Chapter 3: The day he heard about Shin Joowon.

“Apparently he’s insanely handsome… I just want to see him in person once.”

“He’s not in our class, right? Which section is he in?”

“No idea… I only heard that he came back this semester.”

“Ah, if we were in the same section, we’d at least see him at the orientation.”

“Do you think he’d even bother attending stuff like that? It’s not like he needs to build connections.
He’ll probably go straight abroad or start management training after graduation.”

Kang Sohyun responded to Kim Eunchae and kept the conversation going, and Park Seongyeong nodded along now and then as she listened.

Since Yooha didn’t know anything about Shin Joowon, he couldn’t jump into the conversation recklessly, and having no idea how to naturally join in or blend into situations like this, he stayed silent, chewing on his bread without a sound.

He had been too busy juggling classes and part-time jobs at an age when making friends mattered,
and on top of that, his introverted personality had gradually isolated him without him even realizing it.

“I heard he shows up to everything. Even all the after-parties.”

“Really? That’s surprising.”

“Apparently there was a time he just paid the entire after-party bill with his own card.”

“Wow… Rich people really do live differently.”

Yooha quietly rolled the name Shin Joowon around in his mind.

Even Kang Sohyun and Kim Eunchae had only just exchanged names today, so of course he wouldn’t know a senior who had only recently returned. Still, it wasn’t hard to imagine what kind of person he must be.

That was, assuming the “Shin Myungjin” mentioned earlier was the famous figure Yooha knew as well.

“They say he took a year off just to travel overseas.”

“Wow… I’m so jealous…”

If someone were asked to name major domestic conglomerates, Taemun Group would always come up without fail.

It was a company that anyone preparing for employment had dreamed of at least once, and Shin Myungjin was the CEO of Taemun Corporation, the largest affiliate under Taemun Group.

Of course, he was even more famous as the eldest son of Chairman Shin Jegang, the group’s head.

From the sound of it, Shin Joowon was that Shin Myungjin’s son.

“Should we start hanging around near the department office from today? We might run into him in the hallway or something.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“Well… it wouldn’t hurt to make an impression. Could help with jobs later. Hey, you never know how things turn out.”

“You might not know how things turn out, but I do know there’s no way we’d ever catch that senior’s eye.”

When Kim Eunchae joked with a wink, Park Seongyeong shot back with a laugh in her voice.
Yooha, like Seongyeong, figured that there was no chance he’d ever catch that senior’s attention,
nor have any reason to cross paths with him— and yet, knowing that someone with such an extraordinary background was his senior left him with a strange feeling.

Lost in thought, Yooha pushed the remaining piece of bread into his mouth and chewed blandly,
then gave an awkward smile when his eyes met Seongyeong’s.

To others, it probably looked like nothing more than the brief twitch of his lips.

“Anyway, I’m going to wander around whenever I get the chance from today on. Hey, Kang Sohyun. You’re coming with me no matter what. Got it?”

As Kim Eunchae suddenly burst with determination, light laughter spread around the table.

Yooha smiled along reflexively, but the smile that didn’t come from the heart quickly faded away.

Shin Joowon… Shin Joowon……

What would it feel like to see someone that impressive in person?

Turning those three syllables over in his mind, Yooha swallowed down a fleeting, uncharacteristic curiosity with a gulp of water.
But regardless of his actions, the name Shin Joowon refused to leave his thoughts.

****

It had only been three days since the semester began, yet fatigue already weighed heavily on his shoulders, his neck stiff with tension.

Pressing his fingers into the sore spots as he headed toward the classroom, Yooha spotted the lounge and paused in front of it.

‘Come to think of it, had I taken my suppressant before leaving home?’
He couldn’t quite remember.

He had gone to bed late the night before, listening to Woo-tae excitedly recount his class soccer match, and waking up that morning had been especially difficult. He had stumbled out of the house half-asleep, so there was a good chance he had forgotten to take it.

The center had told him that as a recessive omega, his pheromone levels were naturally low, so even skipping a suppressant wouldn’t cause much trouble— but Yooha still made a point of taking one every day.

If potential accidents could be prevented in advance, it was better to do so.

Entering the empty lounge, Yooha took a pill case out of his bag. There was exactly one suppressant left inside.

Afraid someone might see, he quickly tipped it into his mouth and swallowed it with water, only then letting out a quiet sigh of relief.

After tossing the paper cup into the trash and adjusting his bag, the hallway outside the once-quiet lounge grew noisy in an instant. Voices filled with warmth exchanged greetings, asking how everyone had been during the break.

There had been a time when Yooha wished he had friends like that— someone to commute with, eat meals together, chat idly with, and sometimes share the worries they kept bottled up inside.

But reality hadn’t been kind, and before long, Yooha had resigned himself to it.

Back then, using time to read one more page or memorize one more English word to get into a good university had felt far more important than hanging out with friends.

Even without friends, he had Woo-tae, a cousin who treated him without reserve, and an aunt and uncle who raised him like their own child— and that had been enough to keep him going.

“…….”

Shaking his head slightly to dispel the unnecessary thoughts, Yooha left the lounge.

He soon reached the classroom not far away and quietly slipped in through the back door. The room was still sparsely filled, making it feel even quieter.

He took a seat around the middle of the left section and cautiously scanned his surroundings.
It was an elective rather than a required course, so not everyone would be there,
but he worried about running into classmates who had treated him with hostility before.

The first thing his uneasy gaze landed on was an unfamiliar man.

Even if they had never spoken properly, a classmate’s face should have been recognizable— yet this was someone he had never seen since enrolling.

Yooha briefly took in the man’s indifferent expression and the detached way he fiddled with his phone, then quickly looked away, afraid their eyes might meet.

Relieved to see no familiar, uncomfortable faces, Yooha took out his stationery and lightly organized his schedule in his head.

Once this class ended, he had some free time before work at two. He could grab a quick lunch at the convenience store, study at the library for a bit, then head straight to work.

Satisfied with the plan, Yooha reached for his pen— just as the back door of the classroom swung open.

“Well, well. Look who it is.”

Yooha’s hand froze.

The man who had been hunched over his phone only moments ago had spoken in a way that instantly drew everyone’s curiosity.

When Yooha glanced over, he saw the man turned toward the back door, clapping slowly with an arrogant posture.

But only for a moment. Yooha quickly looked away and opened his textbook.
He didn’t know who had entered the room, but fearing it might be one of his classmate who would make him uncomfortable, his shoulders tensed instinctively.

“It’s been a while.”

“Hey, you disappear for a whole year without a word?  Not even a message? That’s cold.”

“Do we really need to spell that kind of thing out between us?”

The man who had just entered soon took a seat. He was close enough that Yooha could see exactly what he was doing with just a slight glance.

Replying in a lightly teasing tone, he shrugged off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair beside him.

Slowly turning the pages of his book, Yooha tried—now truly—to cut off his interest in the two of them.

“They said you took time off to travel abroad. Where’d you go? Europe? The States? Or somewhere tropical?”

But when a new topic came up, Yooha couldn’t help but prick up his ears.

It was the kind of story bound to pique not just his curiosity, but everyone else’s in the classroom as well.

By now, all eyes were on the two of them.

A year-long leave of absence. Overseas travel. There was someone Yooha had definitely heard about who fit those details perfectly.

The son of Taemun Corporation’s CEO Shin Myungjin, the grandson of Taemun Group’s chairman.

A third-generation chaebol so handsome that Kim Eunchae had practically begged to see him once, and wealthy enough to casually pay for after-parties out of pocket.

It was Shin Joowon.

“I went to Europe, the States, some resort spots too… Feels like I covered most places worth seeing.”

“Damn, I’m jealous. Where was your favorite? Did you go to Switzerland? I’ve always wanted to go there.”

He had first heard that name just yesterday, and never once imagined he’d see the face so soon—let alone end up in the same class.

Without realizing it, Yooha glanced sideways, only to feel like their eyes might have met, and he hurriedly looked away.

Hoping it was just his imagination, he ducked his head and swallowed hard. Thankfully, the man paid him no attention and continued responding to his friend.

“Switzerland’s nice. Ah, there’s a good hotel in Zermatt. Want me to recommend it?”

“Zermatt?”

Fiddling with the edge of the page between his fingers, Yooha listened to their conversation.

In the quiet classroom, their voices were the only ones carrying, and they were close enough that he could hear everything clearly without trying.

Just as Yooha was marveling at how casually the man listed places he’d never even dream of visiting—Europe, America, Switzerland— the answer came.

“Oh. About three thousand won per night will be fine.”