oo Tae-hyun stared at the chat window with a queasy expression before turning off the app.
He couldn’t delete the account, as he needed evidence in many ways, but there was no reason to have more conversations than necessary.
“Now, what do I do with this…”
He greets Chun Seung-pil and Chun Seung-ah, but they aren’t exactly close. He’s never invited them to his house, and he never will. The same goes for other acquaintances he barely knows.
It’s a relief that not having friends helps in times like this… but the cleaning lady is coming in two days, so he can’t just leave illegal drugs lying around.
Joo Tae-hyun went to the storage room and took out the largest suitcase he had. It was a so-called trunk-plus-size suitcase that easily exceeded the standard size, so excess fees were charged even before weighing it.
He spread out the spacious suitcase like the belly of a whale and began sweeping the piles of Switch from the living room floor as if scooping sand from the beach. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity. Just a few hours ago, Joo Tae-hyun was the most diligent student at school. As a minor living alone in a foreign country, he never touched alcohol or cigarettes. Even when Seo Baek-han’s thoughts surged, he stubbornly suppressed them.
And now he was buying this much Switch, and even the dirty kind.
He bought so much that it took quite a while to transfer it all into the suitcase.
There was no chance of it happening, but he set the lock tightly in case any passing maintenance workers might touch it.
He felt a little relieved only after putting it back in the storage room, which now felt heavier than before. Joo Tae-hyun collapsed onto the couch, exhausted in body and mind. He wanted to rest for a bit, finish reading the paper he had been reading, shower, and then book his plane ticket to Korea…
“…Huh?”
As if to tease Joo Tae-hyun, a pink pill bottle sparkled under the cabinet.
“Ah, shit…”
Joo Tae-hyun barely managed to hold back the curse that almost escaped his lips.
The first Hyung had cried just because he had uttered the words “that bastard” and “this bastard.” Since then, he had been trying to refrain from using rough language as much as possible, even when he was alone. To what extent, he was trying.
“When did this roll all the way over here… Ah, here it is.”
Fortunately, it was within reach, so he groped and pulled out the isolated pill bottle. Even though no dust had stuck to it, Joo Tae-hyun blew on it here and there, and then suddenly stopped, staring intently at the pill bottle he had picked up.
Come to think of it… is this really Switch?
What if Seo Baek-han investigates and finds out there’s nothing to it? What if it turns out I was stupidly scammed? Wouldn’t things get really big then?
‘Like Misery, he still likes me so much that he’s even lying about being a Switch user? And even got scammed and bought a fake one in the process.’
He could vividly picture Seo Baek-han sneering in a monotone voice.
Then he would fail to build a new level of friendship with him, fail to get married even if things went well, and just become a criminal. The laws of the Republic of Korea are based on the principle of nationality, and Switch (likely referring to a drug or substance) itself is illegal in the country, and even the dirty kind is classified as a narcotic!
No, why didn’t I think of this sooner? I naively bought a bunch of drugs from a stranger and just assumed they were genuine.
But that doesn’t create any brilliant solutions, Joo Tae-hyun continued to stare at the pill bottle in his hand.
“…Should I try eating it?”
He kept muttering to himself, even though no one was listening. It wasn’t a habit he had developed from living alone. For some reason, he kept talking to himself today. It might be because he was aware that he was doing something he had never done before.
“Yeah. It’s best for an Alpha like me to try it.”
The map app had good ratings, there were quite a few reviews inside the delivery app, and there were quite a few reviews on the website, so even if they were scamming, it would probably just be at the level of nutritional supplements.
Joo Tae-hyun stood at the crossroads between the bedroom and the bathroom, holding the pill bottle, and hesitated for a moment, then decided that it would be better to do the deed in a place where he could clean up nicely.
Why, aren’t there days like that?
Days when you keep doing things you wouldn’t normally do, as if possessed by a ghost.
Joo Tae-hyun was exactly like that now.
The only difference was that he was possessed by Seo Baek-han, not a ghost…
Anyway, he couldn’t really imagine it now, but if his body changed like an Omega… So, that, his behind would get wet like he was leaking fluids. Then the bed sheets might get wet, and doing laundry in the evening was very annoying. He had carried a large suitcase back and forth to the storage room, and he had been so focused on thinking about Switch and buying it that he didn’t want to do anything more tiring than that.
Honestly, Joo Tae-hyun didn’t expect this one pill bottle to cause a huge change. The store owner who delivered the medicine had said that this medicine wasn’t very strong for a dirty type.
As the store owner had explained, he pressed down on the center of the medicine cap, and he heard something rolling inside. It sounded like a pill falling into the liquid. He heard a bubbling sound for a moment, and then it subsided.
He carefully opened the lid. Unlike the flashy packaging, it didn’t smell at all. He thought it would taste sweet because it said strawberry something, but he couldn’t taste anything.
What should I say. It felt like drinking sticky coconut water? A feeling like drinking slime? Anyway, the first impression of the drug going down his throat wasn’t very good.
Joo Tae-hyun frowned and waited until all the medicine was swallowed, and then brushed his teeth when there was nothing left on the tip of his tongue. Then he washed his face and sat on the edge of the bathtub for a while…
“…What.”
Contrary to what he had firmly resolved, nothing happened.
Joo Tae-hyun slightly lowered the band of his underwear and looked at the front and back. He was so frustrated that he had worried about going to the bathroom because he was afraid that the bed sheets would get wet, but his lower body was just quiet.
Was it a scam after all…?
“…I’m glad I tried it.”
Then what should I do with all that medicine? A refund… I don’t think that will work, so should I ask them to dispose of it themselves? I’d be in trouble if I threw it away wrong and something happened.
“Ah, this is really annoying.”
Joo Tae-hyun ran his hand through his hair roughly and got up from the bathtub, heading to the shower booth.
He had considered living in the dormitory while studying abroad. Isn’t there a saying that you should forget people with people? He was so shocked by the fact that he had confessed to Seo Baek-han that he thought that living with other people would dull the matter a bit.
However, the dormitory bathroom had a dry floor, so he had to take a shower with a shower curtain in the bathtub, and the tiles were moldy in places and the smell wasn’t very good.
On the first day of entering the dormitory, Joo Tae-hyun quietly shook his head while holding onto his parents. Looking back on it now, he laughed at the absurdity of what he was doing. He was going to whine that he couldn’t live in a dormitory that other people used well until graduation, and then suddenly demand that he start studying abroad right away… He was really a spoiled young master.
When he reached for the shampoo to wash his hair, the height felt subtly different, so it seemed like he had grown taller again. Or his arms had gotten longer. Hmm. I hope he grew taller. It would be too weird if only his arms got longer.
Joo Tae-hyun soaked his whole body in warm water as usual and began to lather gently.
Up to this point, yes. It was the same as usual.
But from the moment he started rubbing shampoo into his scalp, he felt something was wrong. The sound of his fingers brushing through his hair sounded excessively loud.
As soon as he became aware of it, the water droplets falling on his naked body felt excessively stinging.
No, wait a minute. This isn’t stinging…
“…Huh?”
It would be more accurate to say it was excessively stimulating.
The feeling of the water droplets sliding down his skin was so vivid that Joo Tae-hyun hurriedly turned off the faucet. Every time the remaining water and shampoo foam flowed down his spine, his waist twitched and his glutes kept tensing.