MWFL 11

11. I’d Rather Have You Standing

“Ha… Wow… What kind of… Argh, seriously…”

He let out a string of meaningless, empty groans one after another.

Then, realizing he was still pointing his finger straight up at the ceiling, he snapped his arm right back down.

His tightly shut lips twitched.

“‘Well then, bye’… Give me a break.”

The image of the woman smiling brightly and vanishing like a ghost flashed across his mind.

“Phew… This nightmare of a woman shows up in my dreams just to mess with me. What? ‘I really don’t think this is going to work out’? What isn’t?! What on earth isn’t going to work out?!”

Even knowing it was just a dream, thinking about what Ju Ha-rin had said and done to him made his blood boil.

“Wait a second. Is a stupid dream really worth getting this worked up over?”

The fact that he was getting so furious over a dream suddenly took a jab at his pride.

Let’s not look this pathetic.

Inhale. Exhale.

He closed his eyes slowly, taking deep breaths to recover his composure. Or rather, he tried to, but snapped them right back open.

Preoccupied with the absurd level of irritation rushing through him, he hadn’t realized it right away—something felt off with his body.

Slowly lifting the back of his head from where it was buried deep in the pillow, he looked down at his frame.

“What is… this now…? Wow…”

Another sigh burst out of him right on the spot.

Right in the middle of the blanket draped neatly over his tall frame, a prominent tent was pitched high and proud.

Far from settling down, his frustration exploded to the point of making his head throb.

“Hey. Don’t you have any self-respect?!”

His aimless anger turned straight toward his own spineless body.

“Just because she kissed and touched you a bit in a dream, is that any reason to stand tall like this?!”

Right as he was scolding the part of his body that possessed neither ears nor a brain, a deep scowl suddenly crumpled his face.

‘You told me to show it if I was confident. You really don’t have the confidence, do you?’ ‘That’s right. It must be hard for you to accept.’

Ha-rin’s words—the ones that had thoroughly shredded his pride—flashed through his mind once more.

“No. On second thought, stay standing. Don’t let words like that get to you.”

If you die over comments like that, my pride goes right out the window.

This is a matter of a man’s pride.

Fixating so intensely on such a pointless issue brought a sudden wave of reality crashing down on him.

What on earth am I doing? Muttering in a hollow voice, he slowly pushed his upper body up into a sit.

Thanks to that absolute garbage of a dream, any trace of sleep had completely vanished.

“What time even is it right now?”

Checking the phone resting on the nightstand beside the bed, he let out a disbelieving laugh.

4:44 AM.

Even the time was completely cursed.

Dong-goo arrived at Shin-woo’s place around 9:00 AM.

Shin-woo was scheduled to undergo a medical checkup at the team’s designated hospital that morning.

When Dong-goo arrived, Shin-woo was already fully dressed and sitting on the sofa.

“Oh, Hyung! You’re already completely ready.”

Shin-woo merely looked at Dong-goo without saying a word.

“Whoa! The blood vessels in your eyes are popping out! Did you fail to sleep again last night?”

Approaching him, Dong-goo scrutinized Shin-woo’s face and asked.

“Yeah. Looks like I haven’t gotten over the jet lag yet.”

Since he couldn’t bring himself to say it was because of a dream, he pulled out a rough excuse.

“You’ve got the physical test today too, so your body needs to be in top shape to get accurate data. Should we push the schedule back a bit?”

“Forget it. My body’s fine. It’s my mental state that’s the problem.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. I said I’m fine.”

Answering like it was a hassle, Shin-woo pushed himself up from his seat.

“When are we leaving?”

“Right now. Traffic to the hospital gets backed up, so we need to set aside an hour.”

“What about Ju Ha-rin?”

Dong-goo—who was heading toward the front door—froze mid-stride, turning only his head to stare at Shin-woo.

“Director Ju isn’t coming today.”

“Why?”

“You only have the hospital visit today followed by afternoon training at the stadium. I can handle driving you around.”

“Dong-goo. Is my rank really only at that level?”

Having taken a long stride forward, Dong-goo stopped once more—this time turning his body completely around to face him.

What is it again this morning? What’s the problem now?

Swallowing his inner thoughts, Dong-goo asked in a calm voice.

“What do you mean by that? What rank?”

“Am I really only at a level where I should be managed alongside six other players?”

Recalling his conversation with Ha-rin from yesterday, the corners of Dong-goo’s mouth nudged slightly upward.

“Of course not.”

“If that’s not it, what’s the reason? Why is Ju Ha-rin managing me alongside six others?”

Truthfully, Dong-goo didn’t think Shin-woo was someone who deserved that kind of treatment either. So it made complete sense for the man himself to feel offended.

“You said you were going to terminate the contract.”

Yet looking at how the board was laid out, there wasn’t really a reason to make an issue out of it.

“What?”

“Hyung, you said you were going to terminate your contract with Daol.”

“Yeah. But what about it?”

Dong-goo intentionally let the corners of his mouth curl up even higher.

“Then why do you care about something like that? Once you terminate it, that’s the end of it.”

“Termination isn’t the issue here—their current attitude is! If they want to keep me, they should be trying their absolute hardest.”

After a moment of silence, Dong-goo took a deep breath.

“She must have changed her mind. She agreed to take it on for now under orders from the top—from the group Chairman himself—but the situation is pretty annoying, isn’t it?”

He then started talking without even pausing for breath.

“From day one, one guy gets kicked out of the car in heavy snow, and another guy gets treated like an invisible ghost all day. She musters up her patience to come back, only for him to snarl like he’s going to eat her alive.”

Is this jerk roasting me right now?

“You made it glaringly obvious that you’re going to terminate the contract, so why would they assign a dedicated manager just for you like you’re some saint?”

“…”

“Let’s say Director Ju drops all the other players she’s managing and takes you on exclusively. But then you go ahead and terminate. Wouldn’t that just put Director Ju in a tough spot?”

He sensed a slightly shady intention behind the words, but since everything Dong-goo said was spot-on, he couldn’t argue back.

“If I were her, instead of taking a gamble on a player who isn’t even a sure thing, I’d focus on managing the players I already have.”

“Hey. Lee Dong-goo. Whose side are you on?!”

“Were you picking sides, Hyung? I was just stating reality.”

Since when did this guy get so good at talking?

Shin-woo was rendered completely speechless. Letting out a string of disbelieving, hollow laughs, his eyes suddenly flashed sharp.

“Hey. Push back the hospital appointment. And head to my main family home right now.”

“The main house?”

“I’m going to have it out with my father and break off the contract once and for all!”

With his mouth firmly closed, Dong-goo slowly closed his eyes and opened them back up.

If his intent to terminate was truly that unshakeable, all he had to do was visit the agency—there was no need to go out of his way to meet Chairman Cha.

“Chairman Han from Daol actually reached out through his secretary asking to meet up once. You’d be better off meeting Chairman Han to settle things.”

“Why would I meet that guy? I just need to wrap things up with my father.”

“Or just go meet the agency CEO. Since you didn’t sign the contract yourself, telling him you want to break it off keeps things simple.”

Dong-goo pointed out the painfully obvious, easy solution. Shin-woo suddenly cleared his throat before opening his mouth.

“Doing that just causes unnecessary trouble and collateral damage for innocent people. I need to bring this to a conclusion with the person who set this whole board up in the first place!”

Someone who knows that has been acting like this until now?

Baffled by the completely nonsensical reasoning, Dong-goo threw him a suspicious glare.

Could it be… he has no intention of breaking the contract?

A thought he had never entertained even once suddenly took root.

Thinking back carefully, Shin-woo’s mood had been unusually unpredictable yesterday, yet he had quietly followed along with the schedule regardless.

He had taken that single fact as a relief and brushed it past without any second thoughts, but now a wave of doubt seeped in.

“Besides, the Chairman is currently on a business trip to Australia, so he isn’t at the main house.”

Putting the unconfirmed assumption aside for the moment, Dong-goo reported the current situation.

“A business trip? When did he leave? Who did you hear that from?”

“He left five days before you arrived, Hyung. I heard it yesterday through Secretary Park.”

“Just because he’s on a business trip doesn’t mean he can’t pick up my calls. So why isn’t he answering me?”

“How would I know? So, what are you going to do now?”

Throwing a long look at Dong-goo—who was asking for a final decision—the man suddenly started walking toward the front door.

“What else can I do? Since there’s no one to settle things with, I’ll just stick to the schedule for now to avoid causing trouble, even if I hate it.”

He then started muttering in a tone that suggested he had no choice in the matter.

Hurriedly chasing after Shin-woo, Dong-goo narrowed his eyes.

It was the exact moment the suspicion he had harbored moments ago turned into absolute certainty.

. . .

After completing his hospital schedule, Shin-woo took a short rest before joining the team’s afternoon training session.

Having wrapped up five hours of team and individual training, he headed straight for the showers.

“Oh, Cha Shin-woo. Long time no see.”

Upon reaching the locker room, a player who had just finished showering initiated a conversation with Shin-woo.

“Yes, Sunbae-nim. Long time no see.”

“Man, looks like your physique got even better.”

Approaching with a sleazy grin, the man patted Shin-woo on the chest a couple of times. A subtle crease formed around Shin-woo’s stoic eyes.

He was a player who had transferred from another club about two years ago—someone Shin-woo only exchanged brief greetings with when running into him during matches, with zero personal interaction.

The physical touch from someone he wasn’t even close with felt considerably disrespectful.

“Thanks for the compliment.”

Answering in an emotionless voice, he opened his locker.

“Ah, right. I heard you came in yesterday with Ju Ha-rin. Are you working with her?”

Standing in front of the powder room mirror styling his hair, the man asked.

“Yes.”

“You didn’t bring her along today?”

What is Ju Ha-rin, a piece of equipment? The grating choice of words made his nerves flare up slightly.

“No.”

Right as he gave that dry response and prepared to take off his clothes—

“Ju Ha-rin… doesn’t she look fucking hot? The girl doesn’t have much of a sweet side, but her looks are 100% my type.”

Words that felt like they were dirtying his ears pierced straight into his eardrums.