Strategic Mating Partner Chapter 10

As Sejin thought of Taehyun, the image of the wriggling body trapped in his arms just moments ago came to mind. The sensation of well-maintained, elastic muscles felt far better than anything he could have imagined. The pelvis extending below the firmly defined abs was narrower than it appeared. The well-developed glutes were so firm that it was hard to grasp them fully with one hand, and the provocative hole nestled between them kept twitching, leaking clear fluid with every pulsing movement. Is this really okay? Did hyung really give me permission? Just as he was about to spread the folds and slide his fingers inside while holding the lasciviously clinging body in his arms, a foolish burst of blood ruined everything.

“…….”

If he could, Sejin felt an urge to punch himself a few times. He threw himself onto the bed. The last time he checked, his height was around 188.4 cm, wasn’t it? His weight was relatively light for his height, but since he was tall and his body was nothing but sleek muscle without an ounce of fat, the bed couldn’t help but creak under his weight.

‘……So stupid.’

Sejin grabbed his already erect member and began to stroke it quickly. Just touching it with his hand had been euphoric—how much better would it feel to thrust himself into that part of Taehyun? The mere thought made the tip of his urethra slick in an instant. This time, his idiocy had ruined everything, but next time would be different. If he relieved himself a few times beforehand, he wouldn’t repeat the same mistake. Gripping his rigidly erect member, Sejin rubbed it with his hand, recalling the pheromones he had smelled from Taehyun earlier. A scent like the crisp sunlight of a summer day, the smell of sun-baked dryness. It was a fragrance so quintessentially Taehyun.

“Ha….”

He wanted to smell more of it. He realized that Taehyun had been emitting this scent all along, but he hadn’t been aware of it until now, which made his heart race with urgency. The fact that others besides him had also caught the scent of Taehyun’s pheromones filled him with frustration. A restless desire for Taehyun to be his and his alone settled in a corner of his chest, refusing to fade. But he couldn’t act rashly. Sejin resolved once more, washing away the traces of his release in the sink.

What was hyung thinking about right now? How was he processing what happened today? Sejin was curious about how Taehyun was dealing with their encounter. Curiosity gnawed at his heart, but now was the time to stay quiet.

🤺

After the disaster at the hotel, Taehyun fell into deep conflict. It had been proven that contact with Sejin was effective in lowering his pheromone levels. So, all that remained was to test it fully—perhaps even going all the way—before the group training ahead of the move to the competition venue, to see just how far his pheromone levels could drop. But what was the point of confirming it? Taehyun agonized again. If it worked… he could stop taking suppressants for the next three months and prepare for the Olympics without them. But it wasn’t a problem his mind could resolve so easily.

The other party was Joo Sejin. Regardless of why Sejin needed a mating partner, getting involved in such acts with a guy he had known since Sejin was a minor felt deeply uncomfortable. It would be better if it were a complete stranger. Of course, given Taehyun’s excessively wide network, finding a completely unknown athlete would be nearly impossible. Still, someone he knew but wasn’t close to—a third party with some distance—was clearly different from Joo Sejin. And that was because Sejin was a junior whom Taehyun’s agency had specifically asked him to look after four years ago.

Even though he had been asked to look after Sejin, it wasn’t as if Taehyun was his guardian or responsible for him like a teacher. It was simply a matter of Taehyun being a trusted athlete among other juniors and peers, combined with the fact that, due to an absurd injury that had forced him to pause training, he had more free time compared to other athletes under different agencies. So, there was no ethical issue like, “How could I do this with a mentee or an athlete I’m supposed to look after!”

‘Still, though….’

But no matter how he looked at it, he had been an adult when they met, and the idea of regularly being physically intimate with a guy he had known since he was a minor just didn’t sit right with him.

“Ha….”

The more he thought about it, the more his sighs piled up. To drown out his wandering thoughts, Taehyun increased the speed on the treadmill and ran at full force. He pushed himself until maintaining a steady pace was all he could manage, exhausting his heart. The moment the set time was up, he slowed the machine, and his eyes caught the missed call notification flashing on his phone.

‘Who is it?’

Could it be Sejin? After what happened at the hotel, Taehyun hadn’t known what to say to the agency, so he had avoided the issue for a few days. He had been anxiously wondering if Sejin would contact him first. Had the moment finally come? He had to resolve this somehow, so with a resolve to stop avoiding it, Taehyun picked up the phone. But unexpectedly, the number on the call log wasn’t Sejin’s.

Missed Call

Mother 010-XXXX-XXXX

The moment Taehyun saw the familiar number at the top of the screen, his heart sank. He hurriedly turned off the treadmill, stepped down, and carelessly wiped the sweat from his face with the towel draped over the handle. Clutching only his phone, he rushed to find an empty meeting room. A bathroom or locker room, where multiple people might be, wouldn’t do. He quickly left the training center, opened the door to a relatively soundproof meeting room where no one was present, and stepped inside. His heart began to race again.

Let’s not assume the worst. If it were something truly urgent, it wouldn’t be a missed call—his phone would have been ringing nonstop until he noticed. Maybe she dialed by mistake and hung up, not even realizing it had gone through. Reassuring himself, Taehyun pressed the dial button. The call connected, and a familiar voice answered.

“Hey, son. Were you training? Sorry if I interrupted.”

Thankfully, it was a calm voice. Taehyun let out a long sigh of relief, rubbing his chest as he responded.

“No, I just got off the treadmill after some cardio. Everything’s okay, right?”

From the sound of her voice, it didn’t seem like anything major had happened. If something serious had occurred, she wouldn’t have been able to answer so calmly—she wasn’t that kind of person. Barely holding himself together as his legs threatened to give out, Taehyun waited for her response. After a brief hesitation, her voice continued.

“Well, it’s not a big deal. Earlier, I thought I saw someone who looked a bit like your father passing by the academy window. Thankfully, it wasn’t him. I guess I was being too sensitive and called you without thinking. It was just my mistake. Nothing’s wrong, so don’t worry.”

Her words made Taehyun’s heart tighten again. Father. To some, the word might evoke longing or reassurance, but for Taehyun, it had never been anything but a brand of pain.

Taehyun’s father was a violent man. From the earliest moments Taehyun could remember, his father was always either drinking at home or absent for long periods, an irresponsible figure. Whenever his father came home, his mother would cry, and his father would demand money from her or slap her for being too loud. His mother, who supported the family by giving piano lessons, would beg him to at least spare her face so she could go teach, and his father, in exchange for granting her request, would take money from her living expenses and leave.

By the time Taehyun began his athletic career, his mother had built enough stability to open an academy and had moved to a new area. But somehow, his father found their new address and persistently followed her, continuing his harassment. That relentless torment persisted even after their marriage ended in divorce.

“Should I just move back home? If you’re feeling anxious, it might be better if we lived together. There’s no real reason I have to live separately.”

Taehyun suggested cautiously, but his mother immediately recoiled.

“Move back? No way. You need to live on your own so you can meet someone nice and settle down. How long am I supposed to live with my grown son?”

Her scolding continued, and Taehyun, with a faint smile, let out a relieved sigh, thinking, Well, I guess I don’t need to worry for now.

“You haven’t said a word since you showed me that girl last time, so I was getting worried. Are you still seeing her?”

That girl? Taehyun racked his brain, trying to recall who she was talking about, then sighed as he remembered—six years ago, when she had pestered him about whether he was seeing anyone, he had reluctantly shown her a photo of a girlfriend from his early twenties.