【00. Prologue】
Friday, the front gate after evening self-study ended was congested with students leaving school and various vehicles. There was less than a month left until the college entrance exam. Among the students whose hearts were busy with their final sprint, Chaehun’s steps were light.
Chaehun glanced at Seunggeon walking right beside him. Since Chaehun and Seunggeon’s homes were in opposite directions, they had never walked home together unless there was a special occasion. Usually, they parted ways at the classroom or the main gate. However, something special happened today.
It all started with Chaehun’s complaint.
It was lunchtime. Chaehun grumbled to his friends that he had to go hiking tomorrow. Every autumn, it was an annual event for Chaehun’s paternal relatives to go to the mountains to see the fall foliage. And Chaehun’s father, Kang Daehyun, always took his eldest son Kang Suchan and second son Chaehun instead of his wife Jo Mihye, who had to nurse their sickly younger sibling.
Until last year, Chaehun had followed his father without complaint. He liked both hiking and viewing autumn leaves. But with less than 20 days left until the college entrance exam, the story was different.
Even though there wasn’t much time left until the exam, his father’s will was firm. There was no way to counter his father’s argument that exams were meant to be taken according to one’s usual abilities.
Two years ago, his older brother had skipped out saying it was right before the college entrance exam, and even then Chaehun had followed his father alone. But this year the circumstances were different. His brother was away in the military and his younger sibling had caught a cold and wasn’t in good condition. In the end, the only person who could accompany his father was Chaehun.
His friends cheered Chaehun on. Run away to the study room. Say you’re sick. Don’t catch a cold. Be careful. In the midst of all this, Seunggeon asked if he had hiking boots. He said the mountain paths would be slippery because it was autumn when there were severe temperature changes between day and night. He also added that surprisingly many accidents happen in the mountains.
Chaehun, who had been wearing sneakers until now, refused Seunggeon’s offer to lend him hiking boots once. However, Seunggeon didn’t back down. Since the hiking boots were slightly big but he could wear hiking socks, he insisted so strongly that in the end Chaehun had no choice but to nod.
From that moment on, Chaehun had been completely elated.
Borrowing and lending clothes or items among friends was common. But Seunggeon was a little different.
Seunggeon, who had transferred after summer vacation in their second year, was basically strong in his outsider tendencies. There were many kids who wanted to become close with Seunggeon, who was handsome and good at studying. However, Seunggeon kept his distance from his classmates with his characteristic coldness.
If you had to pick someone he was close with, it was Chaehun. It started when they sat in front of and behind each other after Seunggeon transferred to the same class, and they exchanged test papers and printouts.
They also became partners during P.E. class when Seunggeon was standing alone. As they occasionally exchanged trivial small talk, at some point they started going to the cafeteria together with their friends.
At first, he didn’t think anything of getting close to Seunggeon like that. But after realizing last summer that he liked Seunggeon, the situation became complicated. The title of being Seunggeon’s closest friend was gratifying. But because he was the closest, he was afraid his feelings might be discovered.
He didn’t even think about confessing. Seunggeon was an Alpha. He was also popular. There were often occasions when kids from nearby schools who had come to like Seunggeon would visit.
If he confessed that he liked him as a man who wasn’t even an Omega, it was obvious he’d be rejected. No, the probability of being despised was high. In that case, it was better to just remain friends.
Nevertheless, the fact that Seunggeon had offered to lend him hiking boots first made him unable to help thinking that perhaps he was being regarded as special.
Even if that was different from his own feelings of liking him, being happy was being happy. To hide that elated feeling, Chaehun threw out various questions.
“You said it’s a 5-minute walk, right?”
“Yeah.”
“If we go to your house now, will your parents be there? Should I wait outside? Is it too late to greet them? What do you think?”
“It’s fine. There’s no one at home. I live alone.”
At the unexpected answer, Chaehun found himself asking back without realizing it.
“Alone?”
“Yeah. Due to family circumstances.”
Seunggeon, who mentioned family circumstances, didn’t add any other explanation. Chaehun just nodded. Only after becoming aware that he liked him could he recall that Seunggeon hadn’t said anything about his parents or siblings. He didn’t know what kind of story it was, but he knew he shouldn’t pry until Seunggeon spoke about it first.
“Aren’t you scared living alone? When I’m alone and strange sounds suddenly happen, I get scared.”
“I’m not scared.”
“I thought so. What are you scared of?”
“I don’t think there’s anything.”
“Oh. Strong heart. I want to have a heart of steel too. I had a nightmare a few days ago. I received the college entrance exam paper, but I couldn’t read a single character. It was the first time I realized I was this chicken-hearted. I wasn’t like this during exams.”
Chaehun conveyed the secret he hadn’t told anyone in a light tone. The National Police University entrance exam was famous for its high difficulty, but Chaehun was confident in both his physical strength and mentality. He had taken the first and second exams without any problems.
But recently, he had nightmares related to the college entrance exam at intervals of a few days. The college entrance exam carried the most weight for the National Police University, so it seemed he was receiving a lot of stress because of that.
“You said you’re going to the National Police University, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Is being a police officer your dream?”
“Well… you know, it’s good. Catching bad guys.”
At Seunggeon’s question that hit the core, Chaehun glossed over it vaguely.
In truth, going to the National Police University was his father’s will. He told his eldest son, his brother, to inherit the lighting store their father ran. And he strongly urged Chaehun, who studied the best among his siblings, to become a police officer. The idea was that one of his sons had to become a high-ranking public official, and since you could become an officer just by graduating from the National Police University, there was nothing easier than that.
Chaehun wanted to become a veterinarian, but he thought being a police officer wasn’t bad either. With the National Police University, tuition was waived, and if you just graduated, there were no employment worries. Above all, the biggest attraction was being able to live in a dormitory.
Chaehun loved and liked his family, but still, he wanted to leave home.
His parents’ attention was focused on his younger Omega sibling. It was a very rare case for an Omega sibling to be born between Beta parents. His parents cherished and raised his younger sibling, who had inherited the trait and was sickly with frequent minor illnesses.
Next was his eldest brother. His father gave all kinds of support, saying the eldest son who had to take care of the household needed to have spirit.
Relatively speaking, Chaehun had no choice but to be pushed to the back. It wasn’t that he was discriminated against, but still, most things centered around his brother and younger sibling. If he hadn’t been good at studying, he might have been completely treated like leftovers. He didn’t know when he was young, but as he grew older, the things he had swallowed one by one were now becoming disappointing.
Chaehun cherished his small and cute younger sibling. He liked his brother too. Still, he thought it might be better to physically distance himself to sort out the unavoidable emotions. It was childish as a motive for applying to the National Police University, but anyway, that’s how it was.
“High-ranking police officers can’t just catch bad guys. Ability is ability, but you also have to be good at social life.”
“That’s common sense. I’m pretty good at that sort of thing, you know.”
At Seunggeon’s advice that wasn’t advice, Chaehun answered confidently. While preparing for the National Police University, he had picked up various stories. The world of adults was brutal and scary like urban legends. Still, he was confident he could do well.
“I remember you saying you wanted to become a veterinarian. Do you not like being a veterinarian anymore?”
Chaehun was startled at Seunggeon’s question. It was true that Chaehun had aspired to be a veterinarian. Until his second year, he had hopes that it might work out somehow. Because being a veterinarian was also a socially recognized profession. But he couldn’t persuade his father, so he gave up.
