Correction Chapter 26

“It’s been a while, Shin Jungmin sunbae.”

Ah, Jungmin turned around at the voice calling his name and frowned. Seeing his expression, the owner of the voice shrugged.

“You haven’t changed. That’s the face you make as soon as you see someone.”

“What face did I make?”

“Like you just bit into garbage?”

You know it.

“I’ve never bitten into garbage, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’ve gotten quite relaxed.”

As Kim Joohwan took a step closer, Jungmin took two steps back.

“Why are you here?”

Kim Joohwan’s face hardened slightly at Jungmin’s question, but he soon sighed.

“It’s been over six months since I entered this school, and over six months since I joined this club.”

“Ah, right.”

I didn’t know because I wasn’t interested. But this guy is at the same university too? What kind of bad fate is this?

Jungmin turned back to what he was doing. He hadn’t been to the club in a while, and suddenly everyone was clamoring to go on an autumn retreat. They were using the excuse that some sunbaes were graduating soon, so they should spend some last moments together. However, there was no one to take charge of the preparations, so it was just talk. Jungmin wanted to clear his head, and also wanted to do something different, so he volunteered to take on the arduous task.

“Need any help?”

Joohwan asked as he watched Jungmin checking the supplies that had arrived by courier for the retreat, but Jungmin didn’t answer.

As if expecting this, Joohwan sat down on a chair in the club room and watched Jungmin. He had definitely changed a lot since then.

His baby fat was gone, and the line connecting his straight yet soft nose and lips was both elegant and distinct. Moreover, his shoulders had broadened and his body had become firm, maintaining the perfect physique of an Alpha.

He had the kind of looks that would draw glances anywhere, but he himself seemed unaware of it.

“By the way, sunbae, it’s the first time I’ve seen you in the club room. I heard you were busy with dating.”

“Can you be quiet? You’re distracting me.”

Why were there only two people in this large club room? He wished someone would come in, but at times like these, no one ever did. He couldn’t just storm out. Jungmin clicked his tongue and tried to focus more on the task at hand.

Then, suddenly, he tensed at a strange scent in the air. A familiar yet repulsive pheromone. Annoyed, Jungmin glared at Kim Joohwan.

“Get rid of your pheromones.”

“Ah, sorry.”

With a straight face, as if it were nothing, he needlessly brushed himself off.

“I slept with an Omega who had their heat cycle yesterday, and it seems the excitement hasn’t worn off.”

Just as Jungmin was thinking he didn’t need that kind of information, he felt a sense of déjà vu. A familiar pheromone within Kim Joohwan’s disgusting pheromones.

It was the pheromone of the Omega he had recently broken up with.

“Ah, you noticed.”

Joohwan smiled and stood up. Then, with heavy footsteps, he walked towards Jungmin.

“Sunbae, you broke up, right?”

“…….”

“Right?”

Joohwan asked again, as if confirming. But why did his eyes feel so cold?

“Yes.”

As soon as he heard Jungmin’s answer, the pheromones filling the club room quickly subsided. This bastard, he could control it this well, so why was he letting it out before?

“That’s a relief. Otherwise, I would’ve been hole-brothers with sunbae.”

Why was this guy’s mouth getting so vulgar? Unlike his looks.

“But it wasn’t as tasty as I thought. How were you eating it, sunbae? Do you have bad taste?”

If someone walked into the club room and heard this conversation, they would think they were just talking about food. But knowing the context, Jungmin felt offended.

To begin with, he didn’t feel good about his ex, someone he felt slightly guilty towards, being talked about like this.

“Anyway, improve your taste in people. It’s a waste since you were born an Alpha. You should pick the tasty ones. That tasteless one was so clingy to me while dating you.”

So that meant the Omega had shown interest in Kim Joohwan while they were dating? He felt slightly displeased, but he thought it couldn’t be helped. It was true that he had given them that much leeway.

“So? What do you want from me? You slept with them too. Didn’t you know we broke up?”

“No way. I knew. I was just confirming.”

“Sigh.”

Jungmin sighed deeply. He felt like he was wasting his time. Moreover, if he stayed like this, this guy would keep saying things he didn’t want to hear, so Jungmin tossed the power strip he was holding at Joohwan.

“Stop talking nonsense and help.”

Kim Joohwan’s eyes curved slightly. He seemed pleased. He even hummed as he helped organize the supplies without complaint. He should have done this from the start.

✽✽✽

The day of the retreat. Everyone gathered in front of the school at 7 a.m. to move their luggage and prepare for departure. He saw his ex-lover standing a little distance away.

As soon as their eyes met, he looked away from Jungmin, and Jungmin, thinking it couldn’t be helped, focused on his own work. The sunbaes admired the neatly organized supplies and praised Jungmin.

“Jungmin.”

Shinwoo approached with a slightly bitter smile.

“Hyung.”

He was still avoiding him. Of course, less so than when he first presented as an Alpha. When he was dating the Omega, Shinwoo would come up to him, greet him, and even buy him meals. But after the breakup, the awkwardness returned. Did he know? That Jungmin hadn’t forgotten him yet. Jungmin pushed back his aching heart and smiled at Shinwoo.

“You’ve worked hard preparing.”

“No, it’s okay. I wanted to clear my head, so it worked out well.”

Shinwoo paused for a moment at Jungmin’s words, then reached out and stroked his hair.

They were almost the same height now, so it must have been uncomfortable, but Jungmin meekly offered his head. He liked it when Shinwoo treated him like a child this way.

“Are you okay?”

He knew what it meant. He wanted to say he was fine, bravely, but Jungmin simply nodded weakly, enjoying the attention Shinwoo was showing him.

“You’ll meet someone better. You’ll definitely find a good match. There are many good Omegas in the world.”

Stupid. He should have just said he was fine, bravely. Then he wouldn’t have had to hear these words. Regret followed, but it was too late.

Jungmin watched Shinwoo’s back as he boarded the bus, saying they would see each other later. Shinwoo had hoped Jungmin would stop liking him and was probably relieved when Jungmin started dating an Omega. But that plan had failed.

Jungmin still liked Shinwoo, and his heart ached just looking at him. He wanted to grab him, cling to him, and beg him to see him. But then Shinwoo would run away. He would push him away again, so he was just enduring. Not now… he needed a little more time. When Shinwoo stopped avoiding him… he decided to approach him again then, and Jungmin boarded a different bus.

“Shin Jungmin!”

“Huh?”

What? Why was someone who shouldn’t be on this bus here?

“What, why are you here?”

“Look at how you talk to your younger brother.”

Youngmin smiled brightly and linked arms with the Alpha next to him. Oh my god. It was the club president. When did they become like this? They didn’t even have any connection. Youngmin wasn’t even a member of this film club.

No wonder the president had been busy lately, hadn’t been responding well to messages, and seemed out of it whenever they met.

“Sigh….”

Jungmin sighed, figuring out what had happened. It wasn’t a problem to have one more person, and sometimes people brought acquaintances, so it didn’t matter, but the situation seemed a little comical.

His ex-lover, his ex-fiancé, an Alpha in love with another Alpha… that Alpha’s ex-lover and the Alpha who slept with him. It was so messy that anyone who heard about it would think it was some ridiculous drama.

“Just be quiet.”

Jungmin quietly advised Youngmin. Even in this ticking time bomb situation, if Youngmin stayed quiet, at least the explosion wouldn’t be hastened.

Leaving the grumbling Youngmin behind, Jungmin sat in the front seat. The bus soon started smoothly, heading towards an unfamiliar destination.