Omega Complex Novel (Completed) - Chapter 27

As soon as the lecture ended, a message arrived. It said that all classes except the morning lecture were canceled. At the sudden news, Park Sungjae gleefully dragged me towards the club room. I had planned to use class as an excuse to escape, but now even the school wasn’t helping me.

“What? Why is everyone here?”

In the club room, Minjeong and other club members were gathered. Even if they were short on members, a central club was still a central club; the spacious interior even had sofas and a cot. As soon as they saw me, the club members sprang up and bowed.

“Uh… yeah, hi.”

They were all people I had drunk with, but I didn’t know anyone’s name except Minjeong. Come to think of it, I didn’t remember introducing ourselves at the drinking party. All I remembered was that most of them drank like Park Sungjae, guzzling it down.

“Oppa, what brings you here?”

Minjeong sprang up as soon as she saw me. Seeing her occupying the cot alone, I knew Kim Minjeong’s personality hadn’t changed. Her wide eyes seemed to show how surprised she was.

“Park Sungjae dragged me here.”

I answered casually and stepped inside. Awkward gazes followed me every time I moved. We had greeted each other, but it seemed too awkward to strike up a conversation. Minjeong moved sideways to make space for me.

“It’s okay, you lie down.”

She looked comfortable. Minjeong grinned and shrugged. It seemed she had only offered out of politeness and had no intention of giving up her spot.

“I heard you were a ghost member, I didn’t think you’d ever show your face.”

“I originally intended to…”

The converging gazes were burdensome. Even as I sat on the empty sofa, the club members’ eyes were on me. Half familiar faces, half unfamiliar.

Tap, tap, Minjeong, who was fiddling with her phone, spoke casually.

“We were just talking about you, Oppa.”

“Yoonwoo hyung?”

It was Park Sungjae who reacted. Park Sungjae strode across to the opposite side and plopped down on the sofa. When he frowned at the words ‘Oppa talk,’ the club members awkwardly averted their gaze.

“Why, when we were drinking, Senior Choi Taegyeom came, right? The kids kept asking what your relationship was.”

“You told that story again?”

That damned Choi Taegyeom. I let out a hollow laugh. Was sharing just one drink really something to be talked about until today? I thought they weren’t interested for once, but they had been talking among themselves behind my back.

“Choi Taegyeom must be quite famous.”

“That, and also, Oppa, you’re pretty hard to get close to.”

“Why am I hard to get close to?”

I asked back without much thought, and an awkward silence fell. Minjeong, and even Park Sungjae who was still excited, and the club members I wasn’t close with. Their subtle gazes were quite burdensome.

“Anyway, Oppa is…”

Minjeong briefly clicked her tongue, fiddled with her phone, and lay down on the cot. The way she wiggled, covered by a blanket, was as if it were her own home.

Peeking out, Minjeong, with only her eyes visible, looked at me and asked.

“We’re ordering delivery food, Oppa, do you want anything?”

“I’ll have Jeyuk.”

Park Sungjae answered for me. Minjeong’s face crumpled at his unhesitating menu choice.

“I didn’t ask you. Oppa?”

“I don’t feel like anything.”

Since things had turned out this way, I planned to just spend some time and then go home. Park Sungjae seemed to have forgotten his original purpose, and it would be strange to leave right after arriving. Anyway, all afternoon classes were canceled, so I could just grab some lunch and head home leisurely.

“Tell Sungjae to order one more thing he wants.”

Some club members were still observing me with curious eyes. They must have heard the ‘childhood friend’ story from Minjeong, but it seemed they wanted to hear it directly from me. Of course, I didn’t want to say that Choi Taegyeom and I were friends again.

“I’ll give you my card, pay with this.”

“Rabokki.”

Park Sungjae spoke in a firm voice as soon as I finished. ‘Thank you, hyung-nim,’ was a polite bonus. Tsk, tsk, Minjeong clicked her tongue and stretched out her hand to take the card.

“But Oppa, why the mask? A cold?”

Buzz, a vibration in my pocket. I thought it was a payment message, but the sender was Choi Taegyeom. As soon as I read ‘For lunch…’ the phone vibrated again.

[Web Message]

[NB Check] Today’s Bunsik

48,200 won Lee*woo-nim

“I’m feeling a bit under the weather.”

I turned off the message and slightly lowered my mask. I had worn it because the outside air was chilly, but I didn’t intend to keep it indoors. Earlier, it was because of the omega pheromones, but here there were only Betas, so it should be fine, right?

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“It’s not that bad…”

Choi Taegyeom: [Let’s eat lunch together] 11:32 am

Choi Taegyeom’s message was concise. As concise as it was, my possible replies were limited. I was typing a message saying, ‘I’m eating with the club kids,’ when suddenly my hair stood on end.

“…”

The air felt strange. Deep in my lungs, an alpha pheromone that wasn’t even here permeated. It was a slightly heavy, sticky scent. The amount wasn’t large, but it was enough to subtly brush the tip of my nose.

“…Was Kim Dohyun here in the club room?”

Identifying the owner of the pheromone was easy. I had become accustomed to Kim Dohyun for several days, so I knew. A dry gulp went down my throat.

“He just came for a bit and went out to buy drinks. Why?”

I pulled up my mask, pretending nothing was wrong. Perhaps because my condition was down, my senses were unusually sharp today. No matter how dominant Kim Dohyun was, these faint lingering traces shouldn’t bother me. Hadn’t I conversed normally even when he openly released pheromones?

“Nothing much…”

I couldn’t say I felt pheromones. How could I, pretending to be a Beta among Betas, mention pheromones? I trailed off, hiding my uneasy feeling, when a possibility suddenly occurred to me.

“Just, I thought he might be.”

The possibility was slim, but not entirely impossible. Symptoms similar to a cold, intermittent fever, and a body sensitive to pheromones.

Was it a heat cycle?

My head went cold. My cycle wasn’t due yet, and I hadn’t forgotten to take my suppressants. I was so recessive that others experienced heat once a month, while I experienced it once every four months, so a heat cycle coming like this made no sense.

“Oppa, do you want a drink too?”

Yes, it clearly made no sense… My fingertips trembled with anxiety.

“It’s okay.”

I felt nauseous. I instinctively rummaged through my bag and found the suppressants I always carried and a rectangular cigarette pack. Not only did I look at them, but I also put my hand in my bag to feel them. As I held the round pill container in my hand, my tension completely dissolved, as if I had never been anxious.

“…”

It was an overreaction. There was no way a heat cycle would come, and even if it did, I could endure it with suppressants and cigarettes. It was clearly just a cold, making me sensitive to things I usually wouldn’t care about. When you’re sick, you naturally become more sensitive.

Thinking that way, I felt much better. My stiffened head slowly relaxed. I opened my quickly locked phone screen, and the unfinished sentence blinked on the display. It was ‘Eating with the club kids’ that I had typed and left there. With trembling hands, I finished the rest of the message and put my phone away. No, I tried to put it away.

Choi Taegyeom: [Which club kids?] 11:36 am

Buzz, the phone vibrated again. He must have been looking at his phone, as a reply came back in less than a minute.

I don’t even know their names, so would Choi Taegyeom know if I told him who they were? I glanced around, but of course, the only people I knew were Park Sungjae and Minjeong.

[The kids I drank with that day] 11:37 am

So I replied vaguely, and this time, a reply came back quickly again. This time, it was a rather difficult question to answer.

Choi Taegyeom: [Kim Dohyun too?] 11:37 am

What should I say? If I say no, it’s a lie, and if I say yes, he’ll worry. Kim Dohyun wasn’t here now, but he’d be back in the club room soon. Of course, saying yes was the right answer, but I kept hesitating.

While I was pondering a reply, buzz, buzz, a call started coming in. A familiar number, and a familiar name. Without a doubt, it was Choi Taegyeom.

“Hello?”

—Where are you?

Choi Taegyeom asked abruptly. His low question echoed through the club room via the phone. I hurriedly lowered the volume, but the gaze that had already latched onto me didn’t fall away.

“I’m in the club room.”

I answered softly and stood up. Since the call came, I thought I’d go out for a cigarette. And also, to air out this stifling gaze and atmosphere.

“Just a moment, I’ll go outside.”

—…Why does your voice sound like that?

“My voice?”

Before leaving the club room, I showed Park Sungjae the cigarette pack in my hand. Cigarette, I’ll be back. I mouthed the words, and he made a circle with his thumb and forefinger.

—It’s like… you’re mumbling.

“Ah.”

An exclamation escaped me. I understood why Choi Taegyeom asked why my voice sounded like that. As soon as I pulled down my mask with one hand, the cool air brushed past the tip of my nose.

“It’s because of the mask. I’ve taken it off now.”

—Mask?

The building where the club rooms were located was good because the smoking area was close by. Since there were so few smoking areas on campus, some students frequented the back of the engineering building, but I didn’t particularly want to smoke in such a place. Seeing the floor littered with cigarette butts, even as a smoker, my desire to smoke would plummet.

—Why the mask?

Choi Taegyeom asked again, lowering his voice. His repeated question carried a hint of concern for me. I knew it was a natural concern from a friend, but still, my chest swelled.

“I’m feeling a bit under the weather.”

I lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. The cigarette smoke that rushed in slowly neutralized the suppressed pheromones. Yes, it disappears quickly, so there’s no way a heat cycle would come. The faint lingering unpleasantness lightly flew away with the cigarette smoke.

—Medicine?

Perhaps because it was over the phone, his voice was unusually low. The heavily sunken tone wrapped stickily around my solar plexus. It even felt like heat was boiling in my lower abdomen.

Come to think of it, it’s been a very long time since I talked to Choi Taegyeom on the phone. Before, we were so inseparable that we didn’t have time to talk on the phone, and after that, I assumed he’d know without me explaining. There was a reason why his voice over the phone felt new.

“Just, well…”

I should call him often.

—You haven’t taken it, have you?

Haa, a light sigh, and the tip of my tongue tasted sweet. The breath wrapping around my ears tickled my chest. My mouth was so sweet, the cigarette in my mouth felt like chocolate.

—And you definitely didn’t go to the hospital.

“It’s not bad enough to go to the hospital.”

—As if.

I wished he would worry about me. I wished he would allocate emotions, spend time, and care more about me. I knew it was a selfish wish, but I wanted Choi Taegyeom to willingly be confined within my desires. Since he had stayed without much complaint until now, I hoped he would remain within my fence this time too.

—Have you eaten?

“No, I’m waiting for delivery.”

The cigarette, which I hadn’t smoked much of, slowly burned down. I held the long filter in my mouth and lightly inhaled the smoke. Whoosh, the smoke scattered into the air.

—You’re smoking, aren’t you?

“…How did you know?”

I flinched and stopped moving. I instinctively looked around, but of course, there was no one around. Choi Taegyeom answered casually, as if asking why I was so surprised.

—I heard the sound.

Hoo, he let out a long breath. It was similar to what I had just done. I hadn’t expected him to hear the sound, but the breath mixed with his words had a somewhat suggestive feel.

“…I just came out to make a call and smoked.”

I suddenly wanted to make excuses. What kind of whim was this, acting coy now after chain-smoking in front of Choi Taegyeom before? Choi Taegyeom seemed to be thinking something similar, as I heard him let out a soft chuckle.

—Who said anything?

I awkwardly stubbed out the cigarette. How many puffs had I taken? Three? It was a very wasteful long cigarette, but I didn’t feel regretful. This much was enough to erase the pheromones.

—Given Lee Yoonwoo’s personality, you won’t go to the hospital.

Choi Taegyeom spoke in a gentle tone. The start of the call seemed to be a message asking if I had eaten lunch, but most of the conversation was about my cold.

—Even if I tell you to buy medicine, you won’t take it.

“Hmm.”