YHP 50

Ho-jin-ah, Ho-jin-ah, Ho-jin-ah.

“What are you doing?”

“Eueuh?”

He snapped back to his senses at the voice asking him. Yoo Ho-jin, who had been spacing out, looked at Jeong-in, making a foolish noise. Jeong-in gestured with his chin at the plate of pasta in front of Yoo Ho-jin.

“Is it not good?”

“No, it’s delicious.”

He quickly buried his head in the plate. In fact, he had completely lost his mind from the moment he had been called Ho-jin-ah, and now he couldn’t even tell whether he was eating the food with his mouth or his nose.

“……”

Not “hey,” not “you,” not “Yoo Ho-jin,” but as much as “Ho-jin-ah.”

It was a name that he had been hearing and writing without much thought all his life, but it felt so beautiful when Jeong-in called him that. Yoo Ho-jin, who had finally finished all the pasta, gulped down his drink.

“I’m full now.”

“…You should be.”

One gorgonzola thin crust pizza, cream pasta, ten chicken wings, two bowls of chicken soup, rose risotto with shrimp, and fig cake. It was a slightly large amount of food for two ordinary adults to eat, but it was a slightly insufficient meal for Yoo Ho-jin, who had to consume more than 10,000 calories a day.

“I’ll really pay for this.”

Fearing that Jeong-in would pay for the meal again this time, Yoo Ho-jin almost ran to the counter and handed over his card. Then, the part-time worker opened his mouth with a troubled face.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“Please use this.”

Jeong-in, who had approached unnoticed, held out the bracelet on his wrist. Only then did the part-time worker pick up the barcode scanner. With a beep, the payment was completed. Unlike the cotton candy-like snacks, it seemed that card payments were not accepted in the store.

“Hyung….”

Ho-jin, clutching the dolphin doll Jeong-in had bought him, drooped his eyebrows. Jeong-in chuckled at that.

“If I let you pay for me in a place like this, I’d feel uneasy and wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

Seeing his chance, Ho-jin widened his eyes as if hurt and deliberately exaggerated his words a little.

“Does me buying Hyung a meal… bother you that much?”

He knew that if he did this, Jeong-in would feel sorry and say something kinder.

“It’s not that.”

As expected, the soft-hearted Jeong-in immediately corrected himself.

“No matter who I come with, I always pay here. It’s always been like that.”

“Ah….”

The slightly elated feeling he had while teasing Jeong-in sank with those words.

This theme park was targeting couples as its main customer base. The reason he specifically chose this place among several theme parks was actually because of that. But hearing that Jeong-in had been here with other people made him jealous, as expected.

“Did you come here often with Hyojin?”

“Well… I came here countless times with him.”

“What did you do with him?”

He didn’t want to hear it, but at the same time, he wanted to know everything. Jeong-in replied as if it were nothing.

“What can two guys do in a place like this? We just eat, ride roller coasters, watch people, and go home.”

“Guy? If it’s Hyojin… isn’t that a woman’s name?”

At those words, Jeong-in stopped, saying, “Ah.”

“It’s not Hyojin, it’s Hyo-jun.”

“Pardon?”

“I knew you had the wrong name, but I didn’t think you’d know him anyway, so I just let it go. Anyway, it’s Hyo-jun.”

He should have just not asked. Finding out that the person Jeong-in was seeing was the same gender as him made him feel uncontrollably down. Still, he couldn’t show Jeong-in a petty side of himself, so Ho-jin put on an effort to look calm.

“What does he do?”

“He goes to our school. Don’t you know Cho Hyo-jun from the economics department?”

Cho Hyo-jun from the economics department.

Ho-jin stopped dead in his tracks. It was definitely a name he had heard somewhere before.

***

As the sun set, the light bulbs began to turn on one by one.

Because he frequented this place so often, Jeong-in roughly knew how long the lines were for each ride at what time of the day. The last time he visited was at least seven or eight years ago, so there was no guarantee that the timing was still valid, but according to what Jeong-in knew, in order to see the most beautiful night view around the time the fireworks, which were the highlight of Queen’s Island, started, they had to head towards the Ferris wheel now.

“…By any chance, is he the eldest son of the Seyoung Financial Group?”

It was as soon as they got on the cable car. As soon as the safety bar came down, Ho-jin asked. Jeong-in, realizing that he was talking about Hyo-jun, opened his eyes wide and asked back.

“You know him?”

“Yes. I have a friend in the economics department… he introduced him to me once after the semester started.”

So this is how connections can be made. As expected of a global village where everyone knows everyone else with a few steps in between.

“That person….”

Ho-jin’s voice echoed briefly above the creaking cable car.

“When did you start seeing him?”

“I told you before. I’ve known him since before I learned to read, okay?”

“Not that.”

His tone sounded somehow dejected. When he turned his head, he saw his hand clutching the dolphin doll so tightly that his knuckles were white.

“…When did you decide to date?”

“What?!”

Jeong-in shouted without realizing it.

“Are you crazy? Where did you hear such vulgar talk… No, hey. Why is the conversation suddenly going that way?”

Perhaps because he had been teased about this since he was young, he now got genuinely angry even at similar words. Jeong-in rattled off.

“We’re just in a relationship where we know if the other is dead or alive. We’ve never had any interest in each other, we don’t, and we never will. Why is everyone so eager to pair us up? What the hell, did I leave my single life in your hands?”

“…You weren’t dating?”

“No!”

When he shouted loudly once more, the ending sound echoed back like a reverberation. Feeling the guest in the car ahead, which was quite far away, glancing back at them, Jeong-in shut his mouth.

“…Then what about him?”

“Who again?”

He suddenly felt embarrassed for acting so unbecomingly because he was so angry. Jeong-in quickly caught his breath and calmed down.

“You said you had another Alpha friend who was close to you. Are you dating them?”

“If I dated her, it would be an affair. She has three kids, what are you talking about.”

He must be talking about Beth. She had given birth to her second child around the time Jeong-in met her and was now a mother of three. Jeong-in sighed.

“You’re still young, don’t live with such prejudice already. If an Alpha and an Omega are together, they must be dating? Can’t there be a healthy relationship where you keep an appropriate distance?”

“…It’s not that, but.”

Of course, most Heterogeneous individuals would feel embarrassed by each other every time they went into heat cycle due to their physical characteristics. But it wasn’t a big problem for Jeong-in, whose Pheromone didn’t work properly. He could just hide somewhere if he felt unwell.

“Aaaagh!”

It was at that moment. Ho-jin, who had been sitting still, suddenly screamed. Surprised, Jeong-in flinched and moved away from him a little.

“What… what is it?”

“It’s refreshing. I just feel so good.”

Ho-jin took a deep breath and exhaled it. His lung capacity was so good that he kept exhaling for a long time. Ho-jin, who had finally exhaled every last bit of air, raised his sparkling eyes and looked at Jeong-in.

“So there’s no one you’re seeing like a lover?”

“No.”

Jeong-in nodded. In the meantime, the cable car arrived at the top. He checked that Ho-jin was safely on the ground and walked along the path where darkness was beginning to settle in earnest.

“Ho-jin.”

“Yes.”

It didn’t seem like they had done anything in particular, but the day was already coming to an end.

He raised his head to ask how his day off was, and whether he thought he would be able to participate in the competition.

“…….”

His eyes caught the sight of him smiling as he looked at the sparkling lights.

He looked so comfortable, was there a need to ask him now? Thinking so, Jeong-in asked a different question.

“How did you start swimming?”

“Well, I originally started learning to go to the beach.”

Ho-jin said, tapping the cherry light bulb hanging on the tree with his fingertip. It was a bulb that was particularly dim compared to the other bulbs. Every time Ho-jin’s hand touched it, the bulb lost its light and then lit up again.

“As I did it, I found it fun and joined the swimming club as a hobby…”

Ho-jin soon turned completely towards the bulb. He seemed to be examining the part where the socket was, then he turned the connecting ring a little harder with his fingertip. Then, a bright light came on in the bulb that had been flickering weakly. A warm glow soon flickered in Ho-jin’s eyes, who had not passed by the painful light and had fixed it.

“At that time, the coach told me that I would be good if I swam properly and put in a letter of recommendation for the Samhan Scholarship Foundation’s talent development program.”

“…Samhan Scholarship Foundation?”

It was an unexpected story. The Samhan Scholarship Foundation was established by Jeong-in’s Grandfather when Jeong-in was about two years old to support young children and teenagers.

Ho-jin nodded.

“I was lucky enough to get it. At first, I was planning to go to middle school in Gongju, but after seeing me win the provincial competition, the person in charge called me to Seoul. So until I won a medal at the World Championships, I received a lot of support from Samhan… now TH Corporation, right?”

He knew well what kind of heart his Grandfather had when he created the foundation. Because he always sat Jeong-in on his lap and told him.

Just as I think you are a pretty and precious child, that child passing by must also be so precious to someone. So when you grow up, Jeong-in, make sure to look after the children first.

Among them, there will surely be a gem-like child who will illuminate the whole world.

“…I see.”

He couldn’t help but feel a strange feeling.

Because the gem that his Grandfather had once mentioned was standing right in front of Jeong-in’s eyes.

“If it wasn’t for that, I would probably be living a completely different life now, right?”

Probably not.

Even at that young age, he was sparkling enough to catch someone’s eye, so the world would somehow be fascinated by that light and find you again.

“What do you think it would have been like?”

Jeong-in hid the answer he had come to and asked Ho-jin a question.

“If you were living a different life, would it have been better?”

At those words, Ho-jin, who had been looking at the light bulb for a long time, turned his head.

In the cool night breeze, he reached out his hand as he quietly looked at him.

“No.”

Along with the gentle voice, long, white fingers brushed past his ear. Jeong-in stopped breathing without realizing it. Ho-jin, who had removed the grass seed that was caught on the end of Jeong-in’s hair, smiled brightly. And then he carefully looked into Jeong-in’s eyes.

“No matter what kind of life I lived….”

For some reason, he couldn’t avoid his gaze. It was as if he had turned to stone and hardened.

Jeong-in couldn’t even blink and looked back at him.

“I don’t think I would have been as happy as I am now.”

He felt a sudden tightness in his chest, as if he would be stuck in this spot forever and unable to move even a little.