JADE 35

Should I just quit the academy right now?

The moment I decided to do so and walked out, I discovered a young soul hesitating right in front of the academy’s entrance.

“Hey, Goalkeeper.”

“…Mister, are you a teacher here, too?”

“No? No, it’s not that I’m not, but anyway, I’m not a cheerleader.”

“I see.”

It seemed life wasn’t entirely devoid of joy. Jin Sejun ruffled the hair of the boy he had run into during his morning jog, earning his anger again, then burst into hearty laughter.

As soon as he stepped into the academy, his eyes met with Kwon Joowan, who was standing in the lobby.

“Oh, Mr. John. Our goalkeeper is here. What was your name?”

“Jang Doha.”

“Mr. Jang Doha, which elementary school do you attend?”

“I’m in the second year of middle school!”

“You should eat better. Oh, here, I’ll give you this.”

Even as he teased the child and handed him a protein bar, Kwon Joowan was staring only at Jin Sejun with a strange expression. Just as it was starting to feel objectively a bit awkward to be silently receiving his gaze, he took charge of the boy and began the academy tour.

He had lost a lot of weight again recently. Kwon Joowan, that is. I wanted to ask if he had gone on another diet, but I decided against it.

Meanwhile, messages would occasionally come from Ahn Saeha, with whom I had exchanged numbers. They were mostly questions about what I did after work or on my days off, but the answer was always that I had prior engagements.

Even though at those times, I was always lying down, looking at the flamenco dancer doll.

As expected, I was bored.

March was almost over. I had thought that once the cherry blossoms, which bloomed and fell early, were gone, everything would just be green. But after a brief cold spell passed, the surroundings were still full of flowers, from double cherry blossoms to what have you. It was truly a springlike spring, and even the desolate flowerbeds were gradually becoming overrun with dandelions and shepherd’s purse.

Feeling his body grow heavy, Jin Sejun went out for a morning jog as if being chased by something. Of course, he avoided the path he used to run with Kwon Joowan, heading instead toward the lake, running amidst the fully bloomed flowers.

He didn’t feel any particular emotion. The fact that he was deliberately coming out to run was different from before, but in any case, don’t flowers bloom every spring?

It was a holiday with longer daylight hours, so picnic-goers were already gathered at the prime spots. Jin Sejun passed by the colorful picnic mats and the snack vendors who had been dispatched early in anticipation of the crowds.

When he took a short break, dogs out for a walk would approach Jin Sejun as if he were coated in honey and sniff at him. Before their owners could get embarrassed, Jin Sejun would signal his welcome and crouch down in front of the dogs.

This was how it had always been, but when he was with Kwon Joowan, the dogs didn’t approach as often, as if they could tell a person had a bad personality. Not that Kwon Joowan’s temper was vicious, but it wasn’t exactly great, either.

‘Not that I know if my personality is any good, though.’

Enough with the dogs, I wish a person would approach me. Maybe an omega who doesn’t care about pheromones could come and get my number. Or I could get theirs, so it’d be great if they just taped a sign to their forehead saying they don’t care about pheromones.

It was only the second day he had gone jogging at the lake, while he was blowing the dust off with an air gun installed on the walking path. Jin Sejun was picking a red flower stalk off his sock when he froze at the sight of a lanky figure running across the crosswalk in the distance.

“……”

There was Kwon Joowan, bathed in the morning sunlight under a tree heavy with white and pink double cherry blossoms.

I never thought double cherry blossoms were particularly pretty, but seeing them like this, they’re actually quite….

Kwon Joowan seemed to have spotted Jin Sejun as well; he hit his knee on a bollard at the entrance of the walking path and staggered before barely regaining his balance.

“No tumbling today, I see.”

If Kwon Joowan hadn’t looked so embarrassed, he wouldn’t have bothered to make a joke. Jin Sejun felt like he was about to die of awkwardness himself.

“…You’ve been jogging on your own.”

Even though he was running a different route himself. Instead of being sarcastic, Jin Sejun replied with the same soulless politeness he had been using lately.

“I stopped for a bit, and my body felt stiff.”

“True, once you get into the groove, not exercising makes you more antsy.”

Isn’t that just an addiction? Instead of asking back, Jin Sejun put the air gun back on its stand. Kwon Joowan, whose eyes had been darting over Jin Sejun’s hands, feet, and knees, spoke again.

“Mr. Sejun, have you been to this area before?”

“No, first time. I’ve passed by in a car, though.”

“Me too. Changing your environment is a good thing, but please don’t overdo it.”

His tone reminded Jin Sejun of the time he had embarrassingly fallen flat on his face after a single run, so Jin Sejun waved his hands dismissively.

“Overdo it? You go on.”

“Okay.”

The direction Kwon Joowan had been running from was the same as the direction Jin Sejun was running. But after sending Kwon Joowan off, Jin Sejun turned and ran back the way he had come. Since they were bound to meet if he ran in a circle anyway, he deliberately exited the lake and took a nearby trail.

Should I have tried to talk to him a bit more? But what on earth would I say? And for whose benefit? He could say he liked Kwon Joowan quite a bit, but Jin Sejun wasn’t persistent enough to keep shooting his shot at something hopeless.

‘If it weren’t for my pheromones, I wouldn’t be lacking in any area.’

Jin Sejun’s pace had slowed a little. For some reason, he could see Kwon Joowan running toward him from a distance again. A ghost story strangely came to mind, but the feeling of awkwardness was twice as strong as any chill.

“Ah…”

“We meet again.”

Haha. The awkwardness was palpable in their laughter. Then again, since they were both eventually headed back to a similar neighborhood, it wasn’t that strange to run into each other again. Kwon Joowan, looking less embarrassed than before, asked.

“Would you like to get a coffee? It’s been a while.”

What are we to each other? His brain was sulking, but his mouth shouted a big welcome.

“Sounds great.”

“…The flowers were pretty.”

‘I didn’t ask, though? How is the flowers being pretty a reason,’ he thought, but as expected, his mouth didn’t put up any resistance.

“They are. A lot of people are already out on picnics.”

The two sat side-by-side and drank coffee, though with a bit more distance between them than before. There were plenty of places to rest near the lake, and the scenery of leaves growing on the once-bare branches was beautiful.

Jin Sejun deliberately tried not to be conscious of Kwon Joowan existing within the brilliant spring landscape. Thanks to that, his gaze wandered everywhere but would not, for the life of it, land on the person right next to him.

Couples, married couples, families, and friends all looked happy as they jogged, walked their dogs, or took pictures. What was so great about flowers, anyway? The people blocking the path trying to get their so-called “shot of a lifetime” were just annoying, but at least they didn’t look bored.

Unlike Jin Sejun….

Watching people take pictures under a willow tree with its tender leaves, Jin Sejun muttered abruptly.

“They look happy…”

He wasn’t alone, but he was still so bored. Lately, he had been seeing many posts on social media about people going on picnics with family or lovers. Even on hookup accounts, people would post boasts about going out, eating a packed lunch, and then eating something else.

If he mentioned it to his older brother and sister-in-law, they would immediately suggest going out with his nephew, but it wasn’t that he particularly wanted to go with family. Nor did he want to go with Ahn Saeha, who kept testing the waters with his schedule.

Then again, spreading a mat on the grass and eating only looks nice. A single grain of rice could attract a swarm of ants, and there was also the risk of getting scrub typhus.

Was he feeling regret over not being able to do something that wasn’t even that enjoyable, just because of this culture of taking pictures to show off? In any case, it seemed only Jin Sejun was bored.

Would it be faster to just openly bring up the pheromone issue and look for a pervert? But Jin Sejun was a person with a fair amount to lose, and it would be hard to deal with it if he got caught up with a truly strange person. And he wasn’t desperate enough to want to look good to perverts yet, so just being bored was better.

“There really are a lot of people out. The double cherry blossoms are pretty.”

Kwon Joowan’s reply to Jin Sejun’s solitary mutter from a while ago came quite late. Jin Sejun nodded and looked at a happy-looking couple sitting in the distance.

I wish they’d all screw off home. I wish everyone would just stare at their own flamenco dancer dolls. I wish everyone would become as bored as I am, so that my boredom wouldn’t even count as boredom.

“……”

The conversation didn’t continue. Jin Sejun tossed his empty cup into the trash can and held out his hand as if to throw away Kwon Joowan’s as well, but Kwon Joowan got up, threw it away himself, and returned.

Saying goodbye was even more awkward than when they had first run into each other.

After the new school semester began, the only person at the academy from lunchtime onward was, with a 70 percent probability, Kwon Joowan, but today there were a lot of people. He seemed to recall hearing that the university student coaches had their classes canceled.

Jin Sejun, who had skipped his jog and come to work at the academy, threw out an appropriate small talk topic.

“The weather’s so nice again today, isn’t it? Perfect for packing a lunch and going out somewhere.”

“I know, right? The flowers~. Mr. Jun, what did you do over the weekend?”

“Me? Picnicked…”

“Wow, that must have been nice! I’m going this week, too.”

“No, let me finish. I watched people having picnics. I was jealous.”

Hahahaha, a burst of cheerful laughter erupted from the people who thought Jin Sejun’s words were a joke. The weekend? Bumping into Kwon Joowan while jogging, quietly drinking coffee, and then awkwardly parting ways was the extent of his outing.

The director took it a step further.

“I bet Mr. Sejun is fully booked on weekends until summer.”

“That’s true.”

Hahahaha!

Hahahaha….

Right, looking like someone who wouldn’t be cooped up at home but actually being a homebody has a certain charm of reversal to it.

…What charm? Maybe if he wanted it that way, but Jin Sejun didn’t. With a gloomy heart, he tuned out the spring outing plans of the coaches and the director. Incredibly, not a single one of them was single.

Just before lunch, a message arrived.

Kwon Joowan: Want to have lunch outside, just the two of us? My treat.

Back when they used to jog, they would often have breakfast together on days when the director or other coaches didn’t come in, but it had been a while since he got a private message from Kwon Joowan or had a meal with just the two of them.

There wasn’t any particular reason to refuse. The sudden summons probably meant he had something to say, right? He’d asked him to have a drink alone before and then ended up ditching him.

On the other hand, there was a part of him that wished Kwon Joowan would say something that would make him lose all interest completely. He had arbitrarily declared he would stick around the academy until Jin Yiseo’s competition in May, yet now he was asking for a pretext to leave early. He couldn’t help but scoff at himself.

The city park where Kwon Joowan had told him to go first was the start and end point of their jogging days. The flowers weren’t as abundant as by the lake, but there were many large trees of unimaginable age, and numerous ornamental flowers had been planted, creating a space where tranquility and charm coexisted.

That damn picnic, there were a lot of people on picnics here, too….

“Mr. Sejun.”

“We’re on duty, so you should call me Mr. Jun.”

Jin Sejun, who had answered curtly, froze as he was turning around. His eyes, which had been instinctively squinting in the strong sunlight, widened the moment he saw Kwon Joowan.

He had been curious from the start why they had left the academy separately, but he figured there must be something to discuss that they couldn’t let others hear. Or maybe that he was going to a restaurant ahead of time to get a table.

But in one of Kwon Joowan’s arms was a bag from a sandwich shop and coffee, and tucked under the other was a rolled-up picnic mat. The silver foil on the back of the mat, struck by the sunlight, sparkled so brightly it was blinding.