16 – 17 & 16 years old Winter, One Day

As soon as December began, the exchange match between Semyung High School and Deokwon High School was just around the corner.

The schedule was a friendly match that had been set a long time ago, but Deokwon High School, whose grades had improved a lot in the last three years, directly invited Semyung High School to hold the event, which was intended to boost the morale of the young players.

The exchange match was scheduled to be held in the Deokwon High School area in southern Gyeonggi Province, with the Semyung High School players from Seoul visiting. At the request of Deokwon High School, it was also announced that there would be no separate broadcast.

In response, the coaching staff of Semyung High School joked that Deokwon High School was jealous or burdened by Semyung High School’s fame, but the exchange match itself was not a very interesting topic for the players, including Hwang Hae-kyung.

No matter how much Deokwon High School was a rising team, most of the ace players of Semyung High School, which always won national championships and produced national team players, did not need to be put into the exchange match.

Among them, Hwang Hae-kyung, who had been called the core player of the team since he was in middle school, was even more irrelevant to this exchange match, and the coaching staff never mentioned his participation to Hwang Hae-kyung.

As such, the exchange match with Deokwon High School was irrelevant to Hwang Hae-kyung, but everything always reaches an inflection point in very trivial parts.

“Deokwon High School is in Anyang. It’s the only high school in that area that Alphas go to. It’s kind of famous there, isn’t it?”

The area where the exchange match was held was a city that Hwang Hae-kyung was subtly familiar with.

“Anyang?”

Lee Seok-jae, who had just finished his step training, sat down on the floor of the gymnasium and started talking, and Hwang Hae-kyung, who was quietly loosening his shoulders, showed interest. Then Lee Seok-jae glanced around and brought his cell phone, which he had placed nearby, and turned on the SNS app.

“Oh, there’s a big hagwon district here, so there are a lot of schools around. But only Alphas are concentrated in Deokwon High School, so you can imagine what it’s like. I think I saw that they have a huge festival too… Hey, wait a minute. I think I have someone from Deokwon High School who’s following me?”

Lee Seok-jae said that and showed Hwang Hae-kyung the search results he found on SNS.

There were a lot of results attached to the hashtag ‘#Deokwon High School_Festival’ on the cell phone screen, and it seemed that Lee Seok-jae’s words were not lies or exaggerations. Most of the posts were from students from surrounding schools rather than school promotional posts.

Most of them were posts related to the Alphas of Deokwon High School or said that it was like a university festival, and there were also occasional posts related to Omegas.

For example, Omegas secretly go to the festival or someone at Deokwon High School has an Omega they know or is likely to be popular.

All of them were just things that had nothing to do with Hwang Hae-kyung.

“Hey, look. They’re a mess these days.”

Lee Seok-jae finally showed Hwang Hae-kyung, who was gradually losing interest, the feed of an acquaintance who was following him, and when he went over to the account one more time, the feed of a Deokwon High School volleyball player appeared.

The account mainly contained selfies of his face or body check, and the photos seemed to show off that he was an Alpha.

Moreover, although not as many as Lee Seok-jae, he had a considerable number of followers. Apparently, most of the Alphas at Deokwon High School were active on SNS in this way.

It seemed to be a so-called ‘free’ atmosphere, and depending on who was looking at it, there was plenty of room for it to look like a ‘poorly managed’ image.

“So what.”

And Hwang Hae-kyung’s reaction to them was indifferent. Lee Seok-jae laughed at the cold word and replied.

“No, I’m just saying there’s a school like this.”

Lee Seok-jae, completely unfazed by Hwang Hae-kyung’s reaction that blatantly revealed his indifference, sprawled out on the gymnasium floor and let out a loud sigh.

“Deokwon might be a little too free-spirited, but you won’t find a place that cracks down on Alphas as hard as we do, even if you search the whole country.”

Honestly, it was closer to expressing a slight envy.

In reality, Semyung High’s regulations were quite strict, and among them, the management of the sports teams was publicly known to be almost obsessive.

However, because of that, the school was also known for sending students to good universities without major incidents and for achieving good results in competitions, so this strict tone would likely not change in the future.

“Ah, these bastards will be even more rampant if they play an exchange match with us and their recognition goes up.”

Lee Seok-jae, lying on the floor, chuckled at the nonsensical words while scrolling through the SNS of the other school’s players. Hwang Hae-kyung, turning his head away from that, stared blankly at the air and merely rechecked the tightness of the band around his finger.

He was only briefly intrigued by the name of the region; he had no interest in other schools, and the exchange match was not his concern either.

The only thought Hwang Hae-kyung had in this conversation was,

‘Lee Yoon-san’s school is in Anyang too.’

That was all.

Sure enough, no sooner had he found and picked up his cell phone from the locker than he searched for the location of Deokwon High School, which turned out to be quite close to Wonan Middle School, where Lee Yoon-san was enrolled. And ridiculously, Hwang Hae-kyung felt a subtly uncomfortable feeling just from that fact alone.

It was an emotion he couldn’t understand himself, but upon more serious consideration, he thought it was a reasonable sentiment.

A school full of seemingly free-spirited Alphas near the school where the Omega Lee Yoon-san attended.

Wasn’t it the same context as when Lee Seok-jae grumbled that his Noona’s running crew people seemed like thugs a few days ago? Ham Se-jin had also said that he didn’t like his younger sibling’s friends because they were all cocky, so it seemed that family affection usually involved such worries.

No, digging even deeper, Hwang Hae-kyung had already felt a strong displeasure when he encountered Lee Yoon-san at the amusement park and his classmates said he was cute. So, he was even convinced that such concern was a natural issue as a Hyung.

It was a shame. If Lee Yoon-san’s school was close to his school, or if he attended a place close to Lee Yoon-san’s school, wouldn’t it have been a more supportive environment?

‘…Come to think of it, graduation is soon.’

Even though he thought about how much contact there would be between middle schoolers and high schoolers even if their schools were close, the unsettling feeling didn’t go away considering that Lee Yoon-san would soon be graduating from middle school.

Among the schools around Deokwon High School that he had seen while searching, there was definitely Wonan High School, where Omegas went.

It was not only under the same foundation as the school Lee Yoon-san was currently attending, but it was also the only school in the district where Omegas attended, so Lee Yoon-san’s enrollment was obvious.

Above all, even though it was said to be worse than the middle school Lee Yoon-san was currently attending, Wonan High School was only separated from Deokwon High School by a nearby academy district and an apartment complex since the schools were so densely packed in the area.—Of course, the fact that the academy district and apartment complex were quite large was not an important issue for Hwang Hae-kyung.—

“……”

Hwang Hae-kyung stared silently at his cell phone before tapping on the SNS app. He went to Lee Yoon-san’s account to see if there were any new feeds or stories, but as always, Lee Yoon-san’s account was quiet.

Only a handful of posts and occasional stories were all of Lee Yoon-san’s activity, and it seemed that he only used the account for sporadic stories and a messenger for DMs.

Of course, Hwang Hae-kyung was not much different, only to a different degree.

‘I wonder if he’s going to sleep.’

It was already quite late as he was returning home after training.

Hwang Hae-kyung typed ‘What are you doing?’ in the DM chat with Lee Yoon-san, then deleted it. It was partly because it was late, but also because it felt like a flirting line, which made him feel awkward.

After that, Hwang Hae-kyung repeatedly typed and deleted something in the chat window several times.

Most of the lines that came to mind to start a conversation seemed like flirting from an Alpha to an Omega, which was embarrassing, so he thought about sending an emoji without saying anything else, but then he wondered what he was doing and sighed.

In the end, he couldn’t type anything on the DM screen and briefly rubbed his face dry, then looked around for no reason. He usually didn’t do this, but he didn’t know why he was suddenly so conscious of how to start a conversation.

But he couldn’t just close the DM screen, so he took a picture of his shadow created by the streetlights and uploaded it as a story. It came with the short phrase ‘End of practice.’

Then, in less than two minutes, Lee Yoon-san ‘liked’ his story. Hwang Hae-kyung smiled at the cute notification, opened the DM screen, and immediately sent a message.

What are you doing, not sleeping

Then, as if he had been waiting, Lee Yoon-san’s message came back right away.

I’m going to sleep a little later

Then, a series of messages arrived.

Just a sec

Hwang Hae-kyung stared intently at the typo-filled message on the screen. He didn’t even realize that he had stopped walking and forgotten to blink, and that the corners of his lips were raised.

As Lee Yoon-san said, he just waited without taking his eyes off the screen, and after a while, he was able to receive a photo from Lee Yoon-san.

There was no message attached to the photo, as if he was embarrassed or awkward, but Hwang Hae-kyung was so engrossed in the photo Lee Yoon-san sent that he couldn’t think of anything else.

The photo on the screen was the shadow photo Hwang Hae-kyung had uploaded, but upon closer inspection, it seemed that he had captured the screen and decorated it with doodles.

A smiling face was clumsily drawn on top of Hwang Hae-kyung’s black shadow face, and the clumsy words ‘Good job’ were written in the corner of the screen.

Lee Yoon-san was not used to decorating something like this, so the clumsy doodles drawn with a thin pen only looked like traces of effort, which made it even cuter.

Perhaps that’s why Hwang Hae-kyung’s mood was instantly lifted, and he didn’t feel the fatigue from the repetitive routine at all at this moment.

Everything was just cute. The shadow photo with the clumsy smiling eyes, and even Lee Yoon-san’s actions of sending this and not leaving any comments as if he was shy.

In the end, that photo occupied Hwang Hae-kyung’s cell phone lock screen for quite a long time and did not give up its place.

Even on the day Hwang Hae-kyung won an important competition, even on the day he received a fairly expensive gift from his parents, even on the day he received a specially made gift or sports equipment from a fan.

No matter how many memorable photos piled up in the gallery, Hwang Hae-kyung’s cell phone lock screen was still the shadow photo decorated by Lee Yoon-san, and Hwang Hae-kyung would smile for no reason when he was tired from training and practice while looking at that lock screen.

Strangely enough, just imagining Lee Yoon-san doodling on his shadow made him feel good.

✧✧✧

“Hey, I’m playing in this exchange match.”

On the day the date of the meeting before the exchange match with Deokwon High School was confirmed, one of Semyung High School’s starting players dropped out due to personal reasons, and Lee Seok-jae replaced him.

Thanks to that, there were rumors that the Deokwon High School side, who received the changed player list, seemed to welcome it.

Even though the game was for the purpose of friendship, it was better for Deokwon High School to have even one more player who was known externally. It would also be more motivating for the students of Deokwon High School to play against a famous player.

In any case, it was a favorable variable for Deokwon High School, and Lee Seok-jae did not hide his annoyance, but he showed an attitude of seriously engaging in practice.

Since he was a player from a well-known school, it was a game where he would only break even if he won, but it would be a disgrace if he lost.

Of course, that didn’t create any special variables or feelings for Hwang Hae-kyung.

Whether Lee Seok-jae was put in or not, Hwang Hae-kyung was still a player excluded from the starting lineup, and he would only be present at the introductory dinner that everyone attended as a matter of custom, and he had no other obligations assigned to him.

However, all of those situations took a slightly different turn when Semyung High School arrived in Anyang for the meeting,

“Look at how chaotic the atmosphere is, geez.”

It was as Lee Seok-jae muttered, saying it was a mess.

On a day when the sky was heavily overcast, the bus of Semyung High School’s players arrived at Deokwon High School’s parking lot. When the players entered the gymnasium to greet each other, a full-fledged face-to-face atmosphere was formed.

The players of Semyung High School moved with discipline and managed their expressions as a habit so as not to be swept away by the unfamiliar atmosphere of the other school. It was also an attitude unique to players who had experienced many broadcast games.

On the other hand, the players of Deokwon High School were busy watching the players of Semyung High School as if they were curious, and some were touching their cell phones and were generally noisy.

This seemed to reflect the atmosphere of the school and the coaching staff themselves, but in the end, it was a difference in how much they had internalized the exchange match.

“Hey, the Wonan kids followed me yesterday.”

“Wonan? Omega?”

“I don’t know. But when I looked at their accounts, they were wearing that school’s uniform and sportswear. There were several of them, so wouldn’t there be Omegas too?”

“Bullshit. I heard there aren’t even 50 Omegas in the entire student body of Wonan. You’re jumping to conclusions.”

“Ah, some of them were pretty decent. Kind of that slender style? You know, that style that looks like they’d wear matching pajamas on a vlog.”

“You’re being so specific. Hey, they’re probably just decent Betas. Look at the odds. There are way fewer of them than us.”

“You’re just jealous, so you’re talking shit. …Should I just DM them?”

“Congratulations on getting blocked in advance.”

The voices of the Deokwon High School players, who were lined up in the gymnasium, were very excited, so Hwang Hae-kyung’s gaze turned to them.

It was clearly just ordinary chatter among Alphas that could be heard anywhere, but he couldn’t ignore it because of the word ‘Wonan’ in the conversation, even aside from the loud voices that seemed to be boasting.

Then, Lee Seok-jae, who noticed the blatantly hostile gaze, nudged Hwang Hae-kyung’s arm.

“Hey, hey. They’re talking about high school, high school. Not middle school.”

You crazy bastard, please take the knives out of your eyes. We didn’t come here to fight. Lee Seok-jae mixed jokes with sincerity as he tried to dissuade him, but he didn’t stop mediating Hwang Hae-kyung’s blatant gaze.

Although it was a somewhat exaggerated expression, it was necessary to be careful about even minor words and actions in a place where Alphas of an age when hormones were raging were gathered.

But whether it was middle school or high school, the fact that the players of Deokwon High School were mentioning ‘Omega’ had already offended Hwang Hae-kyung.

The twisted feeling caused by that kept provoking anger, and it was difficult to control his emotions.

“Let’s be honest, that rabbit headband probably didn’t follow him either.”

Lee Seok-jae, who was watching Hwang Hae-kyung’s hand movements as he slowly clenched and unclenched his fist, spat out a word, and only then did Hwang Hae-kyung’s reason seem to return a little.

He already knew Lee Yoon-san’s meager following list, so there was no room for doubt, and he himself belatedly began to realize that his reaction was excessive.

Lee Seok-jae seemed to have noticed Lee Yoon-san’s existence after the incident at the amusement park. So, he sometimes brought up ‘rabbit headband’ to test Hwang Hae-kyung, and he also teased or followed Hwang Hae-kyung, who was unusually touching his cell phone whenever he had a chance, and tried to spy on him.

It was no wonder that Hwang Hae-kyung’s attitude had started to change little by little after that amusement park incident, at least in the eyes of his best friends Lee Seok-jae and Ham Se-jin.

Besides, Hwang Hae-kyung himself had not denied such jeers from his friends, so the minor changes in a friend who was not like that were enough to stimulate curiosity.

“Hey, and you can’t do anything anyway since it’s not even the same area. Are you going to patrol all the Alpha guys in this neighborhood?”

So, at some point, Lee Seok-jae and Ham Se-jin seemed to regard Hwang Hae-kyung as a Hyung with a sibling complex.

Since they were Alpha and Omega, there was no choice even if it wasn’t such a feeling.

The management of the coach and director was strict from the start, and Hwang Hae-kyung himself had once expressed that rabbit headband as a ‘younger sibling,’ so wouldn’t it be inevitable to think so?

“Oh, hey. It’s really Hwang Hae-kyung.”

“Oh, oh. He’s like a celebrity, a celebrity.”

Hwang Hae-kyung shifted his gaze to the surroundings, which were becoming noisy as the Deokwon High School players, who had been talking about Omegas and Wonan until just now, seemed to have belatedly discovered Hwang Hae-kyung, who was standing in the back row of the Semyung High School lineup.

“Hey, but he’s not that tall, is he? I heard Hwang Hae-kyung plays volleyball because of his physique.”

“I know, right. They were making a fuss about his ball distribution, control, speed, and physique, so I thought he was actually about 2m tall?”

“Most of Semyung’s team are Alphas, so even the libero is about the same height, those crazy bastards.”

“Wow, their blocking must be insane.”

“If Hwang Hae-kyung is a setter, he wouldn’t be that tall, right? Liberos and setters can make up for their lack of physique.”

“You crazy bastard, it’s always better to be tall unless you’re a libero. It means you can raise your hitting point a lot.”

“Isn’t it just because they’re all together that they look tall? Is Hwang Hae-kyung really 190cm? Oh, Lee Seok-jae is next to him too. An influencer.”

The murmuring that had slowly started gradually intensified with sarcasm. Lee Seok-jae just smiled bitterly at the murmuring, and Hwang Hae-kyung chose to draw attention away from the chatter.

Alphas who played sports at a young age tended to infer and judge many things based on their physique.

Moreover, due to the characteristics of the sport and the Second gendered beings, even considering their young age, they were all at least 183cm tall, and in the pro league, there were quite a few players in the 2m range, so reactions that were particularly sensitive to physique were common.

Whether Hwang Hae-kyung, who was only 17 years old, was taller than them, or was still growing, was not an important issue. In their eyes, most of Hwang Hae-kyung and Lee Seok-jae’s fame must have been due to their handsome faces, luck, the halo of the school, and what the media had created.

“Isn’t Hwang Hae-kyung playing a match with us?”

“He’s probably not playing because there’s no camera. He must have to get skin care at that time?”

“I guess it’s more profitable to do public practices or after-work events at that time and get article photos.”

“Anyway, all the clothes they wear at that time are sponsored and they have a stylist. They only wear certain brands.”

“Wow, he’s really a celebrity. Is he participating in the dinner later? Isn’t he just going to skip it because it’s annoying?”

“Oh, if we run into him at the dinner, I should ask him to follow me back on Instagram. Lee Seok-jae would probably do it?”

“Oh, right. Lee Seok-jae is a starter. Even if there’s no broadcast, is he going to do a live stream on his account?”

The words that sounded like jealousy, envy, or subtle gossip were unreserved. The voices that whispered about ridiculous things like skin care, sponsorships, and after-work events as if they were established facts seemed to contain an intention to provoke.

It seemed that more explicit words were being exchanged because they were in a group of many people and thought there was no chance of getting involved.

“Those bastards are funny. Hwang, do you use a stylist?”

In response, Lee Seok-jae smiled bitterly and gritted his teeth, and

“What the hell are you talking about.”

Hwang Hae-kyung just scanned the inside of the gymnasium with indifferent eyes.

As always, he had no interest in the dinner that would be held after the meeting.

As expected, the dinner was boring.

Hwang Hae-kyung and Lee Seok-jae deliberately sat at the same table as the coaching staff, and that alone was able to block most of the Deokwon High School students from approaching. However, as if to prove the law of equivalent exchange, there was also something somewhat troublesome,

“Our Hwang Hae-kyung player would be a starter, our kids would really like it, hehe. It would be an opportunity to learn a lot.”

It was the subtle yet enthusiastic proposal from the Deokwon High School coaching staff.

The dinner was only for underage players, and there were also players on a restricted diet, so it started with Korean beef and vegetables without alcohol, seasoned meat, or rice.

It wasn’t a satisfactory menu for a Korean beef dinner, but no one openly complained because the exchange match was taking place in just two days.

However, the adults seemed to be awkward without alcohol, so in the second half of the dinner, they poured each other a glass of beer and strengthened their friendship, saying they would just get in the mood.

“Hehe, the starting players have already been decided. Hae-kyung is also disappointed.”

At the words of the Semyung High School director, who patted Hwang Hae-kyung’s back next to him to defend him, the Deokwon High School coaching staff showed a disappointed expression once again.

“Still, it’s good to see such promising players. Lee Yoon-san, do you have any thoughts about joining a company team? I’m sure you’ll go to the pro league.”

“He’s only a freshman, what are you talking about.”

The coach repeatedly defended against the opposing coaching staff’s blatant interest, raising his beer glass, and the adults clinked glasses, refreshing the conversation.

It was a common occurrence during introductory meetings for exchange games or other friendly matches, so the defense from Semyung High was skillful and solid.

“Then, what about our Lee Seok-jae….”

As the uninteresting dinner continued sluggishly, Lee Seok-jae, with lifeless eyes, picked up a few pieces of beef and uploaded a picture of the newly served prime rib to his story. Hwang Hae-kyung, who had been quietly watching, took out his phone and reposted Lee Seok-jae’s story to his own.

“What’s this, what’s the occasion?”

“Just because.”

Lee Seok-jae reacted as if surprised, but Hwang Hae-kyung simply picked up a piece of beef and ate it without any particular reaction.

However, he kept his phone on the table and kept glancing at it, and sure enough, after about ten minutes, a story appeared on Lee Yoon-san’s account.

It was a picture of a rotisserie chicken sandwich from a franchise. As soon as Hwang Hae-kyung saw the picture, he chuckled and immediately opened the DM screen with Lee Yoon-san.

Did you take out the jalapeños and pickles and use horseradish sauce?

Hwang Hae-kyung, with a smile on his face, sent the DM with playfulness and personal taste, and a reply came from Lee Yoon-san almost immediately.

I also took out the peppers and olives and used sweet onion sauceㅠ

The trivial answer made him laugh briefly. At that moment, Hwang Hae-kyung didn’t care that Lee Seok-jae was looking at him like he was crazy, or that the adults were talking about him.

Sometimes, when he uploaded pictures of what he ate, Lee Yoon-san would also upload a story of what he ate, and Hwang Hae-kyung found that imitation, which resembled synchronization, quite amusing. That’s why he kept letting out laughter that was difficult to hide.

For a rabbit, you sure boycott a lot of vegetables?

I guess it’s because I’m human..

Usually, their training and academy times were staggered, so they couldn’t check each other’s stories or DMs right away, so it was bound to be welcome when the timing was right like this.

Then, he suddenly thought that the background in the picture Lee Yoon-san sent looked like a store, not his house, so he checked again, and sure enough, colorful primary-colored walls caught his eye.

Hwang Hae-kyung unconsciously raised his head and looked out the window. Then, sleet was scattering in the darkening sky.

The weather had been cloudy since he arrived in Anyang, and now it seemed that snow and rain were mixed together. Judging from the pouring rain and the temperature, it was certain that the weather would soon turn to either heavy snow or rain.

Hwang Hae-kyung thought about what Lee Yoon-san usually did at this time on weekdays, and he could easily come up with the answer.

Lee Yoon-san, a middle school student about to enter high school, had a very monotonous daily life, and among the routines he shared, academy and study room alternately occupied his evenings.

Is it raining there too?

Then, Hwang Hae-kyung’s gaze stopped at the DM that followed from Lee Yoon-san. Today’s schedule was private, and Hwang Hae-kyung hadn’t told Lee Yoon-san anything in particular, so Lee Yoon-san probably thought he was in Seoul.

Hwang Hae-kyung sent a DM without delay.

I don’t know. What about there?

Here it’s like snow and rain

Do you have an umbrella

The back-and-forth DMs stopped briefly at Lee Yoon-san’s turn to answer. And after about three minutes, Lee Yoon-san’s reply arrived,

Men don’t need that stuff!

Hwang Hae-kyung laughed as if he was dumbfounded and nudged Lee Seok-jae’s leg next to him.

“Hey.”

“What.”

“Give me your hat.”

To snatch Lee Seok-jae’s ball cap that had been hanging behind him.

Later, finding the right timing, Hwang Hae-kyung briefly excused himself from the dinner, zipped up the windbreaker inside his padding jacket to the neck, and covered his face by adjusting his ball cap. Then, he immediately took a taxi.

The academy Lee Yoon-san attended was a fairly famous and large franchise, so it wasn’t difficult to find even in the complex academy district.

However, Hwang Hae-kyung deliberately got off a little away from the academy where Lee Yoon-san was and went into a nearby large convenience store to pick out an umbrella. It was a sturdy umbrella, big enough to cover his bag completely.

After that, he picked out some snacks, feeling it was awkward to buy just an umbrella, and checked the DMs Lee Yoon-san had sent.

It seemed he had gone back up to the academy, and a message arrived full of complaints that he still had some time before he could go home because he was doing advanced learning to prepare for the high school internal exams.

The unusually long and pleading story was even accompanied by a tear mark, and for some reason, that made him smile.

With that relaxed expression, he leisurely picked out snacks, and then the convenience store door opened and students in their school uniforms and padding jackets rushed in. It seemed that one of the nearby academy classes had just ended.

“Ugh, it’s so cold. I almost froze to death.”

“Hey, I heard the Alpha from Deokwon are having a dinner near Rodeo.”

“Really? I wonder if they’re all really handsome.”

“I think it’s the volleyball team’s dinner. I follow him, and he uploaded a story.”

“Look, is he really this good-looking? No filter, raw?”

“Then he must be handsome, right?” The students laughed as they had that conversation, and they chattered non-stop even while picking out cup noodles from the shelves. As they were at that age, the direction of their conversation was somewhat obvious.

“They all play sports, so they’re tall too. Seeing this makes me a little envious of Omegas.”

“I heard Alphas like Omegas. But how many Omegas are there anyway?”

“They’re all gathered in Wonan. You can tell right away when you see them.”

“Why? Do they walk around with Omega written on their foreheads?”

“Crazy, no, it’s just that they’re all good-looking. They stand out when they’re among ordinary people.”

“What, no. Hey, it depends on the person. There are two trainees at our school, and they’re both Betas.”

There are far more Betas among celebrities too, it’s a matter of the ratio of second genders, and so on. As they were at an age when they cared a lot about their appearance, their trivial yet explicit evaluations continued for quite a while.

“Anyway, I heard that the Deokwon guys talk to the Wonan kids first when they see them. It’s obvious they’re conscious of it.”

“Those crazy bastards think all the Omegas in this area are theirs.”

“Hey, do you hate the Deokwon Alphas?”

“Yeah, I’m more curious about Omegas than Alphas.”

“When she goes after idols, she mainly goes after skinny and cute ones. Not the ones with striking features, but the ones who look a little easygoing and delicate.”

At the end of the endless conversation, they burst into laughter. It was nothing funny for others to hear, but it seemed fun for them, as it was no different from a conversation about idols or influencers.

As the group approached, Hwang Hae-kyung pulled his hat down further and headed to the checkout counter. He judged that it would be better to quietly avoid them, as the topic of conversation he couldn’t help but hear was what it was.

“Huh? Hey, isn’t that guy an Alpha too?”

“Oh…. He looks like one, seeing how tall he is? Deokwon? Oh shit, did he hear what we said?”

Even though he maintained a hunched posture to the extent that it wasn’t awkward, his towering height was a hurdle at times like this. Hwang Hae-kyung placed the umbrella on the checkout counter, silently handed over his card, and left the convenience store before any further commotion ensued.

Just before leaving the convenience store, he didn’t forget to manage his expression and gaze, noticing that some of the students who had subtly approached were glancing at him. And belatedly, he stopped by a nearby pharmacy to buy a mask and put it on.

After that, he went straight into the academy Lee Yoon-san attended and stood in front of the front desk.

“I’d like to deliver this umbrella.”

He didn’t forget to lower his voice with a short cough. Perhaps that’s why his voice sounded somewhat awkward, but now was not the time to worry about such things.

“I think he’s in class right now. Lee Yoon-san in the high school prep class.”

“Oh? The high school prep class is about to end. It’ll be over in a little while.”

“No. Just give it to him.”

“Ah…. Then, excuse me, but who should I say it’s from?”

“……”

“Sir?”

“…Guardian…”

Hwang Hae-kyung, feeling unnecessarily guilty, adjusted his mask once more, and the employee’s gaze turned sharp.

That was because the tall man, heavily armed with a sports padding jacket, ball cap, and mask, looked unusual to anyone, and even more suspicious was his unnatural voice and suspicious attitude.

The employee stared intently at the man, groping for the emergency bell under the desk, and touched the surface with her fingertips, ready to press it if necessary.

The employee’s suspicion was quite justified. According to the computer information on the monitor, the person the suspicious man in front of her was asking to deliver the umbrella to was none other than a middle school third-year student of the Omega gender.

Of course, the student was a male, but under the strict academy policy, she had a duty to prevent suspicious people from approaching him.

“What is your relationship with the student?”

“…That is.”

“Can you tell me your name?”

Meanwhile, Hwang Hae-kyung was experiencing the rare experience of being at a loss for words.

He knew that Lee Yoon-san’s homeroom teacher, whom he had seen at the amusement park, was fussy, but he hadn’t expected the academy to be this strict. It was to the point where he wondered if his Auntie were deliberately entrusting Lee Yoon-san only to such places.

Anyway, he briefly touched his forehead at the employee’s increasingly fierce gaze and then slightly lowered his head towards the front desk and opened his mouth again. He had to somehow resolve this situation.

“…Uncle.”

“Uncle?”

“Yes. He’ll know if you say that.”

Hwang Hae-kyung said that and straightened his back, engaging in a near-nervous staring contest with the employee.

He swore that this was the first time he had ever received such a hostile gaze so openly in a place other than the court.

After a moment of cold silence passed, it was the employee at the front desk who gave up first.

She said she understood and carefully took the umbrella Hwang Hae-kyung had handed over and placed it right next to her, and Hwang Hae-kyung checked that sight once more with his eyes before turning around.

It was an unfamiliar experience for him. It was the first time the seventeen-year-old Alpha, who had always received attention and welcome wherever he went, had experienced coldness and rejection.

But he didn’t necessarily feel bad. It made him feel that Lee Yoon-san was receiving proper protection.

So, Hwang Hae-kyung turned back and strode towards the employee again.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Keep up that attitude in the future too.”

“…What?”

“You’re doing a good job, right now.”

Hwang Hae-kyung gave a short fighting pose with one hand, with the meaning of doing a good job of rejecting strange Alphas and preventing unfamiliar Alphas from approaching the student, and then left the academy.

All that remained was the employee’s bewildered expression.

After leaving the academy, Hwang Hae-kyung was about to call a taxi again when he turned his head to the sandwich shop right next to him. It seemed to be the same shop where Lee Yoon-san had eaten a sandwich earlier.

‘He said class would be over soon.’

Hwang Hae-kyung, who had been looking inside the shop’s glass window for a while, eventually moved his steps inside. And he bought a rotisserie chicken sandwich with jalapeños, pickles, peppers, and olives removed and sweet onion sauce added, and took a seat at the bar by the window.

Without unwrapping the sandwich, he spent some time rolling it in his hands, and about 15 minutes later, he saw students coming out of the academy building.

Hwang Hae-kyung checked his mask and hat once more while keeping his eyes on the outside of the glass window, and soon he was able to confirm that Lee Yoon-san, wearing the umbrella he had handed over to the front desk, was passing by, joking with a friend.

He had heard that Lee Yoon-san had several real uncles, including his father, Hwang Jun-won, so it seemed that the lie he had made up had worked out well.

Hwang Hae-kyung sat still and watched Lee Yoon-san, who was standing in front of the crosswalk to cross the street and talking to his friend.

If he were alone, he would have secretly guarded him and followed him home, but it was fortunate that he had a friend. Besides, every time he turned his head to the side while talking to his friend, as if something was so funny, he could see a slight smile.

It was a sight that reminded him of the impressions of Lee Yoon-san that his classmates had said.

‘That’s why he keeps hearing that he’s cute.’

His gently drooping eyes narrowed like crescent moons, and his nose and ears were red from the cold, which kept catching his eye.

His mouth turned up at the innocent expression of laughing happily, and he was also concerned about the bag that looked heavy compared to his slender body.

‘When the stabilization period comes….’

Will the day come when I can carry that bag for him? Hwang Hae-kyung blinked slowly, thinking that.

Even in the midst of that, he was somewhat bothered by the fact that the thickening snowflakes were obscuring the kid.

Fortunately, he was proud that the umbrella was big enough to cover the bag completely, but he was also disappointed that his pants were getting wet from the snow that had become almost a blizzard.

Strangely enough, there was a lot to see even though he was just looking at one person. So much so that he couldn’t even think of taking his eyes off,

“Go home quickly, Lee Yoon-san.”

It’s cold. Hwang Hae-kyung uttered meaningless words with a voice full of regret to Lee Yoon-san, who was too far away to hear him beyond the glass wall. His fixed gaze still wouldn’t leave Lee Yoon-san.

While waiting for Lee Yoon-san’s green light together like that, he suddenly noticed that the kid wasn’t putting his hands, which were red from the cold, in his pockets.

He had a cell phone in his hands, which were red from the cold, and Lee Yoon-san kept glancing at his cell phone even while talking to his friend.

Only then did Hwang Hae-kyung realize that he had stopped DMing with Lee Yoon-san, and with a hopeful heart, he picked up his cell phone and opened the DM window with Lee Yoon-san.

Of course, he ignored the contacts from the coaching staff and Lee Seok-jae that were coming in one after another on his cell phone.

The guy who said you don’t need an umbrella in this weather?

As soon as he sent that DM, Lee Yoon-san, who was over there, checked his cell phone and smiled brightly. And he could see him moving his hands as if he was about to send a reply soon.

Then, Hwang Hae-kyung moved his hands faster than him and entered an additional message.

Don’t touch your phone to reply, just go home quickly

The weather is super cold

Lee Yoon-san, who had checked the message, stared blankly at his cell phone with a puzzled expression and then smiled embarrassedly. Even after that, he stared at the cell phone screen for a while, and only after the friend next to him nudged the umbrella did he raise his head.

Eventually, Lee Yoon-san put his cell phone in his pocket and moved his steps only after the green light he had been waiting for came on. The back view of him walking with his hands, which were red from the cold, tightly hidden inside his sleeves was cute.

Hwang Hae-kyung sat in his seat without moving until Lee Yoon-san’s back disappeared completely.

The snow was heavy, but the distance was bright enough and there were quite a few people in the academy district so that Lee Yoon-san’s appearance could be seen well even from this distance. There was also a police substation nearby, and the academy’s employees took student protection for granted.

It was only for a very short time, but he had a strange feeling belatedly because it felt like he had inadvertently glimpsed the world Lee Yoon-san lived in. The emotions that followed were relief.

The fact that he was receiving solid protection from the group Lee Yoon-san belonged to reassured Hwang Hae-kyung, and seeing him react immediately to his contact made him feel like he had secretly peeked at his extremely personal side, which was a little embarrassing.

His feelings were complicated, but they were by no means bad.

Lee Yoon-san’s world is safe. If so, he thought that was enough. He hoped that Lee Yoon-san’s world, which had been especially loved by adults, would be this kind and gentle forever, and that this world would not be a place that would make him feel pressured or threatened in the future.

Hwang Hae-kyung stayed in his seat for a while even after Lee Yoon-san had left, and it was only when he got up, put the sandwich in his pocket, and was about to leave the store that he realized.

He had bought an umbrella to give to Lee Yoon-san, but he had been getting hit by sleet and thickening snowflakes all this time.

It was also the moment when he belatedly acknowledged and realized that he had been completely distracted by his younger brother, who had started to bother him.

“Hey you punk, Hwang Hae-kyung!!”

When he took a taxi and returned to the dinner venue much later, the coach’s and coach’s scolding was waiting for him.

Hwang Hae-kyung, as expected, apologized first because he had anticipated it. He made up excuses, saying that his body felt stiff, so he walked around the nearby streets and seemed to have gone too far, and that he didn’t know he had received a call because he was talking to a friend while taking a walk.

The coach and director seemed a bit suspicious of Hwang Hae-kyung’s words, but they glossed over the situation with a few short scoldings.

Hwang Hae-kyung had been gone for a considerable amount of time, but there was no evidence of Pheromone leakage or traces of other Pheromones, so there was insufficient grounds to consider it an accident.

Above all, Hwang Hae-kyung looked no different from how he was at the dinner, except for being wet from the snow, so they figured it was fine as long as he hadn’t caused any trouble.

In fact, Lee Seok-jae’s diligent defense of Hwang Hae-kyung’s silent absence had worked to some extent.

‘The Deokwon High kids were talking mad shit about Hwang Hae-kyung behind his back. They were practically blasting him as if they wanted him to hear, so Hwang Hae-kyung might have wanted to cool off. You know how much he gets checked.’

No one thought Hwang Hae-kyung would be affected by such words, but to the adults, anything was possible.

Wasn’t he at a time when hormones were sensitive? Besides, it was the coaching staff, including the director, who dragged all the players, even those not selected for the game, to the introductory meeting.

In their minds, it was a gesture of goodwill to come and eat beef, but it was uncertain whether that sentiment was conveyed.

In conclusion, the introductory meeting was completely wrapped up only after the coaches of Semyung High finished their scolding.

So, from the face-to-face meeting that started in the afternoon to the extended dinner while waiting for Hwang Hae-kyung, it seemed to be coming to a safe end, but,

“Where did Hwang Hae-kyung disappear to?”

“I don’t know, probably went somewhere to meet an Omega or a girl.”

“Damn, I’m so jealous.”

The restroom visited before boarding the bus was a hidden danger.

Hwang Hae-kyung stopped at the entrance before entering the store’s restroom and quietly listened to his own story coming from inside. The owners of the voices were Deokwon High players.

“Hey, he didn’t meet a Won-an kid, did he?”

“Whoa, shit. Hey, that’s crossing the line! They have an Omega school on their side too!”

“He wouldn’t come to someone else’s neighborhood and cause trouble, would he?”

“I don’t know. Then why did he suddenly disappear during the dinner? It’s not like anyone wanted to stay there.”

“Looks, looks. There are always guys who ban those with looks in places with only Alphas and men.”

“Looks or whatever, if he comes all the way here and messes with the Omegas here, he’s a total thug. There aren’t even that many Omegas to begin with.”

“What are you going to do if Hwang Hae-kyung is a thug?”

“I’ll destroy him on the court. Don’t you know you beat players with plays?”

“Ah, you crazy bastard, your bluff is so over the top. What are you going to beat him with, dirty play?”

“Yes, yes.”

Then, the sound of giggling laughter leaked out to the outside of the restroom.

In fact, the level of conversation they were having wasn’t very high or extremely low. As the social custom of making them exercise to prevent them from running wild with bloodlust and causing problems had become firmly established, teenage Alphas were nothing but rough and crude.

Therefore, if it had been the usual Hwang Hae-kyung, it was a problem he could have dismissed as the barking of dogs from the bottom and moved on.

In other words, if they hadn’t been talking about ‘Omegas in someone else’s neighborhood’ and acting like wicked lords who considered them to be assigned residents, he might have dismissed it as just a bluff among low-quality Alphas and lost interest.

But the problem was that Lee Yoon-san was the ‘Omega in someone else’s neighborhood’ they were talking about, and Hwang Hae-kyung, as Lee Yoon-san’s Hyung, was very, very displeased with that.

“Hey, Hwang Hae-kyung!”

It was then that Lee Seok-jae’s call was heard loudly nearby. Hwang Hae-kyung glanced at Lee Seok-jae, who was looking at him from a short distance away, and then turned his gaze back to the restroom.

Judging by the fact that he usually called him ‘Hwang’ but was calling him by his full name now, he seemed to have grasped the situation as well.

“Yeah.”

Hwang Hae-kyung answered Lee Seok-jae’s call indifferently and kicked the restroom door hard with his foot.

With a bang! The door opened, and the gazes of the Deokwon High players standing inside were fixed on Hwang Hae-kyung.

“Leave now.”

He checked the faces of the players inside with his eyes and then left the place following Lee Seok-jae.

Lee Seok-jae deliberately made noise as if to be heard, saying things like ‘There were a lot of people inside’, ‘We’re stopping at a rest area on the way, so we can go to the restroom then’, and Hwang Hae-kyung just walked leisurely.

“Shit…, I thought I was screwed.”

On the other hand, the remaining Deokwon High players barely relieved the tension that had suddenly stiffened in the momentarily fierce atmosphere, and cursed.

It was a curse caused by the belated embarrassment.

On the way back home, Hwang Hae-kyung received a late DM from Lee Yoon-san. It was a late message, probably because he had gone home, showered, and was lazing around.

It’s snowing a lot here

Men don’t need umbrellas, but my uncle gave it to me, so I just used it

Fortunately, the umbrella Hwang Hae-kyung had given him still seemed to be well-packaged as the work of one of Lee Yoon-san’s uncles.

The messages that came in a row were like a report on his daily life, so Hwang Hae-kyung read the ordinary messages over and over again. The back of Lee Yoon-san, which he had seen awkwardly for a moment, seemed to flicker before his eyes.

This couldn’t be helped

Thinking that he was preparing to tease him because there was no reply, another defensive message from Lee Yoon-san arrived. Hwang Hae-kyung laughed at the DM that arrived, sent a short reply, opened the front door, and went home.

That’s right. Men and rabbits can’t help being cold.

The rising annoyance melted away with a few DMs, disappearing without a trace.

If he could have done this sooner, could they have gotten along well when they were younger? Hwang Hae-kyung thought inwardly, greeted his family in the living room, and hesitated as he was about to step on the stairs leading to the second floor.

“Dad.”

Suddenly, a question arose.

“Why, son.”

“About Auntie from Anyang.”

“Yoon-san’s family? Why suddenly there?”

“They don’t have any plans to move to Seoul?”

Meanwhile, Hwang Jun-won, who was reading a book in the living room, raised his head at his son’s sudden question. It was rare for his son to ask such a question, and he was curious about his intention.

“No, Auntie’s company is here too.”

“That’s a branch office, and the headquarters are in the area they live in now. All the relatives live in Pyeongchon too.”

“That’s right, Ga-eun’s family has been living there since before Yoon-san was born, so there’s no reason to move. It’s a good place for children’s education too.”

Then Ahn Sun-mi, who was typing on a laptop nearby, chimed in, and Hwang Hae-kyung had nothing more to say, so he closed his mouth. He didn’t have high expectations, but the more he heard, the less likely it seemed that Lee Yoon-san would go to high school in this area.

Hwang Hae-kyung felt somewhat dissatisfied and was about to test the waters about whether there was a chance that his family would move to Anyang, but he closed his mouth.

Even if he wanted to transfer, it was unlikely that Semyung High would let him go. Since there was a dormitory operated by the foundation, they would obviously be annoying.

“But why, son?”

“…Nothing.”

I’m going up. Hwang Hae-kyung finished the conversation in a sullen voice and headed to his room on the second floor. He checked his phone, but Lee Yoon-san hadn’t replied yet, wondering what he was doing.

Hwang Hae-kyung looked at the DM window with Lee Yoon-san, where the reply space was empty, took a picture of the sandwich he had put in his pocket, and sent it.

Half the vegetables removed and sweet onion sauce added. Tonight’s snack is Rabbit’s pick

Then, he put the sandwich in his mouth, took off his padding and windbreaker, and checked his phone again while chewing on what was in his mouth.

This time, a message from the director was filling the screen, and the reason was the bombshell Hwang Hae-kyung had dropped on the returning bus.

‘I’ll go to the exchange match this time.’

‘What? Why would you bother? Deokwon isn’t at a level where you need to play. It’s a friendly match, it doesn’t mean that the power or skill level is equal. You’ll get more out of it if you just do personal training during that time.’

The coaching staff, including the director, judged that this exchange match was not a beneficial experience for Semyung High. Whether it was the individual skills of the players or the team strategy, Deokwon High, which had just begun to make a name for itself, was no match for Semyung High.

And that was confirmed once again at today’s face-to-face meeting.

They had previously analyzed Deokwon High’s skills and main strategies through video analysis, but they were somewhat disappointed after seeing the players’ physiques and discipline with their own eyes.

Therefore, the coaching staff opposed Hwang Hae-kyung’s statement, and the director also gave a skeptical answer.

But Hwang Hae-kyung’s willingness to participate in the game was firm, and the director, who had said he would think a little more about the game that would not even help with studying, eventually gave in.

This is the Deokwon High strategy analysis file. Look over the attack courses. I’ll put you in the starting lineup for the first set, so do as much as you can and then come out

It meant that he should drop out after he had vented his anger, since it was a game that would not gain anything from playing. Hwang Hae-kyung smiled at the message sent by the director and downloaded the strategy analysis file.

Muttering to himself the words of someone from Deokwon High who said that players should be beaten with plays.

✧✧✧

“Ah, shit!!”

One of the Deokwon High players, covered in sweat, roared out a curse like a lion and shook his head roughly.

He was uneasy about Hwang Hae-kyung coming in from the first set, but it was a game between 17-year-old high school volleyball players anyway, so he went into the game determined not to be intimidated.

Moreover, Deokwon High took the first serve and started the game with a preemptive strike, but as soon as they went to serve, they were blocked and quickly gave up a point.

After that, the game continued in a way that could only be described as the worst.

After being blocked a few times, a sense of pressure came over them, and they kept making tossing mistakes out of impatience.

On the other hand, Hwang Hae-kyung’s accuracy of tossing was perfect from the beginning to the end. He was quick to judge the position, and his ability to adjust the hitting point according to the attacker was also excellent.

The sense of delicately catching the hitting point that is easy for the players playing together to hit was not something that could be done with strategy alone. He was also able to easily raise the height of the hitting point to match the tall attacker.

Therefore, as the game progressed, the Deokwon High players could not help but realize his amount of practice from Hwang Hae-kyung’s ball distribution skills.

“Look at Kyung-soo’s position, position!! Don’t just focus on the center!!”

Eventually, a high-pitched voice erupted from the mouth of the Deokwon High director.

Because Semyung High had been attacking the center a lot from the beginning, the Deokwon High players’ attention was focused entirely on checking the center.

Then Hwang Hae-kyung changed his judgment, and from the point when the Deokwon High players’ attention was focused on the center, he began to utilize the attackers on both sides more actively.

In particular, he raised the toss a lot towards left Lee Seok-jae to lead the flow so that the attackers could hit the ball hard, and the chemistry between Lee Seok-jae and Hwang Hae-kyung was a matter that didn’t need to be said.

“What are we going to do if we lose to those influencers?! Ah, I should have turned on the Inbyeol live!”

“Lee Seok-jae, focus!”

Above all, Hwang Hae-kyung created opportunities for counterattacks in long rallies with stable tosses and blocked Deokwon High’s attacks from the rear.

Of course, the most amazing thing was the score he showed during the third set game.

Semyung High, which had won the first two sets in a row and completely taken the atmosphere, entered the third set game without being particularly elated or relaxed, and Hwang Hae-kyung did not hesitate to make a bold decision to hit the ball directly towards Deokwon High’s court in a situation where it was ambiguous to toss the ball to the attacker.

It was a surprise attack, and it was a score achieved with a judgment made without any hesitation. It was amazing that Hwang Hae-kyung, who had been playing the role of setter as a stable conductor until the second set, was playing the role of an attacking setter in the third set.

It was like a game operation that mixed several players, so it was unconventional and tricky, and it was difficult to deal with.

Surprisingly, Hwang Hae-kyung was too much like a professional player to be a high school freshman. Of course, what felt most hopeless was the basic difference in skills between the Semyung High players.

All the Semyung High players on the court were Alphas, and they were tall, and their individual skills were excellent, wondering how much they practiced.

Everyone was at a level where it wouldn’t be strange if they were professional players.

Therefore, from the perspective of the Deokwon High players, the game, which was close to a disgrace, ended in a shutout in three sets.

As expected, Semyung High won, and the Deokwon High players glared at the Semyung High players, including Hwang Hae-kyung and Lee Seok-jae, with faces that could not hide their frustration and annoyance.

It felt like they had been beaten up on the court.

21 & 22 Spring

It was May, the season of festivals.

In fact, Lee Yoon-san had little expectation or excitement for festivals last year. First of all, he was not very active in school life, and as a freshman in a newly established department, there were not many people participating in the festival itself.

Still, he was a freshman, so the festival was not entirely someone else’s business, and all he did was go out to watch with the same excited feeling that ordinary freshmen felt.

But this year, the situation changed drastically,

“Hae-kyung!”

That’s because he ended up participating in the festival, which he never thought he would.

As soon as Lee Yoon-san came out of the practice room, he approached Hwang Hae-kyung, who was waiting for him, and reached out his arm.

Then, Hwang Hae-kyung, who grabbed both of Lee Yoon-san’s wrists and wrapped them around his waist, looked at Han Hyun-ho, who was following behind, and asked.

“How much alcohol did you give him?”

Even while saying that, Hwang Hae-kyung’s gaze never left the top of Lee Yoon-san’s head, and Han Hyun-ho, who was watching the scene with a sullen expression, defended his classmate, saying that he hadn’t drunk much. Of course, he eventually confessed that he had drunk about three cans of beer.

“Everyone was in a good mood because practice went well today, so we drank.”

“Is the gathering over?”

“Yes, but everyone said they’re just going to sleep in the practice room. It’s late, and it’s a hassle to go home….”

Hwang Hae-kyung nodded roughly at Han Hyun-ho, who yawned and finished speaking, and stroked Lee Yoon-san’s back. He didn’t seem to be drunk enough to stumble or lose energy, and it seemed to be a pleasant level of intoxication, as Han Hyun-ho said.

“I’m going.”

“Yes, go.”

Han Hyun-ho went back up to the practice room where the band members were sprawled out, and when he disappeared, only Hwang Hae-kyung and Lee Yoon-san were left on the late night streets of Sinchon.

“Hae-kyung….”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go home….”

“Okay.”

Perhaps it was because of the time that the streets of Sinchon, which are always crowded with people, were so quiet and empty.

Hwang Hae-kyung walked while holding Lee Yoon-san’s hand, reflecting on Lee Yoon-san’s concerns about suddenly busking at school during the festival period a few weeks ago.

‘That… Hyun-ho, no, Han Hyun-ho is in a band club. So he applied to participate in busking at this year’s festival? But the member who plays the keyboard fell off his bike and broke his collarbone….’

In summary, the band’s keyboard position had suddenly become vacant.

Since it was a club busking, it wasn’t a grand stage, and it seemed to be an event on a small scale in Youth Square in the evening.

However, since they had already applied to participate and there was a member vacancy, Lee Yoon-san and another classmate decided to be guest members, each taking on three songs, at Han Hyun-ho’s request and begging.

It was a very unexpected decision for the introverted Lee Yoon-san, but among Han Hyun-ho’s acquaintances, Lee Yoon-san and another classmate were the only two who knew the do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do positions of bean sprouts and had played Czerny’s textbook, so he seemed to have appealed and begged quite desperately and persistently.

Of course, the decisive factor that persuaded Lee Yoon-san, who had only been troubled by all of Han Hyun-ho’s desperate appeals, was the promise to allow masks to be worn in preparation for filming during busking and to move the keyboard as far back as possible.

Hwang Hae-kyung, who was listening, thought that the whole situation was absurd and seemed to be progressing vaguely, but he had nothing to say since the General Student Council had accepted it flexibly.

As a result, Lee Yoon-san’s ensemble practice, which started last April, was continuing whenever he had time.

Since it was during the semester, they mostly gathered in the band’s practice room late at night to practice, and when they practiced separately and matched the ensemble, there were days when practice continued until late at night like today.

Hwang Hae-kyung felt strangely sullen because he felt like he was losing Lee Yoon-san, but he had no choice but to accept it.

Lee Yoon-san, who had been struggling for the first few days with keyboard playing that he had never done before and that was not his aptitude, revealed that he was secretly finding the festival preparation fun, along with a confession that this was his first time doing something like this.

“The dawn air is nice, isn’t it.”

It’s the same as Hae-kyung. Lee Yoon-san held Hwang Hae-kyung’s hand and walked very slowly.

Hwang Hae-kyung was walking a step or two behind Lee Yoon-san, almost being dragged along. He couldn’t take his eyes off his lover’s gait, which was cute from his slightly drunken state, and the nape of his neck, flushed red with alcohol, was so lovely.

Preparing for the festival, drinking beer, experiencing preparing something with friends even though he wasn’t good at it, and Lee Yoon-san, who was swaying down the empty dawn streets like this, was truly the epitome of a youthful 21-year-old. Hwang Hae-kyung decided to wait patiently and watch him, even though their time together had decreased.

Because Lee Yoon-san had waited silently for the All-Star Game preparations earlier this winter.

“…Oh? A piano.”

Lee Yoon-san, who was walking towards the station, exclaimed as if he had discovered something. He had found a painted upright piano placed on the sidewalk in front of a bookstore.

Hwang Hae-kyung subtly let go of Lee Yoon-san’s hand, who had fixed his gaze on the piano. Then, Lee Yoon-san turned to look at his boyfriend once and approached the piano with a delighted smile, sitting down.

It seemed that the instrument, which he usually passed by without a second thought, had finally caught his eye now that he had been practicing the keyboard for the past few days.

“Hae-kyung, should I show you what I’ve been practicing?”

The words he spoke were quite admirable, so Hwang Hae-kyung nodded in affirmation.

He approached the piano where Lee Yoon-san was sitting and perched on the seat next to him.

When he lifted the piano lid, the lid, which should have been locked, opened, revealing the keyboard. It seemed the owner had forgotten to lock it.

In many ways, it couldn’t have been a more exciting day for Lee Yoon-san.

“Look.”

Lee Yoon-san placed his fingers on the keys and tinkled them a few times.

The melody coming from the piano, which was badly out of tune, was clumsy, and Lee Yoon-san’s head tilted and returned for a moment due to the different touch compared to a keyboard.

“It’s a bit… different…?”

On the other hand, Hwang Hae-kyung simply found this side of Lee Yoon-san refreshing.

Since he was far from being a music expert, he wasn’t bothered by whether the sounds Lee Yoon-san was making were terrible or not. He didn’t have the skill to finely distinguish the tuning level of a piano in the first place, and the intermittent, disjointed performance was simply cute because the performer was Lee Yoon-san.

He also thought that it was enough for a new experience to be refreshing, and there was no need to be like a professional performer.

“Why, you’re playing well.”

So, he first praised Lee Yoon-san with words and then placed his own hand on the keyboard. Then, Hwang Hae-kyung’s lover, who had been watching the scene, smiled quietly and met his gaze.

It was a face that had regained some of its lost confidence with just a word, thanks to the deeper and heavier touch than a synthesizer.

The quiet dawn piano that resembled Hwang Hae-kyung’s Pheromone, the moderate level of intoxication, and the low voice coming from right next to him. It was inwardly refreshing and exciting for him, who had always lived a normal life, quietly studying and being inconspicuous, to have such an exotic moment.

For that reason, Lee Yoon-san decided to put aside his embarrassment or awkwardness about his lack of skill for a while.

In the empty street with no people, no one would feel any curiosity, expectation, or disappointment, no matter how terribly he played.

Now that he realized that fact, his heart felt much more at ease, and he was able to shake off a burden he hadn’t even been aware of.

It seemed that the pressure of being in a public place and the anxiety caused by his still inadequate practice state had been weighing on his mind.

“Ahem, ahem. I’ll try again.”

Lee Yoon-san straightened his back and loosened his fingers. He pressed the keys a few more times to check the notes, then took a deep breath again and began to move his hands, recalling the song he had been practicing these days.

Hwang Hae-kyung quietly watched Lee Yoon-san’s focused face. The tempo was still erratic, sometimes rushing and sometimes dragging, but the stuttering that had caused the performance to be interrupted and stopped in the middle had clearly decreased.

Then, at some point, the performance began to continue without stopping at all, because he simply moved on without stopping the performance even if he hit the wrong note.

As a result, just the fact that the performance didn’t stop in the middle made it sound like a pretty decent performance to Hwang Hae-kyung.

Since he had never seen him practice the keyboard in person, only in videos, this side of Lee Yoon-san was also a first for Hwang Hae-kyung.

“Look at my hands, Hae-kyung.”

Lee Yoon-san, who had barely finished one of the three songs he was practicing, pressed the keys as if to tell Hwang Hae-kyung, who was standing next to him, to follow along, looking at his hands. It was just like a kind adult teaching a child the piano, with his tone and gestures.

“No, not like that.”

This time, it was accompanied by a light humming. Lee Yoon-san’s pleasant humming sound echoed in the dawn air, overlaying the piano notes.

Hwang Hae-kyung listened to Lee Yoon-san’s humming with his ears and stared at his fingers with his eyes.

The hands of the former athlete, slowly pressing the keys, were clumsy yet quite serious. There were also times when the rhythm seemed to break down like the paws of a dog wearing shoes, but Hwang Hae-kyung earnestly moved his hands, following Lee Yoon-san’s fingers in his own way.

Of course, despite his efforts, it was closer to a clumsy imitation than a performance, so Lee Yoon-san, who was watching his gestures, ended up laughing as if it was funny.

“Like this.”

“Like this?”

Lee Yoon-san, who had become engrossed in teaching, placed his hands on the backs of Hwang Hae-kyung’s hands and pressed down on his fingers, making the keyboard sound.

Hwang Hae-kyung finally turned his head towards his own keyboard, but the sound and appearance were so awkward that they both burst out laughing.

It was a clumsy, chaotic lesson for both teacher and student.

“But I just played without stopping…”

“Yoon-san.”

The voices, which were exchanged in such close proximity that their bodies were almost touching, turned into whispers as if they were sharing a secret.

Hwang Hae-kyung called Lee Yoon-san in a low and quiet voice, and the distance between Lee Yoon-san, who inadvertently raised his head, and Hwang Hae-kyung was very close.

As their dark and light eyes slowly scanned each other’s faces, the corners of their lips lifted as they felt the gaze.

It was a strangely ticklish feeling. He didn’t know if it was because he had been drinking or because he had learned to enjoy this tension, but he felt a strong urge to close the remaining distance and press his lips together.

Then, Lee Yoon-san’s fingers moved carefully, digging between Hwang Hae-kyung’s fingers. He could feel the firm back of his hand and thick tendons beneath his relaxed palm.

The smooth hand covering his pale hand was warm enough, and the skin that was in contact was simply soft. As Hwang Hae-kyung narrowed the space between his fingers and put strength into them, a faint laugh escaped from Lee Yoon-san’s lips once again.

Hwang Hae-kyung’s hand, which was tightening as if to squeeze his fingers, was amusing and made him think about various things.

Even though it was his hand that was holding Hwang Hae-kyung’s hand, he felt like he was being captured rather than capturing.

Above all, Lee Yoon-san knew so well when he was putting so much strength into his hand to suppress a certain impulse,

“Let’s go home now.”

He was simply dizzy from the voice that came from such a close distance. He couldn’t tell whether the alcohol was wearing off in an instant or whether he was getting drunk in a different way.

The short kiss that followed the end of the sentence was always sweet, no matter how many times he experienced it.

✧✧✧

“Hngh…!”

As soon as they arrived home, Lee Yoon-san’s feet lifted into the air.

The shoes that fell from his feet rolled haphazardly in the entrance, and Hwang Hae-kyung strode towards the bedroom with Lee Yoon-san in his arms. It was as if he didn’t have the patience to wait for a delayed pace at this moment, his movements were hasty.

He leaned Lee Yoon-san’s back against the wall as if he didn’t have time to go all the way to the bed even after opening the bedroom door, and then he gave him his tongue first.

Lee Yoon-san reflexively sucked on the hard tongue that entered his mouth, and Hwang Hae-kyung raised the corners of his lips at the cute action and unbuckled Lee Yoon-san’s pants.

“Ah, euung….”

“Did you drink fruit beer?”

“Yeah, ungh….”

“It’s delicious.”

It wasn’t a question of whether it was delicious, but an appreciation that it was delicious, but Lee Yoon-san wasn’t in the right state of mind to distinguish that.

Hwang Hae-kyung stole Lee Yoon-san’s breath and the faint, bittersweet smell of alcohol that lingered in his mouth as if he were robbing him, and kissed him.

Lee Yoon-san mumbled in response to Hwang Hae-kyung’s words in a very dazed voice, then opened his mouth a little wider and twisted his head to press closer.

Just wanting to give him more because he said it was delicious.

Hwang Hae-kyung put his hand towards Lee Yoon-san’s buttocks, lifted the underwear band, and groped between his buttocks to find the hole that had become thickly wet.

He pressed down on the spot with his fingertip and then released it, feeling the slippery fluid oozing out. It was a bonus that Pheromone with layered secret scents flowed out.

After confirming his excited body, he lowered Lee Yoon-san’s legs to the floor without delay. Then, the pants that had been precariously hanging fell down, and Hwang Hae-kyung pulled Lee Yoon-san’s buttocks and completely pressed his lower body against him.

Lee Yoon-san’s genitals, plump with blood, were pressed against Hwang Hae-kyung’s thighs and pelvis, and his hard and heavy genitals were clear under the fabric.

“Heueu….”

Soon, Hwang Hae-kyung pushed Lee Yoon-san’s underwear, which had wet a specific area, down to his thighs, and then fondled his secret area with a more explicit and hasty touch.

He wiped away the fluid that had formed in Lee Yoon-san’s anus with the palm of his hand, and rubbed the warm perineum with his fingertips, thoroughly striking Lee Yoon-san’s bottom, which was hidden between his legs.

Lee Yoon-san’s face flushed as if it would burst from the shameful act that he had experienced several times, but that was all.

Hwang Hae-kyung even grabbed Lee Yoon-san’s genitals with his remaining hand, and shook the grabbed genitals up and down quickly, pressing the pink glans against his tongue as if rubbing it. Then, a sudden sense of ejaculation surged from the dizzying sensation felt through the thin skin.

“Eue, ah ah…!”

The moment Lee Yoon-san’s brow furrowed urgently, Hwang Hae-kyung bit down on his glans, which had turned reddish, and sucked it deeply.

It was also an instant that he ejaculated without even realizing it due to the dizzying sensation of sucking his genitals strongly and the rapid sense of elation that made him lose his mind.

Hwang Hae-kyung swallowed Lee Yoon-san’s semen that was passing through his throat, and then released his genitals, which had been sucked clean.

“Ah, wait, Hae-kyung…!”

Then, he put Lee Yoon-san’s legs over his shoulders and buried his head in an even more secret place. Then, Lee Yoon-san was greatly embarrassed by the head movement that had rushed into his shameful area, but Hwang Hae-kyung didn’t care and smelled the scrotum that was caught on the bridge of his nose and the flesh smell from a deeper place.

The flesh smell, which was buried in the Pheromone scent that was all soft, was so faint that he was anxious, and it was only possible to smell it by sticking his nose in like a hunting dog searching and thoroughly spreading the hidden skin.

“Are you still embarrassed, Yoon-san?”

“Every time, every time…!”

Hwang Hae-kyung shrugged his shoulders slightly to bring Lee Yoon-san’s body even closer. Lee Yoon-san’s back was completely tilted against the wall in a position that was like riding a piggyback ride in reverse, and his dry thighs spread even more explicitly, accepting Hwang Hae-kyung’s head.

Then, Lee Yoon-san’s genitals, which had softened and started to get excited again, bumped against his forehead.

Lee Yoon-san was embarrassed by this posture and behavior, but he couldn’t even grab Hwang Hae-kyung’s hair once, and that was the same even when Hwang Hae-kyung, who had buried his face in his bottom, stuck out his tongue widely and started licking every part of his hole, perineum, and the folds of skin that connected to his thighs.

It felt like he was going out of his mind from Hwang Hae-kyung, who was melting his bottom tenaciously and persistently, like an animal licking or eating the soft flesh of a fruit, and eventually his spine tingled and all the fine hairs on his body stood on end.

Hwang Hae-kyung always treated his legs in this way. When he barely mustered the courage to say that it was shameful and dirty, so he wished he would only touch it with his hands, what did Hwang Hae-kyung say?

‘I like having my face buried here until I can’t breathe.’

His handsome face was so nonchalant that he said that being able to breathe in as much as he wanted of the flesh smell, which was not even a handful, while his soft perineum was swollen, his scrotum was bulging tightly on the bridge of his nose, and his face was buried as deeply as possible between his narrowly spread legs, was nothing compared to suffocating.

Lee Yoon-san often regretted ending the conversation vaguely by just asking if he was a pervert in response to Hwang Hae-kyung’s answer, which had left him speechless, and it was mainly at times like this.

On the other hand, Hwang Hae-kyung was still licking his bottom, or he raised his upper body a little more and lowered his head towards his buttocks.

The coffee-colored tanning marks on Lee Yoon-san’s thighs, which were tightly draped over his wide and firm shoulders, were now very faint, as if he were wearing stockings.

Lee Yoon-san’s legs, which had been tanned under his beach shorts during his summer vacation, changed color little by little each time the season changed.

It looked just like a rabbit shedding its fur, so Hwang Hae-kyung would often send a persistent gaze as if he were possessed whenever he saw Lee Yoon-san’s naked body.

Changing colors by eating sunlight every season, it was truly a body that was hard to take his eyes off of. Yet, the most intimate and erotic part was always a milky white color without a single strand of hair.

Hwang Hae-kyung poked only the particularly intimate and embarrassing area inside Lee Yoon-san’s groin with the tip of his nose as if he were possessed.

“Hae-kyung, my back…, my back hurts….”

It was a faint plea that sounded as if he was in agony that stopped the behavior of the rogue who was kissing and persistently sucking only on a specific area.

Lee Yoon-san twisted his body slightly, as if the area near his shoulder blades, which was pressed against the hard wall, was uncomfortable, and Hwang Hae-kyung finally lifted his head from between his legs, which had been defenselessly violated, and headed for the bed.

Then, he made Lee Yoon-san lie face down and checked the condition of his back first, and the protruding scapula area was slightly reddened.

He kissed Lee Yoon-san’s shoulder blades lightly and stroked them carefully.

In fact, it was difficult for Hwang Hae-kyung to maintain his sanity because it was the first time he had sex in a few days.

Every time he saw his clean and smooth skin, it was difficult to control his reason from time to time, and every time he faced Lee Yoon-san, who was smiling gently and softly and reaching out to him, his mouth would water so much that his jaw would ache.

“Your back is okay. Does it still hurt? Should we do it like this instead of lying down right away?”

“It’s okay now….”

As soon as he confirmed that his back was okay, Hwang Hae-kyung’s hand dug between Lee Yoon-san’s buttocks again. Then, Lee Yoon-san tried hard to suppress his embarrassment and slightly spread his buttocks with his own hands, but he couldn’t help it because the skin below, which had been sucked so much, felt hot and swollen all over just by touching each other.

Even if his skin was a little sore, Lee Yoon-san also liked this moment that they were sharing now, so he didn’t want to stop or hesitate.

“Here…, aheueue….”

Even so, his shame was still the same, so he couldn’t lift his head that he had buried in the blanket. He was waiting for this embarrassment to pass by passively spreading his reddened bottom like that, when suddenly he heard Hwang Hae-kyung’s sighing laughter from above.

“You don’t know how dizzy I get every time you’re like this.”

Every time you act so cute, every time you shyly open yourself up to me one by one and show me your most intimate and lovely affection, it makes me dizzy to think about what would have happened if I had let you go like that. Every time that happens, I get scared and horrified. The fact that you only have me and I only have you now, was it actually a situation that could have gone wrong several times? Even the assumption makes me feel powerless and terrible.

“Yoon-san, I’m all your firsts.”

No matter what happens, I will never let you go.

“I don’t know how to like anything other than you this much. Really, nothing but you….”

“Hae-kyung.”

“I don’t know if I can like it this much. I’m not confident.”

So please understand me. Hwang Hae-kyung pressed his lips against Lee Yoon-san’s neck and said as if confessing, and Lee Yoon-san stroked his lover’s head with his limp hand.

Then, the faint laughter that was heard at the same time was lovely.

“Me too, Hae-kyung.”

Light returned to Hwang Hae-kyung’s eyes, which had been frighteningly sunken, at the affectionate response that came back as if it were natural.

“I like you the most too. Uh… I’ll keep doing that while living. Of course, we’re still too young, so I can’t be completely reliable….”

“What’s reliable or not? I’m just unconditionally,”

“Still, it’s the only promise that I can give you with the current me, and that I can bet myself on.”

“So don’t worry about anything. Okay?” Lee Yoon-san said in a gentle voice, deliberately not sounding heavy, and Hwang Hae-kyung eventually laughed, sounding defeated.

He was grateful that the only thing that scared him could pull him back to the surface and support him so steadily, but it also shook his heart.

He was grateful that Lee Yoon-san accepted his past memories and Alpha’s unique, persistent obsession so refreshingly.

“I love you, Yoon-san.”

“Me, too… Ugh…!”

You’ll never know how lovely you are. Because you’re not me. Hwang Hae-kyung whispered those words into Lee Yoon-san’s ear and hugged his slender body. Then, from the two bodies pressed together without a gap, heartbeats of similar speed could be felt.

✧✧✧

The next afternoon, Lee Yoon-san could not get out of bed even though he barely managed to open his weary eyes. He was relieved that it was the weekend, but he felt uneasy when he remembered that he had a band practice today.

There were two main reasons why he couldn’t get out of bed:

‘Ah, ugh…! No, wait a minute…!’

‘Bouncing up and down.’

‘No…! Ugh, ugh, don’t put it all in…. Hold, hold the bottom….’

First, his muscles were sore from sitting on top of Hwang Hae-kyung and bouncing up and down until early in the morning.

Even though he was panting for breath while sitting in the cowgirl position, he asked Hwang Hae-kyung to hold the base of his penis to create a bumper so that it wouldn’t be fully inserted. Hwang Hae-kyung smiled languidly and held part of the base of his penis to prevent complete insertion.

Judging from his eyes, blurred with excitement, and the fine hairs standing on end all over his body, it seemed that the Alpha’s penis, which kept poking into his Cervix as the sex went on, was physically too much for him.

Of course, Lee Yoon-san was usually struggling with the excessive sensation of his penis being fully inserted into his Cervix or even his Colon folds in other positions, but that was the case even when he wasn’t in Heat cycle.

So, when Lee Yoon-san was exhausted, especially when he was in the cowgirl position, he found it particularly difficult to endure the full insertion of the penis.

Of course, he also seemed particularly embarrassed and bothered by the fact that his stomach bulged out when he accepted the entire penis.

Anyway, the fact that he had gone so far as to beg for a hand bumper meant that the sex that had started the night before had really lasted a long time.

That was the closest thing to a last request that Lee Yoon-san made during sex with Hwang Hae-kyung.

“Ah….”

And the second reason was Hwang Hae-kyung, who was sleeping behind him with his penis inserted.

This was an act that he could never understand, even though he experienced it every time, but it was also an act that Lee Yoon-san had accepted without refusing because Hwang Hae-kyung liked it.

However, the problem was that there had been several times when Lee Yoon-san woke up first in the morning and tried to pull out his penis, which led to light sex.

It wouldn’t matter on a normal day, but today was the day of band practice, so it was difficult to lose energy from the morning.

For that reason, Lee Yoon-san chose to slowly and carefully pull his body forward little by little today as well.

“Where are you going?”

“Ugh…!”

Hwang Hae-kyung, who had been quietly looking down at Lee Yoon-san’s head, which seemed to be full of thoughts, smiled and pulled Lee Yoon-san’s stomach back.

At the same time, the penis that had been slowly slipping out was plunged deep inside, and a groan that Lee Yoon-san couldn’t hold back leaked out of his throat.

“Let’s sleep more, Yoon-san.”

“This, ugh, uh…! Not, not sleep…!”

The only good thing was that the band practice that day was scheduled for late in the evening.

Thanks to that, the tragedy of being late for band practice because of having sex again as soon as he opened his eyes did not happen.

✧✧✧

After a few more band practices, Lee Yoon-san’s school festival finally began.

The performance in which Han Hyun-ho’s band, including Lee Yoon-san, participated was a busking and small-scale performance that started in the late afternoon of the second day of the festival, and the order was quite late, so they had some time to spare.

Among them, Lee Yoon-san was scheduled to be put in after another classmate who was a guest keyboardist, and he had been promised that the position would be adjusted so that the keyboard would not stand out.

So Lee Yoon-san was out of his mind from the morning of the day, and he arrived at school with Hwang Hae-kyung’s support and car send-off.

Rehearsal preparations were already in full swing on site, and Han Hyun-ho in particular was often seen staring into space like a madman.

He was overly nervous, and he couldn’t believe that he was going to be on stage, which he thought he might have to give up because the keyboardist was injured.

Moreover, Han Hyun-ho had only helped with stage preparation and instrument transportation last year when he was a freshman, so this performance was his first experience.

“Hey, Han Hyun-ho. This is a performance, so you don’t need in-ear monitors?”

“What in-ear monitors are you talking about for a busking of this size, you crazy bastard…. Did we break through Gocheok Dome?”

Even in the midst of all this, he was giving a cynical answer to the guest classmate, so it seemed that he wasn’t completely out of his mind.

Lee Yoon-san approached the guest classmate who was in the same position as him, checked the order, and looked around the surrounding scenery.

“Don’t you need to check the sound and balance?”

“Start with the bass tuning. Did you check Sung-ho’s effector?”

“Check for howling and see if there are any distorted ranges!”

“No, I’m telling you, it’s small here, so you don’t have to do that.”

“I’ll also check the level balance for each session! Check for booming parts!”

“Yes, and everyone, don’t suddenly turn up the volume a lot because you can’t hear the sound well in your ears. The console will take care of that, so just give us a signal.”

“No, what is this, a rock festival?”

Lee Yoon-san just smiled at the sound of Han Hyun-ho grumbling in the middle of the rehearsal.

Even though he was grumbling hard, Han Hyun-ho was also listening to the sound from the audience and exchanging signals with the sound team, so he seemed to be participating quite diligently.

It seemed that his grumbling attitude was an attempt to reduce his tension by reminding himself that it was a small-scale performance.

After a few teams did their rehearsal and sound check, Han Hyun-ho’s band finally grabbed their microphones and instruments.

The performance of the song that they had practiced so tirelessly began. Lee Yoon-san looked at the other guest keyboardist who had been put in earlier and then looked around.

The warm and cozy wind of May and the sound that thumped the ground and air of the Youth Plaza, which had been set up as a performance hall, made his heart flutter for no reason. At the same time, he shrank and stretched his cold, tense fingertips.

What he realized after repeated practice was that, unfortunately, Lee Yoon-san had no talent for playing instruments.

He was overwhelmed just by memorizing three songs after spending weeks on them, and even though practicing with Han Hyun-ho and other people from the same school in the practice room wasn’t bad, he didn’t become interested in the keyboard or music itself.

So this was just a temporary event, a one-off experience, an episode for a fresh twenty-one-year-old.

‘Is it right for me to participate in this kind of thing? I’m not even good at it….’

That fact made Lee Yoon-san’s heart uneasy, and Hwang Hae-kyung didn’t offer any long comfort or advice about such worries.

‘Then that’s good. It’s enough if it’s fun, you don’t have to be good at it.’

Lee Yoon-san touched the sheet music in his hand and recalled what Hwang Hae-kyung had said.

‘Originally, those kinds of experiences are okay even if they fail. When you think about it later, it’s even funnier.’

‘But if I’m not good, it’s a nuisance….’

‘Do you remember when you played the piano for me?’

‘Huh? Ah… uh, yeah.’

‘Even if you make a mistake, no one will know if you don’t stop or cut it off while playing. I did, too.’

And if it’s a band practice, the sound of other instruments will be added, so no one will know even more. Hwang Hae-kyung said that and smoothed out Lee Yoon-san’s frowning brow.

‘Yoon-san.’

‘Huh?’

‘You’ve seen me play before, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Think of it as the opposite this time.’

‘The opposite?’

‘Instead of regretting every point you lose during the game, focus on scoring by running with your body.’

Just do what you can do right now. Early self-blame can only make people hesitate. Hwang Hae-kyung said that this time, it was like you were standing in a different kind of game, and Lee Yoon-san inadvertently thought of Hwang Hae-kyung on the court.

The young volleyball player with the number 11 on his back, who didn’t waver much at scoring or losing points and calmly and silently created the game, was easily drawn in his mind.

‘Hae-kyung, me.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Can’t you lend me your Uniform?’

‘Of course I can.’

Thus, Lee Yoon-san was wearing the Uniform of the Semyeong High School volleyball team, which was also Hwang Hae-kyung’s merchandise today.

Because it was a high school Uniform, the back of the T-shirt with only the foundation name had the number 11 and Hwang Hae-kyung’s name on it, and Han Hyun-ho kept glancing at the Uniform and didn’t hide his envy.

So all he had to do was keep doing this. Like Hwang Hae-kyung, who didn’t waver even when he lost points and calmly ran on the court, he just had to not stop playing even if he made a mistake.

Everyone in the practice room had already admitted that he had no musical talent, and he had put in enough effort to practice, so now he just had to humbly experience this event and experience.

Lee Yoon-san repeated those words like a mantra and took out a mask from his pocket and put it on.

It was a minimal device to prevent his face from being known through filming rather than being nervous. He was already known as Hwang Hae-kyung’s lover.

“Hey, Lee Yoon-san!”

As he was preparing to go up for the rehearsal, he heard Han Hyun-ho calling his name from over there.

“Huh?”

“Is Hwang, uh, your boyfriend coming later?”

“Uh….”

I don’t know? Han Hyun-ho’s expression, who had been looking at his friend with anticipation, was unsightly distorted by Lee Yoon-san’s answer, which came back in an uncertain tone.

“What? Hey, your boyfriend isn’t coming to your performance?!”

“He said he has a part-time job today.”

“What part-time job? He has a lot of money at home.”

“He does it sometimes. Hae-kyung is also working hard….”

“I won’t curse at your boyfriend, so please loosen your expression and make a few mistakes later. Even if you make a mistake, be shameless, okay?”

“Okay!”

Han Hyun-ho scolded Lee Yoon-san’s expression, which was quickly becoming sullen, and a bright answer came back quickly.

Hwang Hae-kyung’s part-time job had already been scheduled a month ago, so it couldn’t be helped.

It seemed that he was doing the brochure model that he had done last year again this year. So he replaced his support by taking me to school by car from the morning, and in the back seat of the car, clothes presumed to be the Uniform he wore last time were packed and hung.

It seemed that he was going to drop me off and go straight to his uncle’s company.

“Hey, Hyun-ho.”

“What!”

“Can I take a video of my performance? Just a little with my phone.”

So Lee Yoon-san decided to prepare a gift to show Hwang Hae-kyung in his own way. The security company for the festival that he had looked into just in case was not the company run by Hwang Jun-won.

✧✧✧

From the afternoon, people started spreading mats in Youth Plaza, and by late evening, the number of people started to fill up. As people took their seats in groups of three or five with food, drinks, and beer they had bought from food trucks, the twilight sky of May and the refreshing breeze raised the atmosphere of the plaza.

Lee Yoon-san safely finished the rehearsal and clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to control his mind while wiping away the cold sweat that was flowing down, feeling more nervous than he had expected.

If that didn’t work, he would quietly look down at Hwang Hae-kyung’s Uniform that he was wearing. Then, the number 11 boy on the court would come to mind and his mood would be refreshed for a while.

And so, the performance that he had been waiting for and worrying about finally announced its official start.

Meanwhile, Hwang Hae-kyung, who was wearing a security Uniform from another company for the first time in his life instead of his father’s company’s Uniform, checked his hat once.

He was in the car that had just arrived at the parking lot of the university that Lee Yoon-san was attending, and he had been looking for a security company since April when he heard that Lee Yoon-san was participating in the festival, and he was trying to work part-time by asking for cooperation.

He was a former volleyball player whose face was known, and he didn’t major in a related field, and he didn’t have any qualifications related to security or fighting, so he was clearly unqualified, but fortunately, he had a father who ran one of the top security companies in Korea.

Thanks to the help through connections, he promised to work a one-day part-time job with the concept of ‘job experience’, and he had just arrived at school after judging that full-time input was realistically difficult.

He was scheduled to be put in only for the performance in the afternoon, and he had agreed to be in charge of maintaining order, which had fewer variables.

― Hwang Hae-kyung, have you arrived?

“Yes. I’m in the parking lot now.”

― Follow the food trucks and come up to Youth Plaza. Cover your face as much as possible so you don’t stand out, and meet the Team leader at the entrance and get your work.

“Yes.”

Hwang Hae-kyung answered briefly to the communication that was heard through the wireless earpiece that he had just put on, and then checked his outfit once.

Unlike his father’s company’s Uniform, which was close to a suit, the black work clothes were a design like a simplified military Uniform pants with a short-sleeved T-shirt.

Hwang Hae-kyung finished the final check and took out his glasses from his pocket and started walking.

When he arrived at Youth Plaza, there were already a considerable number of people gathered. He met the Team leader, received instructions for maintaining order, and then stood in the assigned position to control the audience.

In fact, the audience was mostly students, and it didn’t seem very complicated if he covered his face well because it wasn’t a big performance that invited singers from outside.

Most of the people seemed relaxed, and the music coming from the stage was mostly familiar cover songs or the music of indie bands.

Hwang Hae-kyung habitually adjusted the hat and glasses that covered his face and controlled the people according to the instructions.

The only thing he did was to organize the wandering audience so that there were no congested sections, or to answer people who asked for directions.

Of course, there were quite a few people who tried to look closely at Hwang Hae-kyung’s face or tried to talk to him on purpose, but every time that happened, Hwang Hae-kyung moved to another place as if he was doing something else and avoided difficult situations as much as possible. Fortunately, the sky was dark.

After a few teams’ performances passed, Han Hyun-ho finally went on stage.

“This is the band club ‘Noise Sound’. The performance we have prepared today is!”

He had been begging Lee Yoon-san so much, so it seemed that he was in charge of vocals in the band.

Hwang Hae-kyung looked at the stage over there and moved his seat a little further forward. There were many audiences who had spread mats in the back, while there were many audiences who were sitting close to the stage in the front.

And as soon as he reached a secluded corner in the front of the audience, the greeting ended and the performance began.

He reflexively raised his head to check the keyboardist who was unusually located in the corner, and turned his gaze away at the same time as confirming that it was an unfamiliar face.

The audience, who were sufficiently drunk on the continuous performances, were shaking their cell phone lights, humming along to the songs, or enjoying the atmosphere while eating the food they had bought.

However, the atmosphere in the front of the audience was a little different. Whether they were students from the same department or fans, they were all holding their cell phones and taking pictures of the band on stage.

It was a natural sight, but it was inevitable that Hwang Hae-kyung’s brow furrowed.

Soon Lee Yoon-san would be on stage, and as soon as he thought that Lee Yoon-san, who was too good to be seen only by him, might be captured by their cameras, his heart was twisted.

Meanwhile, Hwang Hae-kyung wondered if Lee Yoon-san had felt this way every time he stood on the court.

He was always on the stage and in the spotlight, and Lee Yoon-san was the one who was mixed in with the audience or the crowd and looked at him.

‘This is a bit not good.’

It was also a moment that his heart was noisy in the position that he had changed for the first time.

Hwang Hae-kyung tried to manage his expression while looking at the audience who were filming the stage, but the heart that had been disturbed once did not calm down easily.

He was worried about what Lee Yoon-san would be like on stage. He wondered if he was nervous, if he was trembling, if there had been any variables or upsetting things in the short time he hadn’t seen him, and if he was afraid that people’s reactions would be negative.

It was a worry and anxiety that Hwang Hae-kyung himself had never felt when he was on the court, and it was a problem of a different kind than anxiety.

Therefore, Hwang Hae-kyung experienced for the first time the nervousness of the person who was left behind after putting a very precious and only wanted to protect person on the spotlight.

It was a feeling that Hwang Hae-kyung, who had always been on the spotlight, had never felt.

After letting a few more stages pass by with such unfamiliar worry, Han Hyun-ho finally cut the timing, saying he would drink some water. Then, Lee Yoon-san, wearing a mask and his uniform, appeared on one side of the stage.

He awkwardly climbed onto the stage, stood in front of the keyboard, placed the prepared sheet music, and scanned his surroundings with flushed and stiff eyes.

It seemed he could see the center and front of the audience seats well, where the stage lights reached, but he couldn’t see this corner properly, where the light didn’t reach, so he didn’t seem to have spotted Hwang Hae-kyung.

So, Hwang Hae-kyung smiled a little as he watched him, naturally took out his phone, fixed it on Lee Yoon-san, and zoomed in. Only Lee Yoon-san filled the rectangular phone screen.

Lee Yoon-san on the stage was unfamiliar yet welcome to Hwang Hae-kyung.

His eyes, blinking stiffly, and his fingers, likely cold, looked awkward. It seemed he was unfamiliar with the attention of strangers and was already feeling anxious.

He looked like a rabbit frozen by a sudden light on the road, cute yet pitiful.

Therefore, Hwang Hae-kyung just wanted to shield him from the gazes and pressure of the people making him stiff.

However, he had to suppress the urge to approach Lee Yoon-san and swallowed a sigh, realizing there was nothing he could do for him right now.

Even he thought it was childish and extreme to rush onto the stage right now to shield him from the attention, just to soothe the nervous Lee Yoon-san.

He knew better than anyone how hard Lee Yoon-san and his friends had worked to prepare for this stage, as he had been busy picking them up every time.

So, he couldn’t ruin the stage with such an impulse. Now was the time to just watch.

“……”

But even knowing that, Lee Yoon-san’s stiff expression made him anxious.

Every time he felt such trivial yet everyday helplessness and foolish, rash impulses regarding Lee Yoon-san, he disliked his own situation.

He regretted his own immaturity, lacking the patience and composure to wait maturely, and the guarantees he could give Lee Yoon-san about the future.

He always wanted to be a reassuring presence for Lee Yoon-san, even with just a glance, but the reality was that he couldn’t be a stable support with his own strength yet.

Even coming here, he had to borrow his father’s connections, so the twenty-two-year-old was utterly powerless.

So, Hwang Hae-kyung became frustrated and impatient with that fact, to the point of grinding his teeth.

He wanted to become the most reliable background and backbone for his lover as soon as possible. So that when Lee Yoon-san stood in such a place, he could feel excitement and courage rather than pressure and anxiety when he thought of him.

“…Yoon-san.”

So, even if he was an immature twenty-two-year-old Hwang Hae-kyung who couldn’t give mature stability, this much was clear.

“It’s okay if you make mistakes.”

He could promise his will and sincerity to always stay by Lee Yoon-san’s side.

Whether in a place where he could reach out and hug him, or in a place where he couldn’t reach but could rush to him right away, or even if he could only hover around like the wind, as in some moments in the past, he would always be by Lee Yoon-san’s side, like a habit.

Watching only Lee Yoon-san like this, so that his lover, who always accepted his obsessive affection refreshingly, wouldn’t regret or feel anxious about choosing him.

That was the only and firm vow that twenty-two-year-old Hwang Hae-kyung could make to twenty-one-year-old Lee Yoon-san.

Therefore, Hwang Hae-kyung,

“Look over here, Lee Yoon-san.”

Whispered like a spell towards his radiant first love standing on one side of the stage, with a handsome smile that would melt his tense and stiff lover.

Lee Yoon-san blinked a few times with a stiff face and shook off his cold fingertips.

On stage, Han Hyun-ho was dragging out the setup time with introductory remarks, and the audience filling the Youth Plaza was enough to make him feel dizzy for a moment.

‘Did Hae-kyung always exercise in this kind of environment?’

As he looked at the audience focusing only on the stage, Hwang Hae-kyung’s presence naturally filled his mind again.

He wondered how that kid had handled the pressure from these many gazes, and the belated worry and the feeling from the dim audience seats felt unfamiliar.

Come to think of it, he had always been part of the majority.

Unlike Hwang Hae-kyung, who stood on the stage called the court, he had always been mixed in with the crowd, settling for a safe and ordinary world instead of being illuminated by the spotlight.

It was a life on a different plane from Hwang Hae-kyung’s life, who always stood out and had to endure countless stares, with many unique aspects.

But even so, Hwang Hae-kyung had always found him. Standing in this world where lights poured down so brightly that he was thoroughly evaluated, he had found him without hesitation, hidden in the world of the ordinary and safe majority, and let him know that he had found him by sending ceremonies and signed balls.

Lee Yoon-san realized only after standing on this stage that it was by no means an easy task.

Compared to this stage, which was brightly lit, the audience seats with many people had a limited field of vision, so there weren’t many people he could see.

Even so, Hwang Hae-kyung had always found him in the midst of those people, sent signals, and expressed himself.

Lee Yoon-san now knew that it was impossible with ordinary interest and affection alone.

“Then, we’ll start the next song!”

With Han Hyun-ho’s loud comment after readjusting his throat, the drum beat began. Then, Lee Yoon-san, who belatedly came to his senses, hurriedly pressed the keys and began to follow the notes.

There was a mistake from the beginning, but when he brazenly pushed through, only the member playing the bass nearby glanced back, and no one else seemed to notice.

Then, Lee Yoon-san’s eyes, which had been focused on following the sheet music, finally turned to the audience.

Since it was a busking performance, the response from the gathered audience wasn’t very enthusiastic. Some were talking among themselves rather than focusing on the music, and some were lying on mats or sitting with their backs turned, eating or resting.

People reacted blankly to songs they didn’t know, and when a cover song they knew came on, they waved their hands appropriately or moved their bodies from side to side, getting into the mood.

It wasn’t the enthusiastic cheers or festival atmosphere seen in movies or dramas, but that part was rather comfortable.

Of course, some of the band members seemed dissatisfied with the somewhat lukewarm response.

As two songs passed and they were about to start the last song, a bright cell phone light grazed Lee Yoon-san’s eyes.

When he raised his head towards the blinding light, he met the eyes of a tall man in a security guard uniform in a corner at the front of the audience seats near the stage.

“Oh…？!”

It was Hwang Hae-kyung, with unfamiliar clothes and familiar hazel eyes. As soon as he made eye contact with Lee Yoon-san, he pretended to adjust his hat and lifted and lowered the brim of his ball cap.

He didn’t forget to slide down the glasses covering his eyes and put them back on, and he smiled with a cool curve at the corners of his mouth. As soon as Lee Yoon-san saw that smile, he couldn’t help but smile brightly.

Hwang Hae-kyung was standing below the stage. He had taken up a spot in the audience, even wearing a security guard uniform he had never seen before, just to see him, and he playfully nodded his head. Just like that time when he had found him as a middle schooler and nodded his head.

Thus, Lee Yoon-san’s vision narrowed, capturing only one person.

At the same time, the last song began, and Lee Yoon-san played the keyboard while looking at Hwang Hae-kyung standing on one side of the audience.

Because of that, he made frequent mistakes and pressed the wrong keys, but it didn’t matter.

Lee Yoon-san’s minor mistakes were safely buried in the other sessions, and Hwang Hae-kyung would often burst into a cool laugh at Lee Yoon-san’s smiling eyes, which seemed embarrassed every time he made a mistake.

Therefore, Lee Yoon-san was not at all intimidated by the mistakes coming from his fingertips, and rather, he only felt uplifted by Hwang Hae-kyung, who laughed with him every time he subtly pointed out the mistakes.

Then, Han Hyun-ho, who noticed Lee Yoon-san’s appearance, also roamed around the stage, further raising the atmosphere.

He began to elicit audience responses more actively than before, and the audience in the front also began to send a bigger response to the vocalist’s more active attitude. Then, the belatedly boiling atmosphere drew the attention of the people in the back.

Hwang Hae-kyung also shook off the worries and anxieties he had been holding back, after staring blankly at the illuminated audience seats and then making eye contact with him, unable to take his eyes off his lover playing the keyboard.

Lee Yoon-san, who had most of his face covered by a mask, had a smiling expression in his eyes on stage, which was dazzlingly lovely.

Just like Hwang Hae-kyung’s conviction that this first love would never fade.

One evening in May, the end of the busking performance, which wasn’t great but successfully pulled off an encore, was very successful.