JADE 4

A few days later, Jin Sejun was still staring at his phone and smiling like a fool.

Me: Have you had dinner?
Mr. Joowan: Yes, I had a salad. What about you, Director?

His gaze was fixed on Kwon Joowan’s new contact name. To think he was now calling him ‘Mr. Joowan’ all by himself. Of course, he had never actually called him by his saved name.

Me: Is that enough for you? Are you on a diet? I’m at a work dinner right now.
Mr. Joowan: (Photo)
Mr. Joowan: I ate like an elephant, so it’s fine. I’m just losing a little weight.

‘He says he eats like an elephant. How cute.’

Jin Sejun chuckled and sent a photo of the side dishes spread out before him. Even while exchanging drinks, all of Jin Sejun’s attention was on his phone.

Me: You don’t look like you need to lose weight.
Mr. Joowan: I work out, so for one reason or another.
Me: What kind of workout do you do?
Mr. Joowan: This and that…

One reason or another, and this and that? He had wondered if he was preparing for a body profile shoot, but it seemed possible his job was a trainer or something similar. After all, you couldn’t get that kind of fit in clothes without muscles…

He might have been more concerned about his hairline because he had to take pictures.

“Mr. Sejun must really be dating someone. Your face is just glowing these days.”

“I told you, I’m not.”

“Teacher, no matter how much the Director denies it, we can all see it. Seriously, anyone can tell this is a man who’s at least in a ‘some’-thing, or at most, has just started a relationship.”

Hearing this, Jin Sejun’s second-oldest brother and the clinic’s director, Jin Youngjun, slammed his chopsticks down and shouted.

“Jin Sejun, are you dating?”

“No, it’s not like that. We’re still friends.”

“Still? Hey, bring him over. He’s not some weirdo, is he?”

“Director, do you really think there’s anyone in this world who could make a move on an alpha, especially Director Jin…?”

“I’m probably like this because I changed that guy’s diapers and raised him on my back.”

“Ah, Jin Youngjun is acting all domestic as fuck again. You were three when I turned one, you know? Why do you keep channeling our oldest brother and oldest sister and talking nonsense. If anyone was wearing diapers, we would have been wearing them together.”

“Call me Director. And I mastered Hangul when I was three, you know?”

“You probably still wore diapers while mastering Hangul.”

“Now, now. Here you go, Director, and you too, Director. Cheers~!”

The dinner didn’t last very long, so it was 9 p.m. when Jin Sejun, with Jin Youngjun slung over his shoulder, entered the apartment lobby.

“Jin Youngjun, seriously, don’t overdo it when you can’t even hold your liquor….”

“To think our youngest is getting married…!”

“I told you, I’m not.”

Anyone would think you were the head of the household as a boy. Unlike Jin Sejun, his second brother tended to get sentimental about strange things, but this was clearly going too far.

“I wondered when you would ever come to your senses, Sejun, but my efforts to make a man out of you have paid off.”

“What are you talking about, you’re one to talk after your shotgun wedding.”

Still, while thinking it wasn’t a matter to get so emotional about, he couldn’t deny that it was his second brother who had held him together during his wandering phase in his mid-to-late twenties.

Jin Sejun had not discussed his pheromone problem with anyone in his family (if it hadn’t been a pheromone problem, he would have been honest and asked for help). But his second brother, without knowing why he was acting like he was going through a second puberty, had consistently tried to help him.

“Sister-in-law, I brought my brother home.”

As soon as he rang the doorbell and stepped back a few paces to be clearly visible on the camera, the door opened. Jin Sejun’s sister-in-law, Chae Yoonmi, quickly came over and supported Jin Youngjun from the other side.

“Gosh, honestly. When he can’t even drink.”

“Sejun… is getting married.”

“You’re getting married?”

“No….”

“He’s talking nonsense again. Anyway, if it weren’t for you, this man would have been lost forever after a single drop of alcohol.”

“Well, he helps me make a living, so I should at least do this much to be a good brother.”

Jin Sejun often delivered his second brother home and also visited this house frequently, so there was nothing uncomfortable about it.

But his niece, who would usually run out and hug his neck at the mere mention of her uncle, was nowhere to be seen.

“Is Yiseo asleep?”

“No, over there.”

His niece, ignoring both her father and her uncle, was doing the splits a short distance away.

“Jin Yiseo, aren’t you happy to see your uncle?”

“No, I am. But I have something I need to concentrate on right now.”

He loved it when kids talked like robots like this. Jin Sejun secretly chuckled and asked.

“What is it?”

“I’m definitely going to get into the competition class this time and compete in the spring.”

“Huh? What competition?”

Jin Yiseo brought her outstretched legs together, hopped to her feet, and then picked up one of the cheer poms1) scattered nearby and struck a pose.

“Cheerleading!”

“Cheerleading? They have competitions for that?”

“They do! Only the good people get to go.”

Jin Sejun took a new look at the giant bow perched on top of Jin Yiseo’s head. The sparkling bow and the cheer pom had the same color scheme; it seemed they were both cheerleading supplies.

“Okay, work hard.”

“I will work hard, but my efforts don’t guarantee I’ll get what I want.”

“Uh, yeah…. Sorry. Sister-in-law, this kid talks like she’s on her second life….”

“Hahahaha!”

Chae Yoonmi, who was covering the sprawled-out Jin Youngjun on the sofa with a blanket, burst out laughing. As Jin Sejun approached his sister-in-law instead of his niece, who was no longer paying him any attention, Chae Yoonmi handed him a glass of hot water.

“She just started not long ago, but she’s incredibly dedicated.”

“How did she even get the idea to do cheerleading?”

“I don’t know. I think she said her friends were doing it, so she asked me to sign her up. She must hate being the only one falling behind. She’s practicing like crazy, but maybe because she’s young, she picks it up really fast?”

“Yiseo’s personality is a bit like mine when I was young.”

“Youngjun said the same thing.”

“I don’t think my brother meant it as a compliment.”

“No way, she’s his own daughter.”

Haha. As Jin Sejun laughed like a simple-minded person, Chae Yoonmi suddenly added in a serious tone.

“But, the vice director at that academy is a man, you know? He apparently did cheerleading professionally.”

“A male cheerleader? Like one of those cheer captains next to the cheerleaders at a baseball game?”

“Cheerleading isn’t just about that!”

Her hearing must be good for her age; Jin Yiseo, who was folding her body like a flip phone from a distance, shrieked.

“Sorry, Yiseo. Your uncle is a layman.”

“A moron?”

“No, not a moron…. I mean, it’s a field I don’t know much about.”

After he calmed his niece down, this time his sister-in-law continued, a huge smile on her face.

“That vice director is a male beta, you see? He’s really… handsome. His shoulders are this wide. It makes dropping the kid off at the academy worthwhile.”

“What? What about my brother?”

“Sejun, you’re like this too, but really handsome people just shouldn’t be tied down to one family. I believe that’s for the public good. The director is a slightly older female alpha, and if I weren’t married, I would have really.”

“Sister-in-law, you know you’re saying really weird things, right.”

“No, I love my family, no, no, that place is just for eye candy.”

Good grief. When he glared at her, Chae Yoonmi seemed embarrassed and stealthily took back the water glass he hadn’t finished.

“Are you off tomorrow? How can I ever thank you for always doing this.”

“I won’t tell my brother, so go ahead and enjoy looking at that cheerleading director and vice director of yours.”

“You’ll understand what I mean when you see them.”

“Hmph….”

His own face should be enough eye candy, so how handsome could they be. Besides, omega women and alpha men, on average, have different points of attraction.

Also, the phrase ‘a man who does cheerleading’ only brought to mind a man doing the splits while wearing a cheerful skirt uniform and a large ribbon, so it didn’t seem very appealing.

It might be someone’s type, but….

Jin Sejun’s residence was a slightly smaller unit in the same complex, so the way home was short. But in those few minutes, the effects of the alcohol he had with dinner intensified, and a sudden wave of depression washed over him.

‘A lot of people are probably having sex tonight, right?’

Because it was a Friday night. No, not even necessarily sex…. Just look at Jin Youngjun; he was just a pathetic man drenched in alcohol, but the fact that he returned to a warm home with a partner and a child who loved him made him incredibly envious.

Jin Sejun counted the lights visible from the high floor, then let out a deep sigh and burrowed under his covers.

The suit, reeking of alcohol, was uncomfortable, but the act of washing up and changing into comfortable clothes felt meaningless.

Usually, the guys around him who got lonely when they were alone constantly met people. He had often scoffed at them, thinking them pathetic for not feeling whole on their own.

But why was it that Jin Sejun was only learning about loneliness at this age? He should have realized it sooner, like them. Deviating or making mistakes out of unfamiliar loneliness is only excusable when you’re young; now, whatever he did was just a tantrum and a disgrace.

People who said they would live alone for various reasons seemed to at least have many friends. For Jin Sejun, his second brother was the closest he had, but he wasn’t his brother’s first priority.

He didn’t have the slightest desire to monopolize his second brother (he wouldn’t take him even if offered), but he was aware that he thirsted for a relationship where they were each other’s top priority.

This was not a problem that could be solved in Jin Sejun’s current situation….

The gloom, born from the alcohol and the Friday night atmosphere, did not leave easily. It is a foolish habit to seek out trouble when your work isn’t that hard and you’re earning good money.

Ah, at least these days he had the fun of texting with Kwon Joowan.

But there had been no new messages since their conversation had been awkwardly cut off earlier. Jin Sejun thought about messaging him, then let out a deep sigh.

It was the moment he was thinking he’d rather just fall asleep.

Mr. Joowan: Did you get back okay from your work dinner? You didn’t drink too much, did you?
Me: Yeah, it ended early.

What would you do if I did drink too much. Don’t get my hopes up. Jin Sejun, who had been thinking in a flippant tone, suddenly sent a message with rapid fingers.

Me: That omega didn’t say anything else about your hair, did he?
Mr. Joowan: Ah…. We haven’t talked about my hair since I went for the consultation.

Does a beta really need to listen to his omega friend’s problems when he’s not even an alpha who’s going to date an omega? It’s a relief they haven’t talked about his hair yet, though.

Are you sure he’s just a friend? How can you be friends with an omega?

…Although Kwon Joowan is a beta.

Jin Sejun tapped the screen, sneering without realizing it.

Me: How about it, are you still anxious?

Would that be taken as too provocative? Feeling a bit awkward, he was about to add a cute animal character emoji when a message appeared in the chat that had been silent for a moment.

Mr. Joowan: If you tell me it’s okay, Director, I don’t think I’ll be anxious.