Wooyeon’s first love was his private tutor who taught him English. He was four years older than him, his gaze was lofty, and his fingers were longer than a word. His (Wooyeon’s) first encounter with him(tutor), a tall, straight, and mature person, remained deeply in Wooyeon’s heart even after a long time.
‘Your name is… Seon Wooyeon?’
It was for the first time that Wooyeon realized someone’s voice could be so gentle. From the fact that he(tutor) smelled good even without wearing any perfume, that his English pronunciation didn’t feel forced, to the observation that his hand holding the pen was neat, and his sitting posture was proper, all gave away his gentleness.
‘A beautiful name.’
The soft voice lingered in his ears. Just saying his(Wooyeon) name felt as melodious as singing. The affectionate address that followed was equally charming.
“Nice to meet you, Yeon-ah.”
He was different from the peers Wooyeon usually met. Instead of immature boasting and self-promotion, he was appropriately thoughtful and considerate. When Wooyeon remained silent, he would patiently wait with a kind smile.
That’s why Wooyeon couldn’t correct him when he addressed him as ‘Sun Wooyeon’ instead of ‘Seon Wooyeon.’ At the age of sixteen, the endearment ‘Yeon-ah’ felt very exciting to him.
“…Are you an Alpha, teacher?”
On the day Wooyeon asked this question, the tutor turned to him with a calm gaze. With a polite and affectionate tone, he asked him back.
‘Why, do I seem like an Alpha?’
It was a difficult question to answer positively. Wooyeon grew up under an Alpha mother, received education from an Alpha home tutor, and was ostracized by Alpha friends. Alphas, Alphas, Alphas. In an environment full of Alphas, he learned to be Alpha even though he didn’t manifest as one.
‘…No.’
Thus, there was no way this gentle person could be an Alpha. The Alphas, Wooyeon knew were scary, overpowering, and knew nothing but dominance.
‘I don’t seem like an Alpha?’
The hesitant heart of Wooyeon opened wide. The gentle rising of corners of his(tutor) mouth caught his(Wooyeon) eyes. It was a smile as bright and refreshing as spring flowers in a cheerful season.
Since that day, Wooyeon looked forward to the tutoring lessons every day. Three times a week, two hours each time. The English tutoring, lasting only about six hours a week, felt like a refreshing rain for the drought in his life. Opening English workbooks and notes and waiting for his tutor, even created an illusion that the world was entirely on his side.
‘Hey, pig.’
However, it didn’t solve the famine he was going through. At that time, Wooyeon, who was obese enough to be recommended to be on a diet, became a target for adolescents who were going through puberty. Wearing high-prescription glasses hiding most of his face, combined with his sharp personality, the level of harassment escalated day by day.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
‘Fuck, are you ignoring me again?’
This was the leader of the group that always harassed Wooyeon. He was also one of the Alphas that Wooyeon extremely despised. The guy who always bothered Wooyeon, tapped his(Wooyeon) head with his fingers, sneering.
‘Answer me. Huh?’
Wooyeon silently took out his phone. Fortunately, he had just received a message from the tutor. Unfortunately, it was also not anything pleasant.
‘Look at this bastard, making excuses again.’
The message mentioned that today might be difficult for tutoring because of the festival. The text asked if the lesson could be postponed and conveyed a sense of apology. Despite various disappointments, while trying to send a reply, the phone slipped out of his hand.
‘Let’s see… Yeon-ah, because of the festival today… What is it, Yeon-ah!’
Instantly, his face flushed. The derogatory term ‘pig,’ which he had always heard, didn’t come to mind. It was because the emotion and admiration embedded in the name ‘Yeon-ah’ felt messy and faded.
‘Yeon-ah, you fucking pig.’
For the first time since being harassed, Wooyeon stared back at him. He used to ignore or avoid him, but this time, he couldn’t bear it. In response to Wooyeon’s unexpected reaction, the guy smirked as if he couldn’t believe it.
‘Oh, look at this. He’s opening his eyes like that’
Wooyeon didn’t like the sight of him flicking his phone. Mocking each message in passing further ignited the same feeling.
‘…Give me back my phone.’
‘What?’
‘I said give it back.’
‘Hey, who stole it? I was just checking it out.’
Before the boy could say more, Wooyeon quickly stood up. The problem was that the surprised guy reflexively pushed Wooyeon away and Bang! Wooyeon, along with the desk, fell on the floor weakly.
‘…’
The glasses he was wearing flew off. Even those who had pretended not to notice before were now looking at them. Wooyeon bit his lower lip in embarrassment. The guy who was looking at the fallen Wooyeon with a bewildered expression angrily picked up the phone and threw it away.
‘Oh, shit.’
The phone, released from his hand, broke miserably. The shattered screen seemed to reflect Wooyeon’s mood. Not content with just that, the guy kicked the broken phone with his slipper.
‘He’s so rich at home, but he’s upset over a single phone.’
After that, the memory became blurry. When he came to his senses, he was sitting inside the office with a swollen-faced guy. Not long after, his mother was called, and the teacher, struggling, showed the broken phone.
‘We’ll let him leave early today.’
As always, everything was resolved with money. His mother, who had nothing but money, even received an apology from the teacher and left the office. She didn’t look at Wooyeon once, didn’t ask why he did that, and just uttered a single sentence.
‘I don’t have time to take you home. Take a taxi. Will this be enough for the taxi fare?’
The wad of bills held in his hand was pitifully small and lacked any sincerity. It could have covered the taxi fare ten times over, but he didn’t even consider taking it and just lowered his gaze. One more option was given to him calmly as he silently lowered his head.
‘Or should I call Driver Yoon?’
He didn’t shed tears. His eyes were watery, but crying here would only invite clichéd responses. Advising not to cry recklessly, to consider one’s pride, or just sighing, those kinds of things.
‘And about the glasses…’
In the end, Wooyeon took a taxi home. Rather than riding with the robot-like driver Yoon, it was more comforting like that. The already broken glasses were better off than being worn, and after giving all the money he had to the taxi driver, he got out of the car.
‘…’
Entering the empty house always came with an unimaginable loneliness. The unnecessarily spacious house was so quiet that the sound of ants crawling could be heard. Wooyeon collapsed listlessly on one side of the living room in this unreal space, feeling lifeless.
It was a gruesome feeling. It couldn’t be accurately described, but it was just miserable. The shattered phone, the ignorant mother pretending not to know, and the guy he would have to face again tomorrow. They were all the same.
He returned to his room and mindlessly sank into bed. The cold, stiff blanket didn’t provide any comfort to Wooyeon. With tutoring canceled today, he would continue to be alone until late at night. He thought that even if he might want to disappear quietly or become a corpse, no one would notice.
Wooyeon fell asleep about twenty minutes later. The blanket covering his face was uncomfortably tight, but in the end, it couldn’t stifle Wooyeon’s breath.
When he opened his eyes, the room was pitch dark, and he heard someone ringing the doorbell.
‘No one was supposed to come…’
There was no need to hide. Even the peddlers avoided this neighborhood with a gloomy atmosphere. He thought the person would go away soon, but the loud doorbell sound showed no sign of stopping.
‘…Who is it?’
Unavoidably, Wooyeon reluctantly got up and went outside. Holding the intercom connected to the outside and asking indifferently, an unbelievable answer came back.
“Yeon-ah, it’s me, teacher.”
It was the person he had been waiting for. It was also someone he thought he wouldn’t be able to see today. With a sense of excitement that he(Wooyeon) could see him(tutor) today, Wooyeon nervously pressed the button and quickly ran out to the front door.
As soon as the door opened, a familiar figure appeared. His pace across the garden seemed a little faster than usual. In the blink of an eye, he(Wooyeon) was before the other person, who smiled happily and breathed a sigh of relief.
‘I’m relieved; I thought you weren’t home. The festival ended sooner than expected, so I can teach you today. I called just in case, but you didn’t pick up…’
All of this felt unreal. The blurry vision, the slightly pressed head, and even the gaze looking at Wooyeon carefully all felt like an illusion.
‘…What happened?’
Tears burst out with this very trivial question. Despite knowing he would be embarrassed, Wooyeon couldn’t suppress the overwhelming emotions. The sudden crying continued relentlessly until his breathing became rapid.
‘Tea-teacher… sniff…’
Wooyeon cried like a child, sobbing while sitting in a place. The bewildered person who sat down with him gently patted Wooyeon’s back. A faint floral scent wafted in this closed distance.
“Why are you like this, Yeon-ah? Are you okay?”
Wooyeon just wished he would ask why. It wasn’t an action to seek attention, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t want any attention. He didn’t want to ride in Yoon’s car, who was like a robot, and he didn’t want to take a taxi which would attract the attention of others. He just wanted to be asked if everything was okay and why he acted that way.
‘Does it hurt somewhere? Let me see, okay?’
The more he tried to console, the more the sorrows overwhelmed him. The dam, holding back suppressed emotions, broke into a river.
Only after a long time and a long period of sadness had passed, that Wooyeon finally raised his head, breathing heavily.
‘Did you cry it all?’
Before he knew it, Wooyeon was now embraced in a warm embrace. The face in front of him was still quiet and peaceful. The person who wiped his face with his sleeve covered Wooyeon’s forehead with his large hand.
‘Doesn’t seem like you’re in pain…’
His heart sank. His face crumpled, and his throat itching uncontrollably. His facial muscles, beyond his control, seemed to make a strange expression involuntarily. Thump, thump, his heart beat loudly and refused to quiet down, no matter how hard Wooyeon tried.
Only then did he vaguely realize. The emotions of missing someone, wanting to be together, and the sensitive mood that had hit rock bottom and now floating gently. Wooyeon vaguely named all of this ‘first love.’
Good job beating the bully..
That poor kid! No child should be sent home alone in a taxi with no phone or glasses.
Oh finally I’ve been dieing to read this novel for so long thank you so much for your hard work and fir picking up this novel 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍🥰
hehe~ ur welcomeee😆💛💛💛💛
Yeon-ah our poor bubu 😭
ohggg no me encantó!!!
omg thank you so much for translating thiiiis! 😭
I bought a bunch of chapters last year after finishing the Omega Complex manhwa but it didn’t MTL very well so I’ve been hoping someone would pick it up.