Chapter 28

“You’re crazy.”

“I’m not. I’m fine. I… I’m serious about Dansol.”

“Don’t make me laugh. You’re just playing around again. Serious? Do you even know what sincerity is? If you truly cared about Dansol, you wouldn’t have stayed in the same room pretending to be a good hyung, trying to get along as fellow Omegas. It’s laughable.”

“At first, it was like that… But now it’s different.”

Daesoo was right. Perhaps Jisoo had made the wrong choice from the beginning. Was it truly irreversible?

“A confession that the other person can’t handle is violence.”

Leaving Jisoo behind, Daesoo walked out of the forest.

***

“Bed-wetter… Han Jisoo…”

“Huh!”

Dansol woke up startled by the faint memory of last night. But the sight of Jisoo, who should have been hugging him like a precious doll, was nowhere to be seen.

Jisoo, who usually woke up later than him, was missing.

Did something happen?

“Hyung…”

Dansol, opening the tent, saw Jisoo uncomfortably dozing in a folding chair, drenched with morning dew, his hair and windbreaker wet.

“Hyung!”

“Huh… Sol, you’re awake?”

“Hyung! Did you sleep here?”

“…It was a bit hot inside the tent.”

That couldn’t be. Dansol had to pull his sleeping bag up to his neck due to the rapidly dropping temperature in the early morning.

He worried that he might have made a big mistake with Jisoo while he was drunk.

“Hyung… did I… make any mistakes yesterday…?”

“How’s your ankle?”

“Oh… it’s fine. But, hyung, about yesterday…”

“Oh! It’s been a while since I got up early. Feels refreshing. Sol, I’m going to take a walk around here.”

Jisoo deliberately changed the subject, as if trying to avoid Dansol. Dansol quickly sensed this.

He was used to such things, not understanding why people distanced themselves from him.

“Achoo!”

Jisoo, who had fled into the forest to avoid Dansol’s gaze, rubbed his forearms to warm his shivering body. Refreshing, my foot.

He looked like he was about to come down with a fever. He had gone hiking, which wasn’t even his hobby, and slept outside in the cold dew without any rest.

All the few tents were crowded with alpha males. Having left his tent at the lodge with the sole intention of sleeping next to Dansol, he had no other choice but to stay in Dansol’s tent.

But his barely awakened conscience held him back by the ankle.

He thought about changing his room once he got back to the lodge.

“Ugh… it’s so damn cold…”

***

Jisoo didn’t show up at all until they finished a simple breakfast and cleaned up. Dansol kept fiddling with the sandwich and drink he had prepared for Jisoo.

Dansol approached Daesoo, who was tidying up the tent. He might know Jisoo’s whereabouts.

“Excuse me… senior, do you know where Jisoo hyung went?”

It was the first time Daesoo had been alone with Dansol since they climbed the mountain, and he took a deep breath.

While his body didn’t react like a beast as it did then, it was still a sort of trauma. Daesoo kept pulling down the top of his hiking outfit.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen him either.”

He was naturally taciturn, but Dansol felt he was unusually cold.

It could just be his imagination. Maybe it was a kind of victim complex.

They might be the same as usual, but he was just overreacting.

“I need to fold this. Can you move?”

“Oh… do you need help?”

“No.”

“Okay…”

While sorting his luggage in the corner, Dansol reflected on yesterday’s events. He hadn’t drunk much, but it was strong liquor.

Dansol, who was weak to alcohol, had never had such a high-proof whiskey before. It was pretty and sweet, so he didn’t realize he was getting drunk. He must have said something wrong to Jisoo.

Jisoo was a top actor in Korea. Just because he was kind and friendly to him didn’t mean he should have acted the same. Dansol regretted it and knocked his head.

“Is your ankle okay?”

It was Minhyuk who spoke to Dansol first.

“Yes…”

“When we go down, Taewo and I will go with you.”

“Yes? What about Jisoo hyung and Daesoo senior?”

“Jisoo went down early in the morning, and Daesoo said he wants to go down alone.”

“Oh…”

Dansol felt tears welling up. It seemed like they were avoiding him.

“Uh… hyung, did I make a mistake yesterday?”

“No? You were just a little drunk. Why? Did something happen?”

“No… it’s nothing. I think I made a mistake with Jisoo hyung. That’s why he’s avoiding me. What should I do?”

“It looked like you went to sleep right away… What kind of mistake did you make?”

“Well…”

Dansol couldn’t bring himself to admit that he called Jisoo a “bed-wetter.” Jisoo was already hurt by those words, and telling someone else would be impolite. Besides, he wasn’t exactly sure why Jisoo was angry.

“It’s nothing. I’ll talk to Jisoo hyung when we get back.”

***

However…

As soon as he opened the door, intending to apologize to Jisoo at the lodge, Dansol was met with the sight of Jisoo arguing with PD Choi.

“Why isn’t there a room? Yoon Yeomin left.”

“Ah, well… the rules have changed… a new member…”

“What? PD Choi, we signed a contract for this program. What do you mean the rules changed? Do you just change things without telling the cast? Damn it… is the camera off?”

The kind and gentle Jisoo was gone, replaced by a ferocious figure swearing in frustration.

“You set a tough schedule, got the kids injured, and now suddenly change the rules? A new member? Shouldn’t you at least explain it to the cast beforehand?”

“I was going to tell you on the mountain, but Yoo Doohyun got hurt…”

“Why did you even plan the hike…! Never mind. Just know that I need a room to myself from now on.”

“Han Jisoo! You can’t just…”

“You knew from the start that four Omegas were coming, didn’t you? Did you only prepare three rooms so we’d fight like children? I can’t stand it, so change the rooms immediately.”

Just as Jisoo was about to say more, he noticed Dansol standing at the door, having overheard the conversation. Dansol felt embarrassed holding the sandwich in his hand.

He felt foolish for thinking they were close when Jisoo clearly despised him enough to get this angry.

Jisoo was just as startled. He had come down the mountain early to avoid showing his sickly state on camera.

PD Choi, who had told Dansol to move rooms just yesterday, now hesitated and changed the subject. No matter how much Jisoo argued, the answer remained the same.

We’ll discuss it when the other members arrive.

Jisoo couldn’t understand why he had to discuss moving into an empty room with other people. After cursing and getting angry, PD Choi finally mentioned a new member was coming.

Just as Jisoo was fuming about this breach of contract, Dansol had walked in. The timing was terrible.

I assure you, Jisoo never felt uncomfortable sharing a room with Dansol. What he couldn’t bear was the growing feelings inside him.

Dansol’s eyes, hurt by the easily misunderstood words, appeared in his mind. It was pitiful to see his trying to hold back his tears. He didn’t mean to show his this side of him.

Before Jisoo could say anything to Dansol, he turned around to hide his tears.

“Sol…!”

Just then, Jisoo, feverish all day, staggered.

In the moment of sudden dizziness, Dansol had already left Chunmong Pavilion.

***

There weren’t many places Dansol could go on the island after leaving Chunmong Pavilion. He ran to the tree at the foot of the mountain where Minhyuk used to loaf around and finally sat down to wipe his tears.

Even though he knew people couldn’t be trusted, what was he expecting? Feeling foolish for being deceived again, Dansol cried his heart out, when a cat approached him.

It was the mother cat of Dan-tan-ji, which Minhyuk raised.

The cat, which always disappeared somewhere, seemed to have made this place its hideout. It, who never allowed anyone near when nursing its kittens, now rubbed its face against Dansol’s feet as if trying to comfort him.

Meow―.

“Is this life ending like this too… I’m really beyond help, it’s scary.”

Dansol muttered as he petted the cat’s soft fur.

“Here you are.”

It was Lee Yiyeon, panting, who appeared before Dansol. His forehead was glistening with sweat, as if he had been running for a long time.

“I’ve been looking for you for a while.”

He, who had been in the dorm, unintentionally witnessed the argument between Jisoo and PD Choi from beginning to end. When the scene visible from the second floor balcony became boring, Dansol opened the gate.

Before he could stop him, hurtful words that would wound Dansol poured out of Jisoo’s mouth. Just seeing his back as he ran away made his chest ache, so he couldn’t stay in the room.

Why was he so attracted to someone he had never even offered a seat beside him?

“Hmph… Why do you care about me?”

Even his reproachful tone, which seemed to blame him, made him happy that he was talking to him. It was severe, even he thought so.

“I thought you might be crying.”

At Yiyeon’s words, Dansol, who was trying to hold back his tears, burst into tears like a child, despite not wanting to show such a sight to him.

He was one of the people he didn’t want to show this side to, yet nothing went his way despite having come back in time.