and turns came to mind automatically, and the image of himself overtaking everyone and touching the pad first was so vividly drawn before his eyes.

And that imagination became a reality a few minutes later. That’s how Ho-jin won a gold medal in his first competition.

He later learned that it wasn’t just a simple daydream. It was the result of applying precise limits and possibilities to the amount of training, and the world called such things image training.

There was never much of a discrepancy between the imagination and reality that came to him just before a competition. If he thought he would win gold, he would win gold, and if he thought he would win silver, he would win silver. The only time that feeling was wrong was the moment he was injured.

His shoulder was already under excessive strain. Despite the conditioning team’s warning that the competition itself would be too much, the company was reluctant to change its mind. This was because several of the sponsors were about to renew their contracts.

In fact, the injury itself wasn’t that severe. He was in a state where he could have pulled himself out of the pool on his own at the time of the injury, and the final diagnosis wasn’t too bad either. It was at a level where he could recover quickly after some rehabilitation. Nevertheless, the reason he lost consciousness in the water was because of his shock.

“…”

He had continued to practice underwater in the same environment as the actual competition several times. It was a competition in which he had already perfectly predicted the outcome with hundreds of repetitions. But everything went wrong the moment the ligaments in his shoulder ruptured. The sudden impact caused one of his strokes to go awry, and that was the beginning of his breathing going off.

It was a situation Yoo Ho-jin was experiencing for the first time in his life. Having lost control in the water, Ho-jin immediately twisted his body to maintain buoyancy. However, he couldn’t lift his shoulder again after already suffering a major impact.

He felt terrible pain. But even more terrible was his arm, which wouldn’t move as he wanted.

Helplessly sinking into the water, he gazed at the surface far above. His mind knew he had to regain his pace, and his body knew how, but he couldn’t do anything.

His breath was already running out. He watched the other swimmers, who had pulled so far ahead that he could never catch up. And the moment he finally admitted that all his expectations had been wrong, he lost consciousness.

After that, he saw nothing.

It was fortunate, at least, that this incident happened after he had won the Olympic gold medal, which had been his lifelong goal.

The premonition that had always come to him as a matter of course just before kicking off the starting block no longer visited him. That was why he couldn’t even start in his first race after rehabilitation.

“…”

To be honest.

He had thought, this is the end.

“…Just one gold.”

The goal, which no longer felt overwhelming or exciting, felt dry in his mouth.

At this moment, there was someone he desperately wanted to see.

***

“Hey, kid.”

It was on his way back after finishing class. Jeong-in was startled by the sudden, imposing voice and looked up. He met the eyes of a man with a fierce expression. On the forearm revealed beneath the sleeve of his flamboyant floral-print T-shirt, a dragon holding a mystical orb was coiled.

“Uncle!”

Jeong-in’s face lit up, and he ran to him, wrapping his arms around his neck. A face covered with large and small scars smiled at Jeong-in.

“Oh my, your face has gotten so thin. Is your family struggling these days?”

“Hahaha, I guess so. By the way, what brings you here, Uncle?”

He was Seong-pil, Won-kyung’s longtime friend. He was also someone Jeong-in adored.

“Your dad was nagging me to do this, putting on a fancy tap dance. Said he couldn’t trust anyone else.”

As he said that, he pointed to the top of the building. Only then did Jeong-in realize that he had come as the supervisor of the construction on the top floor. Judging by the banging sounds, it seemed like something had finally started.

“When did you come? How long will you be staying? Where are you staying?”

“Geez, you’ve got so many questions, you must have a lot you want to eat too. I came the day before yesterday, and I’ll leave when this is done. Until then, I’m staying in Yeongdeungpo.”

Even as he spoke gruffly, he answered every one of Jeong-in’s questions without missing a single one. It was the same voice he had occasionally heard over the phone when he was living abroad. It was such a familiar and endearing sight that Jeong-in couldn’t help but chuckle.

“But you, the older you get, the more you look just like your dad.”

“Really?”

“Of course, Won-kyung was so fair and pretty when he was just your age.”

Seong-pil nodded.

“But you mustn’t inherit that temper.”

“Ah…”

“He’d be calm and well-behaved, but once in a while, his eyes would roll back, and he’d come at you like he was going to kill everyone. That was something…”

It was the same thing that everyone who knew Won-kyung before Jeong-in was born said. It was a side of him that Jeong-in somehow couldn’t imagine.

“Come to think of it, that company president of yours has a pretty formidable ruthlessness too. Well, that’s probably why he’s with Won-kyung.”

“…”

“Anyway, Jeong-in, you mustn’t inherit your father’s temper, and you must steadfastly follow your own path. I’m sorry to speak ill of your dads, but remember that good fortune comes from living a well-rounded life.”

“…Yes.”

“Oh, and one more thing.”

Seong-pil suddenly rummaged through his loan shark bag. Then, he held out something wrapped in newspaper.

“Eat this. I hear it’s what kids like these days, but I don’t have much of a taste for it…”

Judging by the sweet cinnamon smell, it seemed to be a churro.

He knew that he hated sweets. Yet, he had gone out of his way to buy it for Jeong-in and had been hiding it in his bag, waiting. Feeling his heart grow warm and fuzzy, he was about to accept it when…

Just then, they heard hurried footsteps from somewhere, and something blocked Jeong-in’s path. The churro flew into the air as a hand forcefully knocked Seong-pil’s wrist away.

“Who are you?”

Jeong-in, who had been staring blankly at the churro as it tumbled to the ground, slowly raised his head at the growling voice. He saw Ho-jin’s back, his breathing perfectly steady.