MIM 128

“Ha… to think I’ve been paying monthly rent until now.”

Shin-woo, arms crossed and eyes narrowed, glared at the locker in front of him. A steel locker stood alone against one wall where the ice cream shop used to be in front of the school. What an absurd thing to do, driving out a perfectly good business. What’s worse, all that was inside the locker was a hat he rarely used and had completely forgotten about until now.

Was it even reasonable to install a locker for a hat that didn’t even weigh 100 grams? And to think he’d been paying rent to maintain such an inefficient space. He gnashed his teeth at the thought of all the money he’d wasted. He only found out about this this morning when Jae-seung remembered.

While Jae-seung was in class, Shin-woo contacted the landlord, agreed to terminate the contract, and called someone to remove the locker. He couldn’t believe it even as he watched with his own eyes. How could someone who had so much money waste it like this and not even remember the money draining away run a business? It was a matter of livelihood for someone.

[I was jealous, sorry 1:07 PM]

Shin-woo’s brow gradually relaxed as he checked the text message, his annoyance fading. He could almost see the sulky expression in the text, which made it cute. Jealousy. He stared blankly at the still unfamiliar word. He had lied about dating the shop owner at the time, but it was strange that he had done something so crazy out of jealousy.

[1:08 PM Have a good class and come to the student union building, okay?]

He sent a concise text message, feeling that Jae-seung wouldn’t be able to concentrate if he didn’t reply. He couldn’t completely hide his bewildered feelings, so he added a “h” at the end of the sentence. Shin-woo took a picture of the space where the locker had been removed and headed to the student union building. He felt strange as he walked across the campus that he had strolled through with Jae-seung so many times.

Today, he was planning to apply for withdrawal from the university.

He had all the necessary documents, such as a copy of his resident registration and bankbook, and only needed to have a good interview with the professor. There had been a lot of talk since he, who was not an Alpha and had not received any education, had entered Uishin, so there was no professor who would bother to stop him from leaving on his own two feet. It was a formality. After submitting his withdrawal application, Shin-woo headed towards the faculty building for the interview.

[What do you want to do?]

It was Jae-seung’s words that led him to decide to withdraw. Jae-seung diligently attended classes and completed assignments, repeatedly telling Shin-woo not to follow him to school whenever he had a chance. At first, he thought he was worrying unnecessarily because of his unstable Transformation, but after hearing it repeatedly, he realized that wasn’t what he meant.

Now that you’re not a bodyguard but a boyfriend, stop following me around and glaring at people, and think about what you want to do.

What he wanted to do. Shin-woo tilted his head and scanned the row of lush green trees. He had been too busy making a living to ever think about what he wanted to do. After entering the Maseong mansion, he had simply done what he was told and given his whole heart to Jae-seung. He felt strange as the moment to make a new choice approached, after living that way his whole life.

What he had done solely according to his own will, for his own sake… The first thing that came to mind was the magnificent sight of the Mangwol Shelter.

He wanted to build a house. He didn’t necessarily have to own it, but he wanted to build a shelter where children who were abandoned every day could rest without starving to death. It was a welfare facility, but he was so obsessed with it that it felt more like self-satisfaction than a charitable activity for others. He poured all the money he had saved into planning the project. Whenever he was sick or tired, imagining the shelter being built in the middle of the Mangwol district would strengthen his heart.

The happiness he felt when he first faced the completed shelter still lingered warmly in his heart. These days, Shin-woo visited the shelter whenever he had the chance. As the person in charge of operations, there were things he needed to check periodically, but more than that, he just liked to look at it endlessly. He would fix broken desks, play with the children, and once even took Maro to introduce him. The shelter was always filled with laughter.

Shin-woo composed his smiling expression and straightened his neck in front of the door. It wasn’t an interview, just a formality, but he deliberately chose to wear bright-colored clothes because he didn’t want to look threatening.

Just last week, a famous educational program had aired a two-and-a-half-hour special titled “The Cursed Maseong Family Murder Case,” which covered the events surrounding them and the unresolved mysteries. There were so many people involved and so many questionable points that the program didn’t rashly portray any one person as the axis of evil, but he couldn’t help but feel the tense atmosphere around him.

Shin-woo knocked on the door. “Come in,” the professor’s voice said from inside.

When he opened the door and entered, the professor, with his grizzled mustache, greeted Shin-woo with a kind smile. Shin-woo politely handed over the vitamin drinks he had bought as a courtesy and bowed. The professor took two drinks from the box, placing one in front of himself and the other in front of Shin-woo. The act of sharing the same drink eased the tension to some extent. As a professor who had taught students for a long time, he was skilled at this.

“So, you said you’re withdrawing?”

The professor looked at Shin-woo over his glasses. When Shin-woo nodded in agreement and looked up, the professor turned his gaze to the documents he was holding. Their eyes didn’t meet for long, and the questions were as formal as he had expected. Shin-woo recited the answers he had prepared, proceeding with the withdrawal process.

“What do you plan to do after you withdraw?”

The professor put down the documents and asked the final question. Shin-woo bit his lip, unable to answer immediately. Even though it was a decision he had already made, it wasn’t easy to say it out loud. He was used to withdrawing, but he had never planned for his own future.

Shin-woo quickly downed the vitamin drink to wet his throat, then answered with a determined look on his face.

“I want to be a carpenter.”

“A carpenter?”

“Yes. I’m going to take government-funded training and get a certificate.”

Carpentry was a high demand occupation in Janggang, so there were well established training programs. Applications would be accepted starting next month, so he planned to prepare as soon as he withdrew.

“It’s a high-demand occupation, so the prospects are good, and I think you’ll be good at it. What do you think, Professor?”

“…You have a concrete plan. You’ll do well.”

The professor adjusted his glasses with a bewildered expression. He had only asked the question because he had to, but he hadn’t expected Shin-woo to answer so seriously.

Carpenter. It only felt real when he said it out loud. It had felt absurd when he first thought of it, then he had treated it like someone else’s business as he made plans, and finally, when he acknowledged it as something he wanted to do, his heart fluttered.

After finishing the interview, Shin-woo headed to a cafe on campus with light steps. Jae-seung had about thirty minutes left of class. He decided to order a cup of coffee and sit at an outdoor table while he waited. He was always busy monitoring the schedules of people who could be a threat to Jae-seung, reading public opinion, and attending shareholder meetings even when he came to school, but a leisurely daily life with nothing to do wasn’t bad either. Feeling like indulging himself, Shin-woo bought a cookie, something he had never bought with his own money before.

He was humming a tune and munching on the cookie when he suddenly felt a cold breeze on his skin. Was it because it was the change of seasons? He felt a chill. Maybe he should have ordered a warm coffee. Should he go inside and wait? No, Jae-seung would be here in about ten more minutes anyway. As he was thinking this and swinging his legs back and forth, he felt a slight muscle ache in his arms and legs.

It wasn’t a surgical aftereffect. Was it really like Jae-seung had worried, that he was having a heat-like cycle every now and then? He felt a sense of déjà vu but wasn’t sure. He wouldn’t know unless the symptoms were severe, but it just felt like a mild body ache, with a slightly elevated temperature and a desire to take off Jae-seung’s pants, so he couldn’t easily judge whether it was a side effect of the medication or just simple lust.

Because his Transformation had failed, he didn’t feel any Omega pheromone that was bothersome even in this situation. He wasn’t particularly affected by the presence of an Alpha nearby either. Perhaps because they were bonded, he was only sensitive to Jae-seung’s Pheromone, which made him wet, but that was it. Jae-seung was the only one who noticed the Omega pheromone, and if it could only be felt by burying his nose in his ears or groin, then he didn’t need to worry about it.