“So basically, you’re telling me to be your partner.”
“I’ve never thought of myself as stupid, but I have no idea how you reached that conclusion.”
Lee Hyeonseok looked up at the sky, completely shameless and confident. Oh, so you need that level of mental fortitude to make such garbage statements. I learned something I didn’t need to know. The only thing I didn’t understand was Lee Hyeonseok’s conclusion. I had nowhere else to go, but I backed up as far as I could. My head was painfully crushed against the door.
“I don’t want to show anyone my state when I’m in heat, and I can have you under my control.”
It was complete fucking sophistry. It was also selfish. Even if I heard it at KTX speed, it was crazy talk. I know I should respect people who think differently from me, but when the harm is coming directly to me like this, isn’t it okay to criticize? But instead of getting on Lee Hyeonseok’s nerves, I decided to persuade him. I spoke carefully and gently, like calming an excited beast.
“…Since you’ve already shown it, wouldn’t it be better to do it with the person who’s seen it rather than dragging in someone who hasn’t…?”
“I fucking hate that it feels like I’m in heat for a character from a book.”
Aha. I see. So you’re a pervert with principles? Lee Hyeonseok spoke as if it were obvious. He was so shameless that I was almost impressed at this point. The world is wide and there are many crazy bastards.
“It’s not like I’m some fucking pervert.”
What’s this pervert who’s already been shown in the media doing everything saying? It was fucking hilarious that someone so promiscuous cared about something like that. But Lee Hyeonseok was serious. Endlessly serious. Lee Hyeonseok was the kind of bastard who did what he said he’d do.
“So, your answer.”
“…Well…”
I wasn’t gay. I had never once been interested in a man in my life. But I had blushed looking at women and thought of women when doing it alone, so I think my sexual identity is heterosexual.
Anyway, to suddenly tell me to become partners with a man when I’ve never even had a deep relationship with the opposite sex—isn’t this moving too fast? Professor, the pace is too fast.
“I’ll give you 10 seconds.”
I think adults can meet and have relationships by mutual consent. It’s not like we’re in the old days, and if it’s not forced and you’re an adult without a lover, isn’t it okay to do it?
“We’re still students though…”
“Yeah. Students who are about to graduate soon, 7 seconds.”
But the important thing is, the problem is that I don’t particularly want to do it with this bastard Lee Hyeonseok. It’s also a problem that I’m not gay. With all these problems, Lee Hyeonseok even said when he wants to.
“But it’s with a guy…?”
“Didn’t you see the news? 4.”
I knew. I just hoped he would hesitate a little. There’s too much to think about, so I don’t know what to think about first.
“You, you want to… want to do it with me…?”
“Better than nothing. 2.”
This bastard whose brain is in his lower half. This bastard with personality problems. This trash bastard.
“0, I’m leaving.”
“I look forward to working with you.”
Yeah. What’s life anyway? You can get possessed in life, and that piece of garbage bastard who was in the same place can get possessed into a novel written by his half-sister, and two transmigrators can live together for that purpose, whatever. Fucking life has no time to be boring.
“Good.”
Lee Hyeonseok smiled that despicable smile and praised me. Then he lightly kissed my neck. The smacking sound was heard very explicitly, and my head spun as if I was about to fall backward. Leaving behind me frozen and unable to move with goosebumps and chills, Lee Hyeonseok left the room.
I needed to ask Lee Hyeonseok if he was really going to solve it, but I didn’t have the energy. For now… for now I should sleep. Nothing was better for escaping reality.
Yeah. It’s not like I have a lover right now, and consent… yeah, we’re doing it by mutual consent, aren’t we? Huh? It is consent, right? I started getting confused.
…Yeah. What can I do. It’s not like life goes my way, and it’s not like I’ll die from doing it a bit, and it’s not forced. Let’s just write a contract or something later and coordinate the terms. Surely he’ll accept that much… People say somewhere that a choice where you have virtually no options isn’t really consent, but life. You need to know how to compromise.
If it comes down to it, I’ll just push him away or something.
* * *
When I woke up from sleep, there was a text from Lee Hyeonseok. Looking at the time, it was sent 10 minutes after he left my house. That despicable bastard with personality problems, Lee Hyeonseok, said he had already matched his story to the excuse I made during the police investigation. And the CCTV footage containing the scene where I hit him with the brick was retrieved by Lee Hyeonseok that same day, so the police couldn’t find it. The shovel was fine because I had washed the handle and other parts with water just in case. However, for the fucking crazy shaman house son excuse, he said he had tricked me as a joke, so that’s what I know. These testimonies that no one would believe unless they were fucking crazy were properly accepted after Lee Hyeonseok fed them money. He said there probably wouldn’t be a need to call me, but if they do, to say that.
This personality trash Lee Hyeonseok had already solved everything and was just toying with me. I felt like I would get not only gastritis but also hwabyeong at this rate. It seemed like I would be the one living a long life with illnesses, not the rich Lee Hyeonseok but the broke me.
News about Alphas and Omegas came out new every single day. Interest in Betas had long since disappeared because they were no different from ordinary people.
People’s admiration for Alphas and harassment toward Omegas grew day by day. Discussions about related legislation never ceased, and debates on the internet continued tirelessly about what people from wealthy families, celebrities, and high school seniors who would become college students next year would manifest as. With no corruption scandals, the entertainment industry quiet, and the CSAT over, all attention was focused on the new genders. To put it nicely it was interest, but it was chaos itself.
Fortunately or unfortunately for me, Lee Hyeonseok was fucking busy. This was because it became known that the eldest son of a leading conglomerate in Korea had already manifested as an Alpha long ago. And since he was said to have superior genes compared to others, they were already calling him a Dominant Alpha or whatever among themselves.
Anyway, because of that, other corporations seemed to be getting anxious and were working hard to get the results of Lee Hyeonseok’s physical examination.
Lee Hyeonseok’s family started seriously shifting their direction from steel and construction to the medical field. Lee Hyeonseok knew more about these genders than anyone else. Lee Hyeonseok’s family, which was monopolizing information, would probably grow fucking huge. I already knew, but as expected, the world was fucking unfair.
If at least it were a world where omegaverse had somewhat settled, it would have been normal, but unfortunately, this world was one where omegaverse was just beginning. There would be no one who could dare challenge Lee Hyeonseok, who was monopolizing information, or the group he belonged to.
First, I ordered a lot of cabbage online.
* * *
I went to school a week after the CSAT ended. The CSAT was over. There were hardly any students coming to school now, but I had to talk to the teacher once about not being able to take the CSAT.
“You…! You, hey, Seo Jiwoo! What happened to you?”
“Ah…”
When I got to the classroom, Kim Dongsu was surprised to see me and approached. Other friends also came running in surprise, so it seemed they knew I hadn’t taken the CSAT.
“I had circumstances…”
“What circumstances! You didn’t answer texts! You didn’t come to school!”
Dongsu shook my shoulders and pressed me. Although fury about not being able to take the CSAT rose from time to time, I was now able to maintain composure.
“Did you oversleep?”
“No.”
“Did you go to the wrong school?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I was sick.”
Still, saying “I was kidnapped so I couldn’t take it” would require a long explanation, so I just said I was sick, and Dongsu comforted me with sympathetic eyes. I half-heartedly dealt with Dongsu, put my bag down at my seat, and headed to the teachers’ office.
“Seo Jiwoo!”
The homeroom teacher raised his voice in surprise when he saw me. The homeroom teacher seemed just as surprised.
“I heard you were hospitalized?”
“Yes…”
I had coordinated with my parents that I couldn’t take the CSAT because I was sick and hospitalized. Hearing my answer, the teacher also comforted me like Dongsu had.
“Alright. There’s still early admission left.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not going to retake the exam, you’re going with early admission, right?”
“That’s the plan.”
Fortunately, I had applied to several places for early admission, so I had no choice but to go to college with that. Of course, since they were safe choices, they were lower level than where I had applied, but one place I had applied to was a university similar to where I had intended to apply.
“Alright. It’ll work out.”
“Thank you.”
After exchanging a few more words, I left the teachers’ office. I took out my phone to search and check once more about the schools I had applied to, and bumped into someone.
“What are you doing?”
It was Lee Hyeonseok. I was surprised since I hadn’t expected him to be at school at all, but Lee Hyeonseok always appeared suddenly, so I just accepted it now.
“I was trying to check the places I applied for early admission.”
“Where did you apply?”
“A University and J University…”
“Where were you originally planning to go?”
“G University…”
“Oh dear.”
Of the three places I mentioned, two were slightly lower than where I had intended to apply, and one was about the same level. But since the place I was planning to go with my CSAT score was similar but slightly higher, Lee Hyeonseok showed sympathy. With a face that wasn’t sorry at all. I wasn’t even angry anymore. I was tired of getting pissed off at every little thing.
“…Huh?”
“?”
I was mostly ignoring Lee Hyeonseok’s words and checking my application status when my eyesight must have gone bad. Either that or I’d gone crazy from stress. I rubbed my eyes and looked at my phone screen once more.
If I could read Korean properly, the screen said “Application Cancellation Complete.”
What the fuck?
