Pheromones?
I lifted my arm and brought my nose to my skin to smell it — but I myself couldn’t quite tell. Since the only person I’d just come from seeing was Kwon Wookyung, I figured some of the pheromones lingering in his house had probably rubbed off on me a little.
Just as I was about to say I’d been next door, a few droplets splattered across my face. My younger hyung had grabbed the deodorizing spray sitting on top of the cabinet and was going to town spraying it at me.
Some of the spray solution had splattered near my lips and trickled into my mouth, landing on my tongue.
“Ugh, what the hell?! What are you doing? I swallowed some!”
It was the worst taste imaginable. I frantically yanked out a tissue and wiped my tongue, but the horrible taste had already traveled through my taste buds and straight to my brain.
Shin Haechan, not even sparing a glance at my thoroughly disgusted expression, slammed the spray bottle down and snapped irritably.
“Which rude little bastard left his scent on you?”
“Left a scent, my ass! I think it just rubbed off from brushing against someone.”
If I told him the truth, the look on his face was dangerous enough that he’d start trash-talking Kwon Wookyung — so I swallowed what I was actually going to say and gave him a vague excuse instead.
“God, what do you know? You still think you’re a beta? Spray yourself with deodorizer before you go out.”
“Whatever.”
“Watch out for alpha bastards. Those guys are nothing but animals.”
“Hyung is an alpha too!”
Hyung ignored my words and just kept going.
“If someone comes at you, punch them. Don’t go easy on them trying to save on cleanup costs. As long as they’ve still got breath in them, treat them and beat them again.”
The killing intent radiating from those sharp eyes — he was less of a doctor and more of a straight-up gangster. Even at a glance, he looked rough around the edges……. Honestly, even if he was my hyung, he gave off way too much street energy to ever come across as elite. If you really set him off, he looked like the type who’d stab you in a vital spot with a scalpel without even blinking.
“The problem is you’re all skin and bones with absolutely no power behind you.”
Hyung clicked his tongue, muttered “so damn frail,” and looked me up and down with a pitying stare. It was exactly the kind of look that made your blood boil.
Does he have any idea that he’s currently the number one alpha I want to punch? He’d never say this stuff if he knew.
Not yet having gathered enough strength, I tucked my fist into my sleeve and turned away. Engaging with him only wore me out. Hyung went out of his way to follow me and kept nagging.
“Take Haeyong with you every time you go out.”
“Why Yongyong?”
“So I can order him to bite anyone who comes at you.”
“…Since when does Haeyong bite anyone?”
The big softie who wagged his tail and panted happily the moment he saw a person — would he even understand if you told him to bite? I tilted my head, thinking it would be a miracle if he didn’t just lick the target to death and soak them in drool instead.
“We can start training him from today.”
“Stop coming up with weird ideas!”
I finally snapped at hyung who kept spouting nonsense, and stomped up the stairs.
Twenty-six years old and acting worse than a sixteen-year-old.
……Listening to Shin Haechan nag me is exhausting too — I should just carry deodorizer around with me.
The next day, I was dragged to the department store by Haejun hyung.
It was because there wasn’t much left in my wardrobe that I could actually wear. The clothes I used to wear had been kept neatly, but either they didn’t fit anymore because I’d grown so much taller, or they were outdated enough that wearing them would be awkward.
Since I’m the type who has a hard time throwing things away, I couldn’t decide what to get rid of and hesitated for a long time — but Haejun hyung, who was helping me sort through everything, suggested that I buy everything new as a fresh start, so I boldly threw out almost all of it.
Even so, I decided to keep a few of my favorite pieces and my school uniform. It was a uniform I’d never wear again, but… I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it out yet. When I stood there staring at it for a while, my older hyung quietly took it and tucked it into the very back of the wardrobe without a word.
Anyway — that’s why I had a lot to buy today. Clothes and shoes for spring and summer, plus underwear and socks. Since it was a department store where the family maintained a VIP membership, a seller who knew my hyungs came out and recommended various new arrivals. Already on our third store, the shopping bags from completed purchases were piled up like a mountain, and Driver Park had gone down to load them into the car.
I’d come shopping with just my crutches since I could walk — and I’d picked out clothes by trying them on myself through the second store, but my energy drained quickly and I ended up sitting down. Now I was seated in a wheelchair provided by the department store, looking at clothes brought over by the seller and Haejun hyung in front of a mirror.
“I think brighter colors suit you quite well too. This model has excellent fabric so it’s very comfortable to wear.”
Hyung looked ready to buy anything I so much as glanced at, so the seller was positively brimming with enthusiasm. She carefully held up a beige knit that looked similar to the black knit I’d just picked out and held it up under my face.
“Hyung, what do you think?”
I was generally interested in fashion and clothes, but having already bought a whole pile of things, my motivation was flagging. Everything was starting to look the same to me.
“Ugly no matter what you put on him.”
Before Haejun hyung could even answer, a snarky voice cut in.
I glared at Shin Haechan through the mirror. My younger hyung was sprawled arrogantly on the sofa, single-handedly demolishing the non-alcoholic drinks and finger food provided by the brand.
Why did he even follow us if he was going to act like this? Nobody asked him to come along — yet he insisted on tagging along and muttered “ugly” like a broken record every time I picked out a piece of clothing. The seller, who had been offering nothing but smooth compliments like so flattering and so striking, was smiling awkwardly as if she didn’t know what to do. For just a brief moment, an expression that clearly said why are you ruining my sale flickered across her face before disappearing.
“Just buy it all. To cover up how ugly that one is, he at least needs expensive clothes so people don’t look down on him.”
At Shin Haechan’s backhanded compliment of a statement, the seller’s bright smile returned. She even laughed warmly and said, “The two of you really are close, aren’t you.”
I was about to fire back with a jab at his looks too since I refused to lose — but Shin Haechan pulled a card out of his wallet and handed it to the seller, so I shut my mouth. Haejun hyung, who had paid at the previous store, just smiled quietly.
Clothes I hadn’t even gotten to try on were folded neatly into shopping bags one by one. Shin Haechan, after paying for all sorts of accessories he’d grabbed on a whim at the last minute, hooked the bags loosely over his arm and sauntered out — and Haejun hyung pushed the wheelchair slowly.
I absentmindedly stroked the phone in my pocket out of habit. It was a new phone my parents had bought me before I was discharged. At first, my finger movements were so clumsy that I couldn’t do anything besides answer calls. Now, simple text input wasn’t too difficult. So last night, I’d saved Kwon Wookyung’s new number from the missed calls list under ‘ㄱㅇㄱ’. It meant I’d finally managed to add a single friend to my contacts.
Should I try to make new friends? But I’m not in school anymore — where would I even meet people? How do adults make friends? I mulled over questions I had no answers to, and let go of my phone that had no notifications showing.
“Haehyeon, want to pop in here? This brand is good for pants.”
“Haven’t we already bought a lot? We don’t need to buy more——”
I was trying to hold back my older hyung, who was even more enthusiastic about buying my clothes than I was, when an unfamiliar voice cut in.
“No way — Shin…… Haehyeon?”
Someone had called my name.
I spun around in surprise — and the person was squinting at me with an uncertain expression, trying to make sure. The tall frame and the oddly languid way they carried themselves was somehow familiar.
“You…… are you Choi Seonho by any chance?”
I blurted out the name that flashed through my mind.
“Oh my god. It’s really Shin Haehyeon?”
It seemed my guess was right — his eyes went wide in an instant.
Of all things. It was unmistakably Choi Seonho, who had been in the same class as me at Myeonga Arts High School. The school didn’t separate classes by major but mixed everyone together, and Choi Seonho had been in the same class as me for two years in a row — so we’d been fairly close. In particular, the dance and ballet departments had fewer male students, which made it easier to become close.
“You, you, you — I hadn’t heard anything about you since the accident…… what happened?”
“I woke up not long ago.”
“Wait, then how many years has it even been?”
“Six years. Pretty much a miracle, right?”
Choi Seonho made a huge fuss — overjoyed one moment, then welling up with tears at the corners of his eyes and sniffling. Unable to hold it back, he bent down and pulled me into a tight hug around my neck. I patted his back and laughed quietly.
Yeah, this is it. This was exactly the kind of reaction you’d expect when a friend came back from the dead.
Choi Seonho pretended he hadn’t been crying and quietly wiped his tears — then greeted my hyungs, who had been standing beside us watching, with an easy, familiar charm. He introduced himself as an old high school friend and gushed about how glad he was that Haehyeon had woken up.
“Hyung, I want to stay and talk with Choi Seonho for a bit.”
“Go ahead. I’ll take today’s stuff home, get it sorted out, and come back. Call me when you’re about ready and I’ll come pick you up.”
“Isn’t that too much trouble?”
“Not at all. Make sure you call.”
Haejun hyung insisted earnestly before heading off with the bags, and my younger hyung said he had plans nearby and took off too. I went with Choi Seonho to the department store lounge and sat down across from him.
Choi Seonho chugged his iced coffee and muttered that this didn’t feel like a dream.
“So how long has it been since you woke up?”
“A little over two months now.”
“Wow…… have you let people know?”
“I haven’t had the chance. Right now it’s just family and relatives who know.”
“Am I the first one from our class?”
“No, actually. I ran into Kwon Wookyung recently. He was the first friend, and you’re the second.”
“Huh? Kwon Wookyung? Where did you run into him?”
Choi Seonho’s reaction was unexpectedly serious. Since Kwon Wookyung had also been in the same class for two years running, the two of them had been fairly close as well. Choi Seonho had such an easy-going personality that got along well with everyone — so he’d naturally clicked with Kwon Wookyung too, despite how quiet and guarded he was.
“Hmm? Just around the neighborhood.”
“That makes no sense. I haven’t seen that guy in six years.”
“Really? Wouldn’t you have seen him at school?”
An bewildering answer came back.
“No way. He dropped out in second year.”
