Alpha Trauma Novel - Chapter 18. Cherry Blossom Rain (2)

In the end, Wooyeon was cornered and had to agree to the study group. Once while deciding the location, and again while eating tteokbokki, he felt like something was wrong, but spilled water couldn’t be collected.

‘Then let’s do it at Wooyeon’s house today.’

To make matters worse, he had vaguely offered his house as the study location. There were other club members in the club room, the study rooms were fully booked, and others’ circumstances weren’t convenient.

Seongyu lived with his parents, and Garam’s studio apartment was too small, so Wooyeon had half-heartedly protested with a hint of personal desire.

‘…What about you, Senior?’

Dohyun replied with a slightly softened expression. He usually lived alone, but his younger sibling was visiting. Wooyeon, casually asking if his sibling was also an Alpha, was speechless at the answer he received.

‘I’m the only Alpha in our house.’

Special traits are generally inherited only from special traits. Just as Wooyeon was born to an Alpha and an Omega, Dohyun should have been too. Suddenly, he felt frustrated by how little he knew about him.

“I’ll call attendance.”

The professor was already standing at the podium. He scanned the classroom and familiarly skipped Kang Junseong’s name. As soon as the ‘Kwon’ family name was called, someone raised a hand.

“Professor, I’m here.”

Wooyeon instinctively turned towards the voice. The voice was familiar, but the bright yellow back of the head was utterly strange. Of course, it couldn’t be him. Just as Wooyeon was about to lose interest in him,

“Kang Junseong? How are your injuries?”

“I’ve fully recovered.”

Kang Junseong turned his head. Wooyeon took a deep breath, his expression hardening. An unforgettable face was clearly visible in his sight.

‘That pig bastard.’

Why is it that bad premonitions never miss? Why does that damned jinx always find Wooyeon without fail? The voice that crushed obscenities, the mouth that often mocked Wooyeon, and the eyes filled with contempt. All of it drove Wooyeon to the edge of a cliff.

‘Yeonie, you f*cker.’

Wooyeon pressed his palm with his fingernails, steadying his ragged breathing. Memories that flashed by clung to him like filth. His heart pounded unpleasantly, and his pheromones subtly vibrated.

“Seon Wooyeon.”

It was an unforgettable memory. He hadn’t been hit physically, but his heart was wounded, and he hadn’t been robbed of money, but his spirit was impoverished. If Dohyun hadn’t been there, it would have been a period with not even a speck of good memories.

“Seon Wooyeon isn’t here?”

“Wooyeon, he’s calling you.”

Random fragments of memory burst forth like a downpour. Wooyeon only raised a hand after his classmate behind him nudged his back. ‘Yes,’ he replied, and Junseong turned his head towards Wooyeon.

“…”

“…”

Their gazes met sharply. His throat stung and screamed as if he had swallowed needles. The memories kept resurfacing, vividly swirling in Wooyeon’s mind as if they had happened just yesterday.

‘F*ck, ignoring me again?’

Three rows diagonally, barely five steps away. His past tormentor sat there, a tangible reality. His hair was bleached yellow, and his facial features had become coarser, but it was definitely the ‘Kang Junseong’ Wooyeon remembered.

“Alright, where did we leave off last time?”

Wooyeon managed to turn his head and rest his chin on his hand. He didn’t have time to wonder why Junseong wasn’t avoiding his gaze. Soon after, Junseong also turned his head, and Wooyeon finally exhaled the breath he had been holding in.

Throughout the lecture, Wooyeon couldn’t even take proper notes. The question of whether he had the grades to come to this university coexisted with an absurd resentment towards coincidence. What percentage was there that they would be in the same university, different departments, and taking the same elective?

“The midterm exam will be replaced by a group project. The groups have been randomly assigned, so don’t even think about changing them.”

It had been quite some time since Wooyeon stopped hearing the professor’s words. Wooyeon gnawed at the inside of his cheek, swallowing dryly several times. For some reason, Junseong, holding his phone, was happily whispering with a friend next to him.

‘He won’t remember me.’

The only fortunate thing was his assumption that Junseong wouldn’t recognize him. Wooyeon had grown taller, lost weight, dyed his hair, and taken off his glasses. It was a change so drastic even his mother wouldn’t recognize him, so there was no way Junseong would.

‘Even the seniors didn’t recognize me…’

He gently placed a hand on his chest and regulated his breathing. It wasn’t a class with only a few students; it was a popular elective with a large enrollment. The semester would end in about three months anyway, so he planned to just keep quiet until then. Unless their group projects overlapped, it was highly unlikely he would run into him.

“You’ll each develop an invention suitable for the global era by the end of April. I won’t ask you to actually make it, but you know it needs to be realistic, right? You’ll create a PPT for a presentation, and submit a separate report.”

Wooyeon belatedly focused on the professor’s words. After finishing, the professor looked at the group assignment list and called out names. Kang Junseong was called first, and then two more ‘Kwon’s and two ‘Kim’s were called. The problem lay in the last name called.

“Seon Wooyeon, that completes Group 1.”

Wooyeon, unable to hide his bewilderment, raised his hand. The professor stopped speaking, as if telling him to speak. As he pushed his chair back and stood up, all eyes rushed towards him.

“I’m Seon Wooyeon from the Department of English Language and Literature. …I think you might have misunderstood the name.”

Names starting with ‘G’ had been called sequentially, and then suddenly his surname ‘Seon’ was inserted. He raised the question, wondering if there had been a mistake, but the professor shook his head with a benevolent expression.

“The first four were grouped by name, and students from language and literature departments were randomly assigned one by one. Seon Wooyeon, you are indeed in Group 1.”

Wooyeon was speechless and blinked. Randomly assigned students from language and literature? Why, on earth?

If he could, he wanted to argue. But the professor casually added further explanation.

“Since we’re on the topic, if you present in a foreign language, you’ll get bonus points, so keep that in mind. Of course, it’s optional, and if a group member can present better than a student from a language and literature department, it’s fine for someone else to do it.”

After finishing, the professor asked Wooyeon if he had any more questions. Wooyeon vaguely said he was fine now and sat back down. The diverted gazes quickly returned to the professor.

“And Group 2 is…”

As Group 2, Group 3, and so on were announced, Wooyeon kept his head down, deep in thought. It wasn’t just random; there was a reason, so he had no more arguments. He desperately wanted to ask to change groups, but hadn’t the professor just firmly stated, ‘Don’t even think about changing’?

“Then for the remaining time, let’s gather by group and decide on a leader first. After you’ve decided, tell the TA.”

The professor left the classroom after saying that. The TA, who entered instead, brought order to the noisy classroom. Wooyeon closed his eyes tightly, overwhelmed by the desire to escape this space, then opened them again.

‘Damn it…’

No good solution came to mind. Now, nausea churned within him. How could such a situation arise? Wooyeon couldn’t understand it. Absurd coincidences were becoming a single bad omen, choking him.

“You’re Seon Wooyeon, right?”

Wooyeon managed to maintain a blank expression and looked up. Kang Junseong had approached and was standing directly in front of him. He wanted to pretend not to know him and just free-ride, but getting a bad grade would be problematic in itself.

“Including you, there are five of us in Group 1.”

Junseong was accompanied by unfamiliar faces. Junseong casually perched on a desk and smiled in a friendly manner. It was a smile so nauseating it made him want to vomit.

“I’m Kang Junseong, a first-year from Information and Communication Engineering. You seem like a freshman too, so you’re twenty, right?”

Truly, it was a face that didn’t recognize Wooyeon. He knew it from the way he started with introductions, just like Dohyun. When Wooyeon didn’t reply, his puzzled, furrowed brow was also unfamiliar.

“Are you… a senior, perhaps?”

Wooyeon suppressed the laughter bubbling up and sighed. Before, if he didn’t answer, Junseong would immediately start swearing, asking if he was ignoring him, but now his informal speech had changed to honorifics. It was funny, absurd, and most of all, he felt a profound sense of ’emptiness.’

“I’m a freshman.”

He forced himself to answer as if nothing was wrong. Junseong’s expression instantly brightened, and he seemed happy that the other group members were also freshmen. Wooyeon could faintly sense his alpha pheromones.

“That’s a relief, I was so surprised, thinking I’d made a mistake.”

‘You undeveloped bastard.’

The friendly voice overlapped with voices he’d heard in the past. Wooyeon recalled Junseong’s pride in being an Alpha and swallowed his nausea.

“Then shall we decide on a group leader first…”

In his third year of middle school, Junseong would occasionally put his pheromones on Wooyeon’s belongings. Naturally, Wooyeon didn’t notice, and every time he used the items, Junseong would loudly mock him.

‘Idiot. Doesn’t even know there are pheromones on it.’

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

Trait wasn’t a criterion for superiority. Just as some people have moles on their faces and others have curly hair, it was simply a characteristic determined from birth. Junseong forming groups with other Alphas in his puberty was nothing more than childish clique formation.

“It’s nothing.”

Wooyeon shook his head with a devastated feeling. A faint, insignificant pheromone hung in the air. Wooyeon, who hadn’t presented at the time, didn’t know, but as a dominant Omega, Wooyeon could tell. He had been so dismissive of people, treating them like animals, yet Kang Junseong was recessive.

“But you… you’re really pretty.”

Junseong awkwardly ran a hand through his bleached hair. He said he thought Wooyeon was a celebrity when he first saw him, and that he was incredibly surprised when their eyes met. There was even a hint of excitement in his expression.

“Your pheromones smell damn good too.”

Wooyeon’s lips twitched, feeling hollow enough to scoff. Junseong, who had been rambling on, praising Wooyeon, had started to blush shyly at some point. That gaze, so different from before, brutally shredded Wooyeon’s memories.

“Are you dominant?”

“…Yeah.”

It felt like a sneer would burst out any moment. His pheromones smelled good? Wooyeon reiterated it to himself and lowered his gaze.

“Yes, I’m dominant.”

You used to tell me I smelled bad. The words he couldn’t utter remained a lump in his throat.