DASH-Chapter 176

With that, he lifted his tray, grabbed a lonely banana from his plate, and tossed it to Haejung.

“Take that to the pool.”

When they got to the swimming pool through the rain, a lot of swimmers were already doing their warm-ups. There were more athletes because some popular events were scheduled today, including the 100m freestyle.

Maybe that was why Jaekyoung stopped once in a while even though he was swimming slowly. Eventually, he stopped even when there was no one in front, and in the end, he just left the pool without starting again.

Jiheon wrapped a towel around Jaekyoung, who came out before even half of the warm-up time, and brought him to the waiting room. Dr. Shin had been waiting there today, and he immediately touched Jaekyoung’s shoulder.

“There is no inflammation. It seems like a simple recurrence of pain, but in this condition, it’s just a matter of time before inflammation develops. Regardless, it will be very painful.”

Dr. Shin mentioned that the rain today might make it hurt even more. Cloudy or rainy weather usually resulted in lower air pressure, increasing pressure within the joints and making the pain more severe.

Jiheon was talking to Dr. Shin when the massage therapist, Manager Yoon, and Team Leader Lee arrived one after another. While Jaekyoung got a massage, Jiheon took the others out to the hallway. Dr. Shin explained Jaekyoung’s condition to Team Leader Lee and Manager Yoon, and they didn’t seem too worried.

“Handle it as you see fit, Mr. Jeong. He’ll go along with whatever you decide.”

After the conversation, Jiheon returned to the waiting room alone. As soon as the massage therapist left, he spoke to Jaekyoung, who was sitting on the bed.

“Let’s withdraw from both of today’s events.”

Jaekyoung didn’t respond.

“Take a break today, assess your condition, and decide if you’ll compete in the 400m individual medley tomorrow. If you choose to compete tomorrow, you have to withdraw today.”

“No.”

As expected, Jaekyoung didn’t agree.

“Jaekyoung-ah.”

“There’s an athlete who managed to win an Olympic bronze medal despite having a sprained ankle. It doesn’t make sense to withdraw from a selection competition just because of an injury like this.”

“I never asked you to withdraw if you sprained your ankle.”

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“But it doesn’t make much difference. I’m still going to compete.”

Jaekyoung stated bluntly.

“I’ll take it easy. I won’t push myself too hard.”

“No. Regardless of how you do it, you can’t.”

Jiheon responded promptly.

“And there’s no way you can take it easy. If you get into the water and someone catches up, you’ll have no choice but to speed up.”

He didn’t comment on whether Jaekyoung had a conscience or not. Instead, Jaekyoung neither confirmed he wouldn’t do it nor declared he would withdraw.

“Kwon Jaekyoung.”

Jiheon bent down to meet Jaekyoung’s eye level. In that position, he looked directly into his eyes and spoke, restraining his anger.

“You made a promise. You’ll withdraw if I tell you to after seeing your condition on the same day. Two events make four races. If you go through with all of that, you might not be able to raise your arm tomorrow.”

“I can’t withdraw.”

Jaekyoung avoided Jiheon’s gaze and repeated the same words.

“If I do that, I’ll lose my tickets. I won’t get another opportunity.”

In the 100m freestyle and 200m butterfly events Jaekyoung was scheduled for today, two or three other swimmers had surpassed the qualifying times in the first selection round. If Jaekyoung withdrew from the second round, he would miss the chance to participate in the Olympics.

“Even if I qualify for the Olympics, I can’t withdraw.”

“Jaekyoung-ah.”

“Hyung, you said everyone has something they can’t give up.”

Only then did Jaekyoung lift his eyes and meet Jiheon’s gaze.

“For me, it’s my race.”

His brown eyes were so clear and deep as he stared at Jiheon, almost making him want to cry. Jiheon didn’t want to cause frustration to the athlete he admired the most. He didn’t want to damage his honorable and shining pride.

But he couldn’t just brush off the more significant injury.

“So, you’re gonna give up all three? You’re saying you can’t abandon any of these three events—do you want to tough it out and lose all of them? No, you’ve got to include your shoulder as a bonus and the rest of the Olympics.”

Jiheon spoke more sternly to convince himself, not Jaekyoung.

“Are you really giving up on everything?”

Jaekyoung didn’t reply. All he could do was gaze quietly at Jiheon.

Seeing his own face on the verge of tears reflected in Jaekyoung’s eyes, Jiheon snapped back to reality.

“Jaekyoung-ah, hear me out.”

Jiheon tried to control his expression, tensing his neck. After clearing his throat, he spoke as calmly as possible.

“Sometimes, people need to give up on small things for something bigger. That’s strategy and fact. It’s not about losing; it’s about making smarter choices. It’s better to give up these two events now than to give up all the races ahead in your life. No, it’s not giving up; think of it as giving in. You’re giving in to me, not anyone else. You’ve got no choice but to listen since I asked. It’s not a matter of pride.”

“.......”

“Jaekyoung-ah, please.”

In the end, Jiheon pleaded.

“I’m begging you, please.”

Jiheon’s reflection flickered slightly in Jaekyoung’s eyes. Jaekyoung looked at Jiheon’s hands, clasped together like in prayer, and finally spoke.

“Alright.”

“Jae—”

“But not both of them.”

Jaekyoung continued without giving Jiheon a chance to speak.

“Freestyle is my main sport. I don’t know about the 400m, but giving up the 100m doesn’t make sense.”

Jiheon was left stunned by Jaekyoung’s firm resolve to stick it out until the end. With a half-fazed look, Jiheon gazed at him, and Jaekyoung quietly spoke.

“I’m asking for this too. To you, hyung.”

“.......”

“Let me do the freestyle.”

Jiheon sighed, straightening his back. After biting his lip and pondering for a bit, he eventually said:

“Alright. You’ll do the 100m freestyle and withdraw from the butterfly.”

Jaekyoung didn’t reply. After a moment, he gave a brief nod.

After the 100m freestyle preliminaries, Jaekyoung headed to the hotel instead of the waiting room and received a massage. He said it was because the waiting room was too noisy, but to Jiheon, it seemed like he just didn’t want to linger in the place where the event he had withdrawn from was happening.

Once the massage was done and Jiheon saw the therapist off, Jaekyoung changed into comfortable clothes and lay on the bed.

“How are you feeling?”

“I feel like shit.”

Jaekyoung blurted out and quickly added.

“I feel like shit not because I’m withdrawing from the butterfly. I feel like shit because I had a fight with you over it. I should’ve just withdrawn right away, but it annoys me that I made you upset by being stubborn and arguing for no reason.”

As he tried to clarify things by telling Jiheon not to misunderstand, it was clear he was quite upset about what had happened in the waiting room.

“Was that even a fight though?”

Jiheon said, sitting down on his bed.

“And it’s the first withdrawal in your career, so feeling like shit is only natural.”

When Jiheon said that he understood, Jaekyoung slowly got up and spoke in a low tone.

“Hyung, don’t use words like shit.”

“Why? You just did.”

“But you shouldn’t, hyung. It’s not good for prenatal education....”

Muttering quietly, Jaekyoung soon nodded with a determined look.

“I won’t say it again.”

“Okay. Then I won’t either.”

“Yes, you shouldn’t.”

Jaekyoung made promises to Jiheon repeatedly, then lay back on the bed. Using his healthy left arm as a makeshift pillow, he said:

“Anyway, withdrawing from the butterfly is fine, that’s it. Noah wants the gold. The 400m individual medley might be too much for him against me, but he needs one more gold in the butterfly. Otherwise, he might get beaten up by his own people. The Olympics will be held in Australia, after all.”

“Hey, are you being like a cat pretending to care about the mouse?”

To Jiheon’s joke, Jaekyoung ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) responded seriously.

“No, I’m serious. Australians are serious about swimming. They go into uproar when they lose to the United States in gold medal count at international competitions. There are hooligans at the swimming pool there.”

“Well, swimming is one of the most popular sports in Australia, after all.”

“That’s right.”

Jaekyoung closed his eyes again.

“All the Australian kids, including Noah, have a lot of pride in that sport. They actively participate in swimming-related events even without being asked, rent tour buses to promote it, and even made a promotional video for a local aquatic center’s swimming class opening. At first, I thought it was just Australian kids being unique, but it turns out they’re genuinely trying to attract people’s attention, boost swimming’s popularity, and make it more popular.”

Jaekyoung’s voice didn’t seem to fade. Jiheon got up, turned off the room’s light, and as he went to close the curtain, he heard Jaekyoung’s voice behind him.

“Whenever I see something like that, the only thing that crosses my mind is that I don’t seem to have much attachment to swimming as a sport. I just do it because I enjoy swimming, and I become an athlete because I’m good at it. I never had pride in the sport itself or a wish for people to like swimming more. Honestly, I thought it’d be better if there was less interest. It gets real noisy every time I do something.”

Jaekyoung clicked his tongue, seemingly annoyed as he spoke.

“It’s not because they’re interested in swimming, but because they’re so interested in you.”

Jiheon strolled over to the window, smiling. Before he knew it, the rain had subsided a bit. He shut the curtains, hoping the rain would stop soon.

Jiheon went back to his place, turned on the nightlight, and took a seat on Jaekyoung’s bed instead of his own.

“People in our country don’t really know much about swimmers besides you. They’re still tuning in to swimming competitions because of you, but they won’t be watching once you retire. The broadcasting station won’t even bother airing it.”

Jiheon strapped the belt of the electrotherapy device he’d put on top of the drawer around Jaekyoung’s right shoulder. When he made contact, Jaekyoung opened his eyes and looked at Jiheon.

“Hyung, you like swimming, right?”

“Yeah.”

Jiheon answered without hesitation.

“It’s my favorite sport.”

Jiheon tightened the belt around Jaekyoung’s shoulder and switched on the treatment device. While adjusting the intensity of the stimulation, he dropped a hint to Jaekyoung.

“And my favorite athlete right now is also a swimmer.”

“What are you saying?”

Jaekyoung chuckled.

JAEKYOUNG’S COMPETITION RECAP

DAY 1

400m freestyle (#1) — 3:40.76

DAY 2

50m freestyle (#1) — 21.54200m individual medley (#1) — 1:57.xx

DAY 3

200m freestyle (#1) — 1:41.88 (PB)200m backstroke (#1) — (not mentioned)

DAY 4

200m butterfly (withdrawn)