FR | Chapter 1.3

Kyungheon’s gaze turned to Woojae, who shrugged his shoulders once. He slowly began to walk. “Maybe I should keep one too.” His muttered words echoed brightly.

With a face full of laughter, he followed the path Won had disappeared down and left the lecture hall. He had expected to find him waiting with a fierce glare, but Won was nowhere to be found.

Woojae scanned the hallway. A few steps later, a hand reached out from an empty lecture hall and pulled him in forcefully.

He chuckled softly at the sound of the door slamming shut.

“I thought you wanted to play tag.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

Won pushed Woojae’s shoulder irritably. Despite the situation not being one to laugh off, Woojae’s lips were still curled in a smile.

“I don’t know what the problem is. Why don’t you explain it gently, like a sunbae should?”

The body that hadn’t budged when pushed hard now tilted its head slightly. Won was dumbfounded. It was so absurd that he could have fallen backward, clutching his neck.

Humans and beastmen had coexisted for quite some time, but most humans didn’t even know beastmen existed.

The two groups had secretly signed a peace agreement that included a clause not to disclose the existence of beastmen, and the center that managed beastmen was extremely reluctant to expose their existence.

One reason most beastmen lived in the world in human form rather than as animals.

Knowing this, Woojae had carelessly mentioned Won’s information. Even if he hadn’t used direct words, the nuance was unmistakable to a beastman.

“Why bring that up when you should be keeping your mouth shut? Do I have a reason to go around blabbing that I’m a beastman?”

“I don’t know. From what I see, it seems like you’d confess everything out of guilt.”

“What kind of crazy talk is that!”

“What if someone overhears like a rat? Why are you speaking so loudly?”

Woojae took a step closer to Won. Woojae, at least 13cm taller than Won, erased the smile lingering at the corners of his mouth. His eyes, lazily opened, were quite sharp.

The gap between his demeanor when smiling and not was significant. When he smiled, he looked like a playful college student, but when he erased his expression, he looked endlessly fierce.

Could a change in expression really be possible with just a smile?

“If you’d just laughed it off, there wouldn’t have been any trouble. You’re the one who overreacted.”

“……”

“I saved you from almost causing a scene, and this is how you repay me?”

The intimidation made him shrink back. It was true he was intimidated, but each word he spat out like a thorn was a fact, leaving him unable to refute.

Won pressed his lips tightly together. His face, raised along the shortened distance, turned pale. The face that had suddenly turned cold seemed to notice this, and the corners of his mouth lifted immediately.

“Even mischief has its limits, sunbae.”

Woojae, tapping Won’s shoulder a couple of times as if it were no big deal, took a step back. He opened the door to leave the lecture hall but turned his head.

“You haven’t forgotten our promise, right?”

With that, he turned without hesitation. The sight of his back made Won’s face twist. He finally exhaled the breath he had been holding tightly.

It felt like his throat was blocked, even though he wasn’t wearing a tie. Even when he wrapped his hand around his neck, all he felt was bare skin. In the silence that had settled in the space, Won bit his lip tightly.

Woojae, Woojae, Woojae… Won sat quietly, chewing on Woojae’s name. Unable to shake the frustration, he let out a long sigh. He lifted his gaze from the textbook he had buried himself in and stared at the back of Woojae’s head.

He seemed to be listening to the lecture intently, his head tilted toward the professor. His upper body was straight, and he occasionally took notes while listening attentively.

From observing him throughout the lecture, it seemed he was more of an honor student than a poor one.

When the boy sitting next to him nudged him with an elbow, Woojae would look at the words written in the corner of the book and nod with a small smile.

When the girl sitting in front turned around to ask about the progress, Woojae would tell her the page number.

Was he a split personality? The way he smiled warmly and then changed his expression in an instant didn’t seem like an implausible story.

Won reflected on his lack of involvement in department activities. Even if he hadn’t been actively participating, someone like that should have caught his eye at least once.

Though he didn’t want to admit it, Woojae was objectively handsome. It was impossible not to notice him. Even though they were in the same lecture, he hadn’t known.

Won let out another deep sigh. Just then, the professor, who had finished the lecture, packed up and left the lecture hall.

Woojae’s head, which had been turned toward the boy, tilted a little more. Suddenly, their eyes met.

The long, stretched corners of his mouth were always annoying and infuriating.

Won, unconsciously pressing the sharp pencil against the paper, applied too much force. The pencil lead couldn’t withstand the pressure and snapped with a click.

“……”

The gaze that had briefly met his quickly shifted forward. The guy who had packed up his things stood up.

Woojae, you have a break during the third period, right? What are you going to do? Want to go to a cafe with us? Hey, no way. I was going to take him to a PC room, not a cafe.

As soon as the lecture ended, a conversation centered around Woojae unfolded.

“……Noisy.”

Won mumbled, belatedly averting his gaze. The voice, which no one picked up on, scattered into the air as if it had never existed.

The group kept moving their lips without pause, and Won sat quietly, swallowing his irritation.

It was suffocating. He couldn’t just swallow that irritation internally.

Even if he tried to cut off his attention, he couldn’t.

Even if beastmen were scattered across the country, the population density wasn’t that high. They were extremely few in number. While there were plenty in areas with centers, it was a different story outside those areas.

The possibility of a human he happened to meet being a beastman was slim. Even if that happened, it was rare for them to discover each other’s beastman status. Unless they had known each other since childhood.

Usually, they hid their identities, so even if they attended the same school or worked in the same place, they often didn’t know each other’s existence.

Especially for someone like him, who lived with eyes and ears closed, it was even more so. Some beastmen never kept fellow beastmen acquaintances around their entire lives.

He wanted to be like that too. That’s why he used to meet his previous lover far from school. That guy knew more faces than he did.

That was what bothered him the most. He couldn’t help but react more sensitively to things he would have normally ignored.

Moreover, Woojae seemed to have caught onto something and was subtly getting on his nerves.

For example, like this.

“I think I have an important appointment. Let’s go next time.”

Suddenly, Woojae, who had emerged from the group, spoke in a gentle voice.

He walked across the lecture hall, brushing the edge of Won’s desk. Unconsciously following the touch, Won narrowed his eyes slightly.

Annoying bastard. Every time he thought about it, curses came out.

The fact that he had helped him was secondary; he was thoroughly annoyed. He felt like he had gotten involved with the wrong person.

The reason the guy was acting so high and mighty was because of that incident, so if he continued like this, the one who would be most troubled was him.

Would things get better if he just kept the promise he made that day? The future, which no one could predict, was shrouded in dark fog, making it impossible to see beyond.

He needed assurance that even this situation was really okay.

Tap, tap. The pencil intermittently tapped the book. Lost in thought, Won grabbed Kyungheon, who was about to pack up and leave.

“Sunbae, why? Is something wrong?”

Kyungheon, with wide eyes, looked down at Won.

“That, Woojae, you know.”

“Kwon Woojae? Yes.”

“Do you know where he went? I had something to say, but he disappeared while I was distracted.”

“I don’t know……. Don’t you have Woojae’s number? Should I try contacting him?”

“Oh, no. He always seems busy. Does he have a lot of friends?”

For Won, who had few acquaintances in the department, Kyungheon was currently the best source of information. Moreover, Kyungheon was the club president.

Even if Kwon Woojae was at the top of the food chain, there was no need to be intimidated. The center prohibited hunting among beastmen to maintain individual preservation.

When he went to school, he hadn’t sensed the leopard’s pheromones, and he had hidden before the scales spread to his face, so there was no evidence left. Therefore, Woojae had no reason to hold anything over him.

He didn’t seem to have any intention of blabbing, so as long as the center head didn’t hear about it, it would be fine. That way, he wouldn’t need to be under the center’s surveillance.

Suddenly, memories of the past invaded his mind. Unconsciously clenching his fist tightly, Won tried to calm himself.

He just needed to confirm it was just a worry. To avoid repeating it, he needed information about Woojae.

“He has a lot, right? Aren’t you close with Woojae too, sunbae?”

Who said they were close? Won suppressed the urge to let out his true feelings.

“……Close. It’s not easy to have so many close friends. Doesn’t he have any enemies?”

Won replied with a gentle smile. Kyungheon didn’t take long to respond.

“Probably not? Woojae has a good personality.”

“Good personality?”

“Yes. He’s polite to seniors, and he’s friendly and treats juniors well. He doesn’t seem to have any super close friends, but he’s friendly with everyone. There’s probably no one in our department who doesn’t know him. He’s well-connected, and that’s why he was going to be the club president, but he passed it to me because he had some circumstances.”

In an instant, the image of Kwon Woojae, as seen by others, flowed out of his lips.

Polite, my ass. I knew something was off, but he hides his true self in front of others. Won shivered inwardly but kept smiling.

This was enough. Knowing he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to topple the carefully built tower.

“Well, sometimes he seems almost foolishly kind.”

“Oh, it’s not that much. Woojae knows how to keep boundaries, so people don’t take advantage of him. Oh, the snake you said you were keeping. Is it better now?”

The faint smile that had appeared on his lips wavered. He straightened his slightly bent back and leaned against the chair. Won ran his hand through his hair, changing his stiff smile to a clear one.

“……Yeah. It’s fine.”

“That’s a relief. Oh, sunbae, I have a meeting, so I should go now.”

“Okay.”

“Yes, see you later.”

With that, Kyungheon left the lecture hall. Won bit his finger, which had been lingering around his lips.