So it had been a full week since Baek Yu-gyeong had attached himself to his back — and despite being the suspicious sort of character who ends up on such bad terms with the female lead, nothing particularly off about him was showing itself.
On the contrary, far from anything unsettling, Baek Yu-gyeong stuck to his side and put on aegyo that didn’t suit his large frame at all, saying sweetly that he liked him very much and hoped Cha-heun would go out with him. Thanks to that, instead of feeling sorry for Baek Yu-gyeong, Cha-heun was starting to feel something closer to exasperation creeping to the forefront. The boy said alarming things like he’d come searching for him all the way from the far end of the corridor, and every chance he got, he’d press close with a cheerful greeting and cling to him.
If this had crossed a line into outright coercion, Cha-heun could have done something about it — but it wasn’t that at all. The boy was just doing his best to seem cute and endearing, which made it impossible to even get angry.
He’d lower himself into an awkward crouch, straining that big body of his to get down to eye level — or he’d slip underneath and gaze up with wide, blinking eyes. Watching that spectacle, Cha-heun thought, this kid really is a hopeless case. And if their eyes happened to meet, the corners of his mouth would split wide open — not like a small puppy catching a ray of sunlight through the shadows, but with a brazenness that was something else entirely.
He had absolutely no idea why this boy was so utterly without a shred of self-consciousness — and when he’d even gone so far as to feed him snacks, Cha-heun had genuinely thought he might lose his mind. In all his life, he had never once put a snack into another man’s mouth.
This is maddening.
Here he was, a second-year student, coming all the way up to a third-year classroom to wag his tail like a puppy and then pressing a candy jar — visibly expensive just from the look of it — into his hand, saying it was for him to eat alone.
The problem was that not a single person in the third-year classroom raised any objection. However uncomfortable and awkward it was, it seemed everyone knew Baek Yu-gyeong was a young master from quite a well-off family — and the female students, if anything, actively welcomed Yu-gyeong’s presence in their classroom.
On top of that, the fact was that he wasn’t causing any real commotion or inconveniencing anyone here, which made it awkward to throw him out. Though the fact that he’d walked into someone else’s classroom in the first place was the problem to begin with.
…And so Cha-heun, in the end —
“Get out, you.”
“Hyuung, you’re kicking me out? For real?”
“Yeah. You’re disturbing everyone trying to study. Are you going to sit the college entrance exam for them in November?”
As if, — he grabbed Baek Yu-gyeong’s hand and lightly tossed him out the door before shutting it.
The students looked startled. Their eyes said: can an Omega who treats Baek Yu-gyeong like that actually exist?
The thought that he’d caused trouble for the students made Cha-heun press his lips together briefly — then he smiled and apologized.
“…Sorry about that. If that guy comes by and causes a scene, let me know, alright? I’ll figure something out.”
Even so, only awkward, noncommittal responses came back from his classmates.
It was plain to see they were thinking that getting tangled up with Shin Cha-heun — who Baek Yu-gyeong had latched onto — would only bring them trouble.
…It was the moment the quiet school life he’d maintained up until now shattered into pieces because of Baek Yu-gyeong.
No — more accurately, it seemed like making friends with his classmates was already a lost cause, and Baek Yu-gyeong was to blame for that too.
What an insufferable pest.
“…Can’t you seriously keep at least a little distance?”
He’d deliberately taken a roundabout route far from the second-year classrooms to find his way to the school store — and he had no idea how this boy had found out. As if he had a GPS attached to him, Yu-gyeong had come running from behind and now clung to his side, following along.
“But this isn’t a classroom — it’s just a hallway, right? You said it was fine as long as I don’t disturb the third-year seniors, didn’t you? Didn’t you?”
“…….”
Whether this counted as good listening or not was genuinely confusing. For one thing, he’d never said it was fine as long as he didn’t disturb anyone — he’d told him to leave because he was disturbing people.
What’s certain is that you are a tremendous disturbance to my life, and I’d very much like you to give me some space.
…But Cha-heun couldn’t bring himself to say that harshly, and squeezed his eyes shut.
If he could, he’d honestly like nothing more than to give him one good smack — but he couldn’t do that to a young student….
It’d be one thing if the kid was actually doing something awful, then he could at least knock some sense into him — but no, it wasn’t even that.
To be candid about it, he couldn’t even make sense of Baek Yu-gyeong’s own psychology.
…What on earth is this guy’s angle?
Baek Yu-gyeong was walking practically draped over his back, and yet he wasn’t making much effort to carry on a real conversation.
This guy has nothing to talk to me about, so why does he follow me around like this? Is he really just so gone on pheromones that it was genuine love at first sight?
…No.
Cha-heun studied the boy swishing along behind him through suspicious eyes. He hadn’t thought much of it at first, but ever since he’d learned this boy’s name was Baek Yu-gyeong, something had been nagging at him — and a suspicion had taken shape.
…If he’d been drawn in by the pheromone scent, he would have stepped in to help back then when he was passing by. …What exactly is this guy after?
Alphas were highly sensitive to scent, and it was said that a dominant Alpha could catch the pheromone of a dominant Omega from quite a distance. Some kind of instinct, wasn’t it? He’d heard they were more developed in that area than Betas — it seemed to be tied to the drive toward the opposite sex. Thinking back to the string of confessions he’d received at the start of the semester, it was clearly true.
But Baek Yu-gyeong had distinctly twitched his nose and then walked past with a scowl. He felt certain it hadn’t been that instinct pulling him in. The disconnect from his current behavior was simply impossible to reconcile.
He tried to frame it as: maybe the pheromone had appealed to him, but he’d been too scared of the situation to step in — but thinking about who this boy actually was, that didn’t add up either.
For one thing, he doesn’t match the character from the manhwa.
The Baek Yu-gyeong from back then had carried himself differently from this flippant version — but he’d clearly had enough confidence in a fight to physically intimidate a male student bigger than himself.
Nothing had changed about that now. Baek Yu-gyeong, pretty face aside, had a solid build, and people tended not to mess with him — the other students backed off first. The girls seemed favorably inclined toward him, and even the boys looked like they reined themselves in a little around Yu-gyeong.
Curious about why, Cha-heun had poked around a bit, and through the grapevine he’d heard that in middle school Yu-gyeong had been in the kendo club — and had been good enough to take second place at the national athletics competition. A guy who was strong academically and athletically — the very definition of someone who had it all.
I mean, people usually don’t mess with athletes. And on top of that, his build and his family background….
…Someone like that had been too scared to step in back then, and had been hovering nearby trying to call the police? Something about all of it didn’t quite line up. Without even noticing, Cha-heun had started keeping his guard up around him, little by little.
Lost in those thoughts and walking along with this hulking figure attached to his back, he bumped into someone. There was a bouncing sound, and when he looked at the person in front of him, it was a pretty-faced male student who seemed vaguely familiar.
“…Ah, sorry. Are you hurt?”
Cha-heun looked the student over and apologized first.
The student he’d bumped into saw Cha-heun, let out a quick, offhand apology for being the one at fault — then noticed someone was attached to the back of him and flinched visibly.
That reaction was strange enough that he glanced back — and Baek Yu-gyeong, standing behind him, was saying nothing, watching the boy with cold, flat eyes. The corners of his mouth were curved up in the thinnest of smiles.
Cha-heun, catching that, jabbed him in the side.
“…Baek Yu-gyeong, I was the one messing around and bumped into him — why are you glaring at his friend?”
When Cha-heun pointed it out, Yu-gyeong seemed to go blank for a moment, then smiled brightly.
“Ah…. You’re right. Sorry.”
“Huh?”
“Really sorry, okay?”
“Oh, …oh?”
As the other person gave a lukewarm response, the corner of Yu-gyeong’s mouth twisted.
“…What, you’re not going to accept my apology?”
Cha-heun watched that, then pressed down firmly on Baek Yu-gyeong’s head.
“I’m sorry. I’ll apologize sincerely.”
“Ah, no, it’s fine!”
Cha-heun glanced at the student once more, offered another apology, and then hurriedly hooked Yu-gyeong’s neck under his arm and dragged him away from the spot.
It wasn’t until they’d rounded the corner of that hallway that a whining voice drifted out from the Yu-gyeong tucked under his arm.
“Hyuung, my head hurts…”
“…Oh, yeah? Sorry.”
Wondering if he’d pressed too hard, Cha-heun released him and smoothed his hair down. The light, honey-wheat strands — close to golden — fell back into place with a nice texture after just a few passes.
Yu-gyeong blinked as his hair was being tidied, then soon squinted his eyes up with a coy look.
“You’re sorry?”
“Hm? Yeah, I’m sorry.”
“Then as an apology, give me a li’l ki—”
“That’s the yellow one, isn’t it. That character.”
Cha-heun pushed Yu-gyeong’s finger — which had been pointing at his own right cheek — aside and headed toward the school store.
“Hyung! You’re leaving me behind? Huh? And it’s the blue one.”
“…You’re going to follow me anyway….”
And it’s the red one. You’re wrong too — look at you just saying whatever, not even caring.
Cha-heun fixed him with a tired look and let out a sigh.
This insane world — where a man openly flirts with another man and nobody finds it the least bit strange — was one he wanted no part of. The students around them didn’t bat an eye at Yu-gyeong trailing after Cha-heun, and kept saying things like, aren’t you two dating?
He wished someone, anyone, would find it a little strange, and for the love of everything, step in and put a stop to it.
I’m gay. Gay. A gay man who likes women.
Goosebumps rose all over Cha-heun’s body. Even just the thought of calling himself gay put him in a slightly sour mood.
With one last deep sigh, Cha-heun — with Yu-gyeong still grinning away at his back — knitted his brows.
…Either way, seeing what just happened — yeah, that’s him alright.
The ‘Baek Yu-gyeong’ from the original story. Watching what had just happened made him certain.
He’d clocked the reaction and said he was sorry — but only in words. Not a single thing about his tone, his expression, or his manner matched what an apology should look like. The bright, cream-colored irises in those slightly upturned eyes had been quietly unsettling, and his voice had been buoyant yet cold in a way that didn’t belong to someone who was genuinely contrite.
It gave off the distinct impression of: I apologized, so if you don’t accept it properly, you won’t get away with it.
He’d snapped back to being cheerful almost immediately and was again pressing close and putting on aegyo at his side — but all the same, Cha-heun had a feeling Baek Yu-gyeong was currently hiding his true nature.
…Ah, so that’s why Ha-ra gave you a piece of her mind, huh.
