That’s what he gets for doing something he doesn’t normally do. Minjun had made a nice dinner and booked the movie tickets today, so it seemed like Gangha had tried to be considerate — and the irritation had just caught up with him belatedly.
From a young age, whenever something dirty got on him, Gangha would scrub himself raw until his skin was nearly peeling off. There had even been times when Minjun would come in from running around on the field and Gangha would shove him hard enough to knock him over, declaring he smelled.
Remarkably, compared to back then, Gangha now was considerably better.
Could this all be thanks to Sowon?
Come to think of it, Gangha’s symptoms had seemed to ease up little by little after he grew close to Sowon. It was only natural — when a person falls in love, the world looks rosy and they soften.
Sowon, come visit often~
Before going to sleep, Minjun sent Sowon a message and closed his eyes. Gangha gradually becoming more lenient was a welcome change for Minjun too. He could only hope December 31st would come soon.
He’d read somewhere that the more each day resembles the last, the faster time seems to pass. That was exactly how it was for Minjun right now.
With Gangha no longer going to school, Minjun’s days had become more monotonous than ever. He’d wake up in the morning, eat breakfast with Gangha, attend his lectures and come back, do some exam studying and assignments, eat dinner, and then work up a sweat with Gangha in the exercise room to aid digestion.
Once winter break started, the days became even more identical. Time drifted by unhurriedly — and before he knew it, the last day of the year had arrived.
Except for that one time he’d listened to the New Year’s bell with a girlfriend — though of course, midway through, he’d received a call from Gangha and had to go home — Minjun had mostly spent New Year’s Day quietly. Gangha never forcibly stopped Minjun from going out, but with no friends to spend it with, Minjun had naturally ended up ringing in the New Year alongside Gangha.
But this time was different. Because Gangha was finally on the cusp of getting a partner!
Minjun had read the room early and made plans for New Year’s Eve in advance.
— Since when do you suggest hanging out? You’ve been tailing Baek Gangha’s every step.
Lee Byungho, hearing from him after ages, didn’t sound particularly thrilled. Minjun, who would drop everything and run the moment Gangha called no matter who he was with, had long been known to everyone as Gangha’s errand boy. Because of it, he’d grown apart from all his high school friends, and the only one left now was Lee Byungho.
“It’s been a while. Hang out with me.”
— Only if you’re paying for everything.
“Obviously.”
— Fine. Though you’ll probably ditch me for your master the moment he calls anyway.
“No I won’t. Gangha’s got someone he’s seeing these days.”
Minjun explained that Gangha was set to receive a confession that very night at midnight, and that he was bowing out of the picture like a considerate person. Byungho clearly didn’t believe a word of it, but agreed to spend the day with Minjun regardless — under the condition that Minjun covered everything, naturally. He’d said at least if he got a free meal out of it, he couldn’t be too mad even if Minjun ran off in the middle.
Minjun figured there’d be no reason for Gangha to call him on December 31st, but given all the past transgressions, he said he’d pay for everything anyway. His pay had been quietly stacking up the entire time he’d been living like a man of leisure.
On the day Sowon’s confession was scheduled, Minjun was more giddy with anticipation than she probably was as he finished getting ready to head out. Since this was plans with Byungho, he pulled on a black puffer jacket and tugged a hat low over his head.
“Where are you going?”
He ran into Gangha on his way out. Minjun flashed a knowing, meaningful smile.
“Sowon’s coming over tonight, right.”
“And?”
“So you two can have the place to yourselves. I’d only be in the way.”
At that, Gangha looked at him with something like pity. Baek Gangha may have seemed like a man of few words, but when you knew what to look for, his eyes said plenty.
“I haven’t seen Byungho in ages, so we made plans. You’ve got Sowon, so it’s fine if I head out, right?”
“…Sure.”
What counted as hanging out with a friend was, honestly, just getting a meal and killing time at a PC café, and maybe hitting up a pool hall if they got bored. With Gangha liable to call at any moment, drinking wasn’t even something he could consider.
“Alright, I’m heading out. Call me if anything urgent comes up.”
“Okay. Take care.”
Come to think of it, he wasn’t even sure how long it had been since he’d last gone out. For a month before Gangha’s college entrance exams, he’d been worried that leaving might cause some other problem, so he’d been rushing straight home after every lecture.
Minjun had toyed with the idea of taking Gangha’s supercar, but decided to take the subway instead. Driving on a day like today meant spending the entirety of it just hunting for a parking spot.
He met up with Byungho for the first time in a while, and neither of them was particularly warm about it.
“You made it.”
“Yeah.”
After a quick exchange of greetings, the two immediately got down to deciding where to go.
“Let’s get some meat.”
“You’re definitely paying, right?”
“Yeah. I brought my card.”
Minjun pulled out the card from his pocket and gave it a little wave. Having come out with just a card and nothing else, he tucked it into the inner pocket of his puffer and zipped it shut in case he lost it.
Everywhere they went was packed with people, so they waited quite a while before finally getting into a restaurant. They’d deliberately gone to a less crowded area on the outskirts, and it was still like that. Once inside the barbecue restaurant, they grabbed a table quickly and placed their order.
“Hey, what’ve you been up to all this time? I’m starting to forget your face.”
Byungho asked while stuffing his jacket into the space behind his seat.
“Same old, same old. Eating and lounging around at home.”
“And getting paid for it? That’s the life.”
“Jealous?”
“Why would I be? I’ve watched you bolt at the drop of a hat the second Baek Gangha calls, more times than I can count.”
Byungho grinned and jabbed at him.
“This bastard.”
Minjun bristled but couldn’t bring himself to argue. The pay was more than generous, but it was true that his personal freedom had all but disappeared.
For some reason, whenever Minjun went out, something urgent always seemed to come up with Gangha. He was genuinely grateful Byungho hadn’t blocked him yet.
“Just eat the meat. We haven’t seen each other in ages — quit picking fights.”
Not wanting to lose his last remaining friend, Minjun steered the conversation away. Having grown up putting Gangha first all his life, he’d picked up all sorts of unflattering labels — Baek Gangha’s lapdog and other such charming titles. Back in high school, in the thick of his turbulent years, hearing things like that had made him miserable — but by now, Minjun had grown numb to it.
“It’s only because it’s me that you still have a friend. Who else is going to hang out with you? You’ll be having a great time and then the second Baek Gangha calls, you’re gone without a backward glance.”
“You’re right. If it weren’t for you today, I’d have gone to a PC café by myself.”
“So now you appreciate how precious I am?”
Byungho shrugged with exaggerated pride, and Minjun loaded up his plate with several well-grilled pieces of meat.
“You’re the only friend I have left. Don’t cut me off.”
“Depends on how you act.”
“Fair enough. I’ll do better from now on. I love you, man.”
At the word love, Byungho stuck out his tongue and made a gagging face.
“Ugh, you’ve got a weirdly easy time saying sappy stuff like that. Doesn’t match your face at all.”
“What’s wrong with my face.”
“You know.”
Byungho held his palm up and waved it back and forth in front of his own face. Minjun had a look about him that seemed easygoing and tough — not the type you’d expect to say anything sentimental.
“What did the girls used to call you back in the day? A handsome potato?”
“Oh, yeah. I really hated that nickname. It was because I kept my hair buzzed back in high school.”
“That was a compliment, though. It had ‘handsome’ in front of it.”
“They only added that because they felt bad just calling me a plain potato. Did they think I was an idiot?”
“Oh….”
Byungho muttered inwardly, Is this idiot actually an idiot? He’d bet anything that every single girl who used to call Minjun a potato back then had a thing for him. Spending so much time around Baek Gangha had given Minjun a tendency to underestimate himself. Even right now, he could feel the glances being sneaked from the table beside them — and yet the man himself was completely oblivious to it.
Honestly, when Byungho had first met Minjun, the fact that this supposed athlete had a buzzcut made him hesitant to even approach. But as it turned out, Minjun had been nothing like what he’d expected — just a straightforward guy who trained hard and kept to himself. Later, when Byungho heard he’d won a gold medal at the national taekwondo championships, he’d looked up to him for quite a while.
After he quit sports due to an injury, though, well…. He’d gone through a rough patch for a while.
Fortunately, Minjun’s rough patch hadn’t lasted too long. After quitting sports, he’d stopped going to school for a stretch and started hanging around the wrong crowd — but then one day, out of nowhere, it was like he’d been struck by lightning and he’d pulled himself together. However it happened, it was a good thing.
“Good, right?”
“Yeah, it is.”
Byungho smiled and reached for a piece of meat in response to Minjun’s question.
“Gangha has really particular tastes. I just adapted to them, and I naturally got better at cooking.”
“Is that supposed to be a brag?”
“No. Just stating facts.”
“You used to get uncomfortable the second anyone so much as mentioned Baek Gangha. You’ve really changed.”
In the past, even just hearing someone bring up Gangha was enough to make Minjun’s expression shift. Now he was bringing him up on his own. Time had clearly done its work. Byungho popped a piece of meat into his mouth, thinking back to their high school days. Just as Minjun had said, his grilling was excellent.
“Once Baek Gangha gets a partner, what happens to you?”
“Not girlfriend — boyfriend.”
“Is he a male omega?”
“Yeah.”
Even after same-sex marriage was legalized, betas still tended to date the opposite sex, but those with secondary genders paired with the same sex fairly often. That said, people with secondary genders were a minority to begin with, so Minjun — as a recessive alpha — had only ever dated beta women.
“Once Gangha has a partner, I’m going to find a girlfriend too.”
“Ohh….”
Rather than asking whether that was even realistic, Byungho let out a vague sound of interest.
“What’s that look for?”
“Nothing, just — big dreams, huh.”
“Once Gangha has a partner, he’ll call for me less. He’ll want to be alone with them, right.”
“Well….”
Byungho trailed off without committing either way. Minjun, oblivious as ever, seemed not to catch it — but from where Byungho was sitting, Gangha didn’t seem to want Minjun making friends, let alone a partner.
And could Gangha, who had managed to drive away what few friends Minjun had, really be expected to leave a new partner of Minjun’s alone? Byungho was certain that even if Minjun found someone new, it would go the same way it always had — dumped in under a month.
