Correction Chapter 38

I’ve never been tired, hyung. How can I be tired? I was just desperate. Desperate to be loved by you, to be yours… and that’s still the same.

“I ran hard to get closer, but I only drifted further away. It’s a path of no return. Not that I intend to go back…”

Jungmin’s tears soak the ground. The lawn, once lush and green, has long since withered to a yellowish brown from neglect.

“Let’s both move on. Let’s find a new path. To do that, I think we need to be apart. I need to be away from Youngmin.”

“Then… you’re studying abroad in America… because of me…?”

“No. I told you. I need to be away from Youngmin to escape. That’s the only way I can make a clean break. If I stay in Korea, I’ll keep clinging to him. I’m doing this for myself, so don’t think that way. And research is more advanced in the US, so I might be able to cure my illness faster.”

“Hyung, that’s not an illness.”

“It is to me.”

“Hyung…”

“I hope we can smile when we meet again, Jungmin. I like seeing you smile brightly.”

“Shinwoo hyung…”

“I’m sorry. I’m really… really sorry. I’m sorry for only thinking of myself… until the very end.”

Shinwoo removes his hand from Jungmin’s cheek. Then, once again, he strokes Jungmin’s hair with his large hand.

“Thank you for liking me.”

“When… when will you come back?”

Instead of answering, Shinwoo smiles. Perhaps that is the wisest answer for him. If there were a set date, Jungmin would wait.

And so, Yoo Shinwoo leaves for America.

Two months later, Youngmin announces that he’s pregnant and engaged to the “dominant alpha” he so desired. Naturally, he drops out of school. Jungmin doesn’t know if Shinwoo heard the news, but he deliberately doesn’t tell him. Of course, he doesn’t have Shinwoo’s contact information anyway.

Only Jungmin remains at the university where he thought the three of them… would spend time like they used to. He attends school alone, lonely. But he doesn’t slack off. His desire to become a doctor hasn’t changed, so he studies hard, receiving scholarships… and slowly lets go of his precious first love.

“Phew…”

On the day he receives his diploma, Jungmin stands in a corner of the campus where he used to spend time with Shinwoo, smoking a cigarette and chuckling softly.

Shinwoo hyung.

Have you started your new beginning?

I’m about to. I’ll work hard. So, you work hard too. And be happy. Please.

✽✽✽

Jungmin’s eyes snap open at the insistent buzzing of his pager. Thankfully, the pager is silent, and he can go back to sleep. But the buzzing continues.

He realizes it’s his cell phone, which he’d silenced and placed under his pillow. He’s annoyed. He wants to turn it off, but sometimes his mother calls at this hour worried about him, and sometimes senior doctors or nurses call, so he can’t ignore it and answers the phone.

He glances at the clock while answering. 3:00 AM.

─ Why are you answering so late!!

Jungmin regrets answering at the sharp voice.

“Youngmin… it’s 3:00 AM… I haven’t even been asleep for 15 minutes.”

And it’s precious time off after two days of work.

─ Just listen to me!! He actually…!

Youngmin speaks in a pleading tone, but it seems to fall on deaf ears. He hears Youngmin’s second child, born six months ago, crying loudly in the background. No matter how adorable his nephew is, Jungmin is exhausted and just wants to rest, so the baby’s cries only irritate him.

But he knows that hanging up will only make things worse, so he lowers the volume as much as possible, places the phone on his stomach, and closes his eyes again.

Six months into his internship. He’s experiencing the true meaning of hell.

✽✽✽

“Oh my, Doctor Shin is here?”

“Yes, Grandma. How are you feeling today?”

“I feel much better seeing your handsome face, Doctor.”

“Thank you.”

Despite the hardships of his internship, Jungmin finds solace in the feeling that this is his true calling.

He enjoys watching sick patients overcome their illnesses and leave the hospital. Of course, some patients depart to a place they can never return from, but it’s okay because many more regain their health and leave.

“Aren’t you going home, Doctor Shin? I think I’ve seen you in that shirt for days.”

“Does it smell?”

“Not really, but~ you’re getting so pale, I think you’ll be the one lying in a bed here soon.”

“Haha… I’m trying to avoid that, so I’m going home today. For the first time in three weeks.”

“Oh, good for you! Get some rest. Your mother will be happy to see you.”

He knows his mother will nag him when he gets home. She’s happy that he became a doctor, but she’s also worried because she rarely sees him and he’s never home, like he’s away in the military.

Moreover, when he first started his internship, he came home like a zombie after a few weeks of hard work, and his mother burst into tears. Since that day, he’s been trying not to worry her, but the situation isn’t easy, so he decides he should at least shower before going home from now on so he can look presentable.

After the morning rush subsides, Jungmin takes a deep breath and looks at his reflection in the mirror. Dressed in his white coat, bustling around, he looks every bit the doctor. And now, no matter how he looks at it, he is an alpha.

Thanks to diligently managing his health because he knows how demanding being a doctor is, his physique and stamina are undeniably those of an alpha. He possesses pheromones capable of melting any omega, anytime, anywhere. And…

“The weather’s nice.”

He looks up at the blue sky.

A sky from which someone is gone.

Jungmin neatly folds his feelings and lets them go into that sky as well.

“Doctor Shin!! Code Blue!!”

He really has no time to rest. He’s finally getting some fresh air, and he gets a code blue within minutes.

“Yes!!”

Jungmin runs energetically towards the voice calling him.

✽✽✽

Returning home after so long feels more nostalgic than unfamiliar. He feels tears welling up.

Dinner preparations are underway when he arrives. It seems his mother and the housekeeper joined forces to prepare a feast as soon as he called to say he might be able to come home.

However, rather than eating, Jungmin just wants to sleep in his warm and cozy room.

His mother, seeing her son’s face, half its usual size after three months, tears up and quickly sends him upstairs. Jungmin collapses onto his bed and falls asleep instantly.

He feels like he could sleep for two days and three nights, but he’s so used to light sleep that he wakes up every 30 minutes, unable to rest properly.

After repeatedly falling asleep and waking up, he manages no more than two hours of sleep, and his internal clock, always accurate, wakes him with a growl from his stomach. He checks the time. 9:00 PM. Scratching his head, he opens his door and steps out. He feels bad for his mother and the housekeeper, but he has to ask for food.

As soon as he opens the door, he instantly regrets it. He hears a hysterical voice.

“Mom! Why are you taking his side?!”

Youngmin’s voice attacks his mother. Jungmin sighs. He hesitates, wondering if he should go downstairs. He doesn’t have the energy or mental strength to talk to and listen to Youngmin right now. Why did he have to come home today…?

“What’s going on with Shin Jungmin? He said he was coming home today! Listen to me!”

“Hey! Do you think Jungmin is playing around? What are you saying to your brother who’s home to rest after three months?”

“Well, who told him to become a doctor?! Ugh, this is so frustrating!”

Jungmin decides it’s no use and goes back into his room. He doesn’t want Youngmin to disturb his long-awaited rest. Call him selfish, but he can’t help it. Youngmin has already chosen his life and is living it, and Jungmin has the right to live his own life too.

Clutching his hungry stomach, he flops down on his bed and looks out the window. A sense of relief washes over him, realizing he’s truly home, and he starts to feel sleepy again. Then his phone rings.

Thinking it might be a call from the hospital, he quickly checks. It’s Kim Joohwan. It’s a message he doesn’t need to check right away, but he has nothing else to do, so he presses the button. It’s a short message.

I went to the hospital today, but I heard you were off. I was going to ask you to have dinner… Get some rest, sunbae.

It’s a pointless message. Kim Joohwan has been sending messages like this occasionally since Jungmin became a doctor, always just checking in. There’s never anything important. Of course, Jungmin has never replied. He doesn’t want to. He’s just sick and tired of this lingering connection.

“Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve seen him.”

Jungmin has been busy with his internship, and Joohwan has been busy learning the ropes at his company, starting from the bottom. They each have their own work, and their paths are completely different, so after graduating university, their connection, as tenuous as a thin thread through their families, has remained at the level of mere acquaintances.

“Yawn.”

Jungmin yawns and lies back down on his bed. His phone slips from his hand and falls to the floor. Soon, the sound of even breathing fills the room.