* * *
Twitch.
“Awake?”
Taeshin, who had been quietly sleeping, opened his eyes without a sound. Startled by his typically silent awakening, I asked, and Taeshin lifted his head slightly to look at me.
Still groggy with sleep, he smiled softly, causing my heart to skip a beat for a brief moment.
“Did you sleep well, Sunwoo?”
“…Uh…”
His warm smile, like sunshine melting snow in spring, made my heart flutter. His low, sleep-roughened voice tickled my ears.
Rubbing the edge of my ear, I blinked at the ceiling before finally answering.
“Yeah.”
Was that right? Did I respond correctly?
I couldn’t think straight. Had Taeshin asked me something just now?
Trying to hide my confusion, I glanced around, and Taeshin reached out to stroke my hair.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah.”
I laughed while watching Taeshin gently touch my hair. He looked at me silently, as if checking if I was really okay, and then nodded in relief.
My lower abdomen felt a bit stiff as if something was wrong, but it was more discomfort than pain, so I didn’t mention it. I got up from the bed following Taeshin.
I wanted to rest, but unfortunately, today was a day with lectures, so I dragged myself to school.
As soon as I entered the lecture hall, the atmosphere was restless, and I could feel glances being thrown my way.
It seemed that yesterday’s incident had already spread, and my classmates were whispering while looking at me.
“Sunwoo, are you okay?”
Jung Noeul approached quickly and plopped down in the seat in front of me.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“We were really worried because you didn’t answer your phone.”
It was only then that I realized I had been carrying my phone around without checking it. When I took it out, there were messages asking if I was okay.
Even the class president had contacted me, offering help if needed regarding yesterday’s incident.
“I should have shown you a photo, not just mentioned who to avoid.”
Jung Noeul sighed.
“Was the person who caused trouble yesterday one of the people you warned me about?”
“Yeah, and that senior had done similar things before. Because he’s a Dominant Alpha, he doesn’t like other Alphas and used pheromones to harass them. They say he got off with just a warning because it was a ‘mistake’ caused by some medicine.”
“Typical repeat offender…”
Using pheromones to intimidate another of the same kind was akin to physical violence.
Resorting to pheromonal threats just because you’re annoyed was no different from throwing punches.
Doing something even kids wouldn’t do at his age was pathetic.
“I heard he’s the son of a company president, so people can’t touch him easily. The senior who was bullied ended up settling it with money.”
Hearing Jung Noeul’s story made me feel sick. When I raised a hand to my forehead, Jung Noeul fussed over me, asking if I was still in pain.
“No, it’s just stress.”
“…Sunwoo, you’ve got quite a temper, huh?”
“Anyway.”
What a jerk.
“He’s a jerk.”
Taeshin, sitting next to me, echoed my thoughts exactly. He looked down at his textbook with a cold expression.
When I looked at him, he smiled, but I could see he was still angry.
“Having a lot of money…”
“…Should I expose him on the internet?”
I laughed a little at Jung Noeul’s determined expression.
“No, but I appreciate the thought.”
I patted the dejected Jung Noeul and sent him back to his seat.
After the lecture, I went to the cafeteria with Taeshin. From the start, I had no appetite, and when I received my cheese-topped kimchi fried rice, my appetite completely vanished.
Normally, I love cheese, but today, I couldn’t eat it. I pushed the cheese aside and picked at the rice before ordering kimbap and ramen instead.
“Does it taste weird?”
“Huh? No, it just doesn’t taste good today.”
Taeshin watched me with concern as I waited for my new order. I blamed my lack of appetite on still being angry and finished the new kimbap and ramen cleanly.
“I guess you really were too upset to eat.”
Taeshin commented, seeing my empty bowls.
“I know. You ate so much that my portion didn’t even make a dent.”
I responded to Taeshin’s teasing with some sarcasm. He chuckled, and I stuck out my tongue at him.
After eating, I sent Taeshin ahead to the next lecture.
He hesitated, not wanting to go alone, but I gave him the mission of saving seats and went to meet the class president who had texted me before the lecture started.
“I’m here to see President Jung Hyewon.”
“Hyewon? She’s in the president’s office over there.”
“Thank you.”
I greeted the senior in the student council room and went into the president’s office.
“Hello.”
“Hey, I was waiting for you. Have a seat.”
As I entered, President Jung Hyewon stopped typing on her laptop and greeted me.
I pulled out a chair and sat down, and she smiled warmly and tilted her head.
“Nice to meet you. I’m really sorry the student council didn’t prevent yesterday’s incident. So, to be direct, I’m very upset about what happened, and I want to help you with anything you need.”
“How can you help me if I ask?”
“I’ll use all the resources of the student council and my personal power. I hate incidents like this and don’t want to overlook it like the seniors did last year.”
Her smiling yet grim expression suited her well. As I watched her grind her teeth while smiling, I realized she was no ordinary president.
“It seems we think alike. I also hate incidents like this. Do you know the names of everyone who attended that day?”
“It seems like we have similar thoughts. We need to talk more.”
President Jung Hyewon turned her laptop towards me, showing me the screen.
After discussing with her, I barely made it back to the next lecture on time. Taeshin looked like he had a lot to say, but the professor walked in, so we just exchanged a quick smile.
If someone flaunts their money, you respond in kind. That’s what my older brother taught me.
* * *
A few days later, the jerk who had threatened me with pheromones sent another classmate to call me out.
When I ignored his messages to meet at the campus cafe, he sent someone twice more, and when I ignored those too, he came to find me himself, clearly irritated. I sent him away again, saying I had a lecture.
Finally, I decided to meet him and went to the agreed place on time. I had to shake off Taeshin, who wanted to come with me. When I arrived, the jerk was sitting with another jerk.
“So you’re an Omega, huh?”
The first thing he said when I sat down was that. He really was beyond help. As he babbled, he threw an envelope at me. It was clearly full of money.
Just like Jung Noeul had said, they were trying to settle it with money again.
“I admit I was wrong, so take it.”
“Did you put a lot in there? I’m expensive.”
“Just say you were already feeling unwell when the disciplinary committee asks.”
Pressing down on the stack of cash with his fingers to check its thickness, Jerk 2 confidently commanded.
It seemed they had contacted the school’s student violence disciplinary committee through the president.
Leaving a habitual offender with no chance of rehabilitation will inevitably lead to the same incidents happening again.
Curious about the value they placed on my life, I opened the envelope. It wasn’t much.
They bragged about having lots of money, but this was it?
“It’s not much. I expected more since you said you had a lot of money.”
Disappointed by how cheaply they valued me, I put the money back into the envelope.
“If you want me to testify the way you want, put in more. Maybe not enough to use my mom’s money, but at least enough to reach my toe. This is a bit too much.”
“Do I look like a fool? Even this is a lot for someone like you. Just take it.”
“Hey, hey. Take this and get lost.”
After Jerk 2, who claimed to have a lot of money but was reluctant to give more, Jerk 1 pulled out a wad of cash from his wallet and threw it on the table.
Still insufficient, I scratched my head, gathered the money, and handed it back to the Jerk 1.
“You said you had a lot of money and would pay in such cases, so I checked with my mom. When I asked her how much I was worth, she said I hadn’t earned any money yet and was just draining resources, so I had a negative account balance….”
Thinking of my tearful mother, who deemed her precious youngest child worth a negative account balance, I trailed off and then continued.
“But she said if something happened, she’d sell the art center—oh, my mom runs an art center. She’d sell it to take care of me, so please match the amount to that level. She didn’t tell me the exact value, but she said it’s well over ten billion won.”
“Are you kidding? What kind of scam is this?”
“Also, I heard you gave money to other students you reported to the disciplinary committee. It was too little, though. It couldn’t even buy a single outfit, so I told them to return it. I suggested they give double the amount I proposed. They probably returned it to your father by now.”
* * *
thats my boy!
Thanks