ETP Ch 82

Sunjung had expected Bokseung to be crestfallen after being scolded by Yoohyun. However, Bokseung looked quite energetic. More than energetic, he was ready to explode with anger.

But why was he directing that anger at me?

“Sunbae-nim said that nine out of ten Alphas in rut have to vent it on an Omega! Didn’t you say they become a host for their dicks?!”

“Uh, uh, uh?!”

D-Dick…! Did Bokseung really say that? That, that word, so loudly!

Normally, Sunjung would have chuckled and teased Bokseung about knowing such a word. However, he couldn’t say anything to the child who was cornering him with such a serious expression, demanding answers. He could only give a foolish reply.

“I, I thought Hwang Yoohyun Sunbae-nim might n-need an Omega! So!!”

“Wait, wait a minute, Bokseung!”

Sunjung, hearing the words spat out like a machine gun, held up his palm, trying to stop Bokseung’s outburst.

“Why!”

“When did I ever say Hwang Yoohyun needed an Omega?”

“What?”

“A typical Alpha might, but I told you that bastard Hwang Yoohyun, despite being dominant, always endures by overdosing on suppressants. Where in my words did it suggest he needed an Omega?”

Sunjung asked, tracing back their conversation from earlier with Bokseung.

Although he had a few drinks, it hadn’t been long enough to affect his memory of a conversation from just a few hours ago.

Sunjung clearly remembered saying that. He also recalled badmouthing the bastard Hwang Yoohyun as being very stubborn and stupid.

But what was Bokseung’s reaction then?

He seemed to have gone pale and hadn’t responded to his words…!

“Don’t tell me… Bokseung, you didn’t even listen to the rest of what I said?!!”

Bingo! Sungyeon felt that this was what it meant to have one’s head spin.

“Shit!”

That was all he could say. All he could do was curse his own stupidity.

Sunjung, witnessing the despair Sungyeon was feeling right in front of him, was equally flustered.

B-Bokseung’s language is rougher than I thought.

Sunjung listened blankly, with an incredulous look, to the stream of expletives pouring nonstop from Bokseung’s small lips.

Then, his head tilted again.

“But Bokseung.”

Bokseung turned his gaze at Sunjung’s call, but there was no soul in his eyes. They were eyes that looked like a mackerel’s, demanding to be called ‘hyung-nim.’

“If, if Yoohyun needs an Omega, you…”

He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence with, ‘Would you do something for him?’ Although Yoo Sunjung was a person who lived chasing after excitement, he wasn’t so frivolous as to just smirk in a situation involving both Hwang Yoohyun and Kim Bokseung.

As Sunjung’s words were cut off halfway, a look of confusion appeared on Bokseung’s face.

“Sunbae-nim? What about me?”

“Uh? No. Nothing! Anyway, people from the clinic will be here soon, so don’t worry and go home.”

“Then what will happen to Hwang Yoohyun Sunbae-nim now?”

Sungyeon asked Sunjung.

Will he get better just by going to the clinic now? Will he have to take an emergency suppressant, like the Alpha who caused trouble at the PC room last time? Did his state worsen because Yoohyun became more agitated or angry when he showed up?

Questions sprang up relentlessly in his mind.

He was anxious because he had no idea what was going on.

“Well, I guess the clinic will take care of it, but honestly? I don’t know much either. I’ve never gone through it with medication. I only get rut suppressants prescribed just in case, but I’ve never taken them.”

Sunjung shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

Yoo Sunjung had secured an Omega to spend his rut with as soon as he presented as an Alpha in his teens.

Sunjung knew he would present as an Alpha, given his family composition, and with older brothers of the same secondary gender, he couldn’t help but learn about the dynamics of secondary gender from a young age. Why would he seek out those harsh medicines when Omegas willing to reciprocate were everywhere?

That’s why he understood even less why Hwang Yoohyun, despite being a dominant Alpha, stubbornly endured with suppressants every time. Sunjung had no interest or curiosity in talks about enduring the rut period with suppressants.

When Sunjung finished speaking, Bokseung’s face looked as though he had heard shocking news. Thanks to that, the soul returned to his empty eyes, but it wasn’t a good sight.

Flustered by the change in Bokseung’s expression, Sunjung started talking rapidly again.

“Still, Ho-Sun Clinic is the best in our country. And the owner is Yoohyun’s grandfather! So nothing bad will happen to that bastard, don’t worry, okay? No! And he’s a dominant Alpha, right? He won’t die from something like this!”

Sunjung was naturally unsuited to such heavy atmospheres. He was trying his best to squeeze out some comfort only because it was Bokseung.

Luckily, Sunjung’s clumsy comfort didn’t last long. It was thanks to the people from Ho-Sun Clinic who soon rushed into the apartment complex.

They moved swiftly as soon as they got out of the jet-black van.

Staff composed only of Betas, to avoid getting caught in Yoohyun’s pheromones, approached the lobby with the building manager to take Yoohyun out.

One of them informed Sunjung and Bokseung, who were still standing in front, in a rigid tone.

“We will be restricting access to the lobby for emergency patient transport. If you are a resident of this apartment, please go up immediately.”

Sungyeon quickly shook his head upon hearing that. Sunjung also shook his head.

“Then, could you kindly step aside? If you are a secondary gender, please keep as far away as possible to avoid being caught up in the pheromones.”

The employee politely pointed towards the apartment’s main entrance with an open palm. The attitude was courteous, but the tone and expression implied ‘get out quickly.’

Sunjung felt a little surge of irritation but soon took Bokseung and left the apartment. As the employee said, if they got caught up in the bastard Hwang Yoohyun’s pheromones, he and Bokseung would be screwed.

As Sunjung moved, Bokseung also reluctantly started walking.

“Bokseung, come here. I called a taxi.”

“Yes.”

Sungyeon kept looking back even as he followed Sunjung to the roadside.

He thought he wouldn’t be affected by Yoohyun’s pheromones from this distance, but he just wanted to confirm that Yoohyun was safely leaving.

However, contrary to Sungyeon’s wish, the taxi arrived before Yoohyun emerged. At Sunjung’s glance, urging him to get in quickly, Sungyeon slid into the taxi.

In the end, Sungyeon had no choice but to go home without even seeing a strand of Yoohyun’s hair.

🍑‧₊ ⋆˙

A week.

The time it took for Yoohyun to contact him again was exactly one week.

During that week, Sungyeon was literally a walking corpse. His face was devoid of color, so much so that people around him were startled, and the clothes he usually wore brightly were entirely black, like a shadow.

‘B-Bokseung? Are you sick?’

‘No.’

‘Then why are you so listless!’

‘I’m okay.’

Sungyeon was too bothered to even answer his friends’ questions about his well-being. He just wanted to go into a cave and pass out until he could hear news of Yoohyun.

Life as a walking corpse was the same at school and at his part-time job.

Sungyeon placed a tray next to a customer who was intensely focused on a game without saying a word. The customers, who were excitedly pounding on their keyboards, were suddenly startled when a dark, black mass appeared next to them.

‘Ah! Shit, you startled me! Can’t you make a sound?’

‘I apologize. Please enjoy your food…’

‘Yes, yes.’

The customers felt very uneasy even after receiving the greeting because the part-timer who told them to enjoy their food looked like a death mask.

Sunjung, who was filling in and watching the scene, felt the same uneasiness.

Sunjung was tormented by a confusing emotion—he felt like he understood the relationship between the two, given Bokseung’s severely dejected demeanor, or perhaps it was better not to know for now.

‘Sunbae-nim.’

‘Uh, uh. Why?’

‘Haven’t you heard from him either?’

‘Who? Hwang Yoohyun?’

Once, Bokseung asked this question, and Sunjung asked back with genuine curiosity.

‘That bastard probably isn’t in a state to contact anyone, is he? And why would he contact me?’

‘Ah…’

Upon hearing Sunjung’s answer, Bokseung’s face lost color again, turning so white it looked blue.

After that, Sunjung had no choice but to watch the dejected Bokseung throughout his shift, unable to have a decent conversation.

After spending a chaotic week like that, Sungyeon was currently sitting on the sofa at home. No sound could be heard in the living room except for Yuja’s purring breath.

It was when Sungyeon was quietly breathing along with Yuja’s breathing. The perpetually black phone screen lit up brightly, and the words he had been so eager to see appeared.

[Hwang Yoohyun Sunbae-nim]

Sungyeon took his hand off Yuja and immediately picked up the phone.

“Sunbae-nim?!!??”

—Uh, Kim Bokseung.

“Hooong?! Hooong!”

Yoohyun called Bokseung’s name in his usual soft, low voice.

The utterly peaceful pronunciation made all the anxiety that filled Sungyeon’s body feel as though it was draining away beneath his feet.

And unconsciously, he began to weep loudly, clutching his phone.