Chapter 82
Hyeon-woo pointed at the largest alpha among those surrounding him and suddenly provoked, “What’s your problem? Why are you glaring?”
“Hey. Are you crazy?” Ju-on whispered quietly, but Hyeon-woo said, “Just wait,” and started to taunt even more. Thinking the group was being submissive because they were afraid of him, the big guy’s face quickly flushed red with anger at the audacity of this pup who wasn’t even a mouthful.
“Tsk~ Such an ugly face, acting as despicable as you look.”
At those words, the big guy finally lost it and raised his hand, as big as a pot lid, to strike Hyeon-woo. At that moment-
“Urghk!”
Suddenly choking, the big guy collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. Taking that as a signal, the group of alphas who had been bullying Ju-on fell to the bare ground one by one, rolling their eyes, foaming at the mouth, and desperately crawling on the dirt as if trying to escape from something.
Tae-geon, who had approached unnoticed through the parted crowd, said, “Let’s go.”
After that day, there was never any bullying again. Although Tae-geon had saved him, it was hard to deny Hyeon-woo’s significant contribution.
After that, Hyeon-woo would often come to Ju-on’s classroom and deliberately act familiar with him. Each time, it was quite a sight to see the alpha bullies shrink back with trembling pupils.
The following winter, Ju-on manifested as an alpha. Although a recessive alpha.
Ah, it’s irritating again.
Ju-on gritted his molars. He remembered how that jerk would subtly taunt him about it. Even though he hadn’t manifested himself.
Anyway, he had been incredibly annoying in every way since childhood. Since his father’s family had been a line of alphas for generations, that guy must have manifested as an alpha by now too.
Imagining how he would swagger and taunt him, Ju-on’s face spread with annoyance.
*
Getting off the elevator and ringing the doorbell, there was no response. Ju-on took out his key from his pocket. The reason this outdated lock was still attached instead of a digital door lock was due to the incomprehensible taste of his eldest brother, who had become obsessed with archaeology and ended up becoming a bachelor, master, doctor, and even a professor. He had been putting off changing it back out of laziness.
As he opened the front door and stepped inside, an acrid smell assaulted his nose. Something was still burning, making a sizzling sound that grated on his eardrums.
Hurriedly taking off his shoes, Ju-on ran to the kitchen counter, quickly turned off the induction stove, and opened all the windows throughout the house.
He entered the room where he kept his expensive equipment and carefully checked each piece for any damage. One wrong move, and the midi equipment worth tens of millions of won, which was difficult even to clean, could have absorbed that terrible smell.
“Phew……”
Ju-on’s caramel-colored bangs fluttered with his breath as he suppressed his anger.
Where did this crazy guy disappear to after burning the food to that state? Ju-on went out to look for Hyeon-woo. He searched everywhere, even the pantry room, but couldn’t find him anywhere.
Returning to the living room, Ju-on casually glanced towards the kitchen and froze. Someone was sitting at the dining table like a ghost, which he had thought was empty.
“Hey, you! You crazy bastard!”
It was understandable that he didn’t notice at first, sitting in such a dark place without turning on the lights and making no sound. But he recognized who it was just by seeing the round back of his head. It was Han Hyeon-woo.
Ju-on, who had shouted angrily, walked towards Hyeon-woo with loud footsteps.
“You almost burned everything. Do you have any idea how much the stuff in that room costs?”
“……”
“Huh? Do you?!”
“……”
“……Hey!”
…Shit. Ju-on swallowed a curse. Now he’s not even pretending to listen. This guy has become even more disrespectful while I was away.
“Are you deaf or something?”
Ju-on roughly grabbed Hyeon-woo’s shoulder and turned him around, then was startled. The jerk’s face was soaked with tears.
Hyeon-woo, who seemed to come to his senses at the touch, suddenly stood up and rushed to the stove, but it was already turned off. The food in the pan was burnt black, its original form indistinguishable.
“…Uh……”
Hearing the stammering voice behind him, Hyeon-woo turned around to see Ju-on standing awkwardly with a perplexed expression.
Hyeon-woo’s sense of time started to skip again. In the blink of an eye, several hours had passed. It felt like he had just put the food in the pan, but he hadn’t noticed it burning to this state.
Tears flowed several times a day. There was no reason. Even when he was just sitting blankly with an empty mind, tears kept flowing down his cheeks like a broken faucet.
Hyeon-woo wiped his wet face carelessly with his hand. Ju-on watched this with a disgusted expression. He had thought about making this jerk cry his eyes out more than once or twice if he got the chance, but now that he actually witnessed it, he felt uneasy and uncomfortable rather than satisfied.
“…Hey.”
“…What.”
“……”
After calling out but having nothing to say, Ju-on just fiddled with the back of his head when Hyeon-woo’s voice suddenly came.
“You’ve grown a lot while I haven’t seen you, Kwon Ju-on.”
Ju-on’s ears turned red as he tried to suppress the corners of his mouth from rising and replied.
“Of course. How many years has it been?”
“……”
“What about you? Haven’t you grown? I’m taller than you now. Heh.”
“Yeah. Good for you.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“…Keep it a secret from my family that I’m here.”
Irritated by Hyeon-woo’s dry attitude as he turned away after saying what he needed to, Ju-on unconsciously grabbed his wrist and then let go in shock. The bony wrist felt like it would crumble if he gripped it any harder.
The last time he saw him was four years ago. He had met this jerk along with Tae-geon hyung at their family home when he visited to say goodbye before going to study abroad. Back then, he had chubby cheeks and looked healthy, but now he looked like a corpse with just breath left in it, devoid of any vitality.
Not just his emaciated body, but the whole atmosphere he gave off made him seem like a different person from the jerk Ju-on used to know. His skin was so pale it was almost ghastly, as if he had never seen sunlight, and above all, his eyes were lifeless. They were cloudy and empty, without any spark. Like rotten fish.
“Why keep it a secret?”
“……”
“Did you, like, get into trouble?”
Ju-on squinted one eyebrow and glanced at Hyeon-woo with a measuring gaze.
“Is that why you’re hiding out here?”
Ju-on shook his head at Hyeon-woo, who stood there without responding.
“You did, didn’t you? And it must be a big one at that.”
Entering the room, Ju-on started organizing his equipment and belongings while constantly chattering at Hyeon-woo.
“What is it? What kind of trouble?”
Ju-on’s competitiveness rose as Hyeon-woo consistently responded with silence to each question. The kind of trouble someone his age could get into was pretty much the same. He had seen many guys around him ruining their lives by mindlessly buying luxury goods and foreign cars, even taking out private loans, all because of their obsession with showing off.
There were also those who went bankrupt from coins, stocks, and gambling in the name of financial planning. However, given Hyeon-woo’s personality, he seemed far from materialistic desires and probably wouldn’t be interested in showing off or investing. Moreover, his family’s financial situation wasn’t dire enough for him to need to take out loans, so that couldn’t be it.
Then there was only one possibility left.
Ju-on paused from packing and blurted out the remaining possibility to Hyeon-woo, who was beyond the open door.
“What, did you get an omega pregnant or something?”
At those words, Ju-on caught Hyeon-woo’s shoulders flinching slightly and mentally shouted “bingo!”
Of course. That numbskull. He went around doing all sorts of sly things, but when it came to the critical moment, he had a side that was as dull as a bear.
Ju-on found it hard to understand how one could let their guard down enough to knot without protection.
He must have been in a state where proper thinking was impossible due to extreme excitement. Somehow, Ju-on couldn’t quite imagine Hyeon-woo dazed by omega pheromones.
…Rather…
Slap!
Ju-on hit his own cheeks hard with both hands. As if to quickly clear his mind of some impure fantasy that had almost emerged, he babbled whatever came to mind.
“You should have been more careful with protection. If you’re not going to take responsibility, make a decision quickly. I bet you’ve even run away from home because of your parents’ opposition, but you know running away isn’t the best solution, right? Even while you’re spacing out like this, the baby in the womb is growing steadily. Honestly, you’re not even financially independent, how are you going to feed a child too? I……”
“……”
“…Hey, are you listening?”
By this point, either a “shut up” or “get lost” should have come flying, but it was strangely quiet.
Ju-on poked his head out of the room to check on the unresponsive Hyeon-woo and his face turned pale. He threw down the launchpad he was holding and rushed to Hyeon-woo.
“Hey!!”
Hyeon-woo had collapsed and was gasping for breath. On the inside of his arms, which were randomly scratching the floor, red and swollen wounds were visible. Ju-on, who had been patting Hyeon-woo’s back as he gasped, quickly grabbed that arm and rolled up the sleeve to the elbow.
“…What is this?”
