SPW 52

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Group Chat Room

Backdoor (Baek Sangmoon)

How does it feel to be a married man?

Gohn (Kim Goeun)

What are you going to do since you can’t even go on a honeymoon? I feel bad for you.

Dyoong (Bae Dooyoung)

I’m hurt, Sarang Debussy Dietrich Wellington Kim.

Aesop (Woohwa)

How did you memorize his full name?

Gohn (Kim Goeun)

Who invited the youngest to their own wedding?

Hongsi (Hong Jeongyoon)

Boo hoo— How can you invite a kid you don’t even know.

Sejong Captain (Min Yido)

Let’s at least grab a meal when the season’s over. The newlywed will treat us to a full course meal.

Hyungs, my Boxing Day starts now ㅜ

Dyoong (Bae Dooyoung)

He says our youngest is going dark.

Don’t make a group chat without me.

Gohn (Kim Goeun)

Hey, we have some conscience.

Backdoor (Baek Sangmoon)

Why was the youngest sulking last time?

Hongsi (Hong Jeongyoon)

Right, Sarang got sulky and left.

Sejong Captain (Min Yido)

Dyoong said, ‘A hundred group chats without you.’

Gohn (Kim Goeun)

Gasp

Sejong Captain (Min Yido)

OMG

Hongsi (Hong Jeongyoon)

Oh myyy

Backdoor (Baek Sangmoon)

So shocking

Gohn (Kim Goeun)

lolololololol

Aesop (Woohwa)

lolololololol

Dyoong (Bae Dooyoung)

No, that’s because I didn’t think the youngest would be so clueless about the joke!

Hongsi (Hong Jeongyoon)

khkhkhkhkhkh

Backdoor (Baek Sangmoon)

You’re a mean hyung.

Gohn (Kim Goeun)

For real, Dyoong was really mean.

Aesop (Woohwa)

It was back when our baby couldn’t even pronounce ‘age group’ right loll

Dyoong (Bae Dooyoung)

Wow, look at you all ganging up on me like this.

Hyungs, I’m going to sleep now.

Sejong Captain (Min Yido)

Sleep well. Don’t even see Dyoong in your dreams.

｜

After checking the continuous stream of messages from his national team hyungs, Sarang put down his phone and lay down on the bed. Because of Boxing Day, the wedding was moved up by 10 days from December 24th, and the honeymoon was postponed until after the season. Florian readily gave way on both the wedding and the honeymoon.

‘It’s a bit of a shame, but we aren’t a real couple, after all, Sarang.’

Florian, who smiled brightly with a face that didn’t look the least bit disappointed, was vexingly charming.

‘I’ll just have to postpone my long-awaited legitimate vacation.’

And with that, Florian went on a business trip to the United States. He said he had been away from Wellington for too long while staying in Canton. In reality, whether he was there or not, they used separate rooms. Their newlywed home was the mansion where Florian had been living, and a few of Sarang’s things had been moved over. The reason given was that although the mansion where Sarang lived was closer to the club, Florian’s mansion was safer. The staff at Mansion 2 remained to manage the building, and only Allen came with him.

‘A contract marriage in this day and age.’

Allen, who had been drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, gave a light shrug of his shoulders.

‘Well, I guess since it is this day and age, there are probably a lot of guys who do contract marriages. Make sure you get a hefty sum when you divorce, okay?’

Allen, who spoke like an old man, shared the third floor with Miller. The two men, who were said to belong to a private military company, got along surprisingly quietly.

Starting tomorrow, there would be four games every two days for ten days. It was the final stretch of the first half of the season before the winter break in January. A schedule of four games every two days was absurd, but Sarang had managed to get through that period just fine without Florian until now. Of course, it would have been better if Florian had been there. But Sarang was the type who rarely entertained ‘what ifs.’ Because you couldn’t turn back what was already past.

Burying one cheek into the pillow and pulling up the covers, he thought he could smell a faint scent of figs. The day before the first match after their wedding, Florian had boarded a private jet and headed for the United States. Before leaving for the airport, he had held him for a long time and kissed him, wishing him luck, and it seemed a faint trace of his pheromones remained.

[Player Kim Sarang looks very heavy on his feet today, doesn’t he?]

[It’s the Boxing Day season, so he’ll need to manage his condition well.]

[Player Rayner, cutback! Player Kim Sarang penetrates! The ball has touched the tip of Player Kim Sarang’s foot!]

[Aaaah— that doesn’t go in! For Player Kim Sarang, it was something he just needed to tap in with his foot!]

[It looks like Player Kim Sarang doesn’t even have the energy to be disappointed! Ah, it’s only the 30th minute of the first half. Shouldn’t he be substituted at this point?]

[He looks the heaviest on the pitch. The camera is showing the manager.]

[Yes, and it’s now showing Player Kim Sarang right after. I suppose there’s some intention behind that, right? Ha ha ha.]

[Ah, Player Kim Sarang! He wins the physical battle! One, two, oh! He gets past three and shoots!]

[Aaaah— goalkeeper Parrish with the save! It went right down the middle, that’s a shame. The Rhinos’ manager is also shaking his head.]

[Wow, even in that condition, he gets past three defenders! He’s truly amazing, Player Kim Sarang! If his condition had been just a little bit better, that would have gone in.]

[Oh? A counterattack! This is Player Kim Sarang’s specialty! He’s running! He’s running! He’s running! Yes, there’s only one defender in the opponent’s half! He gets past him and shoooots—! Aaaah—!]

[Player Kim Sarang was one-on-one with the keeper and it didn’t go in. How can this be?]

[It’s really not Player Kim Sarang’s day today. Could this be a failure in managing his Boxing Day condition?]

[Yes, I understand that there’s talk about it locally as well. They say Player Kim Sarang’s spouse is not by his side at the moment, is that right?]

[Yes, that’s correct. I hear they are living separately, and that he has no interest in managing Player Kim Sarang’s condition. Ah…! In the end, the manager is pulling out a substitution card. Player Kim Sarang’s first substitution this season! And it’s a first-half substitution at that. He must be very disappointed.]

[This is why managing your condition during Boxing Day is so very important.]

[I hope that Duke Dietrich listens to our commentator’s words and does a better job.]

[They are showing the bench. Player Kim Sarang’s expression is not good.]

[He missed three decisive chances, so it can’t be helped. Ah! Player Raissong, who came in as a substitute! If he does well, he might be able to push out the starter and escape the bench this time!]

Waking up on a plane traveling from state to state, Florian touched his temples and furrowed his brow.

It was a dream he hadn’t had in a while. In front of Florian, who was pressing his temples firmly, Bailey was busy reviewing documents.

“When is the Boxing Day season?”

Although they were documents Florian had already approved, Bailey’s expression was strange as he meticulously inspected them one last time.

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

Of course, he wouldn’t be. Bailey, having found the answer on his own, opened his mouth.

“It’s the week from the 26th to the 31st for clearing out inventory, Boss.”

“Is the league’s Boxing Day week similar?”

“The league? Ah, soccer.”

Bailey, a New Yorker through and through, had no interest in American football. Let alone the schedule of another country’s soccer league. Florian, who had spent more than half his life in the United States, would not have paid any attention either if it weren’t for Sarang. Especially in the United States, soccer did not have much commercial value.

“The Boxing Day event is something the Commonwealth branch does every year, too.”

Florian, who was watching Bailey search for projects that had been carried out in conjunction with the league’s Boxing Day, had already made his decision.

“Bailey, I have to go to Sarang.”

“Boxing Day, a week with a concentration of league games, as a sports event… What? Boss, what did you just say?”

“Tell them to turn the plane around to Canton.”

“Ah.”

Bailey, who finally understood the meaning of Boxing Day, also felt like an idiot for a moment. The most difficult and important week for a player during the season. He had only memorized it through texts; he hadn’t listened attentively or internalized its meaning. It would have been a different story if it were the Super Bowl (NFL) or the World Series (MLB).

For Bailey, who had never left the United States before meeting Florian, and for Florian, who was practically an American, Boxing Day had no meaning other than its economic term.

“Look up the remaining season schedule, and the overall league schedule.”

Just as Sarang had to fulfill his duties as a heat cycle partner, Florian had to do the same.

“For the next four years, adjust my schedule to revolve around the league schedule.”

“What? Boss, that’s too…”

“That’s all I can do for the kid.”

Florian paused for a moment and looked out the window. A vast landscape was spread wide beneath the plane.

“I have to do it.”

Though it seemed he had already missed it once.

An uneasy look flickered across Florian’s face. Bailey, who did not miss it, still said what he had to say.

“Boss, in that case, your stay in the Commonwealth will become longer. Will that be alright?”

As it was, his stay had already become longer than planned since meeting Kim Sarang. The marriage was also a formal procedure; the important thing was the contract to do their best for each other as heat cycle partners. He presumed that holding a simple ceremony in the Commonwealth was also influenced by this. Because if they held it in the United States, they would absolutely be unable to avoid the Wellington family’s fuss.