Correction Chapter 124 - Main Story End

“Are you going home?”

“Yeah.”

They naturally ate dinner together, and he got into the car Kim Joohwan was driving. The inside of the car, heading toward an obvious destination, was peaceful.

“What are you going to do about the house?”

In fact, Jungmin’s biggest worry was the house he was currently living in. Yoo Shinwoo wouldn’t be able to come home for the time being, so he wouldn’t run into him, but he still wanted to sort out that house. There was no reason to be there anymore. But that didn’t mean he wanted to move back to his parents’ house. He enjoyed the time spent with his parents, and living at his parents’ house was more comfortable in many ways, but he still thought that a person should become independent and get used to living alone.

“Actually, I got a call from the real estate office earlier. I’ve put the house up for sale. They said they’d look for a property for me.”

“Are you planning to buy?”

“I’ll be going back to the hospital anyway. I was thinking of buying an apartment nearby.”

“Ah…”

Why is this guy reacting like this again.

“What? What is it this time.”

When Jungmin asked what he was dissatisfied with now, Kim Joohwan clicked his tongue.

“I can’t hide anything from you now, sunbae.”

“What are you talking about, you punk who has no intention of hiding anything.”

“That’s true. Just now, I was trying to get you to notice.”

“Notice what?”

“Live with me.”

“What?”

“I had a house built near the hospital. It’s a detached house, five stories in total. It has an indoor elevator installed, eight rooms, and I even had a gym, a swimming pool, and a screen golf range all built. I picked out and brought in furniture that’s to your taste, sunbae. The gardener, the driver, and the housekeeper are all Betas, and I’ve brought in all the most reputable and esteemed people in this field. So all you have to do is show up, sunbae.”

They say you can’t speak when you’re too dumbfounded, and that was exactly how he felt. Like a goldfish, Jungmin could only open and close his mouth, unable to say anything as he stared at Kim Joohwan. In the meantime, the car passed by Jungmin’s house.

“Hey, what are you doing. My house is over there.”

“That’s not your house, sunbae.”

The house they arrived at, as if he had been kidnapped, was the mansion Kim Joohwan had just described. No… should I call it a mansion? It’s more like a building… it has everything it needs… Was this even possible in downtown Seoul? The house was of a tremendous size that made him think that.

The house Kim Joohwan led the dazed, uncomprehending Jungmin into boasted a scale that made Jungmin’s family home pale in comparison. It was even terrifyingly… to Jungmin’s taste.

After showing him around every single corner without missing a spot, the last place Kim Joohwan showed him was a space with a masonry bathtub, past a sauna made of cypress wood. Jungmin thought this was the swimming pool.

“It’s spacious, right? It’s roomy enough for two Alphas to get in.”

“You… since when.”

This place wasn’t built in a day or two. This place… it was prepared a very long time ago.

“Well. I started looking at land as soon as I returned to Korea… To be honest, I wasn’t thinking of you then, sunbae. No, I wasn’t aware of it. I just thought that I must want to have a house of my own. But as it went up floor by floor, and as I selected and refined the materials, I realized it was gradually becoming not my taste. I was unknowingly making it to your taste, sunbae.”

Kim Joohwan smiled self-deprecatingly.

“So I decided. That I had to live with you, sunbae.”

“And my consent?”

“I brought you here like this to get it.”

“Wow, this is daylight robbery. My opinion isn’t reflected at all.”

Kim Joohwan smiled and approached Jungmin. He came so close that the tips of their noses were about to touch, and as Kim Joohwan came even closer, Jungmin was pushed back against a wall. In the process, worried that Jungmin might get hurt, he gently supported Jungmin’s head.

“Hey… why are you so close.”

“You don’t hate it. The fact that you came this far, doesn’t that mean you consented? If it were you, sunbae, you could have pushed me away, or hit me, or run away… If you really hated it, you would have jumped out of the car.”

“I know that my own life is precious.”

“That’s a relief. Cherish yourself, sunbae. More than anyone else. Cherish yourself as if the world would disappear if you disappeared. Please.”

He pressed their foreheads together.

“Live with me.”

Kim Joohwan was right. If he had really hated it, he would have run away or, if it came down to it, beaten him to a pulp. Jungmin had that much strength now. As long as he wasn’t being suppressed by his pheromones, it was all possible. But neither of them did anything. They just looked into each other’s eyes, as if waiting for each other to accept the other.

“I… I can’t imprint with you.”

Even if we press our foreheads together and look into each other’s eyes like this… even if you knot me now.

“I can’t have your child either.”

Jungmin gently brought out a memory he had forgotten. The place where a little bird had briefly come and gone throbbed with pain.

“And I’m an Alpha. We can’t announce it to the world.”

At Jungmin’s question, Kim Joohwan smiled softly.

“I never told you to become an Omega, sunbae. And it’s not like I liked you because you’re an Alpha, I just like Shin Jungmin. You. So you too, sunbae, just throw everything else away and look at me. Look only at the one person, Kim Joohwan, and give me an answer.”

“What if I can’t give you the answer you want?”

“Then, well… go ahead and try.”

Unlike his relaxed tone, a tremor could be felt from their fingertips that were lightly touching. Jungmin sighed and intertwined his fingers with Kim Joohwan’s. Then he kissed the back of his hand.

“You and I are both hopeless cases. Two hopeless cases like this… let’s not release them back into society. Let’s just live like this, the two of us.”

Kim Joohwan hugged Jungmin with one arm. Then he continuously rubbed his forehead against the nape of his neck, inhaling and exhaling. It felt like he was muttering that he could finally live now. Their clasped hands were soaked with sweat. He was more nervous than I thought. How unlike him.

“But about what you said, sunbae, that we can’t announce it to the world because you’re an Alpha, just you wait. I’ll make it a world where we can announce it within five years.”

It wasn’t an impossible thing to say. In other countries, the trend of allowing romance and marriage between the same manifestation type was on the rise.

“Yeah, go ahead. Your parents, and my parents, they’re getting older now. Let’s try to shock them a little less. That seems like it’ll be the last filial duty we can perform.”

“Haha.”

Kim Joohwan laughed and gave Jungmin a peck on the lips, then regretfully pulled away. Grabbing the nape of his neck, Jungmin kissed him.

“Why are you being so timid. Do as you please.”

He opened his mouth and received his heat. Lying on the still-bare, cold bathroom floor, they explored each other’s bodies to their hearts’ content after a long time. The thought that they got so turned on just by looking at each other’s manly bodies, illuminated by the moonlight, crossed his mind, but it was comfortable. It was a relief. They had nothing to hide from each other, and it seemed they never would in the future. All the more so because their relationship had started from each other’s rock bottom.

✽✽✽

A month and a half had passed since Jungmin left to volunteer in Kenya. In the meantime, Kim Joohwan had moved all of Jungmin’s belongings to the new house and was subtly starting to work on Jungmin’s parents. Youngmin, seeing this, shuddered, calling it detestable, but on the other hand, he was quietly helping Kim Joohwan.

And in the meantime, the pregnant Alpha couple that had caused a stir in the world gave birth to a daughter, so Kim Joohwan sent a fruit basket with a congratulatory message and stood up from his seat to tie up the last loose end.

“It’s been a while.”

The man who had arrived and was sitting there first was clearly not in a normal state of health due to the aftereffects of drugs. His beard was messily grown, his face was gaunt, and he had lost at least 5 kg, so his formerly sparkling appearance was gone, and he was completely shriveled. And he would continue to wither away like that. Kim Joohwan would make sure he could never get out of this place for the rest of his life.

“I heard you’ll be transferred to the Philippines.”

Preferably in a foreign country.

“Rot there for the rest of your life.”

He wouldn’t be able to get drugs anymore, so if he was unlucky, all that was left for him was to die a lonely death in a distant foreign country. Or he would have to spend all his wealth to receive uncertain drugs and live day by day.

“…I’ve been thinking a lot while I was in here.”

His gentle tone of voice had also become completely dry.

“I started to think that maybe… all of this was your design, Kim Joohwan. Am I wrong?”

“You always have a habit of blaming others for your own mistakes, sunbae.”

“Suddenly, the temptation of drugs came to me.”

“And who was the one who fell for that temptation.”

“And there were researchers who leaked news of what Jungmin was doing.”

“Wow, I’ll have to do a clean sweep of the researchers. Talking freely about a patient’s personal information.”

“Make it so I never run into Jungmin… If I see him, I’ll tell him everything.”

“Who would believe a drug addict. And no matter what, I wouldn’t kill my own child. That was your doing, Yoo Shinwoo. Blinded by jealousy.”

Jealousy… at that word, Yoo Shinwoo bit his lip.

“I… there’s no way I would do that. I… I only hate Jungmin.”

“Yes, please think that way. For the rest of your life. Never think beyond that. If you don’t want your brain to melt away too.”

Kim Joohwan gave Yoo Shinwoo a warning with a low growl. Standing up from his seat, he patted his shoulder.

“Take care.”

Kim Joohwan closed the door of the visiting room and came out. On the other side, Yoo Shinwoo shouted something, but it was inaudible. It seemed like he might have called out Shin Jungmin’s name, but he casually ignored it.

He was stupid. He thought it was a relief, as that stupidity had been as good as helping Kim Joohwan. He probably… Jungmin… no, no. Just thinking about it felt like he would go crazy.

Is it better to just kill him? Just as he was thinking that, a call came from Jungmin as if by magic. Kim Joohwan smiled and pressed the call button.

Unable to bear missing Jungmin any longer, Kim Joohwan was planning to leave for Kenya tomorrow after all. He could already clearly picture Jungmin’s face, cursing and nagging about what he was going to do about his company work. All he could think about was that he wanted to see him soon.

〣 Fin. 〣