* * *
“Great job today, Coach. See you tomorrow.”
Now back in his training gear and carrying a duffle bag slung over his shoulder, Taehyun looked every bit like a college student.
Though he was a bit older for a student now, his stylishly tousled hair and bright, focused eyes still drew attention.
At an age when he should be out dating and enjoying his youth, he was spending all day sweating in the gym—it seemed like such a waste.
But what can be done?
Trading youth for the spotlight and the glory of being a champion was the fate of all elite athletes.
Hopefully, all that effort would pay off.
Coach Lim sighed as he watched Taehyun leave the training hall.
Meanwhile, Taehyun was just as troubled as he walked out of the gym.
The real headache was just beginning.
Figuring out how to shake off Ahn Jimin was trivial compared to this problem.
“…”
First, a shower. Heading straight for the showers, Taehyun closed the door to a single-person booth and poured cold water over his head, unable to hide his troubled thoughts as he bit his lips repeatedly.
Is that guy really okay?
Was he always sexually attracted to men, or was it just because Taehyun was an omega?
He couldn’t tell. In his confusion, Taehyun tried to interpret the situation positively.
Maybe, considering all his past messy relationships, this guy was the best fit.
After all, he was the only one who hadn’t reached out since Taehyun cut off all contact and disappeared.
Looking back at Taehyun’s romantic relationships, none of them ended well.
The best among them might be the one who said, “You make your partner feel too insecure,” and broke up with him first.
From the start, all of his few partners were the ones who confessed their feelings first, and Taehyun’s fault was that he couldn’t turn down people who openly declared their love for him and seemed like they had decent qualities for a relationship.
Thinking it would be fine to date casually without expecting a love that would last a thousand years, he accepted their feelings willingly, but the relationships didn’t go smoothly.
If he had realized that the confessions were more about wanting to be recognized as the only one for the “wonderful person loved by everyone,” such tragedies wouldn’t have happened.
Taehyun’s naturally kind nature wasn’t meant for just one person.
Whenever he took care of his colleagues before himself or volunteered for troublesome tasks, his partners felt uneasy.
They couldn’t sense the difference between the kindness he showed to others and the affection he showed to his partner.
The only exclusive right, if there was any, was the relationship in bed.
Even there, his tendency to “accommodate” the other person was so obvious that it made them feel miserable.
“Do you really love me?”
Every time his partners eventually gave up and left him, criticizing him, Taehyun felt somewhat wronged.
He thought they couldn’t have not known from the beginning. It was they who believed they could change him, not Taehyun.
He believed he was more dedicated as a partner than anyone else, except for making them feel uneasy by being kind to everyone.
However, being kind to just one person was something he found difficult.
Considering the way he grew up seeing his family from a young age, it’s no wonder his relationships couldn’t turn out well.
Though his relationships were a mess, he thought they would end once they were over, but things didn’t go as he had expected.
“Hey! Sung Taehyun! You think you’re that great!? Huh!?”
There was even someone who, after drinking late at night, came to his house and caused a commotion, begging for another chance in front of everyone, saying they had made a mistake.
There was also someone who thought they could still sleep together whenever they felt like it, just because they had a casual relationship and broke up coolly.
Who do they think they are to treat someone like a worn-out rag?
It’s not that he attached any sacred meaning to sex, but it wasn’t like he would sleep with just anyone.
Just as he had clear boundaries about cutting people off, he was also clear about revealing his weaknesses to his partner, so it didn’t suit him to meet only for the good times and then part ways.
Yet, here he was, trying to do something more worn-out than anyone else, which was terribly contradictory.
That’s why he requested the agency to discreetly check if there were any Alpha athletes considering a mating partner, asking them to keep his traits a secret.
If any of his exes found out, they would surely mock him for pretending to be so righteous yet looking for a sex partner.
Compared to such messy people, Sejin was somewhat reassuring.
Even after the Olympics ended, it seemed like they could go back to being nothing to each other and carry on as if nothing had happened.
Sejin was not the type to cling desperately to others, and they had already managed to live well without contacting each other even after getting somewhat attached.
They didn’t even say a proper goodbye, and the person who cheered him on just before the game started disappeared after messing up the game, but seeing how they didn’t use any means to contact him after breaking up, it seemed they weren’t hung up on broken ties.
When they unexpectedly met again at the hotel, Sejin remained calm, unlike him, which was reassuring.
Perhaps, he wasn’t that important to Sejin in the first place.
Whether he was around or not, it didn’t matter much, and there was no lingering attachment.
Even though he had taken care of Sejin so much, the thought of how dryly indifferent Sejin acted as if meeting someone he had seen yesterday made him feel a bit disappointed.
Nevertheless, it was a fitting quality for a mating partner.
“Well… alright, let’s think positively.”
Whatever Sejin wanted, it didn’t seem to be him, and that was enough.
As Taehyun finished his shower and stepped out of the shower room, Ahn Jimin, who had just finished training, peeked out from the intensive training room, perhaps at just the right timing.
“Oh, hyung…”
Taehyun gave a brief wave and walked past without giving Ji-min a chance to speak, heading towards the parking lot.
He thought he could just go home and grab a quick meal. Even now, thinking about having to shove today’s dull meal plan down his throat again made him feel queasy.
“Once summer is over, I’ll finally be done with this goddamn chicken breast.”
Taehyun mentally calculated how many pieces of pepper-flavored chicken breast were left in the freezer and turned the steering wheel to exit the parking lot.
If he had any talent, interest, or even the slightest care for cooking, it might have been better. Taehyun’s cooking skills were hopelessly lacking.
The best he could do was take off the packaging and heat it in the microwave according to a set timer, or cook instant noodles.
His friends advised him that if he just followed the recipe and kept the heat at medium-low, he wouldn’t end up with inedible food, but for some reason, even when he did as instructed, the results were always strange.
Still, one should at least eat properly.
Initially, he tried purchasing lunch boxes from a famous meal plan site, but the nutrients and calories they provided were far from what a professional athlete needed, making it hard to avoid those frozen chicken breasts.
Just let me retire. I’ll become a VIP—no, a VVVIP—on all delivery apps.
With his naturally blessed physique, where everything he ate turned into muscle, Taehyun had lived his entire life under strict dietary restrictions.
People often think, isn’t it great to gain muscle easily?
But as he repeatedly said, that’s only true in general terms and doesn’t apply to all sports.
There are various ways to classify sports, but diet is influenced by the physical capabilities primarily used in each sport.
Long-distance runners and swimmers who do high-intensity aerobic exercise live far from dietary restrictions.
For them, calories are like bullets, a source of energy.
Sports that require explosive strength, such as weightlifting or throwing events, have similar situations.
Then, which sports have to live with strict dietary restrictions?
Sports with weight classes are a prime example.
In men’s taekwondo, where Taehyun competes, there are four weight classes: -58kg, -68kg, -80kg, and +80kg.
Taehyun competes in the -80kg category, so maintaining his weight in the high 70s is crucial.
He always had to live with the risk of potentially exceeding his weight class.
People unfamiliar with the sport might ask why he doesn’t just diet to stay in the low 70s, or why he doesn’t just build more muscle to move up to the 80kg class… but that was easier said than done.
* * *
