RCKS 17

It was because whenever he came to an amusement park, he mainly looked at the animals or rode the rides that young children could take. Moreover, in the past few years, he had rarely gone out of the house at all, so it was true that the amusement park itself was long overdue.

The children came down from the ride with faces flushed excitedly from just one ride, found the headbands placed in the basket, put them on each, and pondered the next destination.

However, while leading the children, the homeroom teacher kept an eye on the Samyeong High alpha group walking on the opposite side. It was as if he did not let his guard down until the end, in case something happened that entangled them with the children.

But in spite of the homeroom teacher’s vigilance, another airdrop image arrived on Lee Yoonsan’s cell phone. This time, it was an image of the Swing Twist.

Lee Yoonsan had met eyes with Hwang Haekyung several times while riding the Hurricane, sitting right across from him, but Hwang Haekyung, even while riding the spinning ride, just laughed brightly and refreshingly as if he was simply enjoying it. Because of watching that, Lee Yoonsan often lost himself, and when the Hurricane spun quickly and descended, he squeezed his eyes shut and screamed sometimes. It was scary, but it felt refreshing inside.

Hwang Haekyung seemed to have judged at that time that Lee Yoonsan was not very scared of the ride, so this time he sent a photo of a slightly more exciting ride.

And Lee Yoonsan, cleverly putting his cell phone in his pocket, grabbed the homeroom teacher’s arm and said.

“Teacher, I want to ride the Swing Twist.”

“Sure? Then, shall we go ride that? You guys okay with that too?”

The opinions of the children, already very excited from one ride, did not need to be asked further.

At the line for the Swing Twist they arrived at like that, they could see Hwang Haekyung standing at the very front. The homeroom teacher had a somewhat uncomfortable expression, but since Lee Yoonsan was not particularly giving his gaze to Hwang Haekyung’s side, there was nothing more to stop. Rides are all the same anyway, and if you enter around the same weekday time and ride rides, it is natural to overlap with anyone.

In the Swing Twist they settled into like that, this time Hwang Haekyung came over and sat at the end seat of the row where Lee Yoonsan was sitting. He had left his previously seated position and moved seats, and even though it was a row of 5 seats, it was an empty seat created because one of Lee Yoonsan’s class friends belatedly backed out saying his stomach felt a bit queasy.

And it was a closer distance to Lee Yoonsan than the Hurricane they had ridden earlier.

Of course, since there were other class students including Lee Yoonsan’s homeroom teacher in between, there was no chance for Hwang Haekyung and Lee Yoonsan to exchange glances. As if he had timed it on purpose, right after Hwang Haekyung moved and sat down, the safety bar came down, and at the same time as the teacher leading Hwang Haekyung yelled at him asking what he was doing, the ride started moving. Even though he was sitting at the far end, Hwang Haekyung’s laughter could be heard.

Right after the ride stopped afterward, Hwang Haekyung was dragged away after getting smacked on the back by the supervising teacher. The teacher leading Hwang Haekyung did not forget to bow his head apologetically to Lee Yoonsan’s teacher with an embarrassed expression for causing trouble. Even though they had deliberately clustered the children including Lee Yoonsan on one side, and Lee Yoonsan’s homeroom teacher sat like an iron wall next to Hwang Haekyung while riding the ride.

But even after that, the two rode the same rides. When Hwang Haekyung sent ride photos via airdrop, Lee Yoonsan would tell the homeroom teacher he wanted to ride that, or have Shin Suhyun beg for it. In the meantime, the distance to Hwang Haekyung gradually got closer.

In the Hurricane, Hwang Haekyung who had sat far across sat at the end of the same row in Swing Twist, sat three seats away in Double Spin, and sat right in the diagonal back seat in Tyranno Express. Of course, as their distance got closer, they could not exchange glances or talk.

Lee Yoonsan’s homeroom teacher, feeling suspicious, started sticking right next to Lee Yoonsan and taking care of him, and Hwang Haekyung’s supervising teacher also seemed to have realized that Hwang Haekyung’s actions were suspicious and stuck right next to him. However, since there was no solid excuse to forcibly separate the two who were not even exchanging glances, he just did not say anything.

When they got off the train like that, he got hungry. Hwang Haekyung’s group had gotten off earlier and gone far away, and Lee Yoonsan blushed as Shin Suhyun poked his side with his elbow. There was no way Shin Suhyun had not noticed the homeroom teacher catching on.

“Hey, isn’t that alpha to your liking? The airdrops are from him too, right?”

“…It is because he is someone I knew before.”

“What?! Someone you knew before?!”

“Hey!”

While going to eat, Shin Suhyun who had been prying persistently let out a loud voice at Lee Yoonsan’s confession, so Lee Yoonsan widened his eyes and quickly covered Shin Suhyun’s mouth. Then the homeroom teacher and other children looked at them, and the two awkwardly and exaggeratedly laughed as if they were just playing around and passed the situation.

“Crazy, hey, if you knew such a visual you should have said something.”

“Can’t you be quiet? You sound just like Kim Jihu right now.”

“No, that is you…! Never mind, hey. Look at the chat room with Kim Jihu. Right now.”

Lee Yoonsan then realized that since entering the amusement park, he had been so distracted by Hwang Haekyung’s airdrops that he had not checked the SNS chat room even once. The belatedly checked chat room was full of Kim Jihu’s various irritations and curses, and in between, there were links to other accounts. It was the Instagram link to the Samyeong High volleyball club that Kim Jihu had said he checked the day before.

Lee Yoonsan clicked the link and browsed the account feed. The feed of that Samyeong High alpha had many photos of exercising or photos taken of the surroundings, and the image with the most ‘likes’ was a photo taken by someone else seemingly during break time with a few volleyball club members.

And the person getting the hottest reaction in that photo was none other than Hwang Haekyung. Because the comments on that post were all questions asking for Hwang Haekyung’s SNS ID.

“Hey, that person is the one who is doing the best in the Samyeong High volleyball team right now. But you say you knew that person, how could I not scream?”

“…Does not Haekyung have an Insta account? Why no tag?”

“I do not know. The comments are all about that anyway. Even though I do not watch volleyball, I can totally see why he is famous.”

For both Lee Yoonsan and Shin Suhyun, the sports they liked were at most soccer or baseball. Actually, they were more interested in soccer, and baseball was something they ended up watching because the class kids would turn it on whenever bored or watch videos on their phones.

On the other hand, they had no particular interest in ‘elegant’ indoor sports that were like the exclusive domain of handsome alphas with good physiques.

Of course, in soccer or baseball too, alphas made up the majority of players by ratio, but it was nothing compared to sports like volleyball or basketball that emphasized height. In sports like volleyball or basketball where physique was everything, the ratio of betas was very very small.

Volleyball was outside both of their interests, and Shin Suhyun was not the type to search SNS much. Lee Yoonsan also did not know of Hwang Haekyung’s existence because it was an account made just for an ID for communicating with friends. Of course, it was also thanks to Hwang Haekyung’s SNS account not being revealed.

Lee Yoonsan, thinking of it, entered the SNS accounts of the moms he had maintained since childhood. And he searched their friend list to check Hwang Haekyung’s parents’ accounts. He went in wondering if there might be photos or news of Hwang Haekyung, but their SNS were private accounts.

“Hey, Kim Jihu is going crazy in the chat room right now, so do not say you know that alpha.”

“Yeah….”

“But anyway, I think I will blab about it soon. My mouth is itching so bad, and the more I think about it, the crazier it is. How does Lee Yoonsan know that alpha? Did they overlap at some academy? No, they live in different places.”

“It is just the son of mom’s friend.”

“Ah, then it is someone you knew before manifestation period?”

“Yeah.”

Shin Suhyun continued whispering while walking following the homeroom teacher with his arm around the shoulder of Lee Yoonsan who was meekly answering. Lee Yoonsan, knowing the current situation and that Hwang Haekyung was the most famous ace recently even in Samyeong High famous for volleyball, was just dumbfounded. At the same time, Shin Suhyun’s reaction of keep throwing questions from the side was also amazing.

Shin Suhyun was the type who was indifferent even when Kim Jihu said he knew an alpha. The information about the alpha that Shin Suhyun had a thing with that came from Shin Suhyun’s mouth was mostly things that Kim Jihu had first chattered and instilled.

Even Shin Suhyun, who usually showed no great interest in alphas, seemed to find ‘Lee Yoonsan who knows Hwang Haekyung’ amazing. And the same class friends who were walking a bit ahead and secretly eavesdropping on the conversation from behind also glanced at Lee Yoonsan. As if curious whether Lee Yoonsan really knew Hwang Haekyung.

“Totally crazy. Then, he really followed you around. Because he wanted to ride rides with you.”

“It has been a long time since seeing each other, so he could be happy to… see me.”

“Hey, do you follow someone around to ride rides together just because you are happy? Even while getting smacked by the teacher?”

“But we were not… that close of friends.”

To Shin Suhyun’s words that seemed to be making even more fuss on purpose, Lee Yoonsan confessed the fact embarrassedly. It was because he felt unnecessarily pricked.

Actually, was not there a time in the past when Hwang Haekyung looked at him favorably? So today’s Hwang Haekyung’s attitude was also unbelievable to Lee Yoonsan.

But apart from that, the fact that a handsome alpha kept following him around, that their eyes met every time he glanced, that he smiled at him several times, all just made his mood excited.

Such fuss from Shin Suhyun was burdensome, but inevitably made the sixteen-year-old Lee Yoonsan’s shoulders stand a bit prouder. Even the other two class friends glancing at him. Attention from a popular alpha, after all. It was the first emotion Lee Yoonsan felt, who had developed a big complex about his appearance and gradually become a bit passive in friends and relationships afterward.

‘Now, after eating and routes change, I probably will not see him anyway. The homeroom teacher seems to keep paying attention too. After eating, we will probably move to another place….’

Lee Yoonsan thought like that but smiled embarrassedly at Shin Suhyun’s continued fuss. Thinking now, it was newly amazing that Hwang Haekyung had manifested as an alpha, and above all, it was fortunate that no scars remained on his face. And he was still pretty yet handsome, so his heart fluttered unnecessarily. Above all, his face heated up at the interest shown to him.

‘Later, I should search on Insta.’

Even if there was no ID for Hwang Haekyung, he felt like looking through the feeds of people around Hwang Haekyung. He might find a photo where they were coincidentally together like this time, and if lucky, he could see videos or photos of Hwang Haekyung playing in matches.

He had no interest in fields like volleyball or influencers so he did not know until now, but according to Shin Suhyun who was searching and chattering next to him, Hwang Haekyung was quite famous. It seemed like anything would come up if he searched.

Well, it was not that he wanted to see him, but since the Hwang Haekyung he saw today was happy to see him. So he got a bit curious too. This much interest should be fine.

Lee Yoonsan entered one restaurant in the amusement park with such feelings alone. He thought he definitely had to tell the moms that he saw Hwang Haekyung.

---

But contrary to Lee Yoonsan’s expectation, the reunion with Hwang Haekyung happened quickly.

It was a deviation caused by Shin Suhyun saying since we are at the amusement park anyway, how long are we going to do this, show some value to your nickname.

The on-site experiential learning dismissal time was 3 PM, and until then, they would gather again at the initial entrance side, check the number of people, and those who wanted to play more would play more, and those going home would move to near the school with the teacher and then go home.

The omega children including Shin Suhyun were in a position where they had to move with the homeroom teacher come hell or high water, so even when going home, they had to act in a group. After the dismissal closing ceremony, the homeroom teacher was also caught by the children who wanted to participate in the zombie festival.

The homeroom teacher respected the children’s wishes even with a quite tired appearance. He waited for the zombie festival to start while riding more rides or looking around the zoo with the students.

The zombie festival was an event held every Halloween season at the amusement park, where you could watch ghost costumes or performances, or experience horror by avoiding costumed people in the zombie safari.

Shin Suhyun persuaded Lee Yoonsan using this horror experience as an opportunity. It was an argument that he wanted to wander freely away from the homeroom teacher’s surveillance even if just for a moment, and that argument moved Lee Yoonsan’s heart to some extent.

He understood the homeroom teacher’s position and thoughts, but still, being controlled all day like a dog on a walk, tied to an invisible leash, was tiring and suffocating.

When looking around to find the Samyeong High alpha group and meeting the homeroom teacher’s eyes, the homeroom teacher would ask if he needed something, and even buying snacks or water, he accompanied. It was a time with literally no freedom.

Because he had ridden rides meeting eyes with Hwang Haekyung in the morning, it became even tighter, and so perhaps, he could not find even a trace of Hwang Haekyung or the Samyeong group all afternoon.

In the end, Lee Yoonsan undertook a deviation from the homeroom teacher group with Shin Suhyun. Using the excuse of getting zombie makeup, while the homeroom teacher was looking at other children’s zombie makeup, he ran away with Shin Suhyun. The two got on the zombie safari bus, and the bus passed through the safari area and upon reaching a certain zone, dropped off the participants. And an unexpected variable occurred.

Right after getting off in the zombie zone, Shin Suhyun who was startled by a part-time worker in zombie makeup ditched Lee Yoonsan and ran. Lee Yoonsan was the type who swallowed screams inside and stiffened up when startled, so he stopped in place, and then while fleeing in panic avoiding other zombie part-timers, his arm was grabbed by someone and he fell into a dark corner.

It was a relatively close to the exit safari zone, so not particularly a dangerous place, just behind landscape trees covered by thick trees and densely overgrown low bushes.

“Eek!”

“Shh.”

Thinking his arm was grabbed by a zombie, Lee Yoonsan freaked out, and someone from behind covered his mouth and made a sound as if to be quiet. And when he turned his head, Hwang Haekyung was sitting behind Lee Yoonsan. To put it in words, the place Lee Yoonsan fell was between Hwang Haekyung’s legs where he had arbitrarily bent and stretched sitting.

“Haekyung…?”

“You still will not call me hyung.”

Whether screams from people outside the bushes and trees could be heard or not, Lee Yoonsan widened his eyes seeing Hwang Haekyung and turned his body half around to sit. Even so, there was not much space to move, so it was between Hwang Haekyung’s legs. Hwang Haekyung looked at such Lee Yoonsan and smiled radiantly, speaking in a tone mixed half playfully and half exasperated.