Running to You | Park Han + JL + Steven | Haneulz + Stejay AU

Chapter 14: Not Just Pretty Faces

The first day back on campus was less a return and more a full-blown media event. JL hadn't even set one sneaker out of the van before a shriek went up like a kettle boiling over. A pack of underclassmen near the campus gates exploded in recognition, their phones already aimed, cameras ready to take videos that would immediately get posted online.

"IT'S HIM! THE ONE WITH THE PULL-UP ABS!"

"LOOK AT HIS GODDAMN JAWLINE GIRL HELP"

"PARK HAN MARRY ME OMG"

JL blinked, caught in the flurry of flashes, mouth agape. His duffel bag hung from his shoulder like a forgotten prop. A new meme of JL's favorite expression started circulating online immediately : Eyes wide, mouth an open O. Fans photoshopped random things flying in: bugs, shrimp, themselves cannonballing.

Beside him, Han exited with practiced efficiency, pulling the hood of his track jacket over his head like a veteran of war. He ducked his chin, angled his body to avoid the camera phones, and muttered, "Abort. We should've stayed in the mountains."

Woongki, ever the ambassador, raised both arms in triumph. "You're welcome for the fame!"

Steven let out a long-suffering groan, hauling his gear over his back. "This is because you went live."

"It was two seconds!" Woongki protested.

"Two seconds that launched a thousand fan edits," Shuaibo added dryly. 

He slid on sunglasses as though expertly dodging paparazzi. A tiny fangirl, screaming incoherently, latched onto his arm mid-sprint. Shuaibo, a towering wall of nonchalance, gently peeled her off with the precision of someone who had done this before. 

"There, there," he murmured, like comforting an excitable puppy.

By lunch, every group chat in school had caught fire. Social feeds overflowed with stills, looped TikToks, and side-by-side comparisons of shirtless screenshots from the training retreat. The trending local hashtags included:

#TrackThirstTrap
#HaneulzAU
#Shuaibabes
#ChiwooSweat
#VampireCoachSteven
#KyungkiMoments

Jeongwoo leaned against the vending machine in the hallway with a cold soda pressed to his temple. "This is surreal," he muttered.

Chih En, scrolling through his phone, wore the expression of someone watching his own life become a parody in real-time. "Someone photoshopped our heads onto action figures."

"That's flattering, right?" Jeongwoo asked.

"There's also a forum thread titled 'Chiwoo World Domination.'"

Jeongwoo blinked. "Okay, that's actually funny."

Shuaibo appeared behind them like a specter in sunglasses. "There's a new ship name too. Kyungki."

Jeongwoo groaned. "We need to shift the narrative."

Chih En tucked his phone into his pocket. "We do what we do best. We train harder. I'm staying late today. My running form needs work."

Jeongwoo nodded slowly, seriousness settling in. "Count me in."

Later that afternoon, Coach Yang summoned them to the team room. The atmosphere inside felt sharper. Competitive. Steven stood by the whiteboard like a professor mid-lecture, Kyungho beside him with arms crossed, gaze intense.

"We've got a track meet against Jungsan next week," Steven announced. "Coach wants us to organize who competes in what event. No freebies. You earn your spots."

Kyungho stepped in. "This isn't just about going viral. This is where we show we're not just pretty faces."

There was a moment of silence before Jeongwoo, from the back of the room, raised his hand. "Put me down for sprints or relay. I'll prove I deserve it."

Chih En followed. "Long-distance or endurance. Doesn't matter. I'll show up."

Han studied them, one brow raised. "You sure?"

Chih En's expression didn't falter. "Tired of being the face on someone's lockscreen. I want to be more than a poster boy."

Jeongwoo chuckled. "Speak for yourself. I am officially a poster boy." 

He pointed to a wall hanging, a still frame of him embracing an actress in a music video, behind the team whiteboard. Someone from team (currently not yet caught) had drawn a moustache on his face with marker.  "But I can also run."

The team laughed, tension breaking for a second. But Steven and Kyungho exchanged a look, quiet approval passing between them without a word.

That evening, the track was dim and mostly deserted, lit only by the buzzing floodlights that flickered like lazy fireflies. Jeongwoo jogged slow laps, sweat clinging to his shirt, while Chih En ran core circuits by the bleachers. Their movements were silent, methodical, a rhythm born from quiet determination.

"You really serious about this?" Jeongwoo asked between breaths.

"I need to prove it to myself," Chih En said simply.

"Even with the fan pages?"

Chih En sighed. "Speaking of that, my cousin found a cafe in Taiwan with my face on a cup sleeve. I am literally haunted by it."

Jeongwoo laughed, almost doubling over. "There's a sticker of my face on someone's water bottle in bio. I almost signed it just for kicks, but I was worried they'd scalp it to a fanclub."

They sat together on the edge of the track, muscles still trembling with effort, passing a water bottle between them.

"Do you ever feel like people don't actually see the real you?" Chih En asked, his voice quiet.

"All the time," Jeongwoo said. "But maybe... we show them. One lap at a time."

They bumped shoulders, a simple gesture, then stood. They laced their shoes again and went back to work.

Meanwhile, back at the dorms, the energy had shifted to something close to absurd. Woongki was sprawled on the common room floor, building a vision board of their collective internet fame. His favorite piece featured Han's abs and JL's stunned expression overlaid with Comic Sans.

"It's official. We're a boy group now," he said proudly.

Han, scrolling through his phone like it personally offended him, growled, "I'm deleting Twitter."

JL, curled up on the couch beside him, held his own phone aloft. "Look at this," he whispered. "#HaneulzRunningtoYou. It's trending."

Han glanced over. "You've always been famous, weirdo." 

Then, as if to assert dominance over fate itself, he launched a pillow at JL's face. 

The night ended with the entire team crowded around someone's laptop, a bag of chips between them, watching fan edits that made them out to be either war heroes, supernatural beings, or cast members in a softboy romance. Some edits were hilarious. Some were surprisingly moving. Some made them wince at their own expressions in slow motion.

But while the rest of the team laughed or groaned, two of them -- Jeongwoo and Chih En -- silently slipped out, shoes in hand.

They didn't do it for the cameras, or the shipping threads, or the viral status. They returned willingly to the track and the lights were harsh, the laps unforgiving. In a world that had started to see them as nothing more than beautiful, edited caricatures, they ran. Not just to prove they had a right to be on the team, which they felt the pressure to do daily.

But to become something even greater.

[Your comments and votes each chapter mean the world and support this story. Thank you for reading, and see you in the next chapter! ✩✩✩ - Martiné]