forvkookever
In the elite, high-pressure world of Australian swimming, Jeon Jeongguk is the "Brine", a force of nature from Perth who treats the pool as a sanctuary of isolation. He has built his life on clinical discipline, but his composure is being scorched by the one man he can't outrun.
Kim Taehyung is the "Burning", a Gold Coast firestorm whose reckless speed and media-darling smirk make Jeongguk's blood boil.
For three years, their rivalry has been the heartbeat of the circuit, a jagged friction of near-misses and locker-room glares.
Jeongguk claims to hate him. He tells himself the frantic hammering of his heart in Lane 4 is just adrenaline, until a physical altercation in a Brisbane tunnel is caught on camera, and the world misinterprets their raw aggression as "romantic tension."
With their funding pulled and careers on the line, the Australian Swimming Board issues an ultimatum: Fake a romance or lose the gold.
Forced into the "Stardust Initiative," Jeongguk must trade his daggers for "date nights" at Darling Harbour and scripted intimacy on the sands of Byron Bay. But as the PR mask slips, a terrifying truth emerges: the "annoyance" Jeongguk felt was never hate, it was a yearning so deep it threatens to drown them both.
Now, as the Olympic Trials loom, Jeongguk faces the most dangerous race of his life.
Because when the contract ends and the cameras stop rolling, the only thing left to do is find out if they were playing a part, or if he's finally ready to burn.