OMLM | Chapter 3

Coming to school like that, isn’t it obvious? Idiot.

Kang Yebon had already managed to suppress the sharp words that were about to escape his lips. After giving Lee Seunggu a glance, he sighed once more.

Pushing Lee Seunggu, who was standing too close, away, Yebon turned his body.

“I’ll go in first.”

He cautiously stuck only his upper body through the door. It might be better to settle things once and for all.

In the furthest corner of the classroom, that guy was sitting alone.

No one sat around him, as if there were barricades set up, leaving him like an isolated island.

Leaning back in his chair, his arrogant posture made him look more like a gangster waiting for a debtor than a student.

‘Is he really a freshman? In psychology no less…’

It would seem more realistic to call it the ‘Department of Psychology Warfare.’

With trembling eyes, Yebon had no choice but to enter.

That man knew him… knew he was gay. A dangerous presence had entered Yebon’s once peaceful daily life, threatening to disrupt it greatly.

Clenching his fist below his waist, he stepped inside.

As Yebon strode forward, the man watched him intently, just like he did in the alley before.

Yebon stopped beside the man.

At that moment, every living thing in the classroom seemed to hold its breath.

Screech, the sound of the chair being pulled back spread unusually loudly. When Yebon sat right next to him, the man raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Seeing him up close in the light, his stature appeared even more imposing. The collarbones visible through the shirt unbuttoned by two buttons were thick, and his chest was clearly all muscle without a hint of fat.

“……Hello.”

Yebon spoke as softly as possible, worried someone might hear, but the classroom was so quiet it felt like everyone could hear.

The only relief was that no one was sitting nearby.

“I didn’t expect you’d acknowledge me first.”

The man leaned towards Yebon, resting his chin on one hand. There seemed to be a glint of interest in his sharp eyes.

Yebon rubbed the back of his neck, swallowing hard, and then, touching his lips with one hand, he replied,

“……I’m sorry about that day.”

An apology was the first step. The person in front of him looked like someone who was friends with fists, no matter how you looked at him, even upside down or backward.

Despite Yebon’s apology, the man just stared silently. His gaze seemed to say, “Go on, say more,” with a hint of scorn.

“That… as you know, I wasn’t in my right mind at the time. So, that…”

Forget that I’m gay? Don’t tell anyone about that day? What words should I use to make this guy agree?

While choosing his words, the professor walked in.

The man continued to stare at Yebon, unconcerned, then asked, “What’s your name?”

Yebon didn’t expect him to ask that.

He flinched, turning his head and mumbling his reply, “Do you really need to know my name…?”

The man, with a long scar on his eyebrow, looked Yebon up and down with a frown.

Yebon felt that giving his name here might be his immediate survival, but in the long run, it would be better if this man didn’t know his name.

He already held too many of Yebon’s weaknesses to easily share personal information.

As Yebon repeatedly looked at the man with cautious eyes and then lowered his gaze, the professor soon announced he would take attendance, looking down at the lectern.

Yebon felt his heart sink. He had overlooked the fact that this was a classroom.

“Kang Yebon.”

Yebon remained silent, looking only at the professor’s face with a troubled expression. His profile felt hot.

“Kang Yebon?”

Yebon looked at the professor with trembling pupils, only raising his hand when the professor muttered, “Not here?” His family name was ‘Kang,’ which came before ‘Kim.’

“Kang Yebon is here.”

The professor with thick eyebrows and small eyes glanced at Yebon sitting at the back and squinted. There was an unpleasant look in his eyes, as if scolding for not paying attention from the first day.

Yebon’s eyes were still trembling, but not because he was marked by the professor on the first day.

“Kang…Yebon. Kang Yebon.”

The voice murmuring his name sounded like someone reciting a hit list. Yebon couldn’t look to the side at all.

The man muttered Yebon’s name a few more times before quietly saying, “Wow.”

“You, your name is pretty too?”

Wow… Yebon imagined himself solidifying in a cement bucket and sinking into the sea.

In the end, without the courage to face him properly, Yebon bowed his head deeply and murmured, “……I’m truly sorry.”

He didn’t ask to be spared. In movies, when someone begs for their life, they usually don’t get it.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

The man said something, whether he meant it or was just being polite because they were in a classroom, then turned away.

Only then did Yebon glance beside him.

The man had a surprisingly good-looking face. While Yebon was still occasionally peeking, worried about being buried alive.

“Cha Hyuk.”

The man half-raised his hand. The professor, seeing Cha Hyuk, briefly trembled his eyelids before calling the next name.

‘Cha Hyuk…’

Yebon mumbled to himself, his mouth buried in his backpack.

Somehow, it was a name that suited the man. Just like his appearance, his name seemed strong. He never believed in the superstition that one grows according to their name, but it might apply to this man.

After the attendance, the professor immediately projected the syllabus on the screen.

And so, the professor spoke for an hour and a half, with 80% chit-chat and 20% orientation, before ending the class.

About an hour later, Lee Seunggu sent a KakaoTalk message saying he couldn’t wait and would go eat first.

Even after the lecture ended, Yebon kept glancing at Cha Hyuk, who was still seated. Perhaps because of Cha Hyuk, all the students had left through the front door.

Yebon looked around the empty classroom. The hallway seemed empty too.

“Um…”

Cha Hyuk, who had been leaning against the chair back, turned his face slightly. His mouth formed a mysterious curve.

“As you know, ahjusshi.”

Though Cha Hyuk’s smile had stiffened slightly, Yebon, with his eyes lowered, didn’t notice and continued speaking.

“I’m really sorry about that day. You might have sensed it, but I wasn’t in my right mind at the time…”

Plus, I was a bit drunk, so I didn’t see clearly.

“So, wouldn’t it be better for both of us if we just quietly go to school…?”

Yebon spoke as carefully as he could, finally looking up slightly at Cha Hyuk.

He wore an ambiguous expression, as if he might be smiling or frowning. There seemed to be a subtle light in his dark eyes.

“Do you have another class next?”

“……Why do you ask?”

“If not, let’s have lunch with hyung.”

Hyung doesn’t have friends. Saying so, the man smiled deeply. Yebon’s large eyes quietly took in his face for a moment before he spoke.

“……But I’m not your friend, ahjusshi.”

In September, when the summer heat hadn’t yet subsided, Yebon looked at Cha Hyuk in front of him with unfocused eyes.

He took a big spoonful of steaming pork soup, the red broth from the added seasoning making it indistinguishable from hangover soup.

He really didn’t want to come, but he couldn’t defy Cha Hyuk.

Cha Hyuk was clearly a scary gangster, and most importantly, he knew the secret Yebon had been hiding, one he never wanted to reveal in his lifetime.

‘Said we’d eat, but pork soup in this heat?’

Yebon just stirred the milky soup in front of him with his spoon. The rice next to the earthenware pot remained untouched.

Why would anyone want soup on such a hot day, especially one full of pig intestines; it was downright repulsive.

“Don’t you like this?”

Yebon stopped stirring aimlessly and looked up slightly.

His throat was choked with words, but his mouth wouldn’t move. He just clenched his lips tightly.

The restaurant didn’t even have the air conditioning on properly, beads of sweat forming on Yebon’s temples.

Seeing no answer, Cha Hyuk watched him intently before tapping his fingers on the table in front of the pot.

“Kid, don’t you want to eat?”

Under normal circumstances, Yebon would have forced himself to eat to avoid unnecessary friction with the other person.

But was it because this guy had seen his darkest secret, or was it just the situation that bothered him so much? Yebon couldn’t suppress his prickly feeling.

“……I don’t eat this.”

And then Yebon glanced at Cha Hyuk.

Contrary to expecting some sarcastic remark like ‘Then why didn’t you say so earlier?’, Cha Hyuk just nodded lightly as if it was no big deal.

Honestly, Yebon expected some cursing. From his appearance alone, it seemed likely.

“Okay. Then let’s go out. It’s hot.”

With such a bland response, Yebon couldn’t grasp what kind of personality Cha Hyuk had. His gaze naturally followed Cha Hyuk.

Cha Hyuk naturally paid the bill and stood by the door, jerking his chin.

Yebon reluctantly put on his bag from the seat next to him and exited the restaurant.

The weather was so clear it seemed there wasn’t a single cloud, but today, it didn’t feel so pleasant to Yebon.

Yebon followed behind Cha Hyuk at an ambiguous distance.

‘Should I just run away?’

The thought crossed his mind, but seeing those broad shoulders and long legs, he knew he’d be caught in no time. Plus, he hadn’t gotten an answer yet.

But he couldn’t just keep following Cha Hyuk around forever.

Moreover, he had skipped breakfast, and now, nearing 2 PM, he hadn’t eaten anything but water.

Yebon stared at the back covered by the black shirt, finally opening his mouth.

“……Ahjusshi.”

“Why.”

“So, you’ll keep what happened on Friday a secret, right?”

Cha Hyuk stopped, turning halfway.

“Do you like bread?”

“What?”

Why was he changing the subject again? Yebon, frowning, followed Cha Hyuk’s gaze.

Across the street was a dessert cafe near the campus, one Yebon loved but couldn’t afford to visit often.

Yebon’s pupils shook violently. He remembered a classmate saying how delicious the hazelnut chocolate cake there was.

Unable to take his eyes off the cute exterior of the building, Yebon swallowed his drool and answered in a whisper, “……I like it.”

Cha Hyuk looked down at Yebon, who couldn’t take his eyes off the cafe, and smiled, lifting one side of his mouth. He gestured towards the cafe with his chin.

“Let’s go then. I’ll buy you one.”

With his annoyance momentarily forgotten, Yebon hurried after Cha Hyuk, who walked ahead.