KTS 100

“What?”

Winston’s face visibly distorted. Yu-jin was startled by the expression he had never seen before, but that didn’t mean he had changed his mind. He somehow mustered the confidence that had disappeared in an instant and opened his mouth again.

“I, it’s a party. I…… I want to play too.”

Winston looked down at him without saying anything. Seeing his eyes shaking with anxiety, a pitiful feeling and at the same time the desire to cut him off firmly and send him back to the room made him agonize.

Yu-jin is curious because this is his first time in a place like this.

Thinking that way, it would be right for Winston to take the initiative to actively introduce Yu-jin to others and create a place for him to socialize, but he didn’t think this place was appropriate.

Of all people, with these drunks and junkies.

What if he hangs out with these idlers who get drunk and smoke marijuana at the drop of a hat and develops bad habits? Yu-jin is curious and new to everything in the world, so he might fall into a swamp before he realizes what is good and bad.

It’s not now.

It was a place he couldn’t feel at ease with at all. Winston decided to appease Yu-jin and opened his mouth.

“Yu-jin, I’m sorry. I’ll kick those guys out right away, so let’s have a party next time. You don’t have to hang out with those guys…….”

“Is his name Yu-jin?””Yu-jin, come here, let’s play a game together!”

“A toast to Yu-jin and Winston!” Winston’s words vanished meaninglessly before he could even finish. Seeing Yu-jin look around, startled by the ensuing shouts and whistles, Winston could only sigh in disbelief. Yu-jin’s heart sank at the sight of his face. Maybe I was being stubborn for no reason. What if he’s sick of me?

I’m sorry, I’ll go back up.

“Um…”

Yu-jin was about to speak when Evelyn suddenly cut in between them.

“What’s wrong with it? It’d be nice if Yu-jin played with us too. Right? We’re all going to find out eventually anyway.”

She smiled at Yu-jin as she said the last words. Yu-jin blinked, flustered by the sudden situation. Winston frowned as he looked at her, then turned his gaze back to Yu-jin. His face clearly showed his inner conflict. Evelyn had clearly taken his side, but Yu-jin felt even more hurt by his expression.

What should I do?

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he just said he would go back up, it would seem like he was being stubborn and embarrassing Winston, but if he stayed, it would be thanks to Evelyn.

Feeling unfairly wronged, he hung his head, but as if sensing Yu-jin’s mood, Winston opened his mouth.

“Yu-jin, if you want to play with everyone, then play. If not, then don’t. I’ll follow whatever you choose.”

Huh?

When Yu-jin looked up, Winston’s expression was different from before. He was looking at him with a friendly smile, as usual, as if he would do anything if he asked him to run away to the end of the earth right now.

“If I said I wanted to kick everyone out and be alone with you, would you do that…?”

At the cautious question, Winston readily nodded.

“Okay, I’ll go get the gun from the study.”

“W-Wait, wait, wait!”

He hurriedly grabbed Winston, who was about to turn away, and continued.

“I was just kidding, you don’t have to do that… I really mean it.”

“Really?”

At his expression, which seemed rather disappointed, Yu-jin’s unpleasant feelings melted away. He smiled disarmingly and nodded.

“My friends came all this way… I’ll play with you guys too. You’re not going to be here all night, are you?”

Just a few hours, then. Yu-jin sincerely thought so. It wouldn’t be bad to have the experience of hanging out with new people…

“Do you really want to hang out with these guys? Are you serious?”

As if to confirm Yu-jin’s decision one more time, Yu-jin nodded again.

“Yeah, it’s my first time doing something like this, so I’m curious.”

Winston, who was looking at him with sparkling eyes, sighed briefly before relaxing his expression and smiling.

“Okay, I understand. Come here.”

Winston, who readily put his arm around Yu-jin’s waist, headed towards the group that was drinking and chatting. Next to him, who naturally picked up a beer bottle and joined the conversation, Yu-jin also tried to mingle with the people while holding a beer bottle.

His friends were loud and full of pretense, but they didn’t seem like bad people. Among the people who laughed or jeered at pointless jokes, Yu-jin also laughed and chatted along, and before he knew it, he was getting used to the beer little by little. When he came to his senses, he had already finished a whole bottle.

“Want another one?”

Winston asked Yu-jin, who checked the empty bottle and looked disappointed. When he nodded, Winston told him to stay here and not go anywhere, then quickly left his seat. Yu-jin, who was looking at Winston’s back with a pleased expression, turned his head again, and suddenly everyone’s eyes were focused on him. Surprised, he blinked, and the guys smiled and started talking to him.

“Wow, he’s finally gone. That damn guy was giving us so much to read.”

“I thought I was going to get strangled earlier? Yu-jin smiled at me. Winston was trying to kill me.”

“Really? Why are you flirting in front of your boyfriend? You’re such trash.”

Yu-jin looked at them with an ambiguous smile at the boisterous noise. The guys continued to talk without paying attention to him.

“Hiding such a pretty boyfriend. No wonder he rejected everyone who confessed to him.”

“If I were Yu-jin’s boyfriend, I would do the same.”

“I wish I had met you first.”

“Where have you been hiding all this time? It’s not fair that you’re only showing up now.”

…Is this a compliment?

Yu-jin didn’t know how to take their jokes, so he just gave an awkward smile. I hope Winston comes soon. He glanced back, but another guy started talking.

“How long have you two been dating?”

“Ah, um…”

When he hurriedly turned his head, everyone was looking at him with great interest. Yu-jin rubbed the back of his neck, feeling embarrassed for no reason, and replied.

“Um, well… about… half a year?”

I guess so? We’ve been dating since Winston came back. If you think about it that way, it hasn’t really been a few months, but Yu-jin vaguely inflated the date for no reason. I guess this much bluffing is okay. He took a deep breath, feeling his heart pounding as if it would burst, even though it was nothing special, and then someone else spoke.

“Then Winston won’t go to pheromone parties anymore?”

Huh?

Yu-jin looked at him, wondering what he was talking about. But without noticing his gaze, another guy nodded and took the words.

“I guess so, now that he has Yu-jin.”

“I heard that extreme alphas have to force out pheromones because of their constitution, so that must be quite a job.”

“Isn’t it better? Even if he fools around, he can just say it’s because of pheromones and it’s over.”

The guy who said that while chuckling suddenly paused and turned to look at Yu-jin. When he met Yu-jin’s eyes, who had been staring at him with a blank face until then, the other guys also seemed to flinch. He had a bad feeling.

“Um, what does that mean?… Pheromone party?”

It wasn’t a word he was hearing for the first time. As he muttered the word that was somehow familiar, the guys looked at each other in embarrassment. They seemed to have belatedly realized their mistake, but the water had already been spilled. The guys, who were peeking behind Yu-jin as if to check if Winston was coming, looked at each other and then sighed.

“You would have found out anyway.”

“That’s right, you have to know if you’re dating Winston.”

“Winston would have tried to tell you someday…”

Yu-jin became even more anxious at the disjointed words. He couldn’t stand it anymore and urged them.

“What are you talking about, tell me quickly! It’s frustrating!”

Among the guys who were just exchanging glances as if they were passing the buck to each other, one of them finally plucked up the courage to open his mouth.

“Extreme alphas can’t let pheromones build up, so they have to have sex often to get rid of them. So they often call omega prostitutes to parties or have group sex.”

His mind wasn’t working well at the enormous confession. Yu-jin just blinked and looked at him. Everyone was looking at Yu-jin, but even that didn’t come into his sight.

“…So.”

When he barely opened his mouth, Yu-jin’s voice was terribly shaky.

“You’re saying Winston slept with someone other than me? Even with several people at once?”