Chapter 76: Don’t Smile at Them

“No, that’s not it.”

A resolute denial came back.

“What do you mean, that’s not it?”

Crossing his arms, Chaewoo peered intently at Euigeon as if trying to gauge his meaning.

“You shouldn’t ignore my calls on regular days either.”

“How am I supposed to know if another Alpha is hitting on you in the meantime?”

“Ha?”

“Is there any guarantee you won’t meet another bastard behind my back and smile brightly at him like you did today?”

The streetlight, which had been casting a precarious glow, flickered sluggishly.

A long shadow fell over Euigeon’s face before being drenched in orange light once more.

Just like a scene from an eerie movie.

The thick, underlying obsession in his murmuring voice coiled stickily around Chaewoo’s nerves.

Just how did he view him to speak such nonsense so shamelessly?

“…Smile brightly, my ass.”

“When did I ever do that?”

“Why? You were smiling just fine earlier.”

“Don’t tell me you did that on purpose?”

“If that’s the case… I think I’d be really furious.”

His voice grew steadily lower toward the end.

Standing at an angle, Euigeon rolled his chilly eyes up and down, scanning Chaewoo.

As if daring him to make an excuse.

“What… Ha.”

“I asked if you did it fully knowing other bastards lose their minds staring when you smile like that.”

‘What kind of bullshit am I listening to?’

Chaewoo doubted his own ears.

“Wow, ha!”

“This is ridiculous.”

“You think someone’s going to fall head over heels staring just because I smile?”

“Do you have delusions of grandeur or something?”

Where in the world was there a bastard who lost his mind just because someone smiled while greeting someone?

Were they even in the same place?

“First of all, back off a bit… You’re suffocating me.”

“You’re naive, so you don’t seem to understand.”

“When you smile like that, Senior Seol, beast-like Alpha bastards don’t take it the way you do.”

“Do you still not get what kind of look Oh Minseong was giving you?”

“Haa…”

The one who really didn’t understand anything was you.

Why couldn’t he let go of Oh Minseong already?

The saying that a little knowledge is dangerous was coined for situations exactly like this.

He wondered if picking only pure nonsense to spout was some kind of talent.

“So, don’t smile because other Alphas might misunderstand, and pick up your calls without fail…”

“That’s the gist of it, right?”

Chaewoo muttered as if talking to himself.

Then he abruptly asked Euigeon.

“Can you wait here for a second?”

“Where are you going in the middle of the night?”

“To go up to my room and get the contract.”

“The contract?”

Euigeon tilted his head as if wondering what he meant.

“I want to see if a new clause was added to the contract without my knowledge.”

“That way, I can verify it properly and accept it if such terms exist.”

Of course, no such clause as ‘You must not smile at other Alphas and must dutifully answer your Reset Partner Beom Euigeon’s calls’ existed in the contract.

It was a fact both of them knew without needing to put their heads together and inspect it.

“This isn’t an issue to be settled purely by the contract.”

“Are you saying I should just endure it when I clearly know other bastards will flock around you?”

Euigeon tried his best to suppress his temper, persuading him with a slightly softer tone.

He looked deeply aggrieved.

Chaewoo, completely unconvinced, felt just as aggrieved.

There was a limit to spouting bullshit.

“Am I supposed to give up my social life, then?”

“Don’t demand things from me that aren’t in the contract.”

“What I promised was to sleep with you until pregnancy and avoid physical contact with other Alphas until I bear your child; there is no clause that says I can’t even speak to other people.”

“I will only answer your calls when I want to, and I can talk to anyone if I wish.”

“That means you, Beom Euigeon, have no right to meddle in every single basic thing like this.”

“……”

“Unless you want to reexamine the contract, I’m heading up.”

As Chaewoo quickly walked toward the studio building, he heard footsteps following behind.

“We’re not done talking yet…”

“We are.”

“If you take one more step… I’ll block your number completely.”

“…….”

Immediately after blurting out the words, Chaewoo regretted it.

What kind of threat was that?

As if Beom Euigeon would be terrified.

The pathetic words spat out as a last resort sounded completely meaningless even to his own ears.

Yet, for some reason, Euigeon came to a sudden, dead halt in front of the building entrance.

Fearing that lingering any longer would trap him in a sluggish, night-long argument, Chaewoo left him behind and hurriedly ascended the stairs.

What?

Did he give up that easily?

Euigeon’s sudden compliance was startling.

Did he hate having his calls ignored that much?

Chaewoo had assumed nothing would work on him, yet surprisingly, Euigeon didn’t follow and remained standing obediently before the first-floor entrance.

Running up to the fifth floor without a break, Chaewoo bolted the door the moment he entered his studio.

‘He wouldn’t follow me up belatedly, would he?’

He listened anxiously outside the door for a few seconds, but it was quiet.

Only after safely entering the room and slipping off his shoes did the heightened tension finally ease.

Honestly, he had inwardly feared what he would do if the man barged in recklessly and pulled something.

Had he thought of Euigeon as too much of a scumbag?

Subconsciously, he had half-resigned himself to the fact that he couldn’t possibly win if Euigeon used physical force.

At any rate, it was a relief to have made it safely inside.

“Why on earth is he so stubborn?” Chaewoo muttered, flicking on the light switch.

After washing up and changing his clothes, Chaewoo cleared the missed call logs on his phone.

Though he was completely drained and wanted to lie down and sleep immediately, he recalled an assignment whose deadline was fast approaching.

This was no time to space out.

Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he sat at his desk, powered on the laptop, and quickly began typing the report.

Come to think of it, this was given to him by Beom Euigeon.

Suddenly recalling the origin of the laptop mid-assignment, Chaewoo rested his chin on his hand with a troubled expression.

‘Maybe I really shouldn’t have taken it.’

Back then, swept along by Euigeon, he had accepted it half-heartedly, and those failed boundaries and accumulated exceptions had created the current situation.

Euigeon’s presumption that he naturally had the right to control every detail of Chaewoo’s private life was likely an illusion born from a continuous series of ambiguous attitudes.

‘Anyway, look at how that woman acts.’

‘Don’t just dismiss it casually; observe her closely yourself.’

‘Don’t you think the two of you are a bit strange right now?’

‘See?’

‘She’s already fallen for you, but she’s either in denial so she can’t confess, or she’s waiting for you to make a move first.’

What Oh Minseong had said that afternoon brushed past his ears like an auditory hallucination, but Chaewoo quickly dismissed it.

Euigeon’s jealousy toward Oh Minseong and other Alphas was not out of affection for Seol Chaewoo, but a possessive obsession that refused to tolerate the Omega who had to bear his child mingling with other Alphas.

In any case, that warped form of obsession needed to be corrected.

“Haa.”

While sipping the tea he had brewed in a mug to take a short break, a chat message arrived through the computer messenger linked to his phone.

– Oh Minseong: [I’ll snd u the conatct info u asked for earlier]

– Oh Minseong: [Did u gt hom safe? ??]

Typos were rampant in the chat box, showing just how much he had drunk.

Chaewoo saved the contact numbers Minseong sent to his phone and typed a reply.

– Me: [I can smell the alcohol all the way from here.]

– Oh Minseong: [This punk lolol to your older bro]

– Oh Minseong: [Insted of saying thx]

Though it was late at night, he forwarded the contact info to the freshman, Lee Seonghun, immediately.

From here, the freshman could handle it himself, whether contacting them to ask or meeting in person.

The uncomfortable feeling lingering in a corner of his heart cleared up a bit.

The problem was that in exchange for alleviating a tiny bit of discomfort, he had gained tenfold the uneasiness due to Euigeon’s unexpected behavior.

– Oh Minseong: [Hey by the way that impudent junior of urs]

– Me: [Beom Euigeon?]

– Oh Minseong: [Yeah yeah is he srsly okay?]

– Me: [His personality is just like that. I’m sorry on his behalf, just forget about it ㅠ]

– Oh Minseong: [He’s not bullying u just because he’s well-off or something right?]

Did it look that serious?

Well, to anyone’s eyes, Euigeon had been undeniably rude today.

And after acting like that, he had the nerve to chase him down and demand that he stop ignoring his calls.

Just thinking back on it made his blood boil again.

– Me: [It’s nothing like that.]

– Me: [Sorry for making you worry. He’s usually like that, but he was extra weird today. Just ignore it.]

– Oh Minseong: [Got it anywy I’m going to sleep lol]

– Me: [Get some sleep.]

After wrapping up the chat with Oh Minseong and finishing the rest of his assignment, he spread out his bedding.

Tidying up the cluttered desk, he turned off the light and lay on the floor, drowsiness washing over him instantly.

Right before drifting off, the day’s events naturally floated across his darkened field of vision.

In front of the house, Euigeon’s aura had been so terrifying that he hadn’t realized, but looking back, there was more than one bizarre point.

That completely serious face claiming every Alpha falls head over heels upon seeing him smile was vivid.

Was that really something someone in their right mind could say?

“Did he get drunk somewhere before coming?”

To deliver nonsense so embarrassing even to the listener with such gravity.

Although he had certainly been hurt by the attitude Euigeon displayed at the recital, the recent incident felt increasingly absurd and hilarious the more he chewed on it.

Should he hate this, or like it?

It was an ambiguous mood, a reckless remark hovering somewhere between amusing and unpleasant, too embarrassing to ever speak aloud to anyone.

It was unclear whether the clumsy threat he had thrown worked, but Euigeon had remained dead silent since, sending neither a call nor a text.

‘Did he get home safely?’

It would be quite a hassle to return since he had left his car in front of the sandwich shop.

Even while worrying needlessly like that, an indignant thought surged in turn: ‘Who told him to abandon his car and chase me all the way here on a bus?’

Well, he must have found his way back on his own just fine.

Taking a taxi is simple enough.

Pulling the blanket up to his neck, Chaewoo tried to drift back to sleep.

The complicated, tangled thoughts drifting about dissolved, and before long, he fell into a deep slumber.

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