Chapter 52: The Radius of Body Heat

Adjusting his cross-body bag, Chaewoo headed toward the ice cream booth to find his group.

However, the booth, which had been open until right before he went in for his lesson, was now taking down its sign and removing the machines.

The kids who had been lingering around here were nowhere to be seen, and a few staff members were busy moving the freezer and ice cream tubs.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Is this place already closed?”

“It’s cold now that it’s evening, so there are no customers. They said we could stop selling ice cream, so we’re packing it up.”

“Ah. I see. Do you happen to know where the students who came with me are?”

“If you mean the kids who came with you… they said they were going to Seoul earlier.”

“Pardon?”

“My goodness, they’re your friends but didn’t even leave a text? You should try calling them.”

“…Ah. I should do that. Thank you. Have a good day.”

Only then did Chaewoo recall that he had told Kim Yunso and Jeong Taehyun they could go ahead first.

Bowing his head to say goodbye, he checked his phone.

There was a message saying they were heading back to Seoul as soon as the professor’s performance ended.

And Beom Euigeon had left no message.

‘Did all three of them leave?’

The current time was eight in the evening.

Except for the festival grounds, the surroundings were nothing but dark forest and roads.

He didn’t feel any sense of betrayal.

Since no one among them had wanted to come to Cheongju in the first place, anyway.

Especially Kim Yunso, who wasn’t participating in the competition and didn’t even need a lesson, must have wanted to return home as soon as possible.

‘Of all times, to have my lesson at the very end.’

Chaewoo scanned the festival plaza and headed heavily toward the roadway.

The parking lot, which had been empty when they first arrived, was now packed.

There were crowds of people everywhere.

Since it was a large regional festival, small rides had been installed for children in the meantime, creating long lines in front of them.

Instead of walking a long way around to the road, Chaewoo walked straight through the forest.

Normally, he would have worried about running into a group of Alphas while walking through such a dark place, but right now, he didn’t even have those thoughts.

He was just busy searching for where to take a bus back to Seoul while suppressing his fatigue.

Exiting the dark forest, he reached a four-lane road.

Perhaps because it was on the opposite side of the festival grounds, it was quiet.

While he stood on the narrow sidewalk searching for the bus timetable, not a single car passed by.

Staring at the streetlights illuminating the road and the black night sky made his chest feel tightly choked.

There was no reply from his uncle, and his father, whom he used to turn to first to complain and lean on whenever things got hard, was now a family member Chaewoo had to take responsibility for and look after.

‘If you’re going to sing like this, you don’t even need to go to the competition. The result is faaar too obvious.’

He hadn’t expected some grand praise, but he didn’t know why those words lingered in his ears so persistently.

He thought music was the only thing he could hold onto, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case either.

It was hollow.

Euigeon was right.

There was no use in going when he wasn’t prepared.

To think he had been driven to this point simply out of pride.

“Why did I come here?”

Chaewoo muttered blankly.

Nothing remained but bleakness and fatigue.

To take the bus to Seoul, he had to walk quite a distance from here.

About thirty minutes.

Taking a taxi would get him there in five minutes, but it was doubtful whether any taxi would pass through this deserted road.

Chaewoo decided to just walk.

He figured something would show up if he followed the streetlights lined up along the road.

However, he grew exhausted within minutes.

He felt like just collapsing onto the roadside.

Having not eaten in a long time, he was hungry, and the road only offered the same scenery no matter how far he walked.

Forest, road, and darkness.

‘Should I go back to the plaza and catch a taxi?’

While he was hesitating, Honk! a horn blared.

The moment he turned around in surprise, bright headlights flooded over Chaewoo.

Before he could grasp the situation, his vision was bleached white in an instant.

Honk!

“Ah.”

The car blared its horn once more at Chaewoo, who was walking awkwardly between the road and the sidewalk, and sped past.

The light that had been blindingly bright vanished, and the surroundings turned dark again.

At first, he was so startled that his body stiffened, but as time passed, his strength ebbed, leaving his legs trembling.

His ears rang, and this unfamiliar place was growing increasingly terrifying.

He definitely had to go back to the plaza.

Chaewoo made up his mind, turned around, and began retracing his steps.

His legs lacked strength, causing him to stumble a few times, but he soon recovered.

In the distance, he could see the forest that led back to the festival plaza.

He only needed to walk a few more minutes.

However, before he had gone far, Chaewoo stopped dead in tracks as he spotted something.

Because a dark silhouette was visible at the path entering the unlit forest.

‘Is it an Alpha?’

It was hard to tell from this distance.

No face or clothing could be seen; he could only discern that the figure was tall.

The head was turned toward Chaewoo, as if looking in his direction.

A shiver ran down his spine, making the fine hairs on his skin stand up.

Chaewoo swallowed hard.

‘Should I take another path?’

But where to?

Back to that road?

Or was there another way?

While scanning the silhouette up and down with hostile eyes, Chaewoo suddenly realized that the figure had a build similar to someone he knew.

“Beom Euigeon?”

“Where have you been?”

Only then did Euigeon step into the light cast by the streetlight out of the darkness.

As he took a mere two strides forward, the distance between them narrowed significantly.

Wearing the trench coat he had put on this morning, he looked down at Chaewoo’s bewildered face.

Since he was someone completely unexpected, Chaewoo mumbled blankly, out of his mind.

“Did you wait for me?”

“Did you think I’d just leave?”

Euigeon asked back in a voice that sounded incredulous, on the contrary.

With his characteristic indifferent expression.

Amusingly, upon seeing that face, the presence and pheromones that had felt entirely unfamiliar grew somewhat welcoming.

To think he had waited without returning to Seoul until this hour.

Come to think of it, they hadn’t had s*x yesterday, and today….

“You waited to do it, right?”

“What?”

“s*x.”

Brief silence fell.

“Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”

“…….”

‘What kind of eyes?’

Chaewoo wanted to ask that.

“You went and drew your own conclusions.”

“Then why else would you wait for me?”

He smirked as if amused.

No kind words like “I waited because I was worried about you” returned.

Because Euigeon was never one to speak kindly.

Even if it was a moment when the other person had become extremely fragile, cowering and barely breathing.

“Should I just leave you behind?”

Rather, Beom Euigeon was the type to enjoy watching his exhausted partner being cornered further, pushed to the very edge.

And Chaewoo was in a state where his energy to resist his unpleasant ways had been depleted.

Instead of blaming Euigeon, Chaewoo shook his head and reached out his hand.

Right now, he needed warmth to cling to.

Whatever that meant, it was fine.

“Hold my hand.”

“This is a bit unexpected…”

His dark eyes slid down toward Chaewoo’s hand.

“Just do it if I ask you to.”

Contrary to his words about being surprised, he gripped Chaewoo’s hand tightly.

Warmth spread through his hand, which had been cold from the night air.

Just holding hands warmed up his stiff body.

He didn’t dislike it.

Chaewoo thought.

On the contrary, he wanted more touch.

So he stepped a bit closer and buried his head in Euigeon’s chest.

He smelled fresh yet cool, like grass drenched in rain.

Deep inside his chest, a soft heartbeat echoed faintly.

It felt as if it were pulling him in like quiet music.

It was a strange and unfamiliar experience, but he felt no aversion.

“It looks like you’re the one who wants to do it, Senior Seol.”

Instead of denying it, Chaewoo nodded.

“What’s wrong with you? You can’t even hold your own.”

“No, I mean it.”

Euigeon lifted Chaewoo’s head, holding it as if finding him a bit strange.

Meeting his eyes, he lowered his head and inhaled the pheromones from his neck.

Very slowly and naturally, Chaewoo’s pheromones revealed themselves.

Nipping his neck gently before releasing it, Euigeon raised his head again and kissed Chaewoo.

As their lips met urgently, a breeze blew in from somewhere.

The sound of leaves swept by the wind rustling along the quiet road spread.

Faintly from very far away, the sound of the festival also reached them.

Euigeon, who had been biting Chaewoo’s lower lip roughly and raking inside his mouth, suddenly chuckled.

While their breaths were still being shared, he spoke.

“Liar.”

And he pulled his face away.

As if he regretted nothing.

“Let’s go back to Seoul now.”

The sound of insects chirping came from the forest.

Euigeon walked first, and Chaewoo followed him.

The warmth in his hand, which had touched briefly, had already gone cold.

Chaewoo clenched and opened the hand he had held Euigeon’s with, walking diligently.

“Is the car in the parking lot?”

“Yes. But why were you all the way out here? I had a hard time looking for you. You didn’t even read my message.”

Chaewoo checked his phone belatedly.

Only a few minutes ago, a text asking where he was had arrived from Euigeon.

‘It wasn’t there just a moment ago.’

“I was planning to head back to Seoul.”

“Did you really think I had left first?”

“Yeah.”

Wasn’t it stranger to expect Euigeon to wait for him?

The fact that he was still here was harder to believe.

Returning to the plaza, it was still bustling with crowds.

Although the ice cream booth was closed, new food booths lined the streets.

Smelling the sweet and sour chicken, Chaewoo felt hungry.

“Let’s grab something to eat before we go.”

Euigeon proposed, perhaps having noticed.

“Sure.”

The two naturally headed toward the ticket booth.

“Ah, the machine is broken right now so cards aren’t working… Do you have cash?”

The man at the counter said in embarrassment.

Adding that most people bring cash to festivals.

“I don’t have cash.”

Euigeon muttered, holding his useless card.

Chaewoo also searched his pockets diligently.

All that came out was some change he had received after eating a triangle kimbap a few days ago.

“I only have 1,050 won.”

Other than that, there was only his check card for living expenses and the credit card Euigeon had given him.

“Then let’s just go to the convenience store…”

Euigeon, who was about to suggest eating at a nearby convenience store, paused.

Because Chaewoo’s gaze was fixed on the sweet and sour chicken booth.

Seemingly contemplating something for a moment, Euigeon took off his coat and handed it to Chaewoo.

“Wait here.”

And then he headed toward a game booth located quite far from the chicken booth, the very basketball game machine Jeong Taehyun had challenged earlier only to experience a bitter defeat.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

The Magical Girl Is Raising a Child Today, Too

ActionGender BenderMagic

Read Now →
Not interested