Omega Complex Novel (Completed) - Chapter 88

“Hyung, over here!”

A familiar large figure raised one hand high. Next to him was a familiar face. As I slowly approached them, the guy holding a beer glass nodded.

“Oppa, long time no see.”

It was the day I was supposed to drink with Minjeong and Park Sungjae. I hadn’t seen them since graduating from graduate school, so it had been almost a year since we last met. Park Sungjae’s face was quite gaunt, showing how much he had struggled in the interim.

“Looks like studying is tough.”

At my casual remark, Park Sungjae lowered his eyes. A gloomy shadow fell over his clear, bright eyes.

“I lost 10kg…”

In his last semester of senior year, Park Sungjae suddenly started preparing for the civil service exam. His reason was that a liberal arts graduate with bad grades like him would eventually open a fried chicken restaurant, so he might as well take a different path now.

I wanted to support his grand ambition of aiming directly for the 7th grade, skipping the 9th, but I was a little flustered when he shaved his head and moved into a gosiwon (cram school dormitory). I never thought he’d put his plan into action so immediately.

I found out later that Park Sungjae had started cramming in a similar way before taking the Suneung (college entrance exam).

“What, is this what you mean by losing 10kg?”

“You jerk.”

Park Sungjae grumbled softly and threw a lettuce leaf at Minjeong. The lettuce didn’t fly far and landed between the two of them. Somehow, these guys never change, even after several years.

“What about Taegyeom Hyung?”

“Overtime. He’s really busy these days.”

“Wow, overtime on a Friday night. Minjeong, do you work overtime too?”

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

“Caught you.”

Apparently, Minjeong was on the fast track to success with her unique sales skills and work ethic. She had been studying a second foreign language in her spare time while working, and now she spoke Chinese at a native level.

“Oh, Oppa. I’m thinking of changing jobs.”

“Changing jobs?”

“Another company made me an offer. It’s a place that mainly deals with European travel… they’re offering a 120% salary increase. The work will be tougher than now, but I think it’ll be better for my career. …And I’m annoyed with the current CEO.”

Minjeong sighed deeply, her face crumpled. Seeing her so disgusted, the CEO must have been really bothering her.

“CEO? Why the CEO? What did he say?”

“I don’t know, he’s terrible at work but stubborn and meddlesome. And he keeps telling me to get married.”

“Hey, how old are you that he’s telling you to get married?”

“Exactly. And what does it matter to him whether someone gets married or not?”

Minjeong, who had just said that the CEO was bald and that even seeing his potbelly annoyed her, blinked at me out of the blue.

“Oppa, aren’t you getting married?”

This guy, didn’t she just say what does it matter to him whether someone gets married or not?

“You’re saying something different from a moment ago.”

“Are we strangers?”

Her refreshing smile formed a gentle curve. Her sly way of pouring drinks didn’t seem particularly annoying.

“I’ll do it when the time is right.”

In fact, I hadn’t thought about marriage. We had talked about it in passing, and I vaguely had a premonition that I would spend my life with this person. It was just that we already lived in the same house and were practically living like newlyweds, so I hadn’t taken any action.

Given that Choi Taegyeom hadn’t said anything different either, perhaps he was thinking something similar to me.

“How long have you and Taegyeom Hyung been dating?”

“About 5 years?”

“Don’t you get tired of him?”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer. I could have just said yes, but a thought suddenly flashed through my mind. Just then, a staff member approached with samgyeopsal (pork belly), and I picked up the tongs, nodding.

“No, I don’t get tired of him. Not at all.”

Park Sungjae moved on naturally, but Minjeong gave me a subtle look. The quick-witted guy seemed to have noticed my hesitation. I handed the tongs to Park Sungjae and parted my lips.

“Actually, Choi Taegyeom…”

Both their eyes sparkled simultaneously. Their gazes, full of curiosity, were overwhelmingly burdensome.

“…Never mind.”

“Ah, Hyung!”

Park Sungjae yelled. Minjeong picked up a new pair of chopsticks, flipped the meat, and casually asked,

“Why, have things gotten stale?”

“No, it’s not that.”

I knew how rude it was to start a topic and then cut it off. Indeed, Park Sungjae looked like he was dying of curiosity. But despite that, I hesitated whether to speak or not.

“Is it something difficult to talk about?”

Instead of answering, I nodded. Minjeong seemed to guess roughly, but Park Sungjae looked completely clueless. As expected, Minjeong spoke in her characteristic nonchalant voice.

“After dating for so many years, it would be weirder if the passion was still burning.”

I flinched, my shoulders twitching. They were like friends, but I still felt embarrassed talking about such things in front of my younger friends. Well, what’s done is done, so regretting it now was too late.

“Taegyeom sunbae is busy these days, right? Then it could be like that.”

She truly was quick-witted. Is this what happens when you experience the real world? No, thinking about it, she was exceptionally perceptive even in college.

“I think so too, but…”

I slowly began, tracing my memories. Park Sungjae, still looking clueless, listened quietly.

“The timing… it was so sudden.”

Recently, Choi Taegyeom has been acting strange. Specifically, since the day he went to work after sleeping less than three hours. He would often zone out, and at night, he wouldn’t even lay a finger on me. Once, I even woke up in the early morning to find him napping on the sofa.

Although I had intended to refrain from intimacy, I hadn’t intended to cut off even minor physical contact. He didn’t even lightly kiss me or hug me to sleep.

“It felt like he was deliberately avoiding me, not just because he was busy and had no time.”

It felt excessively unnatural to be simply due to fatigue. When our faces were close, I could see his desire for me, so there was no reason to specifically avoid kissing.

“Not a rut?”

“No, definitely not.”

He was someone who had never once gotten annoyed with me, even when tired. Even while busy, he would always prepare breakfast for me and leave for work without a sound, so as not to wake me. Today, too, I had been told to call him as soon as work ended, and he would pick me up.

“Are your sexual chemistries not matching?”

“…!”

Park Sungjae’s eyes widened. A soft gasp escaped him, indicating that he had finally grasped the topic of conversation. Minjeong clicked her tongue and chided him, saying he’d dated a lot but was still terribly oblivious.

“No… I just thought it was strange for Yoonwoo Hyung to talk about such things.”

“…What about me?”

“Because you don’t seem interested in that kind of stuff.”

Park Sungjae gave an awkward smile and meticulously distributed the meat. In the meantime, the perfectly browned meat piled up on our individual plates. I, too, smiled awkwardly and mumbled a reply.

“It’s not like that…”

“Isn’t it because he’s afraid he won’t be able to stop himself?”

At Park Sungjae’s words, Minjeong glanced over. The guy who had also put meat on Minjeong’s plate wrinkled his nose.

“Why, it’s fine not to start at all, but it’s hard to stop once you’ve started, isn’t it? If he gets fired up, he can’t stop, so he might as well cut it off completely.”

That was quite a valid point. Except for the fact that the other person was Choi Taegyeom, who was second to none in terms of patience.

“Just ask him directly. Why is he suddenly like this?”

“Ah, that’s a bit…”

“Embarrassed?”

“…Yeah.”

I felt my ears grow warm. Though I hadn’t said it, it had only been a few days at most since he stopped touching me. To talk about just that felt like acting too eager.

“Oppa, you’re dating in a surprisingly cute way.”

Minjeong let out an incredulous laugh. Her words were sarcastic, but her face was full of amusement. Park Sungjae, who had been staring at me, muttered glumly.

“Seeing you guys makes me want to date.”

Being a student, it would be difficult for him to even meet people, let alone date. He probably knew that himself better than anyone.

“Come to think of it, everyone’s dating these days.”

“Who else is dating?”

“Dohyun. He’s been busy dating since last year.”

Kim Dohyun had returned to school as a first-year, second-semester student when I was working as a teaching assistant. His impression had matured a bit after serving in the military, and now he was in the midst of preparing for employment.

“He tried to pick up a freshman, even though he was a returning student, so I cursed at him, but it seems they’re doing well.”

“Ah, Wooyeon?”

Kim Dohyun’s dating history, even thinking about it now, made me instinctively call him a thief. He was twenty-four, and his girlfriend was only twenty. It was only a four-year difference, but the difference between a ‘freshman’ and a ‘returning student’ was just like that.

“Ew, he has a girlfriend?”

“Get an update on the news. They’ve been dating since last year, why don’t you know when even Yoonwoo Oppa knows?”

As for me, I was working as a TA, so I unintentionally observed their dating life.

Time flies, doesn’t it? It felt like just yesterday we were giggling at a hat that said ‘youngest,’ but now he’s in the class year that would wear a ‘leader’ hat. The idea of Kim Dohyun, who was a freshman, being a graduate would even surprise Choi Taegyeom.

One drink, two drinks, as the alcohol flowed, deeper conversations about our recent lives emerged. Park Sungjae sighed, saying studying was hard, then choked up, saying he missed his parents. Looking at the number of empty soju bottles next to him, he had clearly made rapid progress in a short time.

“Hey, drink moderately. You have to study again tomorrow.”

“I don’t know… I want to rest tomorrow too…”

“If you want to rest forever, then do that.”

Minjeong drank soju one after another without her face changing color. She was originally a strong drinker, but she said her alcohol tolerance had unnecessarily increased while working. When she mentioned taking nutritional supplements because her liver wasn’t what it used to be, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“Oh, it’s raining.”

As the drinking session was about to end, rain began to fall, one drop at a time. It had been cloudy for the past few days, and it seemed the rainy season had finally begun. In the blink of an eye, the rain intensified, hitting the window with a cheerful sound.

“What, I don’t have an umbrella. Do you, Hyung?”

“I have Taegyeom…”

Just then, my phone on the table rang. The guys, who had reflexively turned their gaze, simultaneously crumpled their faces at the name displayed on the screen.

[Honey♥]

A slight silence, followed by embarrassment, washed over me. Minjeong’s ‘you’re doing all sorts of things’ gaze, and Park Sungjae’s envious gaze. I wanted to hide in a mouse hole if there was one. Minjeong snorted and gestured at my phone with her chin.

“Answer the phone. It’s definitely not a rut, is it?”

“…Be quiet.”

My face flushed slightly. I tried to rub my cheeks, pretending it was due to the alcohol, but I couldn’t escape their gazes. Helplessly, I ignored their blatant stares and answered the phone.

“Hello?”

I pretended not to hear the murmurs like ‘Yes, it’s your honey.’ The two guys chuckled and exchanged drinks, seemingly amused by my glare.

—I’m leaving now.

His voice was muffled, so he must have called from the car. I could picture him with his sleeves half-rolled up, gripping the steering wheel.

—If there’s no traffic, it’ll take about 30 minutes. Where exactly is the restaurant?

“It’s a samgyeopsal place at the intersection in front of the station here… Hey, Sungjae, what’s its name again?”

Instead of answering, Park Sungjae pointed to a corner of the menu. The restaurant’s name was written in the corner.

—That two-story building?

“Yeah, it has a wooden sign with a pig drawn on it.”

—I know where it is.

I could hear the sound of rain hitting the car window even over the phone. The rain outside also seemed much heavier than before. So I started to say, ‘Since it’s raining a lot…’ but the same words came from the other end of the phone.

—Since it’s raining a lot…

We both fell silent simultaneously. After a slight pause, I let out a puff of air, and the guys sitting opposite me gave me curious looks.

“…Drive safely.”

—Yeah, don’t come out, just wait.

A faint laugh escaped me. Choi Taegyeom was the same. He chuckled for a long time, then whispered, ‘I’ll be there soon,’ and hung up.

“It’s definitely not a rut, is it?”

Minjeong, who repeated her statement, shook her head. She picked up the soju bottle, filled my glass and Park Sungjae’s, and smiled broadly.

“Let’s drink until Taegyeom sunbae arrives. It’s polite to drink until your nose is crooked when someone comes to pick you up.”

“Choi Taegyeom wouldn’t think that.”

“What do I care about?”

With her indifferent reply, the soju glasses clinked. Park Sungjae, who quickly joined the toast, enthusiastically drank his soju with an excited face.