Romantic Gangster

#28

“Ah, teacher. I’d like to hear what you told Hyun-joon too. I think it would be good if I knew in detail what to do if a situation like earlier happens again.”

“Oh, that? I guess Hyun-joon didn’t explain in detail. Was he embarrassed?”

Ji-woo tilted his head curiously as the teacher laughed cheerfully, and then listened attentively to what followed.

“You know what a heat cycle is, right Ji-woo?”

“…Yes.”

“During the cycle, it’s important to have enough exposure to alpha pheromones, and the precursor symptoms are similar to the heat cycle. So if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t control your pheromones again, it’s good to ask Hyun-joon to release a little alpha pheromone and get some exposure. That should help calm you down to some extent.”

“…Hyun-joon’s pheromones?”

“Yes. It’s even better if there’s physical contact. Like holding hands or a light hug.”

Ji-woo was speechless at this completely unexpected method. While he didn’t feel like he didn’t want to or disliked it, the idea of being in contact with Hyun-joon and being exposed to his pheromones… He suddenly felt hot again, as if his body was heating up. Knowing Hyun-joon’s pheromone scent made it even more so.

“And it’s also good to ask Hyun-joon to expose you to alpha pheromones a little bit during normal times too. That way, you won’t have sudden outbursts like today.”

“…Even during normal times?”

“Yes. I’ve told Hyun-joon about it too, so he’ll help. By the way, Hyun-joon… He’s that famous student at school, right?”

“…Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“He seemed like a good kid. I wonder why such scary rumors spread about him.”

“I know. He’s not that bad of a person…”

“Hyun-joon must have had a hard time too, but he didn’t show it and was only worried about you.”

Just then, a voice was heard from outside calling for the teacher. The teacher told Ji-woo to rest more and left the resting room. The medicine was definitely too strong, making his body feel limp. He wondered if he could work his part-time job in this state.

After pondering a bit more, Ji-woo decided to take a day off and sent a message to the convenience store manager. Soon after, a reply came back telling him not to worry and to rest well for a day. Ji-woo replied with thanks and turned towards the door as he heard it opening. He saw Hyun-joon with a plastic bag full of something in his hand.

“What did you buy so much of?”

“I guess I was hungry. Everything looked delicious, so I just bought it all.”

“Well, you’re big, so you probably need to eat that much to be full.”

“This is me really holding back. If I really decide to eat, I can eat a ton.”

“How much can you eat?”

“Hmm, I could probably eat about ten ramyeons. Maybe ten hamburgers too? I don’t eat that much because I’d get sick of it. But I could eat that much if I wanted to.”

“Wow, that’s amazing. The most I’ve ever eaten was one and a half ramyeons when I was really hungry.”

Hyun-joon smiled, finding it both trivial and cute that Ji-woo had eaten one and a half, and unconsciously patted Ji-woo’s head.

“…”

“…”

When their slightly surprised eyes met, Hyun-joon wondered what he had done. He quickly withdrew his hand and changed the subject.

“It seems like we’re not supposed to eat here, let’s go out.”

“Okay.”

Thankfully, Ji-woo didn’t say anything, and Hyun-joon hid his pounding heart as he opened the door of the resting room and waited for Ji-woo to go out before following.

After greeting the teacher and leaving the infirmary, they pondered for a moment where to go. Hyun-joon spoke while looking at the main entrance bathed in the long afternoon light.

“If you’re okay with it, want to go outside? We can only go to unused classrooms and stuff inside, which is stuffy. You probably don’t like places like that.”

“Outside where? Outside the school?”

“No. If we go around the back, there’s a bench in the corner. It’s fine there, even teachers don’t come. It’s quiet.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

They went out through the main entrance, circled halfway around the school building, and went a bit further to find a quiet space with a bench in the corner, just as Hyun-joon had said. In his three years at school, Ji-woo had never seen this place before.

“I’ve never seen this place even though I come to school every day…”

“Hey, are you taking a dig at me now?”

“It’s not that, but it is surprising.”

“Ah, you’re really good at digging. Seriously.”

Hyun-joon put the bag down on the bench first and took out a stack of square tissues from inside, wiping the place where Ji-woo would sit as if sweeping it.

“Sit down.”

“…Okay.”

Ji-woo’s gaze fell on Hyun-joon as he plopped down next to him. He found it somewhat cute how Hyun-joon had wiped the place for him to sit but didn’t care about where he himself was sitting.

“What did you buy?”

“Bread, drinks, and some snacks. I just bought all the bread that I thought you might like, take a look. Is there anything you like?”

Ji-woo rummaged through the various breads visible in the bag and picked up a mocha cream bread. Although he liked many types of bread, for some reason he felt like eating this one now.

“What about drinks? There’s milk and Pocari Sweat.”

“I’ll have banana milk.”

“Okay.”

Hyun-joon took out a banana milk bottle and stuck a thin straw in the center, placing it next to Ji-woo. Seeing this, Ji-woo smiled softly as he opened the bread wrapper.

“You’re surprisingly… um.”

Hyun-joon glanced at Ji-woo, who seemed to be choosing his words carefully, and felt nervous. He had tried to take extra care of Ji-woo because he wanted to, but he was a bit worried that Ji-woo might say something like ‘don’t overdo it between guys’ or that it was disgusting. Although Ji-woo didn’t seem like the type to say such things, he also didn’t seem like the type to hold back his words, which made Hyun-joon more anxious.

“Caring.”

“…Huh?”

“Wiping the seat for me, putting in the straw, opening the can, supporting me when I was sick. Those are things you can only do if you’re attentive and caring, right?”

“…What do you mean caring. I’m just doing it because you look weak and sick.”

Heat rose to the nape of his neck from embarrassment. Hyun-joon couldn’t even look Ji-woo in the eye and just rustled through the plastic bag for no reason. His hunger disappeared, replaced by a fluttering feeling. Caring… It was a ticklish word he had never heard before in his life.

“Haven’t you heard that before?”

“No.”

“Don’t you do this for other people?”

“…No.”

“You only do it for me?”

“Yeah, so stop asking and just… eat.”

Ji-woo was about to ask ‘why?’, but the moment he saw Hyun-joon’s bright red ears and nape, the thought vanished. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he could sense that it wasn’t a situation where he should ask more questions.

“…”

“…”

In the silence that briefly settled, only the sound of rustling bread wrappers could be heard. Ji-woo took a small bite from the edge of the bread. Hyun-joon, his ears still red, was eating bread while looking somewhere far off. Unlike Ji-woo’s bites, every time Hyun-joon took a bite, the bread visibly diminished.

“About that method you mentioned earlier. What to do when I suddenly can’t control my pheromones…”

“Yeah.”

“I heard from the teacher too. She said I need your pheromones, that it would be very helpful.”

“…Yeah, I think she said something like that.”

“Can you help me? Just until we graduate from school.”

Surprised by the request for help, Hyun-joon, who had been staring into the distance to calm his heart, suddenly turned his gaze to Ji-woo. As he turned his body to sit facing Ji-woo, Ji-woo took another bite of bread and continued speaking.

“She said that if I’m exposed to alpha pheromones a little bit regularly, I won’t have sudden pheromone outbursts like today… There are many alpha students, but I’m not close enough to any of them to ask for such a favor, and also…”

“…”

“Even if they agreed to help, I couldn’t trust them. But I feel like I can trust you.”

“Hey, of course. Do you think all other alpha bastards are as sane as me? Shit, they just see an omega and try to, no, they mindlessly rush in trying to do something.”

Just imagining Ji-woo asking another alpha for help, or holding hands and hugging another alpha, made Hyun-joon feel so disgusted that he wanted to tear apart this non-existent alpha. Hyun-joon frowned as if it was absolutely unacceptable.

“And I’m dominant, so I’m different from other guys. It’ll be much better.”

“So you’ll help me?”

“…Well, if you want it that badly, why not.”

“Thank you. If you ever need my help with anything, please tell me. I’ll help you with anything.”

“Don’t help me, just take responsibility. You’ll be busy enough taking responsibility for me.”

Ji-woo laughed at the sudden mention of ‘responsibility’ again, took a sip of milk, and nodded slightly.

“What should I do exactly?”

“You need to make me want to come to school. You need to make me want to come to school every day and graduate, right? Even in games, you get rewards when you complete quests. Graduating is like a really difficult quest.”

“Hmm, then I’ll do something for you too if you successfully complete the graduation quest.”

Tempted by the offer to do something for him, Hyun-joon pushed the bag to the back and moved to sit closer to Ji-woo.