Chapter 66 – Swimming Emperor (10)
Was Park Han-hee, Nam Hae-soo’s wife, deliberately approaching me to drag me into this?
It didn’t matter.
‘It’s my judgment that counts.’
If she asked for help and I refused, that would be the end of it.
“Thank you so much for meeting me!”
“Since it looks like this might take a while… how about we go to a café?”
“Yes!”
We moved to a quiet café in a back alley with few customers.
“Miss Park Han-hee, what would you like? My treat.”
“No way! You’re taking time out of your day for me, so of course I’m buying. Just pick whatever you want.”
“Hm… then the biggest yogurt smoothie.”
“One venti yogurt smoothie, and an iced Americano with extra shot, regular size, please.”
Jingle!
After ordering drinks to our respective tastes, we sat across from each other at a table.
‘I just swore I’d never let a woman buy me anything for free…’
And I already broke in record time.
I really need to fix this habit of loving free stuff.
“My boyfriend—well, the senior—his father was a national representative back in the day. And now he holds a high position with a lot of influence.”
“I see…”
“After I found that out, it became impossible to say no to him. ‘Come home with me,’ ‘Let’s go to karaoke,’ ‘Let’s go to the movies…’ And the requests kept getting more blatant.”
“That must’ve been rough.”
On the surface I sympathized with Park Han-hee, but I still thought I should hear the senior’s side too.
‘She could have approached him first to ride his coattails.’
You can’t let one side’s story sway you completely.
However.
“Not long ago he said he’d drive me home, put me in his car, and then took a strange route.”
“…”
“I panicked and ran away when the car stopped at a red light. Ever since then, everything he does scares me.”
“Hmm…”
“If everything you’re saying is true, shouldn’t you go to the police or a lawyer?”
“I thought about it. But what comes after that? He’ll probably just get a warning, but once I’m on his bad side, my athletic career is over.”
“Ah…”
I had been planning to hear the senior’s side as well.
But then I remembered:
‘When she married Nam Hae-soo, Park Han-hee was a model!’
She had loved running, yet at some point gave up becoming a track athlete.
If the reason wasn’t lack of talent but this senior’s harassment?
Everything lined up perfectly.
“Even though people are keeping quiet because they suspect your records, word has already spread that you’re a once-in-a-generation athletic genius who’s going to sweep the Olympics.”
“Heh~”
I hadn’t known that. It had been so quiet I thought they were treating me like I was invisible.
“Please help me.”
“I understand why you chose me out of all the guys in the world.”
“…”
“You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend and protect you, right?”
“…Yes.”
Park Han-hee fiddled with her empty cup and answered in a tiny voice.
‘It’s a dilemma.’
Her emotional plea didn’t move me at all.
My only concern was this:
To provoke Nam Hae-soo, who’s wearing someone else’s skin, would it be better if his “real-world wife” was in danger?
That was it.
“Oh my! Your cup’s empty. What would you like?”
“Café mocha iced… ah!”
“Got it! I’ll go order~”
Park Han-hee shot up and dashed to the counter before I could stop her.
“…”
“Here you go!”
“…Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”
The iced coffee in front of me looked like a poisoned chalice.
‘Can’t be helped.’
If Park Han-hee is on the verge of giving up her dream, won’t her “future husband” come running to save her?
Or, after she gives up track and becomes a model as originally planned, he might show up then…
“Can I call you comfortably?”
“Ah! Sure!”
“Then call me comfortably too, Han-hee.”
“Thank you so much!”
“What for? I’m the one who’s happy to have such a cool girlfriend.”
“Cool?”
“I mean pretty.”
Let’s hope Nam Hae-soo, hiding in someone else’s body, gets jealous.
As the Olympics drew closer, the coaches and officials became obsessed with the athletes’ self-management.
Smoking, drinking, anything illegal, travel, gambling…
And since catching the pandemic would disqualify you from the Games, even dating—which inevitably involved going out—was frowned upon.
“Arms out, stay still. I’m spraying disinfectant.”
“Again?”
“You went outside, right? It’s quarantine policy.”
“Even so, this feels like way too much…”
“Please understand. If Kang Moon-soo can’t compete in the Olympics, a lot of people will lose their jobs.”
“Ah… got it.”
Park Han-hee’s prophecy became reality in just two days.
(South Korea’s Superboy Kang Moon-soo!)
(Olympic gold-medal favorite!)
(The athlete who has everything except looks!)
(Kang Moon-soo’s unofficial world records…)
(The government goes all-out to protect Kang Moon-soo!)
Total support and attention.
There were plenty of doping, cyborg, and alien rumors too, but I had no intention of entertaining them.
Ssssh!
After being thoroughly disinfected by the quarantine staff, I entered the athletes’ village track.
“Hello.”
“Oh! Glad to see you looking healthy today too! Athlete Kang Moon-soo, you can use the fully disinfected lane 1.”
“Got it.”
The other athletes were training far away from the lane I was scheduled to use.
Priority number one: quarantine. Priority number two: quarantine!
It was clear they were extremely nervous about the safety of someone who was guaranteed gold just by showing up.
“Mooooon-soo!”
Park Han-hee waved wildly from afar, shouting my name for everyone to hear.
I waved back with a smile.
“Good luck!”
But maybe because we weren’t actually dating—my heart didn’t race the way it did when I saw Song Sun-young in dreams.
“…Athlete Kang Moon-soo.”
“Yes?”
I turned to the coach, who looked suffocated in his pure-white protective suit.
“Are you… dating Park Han-hee?”
“We started a few days ago. Her older sister coaches my swimming.”
“Hmm… I see.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, no. You two seemed close, so I was just asking. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yes, sir.”
His “don’t worry about it” sounded extremely serious.
Which meant:
‘Wow, that retaliation was fast!’
The moment Park Han-hee rebelled against her “boyfriend” senior, they were already moving to kick her off the roster.
‘Should I poke a little?’
After casually setting another unofficial world record, I asked,
“Coach.”
“…Huh? Oh! That was insanely fast! Just stay healthy!”
“Is Han-hee a good runner?”
“That… she’s not under my team, so I wouldn’t know. Why? Want her on the Olympic squad?”
“If possible, yes.”
Even though I never mentioned the Olympics, the conversation flowed naturally.
“If Park Han-hee has the skills, there’s no reason she can’t go.”
“I see.”
And the coach didn’t even realize he’d just slipped up.
Hypothesis → certainty!
I couldn’t even laugh at the petty revenge of a guy dumped by a girl.
Right then,
“Who the hell is Kang Moon-soo…!”
A young man stormed into the track, voice dripping with rage as he looked for me.
“And who are you?”
“I’m Han-hee’s boyfriend! Oh, so you’re Kang Moon-soo! I’ll say this once: stay out of my sight.”
“Hmmm~”
His words were surprising, but the fact that no one—not even the coach in charge—dared stop him was even more shocking.
My quiet heart started pounding.
“S-Senior…”
“Shut up, Han-hee. We’ll talk later.”
The self-proclaimed boyfriend glared menacingly at Park Han-hee.
I called out to him.
“Hey, turtle. Mind not giving orders to my girlfriend?”
“What?! You wanna die…!”
“Try it, turtle. If you can catch me.”
“You’re dead!”
Tap!
Eyes rolled back with fury, the turtle charged at the rabbit.
“You’re kidding? You’re supposed to be the fastest human in Korea?”
“You little…!”
He was fast enough to be selected as a national representative, but only for a moment.
“Turtle. When are you gonna catch me?”
“Huff… huff!”
He quickly tired out and couldn’t even step on my shadow.
“I’ll be generous.”
I stopped just within arm’s reach—if he stretched, he could barely touch me—and kept that exact distance.
“Grr…!”
His face turned crimson with humiliation as he realized he was being toyed with like a child by an adult.
He thrashed desperately to catch me.
Thud!
Then his legs gave out and he collapsed.
“Hey. When are you gonna catch me?”
“Arrrghhh!”
Meeting my eyes as I looked down at him like a victor, the man let out a howl of frustration.
From strong to weak.
From genius to mediocrity.
He couldn’t bear the powerlessness he had never experienced before.
“Crying already?”
“…”
I don’t enjoy bullying the weak.
I’ve been trampled like a bug by Magic Boy Choi Kang-min. I didn’t want to become the same kind of monster.
So,
“Hey, turtle. Use your imagination. What would happen if I declared I was giving up Olympic gold medals because of a guy who can barely win bronze?”
I was going to crush him completely—until he understood the heart of the weak.
“Are you insane?!”
“You think I can’t? Why do you think I wouldn’t?”
“You’d never give up medals…!”
“I never said I would. No one would want that. Only you would disappear.”
“…”
Finally realizing my intention, his eyes widened.
“If you understand, then from now on—”
“You psycho. That’ll never happen. Do you even know who my father is? You’re the one who should watch out—”
“Please do it. Make me emigrate and win medals for another country.”
“Huh…?”
He picked the wrong person to mess with.
No matter where I go in this world, I’m a stranger.
I have nothing to fear.
“Then your father would eat every insult imaginable and lose his job. Just imagining it gets your heart racing, doesn’t it?”
“That’s just bluff—”
“Plenty of countries would welcome me. I’m planning to win about fifty gold medals, after all.”
“Sniff…”
Realizing even his trump card—threatening me with his father—meant nothing to me, he began sobbing miserably.
“Turtle, if you want to beat the rabbit, you have to crawl quietly.”
“…”
“Don’t let me see you again. If you want to go to the Olympics.”
I’m not a kind rabbit.
***
Despite the spread and fears of the pandemic, news broke that the Olympics would proceed as scheduled!
That also meant my stay in this dream world wouldn’t be extended.
But… was that really true?
I felt a slight unease.
I was even starting to find this hellish world interesting…
“Moon-soo, watching the news on your phone again?”
“It’s fun.”
“Politics is fun?”
Even after the senior went quiet, Park Han-hee kept acting like my girlfriend.
Every chance she got, she showed interest; now she stared strangely at me laughing at the news.
“It’s fascinating.”
“What is?”
“Look at this. A politician denied receiving sexual favors at a luxury villa, then got exposed. Isn’t that wild?”
“Uh… not really. It happens all the time.”
“I see.”
Park Han-hee and I lived in completely different worlds.
‘Maybe even I…’
If I stayed long enough in this world without P’s aptitude tester, would I get used to it?
I still couldn’t understand Section Chief Seo Hye-joo, who defended the old days.
“Moon-soo.”
“Yes?”
Park Han-hee, peeking at my phone screen, suddenly spoke in a small voice.
“…Never mind.”
She hesitated, then smiled awkwardly and turned her head.
I glanced sideways at her profile.
She looked a little down.
Well.
It wasn’t hard to guess why.
Because the senior had gone completely silent, and the retaliation she feared never came.
And the person who made that happen—was me.
“Molang.”
On my head, the slime gently bounced as if telling me everything was okay now.
Yeah.
For now, things were peaceful.
But this dream still had one last boss left.
Nam Hae-soo, wearing someone else’s skin.
Until I drag him out and wake him up, this dream won’t end.
So I’ll keep shaking this board.
Until the hidden emperor reveals himself.
I smiled faintly and tightened my grip on the phone.
Let’s see who lasts longer—you, or me.
“Why?”
“Do you… really have to keep watching the news?”
“It’s not that. They keep nagging me not to go outside.”
Ever since I left the cozy hotel and moved into the athletes’ village dorms, I’ve felt like I’m under 24-hour surveillance.
Other athletes occasionally go out—family weddings, someone sick, whatever—but I don’t even have family to use as an excuse.
‘When’s he finally gonna show up~?’
I’m stuck waiting endlessly for Nam Hae-soo to come find me.
“I want to run together.”
“Right now?”
The sky was already dark.
“There are streetlights.”
“Hmm… it’s pretty late, so hardly anyone will be watching…”
“I’m not trying to advertise to the world that we’re dating. I just… really want to run with you.”
“Training together?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
I didn’t understand what she meant.
“Because I like you.”
“…Huh?”
What is she saying?
“Moon-soo… will you date me for real?”
“Sorry.”
“…Tell me why.”
“I still haven’t gotten over my ex. Her name’s a secret.”
“For real?”
“You don’t have to believe me. I’m not the type to force anyone like that turtle.”
“…I’ll believe you.”
“Whoa!”
My blunt rejection made Park Han-hee’s tears burst out.
“I-It’s okay… sniff!”
“…”
I made a girl cry, but this isn’t my fault.
…Is it?
I don’t know.
“Moon-soo.”
“Sorry.”
“You can stop apologizing. You don’t have anything to be sorry for. Will you at least come out for some fresh air with me?”
“That might be a bit…”
In this awkward atmosphere?
But Park Han-hee, eyes red like a rabbit’s, wouldn’t back down.
“Am I less interesting than the news?”
“Let’s go, quick!”
Not wanting to make her cry again, I frantically waved the white flag.
“Molang~”
“…Shoot! Almost forgot my hat!”
“Molang?!”
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I quickly plopped the hat back on my head (its molang attitude was getting on my nerves) and opened the door.
Tap.
A piece of paper that had been wedged in the doorframe fell to my feet.
“This is…”
“What’s wrong?”
“A letter.”
“No way—a love letter?!”
Park Han-hee, already on edge because of me, got excited.
“You can read it if you’re curious.”
“Really?”
“It’s from some guy I don’t know.”
Finally.
I found you.