Correction Chapter 120

A detailed examination was scheduled for two days later, but Jungmin requested to postpone it once more. He didn’t want to do anything with nothing resolved. Kim Joohwan agreed to Jungmin’s request. However, he attached the condition that Jungmin must contact him immediately if he felt even slightly uncomfortable. He would occasionally come to the family home unannounced at night to check on Jungmin’s condition and then leave, but he didn’t ask for anything more.

In the meantime, as expected, Yoo Shinwoo kept contacting him. He called and sent messages relentlessly, to the point where Jungmin wondered if he had ever received this many calls from Shinwoo while they were dating.

On the other hand, Jungmin did not answer his calls or read his messages. He needed time. Perhaps the baby knew this as well, because it had been too quiet since then. Frighteningly so.

At first, he was grateful. Thanks to that, he could think and worry with a clear head. But after more than a week of quiet with no symptoms, he suddenly became anxious. What if something was wrong with the baby?

No matter how complicated the situation was, it was a problem for the immature adults; this child was innocent. So, Jungmin decided to move the examination up. Of course, he planned to meet with Shinwoo and talk before that.

“Haa…”

He had thought a lot. But there was only one conclusion. He had imagined countless possibilities and futures, but there was always only one path.

Jungmin fiddled with his phone and then pressed the call button.

─Jungmin.

In the past, he used to be happy just hearing Shinwoo’s voice. He couldn’t believe he was talking to him… But now, his heart felt heavy and uncomfortable. How did things end up like this?

“Shinwoo hyung, I’m sorry I couldn’t answer your calls.”

─It’s okay. It happens. You must have had a lot to think about on your own.

“…hyung, where are you right now, by any chance?”

─I’m at home right now.

“Have you eaten?”

─Is this the time to be worried about me? You should be worrying about yourself. Have you eaten? I heard you haven’t even had your examination.

“Ah… I’m planning to get the exam tomorrow. Um… hyung, I’ll head to your place now.”

─If you’re at home, I’ll go to you. Don’t move.

“No, it’s not that. I’m not at home right now…”

He didn’t want to say he was at his family’s home. It felt like he would be revealing his only sanctuary to him…

“I can be there in under an hour. Is that okay with you, time-wise?”

─Of course it’s okay if you’re coming. I’d make time even if I didn’t have any.

A kind person. But why hadn’t he shown that kindness sooner? Why only now…

Jungmin hung up the phone and smiled bitterly. Then, he got dressed and left the room. With Jungmin’s movement, his belly, which had shown not even a faint symptom, twinged slightly. Right, it’s probably sleeping peacefully.

“Sleep well. Then everything will be over. Don’t listen to the adults’ conversation. You just have to dream happy dreams while thinking of a happy future.”

Jungmin said this as he gently stroked his belly, then left the room.

“Where are you going?”

Youngmin, who was watching TV on the sofa, saw Jungmin leaving the house and asked.

“I have something to take care of for a bit. I’ll be back before dinner.”

“Really? Then what do you want to eat for dinner later?”

Dinner… To be honest, he hadn’t had much of an appetite for the past few days and hadn’t thought about it, but at Youngmin’s words, a food suddenly flashed in his mind and he wanted to eat it.

“Pizza.”

“Pizza?!”

Youngmin, who had been lying on the sofa, shot up.

“Why?”

“No, you hate pizza. Are you really going to eat it?”

Ah, that’s right. To be precise, he neither hated pizza nor particularly enjoyed it. But once the thought of wanting to eat it crossed his mind, he could think of nothing but pizza. I have to go and come back quickly so I can eat it. He found himself a bit strange for thinking this way. He had never had such a strong desire for food before…

No. This is what the baby wants to eat. How fascinating. It really happens like this.

“I guess my tastes have changed. Pick out a delicious one.”

“Okay!”

Youngmin excitedly turned on his phone and began looking at the menu. Jungmin said he would call before arriving home and then left the house.

“How do you even know about pizza to want to eat it?”

Jungmin spoke while looking at his own belly. Of course, there was no answer, but he found himself smiling. His heart fluttered a little and felt lighter.

✽✽✽

“Jungmin.”

“Hi, hyung.”

Jungmin greeted Shinwoo with a smile. Shinwoo, who had been greeting Jungmin with a heavy expression, also smiled slightly and stepped aside, and only then could Jungmin enter Shinwoo’s house.

Shinwoo’s house… It had been a really long time. He hadn’t been able to come since his frequent hospitalizations. It was the same as always. Tidy, with everything in its place… It was just a house that was exactly like him.

“The house is a bit of a mess, isn’t it?”

“It’s fine.”

“Have a seat for now. Do you want something to eat?”

“hyung, I’m really fine.”

“Don’t be like that. It’s because I want to do something for you.”

“Then just water… water is fine.”

“Okay. Wait just a moment.”

As Yoo Shinwoo went to get water, Jungmin sat on the sofa and took a deep breath. It’s okay. I can say it well. I’ve been thinking hard and practicing until now.

“Here, drink some water.”

“Thanks.”

Jungmin took a sip of water. In the meantime, Shinwoo sat down across from him.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, hyung.”

“…Since you weren’t answering my calls, I thought our connection might be severed like this. But thank you for contacting me first and for coming, Jungmin.”

“…I needed to do some thinking.”

“Thinking about what I said?”

Jungmin nodded his head. Feeling his throat go dry, he took another sip of water.

“hyung, let’s break up.”

“Jungmin.”

“Keep listening to me.”

When Jungmin held out his hand to stop him, Shinwoo started to get up slightly before sitting back down on the sofa.

“I wanted to say that back then at the hospital. I know you’re a good and kind person to me, hyung. But I couldn’t become an omega no matter how hard I tried. And it will probably be that way in the future, too. I happened to get pregnant, but the fact that I’m an alpha doesn’t change. But if I’m by your side, I think I’ll come to hate myself for being an alpha.”

“Jungmin, I asked you to go to America with me. They said they’re researching medicine to change secondary genders there, too.”

Until the very end, hyung… you won’t say, ‘It’s okay even if you’re an alpha.’

Of course, even if he did say that, he was already too tired and worn out… he wouldn’t look back.

“I have no intention of changing my secondary gender. I’m going to live as an alpha from now on. hyung. I’m sorry. For being so lacking. But I don’t want to feel sorry towards you anymore. You don’t have to feel sorry for me and not get treatment either, hyung. In America, find a good omega who has a high match rate with you and loves you. I’ll pray that you can.”

“Then… what about the child? It could be my child. You’re breaking up with me like this?”

“I was happy when you asked me to go to America with you, hyung. But I don’t think that’s right. This child needs to be here. It doesn’t matter who the father is. Because I’m going to raise this child. It’s my child, not anyone else’s.”

Kim Joohwan gave him this answer. As he said, it doesn’t matter who the seed belongs to. What’s important is that it’s Jungmin’s child, his own child. It is a life that he must take responsibility for.

“…So you’ve made your decision.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry.”

“No, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I’m more sorry.”

“hyung… I want you to be happy. Because I couldn’t give you that happiness… my heart ached so much.”

“…I wonder what use that is now. It’s already over.”

Shinwoo let out a dry laugh. And just then, the doorbell rang.

“Ah, they must be here.”

Who came?

“Is it a guest?”

“Yeah. I called them because you said you were coming.”

Is it someone Jungmin knows, too? Shinwoo went to the entrance and opened the door. Then, a sudden sound of ‘thwack’ was heard, and Jungmin shot up. No, he tried to get up. Suddenly, his stomach hurt immensely. So much that he couldn’t even move.

“Shin Jungmin!!”

That voice is Kim Joohwan’s. His face deathly pale, he came inside.

“What, why are you here—Ugh!”

“sunbae!”

Kim Joohwan came over and checked Jungmin’s condition.

“Does your stomach hurt? Let’s go to the hospital. Right now.”

“Why on earth are you—.”

Jungmin clutched his stomach and looked at Yoo Shinwoo. Yoo Shinwoo, his face red, swollen, and his lip split from being hit by Kim Joohwan, met Jungmin’s eyes and smiled viciously. It felt like his heart had dropped with a ‘thud’. In that moment, the water glass placed next to him came into view. A wave of anxiety washed over his entire body.

“Don’t tell me…”

Kim Joohwan supported Jungmin and helped him up, but he pushed him away and tried to walk on his own. This amount of pain is nothing. It’s just a momentary shock. It’s okay. Wanting to believe it would be okay, he tried to walk steadfastly on his own, but a terrible pain gradually began from below.

“Ah…”

At the sight of blood dripping from between his legs, Jungmin felt like he was about to lose his mind. Would it have been better if he had just lost his mind?

“No… don’t…”

Within his fading consciousness, his body grew weaker and collapsed. In that moment, what he saw was one man with an expressionless face as if nothing was wrong, and another man, deathly pale, trying somehow to catch his collapsing self.

The entire situation felt like hell. In the midst of it all, he felt pity and sorrow for that man who was rushing over, trying to somehow hold him and stop his fall.