As soon as I put the workbooks and notebooks back in, Lee Hyeonseok snatched the bag away again and took out the laptop. The words “really petty” came out naturally. It wasn’t mine, and I didn’t care if Lee Hyeonseok just took it, but it was too petty for him to snatch it away in this situation. The fact that he told me to use it and was now taking it could only be expressed as really petty.
“So what?”
Lee Hyeonseok acted as if daring me to come at him if I had complaints. Fine. What’s the point of fighting with a kid? And you don’t avoid shit because you’re scared of it, you avoid it because it’s dirty. Though Lee Hyeonseok is even scary.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
“Guess you don’t need it.”
“I need it but fine.”
I put on my bag, draped my coat over one arm, and came out without regrets. When I acted without regrets, it was Lee Hyeonseok who nitpicked again. Lee Hyeonseok tormented me until the very moment we got in the car, asking if I really didn’t need it.
“Try saying ‘please give it to me.'”
“Please give it to me.”
I said what he wanted because I felt like he’d keep bothering me until I reacted if I ignored him, but Lee Hyeonseok was, as always, a son of a bitch and a shitty bastard.
“If there’s no desperation, there should at least be aegyo or flattery. Never mind.”
“…….”
Hah… Lord. Please help me not to do something to this bastard.
“Eyes.”
Even as I closed my eyes, I desperately sought a god I didn’t even believe in.
“Somehow it feels familiar now…”
“Ahaha.”
When they stuck the sharp needle in my arm for a blood test, I felt familiar enough to unconsciously mutter. I have had a lot of blood drawn recently. The person drawing blood either couldn’t find an appropriate answer or was bothered, and responded with a dry laugh.
It wasn’t even something worth adding to, but the other party seemed to be watching my mood somehow, so I decided to just keep my mouth shut. Well, I was an acquaintance of their CEO, and according to rumors, we had that kind of relationship, so it wasn’t strange that they watched my every word. Especially if the CEO of those rumors was standing behind me.
From the blood test I knew well to pheromone tests I’d never heard or seen in my life. After doing various tests, lunchtime approached. At the words that it would take about an hour or two for the results to come out, it was time to eat lunch anyway, so we decided to go eat.
The center was on the outskirts of the city. Perhaps because there were many things that organizations like the Human Rights Commission wouldn’t let slide if they knew, you had to drive for 20 minutes on the wide open road to see the city.
During this time, I’d been holed up inside the house or gotten some air on the veranda or rooftop, and only went out to the center. Perhaps because of that, the fact that going to the city was the first time in a while was quite novel. What was novel was me. Even though I hadn’t gone on a proper outing for about 6 months, if I was novel, it was novel that I didn’t feel uncomfortable when food, clothing, and shelter were resolved on their own.
Well, it might be even more okay because I didn’t have friends to go out and play with anyway. Still, I thought Kim Dongsu was my first friend, but seeing how there hasn’t been a single text since he entered university, maybe we actually weren’t that close. I cherished him in my own way, so I was confident I would’ve become a very sucker-like friend if we’d continued contacting each other after graduation.
Separately, Kim Dongsu and the 3rd-year class friends. And the homeroom teacher became a possibility in a certain sense. The possibility that Lee Hyeonseok could adapt to this world. They, who had been simple characters in a book, acted like really living people after Seo Jiwoo and Lee Hyeonseok had a conversation. Whether it was because of Lee Hyeonseok, or because I met Lee Hyeonseok, or whatever, what was important was that they became like living people anyway. That meant, in other words, that the possibility arose that those around Lee Hyeonseok could also become like living people.
Actually, not only Lee Hyeonseok’s secretary but also those by his side were really like people. Of course, there were parts where I thought ‘you accept this?’, but Lee Hyeonseok wouldn’t go around meeting everyone in the world, and wouldn’t it be fine as long as only the people he went around meeting didn’t feel like characters in a book? By then, Lee Hyeonseok would moderately get used to this world too. Humans are animals that adapt.
Having seen the possibility, all that remained was waiting for that day to come. Until then, it would be good if I learned skills and got a job where I could work from home. Fortunately, before possessing, I’d attended university and played around moderately. When being holed up inside the house became boring, society would be moderately stabilized since they’re making suppressants now.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“Something like what I should learn?”
“You.”
While I was deeply lost in thought looking out the window, Lee Hyeonseok asked. I thought there was nothing particularly to hide so I just answered, but Lee Hyeonseok seriously called me. I tensed up for a moment, wondering if there was some problem with my passion for learning, but he asked an unexpected question.
“You keep only thinking about jobs, but don’t you think about the military?”
Military. The hellish gateway that men in South Korea must naturally go through unless they’re uncomfortable somewhere. Lee Hyeonseok seemed to have many thoughts for some reason. He seemed to be thinking exactly about how to handle the military issue. Though I didn’t know well, I was grateful he cared, but I couldn’t be entirely grateful because I wasn’t certain whether it was really for my sake.
“I think I’ll get military exemption because of anaphylaxis.”
“What?”
Unlike Lee Hyeonseok’s weighted tone, my tone was infinitely light. Even in the original world, I got military exemption with this constitution, and everyone was envious. But then again, I didn’t have to be extremely careful. I ate the foods that were the main causes of anaphylaxis just fine. I just had to avoid bees, but that wasn’t difficult.
Anyway, after possessing, I naturally worried about the military and got tested at the hospital, and fortunately or not, this body also tested positive for anaphylaxis. Fortunately, like my original body, there was no problem eating food either.
That’s that, and honestly, if going to the military had been confirmed, I might have hit him once even though it wasn’t Lee Hyeonseok’s fault.
“What about you?”
“Do I look like I’d go?”
“No…”
Right, that’s right. I’ve never seen a chaebol kid go to the military properly. It was an obvious conversation. Lee Hyeonseok sneered at my unpleasant answer and focused on driving again.
“But…”
“?”
“Then do alphas and omegas also go to the military?”
While talking about the military with Lee Hyeonseok, alphas and omegas suddenly came to mind. Since I was confident the military wouldn’t be related to me, I hadn’t thought about it. When you go into heat every month, wouldn’t it be a bit much to go to the military with that constitution? A lot much? Even without going into heat, it’s a place that decorates the news with sexual harassment or rape whenever you forget about it, so wouldn’t that be fucking problematic?
“What do you think?”
Lee Hyeonseok didn’t easily give me an answer to my curiosity. Recently he’d been easily answering this and that, but what’s his intention this time? For now, I decided to think about it. This is Korea. So somehow it seemed like they’d make you go if you had no power.
No, if the logic of power applies, would alphas get exemptions? Shouldn’t omegas get exemptions, not alphas? Because omegas also have issues related to pregnancy. Ah. But on the other hand, if there are more alphas and omegas than betas, they might just send everyone saying there’s a shortage of people. What’s the current ratio of betas, alphas, and omegas? Let’s ask the researcher about this later.
“They probably don’t go…?”
The conclusion I reached after thinking this way and that was ‘they don’t go.’ When they prevent omegas from going to university saying it’s moral corruption, how would they send them to the military? They say the more powerful bastards have more alphas, so they’d prefer military exemption even more. I thought it was a fairly reasonable conclusion that ‘then for fairness, trait holders would all be exempt without exception, right?’
“Indeed, everything has pros and cons.”
Is he making some random self-introduction right now saying his personality is rotten but he has a lot of power? I was worrying about what kind of compliment I should give while swallowing with a face pretending to be calm on the outside.
“Because when suppressants come out, they can act human again.”
“Military service becomes possible too?”
Lee Hyeonseok didn’t deny my words and continued driving. I thought it might be fucking crazy, but if it was Korea, it made sense.
“But alphas still won’t go.”
“Even if they’re alphas, bastards who have nothing will go.”
Hiccup.
“Should I surprise you?”
“Every word that comes out of your mouth is a surprise, so you don’t need to.”
Actually, it was a hiccup that came out because it was so absurd rather than from being surprised, but I was tired of correcting it so I politely declined.
“A bastard who presents surprises through actions pretending he doesn’t.”
“Yeah, yeah. Put them together and they’re truly a perfect form.”
Perhaps thinking he won because I roughly went along with it since it was pointless to argue with a kid, Lee Hyeonseok raised his lips as if feeling good. The words that it was never a perfect form in a good way rose to the tip of my throat, but I swallowed them along with my saliva.
* * *
I was secretly curious where Lee Hyeonseok would take me, and the place he arrived at was a high-end Korean restaurant suitable for a chaebol, not Lee Hyeonseok. Well, he looked like a bastard who’d slice steak, but he did eat rice at home too.
I thought I’d see people for the first time in a while, but the Korean restaurant was so quiet that we didn’t run into anyone except the staff guiding us and the staff bringing out food.
“I never thought I’d come to a high-end Korean restaurant in my life.”
“Seo Jiwoo, thanks to whom are you living so well?”
“It would’ve been perfect if you hadn’t said it yourself… It’s the epitome of living well. Did I say I’m always grateful?”
Salad, pyeonchae, sashimi… Seeing the array of dishes that all looked fresh and luxurious at a glance, I muttered, and Lee Hyeonseok sneered and showed off. I was being sarcastic at the sight of a bastard with so much money acting gracious when he forcibly sat someone next to him, and at Lee Hyeonseok’s gaze saying ‘move that mouth well,’ I moved it well on my own.
“Wow, this sashimi is really chewy.”
“Right. You have to eat a balanced diet to be healthy.”
Ask the people you know. Between me who’s never been hospitalized once and you who gets hospitalized whenever I forget about it, who needs more nourishment? Of course, I didn’t voice that thought out loud.
