—Other than Jegal Minhyeok-ssi, everyone else should form a team with the person you ate with.
—Paired dodgeball will be a single round, and our Alphas must do their best to protect their partners so they don't get hit by the ball.
—You will be divided into two teams of four, and every member of the winning team will receive one date ticket to use with the partner of their choice.
—All right, then. Starting now, we'll do a warm-up game for the Alphas to decide the bracket. Alphas on each team, please stand on the line you see in front of you.
Jeong Daesu and Jegal Minhyeok, then Taeoh and Lee Yiyeon , lined up in front of the line the production staff had drawn at random.
The game was obvious. Judging by the flag planted out in the sea up to their waists, it was going to be a race.
In terms of stamina, Daesu looked overwhelmingly advantaged, but for speed, Lee Yiyeon or Taeoh seemed like they'd have the edge.
Jegal Minhyeok looked like he might collapse if he kept standing in this heat. Having already sensed the outcome, Dansol focused more on reacting like he was cheering for Jegal Minhyeok.
—On the production staff's signal, the Alphas on each team must pull the single flag out there in the sea. The Alpha who pulls it first will receive the luck of arranging the entire bracket.
—READY, START!
Dansol, shading his eyes as he watched, gaped at Jeong Daesu's burst of speed.
Iyeon and Minhyeok chased after him, but it wasn't enough to catch Daesu. Without any major twist, Daesu seized the flag and roared.
But the most unexpected one was Jegal Minhyeok.
The man who always looked dazed as if drugged overtook Lee Yiyeon and came in second.
If Daesu had hesitated even a little, Jegal Minhyeok might've stolen the flag from him.
Minhyeok splashing seawater in frustration looked like a shot from a commercial. Dansol, who had been waiting, handed a towel to Jegal Minhyeok, whose hair was damp.
"I'm sorry. I should've run faster."
"No... you were fast enough. You surprised me. Uh... you're bleeding!"
Dansol's eyes went rounder than when Minhyeok took second, and he shouted toward the staff. Minhyeok's palm had a cut, like he'd scraped it while grabbing the flag.
"If seawater gets in, it'll sting.... You need treatment."
Minhyeok was grateful, but he also felt embarrassed. It was frustrating enough not to get first—he didn't want to look like a weakling who got injured too.
Seeing how fired up Minhyeok looked, one of the staff came over and told them Daesu had played American football, so they should take it easy and not get hurt.
Inside Chunmonggak, the rule was to put everything down, but in truth, managers and stylists were waiting at the gate, worried their celebrities might get even a scratch.
And for some reason, Minhyeok had come into Chunmonggak alone without his manager, so the staff had to take concerned calls from Minhyeok's manager every thirty minutes.
Minhyeok just smiled as if he didn't care about any of that. He had once even made the youth national soccer team. He quit because of an injury, but when it came to competitiveness, he wasn't second to anyone.
"This is nothing."
Back when he was a soccer player, injuries worse than this were common. Dansol worrying over something like this only felt cute.
With Dansol holding his left hand, Minhyeok used his right to ruffle Dansol's small head, brushing it back and forth.
Were pretty people pretty from head to toe? The soft light-brown hair tickled Minhyeok's palm as it slid through his fingers.
"Ah, I hate that bastard."
"Yeah. Me too."
At Han Jisu's mutter, Jeong Daesu's eyes lit up. He already had a dodgeball in his hand. In his huge hand, the big dodgeball looked like a bouncy ball.
"Pick Lee Yiyeon and Yoo Dohyun. Yoon Yeomin can't play for shit. I've seen him flail around the gym like a newborn deer more than once."
"You want me to attack Joo Dansol?"
"Then what, give Joo Dansol a date ticket? If it were me, I'd rather die gloriously first than watch that greasy bastard clinging to someone's waist like that while he's still breathing. You gonna just let that little fry stay stuck to him?"
"I'll take Lee Yiyeon -ssi and Yoo Dohyun-ssi."
At Jisu's words, Daesu didn't argue and chose Yiyeon and Yoo Dohyun.
Claiming they were "teaching Dansol paired dodgeball," Jisu and Daesu glared at Minhyeok, who was kneading Dansol's hands and touching his waist.
It looked like fire was rising in their eyes.
Dansol was genuinely focused on learning paired dodgeball tips from Minhyeok, but Jisu and Daesu were 200% convinced Minhyeok was pulling moves.
—All right. Team A is Jeong Daesu, Han Jisu, Lee Yiyeon , and Yoo Dohyun. Team B is Jegal Minhyeok, Joo Dansol, Taeoh, and Yoon Yeomin.
—As you all know, in paired dodgeball, if your partner gets hit by the ball, you lose. Therefore, Alphas, please do your utmost to prevent your Omegas from being hit.
—Team A, which includes Jeong Daesu and Han Jisu, the winners of the warm-up game, will have the first attack.
—READY, START!
Unlike the Omegas hiding behind their Alphas and fluttering like paper dolls, Han Jisu stood far away from Jeong Daesu in an attacking stance.
Daesu faked like he would hit Minhyeok, then passed the ball to Jisu. Jisu took it and mercilessly smashed Yoon Yeomin in the head while he was off guard.
Crack—
With the sound, Yoon Yeomin collapsed. It was less "hit" and more "spiked." Even Lee Yiyeon and Yoo Dohyun, on the same team, looked like their reactions had broken.
"Ah! Hyung! Are you insane⁈ Are you trying to crack someone's skull⁈ And you—what are you doing! Why didn't you block it!"
"Sunbae should've hidden better⁈ I said I was going to do it, but...."
Yoon Yeomin, who always kept his composure, flared up, but Han Jisu and Jeong Daesu didn't care.
Their eyes were fixed on the target.
After removing the annoying obstacle, the predator alliance was determined to eliminate Jegal Minhyeok in the ugliest way possible—so that Joo Dansol wouldn't feel even a shred of fondness for him.
The silent exchange of looks between them felt oddly resolute.
Even Yoon Yeomin, cowed by the murderous atmosphere, grumbled as he left the court.
"Is this the Olympics or what, damn it.... Edit out the part where I get hit. If you slow-mo it, you'll be getting a lawsuit."
After Yoon Yeomin and Taeoh were eliminated in a hollow, anticlimactic way, it turned into a boring rally between Team A and Minhyeok.
Thanks to the three of them not having the nerve to strike Dansol's cute little head that kept popping out, Daesu, Jisu, and even Yiyeon's attacks were half-hearted and drained.
Unable to watch anymore, Yoo Dohyun let go of Yiyeon's waist—he'd been holding it purely to satisfy his own desires—then snatched the ball rolling toward him and threw it straight at Dansol.
Boom—.
Everyone turned at the sound like the ball might've torn, but all they could see was Minhyeok's broad back.
Minhyeok had turned a full 180 like a painting, wrapped Dansol up, and taken the hit with his back in Dansol's place.
Minhyeok quickly grabbed the ball, attacked Dansol's side, then lightly tagged Yoo Dohyun—who was standing exposed—and eliminated him.
Even though he had an opening, Minhyeok's considerate, sportsmanlike play made even the staff watching let out impressed exclamations.
Watching it, Yiyeon let out a futile sigh and had to leave the court as if being chased out.
"Idiots."
Jisu watched what Minhyeok was doing with a sour expression.
The way Minhyeok met Dansol's eyes and mouthed Are you okay? was way too close.
And Dansol's innocent face nodding that he was fine was exactly Jisu's type—if there weren't cameras, he felt like he could scoop him up and run.
Daesu felt the same.
Daesu caught the ball that came into his side and bounced it on the sand twice. Alphas didn't get eliminated even if they were hit, but if you made them unable to play, that was enough.
Minhyeok, catching the murderous shift in their eyes, swallowed hard as he tensed up.
While sparks flew between the three men, Dansol was stuck like a turtle shell to Minhyeok's back, so he couldn't really grasp what was happening.
Whenever he tried to peek his head out, Minhyeok pulled him in, and Dansol started wondering if he was even showing up on camera.
'No, but Minhyeok sunbae is doing so much—if my face doesn't show at all, isn't that weird? It's obvious we can't win, so why is he trying this hard…?'
Dansol's head was full of nothing but the broadcast.
Before the regression, partnered with Yiyeon, Dansol had won all kinds of brain games and gotten date tickets multiple times.
The memory of being cursed for "getting carried" flashed through his mind. If he stayed like this, people would roast him again for sure.
And because Dansol had assumed Minhyeok was a frail musician, Dansol started feeling sorry for Minhyeok fighting so hard just to try to win.
'He already looks low-energy... and because of me he got hit so much today.... He even hurt his hand earlier.... I can't just stay like this!'
After steeling his resolve all by himself, Dansol lifted his head—and right then, he saw a pink dodgeball flying in at a terrifying speed.
They needed to hit Dansol to end the game, but it looked like they'd aimed wrong—the ball was heading for Minhyeok instead.
'If I don't get hit and catch it, then—whoosh, smack, hit them—don't I become a hero? I can do it. Joo Dansol!'
It would've slammed right into Minhyeok's face. In that split second, Dansol pictured a scenario where he became the king of dodgeball.
He shoved Minhyeok aside and reached his hand out to catch the incoming ball—
But the ball Daesu threw with all his strength was far faster than Dansol imagined.
The ball left Daesu's hand, skimmed Minhyeok's hair, and smashed straight into Dansol's face.
Crack—!
Thud.
—Team A wins! Congratulations!
His vision flashed white, and the sky filled Dansol's view. Something hot streamed under his nose, but he couldn't tell if it was tears from pain, snot from shock, or…
The metallic smell made it seem like a nosebleed.
'All I... did was.... Could I... die like this again...? If I die this time, I hope I don't get reborn again. It's such a hassle... I'm sleepy....'
Voices blurred and drifted away around his already-bad ear.
"Joo Dansol-ssi! Stay with us!"
"You crazy bastard! How could you throw it at the kid⁈"
"Call an ambulance here, please!"
{Next Week Preview}
Q: Jeong Daesu-ssi, are you okay?
Jeong Daesu: Ah... yes. I'm oka— ngh.... Wait, just a second. Hoo... let's do the interview later. I don't usually... cry. Ha.
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