Alpha, Beta, and Omega
Sangho regained consciousness in the emergency room. He’d clearly seen the sandbags covering him, but he felt better than expected. The hospital recommended he get examined in case he had a concussion, and with a dazed face, Sangho finished a light examination and came out after hearing that there were “no major problems.”
Ring ring, ding.
A call rang from Sangho’s pocket as he awkwardly came out of the hospital.
“Hello.”
― Yes, is this Lee Sangho from Environmental Sanitation? This is the General Affairs office at Korea University. Are you alright?
“Yes, yes. The hospital said there’s nothing wrong. I’ll return to the school.”
― Ah, but you must have been startled, shouldn’t you rest for a few days? According to our company regulations, hospitalization can be processed as sick leave…
“No, no. I’m fine. I can return in about 20 minutes.”
― Then you can just clock out for today. We’ve talked with the supervisors. You should rest a bit. And sorry, but there’s going to be an in-house disciplinary committee meeting soon, so you’ll need to come and give a statement.
“What? A disciplinary committee?”
― Yes. Ah, not for you, Lee Sangho. It’s for the Center Director’s disciplinary hearing. We had a big workplace bullying incident a few years ago so we’ve been in a sensitive state about it. But this time a student also got hurt…
“What? A student got hurt?”
― You didn’t know? That wrestling team student Han Kyungoh. You got crushed together, didn’t you? Anyway, the disciplinary committee is on Thursday, so please come on Tuesday or Wednesday to talk to the grievance committee.
The General Affairs staff member explained more about how to claim hospital fees and hung up. A disciplinary committee. Sangho stood there dumbfounded, then scratched his head.
After that, he received several more calls in succession. Wonha was making a fuss saying he’d rush over right away when he heard about the accident, but Sangho tried hard to dissuade him. He’d already heard that Wonha’s advertising schedule was backed up minute by minute from the variety show filming. I’m fine, I’ll contact you later. When he said that, Wonha became slightly embarrassed and asked him to call instead of texting. I can’t go, so I need to at least hear your voice, hyung. At the voice heard through the receiver, Sangho again felt something warm spreading in his chest.
Next, the cleaning supervisors he’d worked with called alternately. Though they’d acted like they had no interest in him, they seemed to have worried quite a bit about this incident. Several chatty supervisors apologized for not taking care of him, saying the story had spread widely about how Sangho had endured the Center Director’s harsh abuse of power. What shocked the supervisors most was the part where the Center Director had made Sangho clock in from 4 AM. Sangho was slightly awkward but thought this kind of attention itself wasn’t bad.
Moreover, the cleaning supervisor with the most seniority said that although they couldn’t change the indoor gym assignment right away, he could clock in at 6 o’clock as usual.
After the phone storm had passed for a while, Sangho sat on a bench in front of the hospital and stared blankly at the street. Since it was lunchtime now, people were busily moving their steps, pouring out from inside buildings.
They said Han Kyungoh got hurt.
Sangho recalled the story he’d heard from the General Affairs staff. When the sandbags poured down, it seemed like someone had protected him, but he didn’t know it had been Han Kyungoh. He himself had no major problems, but he didn’t know how badly Kyungoh was hurt. Come to think of it, in May the wrestling team was preparing for a big competition, he thought. Moreover, over the weekend, the variety show that Wonha and Kyungoh were appearing in was gaining quite a bit of popularity, and additional filming would be scheduled soon.
Then Sangho realized there was no story about Kyungoh’s injury in the BL manhwa he’d seen. Could something be changing in the story? And because of him? Anxious feelings began to rise. He’d thought there would be no problem if he appropriately avoided the protagonists and let them meet and date each other on their own, but he felt hopelessly entangled with the protagonists.
Just then, several wrestling team freshmen passed in front of Sangho. It was the trio who always made trivial small talk. The students wearing training clothes, as if they’d finished training, were looking around the hospital vicinity. They seemed to be looking for the hospital entrance.
“Is sunbae really hospitalized here?”
“Yeah. I heard he hurt his shoulder. He’s hospitalized for one day today.”
“Is it serious? The competition is next month. We’re going to training camp starting tomorrow…”
“I don’t know… The coach was really angry. For now, he has to skip as much training as possible and recover.”
“Ah, I heard. It’s rotator cuff inflammation.”
“What? Not a fracture but inflammation? Weren’t those sandbags almost several hundred kilos? Then he used his strength to hold them up with the janitor underneath?”
“He’s an alpha. Fucking macho. Fucking monster.”
The three giggled and entered the hospital holding a box of beverages. Though their language was rough, they seemed to look up to Han Kyungoh quite a bit.
More than that, Sangho was bothered by the story that Han Kyungoh was hurt enough to be hospitalized for a day. It wasn’t a serious injury like a broken bone, but he couldn’t gauge whether it would affect his future schedule.
He got hurt because of me… This feels unsettling.
Sangho stared at the hospital entrance where the wrestling team freshmen had entered. Even so, he didn’t have the courage to enter the hospital and check on Han Kyungoh’s condition. With slightly uncomfortable feelings, Sangho went home as he was.
***
The next day.
Sangho slept in his studio apartment for the first time in a while and took the first train at dawn to clock in at Korea University.
The day before, Wonha had told him the password to the studio entrance and said to sleep there, but Sangho refused, saying he couldn’t go to a studio without its owner. Besides, now he could clock in at 6 as usual, so there was no need to sleep at Wonha’s studio. But I can’t just freely go in and out of someone else’s house. When Sangho chuckled and said that to the quite disappointed Wonha, another strange silence flowed. Sangho thought Wonha was tired and quickly told him to rest before hanging up.
― Beep, clocking in.
The students’ words about going to training camp the day before must have been true, because the wrestling team students who would have been training around this time couldn’t be seen. Come to think of it, even during summer vacation the wrestling team goes to training so there’s not much work. Glancing at the first-floor trash can, it seemed not even a third was filled yet. At this rate, there would only be a lot to clean on the upper floor offices, and almost nothing to do on the first floor. Sangho’s mouth opened wide in a grin.
Sangho, who was about to quickly start cleaning the first floor, paused when he saw the lights on inside the gym. There’s no one who would use the gym at this hour. As Sangho, holding a broom, opened the door with curiosity, a man was stretching inside the gym. It was Han Kyungoh.
“Ah.”
As Sangho stood there flustered, Han Kyungoh, who’d sensed someone’s presence, turned around. Han Kyungoh also seemed slightly flustered. The two looked at each other like that for several seconds as if nails had been driven into them.
“Uh, I’m sorry.”
Sangho was the first to move. As Sangho tried to quickly leave the gym, feeling like he’d interrupted some exercise, Han Kyungoh quickly stood up from his spot and began approaching. Sangho tensed, rolling his eyes going “uh, uh.”
“Are you hurt?”
“Y-yes…”
Sangho glanced at Han Kyungoh’s shoulder in front of him, fixed thickly with sports tape. He himself hadn’t been hurt at all, but he’d heard that Han Kyungoh had ended up like this holding up several hundred kilos of sandbags. Sangho felt pangs of guilt and bowed his head.
“Th-thank you. And I’m sorry you got hurt because of me.”
“…”
Even at Sangho’s greeting, Han Kyungoh was looking down at him in silent response. Sangho began to feel increasingly embarrassed. Is he angry because he got injured? As that thought crossed his mind, he naturally began to feel tense.
“Don’t you sleep in the sports storage room?”
“Yes… Things changed a bit because of that accident. Now it’s 6 o’clock clock-in.”
“…”
Another awkward silence flowed. Now Sangho felt like he should say something.
“Th-thank you for saving me. Thanks to you, I wasn’t hurt. But, that. Student Han Kyungoh… got injured. I’m sorry…”
“They said about 2 weeks of rehabilitation exercise will do it.”
“Y-yes…”
“Hyung should help me a bit.”
“…What?”
I didn’t mishear, did I? When Sangho made a bewildered expression, Han Kyungoh said again with a face whose inner thoughts were completely unreadable:
“Please help me with rehabilitation exercises for just 2 weeks.”
“Uh, uh…”
“I’ll teach you exercises. It’ll be easier to lift things like that.”
Han Kyungoh gestured with his chin, pointing at the garbage bag in Sangho’s hand. He seemed to be talking about how Sangho had struggled to move the full garbage bag last time. His face turned red with somehow embarrassed feelings, and Sangho stammered for a moment:
“Uh, that’s… that is. It’s also during work hours…”
“If you refuse, it can’t be helped.”
Han Kyungoh lowered his eyes. It wasn’t an accusatory tone, but it made him feel even more guilty. The sports tape stuck all over his drooping shoulders clearly entered his vision. It seemed he felt it was too much to do rehabilitation exercises alone.
