#67
“What, what, what…”
“It’s the weekend, let’s sleep more instead of working.”
Jaeha tightly embraced Eunhong with both arms and pulled him into the blanket. Is this what it feels like to be instantly dragged into a monster’s warm nest? Eunhong barely pushed aside the blanket covering his face and lifted his head to look at the wall.
The clock still showed before 7 AM.
“No, I can sleep more in my own room…”
He tried to push away the arms around his waist, but they wouldn’t budge. Jaeha buried his nose in Eunhong’s nape and exhaled a long breath. Feeling the body heat on his back, Eunhong was briefly grateful he was wearing a T-shirt, but then he felt Jaeha’s thighs against his buttocks.
Every time he shifted slightly, different parts touched, and body heat alternated between connecting and separating. Suddenly, Eunhong realized something and a chill ran down his spine. Something was touching his buttocks…
He narrowed his eyes, staring into the darkness, then squeezed them shut.
It can’t be.
It can’t be what I’m thinking. First of all, this is too big. It feels like a leg. Humans don’t have three legs, but given this size, it definitely can’t be what I’m thinking… There wasn’t enough evidence to judge based solely on the sensation against his buttocks, which had no eyes.
As Eunhong was lost in these idle thoughts while trapped under the blanket, Jaeha’s breathing started to slow, as if he was falling asleep. Just before drifting off completely, he whispered in Eunhong’s ear:
“Let’s get up when Mrs. Ham comes. I asked her to make hangover soup today…”
“Mmm.”
“North Atlantic pollock soup is good…”
“Mmm…”
“Ah, and…”
His voice got quieter, and his breath mixed in more. Jaeha nuzzled Eunhong’s nape like a dog finding a comfortable spot, took a few deep breaths, and then went quiet. He seemed to have fallen asleep.
Eunhong carefully exhaled. He was conscious of how his stomach expanded when he inhaled, because of the arm wrapped around it.
Suddenly, being dominated from behind in the darkness reminded him of the stolen kiss in the small Busan house. With everything quiet and pitch black, memories hesitantly sought out only such things. The first kiss when he was still a beta, and the exploratory kiss he had initiated. The kiss where he lost his senses, caught up in the mood…
Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss…
When he closed his eyes to try to sleep, the mixed pheromones made their presence known.
He was so tired but couldn’t sleep. Eunhong stared at some point on the wall with hollow eyes. If this keeps up, my junior might wake up…
Eunhong bit his lip hard and tried to direct his thoughts elsewhere. God, Buddha, Mom, Sunhong, coworkers… Please make me stop having these lewd thoughts about this puppy.
Ah, how can I sleep in this situation…
***
“Did something happen?”
Eunhong shook his head at Mrs. Ham’s question. Drinking the hot soup made him feel better and like he might live. Separately, there were dark circles under his eyes. It seemed more due to psychological factors than lack of sleep.
“Hong student, you’re quite the drinker. How many times have I seen you recovering from a hangover? Young people these days call it ‘Burning Friday,’ right? Don’t go too hard.”
“Yes… hehe…”
Eunhong laughed awkwardly. Though her tone was nagging, her expression was warm. He answered with all his enthusiasm when she asked if it was delicious.
When he finally fell asleep and woke up late, Jaeha was already gone from the bed, presumably in the living room. Like a fairy who had regained her wing-dress, Eunhong found his pants, put them on, and came out to the living room where Mrs. Ham greeted him. As Jaeha had predicted, a refreshing North Atlantic pollock soup was set on the table.
After finishing the meal, he soaked in the bathtub and washed for a long time. He intended to expel all the alcohol through his pores. When he came out with his body flushed red, Jaeha was exercising on the terrace. Feeling languid, Eunhong lay down at an angle and watched the beautiful body with its compact muscles, then took out his sketchbook and did a few quick sketches. After filling several pages with Jaeha’s back view, he felt sleepy.
He had the dream he’d been having often lately. The dream had progressed to the point of becoming a lucid dream. Even while dreaming, Eunhong guessed this was also part of the Christmas memory.
The funny thing was that the other person had blatantly transformed into Jaeha. These days, it was quite vivid, with a clear progression of events. Thanks to this, his energy seemed to be hitting rock bottom lately, and his mind was so twisted that sometimes he didn’t know how he saw Jaeha or whether this was a dream or reality.
In the dream, his body didn’t listen to him well. Only the sensations were terrifyingly clear. He had to helplessly watch Jaeha’s smiling face and red lips approaching him. The feeling of pheromones pouring out of his body was still unfamiliar. Moreover, the area between his legs became wet, and his front painfully stiffened…
“Eunhong?”
Eunhong startled awake at the real voice. Jaeha was shaking his shoulder. As he blinked his eyes, a phone was held in front of his face.
“Your alarm is ringing.”
“…Ah. Oh, thanks.”
Eunhong took the loudly ringing phone and sat up. He covered his half-aroused crotch with a cushion. On the screen, an appointment he had registered last week was flashing in a square window.
He got up unsteadily and went into the dressing room. He put on a knit hat over his messy hair and wore a loose-fitting jumper. As he was about to leave the house, Jaeha grabbed him with a frown.
“Where are you going?”
“Oh, I have a freelance job interview.”
“Again?”
“Today is an interview. It’s different from last time. I’m not taking you with me.”
When Jaeha tried to follow him again, Eunhong firmly refused. He scolded him like a puppy and told him to wait again, causing Jaeha to drop his shoulders dejectedly. This briefly made Eunhong waver, but remembering how Jaeha had spread his pheromones and prowled around with a fierce face at the cafe last time, it was absolutely not okay.
As Eunhong was putting on his shoes to leave, Jaeha threw him the car keys.
“Don’t take public transportation.”
“…Okay.”
Thinking that since Jaeha had made a concession, he should too, Eunhong took the car keys. It had been a while since he’d driven… Eunhong barely managed to stop Jaeha from following and headed to the underground parking lot. When he pressed the car key, he hesitated because the flashing car was too expensive, but it was a smooth start since he had managed to leave successfully. Eunhong started the engine, double-checked the interview location, and turned on the navigation.
The company he was going to for the interview wasn’t far from Jaeha’s house. As he entered the small game company that had set up an office on the most expensive land in Korea, Eunhong recalled Gil Dong-wook’s words about the CEO being rich. When Gil Dong-wook had introduced this job and boasted about his acquaintance, spitting as he talked, Eunhong hadn’t felt it, but seeing the flashy interior, his eyes widened. The pay is good too, so I must secure this. Eunhong stepped inside, steeling himself to do well in the interview.
According to Gil Dong-wook, the CEO was an omega. With exceptional sensibilities, he was in charge of overall artwork. A planner and a programmer also came out for the interview. Unlike the flamboyantly dressed CEO, the other two were dressed comfortably. Eunhong felt a sense of camaraderie with their attire of tracksuits and slippers, as if they lived in the office even on weekends. The CEO greeted Eunhong with a bright smile.
“Nice to meet you, Eunhong. I’ve heard a lot about you from Dong-wook.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“You’ve heard the general idea from Dong-wook, right?”
“Yes. It sounded very interesting.”
Unlike usual freelance work where one participates in fragments of a project, this job that Gil Dong-wook introduced interested Eunhong because he could contribute to the entire project with his name on it. It also scored points for having high pay due to the large workload and allowing Eunhong to draw in his own style. He also liked that there was a separate staff member to support him.
As Eunhong was reading through the planning documents, the CEO interjected. He asked if Eunhong was an omega. Since he was Gil Dong-wook’s acquaintance and couldn’t reveal the truth, and also because it was a somewhat rude question, Eunhong wrinkled his nose. When he shook his head to say no, the CEO laughed heartily.
“You need to draw our game to be arousing. That’s why I asked.”
“Arousing?”
The CEO firmly pointed to a certain spot in the planning document.
“It’s a pretty boy dating simulation. All the target characters are alphas. Female alphas, male alphas. You can choose to play as a man or woman when you start, but basically, the player is an omega.”
The CEO brought out a tablet and showed Eunhong a draft.
“This is a prototype that I and an employee roughed out. It’s really crude, but…”
The sketch on the screen was amateurish, but it was clear what they were trying to show. The first target character was a young male who was an extreme alpha and a chaebol heir. The omega character that the player controls needs to gain his favor with pheromones and then choose the right options in subsequent events to increase his affection. If you progress through the conquest properly, you can see bonus CG illustrations that appear.
Eunhong alternated between looking at the planning scenario and the sketch, and suddenly thought of Jaeha. The CEO added:
“Once we get the characters right, that’s it.”
Eunhong nodded.
“So I hope you can do a good job, Eunhong. Actually, we didn’t even need an interview. I liked your drawings.”
