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Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes – Chapter 110

Chapter 110

“Director! Where on earth are you?! You haven’t forgotten about the emergency executive meeting at 10, have you?!”

As soon as he pressed the call button, a young woman’s sharp voice poured out of the receiver.

“It’s the project you’re pushing forward recklessly. You suddenly insisted on opening export channels to the U.S. immediately, and all the employees are working tirelessly. You’re not planning to miss today’s meeting, are you?”

“…I’ll be there soon.”

The man who was walking after hanging up the phone suddenly stopped in his tracks. His vision blurred again, and he rubbed his brow while tightly closing and opening his eyelids, a gesture that seemed all too familiar.

After a while, as if his vision had recovered, the man hurriedly resumed walking. Above his head, an airplane crossed the blue sky with a roaring sound.

*

Hyeon-woo left the library and immediately got on his bicycle. Under the scorching sun, palm trees lined up at regular intervals, shooting up high as if to pierce the blue sky.

He pedaled diligently and finally entered Milvia Street. His favorite route to school unfolded before him.

The quaint houses were cute, and the unknown flowers blooming in the green lawns were beautiful. In the distance, the blue signboard of his mother’s store gradually came into view.

It took a full year for Blue Door to open and establish itself. Unlike Hyeon-woo, who had secured admission to a community college in Korea before coming to America, there were so many things that had to be done on-site for starting a business.

The joy of finding a great location was short-lived, as nothing was easy afterward. After many twists and turns, they had finally secured a stable supply of groceries, and regular customers had only recently started appearing.

After parking his bike behind the café, he went inside. McRae, sitting on the outermost stool at the counter bar table, spotted Hyeon-woo and greeted him playfully, tilting his head back.

“Hello.”

“…Hello.”

Hyeon-woo disappeared into the back room with a sullen expression, then reappeared wearing a black apron. McRae grinned at him once more.

Seeing his mother’s outdoor clothes still in the back room, it seemed she had stepped out briefly. Hyeon-woo retreated to the back room again to avoid McRae’s persistent gaze and started washing the few dishes that had accumulated. However, there were so few that even though he tried to do it slowly, it was over in no time.

Hyeon-woo came out to the front with a resigned expression. It was almost lunchtime. Students from the high school across the street would soon flood in, so he couldn’t afford to linger in the back room any longer.

Enduring McRae’s piercing gaze, he began arranging the few tables, chairs, and utensils in order.

“Oh my, when did you arrive!”

“Just now.”

“You must have come while I was out taking out the trash~.”

As his mother entered and greeted Hyeon-woo happily, McRae pouted.

“Maya, we agreed to speak English when I’m here too.”

“Oh right, we did. Look at me. You heard that, son? When Danny’s here, we speak English, okay?”

“…If you say so.”

As he reluctantly replied, two female students entered the café. Hyeon-woo, who was out in the hall, walked around the bar table where McRae was sitting to stand in front of the counter to take their order.

The girls, pretending to ponder over the menu written in white chalk on the black chalkboard, were busy stealing glances at McRae, their cheeks flushed as they whispered.

“…No way. It’s really Daniel McRae. I almost didn’t recognize him with black hair.”

“See? I told you, right? I heard he’s been seen here often lately.”

“It’s my first time seeing him outside the stadium! Did he dye his hair? The black hair looks so cool too. Let’s come here often from now on.”

“Of course. Let’s order first. One lemonade and one plain bagel, please.”

“I’ll have tomato juice and a Cobb salad.”

After completing the payment, Hyeon-woo passed the order slip with the menu items to his mother in the back room. Soon, the timer on the oven went off, and the savory smell of well-baked bagels wafted through the air.

Even long after the food was placed on the pickup counter, the girls were still standing in front of the counter, preoccupied with sneaking glances at McRae. Only when Hyeon-woo called out loudly, “Your order is ready!” did they approach, hurriedly grab their trays, and leave.

As he was returning from the pickup counter to the cashier, Hyeon-woo’s eyes met McRae’s once again. Not missing the moment, McRae playfully squinted his eyes, and Hyeon-woo could see brilliant golden color beginning to show at the roots of McRae’s black-dyed hair.

He felt uncomfortable. Every time he saw McRae’s dyed black hair, Hyeon-woo felt a sense of guilt weighing on his chest.

*

Wanting to bury all memories of Korea in the past, they deliberately chose a neighborhood with a low Korean population. Not only were there few Koreans, but people of color in general were rare. In other words, it was not an easy place for other ethnicities to settle.

Less than a week after moving in, Hyeon-woo experienced this firsthand. With few residents having black hair, curious glances were cast wherever he went. There was also blatant malice and contempt mixed in.

It was on one such day. As usual, he had just left the campus on his bicycle when he heard someone shout “Wait up!” from behind.

Not thinking it was meant for him, he continued pedaling hard without stopping. Suddenly, someone jumped out from behind and blocked his path, forcing Hyeon-woo to brake urgently. He had nearly collided badly.

Hyeon-woo looked up in annoyance to see who had blocked his way. The white cheeks with faint freckles and reddish-orange hair seemed somewhat familiar. It looked like a guy from the same school he had passed by before.

As the other person looked him up and down with an unpleasant smile, Hyeon-woo felt a chill run down his spine. The unpleasant sense of fear he had forgotten since obtaining the new drug came rushing back.

It’s best not to associate with such trash. He adjusted his grip on the bicycle handlebars and started pedaling. As Hyeon-woo tried to leave, the other person blocked his path again, as if taunting him. Annoyance welled up.

‘Stop it.’

‘Don’t want to.’

‘Move.’

‘Don’t want to.’

As they engaged in this childish back-and-forth, with the other person repeatedly blocking Hyeon-woo’s path every time he tried to move, four burly figures approaching from afar passed by them. Their jeers and jokes grated on Hyeon-woo’s nerves.

‘Having a lover’s quarrel? Get out of the way and stop bothering people on the street. Tch.’

‘I want to watch. Them getting it on.’

‘Ah~ This bastard’s voyeurism, seriously. Fix it, it’s disgusting, you fuck.’

Hyeon-woo’s face reddened with shame at the vulgar conversation. He turned his head to glare at the backs of the group as they moved away, snickering. They were wearing blue jerseys with “Whaleshark” written on them, each with a different white number on the back. Long hockey sticks protruded from the large tower bags slung over their shoulders.

Whaleshark.

It was the nickname of the elite line of the ice hockey team at the state university Hyeon-woo was aiming for as his first choice.

With just one season’s revenue, they brought in dozens of times the budget spent on coaching and facilities, consistently ranking high in college rankings and responsible for a significant portion of the school’s finances. Even Hyeon-woo, who was unfamiliar with sports, couldn’t help but know of their existence as they were such an important asset to the school.

Hyacinthus B
Author: Hyacinthus B

Hyacinthus

Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes

Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes

우성알파의 신포도
Status: Completed Author: Released: 2024 Native Language: Korean
*The protagonist is involved in relationships with different characters. Please note this for reference. *Contains many traumatic elements including forced relationships, confinement, etc. #MentalBreakdown #MutualMisunderstandings #Salvation #UnawareObsessiveSeme #UnrequitedLove “You knew all along, so why did you pretend not to know?” “You knew that the alpha scent from my body wasn’t mine.” Choi Tae-geon has a deep aversion to omegas due to childhood trauma. As part of an arrangement to address his psychological issues, Han Hyeon-woo, a boy of the same age (7), is chosen to be his friend. Worried about the hurt Tae-geon, Hyeon-woo promises to stay by his side forever. “I’ll stay beside you, I’ll protect you from loneliness.” However, their childhood vow begins to unravel when Hyeon-woo is forced to manifest as an omega. The moment he manifested as the very thing Tae-geon hated the most. Hyeon-woo realizes he’s deeply in love with Tae-geon.

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