JustPeachyNovels

“Coach.”

Moo-gyeom called Ha-joon again as he passed in front of him. Ha-joon looked at Moo-gyeom with wide eyes.

“Yeah?”

“My back’s been hurting a bit lately. Could you take a look?”

“What? Since when? I didn’t see any particular factor that would cause that.”

“I don’t know, about two days ago.”

Ha-joon nodded and hurriedly spread a mat on the floor.

“Then it could be acute pain. Lie face down here for a moment.”

Moo-gyeom did as he was told, but inwardly tilted his head. He was more compliant than expected. Was it really just his imagination?

“Coach Jung!”

“Huh? What is it?”

Just then, Ha-joon called another coach nearby. From where he lay face down, Moo-gyeom heard the sound of him approaching. Their conversation continued behind him.

“Kim Moo-gyeom says his back hurts. Could you help with the palpation? You’re better at it than I am.”

“Ah, sure.”

Coach Jung and Ha-joon bent down beside Moo-gyeom. Moo-gyeom turned his head to the side and looked up at Ha-joon. Ha-joon, with a serious expression, opened his notebook and prepared to take notes before asking.

“Which side hurts?”

“…It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“Huh?”

“I’m fine, Coach Jung.”

When Moo-gyeom sat up, Coach Jung simply asked, “Really?” without much suspicion and returned to what he had been doing. Moo-gyeom, sitting on the mat, and Ha-joon, kneeling beside him, looked at each other. Ha-joon pointed at the mat with his hand, looking flustered.

“You said it hurt. Lie back down. We should check it properly.”

“Then I’d like Coach Lee to check it himself.”

“What?”

“Directly. Don’t make someone else do it.”

Ha-joon blinked as if he didn’t quite understand what Moo-gyeom meant. While he sat there silently, Moo-gyeom didn’t wait for an answer and lay face down on the mat again. After a brief silence, he sensed Ha-joon moving closer on his knees. The notebook he had been holding was placed on the gym floor along with the pen.

Moo-gyeom turned his head and secretly watched what he was doing. Ha-joon stared only at Moo-gyeom’s lower back and asked.

“Which side hurts?”

“Left.”

Moo-gyeom answered however and waited for his next move. Ha-joon, still staring at his waist, let out a slightly long breath through his nose and furrowed his brow almost imperceptibly.

Only then did he move his hand and finally place it on Moo-gyeom’s waist. Press. He felt the joints of four fingers and the tip of a thumb firmly pressing into the left side of his waist. As Ha-joon pressed with that strength, he asked carefully.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. A little lower.”

“Here?”

Ha-joon’s hand shifted locations and pressed firmly along his waist. His touch wasn’t bad. It felt as if a small animal were padding around on his back, and Moo-gyeom’s mood gradually relaxed.

Ha-joon’s condition, however, was the complete opposite. When Moo-gyeom tilted his head to the side to check his expression, his face, which had looked somewhat troubled but serious at first, was gradually gathering only deeper awkwardness and doubt, like beads of sweat. Of course. His back was perfectly fine, and there was no pain at all.

Ha-joon’s hand moved left, right, up, and down, diligently exploring Moo-gyeom’s back in search of the cause of the pain. After touching only his lower back and seeming to decide that wasn’t it, he even began feeling around his pelvis, near his tailbone, his side, and the side and back of his thigh.

‘His hands are soft.’

Moo-gyeom rested his chin on his hand as he lay there and even closed his eyes, leaving the touch alone as if enjoying a massage.

The more Ha-joon confirmed that Moo-gyeom’s body was perfect, the more serious his expression became. After pressing here and there in palpation, he finally let out a tired sigh as if giving up and sat up. His voice, as he picked up the notebook again and made notes, seemed to be pretending to be calm, but it sounded deflated.

“I’m still lacking, so I’m not sure. If there’s pain when there’s no issue with your lower back or abdominal muscles, it could be referred pain from somewhere else. But the muscles around your pelvis and legs don’t seem to have any major problems either…. I think it would be best for you to get a detailed exam from the medical team. I’ll pass it on.”

There was no need to turn it into that much of a hassle. He had already finished all the medical checks when joining, and it hadn’t been long since the last test. He had only wanted to tease Ha-joon, not make several people waste effort over fake illness, so Moo-gyeom decided to make something up.

“Two days ago.”

“Mm?”

“I accidentally got kicked in the waist in bed. Could it be because of that?”

Ha-joon looked at Moo-gyeom as if wondering what he meant, then seemed to understand and slightly opened his mouth with an ‘Ah.’

The momentary confusion on his face was soon replaced by emptiness, and Ha-joon stared blankly into the air for a moment before nodding.

“That could be it. Then it’s probably temporary.”

“Probably, right?”

“If it keeps hurting, tell me again.”

“Got it.”

Ha-joon pressed his hands against his knees for support and stood. His back, as he walked toward another player, somehow looked less energetic than before. He seemed to have realized he’d been teased, but even so, Moo-gyeom didn’t feel sorry. After all, it was Lee Ha-joon who had created the misunderstanding, and perhaps it wasn’t a misunderstanding at all. The expression Ha-joon had shown before pressing his back only strengthened that suspicion.

‘Looks like he doesn’t like me.’

As he followed Ha-joon’s instructions and did twice the number of left-side ankle strengthening exercises, Moo-gyeom mulled over the irritating feeling.

It wasn’t good to create discord with a coach on a new team. If this had happened at Greenford, he would certainly have said something openly, but this was Jun-sung’s team. He didn’t want to give the coach a headache by causing small trouble as soon as he arrived. But if Ha-joon was going to treat only him differently like this, Moo-gyeom would have to come up with a plan. It was work-related.

Either remove Lee Ha-joon from his training schedule entirely, or make Lee Ha-joon correct his attitude and properly look after him.

*** *** *** *** ***

Braised short ribs, seasoned spinach, dried pollack soup, rolled omelet.

Looking at the side dishes on his tray, Moo-gyeom was sincerely pleased. They had told him to say if there was anything he liked, so he’d tossed out a few dishes as a joke—but today’s lunch menu was really filled with the side dishes he had said he wanted to eat.

“We can’t do it the same every time, but we’ll make things for you when we can, so tell us anytime if there’s something you want.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Oh my, so polite.”

When he smiled and greeted them, feeling more inclined to be kind than he would toward most dates, the cooks happily gave him more braised short ribs. He turned around, looking for a place to sit, and Jeong-gyu, already seated, waved at him.

Even if he was annoying in many ways, one advantage of Jeong-gyu was that thanks to him, Moo-gyeom got closer to people faster. Moo-gyeom walked over and set down his tray. People were eating and chatting.

“Hasn’t the cafeteria food gotten better lately?”

“It was always pretty decent here.”

“Still, it feels like it’s been coming out even better these days. Moo-gyeom hyung, enjoy your meal.”

“You too.”

The players were now greeting Moo-gyeom without too much difficulty. Moo-gyeom answered appropriately and was picking up his spoon when Jeong-gyu seemed to spot someone else and waved.

“Ha-joon—no, Coach Lee. Come eat over here!”

It wasn’t a middle or high school cafeteria, yet the sight of him trying to gather every acquaintance nearby to eat together was amusing. Moo-gyeom let out a small laugh and turned his head. Ha-joon, drawn by Jeong-gyu’s call, approached with his tray, then flinched and stopped in place. When his eyes met Moo-gyeom’s, his face stiffened slightly in surprise, then he quickly smiled.

“I think I should eat with the coaches.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yeah. See you at afternoon training.”

“Sure, enjoy your meal.”

Ha-joon quickly turned and walked away at a brisk pace, sitting at a table where older coaches had gathered. Watching him, one of Moo-gyeom’s eyebrows lifted slightly. Beside Jeong-gyu, who had noticed no sense of incongruity and started eating, Moo-gyeom put down his spoon and sat in thoughtful silence before speaking as if the thought had just occurred to him.

“You said before that the three of us should grab a drink with Coach Lee.”

Episode 5 – Episode 7