Correction Chapter 86

The rumbling vibration was getting on his nerves. Jungmin frowned and reached out, touching the phone screen to stop the vibration. Then, as he was sluggishly crawling back into the covers, he felt something unfamiliar and his eyes shot open. This wasn’t the feel of the blankets he knew. Even the scent from the covers wasn’t his own. He threw the blankets off and shot up, only to close his eyes again from a sudden wave of dizziness.

He took a couple of deep breaths until the dizziness subsided and slowly opened his eyes.

“Haa….”

As he thought, it wasn’t his room. Should he be relieved that it wasn’t a completely unfamiliar room, though…? It was Kim Joohwan’s room. Racking his brain for his last memory, Jungmin recalled that after some pointless conversation, he had taken the shot Joohwan gave him. He’d felt a little dizzy and closed his eyes, but he had no memory of what happened after that.

The silver lining, if there was one, was that his body didn’t hurt anywhere, and aside from the jacket he’d taken off earlier, none of his clothes had been removed. The only problem was that he had no idea how he got into this room… but he decided not to dwell on it.

By the way, doesn’t this huge house have a guest room? And where did the homeowner go? Is it a good thing we weren’t lying in the same bed? Jungmin pressed on his brow as he sat on the edge of the bed.

He looked at the clock; it was 10 PM. His body felt so heavy that he wanted to just lie down and sleep right there, but he’d rather sleep in a hotel than in Kim Joohwan’s house. Just as he picked up his phone to get up, he was startled to see a missed call notification on the screen that read ‘Shinwoo hyung’.

He quickly clicked on the phone screen and saw that there was also a message from him.

You said you’d call, but you didn’t.

Are you in a lot of pain?

Turns out you were more fragile than me, weren’t you?

You’re not picking up. I hope you’re getting some good rest.

His chest tingled and warmed at the messages, which were filled with worry. Jungmin pressed the call button.

─Hello?

The phone had only rung a few times before he answered. As if he had been waiting.

“Hyung.”

─Haa….

A long sigh. It was a sigh of relief, not of worry.

─That’s a relief. I feel a bit better hearing your voice.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t answer.”

─Ah, did I wake you up by any chance?

“Ah, no. No. I was awake.”

─So you were sleeping.

“I told you I wasn’t. I was a bit tired, but… I didn’t wake up because of your call.”

─Okay.

“Um… I’m sorry for making you worry.”

─You know I was worried?

His chest… his heart was pounding so hard it hurt. He knows he shouldn’t get his hopes up, but he keeps doing it. He likes it when Yoo Shinwoo worries about him… he wishes he would keep worrying, so he finds himself wanting to say he’s still in pain, wanting to act childish. But at the same time, he didn’t want to make him worry.

“Thank you.”

─What are you thanking me for? Don’t be sick, you punk.

“You too….”

─By the way, where exactly does it hurt?

“Ah, it’s just… due to a drug side effect during a trait test….”

He must have thought about how to answer if Yoo Shinwoo asked later, because the answer came out immediately. Trait tests were done once every five years, and although they were meaningless for Alphas, the drugs used were so strong that about 30% of those tested complained of side effects like allergic reactions. In other words, it was a common occurrence. And in cases where symptoms appeared, treatment was usually received at the research lab of the company that manufactured the drug, rather than at a hospital. The drug Jungmin’s hospital was currently using was manufactured by Kal Front.

─Really?

“Yeah.”

─I see… that’s a relief. You’re not having any other problems now?

“Thankfully.”

─Ah, I’m getting discharged tomorrow too. Want to get a meal together?

“Really? They said you can be discharged?”

─Thanks to you.

“That’s great. Hyung, that’s really great.”

─So, are we eating or not?

“Of course we are. Where should we eat? Ah, I know a delicious place-”

“Where would that be?”

Jungmin was startled by a voice that suddenly cut into the call. At the same time, the lights in the dark room flickered on, revealing the bleak interior and the owner of the room. Kim Joohwan was standing in the doorway. And Jungmin wasn’t the only one who heard that voice.

─…Who is that?

“Ah, well….”

“Please take me to that delicious place too, Jungmin sunbae.”

Kim Joohwan slowly approached and offered Jungmin a tray with a glass of water. Jungmin took the glass in a daze. Kim Joohwan sat lightly down next to Jungmin.

“I assume that’s Yoo Shinwoo sunbae? Please continue your call. Don’t mind me.”

─Uh… Kim Joohwan?

“Oh, yeah. Kim Joohwan.”

─Where are you? Aren’t you at home?

“Well… I’ll tell you later. Hyung, I’m sorry.”

Jungmin quickly hung up the phone.

“Couldn’t even wait a moment before calling your legal wife. Hah, this is why the life of a concubine is so miserable. After I brought my unconscious husband to my room, gave up my bed, and even brought him water.”

“Yeah, thanks for that, but I’m leaving now.”

Jungmin placed the untouched glass on the bedside table and got up from the bed.

“Ugh.”

Dizzy. Before he could even stand up straight, his body started to collapse, and Kim Joohwan, who was sitting on the bed, quickly supported him.

“You said you were leaving.”

If you’re going to help, why not just help nicely instead of being so sarcastic? Jungmin tried to tell Kim Joohwan he didn’t need his help, but his spinning head couldn’t find its normal equilibrium. In the end, he had no choice but to be led by Kim Joohwan and lie back down on the bed.

“Rest. I’ll lend you the bed just for today.”

“Why are you being like this, it’s making me nervous….”

“What am I doing.”

“Why are you being so nice.”

“We’ll be sleeping together from now on, so this is better, right? I told you. Whether it’s sex or whatever, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it pleasantly. So, sunbae, you should be a little nice to me too. I’m not asking for you to be like you are with Yoo Shinwoo sunbae.”

Honestly, Kim Joohwan wasn’t wrong. It would be better if they got along since they were going to do it anyway. But the words agreeing to do so wouldn’t come out. Instead, Jungmin closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, and soon fell into a deep slumber.

Watching the sleeping Jungmin breathing evenly, Kim Joohwan climbed on top of his body. He then slowly lowered himself and put his nose to the nape of Jungmin’s neck.

He felt a revulsion to the faint scent of Alpha wafting from him. And yet, was it because of the drug? Could it be that it was having an effect after all? It felt a little sweet. So much so that he wanted to keep smelling it.

What broke the spell was the vibration of the phone in the living room. Kim Joohwan looked down at Jungmin again and got off the bed. The motions of turning off the room light and closing the door were flawlessly neat, but also uncharacteristically slow.

Seeing the phone vibrate once, stop, and then ring again, he could tell that the person calling now was persistent.

“Yes, this is Kim Joohwan.”

He answered the phone with a sharp greeting.

─Kim Joohwan.

“Yes, Yoo Shinwoo sunbae.”

He had a feeling this man would call.

─What are you thinking?

“Why are you curious about that?”

─Why can I smell your pheromones on Jungmin? Why did you mark him?

A normal person wouldn’t be able to feel it, but he had expected that Yoo Shinwoo, who has pheromone hypersensitivity, would have. He must have noticed when he hugged Jungmin at the lab earlier.

“Ask Jungmin sunbae. Why I did it.”

─Don’t you dare try any funny business with Jungmin.

“Who are you to say something like that to me?”

As Joohwan spoke with a laugh, he could feel the silence on the other end of the line. Of course. There would be nothing he could say.

“You’re not in any kind of special relationship with Jungmin sunbae, nor do you have any intention of accepting his feelings even though you know all about them. So why?”

─Kim Joohwan….

“Yes, my name is Kim Joohwan. The director of the research institute that is treating you, sunbae.”

─Don’t you dare think about playing with Jungmin. He’s not as strong as you think.

Kim Joohwan’s movements, who had been pouring whiskey into a glass, stopped. It was ridiculous how Yoo Shinwoo spoke as if he knew everything there was to know about Jungmin.

Kim Joohwan glanced toward the bedroom where Jungmin was sleeping.

He himself knew better than anyone just how weak the Alpha in there was. A person who was weak, so very weak, yet pretended to be strong because he had no one to lean on.

“I don’t know what kind of misunderstanding you have. If you’re worried I’m going to eat Jungmin sunbae up, you can rest assured. I have a more refined palate than you think, sunbae.”

─…You’re a real piece of work.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Kim Joohwan hung up the phone and threw it far away. Then he drank his whiskey and headed for his study. As he gazed at the night view where all the world’s light had vanished, his eyes fell on a contract on the desk, reflected in the window.

Yesterday, a researcher who had checked Jungmin’s information at the German research center had spoken with some concern.

‘A maximum of seven times. You must not administer the drug more than that. Unlike Omegas, whose traits are flexible, Alphas are different; if their trait cracks, there’s no telling what might happen.’

“Seven times….”

‘What are you thinking?’

The reason Kim Joohwan had answered Yoo Shinwoo’s question with another question was that even he himself didn’t know his own thoughts and intentions. That was why he had decided to help Jungmin become an Omega—to find that answer. Then he would know. What the right place was.