DASH-Chapter 15Vol 2. : Side Story -

After the family meeting ended smoothly, Jaekyung resumed training two days later, starting Monday.

His training schedule was almost identical to what it had been before. From seven to nine in the morning, he swam. After finishing morning training, he dropped by the hospital for physical therapy and massage before returning home. He had a light meal and took a nap, then headed to the gym at four in the afternoon for strength training.

According to hospital guidelines, he focused solely on lower body and full-body workouts during the first week. In the second week, he began light upper-body work like push-ups. Director Yoo, Jaekyung’s personal trainer, confidently claimed Jaekyung could bench press 160kg right now without issue. Jiheon agreed, but still decided to follow the hospital’s instruction and delay high-intensity strength training until the third week of May. There were still over 80 days left until the Olympics. They had time.

Since Jiheon had also just about wrapped up compiling the necessary documents for the arbitration, he could now dedicate himself fully to supporting Jaekyung’s training. Waking up an hour earlier in the morning was a bit rough, but it was still much more manageable than sitting in a meeting room poring over hundreds of sports dispute cases, tailoring petitions to suit the nature of each organization, cutting and adding evidence accordingly, then combing through and revising the drafts repeatedly.

Above all, he was happy to be able to personally witness Jaekyung’s skills recovering. Of course, Jaekyung had already been flying from day one of returning to training, but Jiheon could still visibly see him improving little by little each day. As long as he didn’t overdo it, he looked likely to achieve the results they were aiming for at the Olympics.

Perhaps because of the lessons learned from the second-round selection, Jaekyung didn’t seem completely satisfied with the current relaxed training routine, yet didn’t try to change it. In the past, he would’ve said “I know my body best” and raised the intensity on his own, but not this time. When Jiheon showed him the hospital-issued training guidelines, Jaekyung frowned as if to say, Do we really have to go this far? but then nodded and said he understood. Since then, he’d been faithfully building up his pace according to the plan. Maybe it was because he believed that if he didn’t rush, he could recover his pre-injury performance in full.

Which is exactly why Jiheon was so surprised when Jaekyung brought up the idea of attending training camp.

“Training camp...? Why...?”

Jaekyung looked more surprised at Jiheon’s reaction.

“What do you mean, why? You asked me before if I was going, didn’t you? Wasn’t that because you wanted me to go?”

“Oh? Oh, yeah. I did want you to. It’d be good if you went. Yeah, going to camp is good.”

Jiheon scrambled to answer.

“But you said you weren’t going.”

When he asked what made him change his mind, Jaekyung rubbed his forearm and replied.

“It’s not like I changed my mind all of a sudden. Even back then I was kind of on the fence about it. I just said I wasn’t going. I thought that once I resumed training, I’d be able to follow Oliver’s program right away. If that were the case, then honestly there’d be no reason to go to camp. If I went, I’d actually lose training time.”

That was true. No matter how intense the national camp got, it never matched Jaekyung’s personal training volume from before his injury. Even when he did attend camp, he always scheduled extra sessions on his own.

“But at my current pace, it’ll take at least two or three more weeks before I can follow Oliver’s program completely. So basically, whether I train alone or go to camp, the volume’s going to be about the same. In that case, it’s probably better to go to camp and at least earn some brownie points with the Korean Sports Association. They’ve got a full medical team and physical therapy setup anyway, so it’s more convenient.”

The reason Jaekyung gave for deciding to attend was so rational and entirely reasonable that Jiheon was even more surprised. It was almost exactly the same logic Team Leader Lee had used when trying to convince him to go.

Which made it all the more strange. Kwon Jaekyung, calmly weighing pros and cons like any normal person and arriving at a perfect solution that worked for everyone? And all this about something he hated, like training camp?

It was so unbelievable that Jiheon even wondered if this guy was hiding his real motives and trying to distract him with logical-sounding excuses.

“You’re not doing this because you’re dissatisfied with your current pace, right? You’re not gonna sneak in longer hours or higher intensity when I’m not there?”

“No, I’m not.”

Kwon Jaekyung looked genuinely aggrieved, as if to say why don’t you trust me, conveniently forgetting all his past behavior. free𝑤ebnovel.com

“Well, don’t even think about it. If you go, Coach Shin will monitor your training even more strictly than I do.”

Jaekyung’s expression said, whatever, like he couldn’t care less.

Judging by his reaction, it probably wasn’t a lie... But still. Kwon Jaekyung, going to training camp for purely rational reasons? Considering the Korea Sports Association's reputation, no less? ...Is he crazy? What if he drops dead out of nowhere?

Jiheon’s mind, filled with distrust and anxiety, finally came up with one more possibility.

Wait... is he going just to give me a break? Because waking up at the crack of dawn to tag along with his training, driving him to the hospital and everywhere else was exhausting—and maybe he wanted to give Jiheon a few days of rest while he was away?

Jiheon almost asked him directly, but held back. That was clearly his overthinking talking. No matter how affectionate Jaekyung was, he wouldn’t decide something like training camp based on that. This was athlete mindset we’re talking about—not sentimentality.

“Yeah... camp is good. You couldn’t go during the first round because of your injury, so going this time is a good idea. You made a good call.”

In the end, Jiheon nodded. Sure, he was surprised that Jaekyung had volunteered to go, but the decision itself wasn’t bad. In fact, like Jaekyung said, now was the perfect time to attend.

Still, there was something he had to take care of first.

Jiheon had been watching Jaekyung like a hawk, waiting for the perfect moment to make his move, and finally seized his chance on the morning of Jaekyung’s departure.

“Hey, let me see your phone for a second.”

“Why?”

Jaekyung asked without even lifting his head, busy on his phone with his bags packed.

“I need to check something real quick.”

Only then did Jaekyung look up at Jiheon standing over him like a stone statue, and—reluctantly—handed over his phone.

Jiheon hadn’t wanted to ask so directly. He firmly believed that respecting others’ privacy was just as important as guarding his own. The idea of lovers checking each other’s phones or married couples sharing passcodes was, to him, unacceptable.

But even so, the fact that he was requesting Jaekyung’s phone on the very morning of training camp meant something had really been bothering him.

A few days earlier, Jiheon had seen Jaekyung’s name pop up on his messenger app’s “New Friends” list. That meant Jaekyung had finally downloaded and signed up for the app.

From someone who acted like he’d use only SMS for life, it was a shock. Curious and a little delighted, Jiheon tapped his name—only to recoil in horror when he saw Jaekyung’s profile background: a giant ultrasound image.

[What’s with your profile]

[Don’t]

[Change it]

Jiheon had messaged him in a panic, but Jaekyung didn’t reply. He didn’t even read it. The message bubble sat there with an unread “1” for hours.

Jiheon, staring at the chat anxiously, finally cornered him after his afternoon training.

“Why aren’t you checking your messenger?”

Jaekyung blinked, confused, then went, “Ah, the messenger. That.”

“I just signed up and deleted the app right away.”

“Why...?”

“Too annoying if people message me.”

“Then why even sign up? Why bother downloading it at all if you were gonna delete it right after?”

“I just wanted to upload the ultrasound photo.”

“......”

In other words, the app was purely for displaying the ultrasound.

To show off Jiheon’s baby, Jaekyung had not only downloaded the messenger app for the first time in his smartphone life—he’d even made an account. That was how determined he was. During the family gathering, he’d even shown the ultrasound to Jaejoon, who he’d barely stopped himself from strangling all evening, and muttered, “Looks like Jiheon-hyung, right?” only to be told he was insane.

And now, with camp full of juniors who hung on his every word, he wasn’t about to waste such a prime opportunity. Jiheon could easily imagine him cornering them on breaks, shoving the image in their faces and demanding, “Who does this look like? Me, or Jiheon-sunbae?”

So, Jiheon’s goal was to at least delete the ultrasound from Jaekyung’s gallery during camp.

But the moment he got the phone, he nearly fainted.

The wallpaper was already the ultrasound image. And not just a photo—a GIF made from the hospital’s video clip.

“Hey, you—this, change it.”

Jiheon was so shocked by the full-screen black-and-white blob vaguely shaped like a fetus that he even stammered.

“Why? It’s from my heart.”

Jaekyung pouted, thoroughly disgruntled.

“I said change it, you over-the-top fool.”

While he was at it, Jiheon checked how many pregnancy-related apps were installed on {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the phone.

Nine.

If you added parenting apps, it totaled fourteen.

At that point, he’d basically downloaded the entire pregnancy section of the App Store.