Chapter 18: Shadows, Intrusion, and the Shield

He didn’t even have time to ask if they hadn’t seen the closed sign on the door. As if they couldn’t see the employee holding a mop in the customer-less cafe, they walked up to the counter, talking among themselves about what to drink.

“Aren’t you taking orders?”

“We’re closed.”

“But the lights are on…”

At Haejun’s stiff voice, the man rummaging through his wallet looked up. His drunk face shone under the cafe lights. The man narrowed his eyes as if even his vision was blurry, then recognized Haejun and jabbed a finger at him.

“Oh! You!”

Haejun frowned without thinking. A black bag dangled from the wrist pointing at him, and the glass bottles inside clinked, making a familiar noise.

“Did you work part-time here?”

“You know him?”

“I told you a few times. Among the people from my year… That guy, him.”

“Ah. I know who you mean.”

Watching strangers exchange looks of recognition right in front of him was absurd. They had barged into someone else’s business and left dirty footprints on the freshly mopped floor. Haejun found their traces, and a sigh boiled up from deep in his gut.

“Hey, it’s not like you don’t know him, so ask if we can sit for just ten minutes before we go.”

The men beside him egged him on. They were still snickering among themselves, crude and nasty. Their attitude reminded him of thugs, and Haejun’s neck and shoulders stiffened.

Maybe because he had friends flanking him, the man looked more aggressive than usual. Even his direct stare was not as blurry as before.

Haejun read hostility toward himself in that gleam. It was familiar. On top of that, the man tapped Haejun’s forearm. The gesture made him look even more like a delinquent.

“Baek Haejun, you want a drink too?”

Haejun deliberately pushed the mop to their feet, making them step back, and spoke flatly.

“We’re closed, so leave.”

“Just bring one cup, Haejun.”

“I said leave.”

“Hyung will pour you a drink. We were going to go for a third round anyway, so can’t we just set up here?”

Haejun bit his lower lip hard. He clenched so tightly that his lip lost color and turned white, and he didn’t even feel the pain.

He’d known the man was frivolous, but he hadn’t expected him to be this ignorant. He was far more ill-mannered than Haejun had thought. The only thing he could say was that he’d been giving this man the benefit of the doubt.

“Leave. I’m going to call the police.”

The drunk man didn’t even pretend to listen. Before, he’d sprayed pheromone perfume and giggled as if it were a joke. Now he was breathing heavily as if he was about to make a real scene.

He rummaged through the black bag with the convenience store logo. Soon he pulled out a soju bottle, and his hands were smooth as he opened the cap. There was no mistaking what he intended, but Haejun could only watch in disbelief as the man put it straight to his mouth and gulped it down.

“Call the police? f*ck, sure. Go ahead and try.”

When the clear alcohol ran down his chin, he wiped his lips roughly with the back of his hand. It was exactly like his biological father’s behavior. In that moment, all the strength drained out of him.

Dusk, a demon-like shadow, his grandmother’s shrill scream, the sound of furniture breaking and shattering, goosebumps crawling up his spine, his heart pounding as if it would burst, footsteps thudding closer, a rough hand grabbing the hair buried between his knees, and jaundiced yellow eyes staring blankly at limbs twitching in a snare.

Fragments of the past he had buried in memory began quickly eating away at his reason.

Haejun suddenly realized his body was trembling. Maybe he had been like this since the man appeared drunk. Once he noticed, he wasn’t even sure how he’d been breathing.

The friends beside him seemed to sense the mood was going beyond a joke.

“Let go! I’m going to drink with him, not you guys.”

One of them grabbed the man’s arm to signal they should stop and go, but the man only got angry and told him to let go.

“Haejun. Come to think of it, I’ve never had a drink with you, so it kind of bothered me.”

The man dangled the bottle from his wrist and shook it. Haejun flinched reflexively, then froze tight with tension.

Baek Haejun didn’t fear alcohol; he feared people who drank. In front of a drunk person, he was still nothing but a weak, easy child. The chill running down his straightened spine was dreadful.

You know that, Baek Haejun. This man is not that person.

He kept swallowing dryly and tried to soothe himself, but Haejun kept seeing his biological father’s ghost in the face of such blatant aggression. As anxiety swelled, the Omega pheromones that had been leaking little by little began to waver.

Fortunately, the men were all Betas, so they didn’t seem to notice the pheromones at all. Haejun kept swallowing dryly and controlled his pheromones. At the same time, he looked for his phone.

His finger hesitated as he was about to press 112. There was a missed call from Sijin. He’d been so flustered by the men’s appearance that he’d completely forgotten Sijin had decided to come here.

Just then a message arrived. While he lowered his head for a moment to check it, Haejun didn’t notice the man approaching with aggressive steps.

“Baek Haejun, you’re nothing special, and you keep ignoring people!”

Along with his outburst, the man sharply slapped down Haejun’s hand holding the phone. The stinging sound of the slap was matched by the speed at which Haejun’s hand turned red.

“I just asked you to have a drink, and every time, f*ck… You act so damn high and mighty. Huh?”

The sharp pain snapped him back to his senses. The dropped phone lay face-down, flat on the floor. Seeing it, Haejun’s body froze like ice.

The screen had already been badly cracked, and it was obvious it must have shattered completely this time. Even as he sensed that, Haejun couldn’t get angry or snap at the person in front of him. Just calming his trembling body was more than enough.

That was the moment he tried to stay calm and bent down to pick up the phone.

“I told you not to ignore me!”

The man took advantage of Haejun’s lowered eye level and shoved his shoulder, knocking him down.

“Ugh!”

Haejun lost his balance and fell on his rear. His back hit the table behind him, and a dull pain shot up. He reflexively put his hands on the floor to support himself and felt moisture against his palm. Because the floor had been mopped not long ago, his pants began to soak through.

In the push, the man dropped the soju bottle he’d been holding. The fallen bottle didn’t break, but liquid glugged out and gave off a vicious smell.

He had no time to feel discomfort. He didn’t even notice the three men across from him watching him sprawled on the floor with mixed reactions.

The phone, fallen just within arm’s reach, began to vibrate again. At the same time, the bell he’d been waiting for desperately sounded from the cafe entrance.

Still on the floor, Haejun jerked his head up. He locked eyes with Sijin, who was pushing through the glass door with a phone held to his ear.

“…”

Sijin paused with the door half-open. His long, horizontally stretched eyes swept the inside of the cafe. He even frowned slightly, as if doubting his own eyesight.

“You said you were closing up and cleaning, but you were here with friends?”

Tables and chairs scattered in disarray, three idiots with faces caught doing something bad. And Baek Haejun. The air was murky, tangled with alcohol and pheromones. Sijin finished assessing the situation with one brief look and let out a small scoff without meaning to.

“But have I gotten old that fast…”

“…”

“Is this how kids these days have fun?”

His face held a smile, as if he were watching cute pranks by children much younger than him. But the look in his gently curved eyes was sharp. Haejun swallowed nervously without realizing.

Sijin surveyed each flushed face, still not fully sober, and finally turned to Haejun.

“Your friends seem pretty violent. You should be picky about who you make friends with, Haejun.”

Faint pheromones radiated from him, and anger was visible in them. Haejun’s body trembled without his control. Perhaps because he’d had a similar experience not long ago, even though the anger wasn’t directed at him, he was so startled for a moment that tears almost welled up.

“I don’t like it either.”

Haejun got up from the floor and muttered back. As if trying to divert his attention, he brushed off his damp clothes with his hands. Then Sijin jerked his chin.

Was that a signal to come here?

As he guessed and took a step, his legs lost strength and he staggered. Seeing that, Sijin’s neat eyes narrowed.

“My legs just gave out for a second…”

Haejun mumbled as if making an excuse. Even though he tried not to show it, his shoulders kept shrinking like a guilty person’s. It was probably because he’d realized that his hyung had shown up at just the right time and had already guessed most of what had happened here.

That was embarrassing. Since reuniting with him, he’d tried not to show his shabby side. It felt like his hyung had just seen the bottom of him again.

Sijin pulled Haejun’s arm, which had shrunk back without him realizing, and placed him behind himself. Then he stepped in front of the men, whose eye level was far below his.

Haejun stared as if bewitched at the solid back standing firm in front of him. It was embarrassing, but one thing was clear: the feeling of being protected by his hyung made his chest swell.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

A Tangy New Life After Breaking Up with My Girlfriend

HaremRomanceSlice of Life

Read Now →
Not interested