After a full week with Baek Yugyeong attached to his back, Baek Yugyeong, despite playing that suspicious role of being on bad terms with the female lead, showed no particularly odd behavior.
Rather than eerie tension, Baek Yugyeong kept trailing at his side, playing up baby-talk that didn't match his large frame, sweetly saying how much he liked him and wanting them to date. Which meant that instead of feeling sorry for Baek Yugyeong, Chaheun was starting to get a headache from him. He'd say terrifying things like, "I looked for you starting from the far end of the hallway," and every chance he got, he'd cling to Chaheun claiming he was glad to see him.
If it had crossed into applying pressure, Chaheun could've handled it somehow, but instead he'd just fawn to look adorable, so Chaheun couldn't even really get angry.
Yugyeong would lower his posture as much as he could to try and match Chaheun's eye level despite his size, straining to keep himself down. He'd even wedge himself under Chaheun's line of sight and blink up at him. This kid was really, really far gone. Then if their eyes met, his mouth would stretch into a horizon-wide smile, like a small dog seeing sunlight through a shady patch. It was almost impish in its shamelessness.
Why on earth was there not a wrinkle of gloom on this kid? When he'd even fed him snacks, Chaheun had genuinely almost lost his mind. In all his life, this was the first time he'd ever put a snack into another man's mouth.
I'm losing my mind.
Yugyeong, a second-year, had come all the way to the third-year classroom and was waving his tail like an affectionate puppy, before handing over a jar of candy that looked visibly expensive, saying it was just for hyung to eat.
The problem was, no one in the third-year classroom said a word about it. However uncomfortable and awkward it was, everyone knew Baek Yugyeong was a young master from a fairly wealthy family, and if anything, the female students seemed to welcome him being in their room.
Besides, he wasn't actually making a scene or being a nuisance, so it was hard to justify kicking him out. Of course, entering someone else's classroom in the first place was the problem.
...So Chaheun,
"Get out, kid."
"Hyu-ung, are you kicking me out? Really?"
"Yeah. The kids are trying to study, you're getting in the way. You gonna take their College Scholastic Ability Test for them in November?"
Whatever, grabbing Baek Yugyeong's hand, he lightly tossed him out the classroom door and shut it.
The students seemed startled. As if wondering how an Omega could exist who could treat Baek Yugyeong like that.
Chaheun bit his lip briefly at the thought that he'd caused a disturbance for his classmates, then smiled and apologized.
"...Sorry, if that kid comes here and causes trouble later, could you let me know? I'll figure it out."
Still, only awkward answers came back from the class.
They were clearly picturing themselves getting caught up in something troublesome by getting involved with Seo Chaheun, whom Baek Yugyeong stuck to.
...The quiet school life he'd been maintaining was disintegrating because of Baek Yugyeong.
No, thanks to Baek Yugyeong, even making friends in the same class was looking impossible.
Persistent little bastard.
"...Can you please back off, at least a little?"
He'd deliberately taken the long way to the school store, going around the second-year floor entirely, but somehow this guy had found him. Was there GPS attached to him? He'd found him, run up from way behind, and glued himself to Chaheun's side.
"But this isn't a classroom, it's just a hallway? Hyung, you said as long as I wasn't disturbing the third-year hyungs, it was okay? Right?"
"..."
Whether this kid listened well or not was really up for debate. He'd never said it was okay as long as he wasn't disturbing, only that he was disturbing so he should leave.
He's certainly disturbing my entire life, I wish he'd give me some space.
...Not being able to say it harshly, Chaheun squeezed his eyes shut.
He honestly wanted to just smack him once and be free of it, but he couldn't do that to a young student...
If Yugyeong were even doing something bad, Chaheun could pound him for it, but that wasn't the case either.
Honestly, he didn't even understand Baek Yugyeong's psychology.
...What's this kid actually up to?
Even with Baek Yugyeong practically hanging on his back, they barely held a real conversation.
This kid doesn't even have things to talk to me about, why does he follow me this hard? Is he really just love-at-first-sight with the pheromones?
...No.
Chaheun studied the boy playfully sticking to his back with suspicious eyes. He hadn't noticed at first, but from the moment he'd learned this kid's name was "Baek Yugyeong," something had been nagging at him, and a suspicion had formed.
...If it were the pheromone scent that got him, he would've helped when he passed by. This kid, what's he really after?
Alphas were sensitive to scents, and a dominant Alpha could apparently pick up a dominant Omega's pheromones even from a decent distance. Some kind of instinct, was it? He'd been told Alphas were more developed in that area than Betas, essentially an instinct toward the opposite sex. Given the string of confessions early in the term, it was clearly true.
However, Baek Yugyeong had clearly twitched his nose, frowned, and walked on by. He was sure it wasn't the pheromones or the instinct that had drawn him in. The gap between that reaction and his current attitude was impossible to reconcile.
Even if he tried to think of it as, the pheromones interested him but the situation scared him off, if he took into account that this was Baek Yugyeong, it still didn't add up.
First off, it doesn't match the character in the manhwa.
The Baek Yugyeong from back then had a slightly different vibe than the flighty version now, but he'd been someone confident enough to actually exert dominance over male students larger than himself.
Nothing had changed either. Aside from his pretty face, Baek Yugyeong had a big frame, and kids naturally stepped back to avoid provoking him. The female students seemed friendly, and even the male students visibly held back around Yugyeong.
Chaheun had asked around a little to figure out why, and rumor had it that in middle school he'd been on the kendo team and been so good he'd taken second place at the National Sports Festival. On top of good grades, he was athletic too. In other words, textbook golden boy.
Right, people don't usually pick fights with athletes. Especially with his size and family backing...
...And someone like that had been so scared he'd hidden nearby trying to call the police that day? Something felt subtly wrong across the board. Without realizing it, Chaheun started to keep his guard up around him little by little.
Lost in these thoughts, walking with the big lug attached behind him, he bumped into someone. There was a soft ricochet sound, and when he looked at who was in front of him, it was a pretty-faced male student he felt like he'd seen somewhere before.
"...Ah, sorry. Are you hurt?"
Chaheun checked the student over quickly and apologized first.
The student he'd bumped into looked at Chaheun and offered his own apology first, saying it was his fault, then flinched slightly upon noticing who was attached behind him.
The reaction was strange enough that Chaheun glanced back and saw Baek Yugyeong staring at the boy with icy eyes, saying nothing. The corner of his mouth curved up just slightly.
Spotting that, Chaheun elbowed him gently in the side.
"...Baek Yugyeong, this kid bumped into me playing around, why are you glaring at him?"
At Chaheun's pointed prompt, Yugyeong seemed to blank out for a moment before smiling brightly.
"Ah... you're right. I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
"I'm really sorry, okay?"
"Uh... yeah?"
When the other party gave a hesitant reaction, the corner of Yugyeong's mouth twisted.
"...What, are you not accepting my apology?"
Chaheun watched, then shoved down on Baek Yugyeong's head.
"I'm sorry. I mean it, I really apologize."
"N-no, it's fine!"
Chaheun glanced back at the boy, offered another apology, then hurriedly hauled Yugyeong out of there with his neck locked under his arm.
Only after turning the corner did the whining come from under his arm.
"Hyu-ung, my head hurts..."
"...Oh, really? Sorry."
Wondering if he'd pressed down too hard, Chaheun let him go and smoothed his hair. Almost-golden pale wheat-colored strands slipped back into place after just a few strokes.
Yugyeong received the head-petting while blinking, then his eyes creased into crescents.
"You're sorry?"
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm sorry."
"Then as an apology, right here, one kiss--"
"Isn't kiss the yellow one? A cartoon character."
Chaheun pushed away Yugyeong, who'd been pointing at his own right cheek, and headed toward the school store.
"Hyung! Are you abandoning me? Huh? And Kiss is the blue one."
"...You're going to follow me anyway..."
Also, Kiss is the red one. You got it wrong too, guy who has no interest and just says whatever.
Chaheun looked at him with tired eyes and let out a sigh.
This crazy world, a world where a man could openly flirt with another man and no one thought it was odd, he hated. The students around treated Yugyeong following Chaheun around as completely normal, gossiping about whether the two were dating.
Someone please find it strange, please, please stop this.
I'm gay, gay. A gay who likes women.
Chaheun's whole body prickled with goosebumps. Just thinking of himself as gay made him uncomfortable.
With one deep sigh at the end, Chaheun, still with Yugyeong grinning behind him, frowned.
...Anyway, from the way he was acting earlier, this really is that guy.
The "Baek Yugyeong" from the original story. That behavior confirmed it.
He'd read the room and said sorry, but only in words. His tone, expression, and mannerisms didn't match an apology at all. The bright cream-colored eyes tucked under crescent-narrowed lids had been strangely vicious, and the voice, for someone supposedly sorry, was too chirpy while being cold.
The vibe was: I apologized, if you don't accept it properly, you're not getting off easy.
He'd bounced back to cheerful in seconds and was doing baby-talk beside him again, but Baek Yugyeong was clearly hiding his true nature.
...Ah, so this is why Hara scolded you.
