Correction Chapter 103

It was an afternoon filled with the noisy chirping of cicadas.

Though it wasn’t yet the peak of summer, the scorching sun was quite strong. Even so, he stood endlessly in a place without a sliver of shade until the end of lunch break. He was gazing with eyes full of love at a man who was exercising energetically.

‘Sunbae, are you an outcast?’

Of course not. He knew very well how popular that man was at school. Still, he asked the question as if just tossing it out. No matter what he asked, the man didn’t answer.

As if he had no interest in his existence at all, his gaze was fixed in only one direction. It seemed as though only Yoo Shinwoo existed in Shin Jungmin’s world. That’s why he wanted to shatter it.

‘Sunbae, what will you do if you don’t become an omega?’

Only then did the man turn his gaze to look at him. Right. For this person, that must be a more important issue than anything else in the world. Because he had to become that man’s omega.

‘Are you going to give up if you become an alpha?’

Yes, just like that, keep reacting and look at me. Stop looking at that man. That alpha isn’t interested in you.

Kim Joohwan dusted off his pants and got up, approaching Jungmin. His face was deeply distorted. A bead of sweat rolled down from his forehead and collected at his chin.

‘Why can’t you answer?’

‘Do I have to answer?’

‘Ah, you’re not confident.’

He didn’t have the conviction that things would get better if he became an alpha.

‘The possibility of becoming an alpha… I’m not thinking about it.’

‘Hmm… well, they say words have power, so it might not be a bad idea to keep thinking that way.’

He casually stood next to him. A person slightly shorter than himself, who had presented as a dominant alpha. A person who, no matter how you looked at him, seemed more suited to be an alpha than an omega, but he was rejecting God’s choice.

‘But sunbae, come to think of it. If you were to become an alpha… wouldn’t your love for Yoo Shinwoo sunbae disappear? There’s no way an alpha would love another alpha. The pheromones alone are enough to make you nauseous.’

‘…No, I’ll love hyung even if I become an alpha.’

Plink. The sweat that had collected on his chin dropped and shattered the moment it hit the ground. At the same time, Kim Joohwan’s world also shattered, and darkness fell. After blinking a couple of times in a world where he could see nothing, he found himself standing in his room at his family home, in a slightly larger body.

At the sound of rustling, he turned to see Shin Jungmin staggering as he got dressed.

Ah, this must be that time.

It was the last day he had come to him before his presentation, holding him in his arms to learn how to be ‘corrected’. Kim Joohwan inhaled and exhaled the alpha pheromones he felt from his body.

It’s strange. You can tell just by smelling it that it’s an alpha’s pheromone. But why aren’t your pheromones repulsive? He had thought it was strange back then, too.

After that, every time he encountered him, he would deeply take in his pheromones, but not a single rejection reaction ever occurred.

He quietly watched him as he finished dressing and staggered out of the room. The Shin Jungmin of that day… looked like he could die at any moment. His world had completely ended for the sole reason that he had become an alpha.

It must be so. Yoo Shinwoo would never accept Shin Jungmin as an alpha. There was the fact that he was in love with Shin Jungmin’s twin brother, but alphas cannot like other alphas. It was instinct, and it was an unavoidable fact because their genes were made that way.

Especially the Yoo Shinwoo that Kim Joohwan had observed until now… it would be a relief if he didn’t outright ostracize him. Shin Jungmin probably knew that vaguely as well. That must be why he was acting as if his life was over.

He looked pathetic no matter when you saw him. Kim Joohwan thought as he watched Shin Jungmin leave in a car.

He shifted his gaze to the bed where Shin Jungmin had been lying. Seeing the traces of bodily fluids and the strong, lingering scent of pheromones, Kim Joohwan sat on the edge of the bed and swept his hand over the blanket.

This wasn’t an action happening ‘now’. It was a ‘memory’. That day, the moment he traced the remaining marks like this and smelled Shin Jungmin’s leftover pheromones, a natural rut had occurred.

The confusion and bewilderment of that time. He had never let go of the sheets Shin Jungmin had lain on until his rut ended.

‘It would be better to call an omega.’

He hadn’t known that enduring a rut was so painful. The doctor had carefully suggested it to his parents, and his parents had approved, but Kim Joohwan himself hadn’t accepted it. He rejected any omega that came and endured the pain, holed up in an isolation room.

To him, the only thing that provided comfort was….

‘Haha.’

Amidst the jumble of his ‘present’ and ‘memory’, Kim Joohwan saw what he was trying to protect from everyone, refusing to let it be taken away. It was the sheet Jungmin had lain on. He was enduring the terrible rut while smelling Shin Jungmin’s pheromones, of which there was now very little left on the sheet.

He should have become an omega. If he had, he would have mated him right away and gotten him pregnant immediately. He was a person with a deep heart, so he would give birth to the child of an alpha he disliked. Then he would prepare to leave. Then he would have grabbed him and gotten him pregnant again. If that continued, wouldn’t he have eventually grown accustomed to being ‘Kim Joohwan’s omega’? He had wanted it more than anyone. For Shin Jungmin to become an omega…. But he had become an alpha, and it was only right that his interest in him should have faded. He didn’t feel it was unfair. Surely, his interest in Yoo Shinwoo would also fade, and Yoo Shinwoo would likewise not look at Shin Jungmin. What kind of face would Shin Jungmin make then? Would he be in pain? With that personality, he probably would. If so, then….

‘Ah…’

The sheet in his hand crumbled like a wilting flower petal. At the same time, a small room came into view in the distance. Through the crack of the door, Shin Jungmin was being held by someone. An unbearable rage surged through him in that instant. A fury greater than the frenzy of a rut boiled up, making him want to kill Shin Jungmin and the man holding him right then and there. He immediately ran over and opened the door.

The man inside his body, moving his hips diligently, was Yoo Shinwoo. Shin Jungmin was crying as if in agony.

‘Ah, this is that time. During the MT…’

Seeing that sight, his anger vanished, and a laugh escaped him.

‘See, this man doesn’t love you. He’s surely holding you as a substitute for Shin Youngmin.’

It must be painful. It must be hard. So he held out his hand. He arrogantly extended his hand to him, saying he would pull him out of there, but Shin Jungmin slapped his hand away.

‘Don’t interfere.’

And the memory.

‘Kim Joohwan, what are you doing here?’

It’s different.

The first time, Shin Jungmin had said it, and the second time, Yoo Shinwoo had said it. At that time, Yoo Shinwoo couldn’t even support his own body properly. Hadn’t he gotten rid of the unconscious Yoo Shinwoo as if clearing him away? But the Yoo Shinwoo of now was looking back at him, perfectly fine. It bothered him to see Jungmin’s lower half connected to him as he slightly lifted his body. Whether this was a dream or a memory, he wished someone would hurry up and sever that connection.

‘Sunbae, it seems you still haven’t come to your senses?’

‘What?’

‘Yoo Shinwoo sunbae is mistaking you for Youngmin sunbae right now.’

‘What are you talking about? sunbae and I are dating.’

‘…Sunbae, what are you talking about? That’s impossible.’

Jungmin sighed, pulled Yoo Shinwoo’s face closer, and gave him a deep kiss. Even though they had slept together so many times, he had never once kissed him like that.

‘Shinwoo hyung, we are dating, right?’

‘Yes.’

That’s impossible. This pheromone—he’s still an alpha. There’s no way Yoo Shinwoo could love you as an alpha. Kim Joohwan pushed Yoo Shinwoo’s body away and grabbed Jungmin’s hair, pulling him close. There was no sign of despair on Jungmin’s face. There was no sadness or anguish either.

‘Sunbae, you’re an alpha. And Yoo Shinwoo loves you?’

‘It’s possible.’

‘Possible? No, that’s impossible.’

‘It was possible, though…. Right?’

Jungmin smiled and looked elsewhere. Ji Soohan was standing there. Jungmin, who had slipped from his grasp at some point, was holding Ji Soohan’s hand. Seeing the two of them about to walk off somewhere side-by-side, Kim Joohwan frantically ran over again and grabbed Jungmin’s hand.

‘Where are you going?’

‘He’s someone who loves me even though I’m an alpha.’

‘No. This man is someone who ultimately embraces omegas. Do you think he’ll love you, sunbae? No, he’ll end up going to an omega again.’

At that, tears flowed down Jungmin’s cheeks. Plink. A single teardrop fell, and the world grew dark again. Ji Soohan and Yoo Shinwoo were nowhere to be seen. In this darkness, only the two of them remained. Jungmin sank to the floor, blankly shedding tears.

Only then did Kim Joohwan feel relieved and sat down across from him. At some point, he too had returned to being a high school student.

‘Then… can I never be loved? Because I’m an alpha?’

That can’t be true.

‘I want to be loved, too… and I want to love. I didn’t know that was such a big wish.’

Your standards are just too low. Who can you blame?

Smiling, Kim Joohwan caught Jungmin’s falling tear this time. He kissed the tear that fell into his palm and smiled. Then, he carefully pulled the foolish alpha into an embrace, buried his nose in the nape of his neck, and inhaled his pheromones. Repulsive alpha pheromones…. But they were the sweetest in the world. He had known from the very beginning. He had only just now realized it. Just now.

It can’t be helped. Since this foolish man might harbor vain hopes for another alpha, he figured he should just hold onto him. With that thought, he hugged him even tighter, but he soon vanished like smoke. In the end, only he was left in that black world.