Puzzled by the woman’s persistent attitude, I replied halfheartedly.
“I’m dead tired, what for?”
I was sincere. I had just been wandering around unable to find a place to sleep—if I’d found a suitable space, I would have collapsed right then and there and started snoring.
If only I’d brought my phone, I would have tried contacting Hyungman-ssi, Nam Heejae’s father. But I’d fled in such a rush that I hadn’t grabbed my phone, let alone my wallet.
I briefly considered borrowing the woman’s phone, but gave up since the only number I knew was Jang Haesu’s. Even if I called, it wouldn’t connect anyway…
Wait.
“…Could I possibly borrow your phone?”
It’s worth a try, right? Having thought that far, I desperately spoke up.
“There’s someone I really need to call.”
Why hadn’t I thought of this until now? It was probably because every single day since possessing this body had felt like walking on thin ice.
“Sorry. I left my phone in my room.”
But the woman slowly shook her head.
I must have shown a disappointed expression, because the woman suggested:
“How about coming to my room with me? Then I can lend it to you.”
“No, it’s fine…”
Worried I might have scared her, I was about to refuse while waving my hands when the woman smiled with an eye-smile that felt oddly familiar.
“Come on, let’s go. It’s not my room anyway.”
Her eyes, wide both horizontally and vertically, resembled someone like they were cast from the same mold.
“Just follow me already.”
She pulled her jacket tight, poked my side with her finger, and muttered:
“Think of it as repayment for giving me your jacket.”
❖ ❖ ❖
“So I brought him. I did well, right?”
…Repayment my ass. You can never trust black-haired creatures.
Swallowing tears of blood, I hung my head in shame. The woman who had just summarized the situation by herself nudged my side with her elbow as if asking for praise.
“He must have been really drunk since he didn’t recognize me. Usually he’d recognize me right away and avoid me.”
“……”
“He looked like he wouldn’t even notice if someone did something to him, so I couldn’t just leave him. Sahyun, if your friend gets drunk, you should think about taking responsibility and looking after him. What good does it do for you to slip away and go rest?”
That’s not it. Baek Sahyun hadn’t slipped away to rest—I had fled for dear life. Solely driven by the determination not to be victimized by that guy.
But the woman, who had no way of knowing the details, just clicked her tongue at Baek Sahyun.
“From now on, take care of your friend first. Seeing how he’s been hanging around a weirdo like you for years, he doesn’t seem like a bad person.”
That’s right. The place the woman had dragged me to, saying she’d lend me her phone, was none other than in front of Baek Sahyun’s room.
Not that room on the second floor where that pervert bastard ‘Seo Jeongmin’ had tried to force me in and got beaten up by Baek Sahyun, but the guest room that was originally assigned to Baek Sahyun.
Having sold off Chae Eunwoo somewhere, Baek Sahyun came out with damp hair and wearing only a bathrobe, then let out a deep sigh seeing me standing like a criminal behind the woman.
Then the woman personally grabbed my arm and pushed me into Baek Sahyun’s room.
“What are you doing not going in? Go quickly, borrow the phone and rest, Heejae-ya.”
It was kindness I found completely unwelcome. Baek Sahyun seemed equally displeased, as he glared at me with terrifying eyes. The woman, who had taken off her jacket and hung it on the doorknob, delivered the final blow.
“Thanks for this. You’ve grown well, Heejae. You even know how to hit on women now.”
I can’t describe how resentful I felt toward her as she left with a relieved smile. Left in that state, I had to silently endure the terrible silence that flowed nearby.
Baek Sahyun, who turned his face to the side as if annoyed, was terrifyingly frightening.
“Your, your cousin is beautiful…”
I tried to lighten the mood by saying something that would please him, but failed.
“She’s my cousin.”
“Your cousin is beautiful…”
“How rude.”
“……”
“Is that all you have to say?”
Even if I had ten, twenty mouths, it would probably be the same. Then what the fuck else could I say?
That I saw you hanging on the cruise railing looking dangerous so I lifted you down? That you looked cold so I worried and gave you my jacket, and now I’m about to lose my mind with gratitude for how you’re repaying me?
“Eun… woo?”
Never mind all that. I asked, looking for an excuse to escape.
Seeing that he’d showered and was even wearing a bathrobe, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the two of them had done it, so I thought Chae Eunwoo must be hiding somewhere around here.
I was planning to grovel and tell them to be comfortable together, and that I’d leave if it was uncomfortable.
“I sent him away.”
But the answer I got back was completely unexpected.
“You sent him away?”
When I asked again, Baek Sahyun shook his hair with the towel around his neck and said:
“He was obvious and boring.”
His tone was dry. The damp towel fell at Baek Sahyun’s feet.
“I’m disgusted. By kids like that.”
“……”
“So I was going to kick him out, but Nam Heejae, you’re really stupid.”
“No way, I thought you were just verbally rejecting him! Why are you really like this? If you’re an Alpha, it’s natural to be attracted to Omegas—why do you deny it to that extent?”
It might be difficult to immediately go around announcing he’d found his true love, but one thing was certain: he was an Alpha and Chae Eunwoo was an Omega.
So having read <Excessively Brilliant> all the way to the end, I could guarantee it. Baek Sahyun and Chae Eunwoo would eventually fall into a destructive love, dragging each other into an unfathomable abyss.
A happy ending that didn’t feel like a happy ending. An ending that was unsettling but inevitable given the story. The people who would face that outcome were none other than Baek Sahyun and Chae Eunwoo.
But Baek Sahyun was no ordinary person. He took a step forward and asked:
“I’m curious about something too, Heejae-ya…”
His eyes were as cold as frost.
“Why are you so convinced that I’ll come to like that kid?”
“……”
“It’s already annoying that you spout nonsense whenever you get the chance, but I keep doing this because I’m curious. You act like the world will collapse if I don’t get involved with Chae Eunwoo.”
“It won’t collapse…”
“But you act like you’re disgusted just brushing sleeves with me. Hm?”
I desperately backed away. Still wearing my shoes, I trembled and fled. It was a natural reaction—anyone would feel extreme fear facing those insane eyes.
But my legs stiffened and I tripped midway, falling ungracefully. Baek Sahyun’s shadow fell over me.
“Get up.”
“Sahyun-ah…!”
Grasping at straws, I grabbed a handful of his pant leg and begged.
“Let’s, let’s talk! Can’t we resolve this with conversation?”
“Get up.”
“I’ll explain everything. I’m confident I can explain. You said you were curious why. I’ll work hard to clear all your doubts…, I’ll really work hard…”
“Get up, Nam Heejae.”
“You bastard…”
Exhausted by him not listening to a word I said, I staggered to my knees. My eyes heated up and turned red. I resented Baek Sahyun’s merciless behavior.
“I’m up, you fucking bastard. Happy now?”
Though my pronunciation was somewhat slurred, when I spat it out through clenched teeth, Baek Sahyun overlapped his hand on mine and brought it to his bathrobe tie.
“Untie the string first.”
“…Hey.”
“Don’t avoid my eyes. If you do, I won’t go easy on you.”
At the following warning, I squeezed my eyelids shut. Baek Sahyun was pressing down on my hand that couldn’t even properly grip the string due to trembling. I appealed sincerely.
“…You don’t have to get involved with Chae Eunwoo. You don’t need to get involved with me out of rebelliousness either. If your intention is to punish me, just hit me instead. Hm? Wouldn’t it be better for both of us to just hit me until you feel better and end it?”
When I pleaded for him to reconsider, saying I wouldn’t resent him even if I died from the beating, Baek Sahyun snorted.
“Want to get on all fours right now?”
So all I could feel was the urgency that I had to buy time somehow. To prevent Baek Sahyun, whose patience had run out from pointless arguing, from doing something reckless.
“…On the trip, I want to do it on the trip.”
The moment I answered with the feeling of chewing on a cockroach, grief welled up inside me.
Tears dripped down my face one after another. Jang Woohyun’s pride is completely dead, really. To show tears so many times in front of a guy who’s only twenty-four. Frustrated, I babbled whatever came to mind.
“You said let’s go on a trip. You said let’s go swimming there. Since we’re doing several things, let’s do that too. It’ll be nice to see the scenery.”
But Baek Sahyun wasn’t one to be easily swayed.
“If you’re done talking, get on all fours, Heejae-ya.”
“……”
“Your bullshit isn’t entertaining.”
“I said I’ll do it on the trip!”
“So?”
“……”
“Should I listen just because you’re asking?”
“……”
“Why?”
Crazy bastard.
I silently cursed Baek Sahyun, who wouldn’t blink an eye even when someone was begging desperately.
I hope you also get fucking hit by a hit-and-run unfairly just like me and fall into a 19+ gay novel! I hope you meet a bastard who’s stronger than you and has an even shittier personality and get kissed and suffer even worse things to your heart’s content!
Thwack, I pushed away his hand and got into position while sobbing. As I got on all fours so my ass faced him, humiliation washed over me and my crying grew uncontrollably loud. As much as I sobbed, resentment built up in my chest.
Now Baek Sahyun would start molesting me in earnest. He’d yank down my pants and pull down my underwear. Just as described in the novel, he’d use his hands without mercy.
Thinking it would be better than being forcibly undressed by him, I was unbuckling my pants myself when I felt puzzled by the sudden silence and slowly looked back.
“…Baek Sahyun?”
And then I inwardly shouted eureka. Baek Sahyun was looking down at me with an extremely bleak gaze, even a gaze full of contempt. Eureka! Right. A perfect character without weaknesses can’t exist.
I felt like I’d finally found a weapon to control the psychopath named Baek Sahyun. Since he’s a character created by a person, there must be loopholes. Whether intentional or unintentional.
That damn Baek Sahyun…, he clearly found it disgusting when the other person stripped and came at him first. Maybe that’s why he felt repulsed by Chae Eunwoo too? Because Chae Eunwoo’s personality was more proactive than expected?
