4) Festering Wound
Kyung-wook leaned against the wall behind a bar, blankly staring up at the dark sky. The air was getting colder by the day. That meant winter was approaching—and in another sense, it meant the CSAT was gradually drawing closer.
“Hey, Kyung-wook.”
Lee Seong-cheol, who had been noisily chatting with the group, stopped talking and walked over.
“Is that story for real? That Kim Kang-woo got some kind of terminal illness and was hospitalized?”
A dry laugh slipped out.
“Terminal illness, my ass. What kind of bullshit are you spouting?”
Kyung-wook muttered under his breath. At that, Seong-cheol showed even greater interest and edged closer to him.
“What then? So that bastard really went to Australia? For that language study thing or whatever?”
Normally, whether Kim Kang-woo was around or not, the guy never gave a damn. Kyung-wook couldn’t understand why he was suddenly so eager to figure out what was going on.
In fact, Seong-cheol wasn’t the only one probing him like this. People around him kept throwing out all kinds of guesses to Kyung-wook. It was annoying to deal with and deeply uncomfortable. Hiding his irritation, Kyung-wook spoke as if brushing it off.
“He didn’t go to Australia.”
“Huh? Seriously? Then if he didn’t go to Australia and he’s not sick, where the hell is that bastard Kim Kang-woo right now?”
Jesus, he wouldn’t stop yapping. Everything around him seemed determined to set his already frayed nerves on fire. Kyung-wook turned his gaze and glared at Seong-cheol.
Too damn curious. Unfortunately, Seong-cheol seemed completely unaware that such curiosity might end up costing him his life. Kyung-wook didn’t answer and straightened up.
“I’m heading home first. See you tomorrow.”
“Huh? Hey, you bastard, what’s with you? Why’re you going home all of a sudden! At least tell me about Kim Kang-woo before you go. Just tell me quietly—just me!”
Oblivious as ever, Seong-cheol hurried after Kyung-wook and grabbed his arm.
“Hey. Baek Kyung—”
Seong-cheol saw Kyung-wook’s face and immediately shut his mouth.
“If I knew that, do you think I’d be standing around like this, fuck.”
Kyung-wook chewed out the words through clenched teeth, spitting them irritably. His brown eyes caught the streetlight, giving off a strange glint.
“…Hey. If you don’t know, you don’t know. Why’re you getting so pissed?”
Seong-cheol whispered awkwardly with a forced laugh. Kyung-wook roughly shook off the hand still gripping him and hailed a taxi passing nearby.
“Bangbae-dong.”
After bluntly stating the destination, he leaned against the car window and sank into thought.
Kim Kang-woo had left home. He had hidden himself somewhere—even his own father didn’t know where.
A guy who knew nothing but home and school—where the hell had he scurried off to hide like a rat?
No matter how long it took, Kyung-wook intended to find Kim Kang-woo.
***
Kang-woo took out the money he had tucked deep inside his bag.
180,000 won in cash. It wasn’t a large amount, but he was grateful to have even this much on hand. Carefully counting the bills, he put 100,000 won into his pocket.
Now that he had received the card key, he decided to try visiting a pharmacy today. He needed to get suppressants.
Last time, he had been completely drenched in the rain, so he had no choice but to throw away all the suppressants the hospital had prescribed for him.
Kang-woo’s heat cycle tended to be fairly regular, so he still had some time before the next one. Still, there was nothing wrong with preparing in advance.
After changing into clothes suitable for going out, he stood in front of the mirror. Wanting to look as inconspicuous as possible, he chose a gray hoodie and jeans. Just in case, he pulled a baseball cap low over his head as well.
Everything was ready.
Perhaps because it had been so long since he’d gone out, his heart was pounding.
It’s okay. Calm down.
At most, he expected to be out for about an hour. He was only stepping out briefly—nothing would happen.
Steeling himself, he stepped over to the shoe cabinet and put on his sneakers. Seok-ho was still asleep.
Should he say something before leaving?
After a moment of thought, Kang-woo shook his head.
No. He didn’t want to wake him when he was sleeping so peacefully. If anything, he could just aim to be back before Seok-ho woke up.
Still… he might wake up first.
After a brief hesitation, Kang-woo took his shoes off again.
[There’s fried rice I made yesterday in the fridge. Please heat it up and eat.]
He stuck a Post-it note on the refrigerator.
Only then did he feel a little relieved. Pressing it firmly once with his hand so it would stick better, he returned to the shoe cabinet and put his shoes back on. After glancing around the dark living room for a moment, he opened the front door.
He left the officetel and walked down the alley.
Under the brim of his cap, his gaze darted around busily. The worry that he might run into someone he knew turned out to be unnecessary.
This neighborhood was far from both his school and his home. There was no way anyone here would recognize him.
Realizing that, the tension slowly loosened from Kang-woo’s tightly drawn shoulders. His steps grew more confident.
There weren’t many places that handled Omega suppressants. In truth, it was safest to visit a specialized hospital and receive medication prescribed specifically for one’s body type—it had fewer side effects.
But in his current situation, going there himself felt like a foolish move.
He had no idea how his father might be trying to find him.
Pharmacies tended to cluster around hospitals, so he decided to head toward the area with larger buildings first. Kang-woo started walking toward the main road.
Living in modern society without a phone was incredibly inconvenient. He couldn’t search for anything or check a map, so the only thing he could do was walk aimlessly until he found a pharmacy.
“Excuse me… do you happen to know where a pharmacy is around here?”
“A pharmacy? Uh, if you keep going straight down this road and turn right, there’s one there.”
“Thank you.”
He asked passersby for directions as he searched for pharmacies.
“At our pharmacy, we don’t sell suppressants without a doctor’s prescription…”
This was the third time.
For an entire hour, he had gone from pharmacy to pharmacy nearby, but there was nothing to show for it. Every single one shook their heads, saying they didn’t sell heat cycle suppressants.
At the same time, the pharmacists’ gazes clung to Kang-woo’s face as though he were some kind of strange creature.
“Ah… okay. I understand. Thank you.”
Kang-woo hurried out of the pharmacy like someone being chased.
“Haah…”
A sigh escaped him.
Even if the number of Omegas was decreasing these days, was it really this hard to obtain suppressants?
He had never realized before, since he normally relied on medication prescribed at the hospital.
If he’d known this would happen, he wouldn’t have thrown them away just because they got wet in the rain.
That had been too rash of a decision. But regret always came too late.
Just as he was starting to grow exhausted from wandering without direction, one particular pharmacy came to mind.
It was a place he had remembered just in case—since there might come a time when he needed to get medicine urgently.
But that place was somewhat close to his school. It was only one bus stop away.
What should he do? He couldn’t keep wandering like this forever.
After hesitating for a while, Kang-woo finally turned his steps toward the nearby station.
He bought a transportation card, charged it, and got on the subway. The air from the heater was stuffy.
After five stops, he was swept off the train along with the crowd of people getting off. At the bus stop in front of the station, he transferred to a bus.
Even though it was that vague time between morning and afternoon, the bus was full of passengers. It was so different from what Kang-woo imagined a weekday would look like that he almost mistook it for the weekend.
As he blankly watched people bustling about, he soon arrived at his destination.
Kang-woo pressed the bell and got off the bus.
His outing was taking longer than expected.
For a moment, he worried that Seok-ho might have woken up and started looking for him. But just as quickly, he dismissed the thought, figuring that Seok-ho—being as indifferent as he was—had probably just gone to work without much concern.
He walked down the familiar street.
The moment he realized he had come somewhere with a high chance of running into people who knew him, his head naturally lowered. He shoved both hands into his pockets and hunched his shoulders. The tension made his body shrink in on itself.
If he passed this alley, there would be a kimbap shop. And if he walked just a little farther, he’d reach the pharmacy.
Just as he reached the corner—Kang-woo’s steps abruptly stopped.
“Fuck. Hey, hand over your phone. Let me see how pretty she is too.”
Snickering laughter stabbed into his ears. It was a familiar voice.
His eyes quickly scanned the guys occupying the narrow alley.
By sheer misfortune, it was Baek Kyung-wook’s group. He hadn’t expected to run into them here at this hour.
The moment he recognized them, Kang-woo searched for one person in particular. If they were here, it meant there was a chance Baek Kyung-wook might also be with them.
Fortunately, contrary to his fears, Kyung-wook wasn’t there.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t that strange. Kyung-wook always prided himself on being a model student—he never skipped class.
He had avoided the worst-case scenario, but that didn’t mean he could relax.
“Hey, you fucking idiot. What about this face is pretty? She’s obviously had everything redone, and that’s a hundred percent filter magic. What, are you blind or something? Huh?”
Seong-cheol’s crude voice jabbed painfully into Kang-woo’s ears.
Inside his pocket, Kang-woo clenched his hand into a fist. Sweat dampened his palm. His heart began pounding as if it might burst.
He needed to turn around and get out of here.
But with Kang-woo’s appearance, several of them had already started looking his way. If he suddenly changed direction now, it might only attract more attention.
Left with no other choice, Kang-woo decided to pass by them as naturally as possible.
He immediately put his decision into action. Head lowered deeply, he quickened his steps—
Then suddenly, a familiar voice stopped him.
“Hey, wait a second.”
Kang-woo’s breath halted.
It felt as if his heart had leapt right up to the bottom of his throat.
Keeping his head lowered, he rolled his eyes slightly and glanced sideways. A pair of sneakers entered his field of vision.
Seong-cheol sauntered over and stopped beside him.
“Hm… something about your vibe feels familiar.”
Tilting his head, Seong-cheol tried to check his face. Kang-woo turned his body aside to avoid his gaze.
“Hey now. Lift your head for a second. Let’s have a look at that face.”
With that insolent remark, he reached out his hand. Kang-woo reflexively dodged again.
“Ah, come on. Just stay still for a second.”
But Seong-cheol persistently reached out again.
With a rude grab that ignored Kang-woo’s will entirely, the cap was yanked right off his head. Cool air brushed over his hair.
“Ah…!”
Startled, Kang-woo immediately reached out to grab the hat back—but Seong-cheol’s blocking hand was faster.
Their gazes collided—Seong-cheol’s sharp, catlike eyes locking with his.
“Well, well. Would you look at this? Who do we have here?”
Grinning slyly, Seong-cheol pretended to be delighted to see him.
“Isn’t this Kim Kang-woo, who supposedly went to Australia for language study?”
The words that followed made Kang-woo pause in confusion, his hand stopping midair.
Language study?
It didn’t take long for him to grasp the situation.
So his father had pulled a trick. It seemed he didn’t want the school to find out that his only son had defied him and run away from home.
In an instant, Kang-woo’s heart turned cold.
His father probably hadn’t even filed a missing person report. He likely hadn’t told anyone—not even acquaintances.
The realization stabbed sharply into Kang-woo’s chest.
