Saebyeok climbed the stairs with trembling legs. Saebyeok’s mother fainted and grabbed him.
“Saebyeok!”
But this time, even Saebyeok couldn’t hold back.
“No! I’m not going! I don’t want to! No! It’s my heat cycle! I’m not going! I’m not going!”
Startled by his own shouting, Saebyeok clutched his chest and gasped for breath.
Looking at his mother’s shocked, blank face, he quickly added:
“I-I’m sorry for shouting… I’ll r-rest…”
Saebyeok rummaged through his drawer and took a handful of suppressants. The sound of his heart pounding seemed to resonate in his ears.
Saebyeok pulled the blanket over his head and closed his eyes.
He could clearly feel something trickling down the cleft of his buttocks. The moist feeling both in front and back was so terrible that Saebyeok gritted his teeth.
While waiting for the medicine to take effect, Saebyeok kept thinking about math formulas and English vocabulary in his mind.
After mentally reciting about 200 English words, the medicine seemed to work as the heat subsided.
Saebyeok suddenly thought that today’s embarrassment wasn’t simply because he hadn’t taken his medicine, but because of Gong Pyeonghwa who hadn’t properly contained his pheromones.
Omegas and alphas are never assigned to the same class.
But since they say you’re no different from a beta if you take your medicine properly, Saebyeok’s parents and Saebyeok himself didn’t disclose the fact that he had presented as an omega.
Everyone did it secretly.
Knowing there would be no one affected by his pheromones, and entering a state of extreme concentration for exams, one might unconsciously release pheromones. So it wasn’t Pyeonghwa’s fault. However, Saebyeok was too overwhelmed to think rationally.
He just hated Gong Pyeonghwa.
What Saebyeok could only achieve with his utmost effort, and what he could now never achieve even if he were reborn, Gong Pyeonghwa had achieved without any cost.
It was unfair.
He hated Pyeonghwa’s name too. What was fair or peaceful about him? He hated everything.
Saebyeok dozed off, cursing Pyeonghwa even in his drug-induced state.
When he opened his eyes again, it was 2 AM.
Having slept for a full 12 hours, Saebyeok was surprised and sat at his desk. Embracing the now-familiar headache, he grabbed his mechanical pencil.
After filling in his error notebook and working on the day’s problem sheets, he became very hungry.
Saebyeok went down to the kitchen for a quick snack.
He took out a piece of bread and held it in his mouth. As he was about to go back to his room, he saw light seeping through the crack of the study door and turned his steps.
In the study, Saebyeok’s father was sighing and drinking hard liquor continuously.
Seeing his father’s bitter back view, Saebyeok quietly returned to his room.
Feeling guilty, it was hard to swallow even a piece of bread.
In the end, choking on half a slice of bread, Saebyeok clutched the toilet bowl and dry-heaved for a long time.
Still, Saebyeok increased his medication.
If he told Gong Pyeonghwa to contain his pheromones, he’d obviously be asked if he was a special trait too, and then his omega status would be discovered, so he couldn’t confront Pyeonghwa.
It just meant a little more headache and a little more sleepiness. It was just a matter of enduring a bit more.
Shin Saebyeok poked under his fingernails to stay awake.
He had to win this final exam.
He wanted to relieve his father’s sighs and his mother’s worries.
***
Gong Pyeonghwa, who had beaten Shin Saebyeok in academics, received unprecedented hospitality.
“Is our son home?”
For the first time in his life, Pyeonghwa was celebrated by his family.
His family was unprecedentedly kind. To what extent? Even that annoying bastard—no, mom’s son—no, Gong Jeong spoke in a voice he usually reserved for his girlfriend.
“Hey, Pyeonghwa, is there anything you want? Should your brother buy it for you? Just say it.”
‘Why is he acting crazy…’
And that wasn’t all.
Gong Sarang, who was as rude as Gong Jeong, called him “Oppa” instead of “Hey.”
“Oppa. This is. You got first place. This is.”
‘Did Dad drink whiskey?’
It was creepy.
Though his family’s spine-chilling antics made him cringe, he also felt bitter at the confirmation that his worth truly lay in defeating Shin Saebyeok.
“You don’t have to do this. I will study… This humble son promises to be faithful to his duty… So would you please give me some space to study at night?”
The family’s eyeballs shifted nervously at Pyeonghwa’s response. This was an unexpected reaction.
Finally, Gong Jeong couldn’t hold back and slapped Pyeonghwa on the back, barking:
“Hey! Did you eat something bad? Throw it up! Throw it up!”
“Hey! Pyeonghwa, are kids bullying you at school? Huh? Should I set them straight?”
“Just rebel already!”
“What’s the problem? Is it puberty?”
Encouraged by his family’s fiery support, Pyeonghwa gathered courage and revealed his inner thoughts.
At that, starting with Gong Jeong, then Gong Sarang and their mother burst into laughter, holding their stomachs.
Only his father, shocked that his second son, who looked exactly like him, could be so stupid, couldn’t say anything.
Pissed off that the worries he had painfully shared were being laughed at, Pyeonghwa kicked the sofa and threw all sorts of tantrums.
Exactly 10 minutes later, all misunderstandings were cleared, and Pyeonghwa went to his bedroom and kicked his blanket.
The next morning, every member of Pyeonghwa’s family put his favorite side dishes on his rice bowl.
Forced to eat bibimbap from morning, Pyeonghwa chewed rice grains reluctantly with a sullen face.
“How do you even think normally to end up with such thoughts…”
“Be quiet. Our pure-blooded Gong family’s second son is embarrassed.”
Dad.
Before Pyeonghwa could open his mouth, his mother said:
“I ate nothing but mangoes, kiwis, pineapples, bananas, and peaches for ten months while you were in my belly, thinking you’d be a girl, but as soon as your baby teeth grew, you only ate meat, my precious baby. Hurry and eat breakfast, then go to school.”
Pyeonghwa’s face burned intensely.
‘This is humiliating…’
Pyeonghwa scraped up his rice with a flushed face.
After kicking his blanket all night, the blanket was tattered, but his heart was at peace.
Now he didn’t have to study desperately to beat Shin Saebyeok. Why? Because he wasn’t a counterweight to Shin Saebyeok, he was just a bio.lo.gi.cal.son!
“Kuhahak.”
But that didn’t mean he was going to slack off on studying. After all, beating Shin Saebyeok was thrilling.
▶▶▶
“Hey, when can I leave? Is this what they call talk hell?”
“Hey, from here it gets really cute. Listen.”
“I don’t care about it being cute, but I can tell you were stupid. How did you even become the top student in school with that head?”
It was the harmful effect of cramming education.
“Our Iseul is listening, you know? Could you watch your language?”
“…Sorry.”
But it’s not a problem that you’re irritating me? Seonwoo Jeong felt something hot rising from his chest.
“I, being the good person I am, will accept that apology on behalf of our princess. Our princess is still weak in speaking.”
“It’s not about speaking, she can’t even listen right now. She’s sleeping.”
“Stop with the English. This is Korea.”
Seonwoo Jeong, stunned by Patriot Pyeonghwa, missed his chance to escape again.
“Yes, thinking about it now, that’s right. Korea, first year of high school, first semester finals—that was the beginning of our love.”
◀◀◀
The heat was intense.
It was a summer where cicadas displayed their useless presence and record-breaking heat waves were achieved daily.
Even though August, the peak of summer, was still ahead, in early July, which was inconsiderately sweltering, students were preparing to riot.
This was because the classroom air conditioner broke down a week before the final exams.
Keeping adolescent students confined in a classroom with only the windows open was not something that should be done to either teachers or students.
During breaks, there was a war at the school store to get ice cream and cold drinks.
“It’s unreasonable.”
“It’s unfair.”
“It’s unjust.”
Class time was 50 minutes, break time was 10 minutes.
Eating cold food for 10 minutes didn’t make them cool enough to endure 50 minutes.
“Seonwoo Jeong who failed to get into the science high school.”
“Is this an act of rubbing salt in my wound? Are you picking a fight? Declaring the end of our friendship?”
“Let’s take apart our air conditioner.”
What are you, crazy? What are you crazy guys doing? Seonwoo Jeong and his surrounding classmates’ eyes turned to Pyeonghwa. Pyeonghwa’s eyes were completely crazy. He didn’t seem like someone you could reason with.
In the end, the heat-vulnerable class rose up not in rebellion but with Phillips screwdrivers in hand.
A few kept watch, while some others fanned Pyeonghwa and Seonwoo Jeong with desperate prayers.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
