Around lunchtime, Cha-heun had been thinking he needed to protect Baek Yu-gyeong — but by the time school let out, he had completely changed his mind.
Protection my ass.
Having lived his whole life as a full-grown Korean man, had he ever once imagined being pressed up against another guy while that guy tried to put something in his mouth? For the record, he had never lived like this even back in high school, when his height and build had made it a non-issue — and at an all-boys school, doing something like this would’ve gotten you buried as a gay man without question.
“Hyuung, come on, aah.”
This miserable world, apparently, had no problem with two men carrying on like this.
One of them was plastered right up against the classroom chair, arms wrapped around his waist, doing everything he could to get a candy into his mouth — and the other sat quietly in the desk in front, reading a book.
What on earth is this.
Fine, the fact that Baek Yu-gyeong was pulling this was nothing new — so be it. But then why was Ji Hye-han just sitting here like this?
Neither of them were students in this class, let alone this year — and yet there they both were, boldly occupying seats like they owned the place. It was so absurd it went beyond staggering and straight into suffocating.
I should’ve just gone home.
Thanks to an out-of-season spring notice from the district office warning that a storm might hit in the evening, not only was after-school study hall cancelled, but all club members were also forced to leave early. Kang I-hyeon had said he’d stop by the kendo club room for a moment and then they’d walk home together — so Cha-heun had simply been sitting quietly in the classroom, waiting.
In the middle of that, Baek Yu-gyeong had spotted him under the guise of coincidence and walked in — and since all the other students were gone, why did it matter, he had said, and pressed himself right up against Cha-heun. That was what had started the whole thing.
And then Ji Hye-han had followed in naturally through the classroom door — and Cha-heun had assumed Hye-han had followed to peel Baek Yu-gyeong off of him.
As if he could have predicted that he would simply plant himself there and settle in.
On top of that, the dynamic between the two of them looked a little peculiar. Not close, but not sharply hostile either — some kind of strange in-between.
“…What is it, Ji Hye-han?”
Baek Yu-gyeong had stared at Ji Hye-han with a face like he had seen something he hadn’t wanted to see.
“Oh, a friend? You’re both second years.”
“Friend — …yeah, sure~”
“…Yes.”
Ji Hye-han hadn’t looked particularly pleased about it either. More precisely, it seemed like being lumped together as friends in the first place was what sat poorly with him.
Given that neither of them had answered convincingly, they clearly weren’t close friends. Just people who knew each other’s faces for now?
But Cha-heun decided not to press further. The fatigue he would get from digging deeper seemed like it would outweigh the satisfaction of knowing.
The thing was, he should have kicked them both out at that point — but while he was looking between the two of them in bewilderment, Ji Hye-han had claimed a seat, and Yu-gyeong had latched right back onto Cha-heun.
“What is this — Ji Hye-han?”
Kang I-hyeon, returning from the kendo club room locker, frowned at the sight of three people in a classroom that was supposed to have only one person in it and be otherwise empty. And on top of that, one of them was his junior — a face he recognized all too well.
He’d said this morning out of nowhere that he was cancelling his withdrawal — and now here he was, showing up at the classroom too, which was baffling.
“Hello.”
Ji Hye-han spotted Kang I-hyeon, briefly stood up from his seat, gave a short bow, then sat back down.
“……? What — do you have business with me? You could’ve just called instead of waiting.”
“No. I don’t.”
Hye-han’s flat answer made I-hyeon’s eyes narrow. Having naturally assumed Ji Hye-han must have come looking for him — since it was odd for Hye-han to suddenly be in a third-year classroom — I-hyeon let his gaze drift sideways.
The answer seemed simple enough. Shin Cha-heun, practically locked in Baek Yu-gyeong’s grip. And his junior, sitting in the desk right in front of that same Shin Cha-heun, reading a book.
…Shin Cha-heun, an omega putting out pheromones. And two alphas.
It was easy enough to guess — but still,
“…Shin Cha-heun, what is this picture here. You explain it.”
Kang I-hyeon pressed Cha-heun for an answer anyway, figuring he should at least hear it out — Cha-heun, who was fully wrapped up in Baek Yu-gyeong’s arms.
“Please save me.”
“Oh, hello, I-hyeon. I’ve heard a lot about you from hyung.”
Baek Yu-gyeong looked at I-hyeon, gave him a smooth smile, and greeted him — and then went on to act shamelessly cheerful about how nice it must be to be close with hyung.
When did I ever tell you anything about Kang I-hyeon, you little—
Did you have me investigated?
Brothers and older brothers really do share blood, don’t they — you can kind of see the resemblance.
Just saying whatever comes to mind without any intention of hiding it. What a wonderful attitude.
Cha-heun watched Baek Yu-gyeong with eyes gone cold. In the meantime, as if sensing instinctively that something had gone wrong, Kang I-hyeon proceeded to declare an emergency exit.
“I’m leaving.”
“No, don’t! I-hyeon! Kang I-hyeon! You’re abandoning me? You said we’d walk home together!”
“Hey…. …Don’t call me like that, all desperate. It scares the hell out of me.”
“After I waited for you like this, you’re going to leave me like this?”
Whether Cha-heun’s words were heartfelt or not, I-hyeon glanced at what was behind Cha-heun and made a full retreat without another word.
“Kang I-hyeon, I-hyeon! Kang I-hyeon!!”
Cha-heun called after Kang I-hyeon desperately and urgently, but I-hyeon walked out of the classroom without so much as looking back — and Yu-gyeong, arms still wrapped around Cha-heun, rested his chin lightly on Cha-heun’s shoulder and spoke in an easy, unhurried voice.
“Hyung, is it okay to call another guy that desperately?”
“It’s your fault! Can’t you let go?! I’m about to lose a friend because of you.”
“Boo-hoo. You’re all I have, and you’re putting your friend first? You call I-hyeon like he’s everything, but you just yell at me.”
“Boo-hoo nothing — Hye-han, please, just pull this one off of me.”
“…He’s not something I particularly feel like touching.”
“Honestly, for—”
They said they weren’t friends but they were equally infuriating — he had to give them that. Cha-heun worked at Yu-gyeong’s hands with his own, trying by any means to pry off the arms locked around his waist, until he ran out of energy and just went limp. Apparently satisfied enough by that, Yu-gyeong pulled him close and rubbed his cheek against the back of his neck.
The stamina of a teenager….
This wild little creature —
Young, impossible to reason with, and just plain strong — roughly in that order.
Cha-heun shot him a look full of grievance and then let out a sigh.
How long had he been slumped there like that — from behind him, Yu-gyeong’s soft voice drifted out.
“Hyung, what are you and I-hyeon to each other?”
“What?”
“Are you the kind of pair who waits for each other and walks home together?”
He was saying I-hyeon’s name casually enough, but the tone was strangely cutting. For some reason his voice seemed to have dropped — and before Baek Yu-gyeong could get any ideas, Cha-heun decided to clear things up for I-hyeon’s sake. After all, omegas and beta males did broadly fall into the category of an opposite-sex relationship, in the wider sense. Of course, Kang I-hyeon and he recognized each other completely as just guys — but still.
Come to think of it, Baek Yu-gyeong isn’t a troublemaker at this point in time — but there was that boy in the hallway with the name tag before, and now this. Should I call it territoriality? There’s definitely something like that.
He seemed to recall reading somewhere that alphas fundamentally had a sense of possessiveness over their omega. Attachment toward the opposite sex — understandable. Of course, the fact that he himself was the target right now was genuinely troublesome, but beyond that, he couldn’t let Kang I-hyeon get caught up in it for no reason. Come to think of it, the way Kang I-hyeon had bolted so hastily — maybe he hadn’t fled out of fear, but because he didn’t want to be misunderstood as having that kind of relationship with him, given that Baek Yu-gyeong was right there.
“He likes girls.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.”
“But you know, I like girls too.”
“Should I come in wearing a skirt? If you’re planning on liking girls going forward, I’ll just go around in a skirt too.”
“…….”
“If that’s your type. I’d look incredible in a dress, you know?”
Baek Yu-gyeong in a dress — the image of him in a sleek black dress, exactly his style, materialized in his head.
He did not want that image.
A skirt didn’t change anyone’s sex, obviously — but visually pulling it off might be a different matter. But this guy was a guy, wasn’t he.
And on top of that, he was absolutely the type to actually do it — so Cha-heun decided to keep his mouth shut. His own type had never once been a man in a skirt. It was a woman in a skirt that was his type.
No — to begin with, it was women in general, skirt or no skirt.
…The more I think about it, the more wronged I feel.
Cha-heun attempted a rebuttal.
“…Wearing a skirt doesn’t change your sex, does it.”
“Hyung. Whether it’s a girl or a guy — if they’re an alpha, what’s hanging down below is the same either way, mmp—”
“…Let’s just say you’re right.”
Unable to stomach the obscene thing about to come out of a minor’s mouth, Cha-heun hastily clamped a hand over it. Having foolishly tried to win an argument against a minor and lost spectacularly, Cha-heun had no choice but to press his lips together in a bitter taste.
“So — do you still like girls? Hm?”
In response to Yu-gyeong’s question, Cha-heun silently bumped his head against Yu-gyeong’s shoulder.
Don’t try to change my sexual orientation, you ill-mannered little high schooler.
…Honestly, part of why I can even sit here like this is because you don’t exactly register as male to me.
It’s probably because he’s still just a kid, so….
Being pressed up against him wasn’t particularly pleasant, but there wasn’t much revulsion either. If he imagined a full-grown adult man clinging to him like this, he’d have goosebumps — but perhaps because he still thought of them as kids, he could brush past it without much trouble.
“…Ah, well. What does it matter whether you’re a boy or a girl.”
“Are you finally accepting me?”
He glanced sideways — and right there, directly beside him, was Yu-gyeong’s face, eyes bright and sparkling as he looked at him. Cha-heun let out something close to a sigh and murmured.
“You’re just a kid, either way. What does your sex have to do with anything.”
“…….”
“Pfft.”
A short burst of laughter escaped from Ji Hye-han, who had seemed to be quietly absorbed in his book — and a loaded silence began to settle over the classroom.
