KBR Ch 3

— They crossed almost simultaneously with Saudi Arabia! We’ll have to wait for the official results, but it’s highly likely it’s a gold medal! Isn’t this a personal best for Won Daeyeong? It seems like he finished within 45 seconds.

— Wow, that was an incredible race! I can’t calm down, ah…! What a fantastic comeback for Won Daeyeong. Looking at it now, Um Joobin’s record is also very good. I think it’s a personal best for Um Joobin too, right now!

— As expected, when there’s a rival….

The surroundings became noisy. While waiting for the official results, the broadcast replayed the race. When they showed the finish in slow motion, it was clear even to the naked eye that Won Daeyeong had crossed the finish line first. The federation’s secretary-general pushed his sports goggles up onto his head and looked around.

“Are the official results out?”

“They’re out. Look. Woah!”

People cheered so loudly that the office almost exploded. It was a deafening uproar. Choi Seolwoo, catching his breath, wiped his face with both hands. The official race results were announced on the broadcast screen.

<Asian Games Men’s 400m Final>

South Korea – Gold Medal

Rank ⏐ Lane ⏐ Name ⏐ Country ⏐ Record

1st ⏐(3)⏐ Won Daeyeong ⏐ South Korea ⏐ 44.71

2nd ⏐(5)⏐ …… ⏐ Saudi Arabia ⏐ 44.90

3rd ⏐(1)⏐ …… ⏐ Japan ⏐ 45.03

4th ⏐(7)⏐ …… ⏐ Japan ⏐ 45.17

5th ⏐(2)⏐ …… ⏐ India ⏐ 45.74

6th ⏐(6)⏐ Um Joobin ⏐ South Korea ⏐ 46.34

7th ⏐(4)⏐ …… ⏐ Sri Lanka ⏐ 46.71

Even after the applause subsided, the room was filled with excitement. Some sighed belatedly, some stared blankly at the track where the battle had ended, and others continued to express their amazement while watching the replay. Everyone had their own way of calming their surging competitive hormones.

Won Daeyeong walked off the track, his face slightly frowned.

— The 400m is the hardest event for track and field athletes. I’m not bragging because it’s my event, it’s the truth. It requires not only instantaneous strength but also various physical abilities like cardiorespiratory endurance and core strength. In long-distance races like 1,500m or 5,000m, you can control your pace, but the 400m is a sprint. Anyway, it’s a sprint where the results are immediately visible. Even if you try to pace yourself, you can’t help but give it your all. As you run like that,

The coaching staff rushed to Won Daeyeong, who was gasping for breath and smiling. Um Joobin also patted him on the shoulder and congratulated him.

Um Joobin also set a personal best, but it couldn’t compare to Won Daeyeong’s record. Um Joobin, who always maintained an indifferent poker face, had a calm expression now as well.

Choi Seolwoo fixed his gaze on Won Daeyeong, who was receiving congratulations from his fellow athletes. Sweat glistened on Won Daeyeong’s cheeks as he caught his breath.

— Up to 200m, it’s okay, and even up to 300m, you can somehow manage by gritting your teeth, but after that, it feels like your body is being torn apart. Your breathing collapses, your throat and stomach burn, your head goes blank. You sprint the last 100m with willpower, amidst the oxygen-deprived pain. I’m amazing, right?

The excited people talked about the reactions pouring in from the Asian Games participating countries’ media and the internet. Meanwhile, Choi Seolwoo packed up his tripod and stood up.

— It’s about who’s the most tenacious and relentless, that’s what decides the final winner.

The moment the thoughts of ‘this is enough’ or ‘I can’t do this anymore’ take over, that’s where it ends. Won Daeyeong was a person who didn’t know how to succumb to such things.

— Won Daeyeong! For the first time in South Korea! He’s secured an Olympic spot in the 400m!

— Um Joobin also ran a great final. A record in the 46-second range, rarely seen in Korea.

— Yes, of course. They say if you wish hard enough, it will come true. The result of the entire nation cheering with one heart and one mind has become a reality.

If you wish hard enough, it will come true?

Choi Seolwoo scoffed with all his might.

That’s all bullshit. The Secret? Watching? That adage touted by famous self-help books and religions sounded like deceitful flattery to Choi Seolwoo’s ears. He couldn’t understand the people who sold hope with such irresponsible words, nor the people who bought into the illusion.

Life doesn’t always go as planned. Especially when it comes to important matters.

Choi Seolwoo could assert this even more confidently because he was proof of it. Because there were things he couldn’t obtain no matter how desperately he wished for them.

— The proud Won Daeyeong! Waving to the camera.

“…….”

There was a time when he wanted to have someone. A time when the thought of not possessing him, not having him under his control, of him belonging to someone else drove him crazy.

However, Choi Seolwoo wasn’t leisurely and romantic enough to cling to an impossible dream. He had long buried that as a passing gust of wind. Moreover, Choi Seolwoo was extremely skeptical of the concept of love.

Love is merely a hormonal response designed for humans, who are genetic survival machines, to reproduce, and thus sexual desire is the most trivial desire. This was the principle he had consistently adhered to since birth. Therefore, it didn’t make sense for Choi Seolwoo to love Won Daeyeong.

The feelings Seolwoo had for him were more sincere than the deception the world called ‘love.’ Friendship, compassion, sympathy, respect, a sense of kinship, a sense of belonging, things like that.

……But what if, just what if.

Today, if he was the first person Won Daeyeong called right after this historic race ended.

Then he might believe a little in the illusion of love. He might think that those long-standing feelings for him were ‘true love.’

Seolwoo stared at the black screen of his phone and counted the seconds. 1 second. 2 seconds…. 5 seconds passed before he left the office. He talked to himself during that time.

If the phone rings now, I’ll believe it. Because it would be proof that Won Daeyeong also considers Choi Seolwoo special in his heart. Because at least one thing would be certain: that Choi Seolwoo is his top priority. Then he intended to confess his feelings after returning home….

As his thoughts reached that point, a video call came in. Choi Seolwoo walked down the hallway, feeling the heat burning his eyes.

“…….”

Even so, for him to actually call!

Recalling his mumbling about confession, he became flustered. He quickly hid his embarrassment and answered the call.

“What.”

Won Daeyeong looked down at the camera, his face dripping with sweat. His panting breath could still be heard.

Choi Seolwoo kept thinking. If he were to truly convey his feelings, what should he say first?

‘I’m not saying this on a whim. I never believed in love, but with you, I’m thinking I might give it a try. You’re the first person to make me feel this way, you know?’

“What, if you call, you should talk. Why aren’t you talking?”

Won Daeyeong, who exhaled towards the distance — hoo — was still unfriendly. He had made the call first, but he only squinted and stared at the camera.

“The screen is shaking like crazy, hang up.”

Dramatic lines like those in TV shows still lingered in Choi Seolwoo’s mind.

‘I’m not recklessly confessing to just anyone, I’m not infatuated just because you’re nice to me, and I’m not mistaken because I’m lonely. You, for fuck’s sake… how many years have you been under this illusion? I’m serious about you.’

“Hang up?”

At Seolwoo’s threat, Won Daeyeong, on the contrary, furrowed his brows. With a stuffy expression, he glared at the distance and cupped his hand over his ear. Choi Seolwoo, as if granting him a favor, uttered the words he wanted to hear.

“Congratulations. You did really well.”

He wiped the sweat off his neck with his thick palm. He shook his head as if he was annoyed.

“Ah, whatever. You were awesome. Cool. Refreshing. Proud. Happy now?”

His face, as he shook his head again, was now clearly annoyed.

Right… Actually, there was another answer. In fact, there was something he had promised to say if Won Daeyeong won first place in the Asian Games final.

Choi Seolwoo, who had been certain that Won Daeyeong would regain his peak performance but hadn’t imagined he would break his personal best, readily made the promise. However, now that he was about to utter the humiliating words, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Won Daeyeong, whose patience had reached its limit, furrowed his brows and flicked his hand. He was acting like he owned the place, even though reporters were waiting in front of the interview booth.

“Hang up and go quickly, what are you doing!”

It seemed he intended to get what he wanted without saying a word until the very end. Choi Seolwoo, holding onto the self-centered call that he wouldn’t have taken from anyone else, looked around and then opened his mouth.

“I’ll respect you forever, hyung. I’ll obey you, I’ll do whatever you say, do whatever you want with me.”

He rattled it off faster and more mechanically than an AI voice. It was the worst humiliation, making his toes curl.

Won Daeyeong’s eyes crinkled into a smile, and he nodded his head in satisfaction. Faint dimples appeared on his cheeks.

“You pervert.”

This is the true nature of the person the media lauded as the Prince of the Track. No one else knew this real side of Won Daeyeong. To put it another way, the thrill of Choi Seolwoo alone knowing this secret made his toes curl again.

“Now….”

He was about to ask if Won Daeyeong was going to the athletes’ village when the screen went beep and turned off.

[The call has ended.]

“Ha……!”

Even after years of experiencing this, it was hard to become indifferent to such high-handedness. Choi Seolwoo paced the empty hallway for a while, holding the phone with the ended call.

Despite the few seconds of humiliation, his exciting resolve remained. This phone call seemed like a definite green light and a preview.

A preview of a melodrama with a happy ending, overcoming all obstacles, from their shared past of enduring Won Daeyeong’s long dark period, the revenge match, to the moment of regained glory… The hope arose that he might become the protagonist of that drama. Not just a supporting character labeled as “just a friend,” “just an acquaintance” in the character relationships, but Choi Seolwoo and Won Daeyeong written as the main characters. As the two main characters finally connecting after a long, unrequited love…….