Correction Chapter 96

Turning Point.

Perhaps that was the turning point.

“Ah….”

Seeing the blood falling between his legs, Jungmin felt like he was going to lose his mind. Maybe it would have been better if he had.

“No… don’t….”

Within his fading consciousness, his body gradually collapsed, strengthless. In that space, he saw one man who seemed unfazed, and another man who, pale as a sheet, was trying somehow to catch his collapsing self.

The entire situation was like hell. Amidst it all, he felt pity and sorrow for that man who was rushing over, trying to hold him no matter what.

Yes, if I hadn’t made that choice at that turning point… maybe there would have been a different path for you, and for me.

Right? Kim Joohwan.

✽✽✽

“Jungmin!!”

Yoo Shinwoo, who rushed in with a deathly pale face, did not look angry. He was so full of worry that it seemed like he would cry if someone so much as touched him.

“Shinwoo hyung.”

“What happened to you? What on earth….”

Shinwoo saw the IV line connected to Jungmin’s arm and his gaze shifted. Seeing that not one, but three bags of medicine were connected, he sank down onto a chair.

“Shinwoo hyung, are you okay?”

“Are you okay? What in the world happened? This isn’t even a hospital. Why are you… here?”

“Well….”

After Kim Joohwan left and he was alone in the room, Jungmin thought deeply. Should he tell him the truth? He didn’t want to lie to him anymore, so that would be the right thing to do. But… then this hyung might have an even harder time. The thought that he might despair and blame himself for Jungmin choosing such a path because of him made it difficult to speak up readily.

“The truth is, I’m helping out with a clinical trial here.”

“A clinical trial? For what?”

“To be exact….”

He hesitated to speak. The words were stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out as sounds. Jungmin clenched his fists tightly. Then, Shinwoo reached out and took Jungmin’s hand.

“The medicine won’t go in. Don’t tense up like that.”

“Hyung….”

“And it’s okay if you don’t want to talk if it’s hard for you. I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”

Shinwoo would never know how much courage those words gave Jungmin.

“Jungmin.”

He tried to hold it in. He really tried…. But every one of his tender words… the affectionate way he called his name felt so good that Jungmin ended up shedding tears.

“What’s wrong? What on earth happened?”

Shinwoo stood up and sat on the edge of the bed. Then he gently stroked Jungmin from his head down to his back and hugged him. Was it because of the medicine? He could feel Shinwoo’s warm pheromones.

“Hyung…. I wanted to become your omega…. I wanted to save you…. So….”

Jungmin struggled to bring out the words he had kept inside. His voice trembled finely and he had to pause for breath in between, but he arduously pieced together each syllable, and Shinwoo listened to all of it with patience.

That he had been taking a drug to become an omega, and that he was brought here this time because of its side effects…. After hearing the whole story, Shinwoo silently pulled Jungmin into a tight hug.

“Why did you do it?”

“I’m sorry….”

“For a guy like me… why would you throw yourself away?”

“No. That’s not it. I didn’t throw myself away. I… just did what I wanted to do.”

Jungmin calmly explained to Shinwoo that if he had turned away from that part of himself, that would have been no different from throwing himself away.

“I’m sorry. I feel like I made you this way.”

“I told you, no. Hyung, it’s absolutely not that. I wanted to become an omega! I’ve been saying that since I was a kid. That I wanted to be your omega.”

Jungmin held onto the bitterly self-reproaching Shinwoo and told him it wasn’t true. Shinwoo slowly let Jungmin go, and Jungmin looked into Shinwoo’s eyes. He could feel that he was in great pain. The moment he saw those eyes, he regretted saying anything. He hadn’t wanted to make hyung wear that expression. That’s why he had tried to hide it. He hadn’t been able to resist a moment’s selfish desire.

“Probably….”

Shinwoo opened his mouth.

“You’re probably the only person in this world who loves me that much, Jungmin.”

Unlike his fear of what might come next, Shinwoo comforted Jungmin tenderly.

“Hyung….”

“Even I gave up on myself… but you didn’t give up on me until the end.”

“You didn’t give up on yourself either, hyung. That’s why you came all this way to get treatment. Seeing you like that, I just wanted to be of help. Doctor Kim said so. That if I become an omega, the match rate would surely be high…. And then I could save you.”

“Jungmin….”

“This is my own selfish desire. So you don’t need to blame yourself. Please… don’t do that.”

As Jungmin started to cry again, Shinwoo caressed his cheek and then pulled him into another hug. He gently patted him, accepting the tears Jungmin shed.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Shinwoo hyung….”

They held each other for a long time, calling each other’s names in trembling voices.

Once the situation calmed down, the IV drip happened to be finished as well, making it possible for him to be discharged.

“I’ll take you home.”

“Huh? Aren’t you tired, hyung?”

“How could I be tired? My heart dropped so many times today because of you… I’m actually wide awake right now. And… I think we have more to talk about. Don’t we?”

Shinwoo held Jungmin’s hand tightly. Thump, thump, his heart pounded. He had thought that hyung might despise him, but instead, it felt like he had taken another step closer.

Jungmin carefully got off the bed. Thanks to the medicine, strength had returned to his legs, and it was a relief that he didn’t end up looking like a newborn fawn with trembling legs. He didn’t want to give someone who was already worried any more cause for concern.

Without much of a discharge procedure, he simply reported to the researchers and left the lab. Shinwoo’s car was in the underground parking garage.

“You have no idea how much I was trembling on my way here…. It’s a miracle I didn’t get into an accident.”

Shinwoo said it with a laugh, but Jungmin’s heart sank.

“Hyung, are you okay? Should I drive?”

“What are you talking about? You’re the patient here.”

Shinwoo smiled as he fastened Jungmin’s seatbelt for him. Thump, thump… it really felt like his heart was going to burst. He had thought that the excitement of childhood and the excitement of adulthood would surely be different… but no. They were the same. Then and now, this feeling and this fluttering felt as comfortingly simple as a childish crush.

“Are you going to… keep doing it?”

As the car started moving, Shinwoo asked cautiously.

“Yes.”

“Until when?”

“Until I become an omega.”

“Jungmin…. It’s a drug that’s still in clinical trials. There’s no way it’s good for your body. Look at today. If this happened to you… because of that drug, it means something like this could happen at any time….”

Shinwoo’s hands on the steering wheel were trembling.

“Hyung….”

“If I tell you to stop… will you stop?”

“No. This is something I can’t compromise on. Absolutely not.”

“……Right. You were always the type to do something if you said you would.”

“Exactly. So why doesn’t God know my personality when even you do, hyung? If he had just made me an omega from the start, I wouldn’t be doing something that goes against God’s work.”

Jungmin smiled. Then he carefully placed his own hand over Shinwoo’s trembling one.

“Don’t worry. Hyung. I’m going to do it. I won’t fail. I will definitely become an omega.”

In Jungmin’s eyes, there was not a hint of hesitation or fear. There was only the will to succeed.

“Then, you have to tell me everything… without leaving anything out. That’s the only way I can help you, too. Though I don’t know if I’ll be of any help.”

“Just hearing you say that makes me feel like I’ve already gained an army of thousands. Thanks. Hyung.”

“And if it gets too hard, stop. Got it?”

“Okay.”

He couldn’t promise… but right now, it seemed like Shinwoo wanted that answer, so he had no choice but to say okay.

The conversation he had with Shinwoo after that was nothing special. They just talked about everyday things, about what Shinwoo had done in the two days they hadn’t seen each other, and about what was happening in the world, and before they knew it, they had arrived home.

“I’ll call you. Make sure you answer. Or at least text me.”

Shinwoo said, full of concern, as Jungmin got out of the car. Jungmin replied that he would several times and closed the car door. Once Shinwoo’s car drove away, he lowered the hand he had been waving and collapsed right onto the ground.

He couldn’t feel any strength in his legs. No… it was the same for his arms. He had no sensation in his whole body. He had been fine just a moment ago….

“Hmm? Shin Jungmin?”

He didn’t even have the strength to go into the house, and as he was wondering what to do, Youngmin got out of a car that had just pulled in.

“Hey, are you drunk?”

Ha, the thought that it was a relief to have family to lean on must mean his body really wasn’t in a normal state.

“Yeah, help me up for a sec.”

“Jeez~ you’re on a break, so you’re really letting loose, huh? Oh, I have something to tell you, by the way~”

“Youngmin. I’ll listen. But let’s go inside first.”

“Alright, alright~”

Youngmin grumbled but supported Jungmin and brought him into the house. It was an ordeal listening to Youngmin, who was about to get remarried, ramble on about things that happened with her alpha husband-to-be, but thanks to her, he was able to get inside the house.

For a full two days after that, he was sick in bed. He didn’t have a fever, but he had slight body aches and no strength in his body, so he couldn’t even leave his room and just stayed in bed, sleeping continuously.