“Still, you’ve treated me to a lot until now. Today, I’ll buy…”
“Hey, I still feel a bit sorry, though.”
“You don’t have to. If you have something you want to eat, let’s go for that.”
“How about going for tteokbokki?”
“You don’t have to deliberately choose something cheap. Just tell me what you really want to eat.”
“…Hey, did you win the lottery?”
Yigyeom chuckled at Kang Jihoon’s cautious question and nodded. Along with his laughter, Kang Jihoon headed towards Yoo Jaemin, who was quite far away, to discuss the menu.
The place they went for lunch was a nearby Chinese restaurant that looked quite nice. Yigyeom ordered three meals that cost more than 10,000 won each, sweet and sour pork, and cream shrimp, trying to match the price while carefully examining the menu. He felt a bit dizzy with the warm tea as he thought he might have spent too much money.
“Hey, Yigyeom, did you really win the lottery? How did you suddenly get so much money to spend over 100,000 won?”
“…You guys treated me to a lot, so I wanted to treat you for once.”
“Well, we do enjoy having an expensive meal, but are you really okay?”
Smiling at Kang Jihoon’s sincere concern, Yigyeom took another sip of the tea. The air conditioner inside the Chinese restaurant was set to a low temperature, making him feel chilly and constantly searching for warmth.
“This is the first time I’ve spent over 10,000 won on jajangmyeon.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Even before the dishes arrived, Kang Jihoon and Yoo Jaemin started eating sweet and sour pork and cream shrimp in a hurry. Yigyeom tried only one piece each of sweet and sour pork and cream shrimp, feeling a strange reluctance. The taste wasn’t bad, but he didn’t feel like eating more.
“Hey, why can’t you eat it?”
“I am eating. Please, enjoy your meal.”
“Maybe it’s because it’s expensive; it’s so delicious, really.”
Just as they were devouring the food, a waiter holding a tray with three dishes of jajangmyeon approached Kang Jihoon and Yoo Jaemin separately. When the last jajangmyeon was placed in front of Yigyeom, he instinctively covered his mouth as a surge of nausea overwhelmed him. With his nose and mouth covered, he struggled not to vomit. Yoo Jaemin, seeing Yigyeom in this state, teased him while wiping off the jajangmyeon.
“Hey, are you pregnant? Is it morning sickness?”
The word “pregnant” made Yigyeom’s heart pound as it dropped heavily. While the two who didn’t know he was an omega could joke about pregnancy like a mere jest, it didn’t sound like a joke to Yigyeom, who could indeed become pregnant.
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.
“Hey, is that how you talk?”
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***
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“…I’m sorry, guys. Please eat mine too. I’m really, really sorry… I’ll go first. I’ll settle the bill and leave, so please take your time. I’m sorry…”
“No, go ahead. You really look unwell. We’ll get in touch again.”
“Yes…”
Bowing his head slightly, Yigyeom quickly settled the bill at the counter and left the restaurant. Breathing in the fresh air outside, he felt a bit better. Yigyeom quickly surveyed his surroundings and found a pharmacy.
“Ah… there it is.”
Seeing the sign for “Happiness Pharmacy,” Yigyeom ran towards it and stood in front of the pharmacist, who greeted him.
“Hello. What can I help you with?”
“…I think I have a cold.”
“What are your symptoms?”
“Suddenly, a few days ago… I kept feeling chilly, couldn’t stop sneezing, and… I didn’t have an appetite. But today, when I smelled food, my stomach felt nauseous.”
“Hmm… By any chance, how is your secondary gender?”
“My secondary gender? Ah… I’m an omega.”
“Do you have a possibility of being pregnant?”
“Pregnant…?”
“Yes. It could be a cold or flu. When your condition isn’t good, you may feel nauseous from the smell of food, feel cold, and be tired. These symptoms can also occur in the early stages of pregnancy. It might be a good idea to take a test before taking any medication, just to be sure.”
Listening absentmindedly to the pharmacist’s words, Yigyeom nodded unknowingly. The pharmacist, seeing Yigyeom in this state, took out a long box containing a pregnancy test kit and pushed it towards him.
“The instructions are written on the box. Just follow them. If it turns out negative, you might want to take the medicine at that time. Just to be cautious.”
“Yes…”
Yigyeom, who had just paid, walked out of the pharmacy with the long box in his hand, his eyes vacant.
“… ”
Stumbling onto a busy street, Yigyeom absentmindedly got into a taxi waiting in front of him. Due to his confusion, he sat quietly without closing the door or stating his destination. The driver, turning his head back as Yigyeom seemed strange, looked at him.
“Where to?”
“What?”
Upon asking for his destination, Yigyeom thought of Kwon Taejung. Kwon Taejung’s house. The place where I am currently staying with him… Where was it? What was the name of the neighborhood? The address… Yigyeom conveyed the only place he could speak aloud, looking at the taxi driver who began to view him suspiciously. A place that he could remember so familiarly even without deliberately recalling it.
***
“…Daramdong… Please take me to the demolition village.”
“Daramdong? Hasn’t it been demolished yet?”
“Yes, not yet.”
“I thought so. Do you live there?”
“No.”
The driver, who had been casually asking Yigyeom in the rearview mirror, quickly lost interest due to Yigyeom’s lack of enthusiasm. He turned up the volume of the radio that had been playing, ignoring Yigyeom. Yigyeom, leaning his head against the window, listened to the lively music filling the car.
The firmly closed green gate remained unchanged. Yigyeom took out the key from under the gate, opened it, and went inside. Honestly, he still couldn’t understand why he came there. Did he accidentally mention a place that felt more familiar to him? Or did he want to come there because his heart was too complicated?
Regardless of the reason, the house, where he hadn’t been for quite a while, welcomed Yigyeom like an old friend. As it had been lived in for a very long time, everything felt so familiar and comforting. He closed the gate, entered the room, spread a blanket in one corner, and sat on it.
“…….”
By tomorrow, everything here would collapse. The fact that it would collapse meant that he could no longer come here. Daram-dong would completely disappear now.
Yigyeom, who let out a small sigh, leaned against the wall, closed his eyes, and felt the chill in the room. Unconsciously feeling the cold, Yigyeom picked up the box he had placed on the floor.
“…….”
Considering what he had done, he had to take the test. Although he took the morning-after pill, the doctor said he couldn’t guarantee a hundred percent effectiveness, so all possibilities were open.
If it wasn’t a pregnancy, he could just visit any pharmacy, buy medicine for a cold or flu, and take it. But what if it was a pregnancy?
“…….”
If it’s a pregnancy…? The face of Kwon Taejung that he saw in the morning filled his mind. It was a somewhat awkward situation, and thinking about Kwon Taejung, whom he hadn’t been able to reach for the past few days, made him even more afraid to take the test.
Holding the box with both hands, Yigyeom, who was trembling, made up his mind, got up from his seat, and headed to the bathroom. Then, standing under the dim light, he carefully read the instructions written on the box.
It would take at most ten minutes for the result to appear. Yigyeom, holding the long test kit, took a deep breath once again. There was no place to retreat now.
With Yigyeom’s anxious face, the pregnancy test kit was placed on the table, and he looked away as if avoiding it. The result should come out now, after five minutes or so.
“…What should I do?”
Maybe due to excessive tension, cold sweat covered Yigyeom, and his hands were shaking. Yigyeom took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then picked up the test kit.
One, two, three. You count when you open your eyes. One, two… three. Yigyeom, who barely opened his eyes, looked at the divided section.
“Oh…”
Both sections had a red line crossing the center. Yigyeom quickly looked at the instructions drawn on the end of the test kit. One line means not pregnant, and two lines mean pregnant. Yigyeom’s pupils touched the two red lines again.
“…Ah…”
Clearly visible two lines. It was pregnancy.
“Pregnant…”
Yigyeom, who confirmed multiple times that two lines indicated pregnancy, exhaled a breath that had been held in tense. His entire body trembled in shock. Pregnant… really pregnant. Yigyeom couldn’t believe how such a thing could happen.
“What should I do?”
Yigyeom, with a bowed head, looked at his belly. So, it meant that there was a child of Kwon Taejung and him inside. The child conceived on the day they had intercourse together and experienced knotting.
Because it wasn’t a cold but a pregnancy, it was so cold, sleepy, and emotionally volatile. He felt amazed, and a sigh burst out. Yigyeom stared at the test kit that clearly showed two lines as if he couldn’t believe it, and he checked it several more times.
“….”
Now, what should he do? He couldn’t determine whether to be happy or troubled by the unexpected pregnancy. Yigyeom tried hard to focus, feeling like his thoughts were getting tangled in his head, trying to think of something helpful in this situation.
In the end, there was only one person that came to mind. Kwon Taejung. Yigyeom thought of Kwon Taejung as if he knew nothing except Kwon Taejung. First, it seemed like he needed to tell Kwon Taejung about this.
I knew it!
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