“I’m really fine. If I don’t feel well, I’ll go home right away, so don’t worry.”
I felt the urge to just ignore Lee Hyeonseok’s words and go home, but I’d already signed the contract. Honestly, I didn’t think it would have any legal validity, but even if it didn’t, Lee Hyeonseok seemed like the type who would ignore that and come after me anyway. He was a fucking piece of shit bastard. Rather than unnecessarily making him uncomfortable, it was better to endure a little longer and leave the house.
“Still…”
“Seo Jiwoo!”
It seemed like he was going to keep talking until I said I was going home. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to make a good excuse when I heard an excited voice calling me from behind. I didn’t know who it was, but the timing was excellent.
“Who is it?”
The identity of the voice was Kim Dongsu. Having spotted me, he was running over with an extremely excited voice, seeming happy to see me. Eomma’s worried expression cleared and she asked with a face full of curiosity.
“Ah. Kim Dongsu, a friend.”
“Same class?”
“Yeah.”
“Hello.”
As soon as the brief introduction ended, Kim Dongsu arrived and greeted us awkwardly but brightly. With Kim Dongsu’s appearance, the dark atmosphere brightened. My parents seemed happy to see their son’s friend and got excited along with him.
“You should have brought him home sometime.”
“Haha…”
Eomma showed a slight hurt that I had a perfectly good friend but hadn’t brought him home, but it couldn’t be helped. Until half a year ago, I didn’t have any friends. Everyone seemed like NPCs in a game, and that was kind of scary, so there was no way I could get close to them. I just brushed it off with a laugh.
“I’ll take a picture, stand together.”
“Ah, yes.”
At the mention of taking a picture, Dongsu readily agreed without hesitation and draped his arm over my shoulder. I was flustered by the sudden physical contact, but soon held the bouquet awkwardly and smiled.
“Why are you so awkward?”
“You put your arm around him too.”
“Right. Are you being shy?”
At my awkward movements, my parents and even Dongsu each said something. But this kind of friendly physical contact was the first since graduating from college, so it couldn’t be helped. I once again answered with an awkward laugh and then put my arm around Dongsu’s shoulders. Only then was everyone satisfied, but inside I was so embarrassed I didn’t know what to do. Fortunately, thanks to my arduous work experience, I knew how to hide my expression; otherwise, my embarrassment would have already been written all over my face.
“Jiwoo-ya, are you very cold?”
“Huh? No, not really.”
“Then why are your ears so red?”
“I didn’t think I’d be cold, but it’s really cold.”
Eomma, who had been taking pictures for a while, asked as if puzzled. It seemed I couldn’t prevent my ears from turning red after all. I immediately changed my words and deliberately rubbed my hands together while blowing on them, “Whoo.”
“Done. It came out well.”
“I’ll send you the photo later.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going to talk with Dongsu for a bit, so you can go to the restaurant first.”
“Alright. We’ll go to the restaurant first, so come there.”
“Yeah.”
Even after we finished taking pictures, Dongsu didn’t leave. Noticing that he had something to say to me, I sent my parents ahead.
“Goodbye!”
“Alright, you too, Dongsu. And congratulations on graduating.”
“Yes.”
Kim Dongsu was polite to my parents until the very end. Perhaps feeling much better because of Dongsu’s manner, my parents left with bright expressions and went to the restaurant first. As soon as my parents’ figures grew distant, Dongsu looked awkwardly behind me rather than at me and asked quietly.
“Who are those people behind you?”
“You don’t need to worry about them.”
“How can I not worry!”
It seemed he was concerned about the two guards who had been standing still like folding screens behind me. Aside from being flustered when he first saw them, he hadn’t said anything, so I thought he wasn’t paying attention to them, but it seemed he’d held back his words because my parents were there. Unlike someone else, he was quite considerate. Dongsu demanded a detailed explanation from me, but when I avoided his eyes and didn’t speak, he sighed and gave up.
“You, seriously. You didn’t contact me at all, so I thought you were dead.”
“I was busy…”
This time Dongsu asked about my absence. Until a month ago, we’d been keeping in touch just fine, but then contact suddenly cut off, so it was a natural question. However, I couldn’t tell him honestly this time either. It was an embarrassing story to tell anyone.
“I’m sure you were fucking busy with legal battles.”
Perhaps because my answers were uniformly unsatisfactory, Dongsu pouted his lips and spoke sarcastically. The fact that Student Seo (19), who was in the same school and went to court with Cheon Jaekyung who appeared on TV at the time, was me—that was a story everyone who knew, knew.
Back then, Dongsu had also been surprised and asked me about it. At that time, I had nothing to hide, so when I said yes, I remember he worried about me in various ways until the end. And now, after suddenly going radio silent and coming back, I was evasively answering everything he asked, so he had every right to be angry. I should have at least contacted him on New Year’s, but after greeting my parents and catching up on world news, I lost the timing to contact him.
“No, seriously, where the hell did you get the guts to turn Cheon Jaekyung into a eunuch?”
“That wasn’t my intention…”
“You look like you couldn’t hurt a fucking fly. I guess this is why they say quiet kids are scary.”
Kim Dongsu had intended to mock me at first, but as he spoke, he seemed genuinely amazed and teased me while looking me up and down. I decided to keep it to myself that I had also cracked Lee Hyeonseok’s head, taken him to a mountain, and caused a penile fracture.
“But he threw the first punch.”
“Yeah, you bastard. You did well. You did fucking great.”
When I protested my innocence, Dongsu laughed loudly and praised me. Even though I sometimes wondered if what I did was a bit too much, I felt relieved when I saw this kind of reaction. Right. If I’d really done something crazy, he would have said something about it.
“That aside, there are some kids who aren’t here.”
As the atmosphere relaxed and I looked around, there seemed to be quite a few students who’d skipped the graduation ceremony, as I occasionally saw empty seats. I already knew the reason. Dongsu seemed to know as well, as he nodded and opened his mouth.
“It’s probably because of manifestation. In our class too, there seem to be about two bastards who look like they’ll turn out to be omegas.”
Come to think of it, I’d heard that people who manifested as alphas or omegas couldn’t control their pheromones or whatever, so they were either holed up at home or receiving education at the research institute Lee Hyeonseok established. But what was more surprising to me was that there were omegas appearing in our class too.
“What? Omegas?”
“Yeah. They’re fucking pitiful, you know.”
As for alphas, because of Lee Hyeonseok, even though it didn’t seem like a distant reality, I didn’t have any omegas nearby, so I thought it was a story far removed from me. But suddenly hearing that two omegas might emerge from our class, it felt much closer. Dongsu seemed satisfied with my surprised reaction, but clicked his tongue thinking about the two people who manifested as omegas. He genuinely pitied those two people.
I also felt bad for those two people, but Kim Dongsu seemed to take it much more seriously than I thought, which secretly flustered me.
Unlike me, who vaguely imagined and felt sorry, Dongsu looked like someone who had seen it firsthand, someone who knew more accurately what kind of situation they would be in.
“By any chance, do you know anyone who manifested as an omega?”
“Actually…”
“I think you should get going now.”
“?”
Just as Dongsu was about to answer my question carefully with his head bowed, the guard who had been standing still like a folding screen stepped forward. Both Dongsu and I were so surprised we couldn’t say anything and just looked at the guards, but they seemed completely unfazed. That made it even more bewildering.
“Uh… I’ll talk a bit more and then go.”
“It’s cold, and if you stay out too long, you might catch a cold.”
“I’m fine though…”
“No, you’re not. Your parents are waiting too.”
Both of us flinched and spoke while gauging their reaction, and their attitude was firm. I wanted to talk more with a friend I’d met after a long time, and there were things I was curious about, but when they even brought up my parents, I had nothing to say. It seemed Lee Hyeonseok had given them some kind of order. Right. When your superior tells you to do something, you do it. In the end, I sighed. Four months. Let’s just endure for four more months.
“Sorry, I’ll contact you later.”
Lee Hyeonseok returned my cell phone saying it was graduation day. After getting it back, I wanted to surf the internet, but I was unexpectedly busy and didn’t have time to touch my phone. Still, just having my phone in my hand gave me a sense of security. For modern people, not having a phone was really a big deal.
“Huh? You’re really leaving?”
“Yeah. Eomma even called.”
“I see… Can’t be helped.”
When I unconsciously checked my phone, there was a missed call. When I showed the screen to Dongsu to persuade him, he grumbled as if genuinely disappointed, but in the end, though reluctant, he prepared to part with me.
“Don’t go radio silent this time!”
“Got it.”
“Contact me when you get home, and let’s eat together soon.”
“Yeah.”
Dongsu spoke strongly while glaring at me. It seemed embarrassing how little trust there was, but I just smiled and answered without saying anything else. At my smile, Dongsu smiled along and we parted after exchanging goodbyes.
Leaving my regretful feelings behind, I headed to the restaurant where my parents were. Even while eating at the restaurant, they told me to come home several times, but each time I skillfully persuaded them and eventually got their permission.
Even if I wanted to hang out with friends, I was conscious of the guards, and Lee Hyeonseok had also told me to come home right after eating, so as soon as I finished the meal with my parents, I returned to Lee Hyeonseok’s house.
My parents were moved by the fact that I had graduated from high school, but I never imagined I’d graduate from high school twice, nor did I know I’d become a repeat test-taker, something I’d never done before.
I stopped walking and looked around—it was no different from any other street. People filling the streets were each walking toward their own destinations.
“Is something wrong?”
“Ah, no.”
Perhaps because I suddenly stopped, one of the guards asked, but I had nothing particular to say. If I said, “This is actually inside a book,” I’d just be treated like a strange person. I said no and started walking again.
First, on the way back, I bought reference books and problem sets.
