“……”
They say the one who farted gets angry instead. Giving someone a disease and then handing them medicine—what kind of nonsense was that? The words rose all the way up to the tip of my tongue, but people don’t avoid shit because it’s scary—they avoid it because it’s dirty. So I just said thanks and left it at that.
Woo Hyun-woo ruffled my hair roughly and told me to be more careful next time. Damn it—how many times had my carefully styled hair already been ruined because of this bastard? At this point, it was certain. Whether Woo Hyun-woo was a good person or a bad one didn’t matter. Our compatibility was absolute garbage.
“Really?”
While I was still simmering in irritation because of Woo Hyun-woo, a voice that added even more irritation struck my ears from behind. Even though it was quiet, it sounded as loud as if someone had shouted right next to me.
“Jihoon, you said you’re in Business, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Right, we’re in the same department.”
“Then you two must be close?”
“Yeah. We’re doing the Love and Relationships team project together.”
I knew it too. Do Jihoon had to build various relationships at school. Just because I didn’t like Ha Min-young didn’t mean I could slice off Jihoon’s human connections cleanly like cutting a radish.
But what was I supposed to do when that bastard was seriously getting on my nerves?
“……”
What do you mean what should I do?!
Right now, whether that thing was a chipmunk or a squirrel wasn’t the important part!
I brushed Woo Hyun-woo’s arm off my neck and walked toward Do Jihoon. Several club members had gathered around him.
“Hey, Yeon Yuri. Come with me.”
When I was already annoyed enough to die, now I had a tail stuck to me too.
I had clearly been planning to go over there and throw some pointed remarks at Ha Min-young. Instead, I swept my messed-up hair back and stopped in my tracks.
I realized once again that when someone is pushed to the absolute limit of stress, they become strangely calm.
At this point, a vague hope started swelling up—que sera, sera. Somehow it’ll work out.
Right. It’s not like Do Jihoon would ever turn his attention to another omega anyway. Whether Ha Min-young hovered around him or not, I decided I’d just stop caring from now on.
Once I came to that conclusion, my mind actually felt lighter.
“Where are you rushing off to like that?”
“……Ah. It’s nothing.”
“Why? Were you going to the bathroom or something? Did I follow you without noticing?”
I was about to calmly tell him it wasn’t like that.
“Yuri.”
But just before the words left my mouth, I heard a familiar voice.
When I turned my head—sure enough, Do Jihoon was there. Just a moment ago he’d been standing far away, but now he was suddenly right in front of me as if he’d used teleportation.
“……Did you see the chipmunk?”
As Jihoon approached, Woo Hyun-woo finally slipped away from me and quietly returned to the window.
So he really was avoiding Do Jihoon.
“You damn bug spray.”
“What does that even—actually. No, I get what you mean.”
Jihoon frowned, then nodded in reluctant agreement.
“Dooojiii……”
“Yeah. What is it, Yuri?”
“I feel like maybe I shouldn’t have joined this club after all.”
“Suddenly? We’ve already come all the way to the MT.”
Normally I would’ve thrown myself into his arms, but there were too many people around. I couldn’t exactly become the club’s official disgusting couple-roach, so I settled for squeezing his hand instead.
Just having Do Jihoon beside me already made me feel much better. He wasn’t just Woo Hyun-woo’s personal bug spray—he was Yeon Yuri’s personal mood refresher too.
Nothing had even started yet.
And I already felt exhausted.
***
The paragliding I tried for the first time in my life was thrilling—and terrifyingly fun.
The trees and houses, bigger than me, stretched out below like tiny models. The orange sun slowly disappeared beyond the mountains. The fact that all of that scenery unfolded beneath my feet stirred up a strangely overwhelming emotion.
A gentle breeze brushed across my face.
I took back everything I’d said about regretting joining the club. People say nature heals the stress caused by other people. Now I truly understood why people say they want to go live in the mountains.
After all fifteen or so club members finished their flights, we gathered in small groups, chatting as we headed back to the lodging.
The seniors told the new members to rest while they prepared the food, so I sat with Do Jihoon and replayed the videos we’d taken while paragliding.
My video was full of loud whoa—! screaming noises, while Jihoon’s was so quiet it made you question whether there was even a person riding it.
I narrowed my eyes and glanced sideways at him.
“Do Jihoon, you didn’t freeze up because you were scared, right? Why is your video so quiet?”
“……”
“What? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“……”
“Baby?”
I had only been teasing…
But apparently I’d unintentionally hit the mark. Jihoon stayed silent.
It was basically the same as calling a fool a fool, or teasing a fat person by calling them a pig.
Feeling cold sweat slowly run down my back, I hurriedly started babbling to fix the situation.
“I-I mean, that happens sometimes. Were you scared, Doji? You could’ve said so. Some of the members with acrophobia didn’t ride—they just watched.”
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s okay. It happens sometimes. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. The world is wide and phobias are varie—”
“I said it’s not.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Jihoon protested passionately, but it wasn’t very convincing. I just nodded along casually as if agreeing with him.
As a result, Jihoon’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper being crushed.
“The meat’s ready! Come outside!”
Right then, President Park Ju-yoon opened the front door and shouted, calling the members outside.
Perfect timing for a topic change.
I reached out my hand to Jihoon and told him to come eat meat. He gave up protesting, sighed tiredly, and nodded.
“Whoa. Charcoal!”
The moment we stepped outside the front door, the smoky scent of charcoal assaulted my nose. At the same time, my stomach growled loudly.
Like owner, like pet—they say you stretch your legs after checking the space you’ll lie down in. My stomach was a smart one, just like its owner.
In the yard, five or six outdoor wooden tables that seated about six people each were arranged in a circle. In the center sat several grills for cooking meat, making it easy to distribute the food evenly to all the tables.
Whoever owned this pension had excellent taste—the furniture layout was perfect.
President Park Ju-yoon had just switched grilling duty with another senior and was sitting down.
I quickly grabbed Do Jihoon and headed toward the table where Park Ju-yoon was seated.
“Where are you going?”
“I told you before. I want to get close to Park Ju-yoon sunbae. Today’s the chance.”
Even though he looked bothered, Jihoon obediently let himself be dragged along.
“Hello, sunbae!”
“Ah, Yuri. Want to sit here?”
“Yes. Is there space……?”
“No, there isn’t. Sit wherever you’re comfortable.”
At Park Ju-yoon’s words, I beamed and immediately secured the seat right next to her.
But unfortunately, this table happened to be filled with higher-year seniors. The moment we sat down, a barrage of questions started flying at us.
Mostly toward me.
“Why did you join our club?”
“You two look really close. I’m jealous.”
“You’re really good-looking. Can I pinch your cheek once?”
Maybe because Do Jihoon had such a sharp expression, whenever we were together people tended to approach me instead of him.
It was the same this time.
As I stammered awkwardly, unsure which question to answer first, Park Ju-yoon stepped in to mediate between me and the seniors.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough. I get that you’re curious, but you’re going to scare him.”
“Him……. Well, yeah. At 21 he is basically a kid.”
The seniors quickly accepted that and went back to chatting among themselves.
I picked up a beer bottle from the table and spoke to Park Ju-yoon.
“Sunbae, your glass is empty.”
“Oh, thanks.”
“What do you usually do these days?”
“Let’s see. Part-time work, job preparation. Club stuff too.”
Now that I’d secured the seat beside her, it was much easier to talk.
Until dinner ended, I stuck close to Park Ju-yoon and chatted with her. Some seniors with closer year numbers came over saying they wanted to hang out with us too, but I immediately threatened them to go away.
The seniors trudged back to their seats with lonely expressions.
Up until that moment, when we were laughing and chatting happily, I couldn’t have imagined it at all—
What kind of fucked-up situation would unfold during the highlight of this damn MT: the drinking games.
