Predator Alert chapter 18

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Jeongseo had never told Pyo Yoontae not to hang out with someone before. He wasn’t the type for that, so Pyo Yoontae squinted slightly.

Not just a classmate but a senior by one year. He had a bad feeling about this.

“Why? Did he do something to you?”

“He bullied me in my first year. He’s got a foul mouth too, so just stay away from him.”

For Jeongseo to be so serious, which was out of character for him, made Pyo Yoontae’s expression harden.

He had thought Jeongseo’s aloofness was due to transferring suddenly and not bonding with the other students, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“What kind of bullying?”

“He’d just pick fights for no reason, yank on my tail, swear at me, stuff like that. But it’s fine.”

I got his back for it.

Jeongseo said calmly, bending down to change his shoes.

There was a subtle pressure in his tone, as if telling Pyo Yoontae not to ask any more questions.

“Let’s go. Oh, and I got some allowance from my mom, so I’ll treat you today.”

As if nothing had happened, Jeongseo straightened up with confidence.

Pyo Yoontae glanced at his and nodded.

There was no need to pry if he didn’t want to talk about it.

He had plenty of ways to find out if necessary.

“Anything you want to eat?”

Kim Woosik, Director of Ocha Construction.

Pyo Yoontae repeated the name in his mind before replying softly.

“You pick, Jeongseo. I don’t know this place well.”

“There’s this place at the central market that makes amazing cheese rice. How about we get some to-go? Their rice cakes are great too!”

“Sounds good.”

Jeongseo’s steps had already grown lighter, but his golden eyes gleamed with something dark beneath them.

°❀•°❀°•❀°

The market was relatively quiet, given it was a weekday afternoon.

The two, wearing school uniforms, bought cheese rice, rice cakes, tteokbokki, and fried chicken before leaving the market side by side.

It was late April, and the sun had grown noticeably hotter compared to a few days ago.

Jeongseo carried a black plastic bag in each hand, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

His tail was no longer visible, but if it had been, it probably would have been wagging happily.

Pyo Yoontae also held a black bag. He glanced down at it.

“It’s about a 15-minute walk. Should I call the driver?”

“No! Let’s walk. I like walking.”

Despite feeling slightly reluctant, Pyo Yoontae nodded at the cheerful response. Jeongseo was the type who ate a lot and moved around a lot.

Even at home, he constantly walked around, so it wasn’t surprising that his already lean frame didn’t gain weight.

Jeongseo squinted and asked Pyo Yoontae, “But I didn’t expect you to live in a training center. Aren’t those usually used for workshops and stuff?”

“I’ll only be here for a year, maybe two at most, so I didn’t see the point in finding a place.”

A year at most, two at the longest… Jeongseo muttered, repeating Pyo Yoontae’s words softly.

“Is the only reason you came here to find that first love of yours?”

“Yeah.”

There wasn’t a hint of hesitation.

Jeongseo glanced at him curiously. What kind of person could Pyo Yoontae’s first love have been for him to go so far just to find them?

He didn’t even know their name or remember their face properly, yet his feelings ran this deep.

Jeongseo felt a newfound respect for him.

“You must really like your first love. That’s impressive. I hope you find your first love soon…”

As he spoke, a strange feeling crept up on him.

If Pyo Yoontae found his first love, would he leave immediately?

That thought made his feel oddly downcast.

But what if he couldn’t find them?

“And if you can’t find them, what happens then?”

Pyo Yoontae stopped walking and silently stared at Jeongseo.

Under the weight of that gaze, Jeongseo turned his head away.

“Well, since you don’t even know their name or face… just in case, you know…”

Trailing off, he stole a glance at Pyo Yoontae, who was still looking at him.

Maybe he shouldn’t have asked that.

Asking someone who came all this way to find one person, after all.

“No, never mind. Sorry, that was a dumb question. You’ll definitely find them…”

“There’s no way I won’t. I remember everything else about them. I’ll know the moment I see them.”

Pyo Yoontae’s voice was firm.

Despite not knowing the most important details, there was an unwavering certainty in his words, as if he had already found his first love.

The intensity of that emotion reached Jeongseo, causing his to swallow dryly.

Any doubts he had about how hard it would be to find them vanished completely.

“Y-yeah. You’ll find them for sure! I’ll help too!”

Feeling embarrassed for doubting even for a moment, Jeongseo shouted energetically.

“Let’s go. The tteokbokki’s going to get cold.”

He quickened his pace deliberately.

His chest felt tight for some reason, but he ignored it, pretending everything was fine.

It was a feeling he couldn’t quite put into words.

°❀•°❀°•❀°

“Wow…”

That was the third ‘wow’ Jeongseo had uttered.

The first was when they entered the training center grounds, the second was when they saw the cherry trees lining the parking lot, and now, the third was when they stepped into Pyo Yoontae’s home.

As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a marble floor that shimmered in the light.

Jeongseo stared at the floor, mesmerized.

“Your place is amazing. I could live here forever.”

It was much bigger and nicer than his mom’s house in Seoul.

Jeongseo, wide-eyed, wandered inside.

Just as Pyo Yoontae had said, the house was completely silent, with no one else around.

“I’ll stay here.”

The brown ears perked up instantly, but soon, Jeongseo shook his head.

“No, I still like my home better.”

Though this luxurious house was nice, Jeongseo still preferred the home where he had lived with his grandmother.

It wasn’t that big, but most of his memories were from there.

Pyo Yoontae, as if it was just a joke, casually responded, “Tell me if you change your mind.”

He stopped in front of a white door and opened it.

Jeongseo instinctively knew it was Pyo Yoontae’s room and clung closely to his side.

What kind of room did he stay in?

Filled with curiosity, Jeongseo was startled.

“…It’s like a black-and-white photograph.”

Just as he murmured under his breath, Pyo Yoontae’s room was spacious, but completely devoid of color.

The white walls, the gray-toned bed, the white desk—everything was monochrome.

It really felt like he was looking at a black-and-white photograph.

Jeongseo blinked several times, but nothing changed.

It was entirely different from the warm living room decorated in soft beige tones.

While Jeongseo admired the room, Pyo Yoontae took out a black round foldable table from a built-in closet and unfolded it.

He placed a plastic bag on top of it, making the boundary between the two blur.

The room was not only monochrome, but also so clean that Jeongseo hesitated to step inside.

“What are you doing? Come in already.”

Only when Pyo Yoontae motioned to his did Jeongseo finally step into the room.

As soon as he entered, a chilly winter dawn scent filled the air.

It was much stronger than what she’d occasionally caught before, sending a shiver down his spine.

“There’s cola, orange juice, grape juice, and milk. What do you want to drink?”

Momentarily distracted by Pyo Yoontae’s scent, Jeongseo hurriedly replied, “Gr-grape juice!”

Luckily, Pyo Yoontae nodded without much reaction and left the room.

Jeongseo, feeling his face heat up for no reason, fanned himself with his hands.

Thinking it might be better to take the food out of the bag, he untied the knot.

As the smell of food filled the air, Pyo Yoontae’s scent became faint.

One by one, tteokbokki, cheesy rice, tteokkochi, and fried chicken were placed on the black table, creating a strange disharmony once everything was laid out.

Jeongseo found it amusing and took out his phone to snap a photo.

He wanted to show it to his brother later.

“What are you grinning at?”

Pyo Yoontae placed a bottle of grape juice and a 1.5-liter cola bottle on the desk.

“Oh, the room’s so clean, but somehow, with this food, it feels a bit mismatched.”

As he poured drinks into glass cups, Pyo Yoontae glanced at the food on the table.

He let out a brief chuckle, seeming to agree with him.

“Now that I think about it, which subject did you want me to help you with? Math? English?”

Sipping on grape juice, Jeongseo hummed thoughtfully as the sweet and tangy flavor spread over his tongue.

“I don’t really care what subject, as long as it’s something that can boost my grades quickly.”

His dark eyebrows twitched slightly.

“Jeongseo’s mock test scores… wait. You just guessed on everything and slept, didn’t you? How were your grades in first year?”

“I was 170th in the entire school.”

Dan Gang High School had 179 students in the second year. Excluding the athletes, that left 172 students. He was nearly at the bottom.

“…Oh.”

It took Pyo Yoontae a moment before he let out a low sigh. Jeongseo, feeling awkward, scratched the back of his head.

“My brother said I should aim for at least 4th grade level in a few subjects. Do you think that’s possible?”

Being ranked 170th meant most of his grades were at the 8th or 9th level.

A 4th-grade ranking in a science subject meant he had to be in the top 27.

There were 69 students in the second year.

And there were only about two weeks left until the midterm exams.

But considering that this was a small town with little private education, and he didn’t even know which subjects to focus on…

Pyo Yoontae fell silent for a moment, resting his arms on the desk and leaning slightly toward Jeongseo.

“Well, it’s not impossible.”

Jeongseo’s ears perked up at the unexpected answer.

He thought for sure he would say it couldn’t be done.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ll teach you. So, from now on, come to my house every day after school.”

“…Every day?”

Despite Jeongseo’s surprise, Pyo Yoontae smiled and nodded.

“Yep, every day.”

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