At my strange reaction, Lee Hyeonseok peeked at my phone screen. Regardless of that, I checked other places with my confused mind. Every single one of them said application cancellation complete. Unless I had a split personality, there was no way I had canceled them.
My parents had comforted me saying I still had early admissions left, so it couldn’t have been them either. Then the only one I could think of was the bastard who had prevented me from taking the Suneung.
And Lee Hyeonseok knew about it.
I slowly raised my face to look up at Lee Hyeonseok. Even without seeing it in a mirror, my gaze must have been absolutely murderous right now. Even the great Lee Hyeonseok had bewilderment settling in his eyes. Of course, that bewilderment disappeared after one second.
The moment I was about to ask Lee Hyeonseok if he knew about this too, he shook his head side to side.
“I really don’t know about this. I really don’t know what happened.”
I couldn’t believe him. Lee Hyeonseok had always treated me like a dog and screwed me over. What about Lee Hyeonseok was there for me to trust? Because I didn’t believe him, Lee Hyeonseok denied it twice.
“…Then, who….”
“Who knows. Well, it’s probably either Cheon Jaekyung or Han Taeseok.”
“Who ordered my kidnapping?”
“Cheon Jaekyung.”
Lee Hyeonseok answered obediently. It seemed I really didn’t look like I was in my right mind right now. Lee Hyeonseok texted someone. I very seriously contemplated how I should chew up Cheon Jaekyung to be praised for chewing him up well. While doing so, I searched on my phone about sentence reductions.
“Looks like Cheon Jaekyung canceled them.”
Lee Hyeonseok spoke while I was in the middle of searching. I was so absorbed in searching that I didn’t even know Lee Hyeonseok was there.
“Still…. No matter what, if it gets canceled, the person should be contacted.”
“Is there anything a chaebol’s son can’t do? Besides, he’s one of the main gongs of this novel. Even if it’s somewhat nonsensical, there’s nothing he can’t do.”
“Main gong?”
When I asked back at the unfamiliar term, Lee Hyeonseok made a stiff face, ran a hand down his face, and answered as if displeased. It seemed like he wouldn’t explain twice, so I listened attentively despite my agitation.
“Just, well. He’s a protagonist.”
“If he’s a protagonist, then just say protagonist—what’s with the main… Damn novel! Get some plausibility!”
“What do you expect from something written by a high schooler?”
I was bewildered by his condensed explanation and asked about the parts I didn’t understand, but at his rolling eyes, I pretended to understand and protested anew against this nonsensical novel, but Lee Hyeonseok replied with exasperation. Come to think of it, the one who wrote this novel was Lee Hyeonseok’s half-sister. Since family means I should be the one doing the criticizing, I quickly changed my stance before Lee Hyeonseok’s mood soured.
“Novels are supposed to be a bit nonsensical to be fun.”
Fortunately, Lee Hyeonseok didn’t seem to care much. Then again, he got screwed over just the same.
Anyway, Cheon Jaekyung. Yeah, it was you. I was actually grateful that only one person had screwed me over. Dealing with one chaebol kid was already beyond my wildest dreams—how much harder would it be with two?
No matter how realistically I thought about it, it was impossible for me to deal with Cheon Jaekyung alone. Even if I somehow cracked his skull like I did with Lee Hyeonseok, a prison ending was certain. Since I’d transmigrated, I could try going to prison too, but my parents would obviously be sad.
I glanced at Lee Hyeonseok. If I had Lee Hyeonseok backing me, I could just close my eyes and go for it.
“What.”
“Respected Hyung, please grant me just one request.”
“……”
I even clasped my hands together and looked at him with sparkling eyes as I pleaded. I didn’t know how many times this made. Lee Hyeonseok should be getting used to it by now. But that didn’t mean I had any reason not to try. I was ready to grab onto Lee Hyeonseok’s pants leg and cling.
“Fine, what.”
“!”
Even if some unfair demand came from Lee Hyeonseok, even if some bizarre demand came out, even if a demand worse than his previous antics came out, I was planning to beg. But Lee Hyeonseok readily agreed as if it were nothing.
“R-really?”
“Forget it if you don’t want to.”
“No. Of course I want to. You’re really all I have, Hyung.”
“……”
If he was going to do it, he should just do it—he always had to act coy like this. I fawned over Lee Hyeonseok before he could change his mind. Today was the first time I learned I could fawn. Finding me that unbearable to look at, Lee Hyeonseok even turned his head away. Good. Right now Lee Hyeonseok was being a softie. The kind of person who freeloads through life because even if they do 9 bad things, doing 1 good thing makes people say “but they’re good though.”
“So, what’s the request.”
Lee Hyeonseok, who had turned his head away, cleared his throat and asked me. Did he put honey on my head? He was even stroking my hair. Just for now, it didn’t feel bad. It’s not like I’d die from offering up my crown.
“Just.”
“Just?”
“Even if I do something that would get me sent to the police station, please get me out.”
Lee Hyeonseok thought my words were just a joke or something said casually, and let out a scoff, but from that day on I thoroughly watched crime dramas. It happened to be the start of winter break, and thinking it might be helpful someday, I started watching like a person obsessed with dramas except when sleeping, but honestly, I had no intention of actually doing something that would appear in a crime drama.
Even if I did something, it would just be a fistfight at most. I only asked Lee Hyeonseok because I was worried about being one-sidedly victimized by Cheon Jaekyung’s power after fighting. Violence is bad for whatever reason, but why do extenuating circumstances exist, and why does the word exception exist? Everything has its reasons. I didn’t want to know, but sometimes there were moments when fists were necessary.
Yeah. I really only thought about punching his face or hitting his stomach or something like that—I planned to keep anything that would land me in prison to just thoughts. I had absolutely no intention of doing anything that would actually send me to prison or court.
* * *
He got scared. Very honestly speaking, Lee Hyeonseok was scared of Seo Jiwoo for about one second. The moment Seo Jiwoo’s eyes asked Lee Hyeonseok if he knew, he glimpsed killing intent in those sunken, calm eyes… no, madness.
It was always scarier when a normally docile kid snapped.
There were two reasons why Lee Hyeonseok readily agreed when Seo Jiwoo asked him to overlook it even if he committed a tiny bit of crime.
Well, he figured even if he committed a crime, it would just be cracking someone’s skull again. But Cheon Jaekyung was scheduled to manifest as an Alpha in the future, and even though his build wasn’t as good as Lee Hyeonseok’s or Han Taeseok’s, he wasn’t someone who would lose to Seo Jiwoo. Lee Hyeonseok had been caught off guard because he was sick at the time, but unless Cheon Jaekyung was going through manifestation or something, there was no way he’d lose.
So Lee Hyeonseok figured Seo Jiwoo would at most slap him. Or throw a punch. Since Seo Jiwoo acted servile on the surface but was surprisingly bold, it might make for good entertainment.
The other reason was that he thought maybe he’d gone too far by not telling him about the Suneung. Honestly, because of his own wicked heart, even he thought he’d crossed the line, but he figured it would be fine since there was early admission. But it was still a trashy thing to do nonetheless. Then Cheon Jaekyung had even canceled the early admissions, and as a result, Seo Jiwoo who couldn’t go to university became a bit pitiable.
Normally, Lee Hyeonseok would have said “so what the fuck am I supposed to do about it” and gone on his way, but since Seo Jiwoo was the only one who felt real, he couldn’t help but go soft on him.
Anyway, so Lee Hyeonseok, just in case, thought of various ways to cover it up even if a chaebol’s second son died. The corporations were at similar levels, but Lee Hyeonseok was growing his group with the knowledge he currently possessed. Year by year, no one would dare to compete with them.
So, Lee Hyeonseok thought that even if it was quite a headache, if it was just the second son and not the eldest… and his heart even fluttered a little wondering what Seo Jiwoo would do. On top of that, he liked that Seo Jiwoo, who normally had a “well, can’t be helped” mindset, was losing control of his emotions like this. It was a bit different from what he wanted to see, but either way, he figured there was no reason not to grant the request.
Lee Hyeonseok had even somewhat anticipated that Seo Jiwoo would call him to a police station. Seeing those eyes mad with insanity, it seemed likely he’d see him at the police station. It could be because Cheon Jaekyung got slapped by some kid who seemed way weaker than him and got upset, or they could both throw punches and both go to the police station where only Seo Jiwoo couldn’t get out.
Anyway, the end of his imagination always ended with the good-for-nothing Seo Jiwoo getting pissed off, picking a fight without knowing his place, and then tearfully calling out desperately for Lee Hyeonseok at the police station.
And so Lee Hyeonseok went to pick up Seo Jiwoo, who was being questioned by the police—a somewhat anticipated result. Seo Jiwoo had really caused trouble and called Lee Hyeonseok. It was enough to make him laugh hollowly at the fact that what he’d imagined wasn’t completely wrong. But he hadn’t anticipated the reason for being called to the police station.
When Lee Hyeonseok first heard it, he stupidly said just one word: “What?” The secretary, with a face that said even he couldn’t believe it yet, repeated it in a daze. Only after confirming several times that what he heard was real did Lee Hyeonseok burst into very loud laughter.
Since this world’s setting was Omegaverse, Lee Juwon had one child each with Han Taeseok and Cheon Jaekyung. There was supposed to be a child with Han Hyeonseok too, but since Han Hyeonseok was Lee Hyeonseok, it would never happen. Anyway, since the result of the love triangle was “everyone lives together,” the novel’s ending was them living happily with their children.
But Seo Jiwoo had turned Cheon Jaekyung into a eunuch.
Not figuratively, not an exaggeration—literally a eunuch.
Ah— family planning, ruined.
