“It’s hyung giving it to you, so you should accept it.”
It was already hard to count how many glasses it had been. The glass bottles densely filling the table shimmered. These idiots were opening whiskey at what was supposed to be a university department gathering. The brown-colored strong liquor was repeatedly filled and emptied in glasses without even ice. Woojae blankly stared at Jeong Minho, who sat him next to himself and kept filling his glass.
“It’s my first time seeing such a handsome beta.”
“Ah, what. Hyung, are you showing favoritism based on looks right now?”
A resentful voice was heard from somewhere. Woojae tilted his head, unable to know its owner. He wasn’t particularly curious. In his blurring vision, Jeong Minho grabbed Woojae’s cheek and laughed.
“No, guys. Look. Isn’t Woojae pretty? It’s too good to keep to myself!”
“Ugh, why is that sunbae like that?”
“Looking closely, his eyelashes are long too.”
“Haha……”
Woojae produced a strange laugh that fell flat. Gye Sajun was scanning Woojae with strange eyes from across from him. What are you staring at? Woojae inwardly assumed on his own that Gye Sajun was displeased with him mixing well into the department. Thinking that way, the strong liquor went down well even without a single snack.
“Woojae-ya, you should pour for hyung too.”
It was somehow unpleasant, but there was no excuse to refuse. Woojae reached out and grabbed the liquor bottle.
“You have a scar. It must have hurt.”
Jeong Minho, who grabbed his slightly exposed wrist, stroked over the scar with his thumb. Woojae frowned slightly and shook off his hand. When he poured liquor until the empty glass overflowed, Jeong Minho smiled faintly.
“How pretty. Are you pouring as much as you love me?”
What are you saying? Still, the position of vice president of the student council seemed impressive among them, as he could see that the momentum of his peers, who had shown him full wariness until just now, had quieted down. It seemed like there’d be nothing bad about getting along.
‘Stop drinking.’
Gye Sajun only mouthed the words. Woojae demonstratively tilted his glass. Who the hell is he to tell me to do this and that? Woojae, who had grown up without both parents since his adolescence, wasn’t used to anyone nagging at him. There was no one around him who had the capacity to do that to him either.
But why did Gye Sajun, the very person who called him out here, look so pissed off? When wrinkles formed between the brows of Sajun, who had always been expressionless in front of him, Woojae felt catharsis in addition to the alcoholic buzz.
“Hyung, give me one more glass.”
“I really like Woojae. Drink a lot today. If you get drunk, I’ll let you sleep at hyung’s place. Hyung lives alone near here.”
“Ah, really?”
Woojae wasn’t particularly interested, but he answered Jeong Minho by appropriately imitating an interested voice. I’m dying of sleepiness.
“Sunbae, let’s mix up the tables? Greet the freshmen evenly.”
“Mm, then Woojae stays here and Sajun and Sojeong move to that table over there.”
At that moment, the atmosphere stiffened a bit. Woojae just blinked, not knowing what was going on. It seemed the power that an armband held was impressive. Gye Sajun only stared at Woojae intently. So what? Woojae responded with unfocused eyes. The guy who briefly let out something like a sigh left his seat with an expression whose thoughts couldn’t be known. Someone sat in the front seat, but he couldn’t know their name.
“Woojae-ya, you’re not angry, right? I told the kids several times that they absolutely can’t leave out even one freshman…… I think the kids made a mistake because they were too busy.”
“It’s okay. That can happen.”
Woojae pretended to be magnanimous and answered coolly. It was doubtful whether it was really a mistake, but since they said so, it was also troublesome to keep denying it. Of course, the fact that he couldn’t sleep at night because he didn’t get contacted by the student council was a secret. His reddened face burned hot. It was hard to gauge whether it was because of the alcohol or because he was embarrassed for worrying alone over something trivial.
“Hyung didn’t know Woojae would be such a kind and pretty hoobae.”
For just something said casually, it felt a bit dirty. Moreover, the hand wrapping around his waist even more so. Should I see this as a sign of friendliness or not?
“Woojae, don’t you have anything you’re curious about from hyung?”
The one who was supposedly the vice president of the student council only spoke to him. Since there was no one else who would talk to him if not him anyway, he decided to accept it positively.
“Are you an alpha, hyung?”
The question he squeezed out was about this much. Honestly, because he had nothing curious about him.
“Well, what do you think?”
At the ambiguous answer, Woojae shrugged his shoulders. Among themselves they could tell by pheromones and whatnot, but Woojae had no way of knowing unless it was written on their forehead.
“I’m an alpha. Over there, our student council president who’s busily taking care of the kids and going around is an omega.”
Following Jeong Minho’s fingertip, a short woman was visible. She had her hair tied up in one and was wearing a thin jumper with the school emblem.
“Anything else you’re curious about besides that?”
While Woojae was pondering as the face got a little closer, Jeong Minho stealthily lowered the hand that had been gripping his waist and softly grabbed his pelvis. What? Drunk Woojae looked down at the hand touching his body with a dazed head. Do seniors and juniors normally touch each other this much? Then Jeong Minho put his hand on Woojae’s chest. The gesture of pressing firmly felt like normally touching muscle.
“Oh, Woojae has a good body. You must have exercised a lot.”
“Exercise…… So-so.”
“What kind of exercise?”
“Just, well…… Lifting heavy things.”
“Ah, weights? You’re really more solid than you look.”
Exercise was nothing more than part-time jobs doing package loading and unloading and physical labor part-time jobs. He didn’t have the luxury to pay expensive money to go to a gym. Does exercise done during PE class count as exercise?
Since the skinship that was about to become unpleasant until just now changed to the kind of touch when guys compare muscles, Woojae’s wariness also evaporated again. Guys can touch each other a bit, so what. The gaze piercing into his profile from that end was strangely hot, but he deliberately didn’t pay attention.
“We also have an athletics competition in the first semester. Woojae, for a beta you’re tall and seem to have a good body, so if you’re selected you can play in games, right?”
“Probably.”
“Where’s ‘probably,’ if you do it, you do it.”
At the touch suddenly rubbing his nipple over his clothes, Woojae jumped as if bouncing. Jeong Minho laughed loudly with his shiny eyes full of laughter.
“Woojae must be very ticklish.”
“Ah, stop……”
“It’s a joke, a joke.”
Everyone was laughing along with the cheerful laughter. Was that tickling? Why? Woojae frowned with his brain pickled in alcohol. And then Jeong Minho whispered in a low voice in Woojae’s ear. His lips were close to just before touching his earlobe.
“Your nipples must be an erogenous zone.”
Woojae’s eyes and Jeong Minho’s eyes met at close distance. Woojae felt the atmosphere with unknown meaning contained in those eyes. What the fuck is this bastard? He wanted to throw a punch, but since everyone was laughing, he didn’t want to draw attention, and because he didn’t want to waver, he smiled. At Woojae’s expression, Jeong Minho moved his Adam’s apple with a gulp, thinking something.
“Anyone who’s going to smoke!”
Someone raised their voice from that end. Watching the students getting up one by one, Woojae instinctively got up from his seat.
“I want to go too.”
“Woojae, you smoke? That’s not good for your health.”
“Haha…… I should quit.”
“Go ahead.”
It was an expression like a hunter temporarily releasing prey for amusement. Woojae felt dirty at that clear hostility—Woojae thought it was hostility. Is this some new kind of bullying? He followed the department’s smokers outside, but not one person spoke to him first. He’d quit smoking, but for now he didn’t want to arouse suspicion, so he headed to the convenience store right next to them.
“The smoking area is here, where are you going?”
It was Jang Yeonju. He wasn’t the type to memorize people’s names well, but the impression of her remained especially strong. Woojae rubbed his cheek that had cooled a bit in the cold wind and faced Jang Yeonju.
“I’m going to buy cigarettes.”
“Do you have a specific brand you smoke?”
“No.”
“Then I’ll give you one of mine. Come here.”
It was out of the blue, but seeing Jang Yeonju reminded him of his younger sibling he’d left behind, Nari. He should have called today. Worry surged up. Woojae staggered and moved his steps with drunken gait following the back of Jang Yeonju’s head. The wind was very cold.
“Are you very drunk?”
“Not really.”
He received the cigarette Jang Yeonju handed him. As he opened his lips and bit it, a lighter naturally followed in front of his face. At the kind favor, Woojae didn’t refuse and lit it. Whether Jang Yeonju also bit a cigarette, the hazily spreading smoke blurred his vision.
“When we go in, should we change seats?”
“Why?”
“Just. I think it would be better to do that.”
Jang Yeonju was constantly sweeping back the bangs that had fallen on her forehead with a reluctant expression.
“Sit next to me.”
“Next to you?”
“Yeah. Since you’re very drunk.”
“……You don’t hate me?”
Woojae asked slowly, holding his head dizzy with the alcohol buzz spreading with nicotine.
“What? This kid acts cute when drunk.”
This was probably the day in Woojae’s life when he heard the most nonsense about being pretty or cute. Since he was three years old? Woojae glared at Jang Yeonju treating him like a child.
“Anyway, when we go in, sit next to me. Don’t…… to Jeong Minho.”
Suddenly the wind blew strongly. The freezing cold wind after the snow stopped was much more biting, and Woojae’s thin coat was of no help. Woojae, in a drunken state, was so focused on warding off the cold that he didn’t hear Jang Yeonju’s words. That was the last memory of the opening general meeting.
