Strategic Mating Partner Chapter 99

Is it just my imagination? However, Taehyun was the type to have good intuition. Of course… in terms of his recent love life, he had only shown a completely terrible side, but that was not usually the case. It felt like he would only be at ease after confirming it with his own eyes. Yet, a plausible excuse to act alone, separated from his group, did not come to mind, so he had no choice but to go upstairs. The elevator let the group off on the third floor.

“The building isn’t all that tall, huh?”

As a junior athlete muttered while looking out at the street scene, which was embarrassing to even call a view, another athlete answered.

“They said they build them with recycling in mind since there’s no reason to build some amazing skyscraper in this neighborhood. I heard they use them as training centers or evacuation facilities or something?”

Well, it’s not like they would build a building of this scale with the intention of using it just once. Taehyun also nodded appropriately and passed through the hallway, and a space with a row of rooms, like studio apartments packed tightly together, appeared. Just as he had heard from acquaintances who had moved in first, the soundproofing was terrible. He did not know what the room assignment criteria were, but a wide variety of languages could be heard leaking out every time he passed a door.

‘Looks like sleeping without earplugs is out of the question.’

Taehyun was not a particularly light or sensitive sleeper, but he was not insensitive enough to endure noise pollution in foreign languages for several weeks without earplugs. Where were the earplugs he had packed in advance? He placed his luggage on the small bed that, just as he had heard, looked cramped, and rummaged through the inner pocket of his bag. The reusable earplugs he had been using since the plane ride greeted Taehyun.

“We’re staying at our own lodging until the preliminaries begin, right?”

He asked the coach to confirm something he already knew. The coach, who seemed to have just finished his business in the room’s attached bathroom and was washing his hands, answered.

“Uh huh, probably? If that’s more convenient for you, that would be better. To be honest, the distance isn’t that different from here or there, but this place has a shuttle and it’s a walkable distance.”

It would be a waste not to utilize the lodging they had gone to the trouble of getting near the athletes’ village, but if every minute and every second was precious, it would be better to continue staying here. For one thing, they provided three buffet-style meals a day. Of course, the quality of that cafeteria did not seem to be very good, but they would not serve food that would kill you. Well, he could decide on that after staying here and seeing for himself. Taehyun could not shake the unsettling feeling because the impression of the person he had brushed past before getting on the elevator earlier kept bothering him.

It would be nice if it was just him being on edge. Shrugging, he looked around the entire room and came out into the hallway. The rest of the group seemed to be in the same boat, as they all had the bags they had carried on their shoulders still slung on.

“What, are you all going to our lodging?”

The director chided the athletes who had even packed their bags, thinking they would stay here if the athletes’ village lodging was perhaps better, but were now meekly wearing their bags. Taehyun lightened the mood with a smile.

“The rooms are a lot smaller than I thought. The day of the match, the traffic might be bad, so I think it would be good to come and stay a few days beforehand.”

“Well, do as you please.”

Nodding, he went back down to the lobby. The gymnastics team members who had been waiting in small groups in front of the table earlier were gone without a trace. With no way to confirm his earlier sense of déjà vu, Taehyun just shrugged once and moved his feet to follow the group.

🤺

A little while later, after finishing a simple warm-up training session and returning to the external lodging, Taehyun was scrolling through social media on a whim when he deduced the true nature of his sense of déjà vu. Just in case, he searched for the social media account of an athlete from the gymnastics team group from a little while ago—someone whose name and face he knew but had no personal connection with. A long line of photos that he had been posting for the past few days appeared. And in the background of those photos, there was a familiar face.

‘Ha.’

So they recognized him first and avoided him. He now understood why he could not see him even though he kept glancing in that direction. He probably did not want to run into him either. The atmosphere when they broke up was not very good, and their last meeting had been the absolute worst, so it was only natural for the other person to feel guilty and avoid him first.

‘Now that I know what it was, it’s fine.’

Taehyun swiped the screen down, closed the social media app, and went to his home screen. In the meantime, a message notification badge had appeared on the screen, indicating a new message had arrived from someone. Is it the middle of practice time in Korea right now? After checking the clocks for both countries, which were plastered big and bold on his home screen, he opened the messenger app. A message had arrived from Sejin.

(Photo)

9:43 PM

I was on my way to lunch and they were blooming so much

9:43 PM

In the photo, Sejin was standing in front of a giant, profusely blooming trumpet creeper, staring at the lens with an awkward expression. What is this? The photo was even cut off in the middle, not even showing his full shoulder line, making it ambiguous whether he was taking a picture of his own face or the flowers in the background. It seemed more appropriate to say he tried to include a part of his face in the frame while taking a picture of the flowers behind him. But to do that with the front-facing camera? No matter how he looked at it, it was not a masterpiece (?) one would send to someone they wanted to look good for. Taehyun found it so absurd that he ended up laughing.

9:59 PM

What’s this all of a sudden?

When Taehyun asked, truly unable to guess the intention behind the abrupt photo message, a reply came from Sejin about 10 minutes later.

You can’t forget my face

10:11 PM

What the heck. Am I a goldfish? Forgetting a face I know so well just because I haven’t seen it for a few days? Taehyun was similarly at a loss for words, hesitating because he did not know what to message back. In the meantime, another message arrived from Sejin.

It’s yours now

10:15 PM

The fact that the best he could come up with after wracking his brain for the 4 minutes he did not get a reply was just five words made him let out a hollow laugh. What’s mine? I haven’t said I’d accept it yet. Of course, it was practically the same as him having already accepted it. But trying to transfer ownership before he even stamped his seal of approval—not a chance.

10:16 PM

What are you talking about I never accepted it

As soon as Taehyun denied it, a single sobbing emoji came back, as if someone had taught him this one too.

(sobbing emoji)

10:16 PM

Taehyun let out another hollow laugh and quickly moved his fingers.

10:17 PM

Who taught you that one?

As if he was still holding his phone, a new message popped up in an instant.

This one is on the default keyboard

10:17 PM

Come to think of it, for someone so young, he had a slight tendency to be bad with technology. Why? Was it because even though he was of Korean descent, he was born and raised in Europe? He remembered that when he competed at eighteen, he was still a minor and held dual citizenship in both France and Korea. Now, although he was practically exempt from military service, he still had to complete basic training, so he must have given up his French citizenship. If he had not, he would have had to give up his Korean citizenship and would not have been able to compete wearing the Korean flag. For a moment, a random thought occurred to him that this was like the complete opposite concept of a “black-haired foreigner.”

He speaks Korean perfectly, and looks like an ordinary (albeit very tall and handsome) Asian person, but his actions are subtly those of a foreigner. The thought of Sejin fumbling with his big hands, pressing the keypad to find an emoji, was quite cute and put him in a good mood. Finding out the whereabouts of his ex-boyfriend, whose news he did not even want to know, did not bother him at all anymore. Taehyun moved his fingers, the corners of his lips twitching into a smile without him realizing it.

10:19 PM

Take another one and send it to me

10:19 PM

So I can see your face clearly

At Taehyun’s request, Sejin did not protest and obediently took a new selfie and sent it about 20 minutes later.

(Photo)

10:45 PM

He must have spent over 20 minutes taking it diligently before sending it. However, it was a mystery how he had put in the effort. This time, his determination to perfectly fit his face within the screen was palpable, but that was all. His giant face, taken with a strange wide angle, filled the large screen. It was truly a remarkable talent to take a picture of such a handsome face like this.

For a moment, Taehyun was about to demand, Just have one of your friends take it for you instead of doing it yourself, but he stopped because he thought he would 100% be bombarded with questions like ‘What are you taking this picture for?’ He already knew well enough that he was handsome, even without seeing it in a picture. This… he would never be able to use this as a photo to console himself with, but it was cute, so he decided it was fine. With a big smile already spread across his lips, Taehyun tapped on the keypad.

And just as he was about to press the send button, the door to the lodging he shared with his junior opened with a sudden jolt.