“……”
Everyone present drew in a breath.
“……Who is that?”
A new face had suddenly appeared.
As if he’d sprouted from the floor, it happened in the blink of an eye. Baek Gunho was caught in his arms, unconscious just like that.
Lee Yeongwoo’s eyes, watching the scene, grew wider and wider.
“Wh-where did he come in from?”
The man was distinctive.
Beautiful enough to naturally steal one’s gaze, with a build so exceptional it stood out even among a group mostly composed of Alphas.
The young Alphas instinctively sharpened their senses, searching for his pheromones.
……But there was nothing. Nothing at all.
All they could feel was the unstable Alpha pheromones flowing from the unconscious Baek Gunho’s body.
Though puzzled by the incomprehensible situation, no one stepped forward first or spoke to him.
Instead, they pressed Baek Jeongwoo with questions.
“……Baek Jeongwoo, didn’t you rent this place out exclusively?”
But he wasn’t in a state to answer.
‘Why the fuck is he popping out……!’
Today’s protagonist had suddenly collapsed, spurting a nosebleed,
And the supporting character who should have been secretly hidden in a closet had revealed himself before the whole world.
There was no such scenario in the blueprint he’d conceived.
“You there.”
At that moment, the man spoke.
“Should I call you Baek Jeongwoo-ssi?”
He adjusted his hold on the collapsed Baek Gunho in his arms and stood up.
The sight of him lightly lifting an adult male his own size like a feather was strangely surreal.
“I’m taking this person with me.”
“What? No, wa-wait a moment……”
“Today.”
Dark blue eyes glanced at Baek Jeongwoo.
“Has been a tremendous waste of time.”
Eyes that glowed faintly like a bird of prey.
The moment their gazes met, Baek Jeongwoo’s body froze.
“You’re still acting on impulse.”
“Wh-what……?”
Still? This was the first time Baek Jeongwoo had met Baek Seolheon today.
The man continued speaking to the dazed, stunned Baek Jeongwoo.
“I mean your intentions are far too transparent.”
Cracks appeared over the flustered Baek Jeongwoo’s face.
The man walked toward the exit without giving him another glance.
With his arm hooked under Baek Gunho’s knees and supporting his back, his stride was unhesitating.
“You……”
Lee Yeongwoo, who’d been tracking the man with his eyes the whole time, opened his lips with difficulty.
“Are you…… Gunho’s younger brother……?”
Even though it was clearly directed at him, the man didn’t look back.
“Wh-where are you going? We need to take him to a hospital first……!”
“I know this person’s physical condition best.”
……So.
Mind your own business.
Stay away from this person.
Though the man kept his mouth shut, Lee Yeongwoo read what he wanted to say in those eyes.
“What are you…… going to do with Gunho?”
“Everyone asks me that question when they see me.”
A hollow laugh crossed the man’s lips.
“That’s what I want to ask.”
* * *
“This is awkward.”
Baek Gunho smiled when he saw the child who’d come alone.
“You want to live together in my house?”
“……”
“I haven’t heard anything separately from Father. Did you discuss it with him before coming?”
“……”
“I thought not.”
Young Baek Seolheon fixed his gaze on Baek Gunho’s face.
“Give me your bag. Let’s go inside and talk.”
The gently rising corners of his mouth.
The softly creasing corners of his eyes.
“I don’t know what happened, but it’s good to see you after so long.”
And the tiny sigh mixed in his exhaled breath.
Baek Seolheon stood still, watching Baek Gunho, who patted his head then headed to the living room.
More precisely, he observed.
Was he really troubled?
Was it true that he was happy to see him?
Deep down, was he annoyed?
“……Hyung.”
Or.
“Do you hate that I came?”
Was he disgusted?
Like that person?
“There’s no way I’d hate it.”
Baek Gunho answered immediately.
And smiled.
“Can’t you tell from my expression?”
Always, it was like this.
Baek Gunho always smiled.
“How much I like Seolheon.”
That person in the dream also smiled every day.
‘……It’s because you’re like this that you’re hated.’
But.
Even with the same smile, there were differences.
‘You really can’t do anything without me. Fucking moron.’
“Seolheon-ah?”
At least this person……
Didn’t push him away when he approached.
Looked back when he followed.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden? Did something happen?”
Held his hand back when he held hands.
The body heat transmitted through the palm was warm.
The scent flowing through their clasped hands……
Felt good.
“Tell hyung.”
They were different people.
「That’s what you want to believe.」
Every time he tried to convince himself of that,
Someone inside questioned it.
Baek Seolheon raised his head.
“Seolheon-ah.”
Before he knew it, the scenery had changed.
“Doesn’t it suit your taste?”
A black-haired woman asked Seolheon.
“Should I order something else?”
“……No.”
Baek Seolheon looked at the plate before him.
Blood was flowing from the cross-section of the meat.
“Are you doing well at home? Are you eating your meals properly?”
“Yes.”
“Come to our house while Gunho’s away. Mom and Dad are worried……”
“I’m fine. School is close by too.”
Baek Seolheon was now wearing a school uniform.
“Speaking of Gunho, you don’t know how reassuring it is that you’re there for him, Seolheon. We worry every single day because of Gunho’s constitution. Whether he’s doing well in the military……”
The woman paused briefly, then called his name.
“Seolheon, how about you?”
“What about me?”
“Whenever we meet, we always end up talking only about Gunho…… Sometimes, I don’t quite understand. My second son’s heart.”
At those words, a sharp voice flashed through Baek Seolheon’s mind.
‘Why do you cause so much worry?’
This too was the same voice, but.
‘Even though you’re my child…… I really, I don’t understand you.’
So much was different.
‘I really don’t know……’
The woman said.
“It’s okay to open up a little, to rely on us, to be a bit demanding. You can do that.”
“……I’m not at that age anymore.”
At this, Baek Seolheon smiled. Baek Seolheon also smiled when he had nothing to say.
Just like Baek Gunho did.
「……I don’t know either.」
That discordant voice was heard again.
Then the scenery changed once more.
“This bastard’s definitely a psychopath.”
It was shortly after entering high school.
“How can he forget our names every single time? Is it on purpose?”
“What do you mean on purpose? Seolheon has a lot of friends, so it can happen.”
Children gathered around Baek Seolheon, chattering.
“No, still! Isn’t this bastard doing this to fuck with us on the sly?”
“Hey, you think Seolheon is like you? He’s incredibly kind.”
“Who knows what sinister thoughts he’s thinking behind our backs?”
“Seolheon-ah. Bang Geunhyuk talks nonsense all the time, so just ignore him.”
Baek Seolheon, who’d been silent the whole time, murmured softly.
“……I don’t know either.”
An unconscious mutter to himself.
It was the exact same content as that voice.
“What thoughts I have while living.”
“What’s he saying?”
The boy, Bang Geunhyuk, chided him.
“Hey. Don’t you even think things like ‘I hope this is on the lunch menu today’?”
“Not particularly.”
“You don’t have any favorite foods?”
“Not really.”
“See? I told you this bastard’s a psycho.”
“You need to relearn the definition of psycho. You call everything a psycho.”
“Is it normal not to know what you like?”
The children’s conversation was just noise, something to hear with one ear and let out the other.
But that day, the voices stuck in his ears and wouldn’t disappear.
“Sometimes I look at that bastard and he seems fucking clueless. At this rate, won’t he forget not just our names but his own name too?”
“Said the 7th-tier student to the top student in the school.”
“Fuck! What does my grade have to do with this!”
Baek Seolheon thought.
「What I like…….」
I don’t really know.
I don’t know, but.
Just one thing.
“……”
Once more, when he closed and opened his eyes.
He saw Baek Gunho with blood on his face.
He carefully laid him on the bed and slowly raised his head.
It was a dim room he’d never visited before.
But it was a space he’d seen before.
‘You’re here. Wooheon-ah.’
The hotel rooftop, a guest room in the annex.
With no windows, only a sofa and table, a quiet place tucked away with few people, no light, no sound.
That person had summoned him there.
‘You’re late. Slowpoke bastard.’
Inside, scents were chaotically mixed.
An unfamiliar floral scent and that familiar smell.
‘This? I just grabbed one of the Omegas Baek Jeongwoo called.’
That person continued speaking while putting his arms through his sleeves.
Without giving him even a glance.
‘Clean up on your own. I need to go attend to the Chairman. ……Ah.’
He pointed to the blonde man collapsed like a corpse on the bed.
‘The leftovers hyung ate—can you have them?’
The same space,
The same person.
And…….
Different pheromones.
“……”
Faint breathing could be heard.
Heat and pained moans mixed with breath as light as down feathers.
Baek Gunho’s pheromones flowed out, riding the trembling of his breath.
Surging like waves, they filled the room with his scent and color.
“Haah……”
Standing in the middle of it, Baek Seolheon took a deep breath.
The thick scent of greenery floating in the stuffy air.
The blue-green light flowing in the darkness was a warm color, as warm as his body temperature.
“Different……”
Might this be the only thing he could call his ‘preference’?
And yet.
“So different……”
The countless possibilities that came to mind, the stories, that life where he couldn’t distinguish dream from reality.
They kept mixing in, making a mess of his head.
‘How much do you know?’
‘I don’t really know either.’
‘Don’t know my ass. You’re the one who came looking and even brought up LK.’
‘It’s true. I just combine ‘fragmentary things’ and know a little more than others.’
At some point, he’d been chasing those remnants.
‘Actually, I was uncertain until I saw Jaewook-hyung’s face. The whole way here, I hoped I was wrong……’
Those dreams, or perhaps memories.
Were sometimes the past, sometimes the future.
‘Gunho and I are friends, you see.’
‘Isn’t it too much of a waste to end your life living only in the prison Baek Gunho designed?’
Contrasting the two worlds like that.
‘If you want to have influence in LK……’
‘It’s better to recruit Alphas who hold real power. Rather than Omegas or Betas who have no power at all.’
Observing.
‘Isn’t this something? Your hyung is too different in front and behind.’
I……
‘Can’t you tell from my expression?’
‘How much I like Seolheon.’
“……”
What did I want to do?
“……He told me to think of it as a nightmare.”
Baek Seolheon traced Baek Gunho’s face with his thumb as he spoke in a small voice.
“If you’re going to…… break your promise like this, if you’re only going to lie.”
Blood left long traces where his finger passed.
“Don’t act half-hearted, don’t confuse me……”
And stained his dry lips red.
“Deceive me to the end. Baek Gunho.”
Then he lowered his head and brought his forehead to rest on his chest.
“Because I’ll let myself be deceived……”
