“Jongyeol hyung……, today, I turned twenty-two.”
Yeo Mujin muttered under his breath as he shuffled forward one step at a time, leaning on Gu Jongyeol for support. Gu Jongyeol was already plenty irritated at having to prop up a man who was bigger than him — and now this guy was snickering and whispering in his ear on top of it, which pushed his annoyance right over the edge.
What is this guy’s deal.
Is he bragging about being young or something?
He briefly wondered how on earth the great Gu Jongyeol had ended up cleaning up after some kid still wet behind the ears, then quickly came to terms with it. Right. Cleaning up after someone far younger than himself was practically Gu Jongyeol’s calling at this point.
“Yeah, yeah. Must be nice.”
Gu Jongyeol took another step forward, guiding Yeo Mujin — who couldn’t even hold himself upright, god knows how many drinks he’d had — and answered flatly.
“Hyuung.”
“Yeah.”
“Finally…… twenty-two. This day has finally come.”
Bleep!
Ugh, for fuck’s sake.
Finally.
“Yeah, yeah. Big day. Now let’s get inside.”
Pressing Yeo Mujin’s index finger to the door lock got the door open after a bit of a struggle. Gu Jongyeol felt thick beads of sweat rolling down his forehead as he tried to keep Yeo Mujin cooperative.
“Hyuung.”
But Yeo Mujin, for whatever reason absolutely thrilled with life, had even grabbed onto Gu Jongyeol’s waist and was grinning and whining at him.
He was already bone-tired of looking after the Young Master, and now he had to look after his friend too. Gu Jongyeol wanted nothing more than to get this pain in the ass sorted out and get home as fast as possible. This bastard is disgustingly heavy.
“Alright, not there — here. Lie down here, Mujin.”
After much struggle, Gu Jongyeol managed to get him as far as what appeared to be Yeo Mujin’s bedroom, and steered the heavily alcohol-reeking man toward a bed that could easily fit several people at once.
Oof.
Yeo Mujin, who had been using Gu Jongyeol as his entire support system, toppled onto the bed with a thud — and the momentum nearly dragged Gu Jongyeol down with him. That was close. Gu Jongyeol felt the sweat pouring off him and stared blankly at his glove, which had nearly been yanked off in the process.
I’m letting this slide because it’s your birthday, you.
Gu Jongyeol pulled the wrist of the glove firmly back into place and straightened up, then looked down at Yeo Mujin, who had sprawled out flat on the massive bed and was letting out soft, low groans.
“Mujin. Why do you and the Young Master live the way you do?”
Well — Yeo Mujin at least seemed to be managing relatively fine. Maybe the problem really was just their Young Master.
Swear to God, Gu Jongyeol had never encouraged Kang Yeonkyu to become the perfect piece of trash he was.
He had dropped out of high school, yes — but somewhere along the way, thinking of Kang Hojun who worried about him, he had sat the GED and eventually attended an open university, earning at least a college degree.
He had enough of an education to teach Kang Yeonkyu basic literacy when the boy was still small — and never once had he encouraged Kang Yeonkyu to cheerfully skip whatever university classes he was supposed to be attending and drift from clubs to hotels.
“That’s all on those guys.”
No matter how I look at it, this is not my fault.
Even if the upstanding and clear-headed Gu Jongyeol had been there at Kang Yeonkyu’s side all along, the other people around him were all out of their minds — and when it’s one against many, the many wins. Gu Jongyeol felt a faint sense of pity stir in him.
Kang Yeonkyu, born into a tiny privileged class and wanting for nothing — and Yeo Mujin, now fast asleep in front of him.
“If you were born an alpha, you should at least have the decency to be grateful to the world for it.”
[Jongyeol hyuung! Mujin is absolutely insane. He got into our school as top of his class, you know? I knew this guy had something going for him. He looks so quiet, but isn’t that incredible? What if he becomes a judge later? Do I get to have a judge for a friend? Let’s have Mujin handle it whenever the guys get in trouble! What do you think, isn’t that a genius idea?]
The image of Kang Yeonkyu from a few years back — making a big fuss over something that had nothing to do with him, buzzing with excitement — surfaced unbidden in his mind, and Gu Jongyeol clicked his tongue.
Knowing him, he’s probably skipping class every day because he fell in with the wrong friend.
Gu Jongyeol didn’t know much about university life in detail, but judging from Kang Yeonkyu’s usual behavior, there was no way he was attending school properly. And wherever Kang Yeonkyu went, Yeo Mujin was almost always alongside him. His worry extended to Yeo Mujin’s future as well, and Gu Jongyeol spent a long moment watching the sleeping young man.
“Hmm.”
And what was going on with that face of his.
He was drunk out of his mind with his face flushed red, and yet it looked like there was a halo glowing behind the pillow. Gu Jongyeol had spent his life surrounded by an extraordinary number of good-looking men and figured he himself was no slouch in that department either — he’d thought himself completely numb to other people’s looks. But the aura a dominant alpha gave off without even trying was so compelling it was in a class of its own.
“Not bad to look at, I’ll give you that.”
Even by Gu Jongyeol’s sky-high aesthetic standards, the face was worth acknowledging. Muttering “at least live in a way that matches that face of yours,” Gu Jongyeol was about to ease himself off the edge of Yeo Mujin’s bed and stand up.
— Rrrr. Rrrr.
Who the hell is calling at this hour.
Gu Jongyeol ground his teeth at his phone blaring to life. He pulled it from the coat he was wearing, and the caller ID reading “Dr. Kim Juwon” made him narrow his brow even further.
“Haah, Doctor.”
Do you have any idea what the hell time it is——
— Patient Gu Jongyeol! It’s me. Kim Juwon from Hwangseo Hospital! You got home alright today? I finally had a moment to call. I was so worried about the way you rushed off earlier! Oh, is it alright to talk right now?
Gu Jongyeol was baffled by Kim Juwon’s bright, chipper voice, blissfully unconcerned with his feelings. He pulled the phone away from his ear and glanced at the time.
02:32
This guy’s out of his mind too.
What kind of unhinged doctor calls a patient’s personal phone at this ungodly hour. And come to think of it, the image of Kim Juwon’s face — always getting strangely flustered the moment he laid eyes on him — flashed before him, and Gu Jongyeol furrowed his brow and replied curtly.
“Doctor. I’m busy right now, so please call back tomorrow.”
And honestly, even saying that much was enormously generous on Gu Jongyeol’s part.
If it were my guys, I’d have ripped his head off by now.
— Oh, wait, patient Gu Jongyeol! There’s something I didn’t get to finish saying earlier——
“So call me when it’s daylight tomorrow, ugh!”
Just as irritation was building to the point where he was about to lose his temper, Gu Jongyeol was startled by a sudden strong force yanking him.
— Patient Gu Jongyeol? Patient Gu Jon——
Kim Juwon’s bright voice called out a few more times from the phone that had slipped from Gu Jongyeol’s hand, and then went silent.
Gu Jongyeol had been sitting perched on the edge of the bed just moments ago — and in the blink of an eye, he found himself flat on his back against the soft mattress. And as if that weren’t enough.
“Who the hell is calling you at this hour, hyung?”
His heart lurched at the dark shadow that fell over his face. Whatever large thing had pinned him down was speaking in a gentle voice. Gu Jongyeol watched, dazed, as Yeo Mujin’s lips parted again.
“Who’s the shitty bastard?”
Yeo Mujin — who, even among Kang Yeonkyu’s trashy friends, was someone Gu Jongyeol had never once heard swear in his presence — asked again with a soft smile.
Gu Jongyeol couldn’t answer.
Because the sight of himself reflected in those dark eyes was deeply, unsettlingly wrong.
He couldn’t breathe. The same staggering wreck who had been leaning his whole weight on Gu Jongyeol’s shoulder just moments ago had lifted both of Gu Jongyeol’s arms above his head, gripped them firmly, and was demanding an answer.
Hoo. Yeo Mujin’s breath slipped through his red lips and grazed Gu Jongyeol’s face. It was so unbearably sweet that Gu Jongyeol’s head swam for a moment.
This…… what is this.
Gu Jongyeol’s throat moved.
