A vague fear arose.
We still did many things together and spent similar amounts of time. We ate meals together, watched movies, occasionally traveled, and maintained each other’s familiar daily routines.
On top of that, as days of naturally intertwining our hands piled up, he was rapidly transforming into something more important than my friend Won Dogyeong.
Won Dogyeong, my childhood friend of 20 years whom I thought was the final form, actually still had one more evolution remaining.
And it was a hidden quest with forced entry as a prerequisite.
If this were a raising game, a red warning window would undoubtedly be flashing before my eyes right now.
【SYSTEM】
[Won Dogyeong] is entering an unscheduled evolution path.
This evolution cannot be canceled or reversed.
No, think about it? I’m still thinking, so why are you starting on your own?
If you’re going to show me a Yes/No choice, shouldn’t you at least wait until I press one side?
On top of that, the problem was I wasn’t really sure what the final evolution was.
Boyfriend? Lover?
……Family?
I chewed on my hair, then pressed my lips together tightly up and down to stop the heavy breathing.
Sleep well, you annoying bastard.
I let out a small sigh and slowly pulled away so he wouldn’t wake up. Our limbs were tangled, so it took a while to get free.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I fumbled at my waistband. The earlier excitement hadn’t fully subsided, making things uncomfortable down there. I didn’t know if everyone had fallen asleep or were just exhausted and being quiet, but it was silent outside, though even so, it felt awkward to take care of it here.
In an awkward position, I went into the bathroom attached to the room and washed my face with cold water. Listening to the sound of water, I pulled out all kinds of trivial thoughts. I need to tell the Section Chief sometime next week. I should ask him not to tell the team members yet….
The moment the Section Chief’s wide-eyed face flashed through my mind, the heat instantly disappeared and I calmed down.
But somehow I feel kind of bad now…. I’m never using this method again.
I turned off the water and patted my face dry with a towel. I turned off the bathroom light, came out, and carefully opened the room door without making a sound.
Going out to the living room, Nam Seongwoo was sprawled out in a spread-eagle position on the floor, and Park Hyeonho was curled up sleeping on the sofa. I thought they were going pretty hard today—they all seemed to have passed out earlier than usual.
Only Kim Sekyung was leaning against the sofa, infinitely scrolling through social media.
“What took you so long?”
“Nothing, just dealing with a drunk.”
I slid my butt down next to him. I picked up a snack scattered messily across the table and ate it. It’s good.
Among the rolling cups, I found the mug I’d been drinking from and gulped down water.
“When did you two start dating?”
“Ugh. *Cough, cough*.”
I choked.
“I saw you holding hands, so don’t try to deny it.”
“*Cough, cough*.”
I covered my mouth and just coughed for a while.
How did he see? I was being careful the whole time, but clearly no one saw. Does he have eyes on the side of his head?
Kim Sekyung looked at me pathetically, then scrunched up his face and spat out curses.
“But fuck, what the hell were you doing in there that you came out so late, you perverted bastards.”
“*Cough, ahem*, we didn’t do anything.”
Just a little kiss….
“Park Hyeonho kept looking for you, so was it hard stopping him?”
“…You worked hard.”
Kim Sekyung sipped his soju with eyes demanding to know when it started. Avoiding his eyes, I took another sip of water and opened my mouth haltingly.
“Two or three months…?”
“I knew it, these fucking bastards kept postponing plans. You abandoned us because you were busy dating.”
It wasn’t because of that, but let’s go with that.
Kim Sekyung, chewing the dried squid like it was his mortal enemy, downed the remaining soju in his glass and set it down with a thud.
“What does Won Dogyeong say? When did he start liking you?”
“I don’t know, he says since we were kids….”
I haven’t asked yet because it seems like the conversation would get long once the interrogation starts. I also didn’t feel quite ready to have a heavy conversation on that topic.
Seeing his utterly fed-up expression, he seemed to know something.
Another pattern where I was the only one who didn’t know. I’m not even surprised anymore.
“I don’t know, this is Won Dogyeong’s fault for choosing the wrong person to consult. That guy’s liked you since high school.”
“……He consulted you about that?”
I wrinkled my nose bridge and asked dubiously.
Kim Sekyung?
Even now he’s quite the foul-mouthed uncle, but in high school he was really a delinquent bastard whose every other word was a curse. He did art despite not fitting the image, so he skipped a lot using academy as an excuse, and for a brief time he secretly smoked too. In short, he didn’t really give off the vibe of someone you’d want to seek life advice from.
Still, he’d dated a lot since we were young, so maybe that’s why he asked.
Thinking about Nam Seongwoo who was obsessed with games or Park Hyeonho who was obsessed with soccer, it was a reasonable choice.
“Yeah, he lived his life wrong. Anyway, when you manifested, Won Dogyeong went crazy for a while. That’s when he said he thinks he likes you and asked what he should do.”
Why would you ask Kim Sekyung that? Funny guy.
“But from what I saw, that bastard just kept liking you. He just realized it then for the first time. Even he probably doesn’t know exactly when it started.”
I manifested at the start of winter in my second year of high school. Really late bloomers occasionally manifest after becoming adults, but even within the general range, I was on the late side for manifesting.
Until then, I’d lived without the slightest thought that I might be a trait-holder. My family were all betas, and I’d been a beta throughout everyone else’s manifestations, so naturally I thought I’d just keep living like that.
Even the day I manifested wasn’t particularly different from usual. I was studying at the reading room after school. Suddenly an unidentifiable fever slowly rose, so I quit studying early and was on my way home with Won Dogyeong when my pheromones burst out and I manifested.
I went straight to the emergency room holding my parents’ hands and was diagnosed as having become an omega. After that, Won Dogyeong would stiffen up and run away for a while whenever he saw me.
Did he maybe get hit wrong by the pheromones that burst out when I manifested and end up liking me?
Kind of like how getting hit wrong in the head makes you go crazy….
Won Dogyeong acting annoying was said to be “for a while” but it was easily a month. Even when I tried to talk to him about something, he gave one-word answers, and no matter how much I thought about it, I hadn’t done anything wrong. But then if I left him alone all day, he’d come and pick a fight.
I was pissed off enough that I wanted to lock him up somewhere until he spilled the reason. I seriously contemplated whether I really needed to grab him by the collar.
“Hey, did it seem to you like he liked me too?”
I still don’t know. It’s true we were close, but what exactly did everyone see to think Won Dogyeong liked me?
From my perspective, he was always the same.
“Yeah, fuck, yeah! Now I have to give Yeo Jeongwon counseling too?”
Kim Sekyung had a fed-up expression the whole time, but I ignored it and asked with my arms crossed.
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? He only follows you around.”
I know that. It’s true, but,
“He’s always been like that.”
He’s picky about people, and though he doesn’t seem it because he’s a bit shy around strangers, he relies heavily on people he’s close to. It’s true he’s most comfortable with me, but this was the same with Kim Sekyung, Nam Seongwoo, and Park Hyeonho. If I wasn’t there and he was alone with Kim Sekyung in an unfamiliar place, he’d probably try to stick by Kim Sekyung’s side.
“Doesn’t he do that with you guys when I’m not there?”
“Our Jeongwon still doesn’t know what a sly bastard Dogyeong is.”
Kim Sekyung wrinkled his nose and spun the dried squid in his hand.
“…He doesn’t?”
“Yeah, he doesn’t.”
He doesn’t.
Right, it’s obvious but I only know Won Dogyeong in front of me.
“Won Dogyeong following us around…. Never bring up such horrifying words again.”
Calling it horrifying—it’s kind of cute how he follows you everywhere with that blank face.
In high school, if I said I was going to study at the reading room until midnight, he’d sit in the seat next to me even while obviously showing he didn’t want to. When the time got close, he’d start tapping the chair saying let’s go now, but every time I’d give him chocolate and he’d quiet down for a bit.
I thought that was funny, so I’d sit at the desk until he inevitably got angry after midnight passed.
“Without you, he absolutely won’t do things he doesn’t want to. Even if we ask him to go eat, if he’s not hungry, he absolutely won’t go. Whether we’re eating hangover soup or not, he goes to a cafe alone to drink coffee. But when you’re there, he goes even if he doesn’t eat.”
Searching my memory, there were no such instances. When he wasn’t feeling it, he’d be a bit annoyed, but he never left me to eat alone. Rather, he’d ask if I wasn’t hungry at all hours, to the point I wondered why he was so interested in my meals.
The Won Dogyeong I knew was the epitome of a rebel without a cause—fiercely resisting with his mouth but ultimately doing whatever you wanted.
That’s the side I’d seen my whole life, so naturally I thought he was like that with everyone else too.
But turns out that was all special treatment.
Now I kind of understand why everyone knew Won Dogyeong liked me like it was obvious. There were sides of him he didn’t show in front of me.
But thinking about it, even I, who was getting special treatment, lived thinking Won Dogyeong was pretty prickly, so how exactly does he act elsewhere…?
