Omega Complex Novel (Completed) - Chapter 78

Kim Dohyun, who had approached, waved his hand in front of my face. Seeing his worried expression, my face must have looked very serious. I sighed inwardly and adjusted the hat I had pulled down.

“No… it’s nothing.”

I knew I was overly sensitive. It was a petty thought, a rather stingy feeling. It wasn’t something to be so upset about, yet I was showing such an ugly side, unable to control my emotions. If others heard, they would surely show a bewildered expression and absurdity.

“I’m going back out.”

The two of them exchanged glances instead of stopping me. They seemed unsure whether to ask the reason or just let me go. Since there was no answer I could give if they chose the former, I put my hand on the plastic curtain to go outside, leaving them behind.

And the moment I pulled back the plastic, a familiar face appeared before my eyes. Choi Taegyeom, with a somewhat serious expression, stood waiting for me with his arms crossed. He stared at me intently and opened his mouth in a subdued voice.

“Lee Yoonwoo.”

His face was filled with a bewildered look for some reason. He probably felt some ominous premonition seeing me leave so abruptly. His lips, flushed like flower petals, moved very slowly.

“Talk to me.”

I also had a lot to say. A lot to ask, and a lot to hear. But the moment our eyes met, what I felt was nothing but resistance towards Choi Taegyeom.

“…Later.”

Did he need to take off his hat? The question I had barely ignored suddenly choked my throat. Since when was he so dedicated to customer service, enduring all that rudeness and smiling? I was as angry at Choi Taegyeom as I was at the customer.

“We’re busy now, what’s there to talk about?”

He shouldn’t have answered their questions. When they touched his hand, at least when they grabbed his arm, he should have gotten angry. No, he shouldn’t have stepped in for me when I was about to take the order in the first place. Thoughts, one after another, slowly turned into resentment towards Choi Taegyeom.

“Get out of the way, I need to go out.”

I shouldn’t act emotionally, but rational judgment was impossible. I had never hated him before, but at this moment, I felt hatred. My stomach twisted, and my eyes felt hot, so I didn’t want to say a single word to Choi Taegyeom.

“…”

He looked down at me, his eyebrows slightly raised. When I avoided his gaze, he let out a hollow gasp of absurdity. He closed his mouth for a very brief moment, then sighed and grabbed my hand.

“I can’t work like this.”

It was a force too strong to refuse. His intertwined fingers gripped my hand as if unwilling to let go. Choi Taegyeom led me inside, and in front of the exit behind the kitchen, he looked at Minjeong.

“We’ll take a 10-minute break.”

“…That’s fine, but.”

Minjeong, frowning, trailed off. She tucked her chin-length hair behind her ear and calmly looked back and forth between me and Choi Taegyeom. Then, as if entrusting us with a grave mission, she spoke in a solemn voice.

“Go make up.”

Choi Taegyeom headed to a secluded area behind the pub. The front of the tent was bustling, but the wooded area behind it was deserted. It was already dusk, so the only light illuminating the area came from the distant pub.

“Yoonwoo.”

Choi Taegyeom called my name in a soft voice. The sound, wrapping around my ears, gently soothed my sharp emotions. I subtly let go of Choi Taegyeom’s hand and averted my gaze.

“…Speak.”

Just hearing my name, the lump in my heart melted away. If I had known my emotions were so cheap, I wouldn’t have shown them in the first place. I bowed my head in embarrassment, but it was useless as he tilted my hat up.

“Look at me.”

As if enchanted, I looked at Choi Taegyeom. Even in the darkness, his face shone brightly. Especially his eyes, drawn as if by an artist, were so beautiful that my heart pounded with a pleasant feeling, unlike before.

“Did I do something wrong?”

This is why people go crazy looking at him. There’s a reason why they needlessly talk to him, touch him, and try to see him just a little more. It’s a face you’d never get tired of seeing your whole life, so the shock of seeing it for the first time must be considerable.

“…What could you have done wrong?”

However, the scene I had witnessed earlier came back to mind. The customer who spoke with transparent intentions, and Choi Taegyeom who accepted those words without a care. The feelings that had gently softened now gathered, each asserting its presence. So, without realizing it, an endless quarrel burst out of me.

“Why are you working so hard?”

My tone was prickly and sharp. Choi Taegyeom blinked blankly, then asked what I meant.

“So I should work half-heartedly?”

“That’s not it…”

I bit my lower lip hard and furrowed my brows. I was as perplexed as when I confessed to being an omega, unsure of where or how to begin. I couldn’t just express my displeasure without the arrow of blame pointing at Choi Taegyeom.

“Just… act like yourself.”

“Act like myself, you say.”

He muttered in an absurd voice. He took off and put on his hat as if frustrated, then lowered his eyes languidly.

“Then we can’t run our pub.”

His tone was playful, but his words were more serious than any other. Both I and Choi Taegyeom knew that if he threw a tantrum, we couldn’t handle it. Choi Taegyeom was the kind of person who could just quit serving and go home.

“It’s your club members doing it, you can’t ruin it.”

It was a line that would make Park Sungjae cry his eyes out. Although it was “your” and not “our,” that alone would be satisfying enough. On the other hand, I looked up at Choi Taegyeom askance and muttered curtly,

“So, you accepted all their flirtations too?”

He crossed his arms, as if telling me to continue. The emotions I had suppressed burst out like a flood at his sidelong glance.

“Questions like what kind of alcohol you like, or asking you to recommend something delicious, fine, I’ll admit that’s unavoidable.”

My nervous voice was accompanied by pheromones. The emotionally charged pheromones poured out towards Choi Taegyeom in front of me. He waited for my next words with unreadable eyes.

“But if they grab your arm, you should at least give them a cold look and get angry.”

“…”

“It’s obvious they’re interested in you, and you even thought of taking off your hat for them?”

The more I spoke, the more unjust I felt. My ragged breaths made my chest heave and amplified my pheromones. I couldn’t understand why I felt so bad, why I was so irritable. Only fragmented feelings of frustration sharpened their edges towards Choi Taegyeom.

“…You.”

Choi Taegyeom opened his mouth with a somewhat awkward expression. He didn’t seem angry, rather a little relieved. Soon, he frowned around his eyes as if in disbelief.

“Are you jealous?”

“Jeal…!”

My words were instantly cut off. It was because of the strange feeling the word “jealousy” conveyed. All the surging anger, the resentment towards Choi Taegyeom, even the injustice of the situation, were all encapsulated in those two syllables.

This was a feeling that could only be called jealousy. I just hadn’t named it, but the fundamental starting point was indeed jealousy. The people showing interest in Choi Taegyeom, and Choi Taegyeom responding to that interest, fostered a childish selfishness within me.

At the moment of realization, my face flushed. As I hesitated and stepped back, Choi Taegyeom took a big step closer. He unhesitatingly reached out and firmly grabbed my arm. And his wavering gaze came closer.

“…”

Thud, the hat fell to the floor. Hot, excited pheromones were transmitted through our intertwined lips. He cupped my face, twisted my head, and tickled the gap between my lips with the tip of his tongue. My lips parted obediently, like someone who didn’t know how to resist.

It was a kiss that made me yearn more than ever. Every time his soft tongue wrapped around mine, I became so impatient that my throat felt dry. Instinctively wrapping my arms around him, instinctively lowering my eyelids, I grew restless with the desire to touch him more.

Choi Taegyeom emitted pleasant pheromones and sucked on my tongue. After several times having sex, he became less conscious of his pheromones. His more relaxed demeanor gave me an inexpressible sense of satisfaction. Especially when our breaths mingled like this, I could feel affection surging like waves.

I hummed, intoxicated by his gentle touch. His long fingers caressed my eyes. He rubbed my eyelids as if trying to remember their shape, then traced my cheeks and ears one by one. He gently pressed the pulsing areas, then ran his fingers through my hair and twisted my head in the opposite direction.

It didn’t occur to me that this was outside, or that someone might see us. The sense of stability he gave me melted my mind into a soft haze. Soon, my legs gave way, and as Choi Taegyeom caught me, he reluctantly pulled his lips away.

“……”

“……”

Heavy breathing filled the quiet surroundings. Even the distant murmur became a catalyst that heightened the tension. The thickly intertwined pheromones had soaked us both, without exception.

“I love you.”

Choi Taegyeom confessed in a gentle voice. It was a phrase I’d heard every single day since we started dating. And still, my heart fluttered at the soft words.

“……I know.”

Despite my blunt reply, he smiled happily. Perhaps it was because I couldn’t hold back my shyness and buried myself in his arms. He patted my back, then buried his nose in my hair.

“Are you feeling better?”

I had been feeling better from the moment he first took my hand and we walked out. Even the complaints I’d poured out to him were merely the lingering remnants of a faint unpleasantness. I felt fine as soon as we had time alone, undisturbed by anyone, but now, somehow, I wanted to act childish.

“Did you kiss me to make me feel better?”

“No.”

Choi Taegyeom wore a bright smile and showered me with kisses. His lips pressed down on my head, forehead, and around my eyes, then curved into a sweet arc.

“Because I’m happy.”

What? I didn’t ask. It was because I had a hunch he would explain the reason without me needing to ask. Sure enough, he pushed his cap back, bumped his forehead against mine, and wore a dreamy expression.

“You know……”

“……”

“I thought you didn’t get jealous.”

I was speechless. As he said, I was quite far removed from the emotion of jealousy. Even when I heard he’d been confessed to by a student from the Department of Korean Language and Literature, didn’t I just think, ‘He’s still popular’? If I reacted to every little thing, I would have lost all my hair by now.

“I feel good.”

I felt wronged. Someone’s emotions were on a rollercoaster, while he just laughed, unaware. The funny thing was, even so, my own emotional knot began to unravel with him.

“……Don’t go take that table’s order.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t take off your cap either.”

“Alright.”

“If anyone bothers you, just tell Park Sungjae instead.”

As I continued speaking, Choi Taegyeom laughed foolishly. His face was annoyingly smug, but seeing him so openly happy, I couldn’t help but find him cute.

“You’re just too…… popular.”

“Who’s talking?”

Choi Taegyeom let out a soft chuckle and hugged me as if to crush me. I could feel his deep alpha pheromones from his warm neck.

“Do you know what they said at the table whose order I just took, after you left?”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and shook my head. Choi Taegyeom flinched his shoulder, perhaps tickled by my hair. Then he brought his lips close to my ear.

“Does the person wearing the ‘Boss’ cap have a lover?”

His warm breath touched me. As I gripped the T-shirt caught between my fingertips, he asked in a slightly deeper voice,

“How many times do you think I heard that question today?”

The atmosphere of his pheromones changed. From bright like cherry blossoms to something more insistent. My lower back twitched at the sensation of him gently biting my earlobe and outer ear.

“I’m going crazy, Yoonwoo.”

His pleading voice gave me a thrilling sense of satisfaction. I felt like I understood why he was so happy. Choi Taegyeom, who expressed his desire for me with his whole body, was nothing short of the greatest pleasure.

“So, what did you say?”

“……”

“When they asked if you had a lover, what did you say?”

I slightly pulled away from Choi Taegyeom’s embrace. From about two spans away, I saw his handsome face smiling. He winked one eye with a rather confident expression.

“I am their lover.”

At that, I couldn’t help but laugh with him. As I chuckled, my shoulders shaking, he kissed me repeatedly and pulled me into his arms as if he would never let go. And when my laughter stopped, our lips were deeply intertwined once again.

“……Oh, dear.”

Kim Dohyun let out a deep sigh as he saw us return to the pub. Choi Taegyeom ignored him and went off to work, but I remained awkwardly in the makeshift kitchen. Minjeong, who was skillfully making rolled omelets, glanced my way.

“Looks like you made up.”

“……We didn’t even fight.”

“Everyone says that.”

A belated sense of embarrassment washed over me. These guys must have tactfully assumed that Choi Taegyeom and I had fought. Really, we didn’t fight or anything. It felt pathetic to add excuses. In the midst of it, Kim Dohyun looked me up and down cynically.

“Sometimes, I don’t know if you’re an Alpha or an Omega, senior.”

What he meant was obvious. It was the same meaning as what he had told me at the freshman welcoming party.

‘Anyone would think you’re an Alpha, senior. You have too much Alpha pheromone on you.’

That was why I remained in the kitchen. Choi Taegyeom’s pheromones lingered so strongly that I felt I would be embarrassed if I went out to serve. My pheromones had also transferred to him, but Choi Taegyeom and I had different basic amounts of pheromones to begin with.

“……But why do you keep staying in the kitchen?”

I asked Kim Dohyun, intending to change the subject. I couldn’t understand why he, who was clearly assigned to serving, was staying in the kitchen. Especially since the space was so cramped that Minjeong had already kicked out other club members.

Kim Dohyun snorted and turned his head. He seemed to have caught on to my intention from my awkward topic change. Fortunately, he wasn’t so arrogant as to point it out.

“Other seniors didn’t clean up the trash, so this place is a mess. It’d be easier later if they threw it away while cleaning, but they made a total mess, so I couldn’t leave because I was cleaning this up.”

As he said, the recycling area was a disaster. There was plastic in the paper, paper cups in the plastic, and even leftover alcohol in the liquor bottles. If it was like this, it would take ages to clean up later. The only reason it wasn’t more severe was probably because Kim Dohyun had tidied it up.

“Just leave it, Dohyun. I’ll catch the bastards who threw it away and make them clean it up.”

Minjeong said, transferring the rolled omelet to a plate. I also nodded in agreement. The guys who carelessly threw things away because they were busy should clean it up; if someone else did it for them, it would be an endless cycle.

“Oppa, this is for table 3.”

“Ah, oh. Do I just need to bring the rolled omelet?”

“Everything else is gone.”