Dash To My Dearest Medalist 1 – Ijen

“You do realize this counts as sexual harassment, right?” Jiheon didn’t raise his voice and continued calmly. “Say that to the wrong person, and you’ll get sued.” “When was the last time you got your chip replaced?” Jiheon clicked his tongue. “Did you even hear what I just said? And now you are just jumping to conclusions—” “I can smell it.”

Jiheon froze. “I mean it.” Jaekyung’s voice was flat, his expression unreadable as their eyes met. “What exactly do you smell?” Jiheon kept his voice even, doing his best not to show that he was shaken. Jaekyung stared at his face, then turned his head away. “There’s this smell. It’s yours. Kind of grassy, kind of weird.” “Jaekyung.” “I’ve been smelling it ever since we were at the swimming center.” The words knocked the air out of Jiheon. He suddenly felt like he might lose his balance, so he leaned all the way into the wall and folded his arms.

He wanted to say something—anything—but nothing came out. His mind had gone blank, and not from shock. It was a disappointment. The disappointment was so heavy, it left him hollow. Jiheon had been rooting for him all along, because once, however briefly, they’d shared a piece of their lives.

He had never expected anything in return—but he hadn’t thought Jaekyung’s grudge ran this deep. Actually, I don’t care what he thinks of me. What got to Jiheon was the way he was choosing to vent all that bitterness. He’d never thought Jaekyung was the kind to hurt someone on purpose. To him, Jaekyung was just someone who didn’t bother with other people. Never cruel. Never twisted. Just indifferent. That was why Jiheon had simply brushed off the question at the hotel without a second thought.

He’d even convinced himself that Jaekyung had lashed out back then because he’d been hurt as a kid. Jiheon had been willing to take the blame. Or so he told himself. But this… “Do you get a kick out of this? Huh? Making fun of people?” Jiheon asked, his voice calm despite the irritation. It would have been perfect if he could have said it with a smirk, but honestly, he didn’t have the energy.

“Are you done?” Jiheon pushed off the wall. He started toward the door, but Jaekyung grabbed his arm. “What the—let go.”

Of all the things that could have happened, Jiheon thought. He didn’t particularly think this was unlucky or unpleasant. He was simply surprised. I mean, what were the odds of something this big happening on the day of the welcome party at my new job? “The final Men’s 200-Meter Individual Medley is about to take place here at the Cairo Olympics Aquatic Stadium.

One of our own, Gwon Jaekyung from South Korea, will be taking part in this event. Oh! The swimmers are coming in as we speak.” The announcer was right. The athletes were making their entrance. The camera panned across eight figures as they stripped off their jackets from afar. Then it zoomed in on one swimmer heading to a center lane.

A face very familiar to people in Korea filled the large flat-screen TV on the wall of the bar. The few female customers seated at the bar cheered at once. There were some particularly loud screams, accompanied by stamping of feet, from a table full of college students. “Judging from the cheering alone, it’s like he’s already won the gold medal,” one of the male students said.

“That’s right. Did Gwon Jaekyung set a new world record without us realizing it?” “If he doesn’t get a medal today, it’s all on you girls.” The female students didn’t seem bothered by the boys’ reactions. “It’s all right. In my book, he’s already handsome enough to deserve a gold medal.” “That’s right. Jaekyung would already have gotten twenty-four medals if the Olympics were about picking good-looking people.” “He’d definitely be the MVP then.” The people at the other tables laughed at this.

“The camera is lingering on Gwon Jaekyung for some reason,” came the voice of the announcer with a chuckle. There was a reason he sounded so pleased. “Yes. He’s considered the top contender for the gold medal,” replied the sports commentator, kindly elaborating. He couldn’t seem to hide the pride in his voice, either.

“Gwon set a record in Asia in the preliminaries, coming in at first place… And Noah Kenny of Australia, who you can see on the screen now, was in second place. Now, Kenny set a personal best, upping his previous one by 0.4 seconds, no less, but he couldn’t quite match Jaekyung.”

“The two trained together in Australia, am I correct?” the announcer asked. “That’s right. My boy Jaekyung has been training in Australia ever since the Asian Games two years ago. He has been training in the same aquatic center as Noah. The two swimmers are similar in age, and as far as we know, they are good friends.” The commentator rambled about them being shaving mates, clearly trying to fill airtime.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: d1639b1d1a7b5a42
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,124,911 bytes (1.073 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 137
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 231.6 minutes
• Total Words: 46,320
• Total Characters: 262,682
• Average Words per Page: 338.1
• Average Characters per Page: 1917.39

Most Frequent Words

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