JADE 22

During his school days, the short-distance sprint was Jin Sejun’s specialty. He always beat everyone else without even practicing separately. At one point, he was even invited to join the track and field team, but he had acted all serious about studying and refused. Of course, he was also extremely smug about this fact itself.

Therefore, while a long-distance race was another story, he wanted to overtake Kwon Joowan, at least in this park. Also to pay him back for poking him in the back earlier.

He stealthily increased his speed, and at some point, he was sprinting like a madman, but just as it seemed Kwon Joowan was getting closer, he would soon maintain the previous distance.

His running back looked as light and swift as an animal living on the plains. At first, he thought he was enjoying the refreshing morning air, but now, he couldn’t think of anything.

As he watched the back he couldn’t catch up to even while running until he was out of breath, what little pride he had left was shredded to pieces.

After leaving the large park and on the way to the river, Kwon Joowan finally stopped when he hit a red light at a large crosswalk. He lightly stretched his upper body and smiled at Jin Sejun, who arrived a couple of beats later, as if he knew this would happen.

“Doing intervals on your own and everything. There’s no need for me to coach you.”

Kwon Joowan probably knew very well that he wasn’t in a state to answer. Even the occasional passersby looked at Jin Sejun, who was panting uncontrollably, with pity. His chest felt beyond tight, and he could even taste metal in his throat.

“I think I’m going to vomit blood.”

It took a long time to say even that one sentence because his breath was getting tangled. Kwon Joowan patted the back of Jin Sejun, who was bent over at a ninety-degree angle and choking.

“We haven’t even been running for 15 minutes. With this kind of stamina, you’d never be able to run if you’re late for an appointment.”

“Why would I run? I’d step on the gas.”

“Try leaving your car behind sometimes.”

Did he say Kwon Joowan did American football before cheerleading…. It was understandable that Jin Sejun’s childhood specialty, sprinting, would seem shabby. It wasn’t as if he had been friendly with the treadmill all this time, so there was no reason to be surprised by his rusty body.

If Jin Sejun beat a professional athlete who trained his stamina every single day, that would also be a problem. Then how hurt would Kwon Joowan’s pride be…

While running against the river breeze, Jin Sejun listed off every reason he could think of for why it was okay to lose to Kwon Joowan. At some point, he had started driving to most places, so he rarely had a reason to walk, let alone run.

So, falling just a little behind Kwon Joowan was as natural a fact as the earth’s rotation, not strange at all.

Back at the park, Kwon Joowan caught Jin Sejun when he almost tripped and fell on the bare ground, not even over a rock.

“Careful.”

“Gack…”

It was not a romantic situation at all; he grabbed him as if he were wringing a chicken’s neck, cutting off his already strained breath.

His hands are big….

They say your judgment gets impaired when you lack oxygen, and that was what Jin Sejun thought while being choked.

The collective term for oxygen deficiency symptoms that occur due to the lower oxygen concentration when moving to a high altitude is called altitude sickness, and it includes things like vomiting, cerebral edema, pulmonary edema, and dementia-like symptoms.

It wasn’t a well-known fact, but the symptoms when properly crushed by a hostile alpha’s pheromones were said to be similar to this.

Revealing that pheromones could inflict harm beyond common sense posed a political risk for alphas in general, so it was increasingly becoming a hushed-up trend.

It’s not like alphas were the absolute majority in this society; they each cast one vote just like everyone else, and they didn’t have superpowers that could deflect bullets or blades.

It’s probably possible to silence people like that because there are already many alphas in positions of power. Of course, not just any alpha was capable of such a ‘passionate pheromone attack’ (Jin Sejun always thought this academic term was so ridiculous).

It was only possible for those who corresponded to the so-called ‘extreme dominant’ alphas, from before the terms dominant and recessive were abolished for being inappropriate….

Anyway, if one were to be subjected to such an ‘attack,’ they would be in a state similar to the current oxygen deprivation.

“……”

Hey, isn’t this a flashback of my life? If it’s a flashback, I should be reminiscing about my beautiful past life, so why this…?

“Are you okay?”

“Cough! Haa…”

“Anyone who saw you would think you just completed a full marathon course. We were at a relaxed pace, too.”

“Sh-shut up…”

As soon as his neck was released, Jin Sejun collapsed to the ground. Kwon Joowan pulled up Jin Sejun, who was crumpling like a squid on a hot grill, and stuck his hand right under his shirt.

“Heek!”

“If you just collapse when you’re tired, it gets even harder.”

“Hey, hand, what’s your hand doing.”

He thought he was pretty good at grabbing his sweaty neck earlier, but his grip strength was fundamentally incredible. Kwon Joowan held onto the struggling Jin Sejun, felt deep down his back, and then pulled out his damp hand.

“What… are you doing?”

“If it wasn’t wet down to here, I was going to make you do another lap, but I’ll let you off today.”

He was serious? Even so, did he have to check if he was sweaty by putting his bare hand on his skin?

Moreover, Kwon Joowan’s smiling grin was different from usual. Soulful smiles were rare, but among them, this seemed to be the first time he’d seen him smile so wide that all his teeth showed. His canine teeth, in particular, looked incredibly sharp.

Goosebumps rose, starting from the spot his hand had just touched. It was similar to the feeling he had when Kwon Joowan had scanned his whole body as soon as they met.

To erase the inexplicable chill, Jin Sejun kicked the back of Kwon Joowan’s knees repeatedly. Kwon Joowan dodged lightly, then naturally squatted down and began his cool-down stretches.

“Do it with me. If you don’t cool down, it’s going to be really tough.”

“Jun-teacher, by any chance, are you like this with the students too?”

“Like what?”

“You… just touch them?”

For a moment, Kwon Joowan froze. Jin Sejun added, while copying the warm-up movements.

“You’ll get reported for sexual harassment…. You can’t do this while running an academy.”

“…I don’t touch them, like this.”

“Right. Logically, even if you did touch them, you’d do it over their clothes.”

“I absolutely do not make inappropriate contact when I’m coaching….”

“Aha? So you know what you just did to me was inappropriate, but it wasn’t coaching?”

Kwon Joowan, who had been frozen like ice, came back to life as if someone had rung a bell and pressed down firmly on the back of the stretching Jin Sejun.

“Ugh.”

“Between us, it’s just playing around.”

It’s true that what we do is just playing around. It is, but….

The moment Jin Sejun heard that answer, his mood sank completely. But the atmosphere that had become strange in an instant also bothered him, so he absolutely couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“You’re so good at this, you should be a fitness influencer as a side job. I think a lot of people would watch.”

“Where would I find the time for something like—.”

“Ah, you said you post videos of something else.”

And so, he finally spat out the topic that had always been on the tip of his tongue. When there was no reply, Jin Sejun, having pushed Kwon Joowan’s arm away, asked triumphantly.

“You said you quit before, so why aren’t you saying anything?”

“……”

“What, are you doing it again?”

“…As a prize for your good workout, Jun-ssaem, I’ll buy you coffee.”

Is he pissed? Is his plan to pay me back for all the coffee torment he’s suffered so far? Unfortunately for him, while Jin Sejun had drinks he disliked due to preference, there wasn’t anything his body couldn’t handle.

Warily, he examined Kwon Joowan’s face, but it was calm. The drink he ordered was also a large and ordinary iced americano. They had provoked each other so much that it seemed Kwon Joowan could now let this kind of thing slide like a morning greeting.

‘I can buy my own coffee with my own money.’

…is what he thought, but since it was a prize for working out well, it felt casual and not bad. Besides, coffee drunk while drenched in sweat from the morning was exceptionally special. Thanks to it, all the dregs of petty emotions were completely washed away.

Kwon Joowan saw Jin Sejun’s coffee, half-gone after one suck of the straw, and laughed out loud. At the same time, the clear sound of a bird chirping could be heard from a large roadside tree nearby.

‘What was that?’

Both the laughter and the bird’s song were like jade beads rolling on a silver platter…. While Jin Sejun was bewildered and trying to get a grip, Kwon Joowan undid his messy ponytail.

Under the hair he combed through with his fingers, his sweat-drenched nape glistened in the morning sun. Jin Sejun stared at the peach fuzz, which looked white, and then sucked up the melted ice water.

He felt that if he didn’t cool his body down somehow, he would want to bury his nose in that skin right away.

‘This isn’t a personal desire. It’s just that my tastes have broadened. What’s the point now that all feelings are gone.’

Even though he had chugged so much coffee, when Jin Sejun opened his mouth, his voice was a little dry.

“Your hair’s gotten quite long.”

“…It looks messy, doesn’t it? I should go get it cut.”

“Huh? No, I just said it was long…. Gosh, you really live a tiring life.”

“I’m sorry….”

This was also something that hadn’t happened in a while. Whenever he said something about his appearance, Kwon Joowan would suddenly say he’d go fix it, as if he’d received feedback that must be reflected. The fact that he was even apologizing was so startlingly like the low-self-esteem Kwon Joowan mode again.

He thought Kwon Joowan had become less pathologically concerned with his appearance for a while, but it seemed people don’t change.

“It actually seems more comfortable to have it tied up when you work out, but do whatever you want. I’m not your boyfriend, so what do I care if you get a buzz cut or grow it long. If you were an omega, I would have thought about it with you, though.”

“……”

On the other hand, it was also nice that the guy who could brush off students’ taunts as jokes cared about Jin Sejun’s words. Had he become ex-fiancé level?

He’s so obedient, so shouldn’t he also agree if I asked him to give it to me just once? Why is he so weak-willed in useless areas, and an iron fortress in areas where I wish he was a little weak?

Jin Sejun cursed his own prideless self and threw the empty cup into the trash can.

After that, the two of them sat there blankly, cooling off their sweat. They had finished their coffee, but for some reason, neither felt like leaving. Strangely enough.

Kwon Joowan seemed to feel the same, as he lingered, chewing on his innocent straw.

‘Aren’t you just thinking that you wish that were the case?’

Once he became cynical, it was hard to be generous with himself.

“Maybe it’s because I sweated a lot…. Another coffee, Jun-teacher? I’ll buy this time.”

He said this even though his stomach was bloated from downing a venti-sized drink. However, Kwon Joowan, who was likely in the same state, didn’t refuse.

“No, I’ll…”

“This is to thank you for working out with me.”

“…Thank you.”

It had been a while since they had bickered over the price of coffee. Jin Sejun, who had bought the same drink as before, placed the coffee on the bench where Kwon Joowan was sitting so that their fingertips wouldn’t touch by any chance when he handed it over.

“Thank you for the drink.”

“The weather’s nice.”

“It is….”

Both Kwon Joowan and Jin Sejun were the types who had to wash off sweat right away after a workout to feel satisfied, but neither of them mentioned anything about having to go back right away.