Chapter 4. Sitting in the car, Kwon Ji-yong held up the brim of his baseball cap...
Sitting in the car, Kwon Ji-yong pulled his baseball cap down even lower. Having finally shaken off his pursuers, he arrived at the agreed-upon location. The small gate was rather secluded, and a thin layer of snow from the recent snowfall covered the iron gate. He repeatedly confirmed the location was correct. Somewhat nervously, he peered through the gate. No one had arrived yet.
"This way." A knock on the iron gate snapped Kwon Ji-yong back to his senses.
Ren Xiyao stood inside the iron gate, unlocking it. She wasn't wearing her usual tracksuit jacket today, but a dark down jacket instead. It seemed she always wore the same brand. Was it sponsored? Half of her kinesiology tape peeked out from the tracksuit sleeve, like some kind of mysterious totem tattoo. Quan Zhilong watched as she used a key to turn the somewhat rusty lock from the inside. She let him in. He couldn't help but ask, "How did you get the key to this place?"
Ren Xiyao looked outside and saw no one. She quickly locked the door and said, "These were made by the South Korean athletes who train here regularly. The previous locks would have been reported for repair when they broke, but they wanted to be able to sneak out occasionally for a change of pace or to indulge themselves during closed training. So they paid for a replacement out of their own pockets. I borrowed it from a friend."
"So, are you guys in a closed training camp now?" Kwon Ji-yong looked at her curiously. Ren Xiyao put the key in her pocket and then pulled out the USB drive: "If this is important, keep it safe." Then she added, "No, we're in a training camp now. People from many countries are here."
Suddenly, Ren Xiyao stopped and looked at him seriously with a scrutinizing gaze: "Aren't you a DJ? You also know about short track speed skating. Are you really interested?"
Hearing this, he paused for a moment, then asked again, somewhat taken aback, "DJ?"
Ren Xiyao realized she might have misunderstood when she saw his expression: "When we met at the nightclub, weren't you DJing? My friend next to me was so excited, I thought you were a famous DJ. Sorry!" Kwon Ji-yong chuckled and said, "I'm not a DJ. My stage name is GD, G-Dragon. I'm a musician, I write lyrics and compose music."
Ren Xiyao was a little embarrassed, but she smiled and said, "Oh, that's great, that's great, that's impressive." Then she awkwardly changed the subject and said, "Since you're here, let me show you around."
Kwon Ji-yong noticed her embarrassment, smiled, and said in a good mood, "Thank you for your help. I'm really interested in short track speed skating. It looks very exciting. I never expected to have the opportunity to meet professional athletes." Then he immediately changed the subject, saying, "Are you going back to your country tomorrow?"
"Yes, I'm going back to China to participate in the competition."
As they spoke, Kwon Ji-yong followed her into the fire escape. Suddenly, the smell of disinfectant mingled with the scent of rust—many unfamiliar pieces of exercise equipment. Like silent steel behemoths lurking in the corner of the training hall.
"Do you usually use this?" He ran his fingertips over the patterns on the resistance regulator. "Core strength training, latissimus dorsi activation mode." Kwon Ji-yong tried it out. Ren Xiyao watched from the side. "It's the latissimus dorsi." She touched her own shoulder blade. "It's this area that's activated." She watched him do a few more pulls, but he still seemed a bit off.
Ren Xiyao was a little impatient. She pressed directly on the appropriate muscle groups on his back. When Kwon Ji-yong felt the temperature from her fingertips through his clothes, his breath hitched, and a kind of vibration, like stage electricity, crept up his spine.
"That's the feeling." Realizing she'd been taking it too seriously, she quickly smoothed things over: "Well, that's roughly it. Let's go look around somewhere else." Seeing Kwon Ji-yong's stunned expression, Ren Xiyao was completely bewildered. The earlier action hadn't given her any other ideas. The common training instructions didn't seem out of place.
She waved her hand in front of Kwon Ji-yong's eyes and said, "What are you thinking about? Is something wrong?" Kwon Ji-yong snapped out of his reverie, his heart racing slightly, but he quickly pulled at his mask to hide his feelings and said, "No, I was just spacing out. Let's go." The quiet atmosphere amplified the sound of his heartbeat in his ears. This uncontrollable feeling made him clearly aware of his own thoughts. It was a long-lost feeling of his heart racing.
Walking down the long corridor of the training hall, turning several corners, Ren Xiyao didn't feel uncomfortable in the quiet atmosphere. On the contrary, she felt an unprecedented sense of peace. What kind of feeling was it? Perhaps it was because of these recent meetings. Kwon Ji-yong had always appeared in a peaceful and gentle manner, which made his flamboyant and arrogant demeanor on stage during their first meeting at the nightclub even clearer and more distinct.
Kwon Ji-yong broke the silence first, asking, "I've been to China before. Which city in China are you from?"
Ren Xiyao replied, "I'm from Northeast China, specifically Harbin."
Kwon Ji-yong had a hard time pronouncing the name of the city; he couldn't recall seeing it among the cities he'd visited in China. Intrigued, he asked, "What's this city like?"
Ren Xiyao began to think seriously: "What's it like? It's extremely cold in winter, much colder than Seoul. I started ice skating when I was little because it's so cold there. Every school, even kindergarten, has an ice rink. It can get down to minus 30 degrees Celsius in winter, right? It seems like every kid in Northeast China knows how to ice skate. People there seem to have a natural love for ice and snow. And there's so much delicious food. I really want to eat it. When I was little, I used to skate on the wild ice of the Songhua River every winter. It was so much fun."
Kwon Ji-yong listened to his description, imagining that scene, and felt a sense of longing. He then asked, "Did you start skating very early?"
Ren Xiyao replied with a nostalgic look, "Yes, I started skating when I was 4 years old. Most of the kids there started skating around that age. I used to practice figure skating, and then I switched to short track."
As they spoke, they passed through the last door of the corridor and arrived at the ice rink. Standing on the high platform and looking down, there was a sense of grandeur. The temperature of the ice rink reminded Kwon Ji-yong of the waiting room during his music show promotions. As they walked down the stairs from the platform, Ren Xiyao's voice came from ahead: "Today is a rest day. It's almost noon, so there aren't many people here. This is the ice rink where we usually train. The standard ice thickness for short track speed skating is usually between 3.5 and 4 centimeters, and the ideal ice temperature is between -7°C and -6°C. The area is generally 60 x 30 cm. This ice is considered a very standard ice surface."
Kwon Ji-yong looked at Ren Xiyao walking ahead and asked excitedly, "Can you go ice skating?" Ren Xiyao didn't say anything until she finished walking down the stairs and turned around to look at him coming down. Instead of answering, she asked, "Do you want to go up and try?"
Kwon Ji-yong asked with some interest, "Can I go up? I don't have shoes!"
Ren Xiyao frowned: "The ice rink for training camps is usually off-limits to people." Suddenly, she thought of something and said: "Never mind, I'll just watch from the sidelines. After all, it's someone else's place. I'd better be careful what I say and do."
After saying that, she pouted a little helplessly and said, "I won't be skating today. My shoes are in my dorm, I didn't bring them. Maybe next time. Let's go get something to eat."
Kwon Ji-yong nodded. It was regrettable; he had watched the video many times. When she stood on the ice, she appeared very thin compared to all the other skaters in her group. Even now, standing right in front of her, he couldn't immediately connect her with an athlete. She seemed more like a dancer. But in reality, Ren Xiyao on the ice was like a wolf, or a nimble fox. Agile yet possessing immense explosive power. It was a completely different persona from her reserved demeanor off the ice. He unconsciously touched the USB drive in his pocket; the metal casing seemed to still retain her body heat.
The fluorescent lights in the athletes' canteen hummed. Kwon Ji-yong used the tip of his chopsticks to push aside the broccoli and found half a hard-boiled egg hidden underneath.
"Just eat whatever you have. It's the athletes' canteen, so the protein intake has to be up to standard." Ren Xiyao had a thermos next to her and casually picked at the food on her plate.
Kwon Ji-yong stared at the almost entirely unappetizing food on his plate. After fiddling with it for a while, he couldn't help but ask, "Do you guys really have an appetite eating this every day?"
Ren Xiyao rolled her eyes, as if she'd finally found someone to vent to: "Of course not. I'm about to throw up from all this food. I've lost 6 pounds since I came here. Thanks to it, my body fat percentage has dropped rapidly too. Every day I'm just picking out the less awful food from a pile of awful dishes. But thankfully, I'm going back to China tomorrow." Looking at Ren Xiyao's somewhat resigned expression, it felt like the relationship had become a little closer. She seemed more vibrant and lively than before.
Ren Xiyao suddenly spoke up, "I didn't expect your English to be so good. We've talked a lot on this trip, and you understood everything, and I can understand you too. It's not that Korean-style English. Very good." She even gave a thumbs up. Kwon Ji-yong smiled, his eyes narrowing, the curve of his lips becoming increasingly pronounced. He found he really liked this girl's relaxed state. She wasn't as reserved as she had been at the beginning. That mysterious, unapproachable aura seemed to have transformed into a lively, vibrant energy as they became more familiar.
“Demo…” Kwon Ji-yong took out the USB drive and placed it on the table.
"Don't worry, I've never plugged in a computer." She interrupted him, her fingertips, still covered in protein powder, unconsciously drawing circles on the table: "In our server room, we have to go through three or four layers of approvals to plug in any external devices."
Kwon Ji-yong watched as Ren Xiyao casually picked up the USB drive and examined it. Then she placed it in his palm, an action that caused his fingers to inadvertently touch her knuckles, a tactile sensation more real than that of a tuning keyboard.
"Don't lose anything important again."
Faint voices drifted from afar. A light snow began to fall outside the window. In this small space, even the white noise felt perfectly natural, perfectly painting a picture of tranquility and peace, perfectly heralding a romantic prelude.
A note from the author:
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