Second Half Chapter 28

‘Is Aaron still in the shower?’

I want to wash up quickly. Jerim clicked his tongue, glaring at Aaron’s empty spot with a displeased eye. Ah, seriously, what’s the big deal about seeing another guy’s naked body… It looks like things are going to get annoying just because I realized the useless fact that Aaron’s looks are my ideal type. Because of this lower half that can’t distinguish between business and pleasure.

Blaming his innocent body part, he slumped into his seat without even taking off his sweat-soaked uniform. He intended to wait right here until Aaron came out before washing. At that, Frederic, who was on his phone looking like a plucked chicken, asked.

“Jeri, aren’t you showering?”

“I’ll go in a bit.”

“That’s a first. You’re usually the one grumbling as much as possible about how refreshing it feels to be late for a shower because of interviews.”

“You should wash a bit more thoroughly. Isn’t there a problem with a shower time that’s less than 5 minutes?”

“Hmph, you just have to splash some water on. You’re just being too extra.”

As Frederic turned his head away with a huff as if pouting, something unsightly dangled beneath him. In that moment, Jerim thought of his own troublesome lower half and ended up taking his frustration out on Frederic.

“Put your clothes on quickly too! Don’t sit there dangling around!”

“Why the nagging all of a sudden? Is there even a guy here who doesn’t dangle?”

Just as Frederic was protesting, the bathroom door opened and a crowd of naked teammates poured out. Aaron was included among them. The moment he saw the head towering above the others, Jerim quickly averted his gaze. The teammates, having overheard the commotion outside the shower room, threw questions at Jerim and Frederic alternately.

“What’s up? What happened?”

“Jeri’s being weird. He told me not to dangle.”

“How can you not dangle when you’re born to dangle? He’s dangling too.”

Shit, the fact that I’m dangling is the problem right now. What do you guys know. Ignoring the pinpricks of teasing from his teammates, he stood up quickly. He had to escape to the bathroom before his lower half showed another abnormal reaction.

It’s just that Aaron’s face is frighteningly my type; it’s not like I like his dangling part too, so the probability of another disaster occurring just by looking is low. But since you never know with people… it was right to avoid him until he was certain.

“…I’m washing up.”

Jerim didn’t even take his clothes off as he grabbed his shower supplies and towel, scuttling away like a crab. This is all because of Kim Han-sung. If that guy hadn’t made that reckless remark about an ideal type, I wouldn’t be this conscious of it. He was about to enter the bathroom, grinding his teeth, when a snorting sound came from behind.

“Jerim, since when did you shower with your clothes on?”

At the voice of the guy he was currently most conscious of, Jerim’s shoulders flinched. He tried his best to feign composure while raising his middle finger behind his back.

“Starting today.”

✲✲✲

The first month of August, when the league opened, flowed by in a relaxed atmosphere. Matches were few, at a rate of about once a week, and the results were always victories, regardless of whether it was home or away.

Winning every match by at least a 2-point margin, they were on a 5-match unbeaten streak. Out of the total 38 league matches to be played until the end of the season, only the 5th match had just finished, but the Sefton fans were already making a fuss as if they had finished the season in 1st place.

Even if they weren’t showing it as openly as the fans, the players were also inwardly hoping—no, they were certain. Unlike last season, which left a lingering regret by ending with everyone in 2nd place, they were sure they would lift at least one trophy this season.

Individual form, mindset, and momentum were all good, but the existence of the monster striker Aaron Reyes played a huge part in turning expectation into certainty. The gossips who had babbled that he would struggle in his first season after moving to England—having been born and raised in Spain and playing only in La Liga15—had long since vanished.

“Alright, alright. Since it’s the first drink in a while, let’s toast. Cheers!”

As Jerim, holding a beer mug as big as his face, shouted excitedly, the dark-clothed men filling the pub followed suit.

It was the first permission to drink since the start of this season from Manager Verdi, who managed the players’ drinking habits particularly strictly. The Sefton players gathered in one place to celebrate today’s victory while seeing each other’s faces for the first time in a while after returning from the two-week A-match break.

The excitement from immediately after the match hadn’t subsided, so everyone was in a very hyped state. With alcohol slowly entering the mix, the atmosphere ripened to its peak. As soon as the toast ended, they downed a glass of beer in one shot and began ordering more immediately. Watching that scene, Jerim quietly sipped his own portion.

In his heart, he wanted to gulp down beer coolly like his colleagues who reminded him of Vikings, but he knew his tolerance well. Exactly one glass of beer. That is the safety range within which he can return home safely.

Objectively, for a man with an above-average physique in his mid-180s, and an athlete at that, it was a rather pathetic tolerance. Furthermore, because his face turned beet red after just one sip, he was always teased at national team gatherings, people asking if he was already tipsy.

‘They say it increases if you drink a lot…’

But one has to be able to drink a lot for that to happen. If a current soccer player enjoyed drinking, that would be a problem in itself. Thanks to that, Jerim had been living for nearly 10 years with a body that lacked alcohol-decomposing enzymes, which was quite a lot of stress. Since he couldn’t drink even in situations where he wanted to.

He was in the middle of lapping at it, unable to let go due to lingering attachment even though he knew he should put the glass down soon. Suddenly, the glass was snatched away, and his vision, which had been obscured by the face-sized mug, cleared up to reveal Aaron’s face looming. The guy, who lightly set the large glass down with one hand, clicked his tongue.

“I know tomorrow is a day off, but you shouldn’t be drinking.”

“What about me.”

This guy is now going as far as taking other people’s drinks. Being stopped while he was already unable to drink because his body wouldn’t follow his heart made Jerim’s speech turn crooked automatically. He didn’t exactly use a nice tone when dealing with Aaron normally, though.

Aaron seemed to have grown used to it, as he didn’t show any sign of offense. He just stared into the snatched glass, swishing the contents around. He seemed to be gauging how much he had drunk. After confirming that Jerim had only drunk about a third while others were coolly finishing their first shots, he finally opened his mouth.

“You’re weak with alcohol. The sight of you passing out after drinking Clara is still vivid.”

“I didn’t pass out, okay? I was just a bit hyper, so I went here and there…”

“You wandered around like a dog that ran away from home and then completely passed out the next day. Do you even know how much I sweated trying to make excuses on your behalf because you couldn’t wake up?”

“…”

Jerim, who had a rough idea of what story Aaron was talking about, slyly pretended to look away. It must have been the day a festival was held before Easter. Even though it wasn’t the weekend, he had gone out for a date with Aaron for the first time in a while and drank lemon beer, mistaking it for juice, and after that…

‘I must have poked around the whole neighborhood.’

His memory was spotty after getting drunk. But since he knew his drinking habits well, he could tell that Aaron was telling the truth without a hint of exaggeration.

Unlike other people who usually have a homing instinct even when drunk, Jerim’s drinking habit was wandering around like a crazy beggar. Strangely, once alcohol was absorbed into his system, he felt an uncontrollable urge to walk.

Once, while having a light drink with dinner in Seoul with Yeobin, he woke up to find himself in Seongnam. After walking along Tancheon Stream all night, a junior who came out after receiving a call from Yeobin barely managed to find him and shove him into a nearby motel. Jerim’s drinking habit was that hopeless.

Furthermore, since it was back when he was living in the dormitory with Aaron, he must have sweated buckets trying to clean up after him as he said. But back then, he didn’t even open his mouth to say he had a hard time because of him, and only now, after 10 years have passed, is he acting all patronizing. Anyway, he’s a funny guy.

“I don’t need you to look after me like in the old days, so back off.”

He was just about to pull the snatched glass back in front of him. With incredible sleight of hand, Aaron swapped the beer mug Jerim was trying to grab with a glass containing ice water. It was so fast that, for a moment, Jerim thought Aaron was playing a shell game with two glasses.