DASH-Chapter 166

The <Beautiful Person of the Year> event, organized by MCST and determined through direct votes from organization leaders, featured three main categories: Cultural, Artist, and Sports Person of the Year.

Jaekyoung earned the Sports Person of the Year title for two consecutive times due to his outstanding performances at the Olympics four years ago and the World Championships the following year. Despite this being his third win, it was his first time personally attending the awards ceremony. In the previous instances, a representative from the Swimming Federation accepted the award on his behalf while he was in Australia.

Jiheon experienced this awards ceremony for the first time since starting his job. MCST described it as a cultural, sports, and arts festival, so the atmosphere was truly unique. Round tables were set up in an indoor garden within the arts center, adorned with fresh flowers, giving it a garden party vibe rather than an awards ceremony. Attendees, dressed for the occasion, mingled with glasses of champagne in hand, enjoying the festivities.

Not only those who came to congratulate Jaekyoung for the award, but even those presenting the award were all filled with excitement. However, Jaekyoung, who was there to receive the award, sat alone with crossed arms, unmoving. He didn’t even touch the food, and his expression went beyond displeasure, almost reaching a vicious point.

“Relax your face. Why does the one receiving the award look like that? Sit up straight.”

In response to Jiheon’s words, Jaekyoung rested one elbow on the table, leaning at an angle. Only after Jiheon sighed deeply did he straighten up, but the grim expression remained.

It wasn’t uncommon for Jaekyoung to get upset and irritated at every event, but this time, it was different. He wasn’t annoyed about being brought here; rather, he was irritated that Jiheon insisted on being there too. This had put him in a bad mood for three days.

‘I can handle it. Why do you have to come when I said I could have it taken care of? Let’s just stay home, hyung.’

‘It’s not about whether you attend or not. I have to be there. I need to greet KSC people and talk about you going to Jincheon after the second selection round.’

‘Why are you doing that? Aren’t there other staff in Spoin?’

‘It’s quicker if I handle it. I’ve been in touch with people from KSC, and they’ve acknowledged me as the person in charge of you. How can we suddenly send another staff member?’

This conversation had been repeated for three days.

Of course Jaekyoung wasn’t aware of this, so Jiheon didn’t keep repeating the same thing. Even if he knew, he did it without a clear reason. He feared that it might affect someone else if he expressed his dislike strongly.

Jaekyoung had always disliked Jiheon interacting with people in this industry, entertaining them, talking to them, and trying to appease ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) them. According to him, the problem wasn’t the work itself, but rather the people Jiheon had to deal with.

‘Are there any decent people in this industry? Everyone seems like a thug and a bully. KSC is better than the federation, but they don’t care about old athletes; they’re just trying to benefit themselves. I don’t like that you only smile and listen to such people talking nonsense.’

After the incident with the vice chairman, Jaekyoung genuinely seemed to want Jiheon to quit his job.

‘I’m not saying you should quit your job altogether; you can just move departments. Do you really have to deal with these thugs by yourself?’

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

He suggested Jiheon go back to the Marketing department, considering he didn’t have to be in charge anymore, and Jiheon agreed.

‘Fine. I’ll move after the Olympics. It’s the last year anyway, so I have to work hard in the meantime. And this is about you, not any other athletes. Why would I trust that to someone else?’

Despite Jiheon’s attempts to convince him, Jaekyoung didn’t respond for a while, only reluctantly clicking his tongue.

‘Alright, you can go. But I’ll attend the event too. Remember, hyung. You still need to be careful in this period.’

Meanwhile, as Jaekyoung was compelled to attend, his expression likely wasn’t pleasant. However, those from KSC, unaware of the circumstances, couldn’t grasp the situation and hurried towards him, expressing their amazement that Jaekyoung had come. Jiheon watched the scene anxiously.

“By the way, why does Kwon Jaekyoung look so happy? Huh? Is there something good happening?”

“Oh, I did hear there’s some good news.”

“Really? I don’t know what the good news is, but seeing Jaekyoung all dressed up today makes him look like a perfect groom.”

“I know, right? He usually wears sweatpants. It’s nice to see him and Assistant Manager Jeong sitting together like this, all dressed up in suits.”

“Now that you mentioned it, the venue looks like a wedding hall, don’t you think? Maybe because there are so many flowers.”

The elderly folks acted like they were clueless and chatted about all kinds of silly things. The funny thing was that, Kwon Jaekyoung was secretly happy about it. Normally, he’d scold these people for their talk, but today, for some reason, he sat quietly with his eyes down, fiddling with the tablecloth.

Still, he couldn’t control the corners of his mouth twitching occasionally, so he cleared his throat and sipped his water. Noticing that Jaekyoung was happy to hear it, the old folks hinted that if something good happened, Jaekyoung wouldn’t need to worry about the wreath, and someone was all ready to officiate the wedding.

Finally in a really good mood, Jaekyoung enjoyed a plate of macaroons before the awards ceremony. When his name was called during the ceremony, he went up to the stage with an even brighter smile than before and came down after receiving the award. In the end, he quietly handed the bouquet he received with the trophy to Jiheon, mentioning that he was glad to be here.

“Didn’t you hate it so much just a while ago?”

“Hate what?”

Jaekyoung pretended to be clueless without shame.

But the fun didn’t last long. Jaekyoung’s mood dropped again, and he soon felt down.

The awards ceremony seemed never-ending. It was said to be a festival of culture, sports, and arts, and there were so many different programs prepared, including screenings of award-winning short films, orchestra performances, and singing. Jaekyoung, not interested in such cultural and artistic events, started to feel the limits of his patience.

His mood was further disturbed by a young guest in front of him—a boy about four or five years old—who crawled on the floor and under the table during the ceremony. After being scolded by his father, the child was brought back to his seat. However, he continued to fidget and cause a fuss. In the meantime, Jiheon’s eyes met the child’s, and he smiled and nodded. From then on, the child made every effort to capture Jiheon’s attention.

Although the child was mostly playing around by hiding and popping out from behind a chair, even that annoyed Jaekyoung, who was already mentally fatigued.

At first, he tried to ignore it by lowering his head and closing his eyes, but when it didn’t stop, he couldn’t help but say something.

“Stop it.”

He wasn’t furious; he just uttered it as dryly as possible. Perhaps due to his intimidating atmosphere, the little boy slowly turned around with a frightened expression.

Only then did Jaekyoung relax, folding his arms with a calm expression as he saw the child finally settle down. However, that peace was short-lived. After the child sat quietly for a while, Jaekyoung began to feel uneasy again. He didn’t say it, but Jiheon could tell he was concerned, thinking, ‘Why is the child suddenly so quiet? Did I scare him too much? Did I go overboard?’

Naturally, he was in a state of panic.

As soon as the awards ceremony ended and the dinner party started, the child sprang back to life. He teamed up with a girl around his age, whose origin was unknown, and started wandering around with her all over again, giggling and crawling under tables. They even hopped off empty chairs, squealing like little monkeys.

Jaekyoung initially felt relieved that the child had regained his energy, but as his monkey antics escalated, Jaekyoung’s expression darkened again.

Finally, he turned to Jiheon with a serious tone.

“What the hell is going on with them?”

“Nothing.”

Jiheon calmly replied.

“They seem a bit too extroverted, but it’s not unusual. Most kids their age are like that.”

“I wasn’t like that.”

“You probably don’t remember. I heard I tripped and got hurt while jumping off a cart when I was young, but I don’t remember anything.”

“You did what...?”

Jaekyoung asked incredulously.

“Yeah, it was even in the middle of a supermarket while my mom was pulling the cart. I was really wild, wasn’t I?”

Jaekyoung looked at Jiheon in shock and belatedly questioned.

“Why on earth did you do that?”

“I don’t know. But I’m sure you did that too.”

When Jiheon mentioned that he was certain Jaekyoung would do such things, Jaekyoung frowned but didn’t outright deny it. It seemed he wasn’t entirely sure himself.

Jaekyoung looked at the children with a complicated expression as they rolled around on the floor with the tablecloth wrapped around their bodies. After a while, he turned to Jiheon.

“Will Genie be like that at that age?”

“Maybe?”

“.......”

“I heard that the more energy kids have, the more they run wild. Fascinating, isn’t it? Be prepared.”

“.......”

Jaekyoung remained silent, staring down at the table as if to say, ‘I’m in big trouble....’

He had been so disinterested in children that he was unaware of their existence on Earth. Only recently did he become aware of their presence and slowly started paying attention. However, the more he learned about the reality of dealing with children, the more challenging it seemed to be.

“It’s fine. Kids grow up as time passes anyway.”

Jiheon smiled calmly at Jaekyoung, who was finally pondering concerns that had been resolved a month ago. Glancing at the table in front of the podium, Jiheon promptly stood up and said:

“I will greet the department people. Help yourself to some food.”

Instead of responding, Jaekyoung simply nodded. Unconsciously, he found himself watching the children rolling on the floor again, his eyes filled with concern, as if observing his own child.