Dear readers,

I currently have four ongoing stories on Tapas, and none of them is even halfway finished yet. I also have two completed stories. Perfect 10, as you already know, is one of them.

Regardless of what happens with Tapas, I will continue writing and publishing my stories, and I will do my best to keep them accessible to everyone.

All of my ongoing series will continue, and I will share more information as soon as I know more.

First of all, I am on Patreon. All of my stories are available there with early access, and Patreon is always the first place where I launch my new stories. Following me on Patreon is free, and if you would like to support me through one of the paid tiers, you can also get very early access to all of the stories I am currently publishing. Of course, especially during these difficult days, I would be incredibly grateful for the support.

https://www.patreon.com/cw/YohwaInk

I also have a Discord server, and I would especially love to see more BL readers there. I should mention that it is not just a server for my own stories and readers. It is open to anyone who loves BL. I was planning to open it in October, but sometimes life really does laugh at your plans.

Discord:
https://discord.gg/76ebxQZUs

Pinya: I am now also on Pinya. It is a super cute platform and actually feels quite similar to Tapas. I would say this is probably the platform I am prioritizing the most right now.

https://pinya.io/Yohwaink

NamiComi:
https://namicomi.com/en/org/yohwaink/titles

AO3:
https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yohwaink/pseuds/Yohwaink

Scribble Hub:
https://www.scribblehub.com/profile/264699/yohwaink/

Webnovel:
https://www.webnovel.com/profile/4505507035

For now, you can find every place where I publish, along with all of my other links, here:

https://litt.ly/yohwaink

You can use my Ko-fi if you'd like to support me (I'd be very grateful).

https://ko-fi.com/yohwaink

I’m dropping all the clickable links in the Author’s Note below.

As soon as there is reliable information about what is happening with Tapas, I will let you know.

Thank you. 🫶🙂‍↕️🖤🤍

-Yohwaink

Hidden Contract

Prologue

Choi Hyo-bin went back and forth between questioning his life and cursing it as he walked from his place in Sillim-dong to Daehan Sports Academy in Bongcheon-dong.

At times like this, he usually tried to make himself feel better by thinking stuff like, Well, what if I didn't have legs? but it was so cold today that he was having a hard time finding anything to be grateful for.

The long walk had not only frozen his brain; it had drained all his energy too, and knowing he would not get a chance to rest before evening practice was already pissing him off. He hated being tired at practice. His life in general was making him hate pretty much everything.

When he finally got inside the school building, the place was pretty quiet. He was seriously late, and the only thing on his mind as he opened the classroom door was not drawing too much attention to himself. As he looked around the room, he realized everyone had their heads down, quietly focused on class.

Hyo-bin quickly slipped between the rows and tried to walk hunched over, then looked toward the front between two students' heads and saw that the professor's desk was empty.

Such a relief.

Then the professor moved in his seat, and Hyo-bin saw him.

Shit.

He immediately straightened up, bowed his head, and mumbled a few words that were probably supposed to be an apology. There was no point trying to hide anymore, so he walked to the back row and sat down next to Park Soo-bin, the captain of the swim team.

Without taking his eyes off the professor, Soo-bin leaned toward Hyo-bin. "Why are you late?"

"I walked," Hyo-bin said.

Soo-bin raised his eyebrows. "Why did you walk?"

"I gave my last bit of cash to my drunk dad," Hyo-bin said, keeping his voice low.

Soo-bin turned fully toward him. "Why didn't you call me, Hyo-bin? I would've picked you up."

"I can't ask you for help every day, Captain. And walking is good sometimes."

"I'd come pick you up. Your place isn't exactly around the corner, and it's freezing outside. You're gonna complain about being tired at practice again tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, Soo-bin. Tell my dad that if you want. I think it'd be more useful."

"Lunch is on me. You're not dying of hunger today."

Hyo-bin chuckled. "Thanks, Soo-bin-ah¹. So... did I miss anything fun?"

"Nah. He hasn't even started lecturing yet," Soo-bin said. "He's just wandering around talking to whoever's there."

"Perfect." Hyo-bin rolled his eyes. "Class hasn't even started yet, and he already tried to kill me with his eyes."

Soo-bin laughed. "Ya, I'll pick you up tomorrow. We can go to school together, okay?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's dumb to drive all the way from Gangnam to my place and then back to campus."

"It's fine. My dad's paying for gas, so we might as well use it. At least that way he actually does something as a father. I don't want you showing up to practice tired, Hyo-bin-ah."

When the professor walked to the front desk and took his seat, their conversation ended. He looked around the room. "All right. I'll call your names. Tell us what you picked. You've got five weeks, and I don't want to hear that practice got in the way."

He looked down at the list, running the end of his pen through his hair. "Kim Min-ji."

From her seat, Min-ji answered, "Social class and access to university sports facilities."

The professor wrote something beside her name. "Joo Sun-woo."

Sun-woo looked up. "Mental health pressure on student athletes."

"Okay. Hae-jin?"

Hae-jin lifted her hand. "I'm doing college athletes in the media. How that image compares to what their lives are actually like on campus."

The professor wrote something down. "Maybe use some of those ridiculous MeTube interviews of yours too."

A bunch of people laughed, and Hae-jin sat back down.

"Seo Seung-ho."

"Social class and how it affects an athlete's identity," Seung-ho said.

The professor had not even answered yet when Hyo-bin called out from the back. "Talking about social class like he's not part of the problem."

Soo-bin put a hand to his forehead. "Aissh²... Yaa³, Hyo-bin, why would you do that?"

Seung-ho turned around in his seat. His hands were already forming fists at his sides. "You talking to me?"

Hyo-bin looked straight at him. "Say I am. Then what?"

Nobody in the room said anything. The professor spoke before either of them could take it any further. "What's going on back there?"

Seung-ho turned around again. "Nothing on my end, sir."

Hyo-bin looked down at his notebook and kept talking anyway. He wanted there to be something on Seung-ho's end. "So what," he said. "Your project's gonna be about how easy rich kids have it in sports?"

Soo-bin finally jumped in. "If you two don't knock it off, I'm gonna go to Coach myself and ask him to give you twenty extra laps."

Seung-ho ignored the captain. When he spoke again, his voice was low. "You were crying in the pool yesterday," he said. "That wasn't enough for you, Choi Hyo-bin?"

"The bruise on your chin says I did just fine, bitch," Hyo-bin replied.

That did it.

Seung-ho was already getting out of his seat when the professor raised his voice, and Hyo-bin was right behind him.

"You two!" the professor yelled. "Up front. Now!"

The whole class watched them walk down to the front. They stopped a few feet apart, and the professor looked from one to the other.

"I don't know what the hell is going on between you two," the professor said. "The entire department's talking about it at this point. I don't know if you're trying to get yourselves expelled or what. Either way, I'm giving you a chance to sort this out."

Neither of them answered.

The professor looked down at the list and pointed to it with his pen. "Seo Seung-ho's topic? It's yours now too, Choi Hyo-bin. You're doing it together. Five weeks from now, both of you will be up here presenting it."

Seung-ho looked at him. "Professor, do we really have to?"

"Two third-year athletes who apparently need to learn when and where to behave themselves?" The professor looked at both of them. "Yeah. I'd say you really have to."

Hyo-bin frowned. "I didn't ask for this, sir. I don't wanna work with him."

"Good thing I'm not asking," the professor said. "Your assignment's set. You can go."

They bowed their heads and went back to their seats.

Seung-ho sat down, and Hyo-bin was still staring at him. It was pretty obvious neither of them was happy about any of this.

Five weeks.

They were stuck doing a project together, with nowhere to run and no excuses left.

¹ 아 (-ah) A casual Korean vocative particle attached to the end of a name ending in a consonant. It signals an immediate shift from formal distance to a shared, personal space. In a narrative, it functions as a bridge of intimacy, indicating a bond where social barriers have been lowered and comfort has been established.

² 아이시 (aish) A common Korean exclamation of frustration or annoyance.

³ 야 (-ya) A casual Korean vocative particle attached to the end of a name ending in a vowel. Like -ah, it marks familiarity and personal closeness, showing that formal distance has been set aside. In a narrative, it can signal affection, comfort, urgency, or emotional intimacy depending on the context.