JADE 30

It was after they had eaten breakfast at a salad specialty shop. Jin Sejun, his spirits revived, plunged his finger into Kwon Joowan’s rinsing cup. He was waiting for the usual annoyed exclamation or a similar counterattack, but his hand was caught unexpectedly.

“Ouch…!”

The moment Kwon Joowan bit down hard on his wet finger and then flung it away, a look of disbelief spread across Jin Sejun’s face.

“Seeing as how your stamina is building up faster than I thought, Teacher Jun, it seems you’re not without some natural talent. For people with really no basic stamina, we start with walking.”

Moreover, it was only after Jin Sejun had become much more subdued that Kwon Joowan started to approach him.

‘What is he, a cat or something?’

But that’s the part about cats that drives people crazy…. Jin Sejun rubbed the finger that had just been bitten and struggled to control his expression.

“During my manifestation period, I was an Alpha who sent shivers down the entire neighborhood’s spine—”

“If you don’t want to injure your joints, you need to do strength training in parallel.”

“Strength training….”

I don’t want to…. As long as he could maintain his figure, he didn’t want to put in that much effort. Besides, he couldn’t even fathom what kind of horrific hell-training a person who used to handle that immense amount of exercise would put him through, so he just blurted out whatever came to mind first.

“You said I was naturally gifted too, Teacher John. I’m a muscle-spoon, so I’ll naturally build muscle while running, so I probably don’t need to do separate weight training….”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Just then, Coach Hong, who had been listening with great interest, chimed in.

“Who’s stronger, Teacher Jun or Teacher John? I think it’s probably Teacher John.”

“Coach Hong, I’m an Alpha, you know. Huh? Comparing me to a Beta. Hah, good grief.”

“Then you guys should have a thigh wrestling match.”

“Thigh wrestling? If the naturally talented guy who usually just fools around wins, Teacher John is going to be completely unable to recover, you know? It’ll just reinforce the superstition that Alphas always win. Teacher John will absolutely hate that, you know?”

“Hah.”

Kwon Joowan, who at first had an expression that said it wasn’t even worth a response, jumped up from his seat as soon as the long, obnoxious speech ended. Then, as if he were entering a championship title defense match, he approached Jin Sejun.

Thanks to that, everyone present, including Coach Hong, began to watch the two with great interest. Even though he wasn’t particularly keen on it, Jin Sejun instinctively started to bluff.

“What if you get depressed after losing to me, Teacher John? Like how retired people get down? And because Teacher John starts to think he’s useless, it’ll disrupt the academy’s operations….”

“Do you thigh wrestle with your mouth?”

“This is my battle cry, you see?”

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

As the verbal sparring dragged on, Coach Hong shouted the command.

The first match was Kwon Joowan’s attack, so his knee was positioned on the inside of Jin Sejun’s thigh. Belatedly, he felt like it was ticklish or that he wanted to avoid it, but his pride was more important.

“Go~!”

‘Coach Hong looks really excited….’

Since Coach Hong had been scolded by Kwon Joowan before, it seemed like a good idea to beat Kwon Joowan this time and try to get friendly with him.

However, Kwon Joowan’s thigh, which didn’t seem to be exerting much force at the start, began to spread Jin Sejun’s legs apart like a giant rock.

“Uh-oh, uh?”

Jin Sejun grabbed the legs of the chair and eventually even hit Kwon Joowan’s arm, but in the end, his legs were forced wide open.

“….”

Jin Sejun exclaimed with a mournful face.

“The attacker always has the advantage. Now, hurry up, round two.”

“Yes, this time the advantage is on your side, Mr. Sejun. If you lose here too, it’s a complete, one hundred percent, undeniable defeat with no excuses.”

“…You talk too much.”

Honestly, how could a mere office worker beat a person who used to do five consecutive tumbles. Jin Sejun, grumbling inwardly while killing his Alpha ego, applied force at a timing faster than Coach Hong’s “Go!”

The cheap tactic to catch him off guard was about to work, but then it failed. Kwon Joowan’s thighs, which had seemed about to spread, began to close like a clam.

On second thought, it seemed there was a bit of a difference in their physical thigh thickness as well.

“Wow, you’re very… modest.”

“Less than you, Teacher Jun.”

Jin Sejun spoke through gritted teeth, but Kwon Joowan looked relaxed. Considering their jobs and usual lifestyles, it seemed right that Kwon Joowan should win, but since it was in front of Coach Hong, he didn’t want to lose to a Beta.

It had nothing to do with whether he had a favorable impression of Coach Hong or not; it was simply due to the useless pride of the Alpha named Jin Sejun.

Jin Sejun twisted his body unsightly and, in a moment, dug into the inside of Kwon Joowan’s thigh.

“Ugh—.”

‘Huh?’

Kwon Joowan, who had let out a short groan, pulled his body back and spread his legs wide. He had definitely planned to tease Kwon Joowan about being promiscuous or something if he won, but because of what just happened, he completely forgot about it.

As both Jin Sejun and Kwon Joowan fell back in awkward positions, an excited Coach Hong suggested.

“Wow, I thought Teacher John would win both rounds. For the third round, should we decide offense and defense with rock-paper-scissors?”

To hide his embarrassment, Jin Sejun first let out a hollow laugh.

“Hahahahaha, is the quality of our muscles different? It’s different from these show-off fashion muscles.”

What’s different? They were different, but in reality, the fashion muscles were on Jin Sejun’s side. Having exerted force in such close contact, he knew better than anyone else here. While Jin Sejun was breaking out in a cold sweat and bluffing, Kwon Joowan, who had straightened his clothes, stood up.

“Let’s just say Teacher Sejun won. I have something to do.”

“Go on and run away with your tail between your legs, it’s a good look for you.”

After a brief, suspicious exchange of glances, Kwon Joowan turned away, muttering.

“Tease me all you want.”

“….”

It was a relief that Kwon Joowan bolted. No one else knew, but Jin Sejun knew.

That in his competitive frenzy, he had dug into the inside of Kwon Joowan’s thigh and, in a slip, had smashed Kwon Joowan’s dick with his kneecap….

‘That must have hurt like hell…. No, who would have thought a Beta’s dick would even reach that far.’

When he had openly gawked in the bathroom, it must have looked shorter than it actually was due to the angle. It felt like he would only be talking about dicks every time he saw Kwon Joowan from now on, so he had to stop his thoughts here.

He could talk about dicks as a joke, but it seemed a bit weird if he were to mention it with genuine admiration….

After that, Kwon Joowan started to keep a strange distance from Jin Sejun again. Yesterday he was sulking, and today he’s like this over something that wasn’t even intentional. He’s a busy man. But what can you do? The one who knows how to yield has to yield for Kwon Joowan to feel at ease.

Becoming awkward like this is a pain. With this self-centered thought, Jin Sejun continued to poke at Kwon Joowan.

“Those tangerines were delicious, isn’t anyone going to buy them for me again? I want to eat the ones with the thin sugar coating~.”

“You can go eat them with your niece.”

“Ah~. I want to eat the ones the Vice Director buys. Jin Yiseo said she’s sleeping at a friend’s house again today… I try to act like an uncle, but she won’t let me.”

Apart from being cringey, for someone who always went on about being Alpha-like this and that, Jin Sejun was quite unrestrained with his cute act. Only then did Kwon Joowan let out a snort and ask.

“If you don’t have plans tonight, want to take the shuttle? We can stop by after I drop all the kids off.”

“Ah, should I? I’ve been wanting to ride in the chariot of Blings Cheerleading at least once.”

Jin Sejun’s face lit up as he grabbed the academy car keys that were in the usual computer room and came out to the lobby. Kwon Joowan was gone, having gone somewhere in the meantime, when ding-a-ling, the bell hanging on the glass front door rang.

“Welcome.”

“Hello….”

A quiet reply came back to his reflexive greeting. The hesitant manner, as if unfamiliar, reminded him of the Jin Sejun from long ago.

‘Gasp.’

Looking again, it was an Omega with an incredibly deer-like impression. His skin was milky white, his lips had a reddish tinge, and his hair scattered like golden threads, while being petite enough to fit perfectly in an embrace, he was truly… Jin Sejun’s type of Omega.

‘But he probably has a kid.’

“Which friend’s guardian are you?”

The first-time visitor fidgeted with his hair and opened his mouth.

“Um… I’m not a guardian, I’m a friend of Mr. Kwon Joowan’s.”

“Aah, the Vice Director.”

An Omega looking for Kwon Joowan…? Just as his thoughts were about to progress, Kwon Joowan came out to the lobby.

“Ah, Saeha….”

“Joowan-ah!”

‘Saeha’ smiled a radiant smile the moment he saw Kwon Joowan. If someone else had received such a greeting in front of others, they would have been ecstatic and smug, even if they weren’t an Alpha, but Kwon Joowan seemed unfazed.

That was both reassuring and infuriating.

“What’s up? Coming all the way to the academy.”

“Your father wants to have dinner together for the first time in a while.”

“Which one?”

“Ah, Oe-yu-jeong.”

A Beta saying “which father”? Did he get a stepfather after his parents’ divorce? Besides, Oe-yu-jeong couldn’t possibly be a name, and the way he referred to the father was also peculiar.

Kwon Joowan, seeing Jin Sejun standing there awkwardly, snatched the car keys.

“I’ll buy you the tangerines later, so you can go ahead. I think I have to just drop the kids off and go straight there today.”

“Ah, yes. Please do…!”

There was a sense that his greeting came out unnecessarily energetic. As he hastily turned to leave, he heard a voice from behind asking, “Tangerines…?”

If he had his way, he would have wanted to lie down on the floor and throw a tantrum, saying he wouldn’t leave unless he bought him tangerines. But doing so embarrassingly in front of a pretty Omega was not an option.

He was just feeling lucky that someone who seemed to have descended from the type he would have definitely hit on if only his pheromones were normal had appeared. It’s not like it was the first or second time being rejected, and he had nothing to lose, so he even thought it might be good to get involved once.

After all, there was no way Kwon Joowan would like Jin Sejun for various reasons.

That was, until the thought occurred to him that the Omega might be Kwon Joowan’s ex-fiancé….

‘I can’t sleep….’

Jin Sejun tossed and turned for a long time.