When the morning dawned, Wooyeon woke up in a small room inside the venue. There were several Omegas in the room, all sleeping pitifully without even a pillow. Wooyeon sluggishly got up and looked around with bleary eyes.
“….”
The dazzling sunlight streamed in through the window. His eyes were stiff, his head was pounding, and his throat felt parched. Wooyeon belatedly realized that he had the bed to himself and quietly slipped out from under the blanket.
“It was strangely hot…”
The floor of the room was warm, and he had slept fully dressed, covered with a quilt. Thankfully, he hadn’t frozen to death overnight; he could have succumbed to the cold. Wooyeon blinked and yawned as he took off his hoodie.
“Oh, you’re up?”
At that moment, Seongyu opened the door and entered. He immediately lit a fire and casually kicked the suffering people. Then he looked at Wooyeon’s hair with surprise.
“Wow… What happened to your hair? A magpie might lay its eggs there.”
“Oh, it’s just dyed…”
Brightly colored hair spread in all directions, especially since he had just taken off his hat. Although it wasn’t tangled, it would probably look better if he combed it, but he didn’t want to bother. While Wooyeon was hunched over, Seongyu approached him.
“Any hangover?”
“Just a headache.”
Instead of fixing his hair, Wooyeon put the hat back on. It was too bothersome to look in the mirror, and it was even more of a hassle to tidy up. As Wooyeon, with his head lowered, was swaying, Seongyu approached him.
“More importantly, I really saw you in a new light.”
“What?”
The back of his head throbbed. Soju was causing a headache hangover. Perhaps it was fortunate that his stomach wasn’t completely overturned. In that moment of thinking, an excited voice answered.
“Well, you gave senior Kim Jinsang a punch.”
“….What?”
The words dispelled the drowsiness. Wooyeon, suddenly alert, looked at Seongyu with surprised eyes. Instead of the expected reaction, Seongyu widened his eyes.
“Don’t you remember?”
Wooyeon, with a vague expression, tried to recall last night’s memories. He remembered Garam leaving and playing a drinking game, but after that, the memories were fuzzy. The returning student generously offered drinks, and he had a couple of shots of soju soaked in pheromones. And… what happened next?
“Were you really that drunk? With such a composed face?”
“Did I really hit that person?”
“Wow, you seriously don’t remember.”
Seongyu chuckled and scratched his head. Amidst this, he didn’t forget to poke at the sleeping individuals, each making zombie-like sounds as they gradually woke up.
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.
“You said it’s not that what he’s doing to is uncomfortable, but rather irritating or something like that.”
“….”
“You said to Jinsang to stop bothering you and said why do you keep pouring pheromones in alcohol?”
Wooyeon covered his head with both hands. No matter how hard he tried to remember, his head remained clean like it had been washed with bleach. Despite pretending to be fine, everything had turned into a mess.
“…Other than that?”
“I don’t know, anything else?”
Seongyu shrugged nonchalantly. Wooyeon, who was about to inquire further, quickly changed his mind and sighed. It was like digging his own grave, did he really need to do that?
“It’s okay, man. It felt refreshing. Seeing senior Jinsang getting angry was quite satisfying.”
Seongyu ruffled Wooyeon’s hair without a care. While doing so, he advised Wooyeon to be a bit more cautious next time. Wooyeon, being petite, looked quite uneasy facing the bear-like returning student.
“But what did you say in English? Was it all curses?”
“I… cursed in English?”
Wooyeon looked at Seongyu with a truly astonished expression. Seongyu made an ambiguous face, which seemed a mix of amusement and sympathy, watching Wooyeon’s face turn pale.
“You shouldn’t drink, seriously.”
Wooyeon silently agreed with mumbled words. Come to think of it, he felt like he heard that phrase from someone else before. Again, the memory was blurry.
“So I went to sleep right away?”
Wooyeon sent Seongyu a pitiful look, desperately hoping that the conversation would end here. Seongyu scratched his cheek while turning his head.
“Well… I only saw that much.”
The hesitant beginning was not very reassuring. Wooyeon gripped the hat brim, feeling a sense of foreboding. ‘That’s all’ – the words that followed were nerve-wracking.
“After you went out, Dohyun followed you.”
Wooyeon’s pupils shook violently. He felt like he would faint any moment, and his tearful expression looked pitiful. His downcast eyes seemed extremely fragile.
“Well, nothing happened. Dohyun took you back in quickly, saying you were drunk.”
“….”
“Just ask Dohyun what happened.”
After saying that, Seongyu rose without any regrets. While patting his messy hair, he added, “It’s okay” as if to reassure Wooyeon.
“And senior Jinsang apparently went home in the early morning. Seems like he was quite hammered. Seeing him leave when no one noticed.”
Wooyeon nodded his head, wiping his face. In fact, what happened to the returning student wasn’t important. He didn’t say anything outrageous, and he might have said similar things sober. It just bothered him that he unintentionally caused a commotion.
“If you understand, go and wash up. Check-out is at 11.”
In the living room, students with haggard faces gathered. Some had already left, and the remaining ones were preparing for the morning. After washing up, Wooyeon, who had received a lot of attention from seniors as soon as he stepped out, heard their concerns.
“Oh, our brave freshman is awake.”
“Did you sleep well? Is your stomach okay?”
“Eat instant noodles. I put all the leftover meat from yesterday in it.”
Fortunately, the reactions he worried about weren’t there. No one was giving him suspicious looks, signaling him, or worst-case scenario, ignoring him.
“Hey, Wooyeon! I heard Jinsang tried to trick you yesterday!”
Especially Garam, who was bouncing around, was too busy cursing the returning student from yesterday since morning. She asked what the guy did after she collapsed, apologized for falling asleep first, and apologized if he caused any trouble. If that guy causes any problems, tell her, Wooyeon, she said with a glance.
“Hey, about yesterday.”
“Yeah?”
The words didn’t come out. Wooyeon awkwardly touched the back of his head and avoided Garam’s gaze.
“Thanks for drinking instead of me.”
“…Well, that’s a basic thing!”
Even though she said that, Garam seemed secretly pleased. Her eyes, long and clear without double eyelids, curved refreshingly. Wooyeon declined the wooden chopsticks she offered, skillfully avoiding the situation.
“Noona.”
Thud, the wooden chopsticks fell. Even if you said her expression was like a statue, it was believable. Wooyeon, thinking that he really didn’t suit such awkward acts, decided to put out the urgent fire first.
“Where is Senior Dohyun?”
***
The morning of March was still chilly enough for breaths to appear. Wooyeon, who barely managed to pull away from the elated Garam, fled from the venue. Dohyun was sitting on a bench in front of the venue, smoking a cigarette.
“…Senior.”
Dohyun slowly lifted his head. The cigarette smoke scattered like a mane, fitting well with his expressionless face. He confirmed that it was Wooyeon who spoke and politely smiled with a kind smile.
“Are you up? How’s the hangover?”
“Just a little headache.”
Wooyeon approached Dohyun as naturally as possible. Grateful for the offer of a cigarette, he even received one. Dohyun then extended the lighter, but instead of taking it, Wooyeon decided to get straight to the point.
“Did I say something strange yesterday?”
There was an immediate thought associated with the mention of Dohyun. The worry that he might have called him ‘teacher.’ Given that he blacked out, it didn’t matter what he had said, but he was concerned about saying something odd.
“You did.”
Dohyun responded casually and lit a cigarette. Whether he knew that Wooyeon felt like crying or not, he exhaled a long puff of smoke while flicking the ashes. He leisurely turned his eyes towards Wooyeon and asked a question.
“Do you want to know?”
“Yes.”
Even if it meant digging his own grave this time, he had to hear it. If he had called him ‘teacher,’ he would have to explain anything related to that.
But what Dohyun said was completely different from what Wooyeon had worried about.
“….”
Unbelievable English flowed from Dohyun. While the voice sounded as sweet as a serenade, Wooyeon knew that it was all ‘swearing.’ Bewildered by the fact that his teacher was swearing, Wooyeon was shocked as soon as he finished speaking.
“I said that?”
“Yeah.”
Oh, maybe dropping out is the answer this time. Perhaps this university is not the right place for me. Damn Danny, it’s all because of you. Wooyeon felt like crying and blaming the innocent Daniel while Dohyun, seemingly aware of Wooyeon’s feelings, smiled gently, blowing out smoke and shaking off the tobacco ash.
“Okay, most people probably didn’t understand most of it.”
Even though the words were clearly meant to comfort him, Wooyeon felt that he was being teased. There seemed to be a hint of mischief in Dohyun’s gentle eyes. Wooyeon, who had slumped down, covered his face with both hands.
“Do you understand everything?”
I hope it’s not like that. he had asked. Of course, judging by the fact that Dohyun seemed to have memorized everything, he probably understood all of it.
“Would you like me to say no?”
Wooyeon frowned and lowered his head. He had never felt so embarrassed in his life, and now he understood what it felt like to be so embarrassed that you wanted to die. Dohyun, who chuckled and asked lightly, made a playful remark.
“Is swearing in English your special skill?”
“No… I don’t know.”
Getting drunk like this was a first for Wooyeon. In the US, he was still a minor, and the occasional beer he drank was secretly brought by Daniel. It was more likely that he wanted to swear but only knew how to do it in English rather than calling it a shot.
“Oh, I don’t usually do that.”
A voice full of injustice murmured. Dohyun, looking at Wooyeon, who was crouched down, flicked his cigarette into the ashtray beside him. Bending his head slightly, he spoke in a gentle tone.
“You did well.”
Wooyeon only raised his eyes to look at Dohyun. The hoodie and hat kept interfering with his view. As he reluctantly stood up, Dohyun’s gaze followed him.
“It would have been okay even if you had used stronger language.”
Hmm… he didn’t mention them holding each other. This really makes me think he knowsssss. I just wanna know for sure though
Hahaha either Kim Dohyun really dislikes the returning student, which is likely, or he really likes hearing Wooyeon talk dirty, which is pretty hot 😏