“Trait change… not stable….”
“Anyway… about traits… not well known….”
“Should we just… passed out… move to hospital?”
My consciousness slowly began to surface at the faintly audible voices. I thought I’d just closed my eyes for a moment, but it seems I fell asleep like that. My mind hadn’t fully returned, so the sporadically heard words were also garbled and didn’t enter my head at all, until the part about hospital made me suddenly come to my senses. What hospital?
“What hospital?”
When I turned my head toward the sound, I saw two men in white gowns, Lee Hyeonseok, and Secretary-nim. When I asked unconsciously, the voices stopped for a moment. Everyone had flustered expressions, and it seemed they hadn’t expected me to come to my senses this quickly. Lee Hyeonseok, showing the least emotion in his expression, instantly composed his face and approached me first.
“You awake?”
“Uh… yeah. How long was I out?”
Lee Hyeonseok asked while scanning me here and there with his eyes, but for me, even that question was only confusing, so I was busy moving my eyes to grasp the situation even a little.
“You slept about 15 minutes. How’s your stomach?”
“I’m okay now.”
Fifteen minutes. Did he call these people to the house in just 15 minutes?
If Lee Hyeonseok’s words were true, I really had slept just briefly, but unlike before, my body had become fine. I looked at the people in gowns once, then looked at Lee Hyeonseok with a face asking for explanation. Lee Hyeonseok, who cleverly understood, nodded his head at them, and as if receiving permission from him, the person in the gown stood before me. One person I was meeting for the first time, but the other person’s face was familiar. It was a doctor I’d seen often at the hospital.
“Seeing how you woke up right away, it seems there’s no problem with your body after all. For now.”
“For now?”
The doctor was explaining while looking at Lee Hyeonseok even though I was the patient. Looking at just the two of them, it was as if Lee Hyeonseok was my guardian or something.
“You suddenly said your stomach wasn’t feeling well, right?”
“Yes.”
When I asked back because he was a doctor but said ambiguous things like “for now,” this time the question came back from the man I was seeing for the first time. The man who heard my answer explained while looking at Lee Hyeonseok, just like the doctor.
“We’ll have to do tests to know the details, but from what I can guess now, your stomach temporarily felt bad because the pheromones and your body don’t match.”
“Pheromones….”
Unlike the doctor, seeing him speak centered on “tests and pheromones,” he must be from the center. I muttered the word pheromones, which I couldn’t get used to the more I heard it, feeling gloomy.
“Since tomorrow was the scheduled day anyway, how about doing it now?”
The researcher sought Lee Hyeonseok’s consent as if I wasn’t even visible. When I had tests at the center right after manifesting, I’d been told that regular checkups would be necessary going forward. It seemed they were talking about that now. As the researcher said, tomorrow was the day for the examination.
Was it because I was gloomy now? I felt like the researcher found this situation and my condition oddly exciting. Thinking it must be my imagination, I tried to soothe myself, but Lee Hyeonseok broke the researcher’s joint.
“Ugh!”
“Is this kid your guinea pig? You happy?”
“…Pardon?”
“You’re fucking thrilled at the thought of testing, aren’t you?”
“No, no… I’m not like that…!”
It seems it wasn’t my imagination after all. When Lee Hyeonseok pressed the researcher with an expressionless face, he desperately denied it while stuttering. I was grateful he took my side, but thanks to that, the atmosphere became shitty again.
“Stop it….”
“Who are you to give orders?”
“If you would grant it, I’d be deeply grateful.”
Disliking the suffocating atmosphere, I asked reluctantly, and he scoffed saying it was giving orders. Having no choice, I pleaded as usual, and this time the atmosphere froze in a different meaning.
“What are you saving aegyo and acting cute for?”
“…I don’t cultivate those things.”
“Cultivate them from now on.”
“Ugh….”
“Ugh?”
Hyeonseok, you like that kind of thing? When I unknowingly made a disgusted sound, Lee Hyeonseok acted menacingly as if daring me to say it again.
“I want to only show you my mature side.”
“Forget it, cultivate it.”
“If that’s what you want, I should.”
Aegyo or acting cute, how do you even do that? As someone who’d never done aegyo or anything like that, I wanted to refuse Lee Hyeonseok’s demand, but since he demanded it with even his eyes gleaming sharply, I readily accepted. Thinking I’d just roughly pretend, I secretly sighed and looked around, and the other three people came into view. The expressions of Secretary-nim, the doctor, and the researchers who had been listening to my and Lee Hyeonseok’s conversation were truly remarkable. Every single one had expressions of either discomfort or pleasure watching their boss engage in affectionate behavior with his lover. Is my desperate appeasing funny? When they appease Lee Hyeonseok, they’ll give up their liver and gallbladder if needed.
The shitty atmosphere changed into a shitty atmosphere in yet another meaning for me. It felt exactly like I was being ostracized. I was definitely sharing the same atmosphere with them, but now why does it feel like only I’m being ostracized? What, if it’s going to be like this, exclude me clearly.
“Um….”
“Ah! S-sorry.”
The moment I was about to say something, suffocated by this unidentifiable atmosphere, a cell phone ringtone broke the mood. The owner of the ringtone was the researcher. I was happy enough to forgive his earlier rudeness, but it seemed only the doctor and I welcomed it—Secretary-nim frowned at the researcher as if looking at a nuisance, and Lee Hyeonseok glared at him coldly as if interrupted. At least only the doctor changed to the solemn expression he’d originally been making.
“Everyone get lost.”
At Lee Hyeonseok’s one sentence, Secretary-nim, the doctor, and the researcher quickly disappeared.
“Then I’ll also….”
“You need to keep playing with me.”
Excuse me, sorry, but could you please tell me exactly when I started playing with you?
“Let’s have fun.”
“Ah, come on!”
So dumbfounded I couldn’t even ask my polite question, Lee Hyeonseok, who smiled lecherously, said we’d do the examination tomorrow and move to the new house right after, so if I had things to pack I should pack them and rest early, then pounced on me. Lee Hyeonseok, who despite saying traits were shitty had been happily releasing pheromones, knew I still had resistance to pheromones themselves and withdrew them. That aside, isn’t this bastard actually enjoying the trait of being an alpha more than anyone?
* * *
“Mm….”
I looked around the room I’d been staying in several times. Among the furniture like the desk, bed, and drawers that were originally there, the newly bought workbooks, notebooks, and writing utensils, and the laptop Lee Hyeonseok gave me and the clothes he prepared from time to time, the only things that were practically mine were the workbooks, notebooks, and writing utensils. It was no different from having used it as a study room. Though he’d given it to me saying it was my room, during the 6 months I’d stayed here, I couldn’t think of this room as truly my room until the end.
“I knew it, but I really have nothing to pack.”
Since I couldn’t think of it as my room, there was nothing to decorate either. I stuffed the workbooks, notebooks, and writing utensils into my bag and also packed Lee Hyeonseok’s laptop. Since Lee Hyeonseok said he’d prepare new clothes, I didn’t need to pack them. Instead, I only packed the black turtleneck and jeans I’d worn when I first entered this house. The coat won’t fit in the bag, so should I just carry it?
“And since carrying that is impossible, should I ask them to move it?”
Looking at the 75cm black punching bag hanging in the center of the room that I hadn’t decorated at all, I fell into thought, then hit it a few times with my fist for no reason. Since I hit it gently, there was no noticeable movement. Thanks to this punching bag, my fist seemed to have been trained a bit, but unfortunately, there was no opportunity to use my fist.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah. I was wondering what to do about the punching bag.”
“You must really like it?”
As I was loitering in front of the punching bag worrying, Lee Hyeonseok came in. Lee Hyeonseok asked, but I answered by hitting the punching bag instead. Since I hit it with quite a bit of force, the punching bag came back cutting through the air heavily. Somehow feeling refreshed, I smiled at Lee Hyeonseok as if showing off, and Lee Hyeonseok instead laughed as if finding it ridiculous.
Then he hit the punching bag as if it were nothing, but unlike me, the punching bag went twice the distance I’d sent it with a “pow!” sound before coming back. He kindly smiled and spoke to Lee Hyeonseok, who had sent it twice my distance without even properly taking a stance or using much force.
“I think being violent isn’t good.”
“How dare you say such a thing?”
“…What did I do?”
Lee Hyeonseok even sneered while mocking me, but I couldn’t understand his words at all. It even felt unfair. Though I hadn’t witnessed the scene, I didn’t want to receive words with nuances that I was violent, or even similar misunderstandings, from Lee Hyeonseok who’d caused a bloody incident holding a golf club.
“No, what did I do?”
“Did you pack your stuff in that bag?”
“Ah, yeah. Why?”
I was about to properly confront Lee Hyeonseok, but he didn’t even pretend to listen and picked up the bag I’d placed on the bed. I answered without thinking at the following question, but he suddenly opened my bag and checked the luggage without my permission.
“Workbooks? What are you going to do with these now?”
“…They’re expensive….”
“You won’t particularly need notebooks either.”
“There’s still some left, so throwing them away is kind of….”
Lee Hyeonseok didn’t say anything about my clothes, writing utensils, or his laptop, but found fault with the workbooks and notebooks. Actually, Lee Hyeonseok was right, but still, they were expensive and I couldn’t throw away things I hadn’t fully used, so I’d packed them, but him nitpicking like that was a bit much. No, when I’m packing my own stuff, what’s it to him?
“They’re mine.”
“……”
I hugged the workbooks and notebooks that Lee Hyeonseok had taken out of my bag and placed on the bed, then brought the bag over and pulled it into my arms while snapping at him. Lee Hyeonseok’s expression started becoming strange, as if quite dumbfounded by my attitude, but I didn’t care and put the workbooks and notebooks back in the bag.
“Then this is mine.”
“Petty bastard!”
