HWAMB — Chapter 12

Too drained to spare thoughts for anyone else, I walked past him coldly.

I had no strength or desire to fight—what a waste of time.

But then, Jae-ho grabbed my arm.

“Hey, you’re an omega, aren’t you?”

His whisper was so low only I could hear it. My body froze stiff.

I stood there dumbly, lost for words. Taking my silence as confirmation, he sneered.

“Otherwise, why would those bastards be hanging around you?”

Those bastards? Hanging around?

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“You already spread your legs for Shim Hyun-woo, didn’t you?”

“…What?”

I was stunned. What the hell was this lunatic saying?

The filthy words spilling from his mouth made me wonder if I’d misheard.

But Jang Jae-ho showed no signs of stopping.

“Or is it the class president? Damn, now that I think about it, you really light up when you see him. So what, you only go after dominant alphas?”

“Are you out of your mind? Get a grip.”

At first, I’d been too shocked to speak. Now I was too dumbfounded.

What the hell was with this sudden outburst?

If only he’d shut that disgusting mouth of his, no matter how he looked at me, I wouldn’t care.

At first, I tried to make sense of his insane words.

Maybe because I couldn’t stop remembering how I’d snapped at Hyun-woo the other day and regretted it since.

Normally, hearing something like that from him, I would’ve gone straight to throwing punches.

Whatever the reason, Jang Jae-ho hated omegas.

Maybe “omega” itself was his trauma. If so, I could imagine a trigger setting him off suddenly.

His words and actions weren’t polite, weren’t pleasant, but since he had once been a close friend, I tried to understand.

But first, I had to clear up this absurd misunderstanding.

As he turned away, exhausted from his own ranting, I grabbed his arm.

“Hey, you’ve got it wrong—”

Suddenly, my left cheek burned.

Jae-ho had flinched and then swung his fist at me.

Just one punch, but my mouth was already stinging, the taste of blood spreading.

Damn it, he hit me mid-sentence so I bit my tongue too.

It must have been loud, because everyone in the hall turned to look.

Not exactly the kind of attention I wanted.

“….”

“…Shim Hyun-woo, that bastard’s just a slut too. I knew from the start he was messed up. Figures you two would stick together. What, he treats you so well because you wag your ass for him?”

Before I realized it, I had grabbed his collar and slammed my fist into his face.

The stack of files I was carrying crashed to the floor again.

Maybe he let his guard down, assuming I was an omega. Jae-ho only let out a short groan and stumbled backward, collapsing.

I didn’t stop. Climbing over him, I landed another punch on his other cheek.

Blood dripped thickly from his nose, but I didn’t care. Grabbing his collar again, I hauled him up.

“So what, you’ve got a filthy rag stuffed in your mouth? You think spewing words makes them true?”

Glaring down coldly at him, I saw his shoulders flinch.

Eyes wide in shock, he just stared at me like someone stunned by a blow, still caught in my grip.

A few seconds later, Jang Jae-ho let out a heavy sigh, touched his nose, and cursed when he saw the blood on his hand.

Then, glancing once at the gathering crowd with a blank face, he called out to me.

“Hey.”

The sudden shift in his demeanor was chilling. The blank look was gone.

He smirked and whispered quietly.

“How much are they paying you?”

Instead of answering, I landed another punch. The murmurs around us rose, but I didn’t care.

All I could think about was beating the hell out of him.

They say the most entertaining thing in the world is watching a fight. Even as fists flew and bodies crashed, no one stepped in.

Even Jang Jae-ho, who had been grinning creepily like a lunatic, was now worked up, the veins standing out on his neck.

I never liked fighting.

Even if I wasn’t the one in the wrong, afterward I always felt unsettled, and the memory stuck with me, exhausting me for a long time.

Wanting to solve things smoothly, as peacefully as possible, came from my dislike of making a big deal out of anything.

Of course, I hadn’t always been this way.

As a kid with no thoughts, I acted however I pleased.

Because of this reckless nature, bold against the weak yet weak against the strong, I’d fought more times than I could count.

If I saw injustice, I couldn’t hold back, and even knowing I’d get beaten, I’d charge in. I never once regretted it.

Looking back now, I only caused my older brother endless trouble. But at least, deep down, I’d felt lighter.

It was the same now.

I knew I was getting hit more than I was hitting back, but my chest still felt relieved. My split lip stung, and I was sure I was bruised around the eye, but Jang Jae-ho in front of me looked just as much of a wreck.

While we rolled on the ground, beating each other senseless, neither of us noticed someone stepping between us.

It happened then.

Someone grabbed me by the back of the neck and yanked me away, while at the same time, Jae-ho was kicked in the stomach and knocked backward.

It was Hyun-woo.

The interruption was sudden.

Still stunned, I watched as Jae-ho cursed and lunged at him.

But he was quickly restrained by Jin-gyeong, the class president, who had arrived late. Jae-ho snarled with bloodshot eyes.

“What the fuck is this?! Let me go, damn it! Shim Hyun-woo! You’re just in time. Forget him—get over here too!”

“You can wait your turn.”

Hyun-woo glared coldly at Jae-ho’s crude words.

The fierce light in his eyes was like a finely sharpened blade.

For a brief moment, the intensity made Jae-ho falter, grinding his teeth instead of struggling.

Hyun-woo said nothing more. Still gripping my collar, he dragged me off somewhere. When I asked where we were going, he didn’t answer—just kept walking in silence, his steps urgent.

We went down the stairs, through the long hallway. Minutes later, we arrived at the infirmary.

Hyun-woo knocked on the door.

After several knocks with no reply, he opened it.

The nurse must have stepped out for lunch, leaving the door open for any sick student who needed it.

Hyun-woo frowned and went inside. He sat me down in a chair, then started rummaging through the drawers.

When I asked if it was okay to dig through things like that, he didn’t reply.

Instead, he brought out antiseptic, painkillers, cotton, and bandages, laying them in front of me.

When he pressed the antiseptic to my wounds, the sting hit sharply.

“Ow…”

The groan slipped out before I could stop it.

“…”

An odd tension filled the infirmary.

We hadn’t even reconciled yet, hadn’t really talked, so breaking the silence felt awkward.

Now, belatedly, regret began to creep in.

As my eyes darted nervously, the antiseptic touched my split lip again. This time, a sharper groan escaped me.

“Agh! Ssshh…”

Hearing that, Hyun-woo frowned angrily. As if to vent, he pressed the cotton swab harder against the wound.

“Hey, Hyun-woo…”

“…”

“It hurts…”

“You—!”

He raised his voice but stopped himself mid-shout.

He sucked in a deep breath and exhaled, then spoke, struggling to contain his anger.

“If you’re gonna fight, then don’t fucking get beaten to a pulp. You drive me insane…”

“He started it! He’s the one who pissed me off!”

“If you had actually beaten him down, that’d be one thing. But you always end up the one getting beaten!”

“Hey! I landed an uppercut on him too! Like this—whoosh! Whoosh…”

“…”

“Whoosh… um…”

Under his icy stare, I clamped my mouth shut.

The sense of injustice burned inside me, rising again.

I muttered weakly, voice trailing.

“But… he started it. Ow! Ow—damn…”

Hyun-woo deliberately pressed harder, as if to make it hurt more.

When I was too exhausted to argue anymore, he let out a sigh and asked,

“What did he say to you that made you fight?”

“…”

“You don’t usually fight these days. Not during exam season.”

“…He kept running his mouth.”

“Kept.”

At his prompting, I sighed and confessed everything.

“He kept spewing bullshit. And then he started badmouthing you too. I can take him insulting me, but when he drags you into it…”

“…So you fought because of that? Because he insulted me?”

“What? That’s not the point. Who the hell does he think he is, talking about you?”

Sure, his words about me had pissed me off too.

But what enraged me most was that he dared touch someone I cared about like family.

“…I don’t know. I just got pissed. So I fought.”

Hearing my reply, Hyun-woo didn’t say anything. But his expression looked strangely pained.

I replayed my words in my head, worried I’d said something that might have hurt him.

Then Hyun-woo suddenly gripped my shoulders and pulled me into a hug.

He let out a long breath, then pressed his forehead to mine.

Startled by how unsteady he seemed, I froze. After a while, his low voice reached my ears.

“…I’m sorry.”

“…? For what?”

“…For pressuring you at the study hall.”

I swallowed quietly. So he’d been thinking about that all this time.

While I tensed, Hyun-woo continued.

“I only did it because I was worried. But I was angry at myself too—for not noticing until you were this bad…”

“…”

“I should’ve listened to you better.”

The rough, broken sound of his voice showed just how much he’d been hurting inside.

I never thought someone like him could suffer so much over someone else.

“No… I was just oversensitive. I’m sorry too.”

A pang went through my chest. I should’ve just faced him and talked it out sooner.

Stubborn pride had only made him suffer more.

I patted his back gently. In a quiet voice, Hyun-woo said,

“I’m sorry for losing my temper that day. I’ll wait, until you’re ready.”

“…Okay…”

“…”

Finally, his tension eased. He lifted his forehead from mine and hugged me again.

For several minutes, we stayed like that.

It was awkward to just keep patting his back, so I gave him a sideways glance.

“So… how long are we gonna stay like this?”

“Just five more minutes.”

“Uh… okay.”

It was something a kid might say before getting up in the morning.

Feeling guilty for making him suffer, I stayed quiet and kept patting his back.

I don’t know how much time passed, but suddenly, amidst the silence, I heard a muffled sniffle.

I froze, realizing Hyun-woo’s shoulders were trembling.

No way…

“Hey… are you crying?”