Wouldn’t it be okay to kill him? At this point, wouldn’t killing him be self-defense? No. Actually, isn’t he doing this because he wants to die?
I sincerely thought so. Because otherwise, there was no way someone could act like this—every action, every remark, cutting off a person’s rationality like snip snip. So maybe he was telling me in a roundabout way that he wanted to die now? Maybe he actually wanted to die by my hand, but I was clueless and didn’t realize it?
But unlike my insides boiling with murderous impulses, I obediently knelt and showed surrender. Because it seemed less shameful to end it quickly rather than dragging it out needlessly. They say the weak can’t even properly get angry—that was exactly me. I wanted to flip everything over right now, but the aftermath was too scary for that. If it ended with just kneeling, wouldn’t that actually be not bad? It wasn’t being beaten up or getting slapped in the face.
“That’s right.”
I obediently received Lee Hyeonseok’s touch as he patted my head as if I’d done well. I was thinking ‘It’s fortunate his mood seems to have improved,’ when, as if there was a problem with his emotional fluctuations, Lee Hyeonseok suddenly grabbed my hair and yanked it up. Without even a moment to be surprised, slap, my face turned to the right.
I was so startled that I momentarily forgot the pain. Unable to even turn my face back from the right, just blinking my eyes, Lee Hyeonseok grabbed my face and made me look at him. His eyes were so fierce that for a moment I even felt like I was being devoured.
I thought he was generously letting it pass, but apparently not. I didn’t know whether to be angry about getting slapped on the cheek, or grateful that Lee Hyeonseok controlled himself and hit me without knocking me out like Lee Juwon.
“If you act smart even one more time, know that you’ll really get beaten to death then.”
At Lee Hyeonseok’s words, I came to my senses and simultaneously began to gradually feel pain. Violence was one of the very effective means of conversation. I decided to be grateful that Lee Hyeonseok controlled himself when hitting me and nodded my head mercilessly.
“Answer.”
“Yes.”
But Lee Hyeonseok wasn’t satisfied with just me nodding and specifically wanted to hear it in words. If that’s what you want, I must deliver. I obediently answered as he wanted, but somehow Lee Hyeonseok had a displeased face. I had no idea what tune I should dance to.
“Anyway, a bastard with no pride.”
It seemed he wanted to give me humiliation, but whether my anger flared or I was scared, it wasn’t humiliating, so what could I do? Humiliation could only be felt when there was some degree of difference, but I was so vastly inferior to Lee Hyeonseok in everything except things like humanity that I couldn’t even feel the difference. He was just a human who lived in a completely different world from me. There was no sense of humiliation to feel.
“Hmm…”
Lee Hyeonseok—did he have a mental problem?—this time gently stroked down my cheek that he had hit and observed. It was enough to give me goosebumps, but originally normal people couldn’t understand crazy bastards’ thoughts. Instead of saying anything to Lee Hyeonseok, I just decided to let him do as he pleased. I could only earnestly hope he was the type who, once he got bored, would leave without looking back. No, clearly he was a human who lived in a different world from me, so even if he found me a bit peculiar now, he’d eventually get bored.
“You’re not in your right mind either.”
“No, that’s not true.”
In the middle of positive thinking, at his absurd words, I forgot the threat he’d made just before and words popped out without going through my brain. Fortunately I didn’t curse, but since it was informal speech, I immediately shut my mouth and watched his reaction. Lee Hyeonseok surprisingly didn’t seem to be in a bad mood. I unfurled my body that had curled up like a turtle in case I got hit again.
“Good. I’ll let you crawl up to a certain extent.”
I tensed up thinking I might get hit one more time for looking like I was crawling up, but he generously let it pass. Lee Hyeonseok observed my feeble resistance with a feeling like watching cute antics of a pet. He was diversely fucking crazy in every way. Still, if I said this, I might get beaten unconscious this time. I nodded at his words and showed gratitude.
“Um, but…”
“Yeah.”
I once gauged Lee Hyeonseok’s mood. Beyond not seeming in a bad mood, he seemed to be enjoying himself. I decided to think it was profitable to satisfy my curiosity in exchange for giving one slap on the cheek and the feeling of enjoying a pet’s antics. I worried he might not answer to tease me, but Lee Hyeonseok answered easily.
“This new gender thing, you’re talking about the people who are pregnant now, right?”
“Right.”
I fell into despair at Lee Hyeonseok’s answer. That Lee Hyeonseok’s words were correct meant that in the future it would become a promiscuous society, people would blame others, and unsavory things would happen. Seeing me rigid with worry about the safety of my parents and myself, Lee Hyeonseok smiled wickedly. For a moment curses rose to the back of my throat and I wanted to beat him up, but I could only glare. If I opened my mouth now, it obviously wouldn’t end with just crawling up.
“Also, also.”
“?”
“I told you to manage your expressions well.”
Lee Hyeonseok said while pressing my brow. It was a voice tinged with laughter. He seemed to have decided to completely treat me like an animal. Unable to voice my complaints, I decided to just continue asking questions while leaving him to do as he pleased.
“What’s an omega, and what’s manifestation?”
The last novel I saw was an unprecedented novel where a fucking super strong dragon roared and monopolized everything. After being shocked by that novel, I completely swore off internet novels, so I was a complete outsider when it came to knowledge about internet novels.
At my question, Lee Hyeonseok took his hand off my brow and dry-washed his face. I didn’t know what kind of thing it was that made him so disgusted. Lee Hyeonseok took a big sigh and only then opened his mouth.
“First, betas are just normal people. Normal people who are neither alphas nor omegas.”
I nodded as if understanding. Actually, the atmosphere was so awkward that even if I didn’t understand, I felt like I should just nod first. Beta, alpha, omega. The unfamiliar words and absurd information didn’t properly sink in.
“Despite being trash, they’ll maintain what they maintain—when you turn twenty, you manifest as beta, omega, or alpha…”
Lee Hyeonseok paused and scanned me up and down. This bastard kept scanning me at every turn. My mood was exceptionally filthy, but I had no other way besides ignoring it. I averted my gaze on my own and waited for the next words, when Lee Hyeonseok stared intently at around my lower abdomen. Somehow getting goosebumps, I unconsciously stepped back, but he grabbed my wrist and prevented me from running away.
“Uh, huh?”
“Omegas are the bastards who can get pregnant.”
The male pregnancy that the news kept going on about and Lee Hyeonseok’s words finally connected. I’d guessed, but hearing the answer, I felt even more hopeless thinking I couldn’t even run a hope circuit now. My state must have been quite funny as Lee Hyeonseok chuckled. The bastard wasn’t in a position to laugh either right now though.
“W-wait. Wait, your hand…!”
“And alphas are bastards who can impregnate omegas.”
Lee Hyeonseok ignored my words and stroked down my flat stomach. My god, this was the first time since being born that I felt this filthy. It felt like all my hair was standing on end. It felt like being sexually harassed. No, this was already sexual harassment. My body, terrified by Lee Hyeonseok’s actions, seemed to forget how to move and just froze. It was the moment I understood why people being sexually harassed couldn’t do anything and just took it.
“……”
“Regardless of gender.”
Unlike me who was terrified, Lee Hyeonseok explained with laughter in his voice, finding something so amusing. Lee Hyeonseok’s explanation was very simple and clear. It was an explanation I couldn’t not understand even if I tried not to, so not knowing how to react, I just gaped my mouth. The bastard who had so hated explaining until just now had gone somewhere, and he was enjoying me being flustered and not knowing what to do.
Lee Hyeonseok was tall, reaching 190cm, with a physique twice as large as average. Even through his clothes, you could tell he had quite solid muscles. Already exuding extraordinary intimidation with just his body, thick eyelashes and a sharp nose bridge, fierce eyes that seemed like they could easily kill a person. Even his voice belonged to the low range… Fuck, crazy, he was like some future gangster boss bastard. To put it more sophisticatedly, a mafia boss. It seemed like the right way to think of my safety was to keep my eyes down and crumple up in some corner.
“Alphas and omegas definitely go into heat once a month, and each time…”
Moreover, when such a human spoke languidly in a low bass, there was a strange sexiness. The content was even vulgar, so I reacted innocently like a student receiving sex education for the first time. Lee Hyeonseok let out a low laugh and continued.
“They’re no different from animals in heat.”
Then I suddenly had a question. Lee Hyeonseok was explaining as if he’d seen it. Which meant, um. …So, he’d seen such a novel, right? No, of course anyone could read it if they wanted to. It wasn’t that it was particularly strange. It’s just that each person had an image, and Lee Hyeonseok was someone who did gambling, drugs, assault all-around and slept equally without discriminating between women and men—considering Lee Hyeonseok’s image, it was awkward and didn’t suit him… it was quite disillusioning. …Hmm, so he liked that kind of thing?
