METAL 10

Jun’s voice was reminiscent of a full-bodied black coffee, but the coffee he offered was white and fluffy. It was hard to even call it coffee, an unidentifiable milky monster that contained a few coffee beans, a downright deceptive beverage that disguised black caffeine with pure white foam.

At the end of March, he at least tried to give him an Americano, but that day he offered such a thing. With the paper cup full of that fake coffee placed on the lectern, Jun had his head lowered. Hyunsoo followed Jun’s gaze downward.

On top of the lectern lay a letter. A paper envelope, about half as thick as a novella, left on the lectern by a beta student along with a small box of chocolates.

Jun’s gaze was clearly fixed on that envelope. But when Hyunsoo looked, Jun quickly averted his eyes, pretending to be looking down at the brand-name coffee cup in his hand, not the letter. With an awkward smile on his face.

His cheeks were flushed between his frowning eyes and smiling lips.

His large hand, clutching the venti-sized paper cup like a baby’s wrist, trembled delicately, like on a muted TV screen, almost as if it were flickering on and off.

ʚଓ

“This is a letter another student gave me. Why do you want it, Mr. Griffin?”

Hyunsoo asked back lightly.

The third week of April. Outside the second-floor lecture hall window, late-blooming double cherry blossoms were as plentiful as clouds. Even with the windows closed, their color alone was enough to vividly evoke the memory of their scent. Still, Jun’s scent was stronger.

It wasn’t just strong. Today, his scent was uncharacteristically unstable, Hyunsoo thought. Was it because he was sweating as the weather grew warmer, or was it something else.

Of course, Hyunsoo had been sensing the change in Jun for the past two months. Every time Jun attended Hyunsoo’s class, his scent became just a little richer and deeper. It was such a subtle difference that Hyunsoo wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been a dominant omega. If he hadn’t naturally accumulated experience on top of his innate senses.

Hyunsoo had unavoidably met countless alphas in his life. At university, too, there were many times he had to speak with alpha students or professors at close range. And as the meetings were repeated or prolonged, the alphas’ scents would gradually grow stronger. It wasn’t that they released them on purpose; it happened naturally. When they were sexually attracted to someone, that is, when their blood circulated faster and their body temperature rose, the concentration of their scent would inevitably change.

Hyunsoo had never once met an alpha who wasn’t ‘infatuated with’ or ‘attracted to’ him. Ten out of ten times, their bodies sent a reaction. It was a physiological matter, not one of the heart, so it couldn’t be helped.

At Kellnon, there were even a few times when a recessive alpha student had accidentally released his pheromones right in front of Hyunsoo. During a final project consultation, for example. The student himself had been so embarrassed he didn’t know what to do. Dominant alphas were much better at control, so they didn’t have such overt outbursts, but their scent would still heat up to a thick sweetness.

Jun was an alpha who controlled his pheromones with extreme cleanliness.

Still, as he had ‘fallen for’ Hyunsoo, his scent had inevitably deepened as the semester progressed. However, it did so in a very peculiar way.

In the twice-weekly comparative literature major class, Jun almost always came up to the lectern after class to ask Hyunsoo any remaining questions. Every time, a refreshing fruit scent would wash over the front of his body, and when they met about three days later for the next class, that scent would have become even more pristinely clear. Like pure admiration or affection.

Rather than deepening, it became clearer; it deepened only by way of becoming clearer. It was the first time Hyunsoo had ever experienced an alpha’s scent intensifying in his presence in such a way. At some point, Hyunsoo began to feel that it was easier to breathe next to Jun than in colorless air, and at the same time, he became afraid, as if he had fallen into a trap.

The level of Jun’s questions was also quite high, so Hyunsoo often engaged in long conversations with him. It would be well over ten minutes after class ended before Jun would smile, say goodbye, and leave the lecture hall. There were even a couple of times when they had to walk out together, still talking, because the instructor for the next class had come in. On the midterm exam, too, Jun had naturally earned the highest score.

I thought he came to ask a question today, too. Hyunsoo thought, looking down at the coffee cup, on which the whipped cream was beginning to collapse.

For a while, Jun stood there awkwardly, just looking down at the lectern without a word. His cheeks flushed red as he emitted a thick scent like thorny anger. Then, he finally spoke again.

“That… don’t open it. I’ll take it.”

“And why is that?”

“I…”

Jun’s mouth closed, and his jaw tensed. While he struggled to think of an excuse, Hyunsoo quickly put his hand inside the envelope.

The envelope wasn’t even sealed. He could feel Jun’s scent solidifying with a temperature similar to a cold sweat, but Hyunsoo stacked the densely printed A4 pages on the lectern and began to speed-read them. Class was about to start, and he didn’t want to delay any longer.

“I’ll tear it up and throw it away for you, I… I’m sorry.”

Jun’s hand covered the pages.

His hand was surprisingly large and his fingers long and slender, covering eighty percent of the paper. But it was after Hyunsoo had already read enough to grasp the general content. Besides, this wasn’t the first time he’d received a fictional gift like this.

“I’ve received things like this a few times. I’ll take care of it myself.”

“I’m sorry. I should have stopped him earlier, quickly, before you received it. He probably didn’t have any ill intentions. Maybe he did it because he likes to write… no, of course that’s no excuse. Give it to me. I’ll throw it away for you.”

Jun said, stubbornly pressing down on the papers. The first page didn’t really have much content yet. It just described Hyunsoo living his life as a lecturer at Hankuk University, just like in reality. But if he read further, it would surely contain content about him having a fling or perhaps even sex with another popular alpha professor.

Hyunsoo remembered the face of the student who had left the letter. It was a third-year student who had gotten a D on the midterm.

It was noticeable that he usually couldn’t follow the material at all. It seemed he had continued to attend class purely because he liked Hyunsoo. After receiving his exam score, he must have finally decided to drop the course; he arrived early today, said he couldn’t attend anymore due to circumstances and asked for his understanding, and then left, saying, I’ve written something as a token of my gratitude, I’d appreciate it if you would just accept this.

As Jun said, Hyunsoo guessed the student hadn’t had any particular ill intent. It was his way of submitting a ‘literary work’ to express his gratitude and affection for both the lecture and the lecturer personally. At Kellnon, too, two students had sent him ‘works’ like this. One a soft version, one a hard version. Hyunsoo told Jun to take his hand off the story.

“Class is about to start.”

“I know. So please give it to me, quickly.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I’ll put it in my bag and dispose of it right after class. I’m sorry.”

“No, what are you going to do with it, Mr. Griffin? I have to take care of things like this with my own hands.”

Hyunsoo blurted it out almost unconsciously. In that instant, the air crackled and froze.

The unstable and hot, yet uniquely clear-cored scent was shattered in an instant, cooled down as if broken. As if his body turned cold and his scent froze along with it. When Hyunsoo looked up, Jun’s lips were deathly pale, and he wore the face of an adult alpha.

Of course, Hyunsoo read the afterimage of the thoughts he just had on that face.

How could I hand something like this over to an alpha, what do you plan to do with it? What, masturbate while you read it? Hyunsoo realized that he had been muttering that inwardly while pressing Jun just now, and that he had conveyed it more than implicitly to the other man. Jun stood motionless in front of the lectern.

Hyunsoo realized that until just a few seconds ago, Jun had worn only the face of a harmless student. That for the entire past two months, he had always thoroughly worn only the mask of a student. Not an alpha, not a man, not anything, just a student.

It was an act. The realization spread falteringly through his mind.

That… it was all an act.

“Excuse me.”

Jun smiled faintly and removed his hand from the papers. Then he took a step back, bowed his head deeply to Hyunsoo, and went to where the desks were. Unlike usual, that day Jun did not sit in the front row but rather moved to the back. Just as he had on the very first day.

That day, Jun didn’t participate much in the discussion either, and he left as soon as it was over without any questions. But in the next class, he acted as lively as usual, and when the class ended, he came up to the lectern again and asked various things. Then he said a polite goodbye and left.

But the image of Jun, pale and smiling, had already been imprinted in Hyunsoo’s mind.

ʚଓ

At 11:30 PM, Hyunsoo finally managed to finish translating the contract after drinking two cups of instant black coffee and lay down in bed. Fortunately, no one was running the washing machine that night, so he was able to sleep soundly.

The next morning, he took the subway toward the nursing hospital. The subway on an early Saturday morning was relatively empty. But as soon as he sat down, gazes swarmed over him.

It’s always the same stares. Hyunsoo tried to think that and let it go. But his stomach churned with a stabbing pain.

It’s different from usual. The twisting pain in his solar plexus, a sensation that had always served as a kind of intuition for Hyunsoo, told him so.

These aren’t heated gazes looking at him, intoxicated by pheromones. There are those eyes too, but they are interspersed with a cold, persistent air. Feeling as if his forehead was being targeted by several rifles equipped with dot sights, Hyunsoo thought, almost reflexively, in a mumble. It’s professional.

The gazes of surveillance agents, rather than stalkers or perverts.

Hyunsoo raised his head to try and check the direction the gazes were coming from. At that moment, three people in the same car simultaneously turned their faces away, pretending not to have seen Hyunsoo. One bent over a tablet, two over their phone screens.

It’s a delusion. Hyunsoo looked down at his own knees again and tried to control his thoughts.

He had forgotten to eat in the morning, rushing to final check and send the translation to meet the deadline. All he’d had since last night was a cup of coffee. That’s why his stomach hurt, not because the stares around him were particularly different from usual. But Hyunsoo recalled the shadow. The memory he hadn’t told the police about, of seeing the shadow of a young alpha in front of the Hankuk University main library at 11:00 PM two nights ago.

It wasn’t just Hyunsoo. Jun had also been on campus two days ago, at the time the dismembered body was dumped in the campus dumpster.

[Lee Yong-ha of Liberator Corp. is also one of the Dongbaek Faction’s sponsors.]

The police officer’s voice crawled prickling through his mind.

[That student, whether he’s a member or not, would have naturally been granted the right to participate in the festival….]

An image of the young dominant alpha, body all exposed, participating in the Dongbaek Faction festival came to mind. A recessive omega who had even gone into heat would not have been able to resist that scent. Even if he suggested they meet alone after the festival to continue, no matter where he said to go or what he said to do, absolutely not.

Hyunsoo curled up in his seat in the corner of the subway car. He knew he must look strange, but his stomach was twisting so much he couldn’t help it. Nausea rose, and sour saliva pooled in his mouth.

As soon as he got off at the station, Hyunsoo headed for the public restroom. He wasn’t going to vomit, but he was dizzy and needed a place to sit. He didn’t want to sit where everyone could see him. He went into the innermost stall of the restroom, made a cover on the toilet lid with toilet paper, sat down, and gasped for breath. Did Jun know the police had visited Hyunsoo last night?

He could have. He must have been monitoring me anyway, so he would have known right away. He was worried I might have given a problematic testimony. So he sent a few more of his employees to be even more thorough. He started monitoring me so closely that even a layman like me could notice.

No, even so, Hyunsoo tried to turn his thoughts around on the other hand. It’s just me being overly sensitive, this is all a misunderstanding. I’m always getting stared at anyway.

There’s no proof. Hyunsoo pressed on his solar plexus inside the bathroom stall and caught his breath. People staring intently at Hyunsoo and filming him with their phones were commonplace, so he couldn’t distinguish who was who or what kind of person they were anyway. Then, suddenly, another thought followed. Jun wouldn’t have stopped at just sending his own people. He would have gotten rid of other people’s.

At that, several past scenes flashed through his mind in succession. Last semester, when a beta student wrote a story with Hyunsoo as the protagonist, Jun got angry and tried to take the letter away before Hyunsoo could even read it. Did it end there?

What did Jun do to that student? Hyunsoo had run into the third-year student who had gifted him the story on campus afterward. But he turned pale and ran away without so much as a greeting. As if someone had threatened him, threatened him to never even see or speak to Hyunsoo again.

Last semester, the kids in the comparative literature group chat were disciplined. For sharing a photo of Hyunsoo that was photoshopped with a porn actor. Of course, the identity of the whistleblower was not made public, but Hyunsoo, the party concerned, was told the name. The student who had photoshopped and distributed the picture was not only given an indefinite suspension but also faced criminal charges. It was an extremely heavy punishment compared to precedents, one that was only possible because a board member had pulled some strings.

Hyunsoo knew of a few online communities where his pictures were posted. Places where only candid photos of ordinary people, photoshopped, were posted. Usually, he tried not to even think about them, let alone search for them, but after the group chat disciplinary incident, he had deliberately searched. The link to the ‘XX-dong extreme/dom★inant o♡mega’ data room had been deleted, and the community’s atmosphere was grim. There were stories of not only lawsuits being filed but also of figures who could have been either police or gangsters showing up at people’s houses.