Correction Chapter 16

“Sunbae, are you crying?”

I wanted to say, “What are you talking about? Why would I cry?” But a single tear slipped from the corner of my eye, leaving me unable to argue.

“Ha, don’t cry, Sunbae.”

Kim Joohwan spoke with a disbelieving tone. But once I became aware of the tears, they fell incessantly.

“I said, don’t cry!”

Kim Joohwan’s brow furrowed sharply. He tightened his grip on Jungmin’s arm, pulled him into a corner, and pushed him against the wall.

“It’s not even a bonding. Why are you crying so pathetically? Are you an omega, Sunbae? Did you lose your alpha or something?! It was just a one-sided love. Your bodies didn’t connect, not even your hearts. No, was it even love? A childish ‘delusion’, that’s all it was. Isn’t it ridiculous to cry like this over something so insignificant?”

“Hyung… Shinwoo Hyung…”

Jungmin couldn’t hear anything Kim Joohwan was saying. He was just so sad and heartbroken that it was all over. He didn’t even have the courage to break up the engagement. No, he didn’t even have the right.

“Shinwoo Hyung…”

Jungmin cried like a child. His sorrow and pain were so palpable that Kim Joohwan felt the urge to strangle him. Anger, boiling from deep within, threatened to consume him. He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket, ripped it open with his teeth, and poured the contents into his palm. Three pills.

He grabbed Jungmin by the collar, pinning his arms against the wall with his own.

“Take it.”

Joohwan shoved the pills into Jungmin’s mouth and covered it. The tingling sensation in his throat stopped Jungmin’s crying. He struggled, trying to push Joohwan away, but Joohwan only pressed down harder.

“Mmmph! Mmmph!”

“Calm down, Sunbae. It’s a birthday present. A drug that accelerates awakening. It’s finished clinical trials overseas, with a 99% success rate. It’s incredibly difficult to obtain, but I got it for you. Swallow.”

Jungmin’s eyes widened at Joohwan’s words. Then he squeezed them shut. Another tear escaped, and Jungmin swallowed the pills.

“Good boy, Shin Jungmin.”

Joohwan removed his hand from Jungmin’s mouth and gently stroked his back.

Jungmin stared at Joohwan.

“Don’t look at me like that. I told you it was a birthday present. I think it’s a more valuable gift than the rings they’re exchanging over there.”

“What… are you… thinking…?”

“Thinking?”

“Yes.”

At Jungmin’s words, Kim Joohwan stroked his chin, pretending to think.

“Thinking, huh. Hmm. I quite like you, Sunbae.”

“Don’t bullshit me.”

“Well, you don’t have to believe me. It doesn’t make my feelings disappear.”

“So, what does you liking me have to do with giving me awakening pills?”

“I hope you become an omega, Sunbae. I genuinely wish for it, without a single sexual desire.”

“Kim Joohwan.”

“In fifteen days from now, your awakening fever will start. Prepare yourself. Prepare to become an omega. Or, if the heavens are particularly cruel, you might become an alpha.”

Kim Joohwan waved his hand and walked into the hall where the engagement party was in full swing. As soon as he disappeared, Jungmin collapsed to the floor. The tingling sensation in his esophagus persisted, and he clutched his throat.

No way… Could it actually… be possible…? But even if I awaken now… who would it be for?

Jungmin wiped away the fresh tears. I can’t stay here any longer. My heart hurts too much… Jungmin rose from the spot and headed home.

✽✽✽

A week had passed since he took the so-called awakening accelerator. There were still no changes in Jungmin’s body. It hadn’t been fifteen days yet, as Kim Joohwan had said, but shouldn’t there be some symptoms by now? Jungmin wondered if he’d been tricked.

He decided that if there were no changes by the fifteenth day, he would kill Kim Joohwan. With that thought, Jungmin left the bathroom.

“Huh?”

Noisy voices drifted up from the first floor. Currently, the house was occupied only by Jungmin and three housekeepers. The reason being that after the successful engagement party, both the Yoo Shinwoo and Shin families had agreed to have dinner together that evening.

Jungmin was supposed to attend, but he couldn’t bring himself to sit there and smile, so he’d excused himself, feigning illness. It had been about two hours since his family left…. It was too early for them to return.

But the voices from downstairs sounded much too familiar to belong to strangers. He could hear Youngmin’s voice, his mother’s and father’s voices, and Yoo Shinwoo’s name being mentioned in the conversation. Jungmin quickly went down to the first floor.

“This engagement is off!!”

“Youngmin! Calm down!”

“Do I look like I can calm down right now?!”

Youngmin yelled at the top of his lungs. But the content of his outburst was strange. Jungmin hurried down the stairs and grabbed his mother, who was pacing anxiously.

“What’s going on?”

“Jungmin… what are we going to do…”

His mother clung to Jungmin’s arm. Jungmin took in the scene in the living room. His father sat on the sofa, sighing. Youngmin was yelling at Shinwoo. Shinwoo hung his head like a criminal, unable to speak. Moreover, the floor was getting wet. Yoo Shinwoo was crying.

Why…?

“Hyung, this is a fraudulent marriage, you know?”

“I never had such an intention. I didn’t know. Please believe me.”

“You didn’t know? How is that possible?!”

This time, Youngmin picked up a sofa cushion and threw it at Shinwoo. Jungmin quickly intervened and stopped him.

“Youngmin. Calm down. What happened?”

“Ah, Jungmin. Jungmin. Listen to me. This hyung, he’s a total fraud.”

Youngmin said, pointing at Shinwoo with an incredulous look. Jungmin glanced at Shinwoo’s face, then back at Youngmin.

“What are you talking about? What nonsense are you spouting?”

“You know me, right? I want to have a baby. I want an alpha baby.”

I know. You don’t want a child because you genuinely like children. You just want to brag to everyone as the omega who gave birth to an alpha. Because you think that’s the highest honor for an omega.

“But I’ve knotted with hyung so many times since we started dating. We even spent heat cycles together. But I haven’t gotten pregnant. So, hyung and I went to get tested together. The results came out today… Haha, hyung has azoospermia. Azoospermia!! He doesn’t have any sperm! He tried to trick me and marry me!”

A… zoospermia…?

He couldn’t believe it. Shinwoo having azoospermia…. Jungmin looked at Shinwoo. Shinwoo’s face was filled with despair. A face that had lost everything… It was understandable. He was an alpha. An alpha whose paternal instincts were as strong as an omega’s maternal instincts, whose desire to leave behind offspring was even stronger than an omega’s. For such an alpha to be unable to have children….

“Are you sure the test results aren’t wrong?”

Jungmin asked, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible. He felt that if even he lost his composure, it would hurt Shinwoo even more.

“Did you get tested somewhere else? Get tested again. It could be a mistake.”

“Just in case, I got tested at three different places. But the results are all the same. Should I go abroad now and get tested again?”

Oh my god….

“Anyway, Shinwoo hyung. Let’s end this here. Let’s go back to being just hyung and dongsaeng. I’m letting you off easy because of our past relationship. Let’s consider our engagement null and void.”

“Youngmin, please listen to me. This isn’t a simple matter… I don’t want to end things with you like this.”

“I’m sorry, but I do want to end it like this. I want to have a child. This is a disqualifying factor for you. Make sure the rumors about me don’t spread in a weird way, hyung. You should at least do that much for me, right? It’s the decent thing to do, isn’t it?”

Youngmin said firmly. Shinwoo couldn’t hold onto Youngmin any longer. Instead, Jungmin grabbed Youngmin, but he shook off Jungmin’s arm and went upstairs.

His father sighed and went into the bedroom, and his mother patted Jungmin’s shoulder, whispering for him to comfort Shinwoo before following his father. They were left alone in the living room. Shin Jungmin and Yoo Shinwoo.

Jungmin approached Shinwoo.

“Shinwoo hyung… Are you okay?”

“…Yeah, I’m okay. I showed you such an unsightly side of myself, Jungmin… to you…”

Lies… Hyung, you cried. You’re not okay… You knew how much Youngmin wanted a child… You must have wanted to give him a child even more than Youngmin did… I know how much this hurts you because you can’t… What do you mean, you’re okay?

Jungmin reached out and hugged Shinwoo tightly. He stroked his back and his hair.

“Hyung… It’s okay. Youngmin is just shocked right now. He’ll come back to you in a bit. Just give him some time.”

As soon as Jungmin finished speaking, Shinwoo hugged him back. He buried his face in Jungmin’s shoulder and his body trembled as he wept.

“Jungmin… I’m so sorry to Youngmin. I don’t know what to do. I should let him go, but I can’t let go of him…”

I understand your feelings best, Hyung…

Just as long as I’ve known you… You’ve known Youngmin for just as long. Those feelings that make it hard to let go… I understand them well, Hyung….

Jungmin didn’t say anything more. He just held Shinwoo tightly, wishing that this was all a dream.