Bad for the Brand

Park Jisoo is everything a university could want in an athlete-Olympic-bound swimmer, straight-A student, golden boy with a smile made for sponsorship deals. He's built his life on discipline, silence, and never slipping beneath the surface.

Liang "Zen" Zhen doesn't smile for cameras.

A nationally ranked MMA fighter with a reputation for violence and a past he doesn't explain, Zen is the athlete parents warn their sons about. He doesn't care about public image. He cares about winning.

When a careless comment from Jisoo about combat sports goes viral, it sparks a rivalry neither of them asked for. Forced into shared media appearances and a semester-long sports psychology project, the swimmer and the fighter find themselves circling each other-sharp words, sharper tension.

Jisoo thinks Zen is reckless.
Zen thinks Jisoo is fake.

They're both wrong.

Because beneath the bruises and perfect times, beneath the expectations and family pressure, they recognize something in each other no one else sees: obsession. Fear. Hunger.

Zen falls first.

Jisoo falls harder.

But in a world where reputations are currency and masculinity is measured in silence, loving each other might cost them everything.

And neither of them knows if they're brave enough to choose