ETP Ch 34

Again.

Yoohyun stared at his phone, which still displayed only a black screen. As if a call would come through any second. He didn’t move a muscle, until the whites of his eyes were bloodshot.

However, despite his efforts, the phone remained stubbornly silent.

Worried because the boy hadn’t been in contact since morning, he’d even gone to his part-time job, but he couldn’t find Kim Bokseung there either. He was only told that Bokseung wasn’t working today.

In the end, he found himself in front of Bokseung’s house. He knew it was excessive, but he couldn’t stop his body from moving on its own.

He’d been waiting for over an hour. At the end of his gaze, which he shifted to the right, he saw a round face with fluffy hair. It was Kim Bokseung.

He looked remarkably cheerful for someone who had caused so much worry by being out of contact all day. He was smiling brightly and swaying his upper body, seemingly pleased about something.

Anyone could see he was drunk.

Completely intoxicated before 8 p.m.? Hwang Yoohyun couldn’t stand it and rushed over to the boy.

“Hey!”

He yelled out involuntarily. Bokseung, startled by the sudden loud voice so close by, looked at Yoohyun with a surprised expression.

And then he said,

“Oh? Hwang Yoohyun Sunbae! Hello!”

His greeting was as loud as Yoohyun’s shout. As if that wasn’t enough, he bowed almost in half.

Yoohyun frowned at the respectful greeting, even while drunk.

“Why do you keep ignoring my calls?”

“Huh?”

Sungyeon looked puzzled, seeing Yoohyun growling about him ignoring his calls.

Did I ignore his calls again?

Hwang Yoohyun’s forehead disappeared and reappeared as Sungyeon’s vision tilted sideways. No matter how much he thought about it, this alpha Sunbae seemed too tall. Displeased, Bokseung’s small lips jutted out.

“Why, what’s wrong now? Why the pout?”

Yoohyun poked Bokseung’s protruding lips with his finger.

Even before his hand touched his face, the pleasant pheromones stimulated his nose. Yoohyun’s expression seemed slightly displeased, but his pheromones told a different story.

The faintly spreading pheromones danced around Bokseung, as if expressing joy at their encounter.

“Because Sunbae is too tall!”

“What?”

Sungyeon pulled down Yoohyun’s finger that had lightly touched his lips. He didn’t like how long his fingers were either.

“Sunbae is all big. Your height, your fingers.”

Sungyeon grumbled, comparing Yoohyun’s finger to his own.

Yoohyun found it ridiculous that Bokseung was already drunk and rambling in the early evening. But what was even more ridiculous was that he found it quite cute.

If anyone else had been babbling like this in front of him, he would have abandoned them without hesitation. But with Kim Bokseung acting like this, he wanted to put him in his pocket and keep him all to himself, let alone abandon him.

He was seriously smitten.

“How much did you drink?”

Yoohyun left his finger in Bokseung’s grasp and asked what he’d been wondering about. No, that wasn’t what he was most curious about.

“With whom.”

This was what he wanted to know most.

Who was he with to get this drunk? The suspicion that he might have been with another alpha arose.

Feigning indifference, Yoohyun sensitively examined the scent around Bokseung. Fortunately, only the sharp scent of alcohol mixed with Bokseung’s own scent; there was no trace of another secondary gender.

The anxiety that had gripped him vanished instantly. Relaxing his stiff shoulders, Yoohyun quietly listened to Bokseung’s drunken ramblings.

Although he didn’t get a proper answer to any of his questions.

“You smell nice, Sunbae, so I feel better even though I was feeling down. It’s amazing, I was really feeling blah today.”

“Why?”

“There are things… Adult circumstances.”

Bokseung strained his eyes. He seemed to want to express his seriousness, but to Yoohyun, it only made his brown eyes shine brighter.

Yoohyun looked at his sparkling eyes and chuckled. What adult circumstances could a 20-year-old possibly have?

“Did you just drink? Did you eat anything?”

“Oh! What I ate today! Hmm, I had beef Gopchang assorted platter! I treated myself one last time!”

“Why was it a last treat?”

Yoohyun asked because he was genuinely curious.

He couldn’t understand why eating Gopchang was a treat. He could buy it for Bokseung five times a day if he asked. But why was he talking as if he would never eat Gopchang again?

Seeing Yoohyun’s clueless expression, Sungyeon clicked his tongue inwardly.

He had thought this before, but conversations with this Sunbae never lasted long. As if they were under a spell that prevented them from talking further.

Too lazy to explain, Sungyeon shook his hands. He wanted to stop talking about it. Yoohyun, surprisingly understanding, closed his mouth. A quiet silence enveloped them.

Meanwhile, Bokseung’s small hand was still tightly gripping Yoohyun’s finger.

Yoohyun glanced at his finger.

Bokseung probably didn’t even realize what he was holding. He didn’t feel the need to point it out. He didn’t mind this silent moment.

How many minutes had they been standing there, holding fingers?

“Oh! Sunbae!”

As if he’d suddenly remembered something, Bokseung swung Yoohyun’s finger. Even with that weak, spring-breeze-like force, Yoohyun swayed helplessly. He just let himself be swayed.

“Yeah.”

“I have a favor to ask!”

“What is it?”

He felt like he could grant him anything right now.

“Please be nice to me! Please take good care of Kim Bokseung!”

What is he talking about?

This time, Yoohyun tilted his head. He was already being nice enough.

A small wrinkle formed between Yoohyun’s eyebrows. Bokseung, catching it like a hawk, rubbed the spot between his eyebrows.

He seemed to have poor control of his strength due to the alcohol.

“I am being nice.”

Yoohyun said, feeling slightly wronged. If he was any nicer, Bokseung would run away for sure. If only he could say it.

“Huh?”

“What.”

“No, you’re not! I even gave you three wallet coupons, so shouldn’t you be nicer to me?!”

Even drunk, he remembered what he had given him.

Yoohyun thought of the three coupons in his wallet.

“So, how should I be nicer?”

He wasn’t asking because he was afraid Bokseung would take the coupons back. He was just curious what he wanted.

“Reply to my texts nicely, stop making scary faces every time you see me, study with me for exams…”

As if waiting for this moment, Bokseung’s wishes poured out. He must have been feeling quite neglected.

Yoohyun felt a ticklish sensation in his chest as he watched Bokseung making all these demands.

He actually wanted to ask:

If I do all this, what will you do for me? I want to receive the same treatment from you, can you do that?

“Hello? Sunbae? Are you listening?”

“Yeah.”

“See, see! You’re not listening sincerely again!”

“I am.”

“You are?”

Bokseung mimicked him with a serious face.

He was trying to imitate him, but he wasn’t this cute. It was a perfectly cute failure.

“Alright, follow me.”

“Yes, sir.”

He obediently followed.

Yoohyun, with Kim Bokseung trailing behind him, connected by a single finger, headed to the convenience store. He wanted to make him some honey water, but his conscience wouldn’t let him enter the house of a drunk boy who didn’t know what he was saying.

But he was also worried about how the boy would feel the next morning.

In the end, Hwang Yoohyun swept up hangover cures and hangover foods from the convenience store and piled them into Bokseung’s arms. This caused the small hand that had been gripping Yoohyun’s finger to fall away. That stung a little.

“Take these with your suppressants, it’s okay to mix them. And eat this tomorrow morning.”

Bokseung nodded diligently as he listened to the explanation, then looked at Yoohyun with a touched expression.

“Sunbae! Thank you so much!”

Bokseung hugged the convenience store bag tightly and bowed deeply.

Yoohyun scratched his cheek at the intense reaction. He wished Bokseung wouldn’t forget by tomorrow morning.

Unaware of Yoohyun’s thoughts, Bokseung bowed his head once again and said,

“Thank you so much for today! And you must keep your promise!”

“Yeah.”

“Seriously! You’re the only one I can ask for this favor.”

“Alright, go in.”

Yoohyun waved his hand dismissively, urging him to go inside.

At that moment, Hwang Yoohyun simply thought it was the boy’s cute drunken rambling. So he could easily smile and send him off.

Because he had no idea how Sungyeon, inside Kim Bokseung, felt when he asked for the favor, or what he was thinking as he spent that day.