27
The whole story was like this. While Taein was in the bathroom, Gu Wanjae went looking for a local restaurant to buy lunch boxes, and on the way back he met a hyung he knew. Since he had just gone out to simply buy food, he hadn’t brought his phone and had roughly packaged the food. He thought he’d be able to get home quickly. But he had to be in the car with this person called a hyung he knew for nearly 2 hours. It was because of a misunderstanding that had arisen while recently learning work. Just when he was in conflict with many hyungs over the issue of whether he belonged to this organization or that organization, someone from an organization he hadn’t seen in a while had come to see Gu Wanjae directly. The situation was too serious to send them away with just an apology. When he finally sent the man away, the food had all gone cold. When he bought food again and went up to the house, Taein’s whereabouts were mysterious.
He thought maybe he went to exercise, but the traces left on his phone were suspicious. Taein’s texts continuously asking where he was and missed calls. When he called back, Taein didn’t answer. There was no reply to the text he sent late either. Gu Wanjae, feeling upset, immediately contacted all the guys who stayed around the school, the younger guys around the university district, and all the facility younger guys where Taein originally lived. The answer came from the karaoke place.
“Hey, that’s enough.”
“Fuck, this fucking bastard.”
“Stop it.”
“Stop what, you fucking bastard.”
Gu Wanjae had been rummaging through Taein’s top since earlier. It was a gesture to check if there were other injured places besides the neck area. Taein had been lying on the bed the whole time. He was grateful that he sat next to him worrying about him, but he felt slightly repulsed by Gu Wanjae trying to check everywhere.
“I said only here got pressed a bit.”
“Your legs.”
“My legs are just fine.”
“Just what.”
Gu Wanjae raised his head with a scary face and spoke as if he would go beat up Lee Wuyong again right now.
“…I struggled a bit.”
“Where did you hit?”
“……”
It was before he could even speak. Gu Wanjae suddenly pulled down Taein’s sweatpants to check the injured area. Taein, startled, covered his body with the blanket next to him, but it was useless. Only the area around his underwear was barely covered, and from his thighs to his ankles was completely exposed.
“Hey, suddenly!”
“Fuck! This place is bruised too, fucking shit! Ah!”
“Ah….”
It was because the memory of being pressed precisely was intense, but it seemed like there would be some injuries on his legs too. Gu Wanjae seemed to have expressed his anger by jumping up because of the bruise on his right shin. That really seems like it hit the table. Taein, who checked his legs with his eyes, said “fuck” and urgently called Gu Wanjae who was gathering his clothes.
“Hey, don’t do it. Hey!”
“Fucking bastard. I’ll hold a funeral for him today.”
“Bastard. Stop it.”
Taein, who hastily put on his pants and got up, completely blocked the door. If he let him out of here, he really didn’t know what might happen. A high school dropout kills a classmate who was once a friend…. Headlines like that came to mind. Taein tried his best to calm Gu Wanjae, extending both hands and making “whoa, whoa” sounds. He tried to suppress his friend’s anger as much as possible, saying to stay still first.
“What did that bastard hear?”
Gu Wanjae, who had only raised his eyes at Taein’s actions, bit his lower lip and asked something.
“Shit… I thought it was like that too….”
Taein, who was rummaging through his phone, showed Gu Wanjae the text message history.
“Can you see? At the end?”
“…This fucking bastard knows something.”
“I thought it was like that too. So, ha, fuck….”
Taein said while rubbing his entire face in frustration.
“I went there to put out the urgent fire first…. This fucking bastard thought I liked him…. He was doing that crazy shit, fuck… ha….”
“……”
“What did I do to him….”
Gu Wanjae’s face pulled back and became bitter. It was an expression that roughly understood what kind of situation it was. Taein hoped Gu Wanjae would say “You didn’t do anything wrong,” but Gu Wanjae spat out completely different words.
“Hey… this won’t work. I’ll handle Lee Wuyong myself first. And from today, I’ll manage you too.”
“What do you mean manage?”
“I said I’ll manage you. I know you don’t like even mentioning the letter O in Omega. But fuck, I have to say this. So, are you raw? Are you just a man with a dick? Anyway, you became an Omega, right or not.”
He was speechless in front of Gu Wanjae who asked only about the facts with a firm expression. Taein inadvertently answered toward Gu Wanjae who asked clearly “right or not.”
“…That’s right, but.”
“Then, as a friend’s duty, isn’t it one of my responsibilities to safely put my one and only friend out into the world?”
“What?”
It was unfamiliar to see Gu Wanjae speaking smartly while hitting his palm with the edge of his hand. He was pointing out each thing as he spoke, and there was an aspect that sounded more valid because of his tone. Gu Wanjae opened his eyes wide and said to answer properly.
“…What kind of management are you talking about?”
“Various.”
“What is various management?”
“You can learn about that gradually.”
Even Gu Wanjae didn’t seem to have a clear plan. Taein thought it was something he could say because they were friends, so he just scratched his chin. He didn’t really know what Gu Wanjae’s sincere “management” as a friend was, but he thought there wouldn’t be much different from before. He’d probably just tell him not to hang out with guys he originally disliked like Lee Wuyong or Choi Chan. Taein, who thought it was no big deal, just told him not to beat up Lee Wuyong anymore. Gu Wanjae raised his hand saying “this is why you’re like this” and roughly touched Taein’s head. He was looking at Taein with a face that said “ugh” and looked pathetic.
* * *
“Check.”
A sound heard quite often from that day. Taein’s brow furrowed deeply at the sound of “check.” Right now, Gu Wanjae was checking Taein’s school uniform in front of the officetel. He had been receiving Gu Wanjae’s scanning gaze since leaving the front door. Shouting “check” meant he would check more blatantly. Gu Wanjae, who had been busily moving his eyes from face to shoes, properly fixed his gaze on one place. It was the summer uniform neckline.
“Fail.”
“What.”
“Chest fail. No good.”
“What?”
“I said fail. It’s fucking see-through.”
“…Talking shit….”
It was the ordinary summer school uniform he usually wore. It was natural that each school had different uniform designs, but the characteristic of the uniform at Taein’s school was that the neckline was cut deeper than other schools. The first button started from a bit lower. But so what. It was funny that he was making an issue of something he’d worn for 3 years now. Since starting the “management,” he kept saying the summer uniform top was a problem, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to do about it. Taein shook his head and turned his eyes elsewhere completely.
“……”
“Hey.”
“……”
“Kang Taein.”
“What.”
“…Aren’t you listening?”
“What should I listen to? Do I have to walk around like this then?”
Taein, who had grabbed his own collar in anger, had sharp eyes. Who’s going to look at a guy’s chest? He called it management, but this kind of thing was unreasonable. As if he was scolding him for covering for Lee Wuyong. He had no interest in management and seemed to just be trying to annoy him.
In the first place, the relationship between him and Gu Wanjae was friends who bickered. There was something special about it, but it was still male friendship. In that relationship, now that he had become an Omega and was receiving this kind of treatment, it was true that the stress was severe. He didn’t know management would be done like this.
“Would that work?”
Gu Wanjae, who had lowered his eyes, only said that to Taein and looked around. He seemed to be looking for something. Soon he let go of Taein’s arm he had been holding and headed somewhere. Leaving Taein in the middle of the sidewalk, the place he entered was a dry cleaner located on the first floor of the officetel building. He seemed to ask for something there, and came out of the commercial building in less than a minute. He had something in his hand.
“What is it.”
“Move your hands.”
“What are you doing?”
“Move them, quickly.”
“Hey, what. Ah….”
What was thrust in front of his eyes was a stapler. Holding it like a knife in one hand, with the other hand he gathered Taein’s neckline like a China collar. Taein’s thought of “surely not” was brutally shattered. Gu Wanjae started stapling the frustratingly gathered collar part with the stapler. Not just once but multiple times. The sound of staples being driven in was heard repeatedly. Taein, who made “uh, buh, uh” sounds while being stapled, managed to speak with difficulty.
“No, this, hey, ah… this crazy bastard….”
“Hey, much better.”
Gu Wanjae, who had quickly stapled like a professional, stepped back with a face that said he felt relieved. He seemed to have stepped back to properly see the uniform’s appearance. Taein’s eyes also went down. The top was forcibly gathered, making the sleeves and hem look ridiculous. The cuffs that originally came to about the elbow had risen up by 10cm.
“What kind of thing is this… right now…?”
“How many times have I told you?”
“What?”
“Take the fucking uniform to a tailor or something. I said it until my mouth hurt.”
“Hey… are you joking?”
“Does this look like a joke? The size is already fucking huge, and every time you bend down, even your belly button shows, you crazy bastard. I pointed that out but you keep wearing it like that, your mind isn’t right either. Go like that today. Whether you take it to get altered when you come back or not, do whatever you want. If it’s the same tomorrow, I’ll consider it as you wanting to fight with me.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
