Seon Eunhu was a well-known figure. I can’t remember exactly when, where, or how I heard about that senior, but I’d known since early in my first year too. That there was an alpha among the seniors, and that he was currently on military leave.
So that was him.
Following Seon Eunhu with my eyes as he went to his seat, I tried to dredge up the things I’d heard about him, but nothing came to mind besides the fact that he was an alpha.
I didn’t find trait-holders all that interesting. I figured alphas and omegas just had smaller numbers than betas, not that they were anything remarkable. Just as dogs split into breeds like poodles, Jindos, and Chihuahuas, people were simply divided biologically too, the way I saw it. So the story of Seon Eunhu, passed down like some oral folktale, was to me nothing more than “TMI about returning student A, whose face I don’t even know.”
That’s why I’d been indifferent...
“...”
And yet here I was, craning my neck to its limit to watch him make his way to his seat. Not just because he was an alpha, but simply because it was hard to take my eyes off Seon Eunhu.
That prettily sharpened pencil went and sat all the way in the back of the junior section. I’d been following him so hard my neck twisted unnaturally, and it was only after I locked eyes with another ugly pencil, ah, no, another senior, that I straightened up.
...Is it just my imagination?
The mood in the seminar room seemed to have changed. There’d been a bit of a commotion, sure, but on top of that, a fresh sort of energy had settled in. Even I felt unfamiliar to myself, sharper than usual.
Wondering if I was being affected by my surroundings, I looked around, and sure enough, a lot of students still couldn’t take their eyes off Seon Eunhu. Only then did I feel I could understand my own strange reaction. Right now, I was just caught up in the mood.
There are things that exist even though you can’t see them. Air, wind, scent, pheromones, and so on. Energy is the same, which is why people usually don’t notice when they get swept up in some atmosphere.
That was the state I was in now. I’d been thoroughly caught up in the mood of paying attention to Seon Eunhu, so my thoughts couldn’t easily move in any other direction. A brain as simple as mine was soft, and just as soft, it lacked the strength to resist anything.
There’s nothing more foolish than trying to go against nature. So rather than deny the natural order, I decided to steal all the looks at Seon Eunhu I wanted.
Pretending to shift in my seat, I twisted my body at an angle. It was a hard angle to see from, but my effort paid off, and that handsome face soon came into view.
The first thought that came the instant I saw his looks was that his face was awfully small for his build. To exaggerate a little, it seemed like it could be hidden behind a single square of toilet paper. And the eyes, nose, and mouth set inside it were so graceful and fine, it was like looking at a natural world heritage site shaped over thousands of years by erosion and deposition.
Sitting with a hand shoved into each of his coat pockets and his back against the chair, Seon Eunhu answered lightly each time the seniors around him tried to strike up conversation. It couldn’t have been the first they’d seen of each other since the semester started, yet the seniors looked like they wanted to squeeze out even one more word with him. Seon Eunhu must have gotten sick of it too, because he jerked his chin at the man in front of him who kept turning around, telling him to face forward again.
Maybe it was the smile slung crooked across his face, or maybe it was that his posture, lounging there while everyone talked at him, never changed once. He looked different from the easygoing first impression I’d had. As he watched the teaching assistant, even the traces of his smile faded, until he looked almost cold.
That side of him didn’t look bad. If anything, the gap in his demeanor over such a short time made him seem even more attractive.
How could a person be made of nothing but such superior cells?
Handsome looks weren’t enough, apparently, he also had a broad, imposing frame, and on top of all that he was an alpha. Seon Eunhu seemed like a human assembled from the top-grade factors that existed in the world.
I was stealing glances at Seon Eunhu, thinking all sorts of things, when the teaching assistant cracked some joke. At that, an easy smile bloomed across Seon Eunhu’s expressionless face. That stark difference in temperature made me miss the timing to look away, and I lost myself without meaning to. That was when Seon Eunhu spotted me.
“Ah...!”
The instant our eyes met, I hastily fixed my posture and turned my head. Strangely, my heart pounded harder than the offense warranted. All I’d done was meet his gaze, yet it felt like my eyes had been scorched.
Barely holding back the urge to clutch at my hammering chest, I stared straight ahead until the meeting ended, like something terrible would happen if I looked to the right.
“Okay, let’s wrap up the meeting here. Anyone whose contact info or address changed over break, follow me to the assistant’s office. Oh, and returning students, stop by too.”
At the assistant’s announcement, the students answered obediently. Having moved near campus this past winter, I was one of the students who had to follow along to the assistant’s office. You’d think something like an address change could be shared over the phone or a messenger app, but our small department ran things somewhat less than trendily.
The seniors, who’d been waiting for nothing but the meeting to end, filed out of the seminar room behind the assistant, and I started to rise too, pushing my chair back. That’s when the sophomore rep gestured at me not to move.
“Sophomores, hang back a sec! Midterms are coming up soon, so we’ve got a lot to discuss.”
“Ah...”
At the rep’s instruction, I sighed and covered my mouth without thinking. Come to think of it, among the events at the start of the semester there was also the opening-semester ritual.
The sculpture department frequently used dangerous tools like chainsaws, grinders, and cutters, so every year we held a ritual wishing for a safe and uneventful year. If there was anything that set it apart from other rituals, it was that we sculpted the pig’s head out of clay ourselves, among other things.
We had to organize the teams to make the pig’s head and set up the after-party spot right after the ritual, so there was plenty to discuss. They’d said the department events were led by the sophomores, and sure enough, it was nothing but a pile of tedious work.
At some point while we were comparing everyone’s schedules to make the pig’s head, Seon Eunhu suddenly came to mind and I glanced around. But there was no need to look closely, because at some point the seminar room held only sophomores, and the seat where Seon Eunhu had sat looked unremarkable now, so different from just a little while ago.
It was some time after the opening-semester meeting ended that I headed to the assistant’s office to report my changed address.
Thanks to coming late, the front of the office was quiet. Only four or five seniors were clustered nearby.
“Hello.”
“Oh, hey, Go Taerim. Meeting again.”
I’d reflexively greeted them first, and it turned out to be the uncircumcised senior and the circumcised seniors from the restroom earlier, all laughing.
Against my will, the vulgar conversation from before started coming back to me vividly. My gaze kept trying to drift toward their crotches, so I quickly shook my head side to side. Truly, stimulating energy spreads its contamination fast. Not wanting to be affected again, I hurriedly grabbed the office door handle.
But in that instant, the door swung open on its own.
“Huh?”
What appeared before my eyes as the door opened was someone’s chest.
Just from the broad shoulders and frame, I knew at once who this person was.
A large physique.
Top-grade cells.
Seon Eunhu, the alpha with a physicality no beta could ever catch up to no matter how hard they tried.
Which meant this person was...
I slowly lifted my head and looked at Seon Eunhu. Those calm eyes were already turned toward me. When our gazes met, Seon Eunhu gave a light flick of his brows in greeting.
“Hey.”
...Bet his dick’s huge too.
That was the thought that came the second our eyes met. My brain cells had finally been contaminated by the seniors’ vulgar conversation, it seemed.
For a moment Seon Eunhu flinched. Figuring it was because my greeting was late, I quickly bowed my head. Being a returning student not long out of the military, he was still at that stage of being sensitive about manners.
“Hello.”
Lifting my head and straightening up, I snuck a glance at his crotch.
If it’s big, how big could it be? I’m not exactly small myself, though. Did he get circumcised? What’s the girth like? Hope I get a chance to see it someday. Anyway, he’s even more handsome up close.
“...”
Even though I’d greeted him so properly, the look Seon Eunhu gave me wasn’t good. Brow furrowed as he looked down at me, he looked like a man who’d just heard something disgusting.
Worried I might be giving off some unpleasant smell, I sniffed quietly, but there was no particular odor.
But why is he looking at me like this?
Just as I was wondering, someone called out this way.
“Seon Eunhu, what are you doing? Hurry up! Everyone’s meeting at the billiard hall right now.”
Ah, it’s the uncircumcised senior.
Thinking it to myself, I gave him a nod, then looked back at Seon Eunhu. But in that brief moment, contempt had been added to Seon Eunhu’s face.
“...That’s the word, so. Mind moving?”
His tone was gentle, but the emotion I felt from it wasn’t. His voice, at a distinctly different temperature from when he’d first greeted me, somehow seemed to find me uncomfortable.
