Chapter 12: A New Source of Amusement.

“Student Joowon, I saw you while cleaning, but are you really throwing away your shoes?”

“Yes.”

“Oh my… I think it’ll be fine if I just wash it.”

“Just throw it away.”

Shin Joowon smiled at the cleaning lady, who was sighing regretfully, answered her, and then entered his room without hesitation.

The smile vanished from his face as if it had never been there, replaced by a cold, expressionless calm.

He tossed his bag roughly onto the desk and ran a hand through his hair with a short sigh.

“I should’ve had a cigarette before coming in.”

The belated thought made him click his tongue in mild regret as he idly rolled a lighter in his palm.

He sometimes smoked out on the balcony connected to his room, but with Shin Chairman in the house—who could detect the smell like a bloodhound—it seemed wiser to restrain himself tonight.

He would inevitably get lectured about how bad it was for his health.

No matter what, he couldn’t afford to fall out of favor with Shin Chairman.
That was exactly what most people in this household were hoping for.

Letting go of his lingering desire for a cigarette, Shin Joowon lay down on the bed without even taking off his coat and stared up at the ceiling.

‘Would the cleaning lady really throw the shoes away?’

‘Or would she secretly take them out, have them cleaned, and give them to her son?’

The thought made him let out a dry chuckle, but something far more interesting soon crossed his mind, and he closed his eyes for a moment.

“Jin Yooha, was it…?”

Ever since returning to school, he’d been stuck dealing with people clinging to him as if they were his best friends, testing his patience nonstop.

Thanks to a sixty-million-won pair of shoes, though, he’d found a new source of amusement.

Shin Joowon rolled the name “Jin Yooha” around on his tongue again and again, smirking.

Jin Yooha was probably no different from the others—those who groveled as if even a speck of dust falling from him were precious.

The worn-out wallet that looked like it could barely hold together, the way he trembled while paying just because he added one extra Frappuccino, the sharp, almost desperate reaction the moment money came up, unable to take his eyes off him—it was obvious enough.

At first, he’d simply found it unpleasant that the guy kept staring at him, and he’d thought he’d mess with him a little if he got the chance.

Shin Joowon was the kind of person who believed that if something made him feel bad, the other person deserved to feel just as filthy in return.

He’d only planned to give back exactly what he’d received.

If Jin Yooha hadn’t tried to tangle himself up with him again using the excuse of buying coffee over the shoes, Shin Joowon’s retaliation might have ended lightly enough.

He didn’t know how much Jin Yooha knew about him, but with so many loose mouths in the department, there was no way he hadn’t figured out that Shin Joowon was the grandson of the Taemun Group chairman.

He would also know that it was a position that required maintaining a good public image, one that left little room for a free private life.

That had been Shin Joowon’s reality for as long as he could remember.

Back when he was a freshman, there had been plenty of seniors who tried to use that fact to throw their weight around him instead.

They only twisted Shin Joowon’s already warped temperament even further, and naturally, he made sure they paid the price in full.

Shin Joowon shut his eyes tightly and opened them again, as if brushing away old memories, and thought of Jin Yooha.

The way he’d stared at him so brazenly, crashed into him out of nowhere, dirtied his brand-new sneakers, and then had the nerve to try to smooth it all over with a measly five-thousand-won Frappuccino while saying he was sorry.

“Hm….”

He’d seemed like an omega, but his pheromones were barely noticeable.

At the same time, it felt wrong to conclude he was a beta.

After all, he’d visibly shaken when Shin Joowon’s pheromones flared out of control in that moment of anger.

‘S-sorry. I was in such a hurry, I didn’t see where I was going….’

Betas weren’t directly affected by pheromones, but they could still sense them when the air grew heavy enough to make breathing difficult.

Jin Yooha, though, had gone pale as a sheet, reacting far more strongly than a beta ever would.
That meant he had to be an omega.

Thinking back on how he’d bowed his head repeatedly once the pheromones had thinned out and faded, a faint smile slipped out.

To Shin Joowon, omegas were filthy beings who tried to beguile him with nauseating pheromones.

Every single dominant omega Shin Chairman had introduced under the pretense of “family connections” had done the same thing—spreading their pheromones first, desperate to catch his eye.

Most of them were blinded by Shin Joowon’s background and wealth.

And now Jin Yooha was an omega.

His first impression had already hit rock bottom, and now he wouldn’t even be given a chance to recover.

Jin Yooha probably didn’t even realize it himself, which meant one day he might suddenly change, releasing pheromones and throwing himself at him just like all the others had.

The thought naturally made him feel disgusted, yet Shin Joowon couldn’t stop the grin creeping across his face.

There was nothing more enjoyable than crushing people beneath his money, his status, and his dominant-alpha traits and watching them squirm.

Especially when the targets were shallow opportunists trying to squeeze something out of him because of who he was.

People who blatantly asked him to lend them money or help them get jobs were boring—they had to be cut off quickly before they became a nuisance.

But people like Jin Yooha, who crept closer while hiding their intentions, were far more fun to toy with before sending them crashing down in one perfect blow.

Shin Joowon definitely preferred the latter.

‘N-no, that’s not it… I-I’ll pay for the cleaning. I’m really sorry….’

A limited-edition item like that wasn’t worth lamenting over.

All he had to do was say the word to his grandfather, and another pair would land in his hands.

But Shin Joowon wanted to saddle Jin Yooha with a debt—especially since he’d cleverly brought up cleaning fees first, making it impossible for Shin Joowon to even joke about demanding compensation.

He wanted to slowly draw out the shallow nature hiding behind that innocent face and humiliate him so thoroughly that he’d never dare show his face again.

He was curious how long Jin Yooha would keep pretending he knew nothing.

So he decided to torment him—just enough to match the price of those shoes.

[Min Gihwan has invited Shin Joowon]

[Min Gihwan: I invited Shin Joowon lol]

While he was pondering how to mess with him for maximum entertainment, Shin Joowon felt his phone vibrate and reached into his coat pocket.

It turned out he’d been re-added to the Class 1 group chat for the Department of Business Administration—the one he’d left during his leave of absence.

Seeing that Min Gihwan was the one who’d invited him, Shin Joowon scowled irritably and turned off the chat notifications first.

He’d been thinking of dealing with that bastard first this semester, but now that a far more appealing sacrifice had appeared, Min Gihwan was pushed to the back of his mind.

Just as he was about to put his phone down, something occurred to him, and he looked at the screen again.

Sitting upright, he reentered the chat and scrolled down the list of names sorted alphabetically without hesitation.

Once he reached the section where names starting with “J” appeared, his finger movements slowed.
His eyes sharpened with focus, careful not to miss what he was looking for.

“…Found you.”

Jin Yooha.

Shin Joowon curled one corner of his lips up in satisfaction upon spotting the name.
But after seeing there was no profile picture and no status message, he flopped back onto the bed.

He’d hoped he might learn something—anything—but it was a letdown.

Digging into someone’s background wouldn’t be hard, but this time, figuring things out firsthand sounded much more entertaining.

“….”

I should add him first.
In case he skips the general meeting, I’ll need a way to contact him….

Unable to suppress the grin spreading across his face, Shin Joowon sent a friend request to “Jin Yooha” without a second of hesitation and slowly closed his eyes.

I hope Friday comes soon.

For the first time in a long while, he felt genuinely excited, a weak chuckle leaking out again and again.

What he’d thought would be a dull campus life was about to become—no, was already becoming—far too entertaining.

****

After withdrawing twenty thousand won from the ATM and folding it neatly into his wallet, Yooha let out a long sigh.

With this money, he could eat the cheapest cafeteria meals six times over.

Spending an entire week’s worth of lunches on a single dinner was bound to feel heavy.

But he’d already promised Shin Joowon, so he couldn’t back out now.

Slipping his bag back over both shoulders, Yooha checked the time.
It was already close to six-thirty.

Hurrying toward the elevators, Yooha pulled out his phone to send Woo-tae a message saying he’d be late today.

When he tapped the dark screen, he froze, staring down at it without moving.

[Shin Joowon: Hi, Yooha^^]

[Shin Joowon: You didn’t forget about the general meeting, right?]

A message from Shin Joowon.

That was strange.
They’d never exchanged numbers.

The surprise faded quickly, though, as Yooha remembered Shin Joowon being added to the Class 1 group chat the day before.

That explained part of it—but not all of it.

If he thought about it carefully, it meant Shin Joowon had deliberately searched through all those names just to find and save his contact.

“….”

Stepping into the elevator just as it arrived, Yooha carefully squeezed through the crowd and stood in the very back corner.

Clutching his phone tightly, he bit down on his lips.

The thought that had suddenly crossed his mind made his fingertips tingle, and his reply came agonizingly slowly.