“This is Shin Jisu, sunbae-nim.”
Soon, the voice of a very annoying man came from beyond the phone.
— What is it, you?
“Sunbae. I said you’d owe me big time, didn’t I?”
— …So?
“Do you know Hyun Youngjae?”
Shin Jisu smiled bitterly and told him the whole story. Soon, a hollow laugh came from beyond the receiver.
— Ha… Fuck… What kind of fucking bullshit…
“Sunbae, you can handle this well on your own, right?”
— Ahahaha! Of course, hoobae-nim.
At the expected reaction, Shin Jisu hung up with relief. Now this was done. Shin Jisu covered her mouth with one hand as laughter kept leaking out, her shoulders shaking with laughter. The streetlight illuminating her back was somehow eerie. The shadow carved on the ground squirmed on the asphalt.
Baek Iseon owed a debt. A very big debt. Now Baek Iseon couldn’t refuse her request.
* * *
Having finished the call with the annoying girl, Baek Iseon laughed loudly. Shin Jisu, so this was it. Very cunning.
During these past few weeks, Baek Iseon had thought everything was over. It was regrettable that the prey he’d quite liked, that he thought he’d caught, had escaped from his hands, but he had no intention of forcibly holding onto someone who said they didn’t want it. If that was Jang Juwon’s true feelings, that is.
“Haha… Hahahaha!”
Something had felt strange. There was no way he could change his mind so suddenly overnight. Especially when the other person was none other than Baek Iseon himself. It was absurd. He never imagined some pathetic bastard would interfere in the middle and get in the way. And while coveting what was Baek Iseon’s, at that.
“You shouldn’t touch what belongs to someone else, Hyun Youngjae.”
Baek Iseon’s expression cooled coldly. Hyun Youngjae. Baek Iseon knew him. His peer. Things like his gloomy way of speaking and timid expression remained at the edges of his memory. At some point, rumors that he was gay started circulating quietly within the department. After that, he disappeared without a sound. At that time, Baek Iseon had felt sorry for Hyun Youngjae, if only very briefly. But soon even that was forgotten from Baek Iseon’s mind. He wasn’t someone overflowing with enough sympathy to care about a peer he’d never even exchanged words with—just because they shared the same orientation. That person had now become an incredibly irritating existence.
Baek Iseon wanted to find him right now and kill him. But if he actually did that, he might never see Jang Juwon again for the rest of his life. So he needed to find another, better method. Even at this hour, his small and delicate omega must be trembling in anxiety, missing him.
“Haah…….”
He thought he’d let everything go, but apparently not. From the moment he heard his name from Shin Jisu’s mouth, his lower half had become rock hard, longing for the deep insides of his body.
“Fuck……. He’s so fucking delicious.”
This was going to be quite a hassle from now on. Still, it was worth doing. This time, he’d be able to properly get his hands on him.
He made a call somewhere.
“Kyunghoon-ah? I have something to ask. Are you at the department office right now?”
Baek Iseon made several more calls after that. Some were short, some were long.
The department was like a small class society. Even though everyone pretended to be equal on the surface, a hierarchy was subtly assigned to everyone. There were various factors that determined rank. Grades, appearance, family background, personality, and so on. And Baek Iseon knew his place very well, and also knew how to utilize it very plausibly.
Finding out about Hyun Youngjae wasn’t difficult at all. It was the moment when all those department activities and networking that didn’t suit his personality but that he’d forced himself to do showed results. The people who received his calls were delighted that he had contacted them first and spilled everything they knew.
Thanks to that, finding the source of the rumors wasn’t difficult. Moreover, the person who had spread those rumors still seemed to be endlessly talking about Hyun Youngjae and tormenting him. As if trying to imprint his existence on Hyun Youngjae.
He was vicious. It was too excessive to think he was doing this just because Hyun Youngjae was gay. There was probably some other reason. And it was certain to be the kind that would help Baek Iseon. Baek Iseon called the contact number he’d obtained through a hoobae.
“Lee Donghyuk?”
– Who is this?
“It’s Baek Iseon, we saw each other once last time, right?”
– ……What is this about?
His voice was quite sharp. It was clear he still held a grudge about that day. Even that would serve as excellent bait for Baek Iseon.
“Yeah. I wanted to apologize about last time.”
– …….
“Can we meet for a bit? I want to become friends with you.”
Lee Donghyuk grumbled but immediately responded that he understood, as if he’d been waiting for Baek Iseon’s summons. Because the other party was Baek Iseon. Lee Donghyuk must understand the natural order of this small society very well too. That’s probably why he could spread rumors about Hyun Youngjae without hesitation. Despite it being late at night, the two met face to face at a small bar in the university district.
“I was a bit too much that day, wasn’t I?”
“……Ah, well. I wasn’t that great either.”
“Right, thanks for understanding.”
“Sunbae, are you and Shin Jisu…… dating?”
“No way. I don’t like girls that feisty.”
“Right? Me too! I cut her some slack because she has a pretty face…….”
“Haha.”
‘Fucking idiot.’
Baek Iseon took a sip of beer and gave Lee Donghyuk a smile that conveyed agreement with his words. The way he brazenly accepted the apology—he still didn’t seem to know his fault. Baek Iseon disliked Shin Jisu, but he found it disgusting to have any common ground with this cowardly boy because of that. Lee Donghyuk, who had become triumphant without knowing anything, seemed to be in a great mood and started gulping down alcohol. And that was what Baek Iseon had hoped for.
Empty bottles piled up on the table. During that time, Baek Iseon patiently listened to the nonsense Lee Donghyuk was spouting, pretending to be interested. Most of what came out of his mouth was gossip about someone. Starting with Shin Jisu, he insulted other female peers or was jealous of male hoobaes who got on his nerves. And finally, the name of the person Baek Iseon had been waiting for popped out of his mouth.
“Hyung, did you know? That Hyun Youngjae is a homo?”
“Really?”
Before he knew it, Lee Donghyuk was thoroughly drunk, calling Baek Iseon hyung, hyung with unfocused eyes as he started badmouthing Hyun Youngjae. Finally, it was his turn. Baek Iseon leaned forward.
“I knew it just by looking at him, with how gloomy he is. Fuck, disgusting bastard…….”
“Disgusting?”
“Yes! Of course he’s disgusting, going around sucking guys’ dicks. Isn’t that disgusting?”
“Hmm……. That’s true. But Donghyuk-ah.”
“Yes?”
Baek Iseon propped his chin on the table and looked steadily at Lee Donghyuk. Lee Donghyuk, holding his beer glass that he’d been about to bring to his lips, stared at Baek Iseon just like that. Even though he was clearly looking at him and smiling, for some reason his body tensed up slightly.
“How did you know Hyun Youngjae was gay?”
“…….”
Lee Donghyuk, who should have been excitedly chattering, unexpectedly kept his mouth shut tight. Baek Iseon intuited that he’d asked the right question.
“Hm? I’m really curious. We decided to become close starting today……. You won’t tell me?”
“Uh…… I just, I happened to see, saw it.”
“How?”
“…….”
Lee Donghyuk gulped down his beer. His face showed he was nervous.
“Don’t tell me…….”
“…….”
“Are you that way too?”
“Hyung!!”
Bang. Lee Donghyuk slammed down the beer glass he was holding onto the table and got angry.
“Don’t even say things like that, it’s disgusting! Fuck, they should all die……. Fuck, it’s so fucked up……. That bastard and that bastard, fuck…….”
Lee Donghyuk muttered curses while displaying tremendous disgust. His pupils shook anxiously, unable to look straight at one place.
“Right, exactly. They’re filthy bastards. Right?”
“I knew you’d understand, hyung. To do such, such filthy things……. Fuck…….”
“What did you see? Did you see guys going at it?”
Baek Iseon smirked at Lee Donghyuk with a sidelong glance and downed the rest of his drink.
“Just…… if it was just that, I, I wouldn’t go this far either! Fuck…….”
“Why, did Hyun Youngjae suck your dick or something? Haha.”
“Hyung! If that happened, do you think I would’ve left that bastard alone?”
Lee Donghyuk, completely worked up, shouted with his face turned bright red.
“He didn’t touch me, he touched my friend!!”
