RCKS 18

But Lee Yoonsan could not laugh along. He could not believe the person in front of him who had pulled him down to sit. It was not the Hwang Haekyung from a distance with whom he had exchanged glances all morning, but the Hwang Haekyung right in front of him. He had completely passed through puberty, as even his voice had become very low.

“Is your teacher around here too?”

“No….”

“You ditched them and came here?”

Hwang Haekyung’s voice was relaxed as he asked while gesturing with his eyes toward outside the bushes. He had not known if Hwang Haekyung was there even inside the zombie safari bus coming this far, so it was no wonder he did not know how long Hwang Haekyung had been here.

To Hwang Haekyung’s question asking if he was looking for the homeroom teacher, Lee Yoonsan shook his head with a dazed face and gave his answer. Then Hwang Haekyung asked if he had ditched them and come here with a nuance as if saying you would do that, and Lee Yoonsan, still unable to shake off his dazed expression, nodded his head this time.

Hwang Haekyung’s pale skin and the dark circles under his brow bones looked like a painting. Hwang Haekyung’s irises had been light in color since he was young, but now they had become completely hazel. The hair that naturally covered half his forehead was closer to dark brown rather than very black, and his refreshingly open mouth line and the jaw with clear angles and lines were just handsome.

In one word, his appearance was much more unrealistic than when seen from afar or in photos.

“You… grew a lot.”

Lee Yoonsan, who had been scrutinizing Hwang Haekyung’s face with his eyes, unwittingly let out what was inside him. It was close to a whisper unconsciously spat out like praise. His voice, which was also going through puberty and maturing, was the same, but Hwang Haekyung’s voice sounded even more different. It was probably because it was someone else’s change that it hit him more.

The face that had only seemed like a doll because it was so pretty had also matured, with its lines becoming clearer. Still, it was an appearance that reminded one of a ball-jointed doll. And above all, what had grown a lot was his height. Right now, since both were arbitrarily sitting on the ground, it did not hit him fully, but the height of Hwang Haekyung he had seen from afar was quite tall. It was clear that it easily surpassed the 180cm that Shin Suhyun chanted like a mantra.

“You… did not change much.”

“I am not chubby anymore.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Lee Yoonsan replied grumpily to Hwang Haekyung’s following words. Then Hwang Haekyung, who had slowly scanned Lee Yoonsan’s face with his hazel irises, laughed as if asking what kind of talk that was.

To Lee Yoonsan, it was words he could not understand. He had already gone through a lot of teasing about his body type and appearance complex, and when he was young, Hwang Haekyung had teased him too. Although those annoying friends around Hwang Haekyung had teased him much more maliciously and frequently.

“You fell easily even when you were young.”

“…This time it is because you pulled me.”

“Right. I felt like there would not be another chance if not now.”

At Hwang Haekyung’s following words, Lee Yoonsan finally realized that the topic Hwang Haekyung was talking about was not his appearance but his behavior, and he felt a bit embarrassed.

And at the words from Hwang Haekyung that were grasped next, he widened his eyes and met his gaze. Outside the bushes, the sounds of zombie part-time workers and people’s cheerful screams were still noisy. Amid that, Hwang Haekyung said while meeting eyes with Lee Yoonsan.

“Did you choose the headband?”

“Huh? Oh, this. A friend said this one. I thought it was not bad, not bad at all. It is my nickname too, and this one is black in color….”

The way he was meeting eyes at such a close distance and asking somehow made him embarrassed, so Lee Yoonsan rolled his eyes to the side and continued his words stumblingly. It was behavior that came from feeling flustered, and his face felt like it was burning hot, so it was hard to just stay still. So he was babbling any words, and then Hwang Haekyung’s low laugh could be heard.

“A nickname? Bunny?”

“…Yeah.”

“Our class kids said you are cute.”

“…Huh, huh?”

“So this is confiscated.”

Hwang Haekyung reached his hand over the head of Lee Yoonsan, who was rolling his eyes as if in trouble but could not meet his eyes at all, and removed the black bunny headband. And he slipped it onto his own forearm and took out his cell phone.

Lee Yoonsan, who had been dazed until then with slow grasp of the situation, belatedly went “uh uh” and blushed, and blankly stared at his bunny headband slipped on Hwang Haekyung’s arm. The long, fluffy bunny ears were hanging limply downward.

Hwang Haekyung held out his cell phone in front of such a Lee Yoonsan. At the same time, from outside, the voice of Shin Suhyun calling Lee Yoonsan could be heard. It seemed he had finally come to his senses a bit. After getting off the zombie safari bus and a short zombie event ended, the exit would proceed immediately, so there really was not much time left.

“Hey, Lee Yoonsan! Where are you?!”

“Tell me your Insta ID.”

The voice of Shin Suhyun shouting and calling him from outside overlapped with Hwang Haekyung’s calm voice. Nevertheless, what stuck in Lee Yoonsan’s ears was Hwang Haekyung’s low and calm voice.

It was a tone different from Lee Yoonsan, who was full of a bit of awkwardness, a little embarrassment, and anxiety rushing in from the moment he realized the exit time.

“I, I just have an account but do not post anything.”

“It is okay.”

Whether Hwang Haekyung’s account was known or not, since he was said to be popular on SNS too, Lee Yoonsan preemptively made excuses thinking his empty feed would be embarrassing. Still, Hwang Haekyung did not back down, and Lee Yoonsan took Hwang Haekyung’s cell phone and entered his Instagram account ID.

Then immediately a follow came in. When Lee Yoonsan took out his own cell phone and checked, Hwang Haekyung’s account appeared. Hwang Haekyung’s account also seemed like one where the feed was not much filled, so he felt a bit relieved.

“Hey, Lee Yoonsan!”

While he was blankly looking at the SNS screen where he and Hwang Haekyung had mutual followed, Shin Suhyun’s voice came again. This time, it was a sound heard from a closer distance than before.

“I think I have to go now…!”

“Wait a moment.”

As he was flustered and trying to stand up at the approaching voice, Hwang Haekyung grabbed Lee Yoonsan’s wrist and took off the hoodie he was wearing. It was the one Lee Yoonsan had seen in the morning, draped over his broad shoulders.

“Wear it and go.”

“This….”

“It might get cold in the evening.”

Hwang Haekyung said that and draped his hoodie over Lee Yoonsan’s shoulders. The hoodie that had been a fitting oversized on Hwang Haekyung felt much larger when Lee Yoonsan wore it.

So Hwang Haekyung’s growth felt even more unrealistic. After they had parted so suddenly in the summer when he was 11, he had grown this much over more than 6 years.

“Take care of your body.”

“…Uh uh.”

“Be careful of alphas.”

The last words were followed by a slightly mischievous tone and a playful expression. Lee Yoonsan blushed his face once more at such words from Hwang Haekyung. Fortunately, his milk chocolate-colored skin and the darkening surroundings would cover his reddened face, but still, the last words were a bit precarious.

Usually, the words ‘take care of your body’ have two meanings for those with secondary genders: to manage your condition well and to be cautious of the opposite sex.

At first, Lee Yoonsan had taken Hwang Haekyung’s words in the former meaning naturally, but since the following words were about being careful of alphas, the meaning could not help but change.

It was as if Hwang Haekyung had told him ‘do not meet alphas.’ So Lee Yoonsan, feeling unnecessarily indignant, properly put his arms through the hoodie sleeves and shot back grumpily.

“You be careful of omegas too!”

Then Hwang Haekyung burst into laughter as if he could not hold it in. Because of his pretty lower face and refreshingly open mouth line, even that laughter looked pretty and refreshing.

“Ah crazy, where the hell is Lee Yoonsan! The homeroom teacher is calling!”

“Go. If you stay longer, you will get caught and scolded.”

Lee Yoonsan stood up from his spot based on Hwang Haekyung’s last words. Since he had sat on the dirt ground and stood up, Hwang Haekyung’s hand, which had been trying to brush off the grass and dirt on Lee Yoonsan’s clothes, could not reach and moved away.

Lee Yoonsan did not see that hand gesture because he was busy adjusting the hoodie’s fit.

“Hey! You crazy black bunny bastard, where the hell were you!”

“I ran away because the zombies were scary….”

“Anyway freaking, ah, the homeroom teacher keeps calling. Did not it come to you?”

“Uh… no, there are tons of missed calls on mine too.”

“Crazy, we are so dead now. Hurry up and go.”

---

The voices of Lee Yoonsan and Lee Yoonsan’s friend coming through the bushes and trees gradually faded away. Even when he was young, he listened well to adults and only received affection, and it seemed he was still like that. One could tell from how the teacher was overprotecting him that much. Hwang Haekyung’s gestures were leisurely as he stood up from sitting and brushed off the dirt. The black bunny headband dangling loosely on his forearm swayed here and there.

He left the place with light movements and headed toward the safari exit that had become quiet as people exited. Anyway, since they had released part-time workers in zombie makeup inside the safari and were doing a short event, the returning exit was also near the entrance.

Hwang Haekyung had known that path in advance, and as soon as he saw Lee Yoonsan loitering near the zombie makeup booth with the homeroom teacher and friends, he had headed this way. If by chance he was coming this way, he could meet him briefly, and if not, there was no helping it, he had thought. Of course, as always, the goddess of luck was on Hwang Haekyung’s side.

“Hey, Hwang. You crazy bastard, where did you go alone?”

When Hwang Haekyung returned to the class group leisurely, the friends who spotted him grumbled, each throwing in a curse word. Their supervising homeroom teacher also approached Hwang Haekyung once more, smacked his back hard, and poured out nagging. Hwang Haekyung just laughed while offering his back to that harsh hand and long fuss.

“You are like a total madman today. Sending airdrops like crazy.”

“I did not send it for you to receive.”

“Who cares, fuck! At first, because you sent it to everyone around, all the iPhones around got airdrop terrorized!”

“Guess one stuck.”

At the complaint from Lee Seokjae, who was in the same volleyball club and SNS addict, Ham Sejin, who was tying his hair again from the side, interjected. Ham Sejin was also an alpha in the girls’ volleyball club, and he was the alpha who had laughed and waved his hand at Lee Yoonsan and Shin Suhyun in the morning.

“That was freaking obvious, already.”

“But what is that on your arm?”

“Huh? Hey, is not that the one that cute kid was wearing earlier?!”

Lee Seokjae, who had glanced at the homeroom teacher doing roll call far ahead, agreed with Ham Sejin’s words, and the topic came back to Hwang Haekyung, who was trying to pass it over by just nodding his head once without any answer. Ham Sejin, having finished tying his hair, had spotted the black bunny headband hooked on Hwang Haekyung’s arm.

Then Lee Seokjae lit up his eyes and pounced, raising his voice, and the surrounding same-class alphas swarmed toward Hwang Haekyung.

“What is this, it is cute. Ah but this is the same as the one that cute kid was wearing earli….”

“Do not touch it.”

When Lee Seokjae smirked and tried to take the bunny headband hooked on Hwang Haekyung’s arm, Hwang Haekyung smacked his hand away and dropped it, furrowing his brows displeasedly and drawing a line. Then Ham Sejin, who had been watching that from the side, also frowned and added words.

“You meet an omega at this point, and it is at least suspension?”

“I know.”

“Do you think your coach and director will let you be? Hormones and pheromones management is already a pain in the ass, and if you cause more trouble, you are dead by my hands.”

“I said I know.”

Hwang Haekyung replied appropriately, furrowing one eyebrow at Ham Sejin’s threat with a scary frown. He was displeased with the rough addition of words, but since it was not wrong, he could not retort more than that.