DASH-Chapter 185

They’d known about the inflammation in Jaekyoung’s shoulder ever since his MRI on Friday. Even then, Jaekyoung had dodged Jiheon’s eyes, insisting,

"I swear, I really didn’t know."

And now, once again sneaking a glance at Jiheon’s face, he said,

"It didn’t really hurt."

"There’s no way it didn’t. The inflammation’s in the exact same area that got injured last time."

"No, I mean it. It didn’t hurt as much as when I got the inflammation shot before."

"That’s because it’s not as badly infected this time. You’ve already had prolotherapy, so the tissue’s regenerated quite a bit."

The doctor told him to be thankful that the treatment had worked. But Jaekyoung asked,

"Then can’t I just tough it out again without anti-inflammatories? I mean, I was gonna get the shot next week anyway, right? I could just count it as getting it early."

At that, the doctor shoved both hands into his coat pockets and let out a dry laugh.

"Well... yes, technically, that is how prolotherapy works. We sometimes intentionally provoke more inflammation to ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) trigger healing."

But then he scolded Jaekyoung with a stern look.

"Still, you can’t keep overworking your joints like this. No matter what, you’re not to move for two weeks. No stretching either. After two weeks, we’ll assess your condition and determine your training range."

He turned to Jiheon for confirmation.

"Understood?"

"Yes. That’s why I’m just going to hospitalize him for the full two weeks. If he stays home, he’ll start training again the second the pain goes down."

"Good thinking. He’ll need daily physical therapy anyway, so hospitalization’s better for everyone—including the guardian."

Jaekyoung gave the doctor a sour look, as if annoyed at being treated like Jiheon’s burden. And the moment the doctor left the room, he turned to Jiheon.

"Seriously, I can’t move at all for two weeks?"

"Yep. Minimum two weeks. Could be four. Could be six."

At Jiheon’s firm tone, Jaekyoung started to speak but stopped. Jiheon already knew what he was about to say.

"Yeah, it’s your last Olympics. But it’s not the end of your life, is it?"

"I mean, it’s not like my life’s over just because my shoulder hurts..."

Jaekyoung muttered, a little offended. Jiheon admitted that maybe that had been a bit much.

"Okay then, let’s call it the end of your career."

"......"

Again, Jaekyoung opened his mouth, then shut it. Jiheon smiled and asked,

"What is it? Were you actually planning to retire after this Olympics?"

After a long pause, Jaekyoung quietly replied.

"I... I was. Honestly, yeah. From the moment I decided last year to go for the Olympics, I always thought I’d retire when it was over."

"Yeah."

"I mean, it was fun—setting new goals, changing my training, breaking records... but still, I never doubted that I’d retire after this. I never even considered changing my mind..."

He trailed off again. Eyes lost in thought, he looked up at Jiheon and said,

"Remember when I was wavering about dropping the 200m fly? You said, 'Are you gonna skip this one and give up the rest, too? The Olympics, your shoulder—are you giving it all up?'"

"I remember."

Jiheon smiled without realizing. He had a feeling where this was going.

"That’s when I first started thinking... I do want to swim in the Olympics. And I want to go to the next competition after that, too."

"The Asian Games? World Championships?"

"Whatever."

Jaekyoung nodded.

"Whatever comes next. And the one after that. And the one after that."

And the one after that, and the one after that.

Jaekyoung’s idea of “next” was likely to be an endless series of competitions for the foreseeable future.

"I just want to keep going as long as I can. As long as I still have it in me to win gold medals—while I’m still faster than the rest—I want to keep swimming."

Sure enough, for the first time, Jaekyoung openly admitted he wanted to delay retirement as much as possible. Still unsure of himself, he turned to Jiheon and asked,

"What about you? Do you want me to keep swimming?"

"I want whatever you want."

Jiheon answered without hesitation.

"Winning back-to-back Olympic golds and walking away clean would be cool. But so would continuing as long as you can. Honestly, if your shoulder recovers well, you could win gold again next Olympics too."

"Ugh... that’d be nice, but I’ll be twenty-six by then."

Jaekyoung said, pretending to be modest.

"Twenty-six is nothing. Even if you can’t do all the events, you’d still be a medal contender for the 100m and 200m freestyle."

"Hyung."

"Yeah?"

"Honestly? I can do 50m too."

"Yeah. You could even do the 200m IM."

"What the hell, then I am doing all the events."

Jaekyoung laughed in disbelief.

"Yup. Go win them all."

"Why not?"

Jiheon chuckled and took Jaekyoung’s right hand, gently patting the back of it.

"You’re a genius. Might as well burn that talent to the ground—use every last drop. That way, you won’t regret anything."

At that, Jaekyoung mumbled, "I guess so..." and Jiheon added playfully,

"Though honestly, I’d be fine with you retiring and raising the baby at home."

He thought Jaekyoung would laugh it off, but instead, Jaekyoung tilted his head thoughtfully.

Uh-oh. Don’t tell me he’s actually tempted.

Afraid he might suddenly say “Then maybe I’ll just retire and raise the kid,” Jiheon hurriedly changed tack.

"But it’d be even better if you kept swimming. I like watching you swim."

"You do...?"

"Yeah. You’re seriously the coolest when you’re in the water."

Jiheon meant every word.

"I want Genie to see it too. I mean, seeing it in person is way better than on video."

"That’s true."

Jaekyoung nodded enthusiastically.

"Right? Imagine Genie watching you win Olympic gold live. That’d be the pride of a lifetime."

"Hyung."

Before Jiheon could finish, Jaekyoung called him with surprising resolve.

"I’m not retiring."

"Good. That’s great."

Jiheon patted the back of his hand again, then gently returned it to his side and said,

"Then you’ve got to commit to at least four more years. So let’s forget everything else and focus on recovery for now. Don’t even think about training for the next month."

At that, Jaekyoung made a guilty face and clamped his mouth shut.

"It’s fine. Even if you rest a whole month and restart training in May, you’ve still got three months till the Olympics. Plenty of time."

Jiheon reassured him.

"Three months is more than enough."

He was overflowing with confidence.

"So don’t think about anything else. Just focus on healing your shoulder, okay? Please?"

He grinned playfully as he pleaded.

"No need to worry about future competitions. Just win seven golds at the Olympics and propose to me. That’s the plan."

To which Jaekyoung replied, completely deadpan,

"Eight golds."

"...What?"

Jiheon was stunned by the sudden correction.

"What are you talking about? You dropped the 200m fly."

For a moment, Jiheon wondered if Jaekyoung was dissociating—unable to accept his first-ever DNF.

"Jaekyoung, you’re in seven events."

He gently tried to bring him back to reality.

But—

"No, it’s eight."

Jaekyoung insisted, unbothered.

Now Jiheon was truly concerned. This had gone beyond confused—it was starting to feel delusional.

Shit. What do I do? Maybe the DNF hit him harder than I thought...

Jiheon stared at him with pity, then composed himself and said gently,

"Yeah. Eight events... it’d be great if you could."

"I will."

Jaekyoung even smiled, full of confidence.

Jiheon’s throat tightened, but he smiled back and nodded.

"Yeah. Let’s do it. Let’s go for all eight."

Swallowing his tears, Jiheon made a vow. From now on, no matter what happened, he would never again tell Jaekyoung to drop out. Even if he came in dead last—eighth place, a full lap behind—he would never, ever, under any circumstances, suggest he withdraw.

Which meant that before the Olympics, they absolutely had to get a full recovery and clearance on that SLAP lesion.

With that as his goal, Jiheon meticulously managed Jaekyoung’s treatment and rehab schedule, even while buried in legal work. With the help of Ms. Shim, he scouted out every food known to be good for joint health—feeding Jaekyoung everything short of straight-up disgustingly inedible stuff.

Maybe thanks to all that, Jaekyoung’s shoulder recovered faster and better than expected. By mid-May, he was fit enough to rejoin the national team training camp.

And a month later, in the second week of June, the official Olympic roster was announced.

As Jiheon scanned the final list, he could hardly believe his eyes.

Among the men’s medley events, 400m freestyle relay was listed. And at the very top of the swimmer lineup: Kwon Jaekyoung.

That was it. The eighth event Jaekyoung had meant was the relay. freёnovelkiss.com