Correction Chapter 54

“How did they find out?”

“Don’t you watch the news? It was in the articles. Well, rumors were already circulating in this circle even before that.”

“…Rumors?”

“Yeah, that Ji Sooeun was in a sham engagement with you and actually had someone else, but that someone turned out to be an Omega. Wow-”

Jungmin quickly took out his phone and searched for the article. In a corner of the entertainment news, there was an article and a photo, treated as gossip. A picture of Ji Sooeun and her partner coming out of a hotel. Of course, it was pixelated, but since Jungmin had met the partner Omega before, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize him.

How did this… how….

“Hey, get a grip. At this rate, your value is going to drop too. Watch how you act.”

Youngmin said he was scared that Jungmin would get dragged down with her, but Jungmin was more worried about Soohan and Sooeun. Jungmin quickly took one of the cars at home and drove to Soohan’s house. He kept calling on the way, but as expected, no one answered. Jungmin stopped the car on the side of the road and slammed his fist on the steering wheel.

“Damn it….”

He was worried about the two siblings who must be struggling. He wanted to be by their side. But he was only frustrated that there was nothing he could do right now.

Jungmin, deciding to be fooled just one more time, prayed to the god who had always turned a blind eye to him. Please protect and shield those two. Please don’t let them hurt too much…. But he knew. God would not grant this prayer. Because the one praying did not believe in God.

✽✽✽

Another hellish week passed like that. He thought it would die down with time, but the small article spread to large online communities, and the matter eventually blew up.

People who supported love between the same secondary gender were a minority, and trashy articles and comments filled with hate and disgust took over the internet. They were articles that were painful just to read the headlines. Neither Soohan nor Sooeun came to the hospital, and news came through a representative that Sooeun had quit the hospital.

It was understandable. The rumors about Sooeun had already spread throughout the hospital.

The whispers of ‘How could an Omega with another Omega…’ blanketed the entire hospital, and Jungmin felt his breath catch in his throat.

“Dr. Shin. Stay strong.”

“That’s right. You’ll meet a good Omega.”

“Seriously, what a nuisance to Dr. Shin.”

Naturally, gazes of pity and sympathy were poured on Jungmin. Strictly speaking, he was an accomplice too, but he hated being positioned as a victim. In the end, Jungmin couldn’t stand it either and said he would take a few days off from the hospital, holing himself up at home.

And another day passed, and a guest visited Jungmin’s family home. It was none other than Sooeun’s mother. Jungmin greeted her happily, but she, with a deathly pale face, apologized to Jungmin and Jungmin’s mother.

“I truly have no words to say.”

“Do you think this is a problem that can be solved with an apology?”

Jungmin’s mother, as expected, cornered Sooeun’s mother with a voice full of sharp edges.

“Mother, please calm down.”

“How can I be calm right now?”

“Please…. This is my business, so I will handle it.”

Jungmin told Youngmin to escort their mother away and spoke with Sooeun’s mother outside.

“The reason I came here is….”

She let out a deep sigh.

“To see if you could still overlook Sooeun… but seeing Madam’s reaction, it seems difficult….”

At her words, Jungmin thought, ‘She’s wrong.’ Even with no contact… he had thought positively, that no news was good news, that maybe things were working out somehow. That maybe they were resolving it with less heartache, but he was wrong.

“Still, Mr. Jungmin… please. Our Sooeun…. Can’t you take Sooeun back? That child is possessed by something right now….”

Jungmin couldn’t give her any answer.

“Please. Mr. Jungmin.”

“With hyung… I want to talk to Soohan hyung. Where is he now?”

At Jungmin’s words, her face brightened. She would take it as a positive sign.

“He’s at home right now. Just a moment.”

She quickly made a call. After a few words, she handed the phone to him. Jungmin took the phone and swallowed a dry gulp. It had been a long time since they talked.

“Hel…lo.”

─Ah… Jungmin-ah.

A tired voice. But that voice sounded so sad and sorrowful. Jungmin gripped the phone tightly. As if it were Ji Soohan himself.

“Hyung…. Can we meet for a moment?”

And that night, he was able to meet Soohan. Seeing him drinking alone at a small bar, looking so small and weary, Jungmin hugged him from behind. Soohan only felt like he could breathe after sensing Jungmin’s pheromones.

“Jungmin-ah.”

“Yeah.”

“Our Sooeun… what do we do…?”

“Hyung….”

“…Our……. What do we do now…?”

Soohan asked Jungmin two of the questions he had been asking the wall for the past few days. Jungmin could only hug him silently.

✽✽✽

In truth, Sooeun had been slowly preparing to leave. Both Jungmin and Soohan had been helping with the process, and she was scheduled to leave completely after getting through this heat cycle. She had already bought a house in the country where she would reside and was dreaming of a happy future, but now, he said, she was suffering from aphasia.

At Sooeun’s request, Soohan had hidden the partner Omega, but Sooeun was trembling with anxiety day by day, afraid that something would happen to the Omega. Moreover, Ji Soohan’s family was also looking for that Omega. The Omega’s family was already in shambles. Since they were old acquaintances, the betrayal led them to cut off all of that family’s means of livelihood. Because of that, Sooeun was even more hurt and tormented.

And Soohan, who truly loved the two of them, was also suffering, though not as much as they were.

“How… how did it come to this?”

“Someone said they saw the two of them coming out of a hotel. And they sent the pictures to my house.”

“What? Blackmail…? It didn’t start with the article?”

“Right, it didn’t. The pictures came first. But there was no blackmail or anything. Just the pictures…. That alone threw our house into an uproar, but……. I never thought they’d leak it to the media.”

“Who on earth….”

“I’m looking for them. If I find them, I’ll kill them.”

Jungmin’s hand covered Soohan’s, which was trembling as it held the glass. Only then did the trembling stop, and Soohan leaned his body against Jungmin’s shoulder.

“My mother said she was going to visit you and ask you to take Sooeun back no matter what….”

“Yes, today.”

“Actually… I also had the ridiculous thought of asking you for the same favor…. But if that happened, your life… Sooeun’s life… and my life would all become a mess. Besides, even if she’s my little sister…. just imagining marrying you is horrifying.”

“You can say that in this situation?”

When Jungmin laughed as if it were absurd, Soohan finally lifted the corner of his mouth slightly.

“I’m glad it was you, really. If I had dragged someone else into this… it probably would have been an even bigger mess. Yes…. I’m glad it’s you… and I’m grateful it’s you. Jungmin-ah.”

“If you know that, then cheer up a bit. What’s with this look? Where did the always-confident Ji Soohan go?”

“If not now, when else can I lean on you?”

“Really now….”

Jungmin patted his shoulder, as if telling him to lean on him as much as he wanted. At that, Soohan smiled and leaned on Jungmin’s shoulder.

When one glass was empty and the glass was filled again, Soohan, who had been silent for a long while, let out a deep sigh.

“Both you and I have families, so we have to be mindful of others’ eyes. We can’t escape the hands of our elders.”

“……”

“They’re so concerned with outside appearances that they don’t even realize they’re strangling their own children….”

“…So what are you going to do? Sooeun-ssi, like this….”

If left like this, even if she didn’t marry Jungmin, it was obvious they would force her to marry any Alpha they could grab. That was truly one of the worst outcomes, one he didn’t want to see or hear about.

“…I’m planning to send her away somehow next week. I’m already preparing for it.”

“…If there’s anything I can do to help, tell me. I’ll help.”

“Jungmin-ah.”

“Yeah.”

“Because of Sooeun’s matter, my mother is also rushing my marriage. Her plan is to pair me up with any Omega without needing an engagement and send me off.”

Jungmin’s movement, which had been swirling his glass, stopped.

“And I can’t send Sooeun alone either. That kid is in a very dangerous state right now.”

“…Hyung….”

“Let’s go together.”

“Hyung.”

“I can’t give up on you. I can’t leave you behind. Jungmin-ah, so let’s go together. Let’s live together. Please….”

At that moment, he felt the hourglass that had been stopped turn over. The moment of choice had arrived. And much sooner than he had thought….