By Zephyria 
Drip—
He opened his eyes to the sound of a water droplet and the feeling of being sucked into something.
“Are you awake?”
A low voice echoed from somewhere. He slowly regained consciousness and looked around. The tiles of a bathroom that were unfamiliar yet familiar… and his body immersed in moderately warm water. Come to think of it, he had entered the bathtub earlier… had he fallen asleep? Jeong-min tried to push back his hair and lift his body, but it wouldn’t move as he wished.
“Don’t move suddenly. You’ll get dizzy.”
A voice felt from behind… Soon, he realized that the legs visible in the water, and the two hands wrapped around his waist and chest, belonged to someone else. However, the voice was too familiar to be startled and push him away, and as he said, his physical condition wasn’t great, so he lost the will to get up. Instead, Jeong-min felt a sense of stability and leaned his body completely against him.
“What happened… I definitely came in alone.”
“Right after you went in, I heard a noise and came to find you had collapsed. It was dangerous.”
“…Ah…”
No wonder a part of his memory felt as if it had been carved out and deleted.
“But usually, in that case, wouldn’t you call an ambulance or lay them out outside?”
“Well, I confirmed you were alive, and since I had to wash anyway and you had to wash, I figured I’d do both at once.”
Kim Ju-hwan’s words always had a strange logic to them, making it impossible to refute.
“But as expected, this bathroom is too small for two Alphas.”
He called it a bathroom, but the cypress-embedded tub alone was probably two or three times the size of an average home’s bathroom. Well, a house of this scale would have such facilities, and it was natural for someone in his position to enjoy them… the problem was, as Kim Ju-hwan said, since both of them were tall and large, even that huge tub looked small.
“I’m thinking of building my own house next time, so I’ll have to think about the size of the tub. I thought this size would fit a couple and a child.”
Jeong-min was inwardly flustered by Kim Ju-hwan’s words. First, he didn’t know why Ju-hwan was telling him this, and second, it was because this guy was actually thinking about getting married and starting a family. He hadn’t shown any sign of it at all. He should probably respond, even if just formally, right?
“Omegas have smaller frames, so I think this much would be possible… but wouldn’t it be better to have a separate bathtub for children?”
He barely managed to squeeze out those words to keep the conversation going, but only an awkward silence followed from behind. Should he not have said it? He began to regret it within seconds. As expected, people shouldn’t do things they aren’t used to.
“Hey, I’m okay now, so I want to wash up.”
Jeong-min looked back slightly, hoping the hand holding him would let go, and was startled to meet Kim Ju-hwan’s eyes. He was looking at him with an incredibly solemn, deep gaze.
“Uh… why?”
“Because I realized you think of an Omega as a matter of course.”
“What?”
“That’s how it should be, but both Sunbae and I forget sometimes. Maybe it’s because we’re like this.”
“What are you talking about.”
“Get up first. I’ll come out in a bit.”
“…Fine.”
Jeong-min gripped the edge of the tub and carefully stood up.
“Ah, I took it out while you were sleeping.”
“What?”
“My semen. Since the parts that didn’t soak in are useless anyway, I just took it all out.”
Was he indirectly saying that his body was a vessel with nowhere to hold it in the first place? Jeong-min gave a half-hearted reply, “Ah, thanks.”
Fortunately, the dizziness had vanished, so he was able to leave the tub and shower safely. As he was leaving the bathroom, he glanced at Kim Ju-hwan. He was still in the tub, deep in thought.
“Haa….”
Perhaps because he had washed, his body felt refreshed. He wasn’t sure if the drug was spreading well through his system, but seeing as his hands weren’t shaking right now, it seemed to be doing its job.
“Since it’s going to circulate anyway, I might as well make him an Omega quickly.”
Today was the third time he had received the injection. Since he had never seen results anywhere, he couldn’t tell if this was the appropriate amount, insufficient, or excessive. He hoped it was just right. That way, hope wouldn’t disappear.
“Sunbae, how is your time tomorrow?”
As he was getting dressed to go home, Kim Ju-hwan, who had finished washing, asked while drying his hair with a towel.
“Why should I tell you that?”
Kim Ju-hwan smiled as he dropped ice into a whiskey glass.
“A jobless man acting hard to get.”
That bastard, I’ll just—.
“Keep tomorrow open.”
“Unless it’s about the drug, I have no time to spare for you. If it is about the drug, send me a detailed report along with the reason why we need to meet. Even a jobless man has that much choice, right? I’m leaving.”
Not knowing what else he might say, Jeong-min hurried outside. In the meantime, the darkness had deepened. Looking at his watch, it was already 2 AM.
“Huh?”
He hadn’t noticed, but several messages from Shin-woo had arrived in the meantime.
You’re not answering the phone. I’m worried you’re too drunk.
Jeong-min… you made it home safely, right?
Text me when you wake up.
Good night.
I’m worried.
Jeong-min. You are sleeping, right?
Jeong-min felt like he might cry looking at the messages. He was so happy. It felt as if heaven were telling him that what he was doing now was the right thing… to the point where he thought he wouldn’t mind dying as he was.
While he was clutching his phone in joy, it vibrated. It was Yu Shin-woo.
“Uh, Hyung.”
─ Jeong-min….
“Hyung, why aren’t you sleeping? What are you doing?”
─ I was worried about you. Whether you got home safely….
“Uh… yeah, I got home safe. I was sleeping. I just woke up and saw your texts now….”
Ah, is this too detailed? Worried that he might be found out for being outside, Jeong-min carefully covered the phone with his hand to muffle the sound.
“But why aren’t you sleeping, Hyung?”
─ I was going to sleep after checking one last time if you’d read them, and since the read receipt appeared, I called.
“Ah…. Hyung, I’m already a fully grown adult in my 30s. Of course I can get home safely.”
─ True. That’s true, but maybe it’s because I’ve known you since you were so young. Strangely, you still look like a child to me.
“Hmm, I think I get that. I still feel like you’re a high school student, too.”
─ We’ll probably be like this forever, right?
Forever… my first love. Jeong-min smiled softly.
“Yeah. I think so.”
─ By any chance, are you free tomorrow? Or is it today, since it’s past midnight?
“Huh? Why?”
─ Since we’re both jobless, shall we go out tomorrow?
Ugh…. It’s true that he was jobless, but hearing the word ‘jobless’ twice in one day made his stomach churn a bit.
But if being jobless came with such a great opportunity, maybe it wasn’t so bad.
“Where are we going?”
─ There are things you haven’t been able to do, and things I want to do in Korea…. Ah, I heard the movie that just came out is good. Actually, I was too scared to go to the cinema because of my condition. But this drug is definitely good. I was fine today, too.
“Wow, a movie…. It’s been way too long since I’ve seen one.”
Because he had run forward blindly, he must have missed a lot. Let’s not think of this hand tremor as misfortune and sadness, but as an opportunity. Thinking that way, the deep-seated melancholy in his heart faded considerably.
“Sounds good.”
─ Then go to sleep first. Sleep tight. I’ll contact you around 11.
“Haha, so relaxed. Alright. I should try sleeping in for the first time in a while. See you tomorrow, Hyung.”
─ Yeah. Sleep well.
“Yeah, good night.”
The call ended, but he continued to stare at the phone screen, overwhelmed by happiness.
“You look like you’re having fun.”
As expected, he thought this repertoire would come. He suspected Kim Ju-hwan might appear again. For some reason, he felt like Kim Ju-hwan was always watching his every move.
“Are you a stalker?”
“Don’t misunderstand. Sunbae left his wallet behind.”
Indeed, there was a wallet in Kim Ju-hwan’s hand. How badly did he want to leave that house that he walked out without realizing such an important item was missing?
“Thanks.”
When Jeong-min reached out his hand, Kim Ju-hwan smiled. It wasn’t a smile of pleasure. For some reason, it was a hollow laugh.
“What?”
“It’s just so hard to hear ‘thank you’ from Sunbae. I saved your life, I washed you, I did everything, but I only get it for a wallet. What’s the criteria? I’ve thought about it. Well… the conclusion is this.”
“Conclusion?”
“That Sunbae really hates me.”
Kim Ju-hwan said as he practically threw the wallet to Jeong-min.
“Well, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Jeong-min was about to ask why he was bringing this up now, but he missed the timing and just looked at the wallet resting in his hand.
“Have a nice date. You jobless people.”
Less than a minute after Kim Ju-hwan went inside, a car pulled up in front of Jeong-min. He was reluctant since Kim Ju-hwan had called it, but the driver looked troubled, so he had no choice but to get in. Even so, he kept looking back in the direction Kim Ju-hwan had gone. For some reason, that retreating figure weighed on his mind.