YHP 24

Three giant Whoppers. Two large fries. One bottle of orange juice and twelve chicken nuggets.

Before going to the swimming pool, Ho-jin dragged Jeong-in into a fast food restaurant attached to the gym’s back entrance, insisting that they grab a “light” bite to eat. Without even asking, he ordered a salad, a wrap, and sparkling water for Jeong-in, saying that friend food wasn’t healthy. Yet in front of Ho-jin himself was a towering pile of greasy hamburgers that looked anything but healthy.

“…Are you really going to eat all of that?”

He looked no different from the food fighters Jeong-in had seen on the internet. Jeong-in hated to admit it, but just watching made him feel nauseous. He picked out a few cherry tomatoes from his salad and put the fork down.

“Hyung, is that all you’re going to eat? You haven’t had anything since this morning.”

Jeong-in didn’t answer. In fact, he hadn’t had any appetite all day.

“Is it not to your taste? Should I go buy you something else?”

Ho-jin immediately set down his burger.

“I’m fine.”

Jeong-in quickly stopped him. The promised training session was approaching soon anyway, and nothing else on the menu would suddenly make him hungry.

Ho-jin apologized, his eyebrows drooping as if he had committed a serious crime.

“I’m sorry. I thought it would be a safe choice… What do you usually do when you come here, hyung?”

“There’s nothing I would call usual. I only ever come here on special occasions.”

Honestly, even back in his school days, Jeong-in rarely visited places like this.

All the friends he’d grown up with were heirs to major corporations or children of politicians with at least three terms as National Assembly members. Some of them turned into complete brats once they reached adulthood, like Hyo-jun, but as long as they were under their parents’ roofs, they mostly ate low-sodium meals prepared by personal nutritionists. Therefore, they weren’t used to strong-flavored food.

“…Special occasions?”

“You know, like a classmate’s birthday or an occasional outing.”

“…”

“It did feel kind of fascinating when I did eat this stuff, though.”

For some reason, a hint of sadness flickered in Ho-jin’s eyes.

“Then should we come here together every day from now on?”

“Why?”

That was a random suggestion.

“I’m going to make you try every single item on the menu. The shrimp burger is great, the mushroom one is good too… Honestly, everything’s delicious.”

“Forget it, you eat a lot,” Jeong-in replied curtly.

He rested his chin on his hand as he looked around the restaurant. Thanks to the cap pulled low over Ho-jin’s face, not many people seemed to recognize him.

“Hyung, I’m going to grab another bottle of juice.”

Ho-jin had downed the orange juice in an instant. Jeong-in nodded.

It was a fairly busy restaurant. Even in the brief time Ho-jin went downstairs, dozens of people passed through the dining area. As Jeong-in absentmindedly watched people walk around with food, he suddenly made eye contact with a man about to sit at a table across from him.

The man started staring intensely at Jeong-in. The gaze was so persistent that Jeong-in uncomfortably looked away.

“Excuse me.”

But soon enough, the man stood and strode over, stopping beside him.

“Could I possibly get your phone number?”

There it was—that faint, uniquely cold Alpha scent. Judging by the fact that it was much weaker than Ho-jin’s, who took suppressants daily, this guy was probably not a strong Alpha—maybe a quarter at best. Still, the face that he approached so boldly suggested that he’d somehow figured out Jeong-in was an Omega.

“…”

A bad feeling crept over him. Jeong-in tried to recall the last time he’d had a heat cycle.

With his hormone disorder, trying to predict a regular cycle was pointless. It was easier to just assume that whenever he started feeling normal, it would come back to knock him down again. The uncontrollable pheromone leakage was always the first sign.

It would be a week at the earliest, a month at the latest. It had been quiet ever since he returned to Korea, so it was about time for another big episode.

“You look so tense. I’m not going to bite.”

When Jeong-in didn’t say anything, the man smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth.

“I know a great wine bar with a nice atmosphere. Let’s go for a drive together sometime when you’re free.”

“Wow…”

Jeong-in couldn’t believe people still said things like that in this day and age. He felt secondhand embarrassment just hearing it and quickly glanced around. Who on earth would say something like that in the middle of a college-town fast-food joint? Even the imported car logo on the keychain, the man was conspicuously dangling in front of him, seemed pathetic.

“Forget it and go mind your own business.”

When Jeong-in flicked away the guy’s keyring, the man promptly sat down in Ho-jin’s seat.

“I’m not saying we should do all this for nothing.”

“…”

“If we meet up and hit it off, I could treat you to a few things.”

The man lowered his voice as if he were saying something important. It was so absurd that Jeong-in couldn’t help but sigh.

“What exactly could you treat me to?”

“Well, that depends on what you want.”

“Really?”

Jeong-in leaned in slowly, took the man’s wrist, and traced his fingernail over the strap of his flashy watch. He could tell at a glance that it was an entry-level model from a luxury brand with an aftermarket strap.

“I’m sorry but…”

His finger clicked along the links of the chain, then tapped on the watch face. The man’s expression twisted.

“Don’t you think we should at least be on the same level to hang out?” Jeong-in asked pointedly.

The man scowled and pulled his hand away.

“You’re really full of yourself.”

Just as expected. The moment Jeong-in didn’t play along, the man changed his tune.

“Hey. Aren’t you an Omega?”

“…”

“Talking about levels, aren’t you Omegas supposed to jump at Alphas? We both know it, so why act like you’re better?”

The way the man switched from flirting to seething resentment in seconds was like a Maserati accelerating from zero to sixty. Judging from the weird outburst of rage, it seemed he was not only offended that his watch was exposed but that he’d also been rejected by a lot of Omegas throughout his life.

Discrimination against secondary genders was something that belonged to their fathers’ generation. Nowadays, it was mostly the domain of people with nothing left to lose. Yet, here was someone his age acting like this. It wasn’t so much offensive as it was just fascinating.

“Playing hard to get, pretending you’re not interested… You think that raises your value? It only takes a second to ruin a pretty face like yours.”

At this point, it was starting to get comical. Jeong-in was about to get up and leave when the man muttered one more thing under his breath.

“Bet your Omega mom only survived by latching onto an Alpha before she got screwed.”

The insult to Won-kyung made Jeong-in’s fingertips go ice cold.

At that moment, there was a loud crash from afar. Jeong-in turned to see Ho-jin standing there. Ho-jin had just chucked the juice bottle straight into a trash can and was striding toward them. Just as he was about to grab the man by the collar, Jeong-in quietly stood up.

“Stay still.”

He pressed his fingertips against Ho-jin’s chest and gently positioned him behind his back. Then he turned to face the man again.

“Looks like nobody ever taught you, huh?”

“…What?”

“Climbing into places you don’t belong to with nothing but guts? That’s a really dangerous habit.”

Ignoring the man’s incredulous expression, Jeong-in opened his barely touched sparkling water and poured it over the man’s head.

“Hey!”

Ice clattered down with the drink. Drenched, the man glared at Jeong-in, but he didn’t flinch. He simply tossed the empty cup near the guy’s feet and slipped a hand into the man’s pocket.

“What the hell are you doing?” the man spat.

“If you don’t want to vanish without a trace… Seok-hyun-ah.”

His name, face, and date of birth—just those three things were more than enough. Jeong-in checked the ID card in front of the wallet and put it back.

“When you don’t have anything in your head, you end up making reckless moves, and that’s exactly when your life gets twisted.”

Jeong-in looked up again. He met his gaze directly and lowered his head. He whispered softly, just loud enough for Seok-hyun to hear.

“Be careful. Though if someone digs into your bones, they wouldn’t be anything worth finding…”

“…”

“Looks like all you’ve got is your body, so you should at least take good care of that.”

“You crazy son of a—!”

The man wiped his face roughly with the back of his hand, gritting his teeth. It was obvious he was intimidated by Jeong-in, but he couldn’t let go of his pride. He raised a hand in the air.

It looked like he was about to slap him, but that was exactly what Jeong-in wanted. He wanted nothing more than to rip the man limb right then and there, but he lacked justification. If he could just claim self-defense, then no matter what he did, it wouldn’t be a big problem.

“Put your hand down.”

However, Ho-jin suddenly stepped in front of Jeong-in. Only then did the man finally get a good look at Ho-jin’s face—and his eyes widened in recognition.

“Uh…”

What happened next was predictable. The man’s carefully constructed confidence crumbled in an instant at the appearance of someone so obviously superior in both looks and career. He immediately backed down.

“Hey, this has nothing to do with you, alright? This asshole started it!”

Trying to save face, he began shouting and swearing loudly.

“Fucking Omega bastard.”

“Hey,” Ho-jin growled like an animal, turning toward the man.

His usually gentle eyes were completely consumed by rage.

Fearing he might actually hit the guy, Jeong-in quickly called his name.

“Yoo Ho-jin.”

He grabbed Ho-jin’s wrist and pulled him. Ho-jin had been eyeing the man like a wolf ready to tear into its prey when he finally turned back to Jeong-in.

“There are too many eyes on us. Don’t cause a scene.”

“Hyung.”

“Let’s go. I’ll buy you a drink somewhere else.”

Jeong-in dragged him out of the store by the wrist, since Ho-jin clearly had no intention of moving on his own.

“I’m sorry.”

Once they were outside, Ho-jin murmured an apology with his head bowed. Jeong-in turned to look at him, and their eyes met. Ho-jin’s face was full of frustration and regret.

“For what?” Jeong-in asked.

“…For not being able to do anything.”

“Yoo Ho-jin.”

Jeong-in chuckled.

“You have a lot to lose. For something this trivial—”

Ho-jin rarely interrupted Jeong-in, but he immediately cut in. “It wasn’t trivial.”

Jeong-in thought it was a bit much to get so worked up over something so petty and began gently trying to reassure him.

“There’s no need for anyone to get hurt over this. Nothing’s changed. No matter how many times someone throws out words like that, they can’t touch a single hair on my head.”

“…”

“And more than anything else, this anger is mine to deal with. You don’t need to share it. I can melt it all away by myself.”

The sun must have sunk quite a bit in the meantime.

Jeong-in estimated the time by the color of the sunlight falling on Ho-jin’s handsome face. It was maybe around four o’clock or four thirty.

“Hyung…”

Then, Ho-jin suddenly smiled.

“You’re a really strong person.”

Jungin watched quietly as the troubled look on Hojin’s face changed.

The sadness and anger in his eyes cleared, and the lips that had been pressed tight in frustration relaxed into a gentle curve.

Like a clean stream washing mud off a stone, revealing a polished surface beneath, Ho-jin wiped away his emotions in an instant and returned to calm. Watching that, Jeong-in felt his own heart settle just a little more.

“Still, I’m sorry.”

Ho-jin’s large hand slowly rose. The fingers that reached toward Jeong-in’s ear hesitated and ultimately fell back down without touching him.

“I’ll take better care of you next time.”

“…”

“So you won’t even have to hear such ugly words.”

Looking into Ho-jin’s eyes, Jeong-in suddenly wondered:

They say eyes are the windows to the soul. If that’s true, maybe from this person’s window, you could see all the way to the clouds over distant mountains, without a speck of dust in the way.