Romantic Gangster

#19

Hyun-joon straightened up after inhaling the castella scent from Ji-woo’s warm nape once more. Though he had just smelled his body scent, various parts of his body tingled.

“It’s definitely there. Even though there aren’t many dominant alphas, you never know when one might suddenly appear… Ah, I guess I have no choice but to stay longer.”

“I’d be grateful if you did… but is that okay? There’s still 40 minutes left.”

“Well… I’m a bit tired, but what can we do? I’ve heard that even with medication, unstable pheromones can suddenly flare up. It would be really bad if that happened when you’re alone.”

“Thanks. I appreciate you thinking that far ahead. I hadn’t considered that. If standing gets tiring, go sit at that table over there. Want something else to drink?”

Hyun-joon glanced at where they had eaten cup noodles earlier and shook his head. He didn’t want to sit alone by the window for 50 minutes when there was a closer place to sit.

“Hey, I want to go in there too.”

“Inside the counter?”

“Yeah. There’s space next to you, right?”

“There is, but it might be cramped.”

“It’s not cramped, it’s not cramped.”

Hyun-joon pushed his way into the counter where Ji-woo was and sat next to him. It couldn’t be called comfortable, but it wasn’t so uncomfortable that they couldn’t sit together, so he decided to just settle in like this. Fortunately, Ji-woo didn’t complain about the discomfort.

“So what are you doing? Studying?”

“Ah, yes. I have a test tomorrow.”

“Oh, what test? I guess I shouldn’t go to school then.”

“English test. Let’s look at this together. They said it’ll be from here.”

“I thought just showing up at school was enough, now I have to study too?”

Ji-woo’s face turned to the side as he looked at the printouts spread on the counter. Hyun-joon found himself at a loss for words as he saw Ji-woo staring at him quietly. He couldn’t understand why this small guy in a convenience store vest under the store lights looked so pretty.

Of course… his face was originally pretty with delicate features, but it was unbearable how his appreciation grew deeper and richer each time he looked. The idea of finding a male omega classmate pretty and caring about it… it was absurd.

“…Do you really hate studying that much? Are you really going to school just because you have to? Because you don’t want to hear me nag?”

“…Hey, it’s not like I suddenly started loving school. I really hate those sidelong glances, like ‘Oh, he suddenly came to school, why did he come, when will he leave, why isn’t he leaving?'”

“Did you hate it a lot today too?”

“Today…”

Honestly, there weren’t any bad memories among the things that happened at school today. It’s true that various gazes fell on him when he entered the classroom, and that the homeroom teacher and other subject teachers looked at him curiously, but that wasn’t the core memory of ‘what happened at school today’.

The ‘central’ memory of today was…

Of course, Seo Ji-woo. Ji-woo who brought him to the classroom, Ji-woo who said he could open the can himself after Hyun-joon opened one for him, Ji-woo who suggested eating together, Ji-woo who actually ate with him, Ji-woo who smiled, Ji-woo who kindly informed him they had passed his house, not realizing Hyun-joon was walking him home.

Ji-woo eating cream ramen, Ji-woo who said he waited because he thought Hyun-joon might come here, Ji-woo whose pheromones smelled strongly of castella, Ji-woo, Ji-woo…

“…I didn’t hate it.”

“Did you like it then?”

“Ah, why do you keep asking that kind of thing? So, do I just need to look at this? Damn, when am I supposed to memorize this?”

Feeling suddenly embarrassed, Hyun-joon rubbed his burning nape and picked up the printout on the counter. Seeing the words filling the paper made his head throb, but it seemed less dizzying than looking at Ji-woo’s face so close to his own, so he read and re-read the English words that were foreign to him.

“Unlikely: not probable.”

“Unlikely: not probable…”

“Unlikely: not…” No, why is it not probable? As Hyun-joon was picking a fight with an innocent word and about to glance at the now-quiet Ji-woo, the convenience store door opened. Startled, Hyun-joon jumped up from his seat. This in turn startled the entering customer, who flinched and took a step back.

“…Welcome.”

“Ah… yes…”

After an awkward greeting, Hyun-joon plopped back down in his seat. He heard a small laugh from beside him.

“…Don’t laugh.”

“Sorry. But it’s too funny.”

Ah, shit. This is so embarrassing. Is this a day for making a fool of myself? Damn it. Hyun-joon squeezed his eyes shut then opened them, and soon even handled the transaction for the customer who brought a banana milk and bread. Having worked at a convenience store before, the transaction came naturally to his hands despite not having done it for a while.

“Have you worked at a convenience store before?”

“Yeah. I quit after fighting with an asshole though.”

“Did you hit him?”

“Yeah. That bastard threw the first punch.”

Ji-woo nodded and shifted his gaze back to the printout. But the words weren’t really sinking in.

“I sometimes see customers like that when I’m working too. They get drunk and demand alcohol, and if we don’t give it to them, they curse.”

“That’s nothing. That bastard back then tried to rob the counter. When I told him to get lost, he started insulting my non-existent mom and dad. Damn, did he think that would hurt me? You need to have parents for that to work.”

Ji-woo looked at Hyun-joon, startled by his casual words. Hyun-joon let out a short laugh and met Ji-woo’s eyes, leaning back against the cigarette display.

“What? Is it weird to openly say I don’t have parents?”

“It’s not weird… I just thought you must have been through a lot to be able to say it like that.”

“…”

“I don’t understand why people insult parents when they’re losing an argument. It’s really awful.”

As Ji-woo shook his head, Hyun-joon’s gaze dropped to the floor. Usually, when he mentioned not having parents, people would get flustered as if they’d committed a grave offense, or apologize even though they hadn’t done anything wrong.

He disliked both the easy insults about not having parents and people walking on eggshells around him, but Seo Ji-woo was different from others even in this regard. He didn’t tiptoe around the issue, didn’t apologize, didn’t try to be overly careful. He just quietly empathized.

He didn’t ask why Hyun-joon had no parents, nor did he try to offer excessive encouragement about living well without parents. Hyun-joon liked that about Seo Ji-woo. It was the first time he felt comfortable spending time with someone he hadn’t known for long and didn’t know much about. Of course, it had been a bit uncomfortable when Ji-woo was following him around telling him to come to school, but that discomfort was completely different from this.

“Ji-woo, hello. Oh? You have a friend with you today?”

Lost in thoughts about the ‘not uncomfortable Ji-woo’, time had flown by. Hyun-joon stood up as he saw a man who looked like the owner enter with the sound of the door opening.

“Is that Young-jae? No, it’s not him.”

“No. Young-jae stopped by earlier and left.”

“It’s a friend I haven’t seen before, but he’s really tall. Wow, and handsome too. Is your friend a celebrity?”

“He’s not a celebrity, but he is handsome, my friend.”

“He really is handsome. I think he might be the most handsome person I’ve ever seen.”

Hyun-joon, who had reflexively greeted the convenience store owner politely, stared blankly at Ji-woo’s back as he went inside to prepare to go home. Ji-woo’s words to the owner from a moment ago echoed in his ears.

“He is handsome, my friend.”

“He is handsome, my friend.”

“He is handsome, my friend…”

For Hyun-joon, being called handsome was something he’d heard so much since childhood that it no longer made an impression, just a matter of course. But clearly, that was the case… yet hearing it suddenly and unexpectedly from Seo Ji-woo, who didn’t seem like someone who would easily say such things, made his dopamine surge. He felt like a madman wanting to pry into exactly how handsome he looked, if he was handsome enough to stir other feelings.

“Let’s go.”

“…”

“Hyun-joon.”

“Huh?”

“I said let’s go home.”

“Ah… okay.”

As they left the convenience store, a cool breeze brushed their faces. Hyun-joon glanced at Seo Ji-woo, who was wearing a hoodie over his T-shirt, and took a deep breath for no reason. Ji-woo’s long, slender, and white neck visible above the hoodie kept catching his eye, troubling him.

“It feels like I’ve been with you all day today. Seeing you constantly at school, going home together, and then being together during your part-time job. And we’ll see each other again from the morning when we go to school tomorrow.”

“Hey, it’s tiring just thinking about it. What’s the point of sticking together like that? People need their own time too, you know.”

Hyun-joon grumbled, feeling oddly ticklish at the thought of being together all day, and rubbed his arms to shake off the tingling sensation.

“Don’t you dare not come to school tomorrow because I’m tiresome, got it?”

“If you tell me to come to school one more time, that’ll make it a hundred times.”

“Come on, it hasn’t been a hundred times.”

“You’re right. That’s too few. It’s been a thousand times.”

Instead of a reply, a fresh laugh rang out into the night sky. Hyun-joon, who had been ready to banter back, couldn’t help but laugh too. There wasn’t anything particularly special happening, nor was there anything extremely pleasant, but he just felt incredibly good for no reason at all.