PAO 58

Under Junghoo’s devoted care, Seowon continued to act strangely. At times, he would stare intently at Junghoo’s face or suddenly release his pheromones.

“Why are you looking at me like that.”

“Just because.”

Seowon grinned and turned away, only to turn his head back to look at Junghoo again and again. It was nice at first when Seowon would look at him, but as it continued all night, Junghoo could no longer just brush it off with a smile.

How wrecked their faces looked, revealed by the rising sun…

“Your eyes are red.”

Seowon pointed at Junghoo’s eyes and laughed, and Junghoo stroked Seowon’s rough skin.

“Should we get up?”

“Yeah.”

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

Seowon asked, but it was Junghoo who moved. As if he could make anything, he kissed Seowon’s head and got out of bed.

“I’ll make breakfast, so come down when you’re ready.”

Junghoo spoke in an exceptionally gentle voice, ruffled Seowon’s hair, and left. Watching the door close, Seowon muttered.

“There’s nothing in the fridge.”

Didn’t he check when Yoo Taeha opened the refrigerator door yesterday? There was only water and alcohol, which made him wonder what could be made with just those two things. Of course, he knew and chose not to tell Junghoo.

“Well, I’ll acknowledge it if you create something from nothing.”

Wanting to see his flustered expression, Seowon had willingly let Junghoo go and followed him up.

“If you drink in the morning, you’ll get drunk…”

Feeling a laugh about to burst out, Seowon, his voice full of excitement, was heading downstairs when he spotted someone standing at the door.

Junghoo was also face to face with Sung Hangyeol.

“I heard you were better.”

Sung Hangyeol scanned Junghoo from head to toe and smirked.

“Then you should have contacted me. I was more worried about you than anyone. How could you do this?”+

At the appearance of an unexpected person, Seowon was momentarily lost in thought. He did not know why he was here, but he could tell that for him to come all the way to a villa in the mountains, he must have a considerable interest in Junghoo.

“He’s too interested.”

While Seowon was muttering to himself, Sung Hangyeol took a step inside and looked around the villa’s interior.

“So you were living in a place like this. You must have gotten tired of looking at the sea for so long.”

Seowon, who was watching Sung Hangyeol walk around, frowned. He did not like that he had come in without even taking off his shoes and was rummaging through the living room. He was so displeased he felt like reporting him to the police, and as he was wondering what to do, he happened to see Junghoo’s back and nodded.

“Looks like I won’t have to do it.”

Once he concluded that he could trust and leave it to Junghoo, Seowon quietly shut his mouth and instead found a spot where he could get a good view of the two of them.

“Why are you here, sir?”

“Why do you think? I came to see you, of course.”

“I don’t think there would be a reason for you to come all this way, sir.”

Perhaps displeased that Junghoo was treating him like an intruder, Sung Hangyeol crossed his arms and cut the roundabout conversation short.

“To be precise, I didn’t come to see you, I came to get you. Let’s go. Go back and get a proper examination.”

Sung Hangyeol demanded that Junghoo go with him. A determination was evident, as if he intended to head down the mountain immediately if Junghoo were to follow.

Watching Sung Hangyeol, Junghoo let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Why would I go? I’m sure I said I would not return to that hospital, and I also believe I said you are no longer my doctor, sir.”

“Let’s just say I have a strong sense of professional duty.”

Junghoo’s laughter ceased at Sung Hangyeol’s light retort.

“I won’t just let it slide with you, of all people. Do you know what kind of being you are?”

At Sung Hangyeol’s breezy acknowledgment, Junghoo’s jaw hardened. Sung Hangyeol let out an even more pleased laugh at the harsh curse Junghoo muttered through his teeth.

He was delighted that his every word was like a thorn shaking Junghoo.

“You never know what might happen if you let your guard down. Who knows? Maybe another Omega will collapse because of your pheromones again.”

Sung Hangyeol’s gaze, which had stabbed Junghoo’s weakest point, moved and landed on the spectating Seowon. It was a statement that could have shaken even Seowon, who was watching, but Junghoo himself showed no change in expression whatsoever. In fact, the fierce look in his eyes as he stared at Sung Hangyeol softened.

It seemed like he might be giving in to Sung Hangyeol, or perhaps he was accepting his own situation. The evenly balanced scale that had been in a tense standoff was just about to tip to one side.

“Did you come because you were worried I might be in danger, like your younger brother was?”

Seowon interjected. Sung Hangyeol turned his body toward Seowon with a smile, as if this were amusing.

“You said so before. That you couldn’t just ignore it since your brother had been in danger. That brother of yours was probably an Omega, just like me. And…”

Resting his face on one hand, Seowon glanced back at Junghoo.

“That brother is the very same Omega who was harmed when Junghoo presented.”

He had only met Sung Hangyeol a few times, but he had often come to mind. He showed an obsession with Junghoo that was bizarre for a doctor who had been treating him.

It was different from the obsession Junghoo showed because he liked him. To be a little more precise, it was like a wicked desire to chase him to the very end and ruin everything, and the reason for it was not far off.

“Did Junghoo tell you?”

“Where would I find the time to talk about something like that with him? It hasn’t been long since I got up and started walking around.”

Seowon shook his head, then frowned at a faint headache.

“You told me everything, hyung. That’s how I knew.”

At Seowon’s grinning words, Sung Hangyeol looked at him with fresh eyes before nodding.

“That’s right. He’s the bastard who dared to hurt my brother, so I can never let him be happy. I’ll keep him by my side and make him lonely for the rest of his life. That’s why I came looking for him.”

As Sung Hangyeol’s words continued, Seowon’s face became more and more unspeakably distorted.

What is all this bullshit?

“How can a person be so selfish?”

Seowon let his dumbfounded expression show plainly.

“I heard about what happened then from Taeha hyung. Your brother came to see you, Hangyeol hyung, heard about Junghoo, and said he wanted to see him too and insisted on going with you.”

As soon as Seowon refuted him, the smile vanished from Sung Hangyeol’s face.

“Isn’t that absurd from the very beginning? Why did you allow your brother to visit without Junghoo’s permission?”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about…”

“That makes it all the more necessary for me to rely on social norms to think about it. Unauthorized outsiders are not allowed to enter during a sub-gender person’s presentation in a hospital. The one who violated that first was you, Mr. Sung Hangyeol.”

Seowon no longer called him hyung. Even under Sung Hangyeol’s sharp glare, Seowon did not shrink back in the slightest.

“Junghoo probably didn’t question anything else out of guilt, and Taeha hyung is your junior, isn’t he? It seems he couldn’t get an objective opinion since everyone is tangled up in this, but I don’t want to do that.”

“Han Seowon, you’d do well to shut that mouth of yours.”

“Ah, on second thought, I guess I can’t be all that objective either. Since I’m completely on Yoo Junghoo’s side.”

Having said that much, Seowon closed his mouth to calm his boiling insides, even though he was smiling on the outside.

Honestly, after hearing about the situation back then, his first thought was that he felt sorry for Junghoo.

Junghoo had presented at the right time; he just had a lot of pheromones. But because an Omega who came to watch had collapsed, he became no different from a perpetrator. Was it just Junghoo? What about Junghoo’s parents? His older cousin? The thought that they all would have been unable to even lift their heads in front of that Omega and Sung Hangyeol made him angry.

As if daring him to say something, Seowon gave Sung Hangyeol a chance.

“For someone with a mouth that works, you sure talk a lot of…”

As Sung Hangyeol grit his teeth and glared at Seowon, Junghoo stepped between them. Seowon looked at Junghoo’s back, which now blocked his view of Sung Hangyeol, and then called out to him.

“Junghoo.”

However, when he met Junghoo’s eyes as he turned just his head, Seowon could not bring himself to ask him to move.

“Don’t get worked up. It’s not good for you.”

At his concerned gaze, Seowon forced his mouth shut and turned his head away. He had no choice but to swallow the frustration of not being able to push Sung Hangyeol further.

Sung Hangyeol cast a displeased look at Junghoo, who had intervened. Just one thing—the fact that his own brother had gone to see Junghoo first—remained a sense of responsibility that Sung Hangyeol couldn’t quite shake. His mood had soured the moment it was mentioned, and Junghoo, too, was different from usual.

He had become confident. The bastard who had hurt his brother was looking at him with very confident eyes.

“If you come looking for me after this, I will set the record straight regarding the accident that day.”

“Set the record straight? Do you think you have the right to say that?”

“If we sort everything out and determine what was right and wrong, I might just have that right.”

As Junghoo approached, Sung Hangyeol flinched and stepped back. The unbridgeable distance between them revealed that Sung Hangyeol was psychologically losing to Junghoo. Before long, Sung Hangyeol was outside the house, and Junghoo closed the door without a second thought.

The fierce wind that was Sung Hangyeol had stirred up the inside of the house once, but it disappeared quickly. Since Junghoo was the one who had finished it, Seowon stroked his head.

“Good job.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t feel great knowing what you must have gone through, but still, you did well.”

Although he was angry knowing that Sung Hangyeol had had a considerable influence on why Junghoo couldn’t readily appear before him. It was better that Junghoo had stepped up rather than him handling it himself.

“Do that from now on.”

As Junghoo kept his head obediently lowered, Seowon did not remove his hand and stroked his hair more roughly.

“Live your life saying everything you want to say.”

“Yeah.”

“And make me my breakfast.”

“Yeah.”

“You know there’s only water and alcohol in the fridge, right?”

“…”

Originally, he had planned to enjoy the look on Junghoo’s face when he was at a loss.

“Wait here a minute.”

Out of consideration for him after what must have been a difficult time, Seowon stepped back, thinking he would make breakfast himself for a change.

“Where are you going.”

Just as Junghoo grabbed Seowon’s arm and tried to pull him back, Seowon leaned his upper body away.

“We need to eat.”

“I’ll do it.”

“I’m doing this for you. Since there’s nothing in the fridge, I was going to go see Taeha hyung.”

Seowon frowned and looked up at Junghoo. What was the point of just standing here dithering like this?

“If it’s for me, then staying together is better.”

“Alright. Then.”