Alpha Trauma Novel - Chapter 33. Rock (2)

The group member hung up, asking Wooyeon to keep their call a secret. He seemed worried about getting into trouble, but Wooyeon didn’t even have the energy for that. He merely pretended not to know and left another message in the chat room that the PPT hadn’t arrived. A suffocating feeling rose to his throat, but there was nothing he could do but continue what he was doing.

So today. Still, no one contacted him. Even the group member who had called Wooyeon earlier remained silent as if his job was done. Watching the numbers quietly disappear in the chat room, Wooyeon once again felt the terror of silence.

‘Did I sell out my country in a past life?’

Thinking so, Wooyeon turned the doorknob of the club room. He wondered if it would be locked, but thankfully, he felt no resistance. Wooyeon guessed that Garam had arrived a little early and pushed the door open.

“…”

“…”

Their eyes met. Wooyeon, startled, froze blankly. The other person, who seemed to have just arrived and was about to open the window, looked puzzled as soon as he saw Wooyeon.

“Why are you here so early?”

Wooyeon looked at the gentle curve of Dohyun’s eyes and revised his earlier thought. In fact, he must have saved his country, not sold it. Otherwise, Dohyun wouldn’t appear before him at such an astonishingly perfect time.

“What’s wrong?”

Dohyun slowly approached Wooyeon, who wasn’t answering. Perhaps his expression was strange, as a worried look appeared in his eyes. Wooyeon, whose face was vaguely distorted, stammered.

“…Aren’t you off today?”

As far as Wooyeon knew, Dohyun had no classes on Monday and Tuesday. There was no reason for him to be in the club room this early when he had no lectures. Moreover, at such a precisely timed moment.

“I have something to submit related to the club.”

Dohyun answered casually and slightly bent at the waist. His mouth felt sweet as Dohyun looked into his face, meeting his eye level. In that state, Dohyun narrowed his eyes and spoke in a soft, gentle voice.

“You must be tired. Your eyes are bloodshot.”

Wooyeon instinctively took a step back. When he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips, he felt a sharp stinging sensation. His complexion hadn’t looked good when he checked in the morning, but he hadn’t expected it to still be like that.

“Ah, I’ve been looking at my laptop for too long.”

“Laptop?”

“Because of the group project.”

Dohyun’s double-lidded eyes twitched into a frown. Then he turned his back to Wooyeon and approached the window again. As soon as he opened the window, a cool breeze rushed in.

“Preparing for the presentation?”

“Yes, well…”

Wooyeon answered vaguely and stepped inside. A spring breeze came in from outside the window, but the pheromones carried on the wind were as clear as autumn. Each time the dry pheromones enveloped the surroundings, his stomach felt heated.

“Then why did you come so early instead of sleeping more? You don’t have classes on Monday either.”

“I couldn’t sleep… and I couldn’t concentrate at home.”

He tried to act nonchalant, sat on the sofa, and rummaged through his bag. As he took out his laptop and wireless mouse, Dohyun had already moved closer. Wooyeon inhaled sharply at the sudden proximity of Dohyun’s pheromones.

“Turn on your PPT. I’ll give you feedback.”

Wooyeon stiffened his neck and moved the mouse. As he plugged in the USB and opened the file, Dohyun lowered his eyes and focused on the screen. All his senses became acutely tense, as if his entire concentration was focused on Dohyun.

“…Should I turn the page?”

“You can turn it.”

“…”

“Hmm… next.”

It was so quiet around them that he felt like he could hear himself breathing. The clicking of the mouse, the sound of Dohyun saying ‘next,’ and the occasional rustle of his clothes. His senses, sharpened to the point where the hairs on his skin stood on end, acutely registered all of it.

“You did well.”

Dohyun praised him briefly and took the mouse. He calmly went through it from beginning to end again, then spoke without looking at Wooyeon.

“The script?”

“Here.”

Wooyeon took out a notebook from his bag and opened it to a certain page, handing it over. It was a rough outline of the presentation he had put together after making the PPT. Dohyun nodded, looking at the elegantly written English.

“You wrote this well too, how many minutes is the presentation?”

“Five minutes.”

“Have you tried it with a timer?”

“No, I haven’t tried that yet.”

Thump, thump, his heart pounded loudly. He wanted to place his palm on his chest, but he couldn’t with Dohyun there. He hoped this sound wouldn’t reach him, but Dohyun calmly fluttered the notebook.

“Okay… it’s all good, but,”

His voice, trailing off at the end, was chillingly attractive. He realized for the first time how alluring a languid and gentle voice could be. As Wooyeon gulped down dry saliva, Dohyun tilted his head.

“Why are you doing this alone?”

“…”

His dark eyes gazed intently at Wooyeon. His attractive, flawless eyes seemed rigid somehow.

Wooyeon felt his mind go blank and blinked. It was clearly a simple question, but it was strangely difficult to answer. If he replied that he did it alone due to such-and-such circumstances, he felt Dohyun would think he was foolish.

An inexplicable silence lingered. Dohyun didn’t rush him, but Wooyeon felt himself growing increasingly anxious. Watching Wooyeon slowly lower his head, Dohyun spoke lightly.

“Normally… when professors assign group projects, there are a few nominal things they expect.”

Wooyeon looked up at Dohyun again. He was now looking at the laptop screen, not Wooyeon.

“Leadership, teamwork, things like that.”

Those were precisely the elements included in the evaluation criteria the professor had mentioned. Wooyeon, and everyone else, probably thought it was nonsense. Dohyun seemed to feel similarly, letting out a slight, empty laugh.

“It’s not that they actually want you to achieve that.”

A straight finger tapped the laptop. Wooyeon reflexively looked at the screen, then turned his eyes back to Dohyun.

“When submitting assignments of the same quality, the one where all five group members participated gets a higher score.”

“…”

“I’ve heard it myself, with this professor, even if you do this perfectly, it’s about a C+.”

Wooyeon’s face immediately fell. It wasn’t that Wooyeon wanted to do it alone; he just had to. With Junseong acting like that and the other group members being silent, what else could he do?

“My point is,”

Dohyun tapped the laptop again. He laughed softly, like a deflating balloon, looking at the discontented Wooyeon. Then, pointing to the part that read ‘Group 1, Seon Wooyeon,’ he spoke gently.

“If you’re going to remove names, remove only one.”

Wooyeon thought he might have noticed everything. The fact that he didn’t force an answer, that he continued the conversation kindly, and even the way he was looking at him now. Perhaps this entire conversation was just groundwork for this one statement.

“Who are you going to take out?”

Dohyun, smiling wryly, creased his eyes. His left eye, with a faint double eyelid, winked leisurely.

“That blonde kid from back then?”

Wooyeon, as if possessed, told Dohyun everything. He didn’t recount all the details with Junseong, but only explained what Dohyun had seen at the cafe and the process of the current incident. Dohyun blinked silently, then casually replied when the story ended.

“Looks like he doesn’t want to attend university.”

It was an incredibly gentle voice, but Wooyeon thought he was angry. Dohyun’s face had turned expressionless and seemed to be deep in thought. He let out a short sigh and stretched his lips into a long line.

“Let’s do this.”

For two days, they met in the club room whenever they had a chance. Sometimes it was just the two of them, sometimes Garam was there, and sometimes even Seongyu, making them four. During that time, the story of Wooyeon’s group project became known, and Garam and Seongyu flew into a rage.

“Is it today?”

At Dohyun’s question, Wooyeon, who was eating tteokbokki, nodded. He had already been restless last night because of the group project later that afternoon. Seeing Wooyeon, who looked particularly tired, Garam even kindly added sausages to his tteokbokki.

“Did you memorize the script?”

“Yes, well…”

Wooyeon trailed off and put down his paper cup. His slightly crumpled face looked more complex than usual. Garam and Seongyu, who had been diligently eating tteokbokki, looked at Wooyeon worriedly.

“But I don’t know if this is okay.”

Even while following Dohyun’s suggestion, Wooyeon felt an unshakeable sense of unease. It wasn’t because he felt guilty or because it was a shortcut, but simply because it felt like he was doing the same thing as Junseong. Of course, there was also an anxiety about trying something new.

“Hey, Wooyeon. What do you mean ‘not okay’?”

“Exactly, it’s fine.”

Garam and Seongyu immediately refuted Wooyeon’s words. They expressed unrestrained worry, saying he was too soft-hearted, and Wooyeon secretly chuckled to himself. Soft-hearted, indeed. That wasn’t the reason at all.

“You can’t get through to people like that with words.”

Dohyun spoke firmly and spooned sausages into Wooyeon’s paper cup. Wooyeon, holding the paper cup vaguely, glanced at Dohyun. Dohyun’s lips formed a graceful curve.

“You have to act like a fox.”

The way Dohyun smiled while saying that truly looked like a fox, and Wooyeon unconsciously blushed around his ears. If Dohyun were a nine-tailed fox and asked for his liver, it was a smile so charming that Wooyeon would willingly take it out and give it to him.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

The uneasy feeling was erased once again by Dohyun’s single remark. Wooyeon felt his mind clear and calmly replied, “Yes.” At that short answer, Dohyun’s eyes curved, as if cheering him on.

Arriving at the lecture room a little early, Junseong was indeed already there. Sitting in the same place as last time, he twisted his lips into a sneer as soon as he saw Wooyeon. Wooyeon put his bag down near the door and strode towards him.

“Kang Junseong.”

“Oh, you’re here?”

Junseong had an unpleasantly nonchalant expression. Sitting arrogantly with his legs crossed, he looked up at Wooyeon mockingly. His confident demeanor was not a good feeling to behold.

“What happened to the PPT?”

Wooyeon immediately cut to the chase. He had heard the story from the other group member, but he planned to pretend he didn’t know for now. At that, Junseong’s mouth twitched with a displeased expression.

“Wow, this bastard’s pretending he doesn’t know.”