YHP 8

As soon as he left the building, he received a call from the real estate agent. In a very apologetic tone, the agent asked if he could wait just a little longer. The timing was a bit tricky with the rain, but it wouldn’t be a problem since he could have a quick meal and it would roughly work out.

If Jeong-in had known this would happen, it might not have been a bad idea to follow those guys who said they were going sledding. After all, Jeong-in was alone now.

“Hm…”

Recalling Hyo-jun’s advice to refer to that when he was hungry, Jeong-in tapped on the notice posted in the messenger chat. The screen was filled with a long list of restaurant names, collected from who knows where. Below each name were menus, locations, star ratings, and even brief reviews.

Jeong-in skimmed through the list, but nothing particularly appealed to him. Just as he was about to close it, he noticed a sentence at the end of the list:

If you don’t like any of these, try the school cafeteria (Garam-dong basement). Overall, it’s a good place, but the squid rice bowl is trash.

“Garam-dong basement?”

He turned on the map app and entered ‘Garam-dong.’ Fortunately, it didn’t seem too far. After aligning the compass by turning his phone several times, Jeong-in started walking at a steady pace.

After walking for a while, he felt uneasy and looked back. The Alpha from earlier was there.

“Hah.”

When their eyes met, the man smiled with a silly face, as if it was a habit. It struck Jeong-in as oddly familiar.

Where had he seen it before? Jeong-in briefly rummaged through his memories. Nothing in particular came to mind. He thought a bit harder. Then, the faces of the puppies his uncle had temporarily fostered flashed through his mind.

“…”

Right. This guy resembles a dog.

Ruling out small breeds, given his naturally large and sturdy frame, he seemed more like a medium to large dog. However, he didn’t have the sharp appearance of a Doberman or a hound.

Jelly the Pungsan dog, Bomi the Retriever, Cloud the Samoyed, and Haemi the Jindo mix… As Jeong-in recalled the names of the dogs rescued from the shelter that his uncle had fostered after rescuing them from the shelter, he eventually reached the answer.

Gamdol, the Great Pyrenees.

The puppy had been abandoned after suffering an injury to one of his legs, without even receiving treatment.

After staying with his uncle and successfully undergoing surgery and rehabilitation, he still struggled to find a suitable adoptive home for over two years. Then, a CTO an IT company from Norway fell in love with him at first sight and took him. Jeong-in had heard that recently, while playing tug-of-war excitedly, Gamdol had managed to munch on a diamond necklace worth 200 million won belonging to the family’s daughter.

While Taffy was agile and sensitive, Gamdol was always soft and gentle. Thinking of Gamdol seemed to lift Jeong-in’s mood a little, but this was still an Alpha, not a dog. Quickly erasing the thought, Jeong-in turned his head coldly and started to go on his way again. Then, the man who had also paused briefly began to move, following along.

Don’t mind him, don’t mind him, don’t mind him. Jeong-in tried his best to ignore him, but the Alpha resembling Gamdol persistently followed. After walking for a while longer, Jeong-in finally couldn’t stand it anymore and suddenly turned around. He broke into a stride and approached the Alpha.

“You said you want to get closer?” he asked, looking straight into the Alpha’s eyes.

“Yes.”

The man nodded without a moment’s hesitation.

“Why?”

“Sorry?”

Jeong-in snorted. “So if someone’s an Omega, you’re just going to approach them indiscriminately regardless of their gender like that?”

“You’re an Omega?”

Thinking it was obvious and wondering what he was playing at, Jeong-in glared at him. The man flinched, his shoulders trembling as he took a step back.

“I… I’m undergoing sensitivity management. I guess I didn’t know my senses have dulled because I’ve been taking my medication daily. I didn’t mean anything by it. If I offended you, I’m really sorry, I apologize.”

He looked genuinely clueless. Only then did Jeong-in realize his mistake. Even if someone wasn’t an athlete, many individuals with that type of physique often took medication to lower their sensitivity. It was a mistake not to think of that when looking at an Alpha who clearly had been working out for a long time.

As Jeong-in realized he should have kept quiet, feeling embarrassed for overreacting, his face flushed with heat. Hoping it wouldn’t show outwardly, he gripped his phone tightly in his hand.

“Alright, just stop following me now.”

“I’m not following you,” the man said with a dejected expression.

He looked like a dog with drooping ears. Jeong-in looked him up and down with disdain before continuing on his way. He could hear footsteps trailing behind him, but he deliberately ignored them.

After walking a bit further, Garam-dong soon appeared. Of course, the Alpha’s eyes were on Jeong-in’s back the entire time even after entering the lobby, going down the stairs to the basement, and finally arriving at the entrance of the cafeteria.

This made it impossible to ignore, even if Jeong-in wanted to. Finally reaching his limit, Jeong-in turned around with his brows deeply furrowed.

“Hey.”

But what he saw behind me was the face of a complete stranger.

A student who had been blankly looking up at the menu board behind Jeong-in asked in surprise, “Yes? Me?”

The Alpha who should have been there was actually heading into the health office next to the cafeteria.

“No. I’m sorry.”

Jeong-in hastily apologized and joined the long line.

The more he thought about it, the more embarrassed he felt, unable to lift his head. Not only had he needlessly revealed himself as an Omega due to his self-consciousness, but he had also lashed out at someone who was simply going about their own business, telling them not to follow him.

It was truly a sigh-inducing situation. If he could, he wanted to bury himself under a blanket right now and stay there forever.

“What would you like?”

“…”

“Excuse me?”

Startled by the voice calling him, Jeong-in snapped out of his thoughts and looked up, his face still flushed. A work-study student holding meal tickets and a card ter

“Anything except the squid rice bowl.”

Jeong-in quickly checked his pockets. However, there was no wallet or anything like that.

“Uh…”

He searched his entire body, but he couldn’t find his wallet. He must have packed it in his suitcase with his clothes in the morning and forgotten about it. Just as he was about tho sign again, wondering what kind of day this was for his luck to be so bad—

“Tonkatsu, please.”

Someone suddenly cut into the line, holding out a card.

Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, Jeong-in saw the Alpha from earlier standing there. The Alpha finished paying without a word and immediately retreated to the end of the line.

“…”

This wasn’t a situation worth arguing over. The people in the long line behind Jeong-in turned their heads to watch them, as if they had witnessed something intriguing. It seemed like prolonging the situation would also cause issues, so he quickly accepted the meal ticket and tray.

Following the people ahead of him, he held out his meal ticket, and tongs and ladles appeared through the square holes, filling his tray with food in turn. The sauce flowing over the golden-brown breaded pork cutlet seemed to be the last touch of the meal. Jeong-in trudged off to find an empty seat.

“This is driving me crazy.”

But when he was about to eat, he realized he didn’t have any utensils.

I’m just not going to eat. He stood up, feeling like a complete wreck when the Alpha appeared again and offered him utensils.

“Here you go.”

From his wrist skillfully balancing the tray to below his rolled-up sleeve at the elbow, his muscles were clearly defined.

“May I sit here?”

“Hah.”

Do whatever you want.

Jeong-in let him be, not even having the energy to respond. The man chuckled and sat down opposite Jeong-in. For some reason, his tray was piled high with what looked like at least five times the normal portion of rice.

“Ah, right.”

As soon as the Alpha sat down, he suddenly remembered something and jumped up, rushing off somewhere. He returned shortly after, holding two cups filled with water.

“Enjoy your meal.”

He placed one of the cups in front of Jeong-in, who picked up his chopsticks silently.

Every side dish was incredibly salty and sweet. Jeong-in wondered if this was acceptable for food served by an educational institution.

But as he kept eating, he found it somewhat addictive. A bit of the mushy kimchi, a mouthful of the extremely thick-battered pork cutlet, and a taste of the lifeless bean sprouts. As he ate diligently, he started to feel full.

“Heh.”

The Alpha in front of him suddenly made a strange sound. Jeong-in turned his head at the breathy noise. The Alpha was grinning with the most foolish expression, but he quickly buried his face in his tray.

“Ah, it’s just nice to see you enjoying your meal.”

What was he trying to say? Jeong-in shot him an annoyed glare as the Alpha volunteered an answer to an unasked question, and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“…”

Just as Jeong-in was getting ready to leave and gathering his things, he suddenly noticed the Alpha’s towering mound of rice, not even half-eaten yet.

Regardless of the circumstances, they had ended up eating together. Jeong-in didn’t feel right leaving while the other person was still eating. He had never done such a thing in his life. Even though it seemed trivial to worry about etiquette when they might never see each other again, the lifelong habit was so ingrained that Jeong-in ended up sitting back down. The Alpha’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Are you waiting for me?”

“Just eat quickly.”

At Jeong-in’s words, he smiled brightly with his cheeks full of rice.

“Yes, I will.”

He had the face of someone who seemed to have never experienced anything bad in his life.