Chapter 9
All of his passwords were 1104.
The first address he remembered and his first password.
There was only one reason he had desperately memorized that number.
In case his mother abandoned him somewhere.
For some reason, he had been perceptive since childhood and at some point had this premonition.
Not because she hated him, but for his own sake.
So he always remembered that number without forgetting it.
So he could find his way home no matter when or where he was.
And that premonition eventually came true.
When he turned ten, his mother sent him to his biological father and left, and when he tried to find his way back home, she had disappeared.
When he asked people around, they said she had just vanished one day. They thought he had gone with his mother.
Without leaving any contact information or saying where she was going.
As if she had never existed in this world.
That’s how, at just ten years old, he lost his mother and was soon dragged by the man called his father into that house.
But the new life was rocky from the start.
From childhood, he had an unusual personality, and the brothers in that house weren’t mild-mannered either.
With Jeongmin hyung, the second son, he managed to get by somehow since they were both illegitimate children, treating each other like they were invisible, but the problem was Lee Jeonghoo, the eldest.
Showing hostility from the moment they met, Jeonghoo looked at him with contempt despite being five years younger. But he understood that to some extent.
Even he wouldn’t have liked a suddenly appearing brother, especially one who was already ten years old and not cute.
But Jeonghoo’s overreaction went beyond reason, and since he himself didn’t have an easy personality either, they clashed constantly until finally, an incident occurred one day when he was twelve.
Jeonghoo broke the cell phone his mother had given him—his only remaining hope—and that day, blinded by rage, he beat Jeonghoo severely.
Normally, a twelve-year-old wouldn’t be a match for a seventeen-year-old, but Jeonghoo hadn’t expected the situation and couldn’t defend himself. Being physically weak to begin with, he was beaten terribly.
His uncle barely managed to stop him, but he couldn’t control his temper and ran away from that house to the home where he had lived as a child.
But that house was already gone. Instead, a huge apartment complex stood in its place.
He was dumbfounded in front of the gloomy building that wasn’t even fully constructed yet, but there was nothing he could do.
The villagers had all relocated, so there was no one to ask what had happened.
The only thing he could remember was the number of his same-age friend Seojun, who lived nearby.
So he called him, and fortunately the call connected, and he was able to hear what had happened.
The demolition of the village had begun right after he left. There had already been talks of redevelopment when he was living there. And his mother had sold that house where she had lived for a long time and left.
At that moment, he despaired at the thought that even his one connection to his mother had disappeared, but luckily, Seojun’s family remained.
Seojun’s family said they were moving back there.
To apartment 1902.
Seojun’s family had been like brothers to him since childhood, looking after him when his mother wasn’t home, and Seojun’s parent, who was an Omega and had given birth to Seojun, had the only connection to his mother.
As middle and high school classmates.
Of course, his mother had disappeared after sending him to his biological father, but because of the connection between middle and high school friends, he thought that if his mother ever appeared somehow, Seojun’s mother would also be contacted.
So at the age of twelve, he told his uncle, not his father, that he wanted to live alone.
He asked him to buy apartment 1901.
He said he would wait for his mother there.
By that time, everyone had already determined that keeping him and Jeonghoo in the same house was impossible, so they were planning to send him away.
So he asked for that apartment.
Unlike his father who had no affection for him whatsoever, his uncle, who for some reason had taken a liking to him from the moment they met, bought that apartment, even paying extra money, and he had lived there for 15 years since the completion of the building.
Until 3 weeks ago.
Waiting for his mother to return.
And that was only possible thanks to Seojun’s mother, who looked after him too.
His father urged him to leave that place with disgust, but for some reason, he couldn’t leave that house.
Of course, he hadn’t been waiting for his mother all this time.
By the time he became an adult, he understood why she had sent him to his father.
For a Beta woman, an Omega son would have been burdensome. She was someone who didn’t know about pheromone systems or what heat cycles were.
It would have been difficult for her to handle an Omega child.
He understood that completely. And at the same time, he thought that if she wasn’t looking for him to that extent, she must have a reason.
Maybe she got married or went somewhere far away. So he decided he shouldn’t wait anymore, thinking she must be living a new life.
He didn’t know why an Omega was born between an Alpha and a Beta woman, but it would be better for her to forget such a tragedy and move on.
He was also aware of the rumor that he was a defective product, only Omega in gender.
And he was the one who had made that rumor a fact.
His origins had always made him a complicated being, but there were advantages too.
Many troublesome things were reduced.
And with that, he had planned to live alone like that.
To the extent that he sincerely wrote “solitary elderly person” in the future aspirations section, he intended to live alone until death.
Then for the first time, Seojun was the person he wanted to become family with, but he thought he should let him go someday since he was not a good person for him.
That way of parting wasn’t particularly pleasant, but the breakup was a good thing.
For Seojun, and for himself.
He thought he should just be alone again. Because that would be more comfortable.
But contrary to his thoughts, he had always waited and couldn’t leave that house.
Like a dog that had lost its owner, he kept circling around that place.
Still not having become an adult.
* * *
“36.8 degrees.”
As he suspected, he had a slight fever.
Sitting in the sunlit reception room after taking his temperature, Junghyun felt lethargic and touched his neck.
There was definitely a slight warmth in his throat.
“I told you to dry your hair properly.”
As expected, the nagging began again.
Last night, he had slept in a different room due to not feeling well, and when he woke up early this morning feeling unusually heavy and came out, Jaehyuk immediately insisted on taking his temperature, and now the nagging started again.
“It doesn’t feel like a cold…”
It was just a slight fever making him feel a bit chilly and lethargic, but his throat and nose weren’t stuffy, and his head didn’t hurt.
He didn’t have muscle aches either, so it was a bit ambiguous.
“You’ve been busy and haven’t exercised in a while. It’s Monday so all the hospitals should be open. Want to go?”
“I’m fine. The fever will go down if I take some medicine. I’m just a bit lethargic, not to the point where I can’t move. Let’s eat so I can take the fever reducer.”
“I’ll order room service.”
As he was saying this and looking for the room phone, his cell phone rang.
Thanks to having turned the sound back on after the weekend, it was clearly audible. And the screen was visible too.
It was one of the friends they had met yesterday.
It seemed they were calling as it was exactly mealtime.
“You should eat with your friends. It’s better if we don’t stay together, just in case.”
Although it didn’t seem like a cold, he still had a fever, so it was best to maintain distance.
Even though they were on their honeymoon until Wednesday, while he could rest all week, that wasn’t the case for Jaehyuk.
“I’ll go to my room. Oh, I’ll order room service, so you go eat with your friends and surf. I’ll go out if I feel better.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to have someone with you when you’re sick?”
“I’m not that sick, it’s fine. And actually, when I’m sick, having someone around makes me nervous. I’ll eat, take medicine, and sleep, so you go ahead.”
As he stood up with just a fever reducer from the medicine box Jaehyuk had brought and headed back to the bedroom, he could hear Jaehyuk finally answering the phone behind him.
With Jaehyuk’s low voice in the background, he went through the corridor to the bedroom where he had slept last night, ordered room service right away, and lay down on the bed.
He just wanted to take medicine and rest, but it was obvious his stomach would turn if he did that, so he had no choice. And if he took medicine on an empty stomach, Jaehyuk would nag again.
Not wanting to hear that, he decided to obediently enjoy the room service and was checking his phone when there was a knock at the door.
“Yes?”
In response to his quick answer, the door opened and Jaehyuk carefully spoke.
“I’m going to meet my friends briefly and come back. Have your meal, take your medicine, and rest.”
“You can take your time. I’ll probably sleep after taking the medicine anyway.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
He just waved his hand, telling him to do as he pleased, and soon the door closed. As the footsteps receded, he checked the notifications on his phone.
There was no new news.
So he put down his phone and closed his eyes.
He was only planning to sleep for a very short time.
A very, very short time…
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
