The Unseen Bond

The drinking session at Hansim Pocha, which started so early in the evening, was an absolute disaster.

After receiving a report, the police arrived late and hauled everyone away to the nearby station: Seon Ji-ha, the unconscious Alpha jerk, Yoon Dae-eon, and Jung Yoon-ki. Kim Ye-jun and Oh Dong-chol, who had been watching from the sidelines, were swept along in the chaos.

However, they were able to leave the police station almost immediately. A sharp-looking lawyer had rushed to the station following a single phone call from Seon Ji-ha. Upon seeing Ji-ha, the lawyer bowed obsequiously and urged him to head home first.

“Senior, is it really okay for us to just leave?”

“……If anything happens, they’ll contact me……”

“But what’s with the lawyer? Do you have a personal attorney? Honestly, this isn’t your first assault case, is it?”

The moment they stepped outside, the questions Dae-eon had suppressed out of caution inside the station came pouring out. As Dae-eon stuck close to Ji-ha’s side, plying him with questions, Oh Dong-chol poked him hard in the ribs with his elbow.

“Hey, drop it. It’s over and done with……”

“Yeah. Why do you want to know so much?”

Even Kim Ye-jun chimed in to support Dong-chol for once. Left alone in his curiosity, Dae-eon just scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

The way Dong-chol and Ye-jun looked at Seon Ji-ha was different now. It was as if they were seeing a “Dominant Alpha” for the first time. The violence Ji-ha had displayed at the pub far exceeded the level of an average Alpha.

Only Dae-eon, the Beta, didn’t think much of it. To him, Ji-ha was simply a good senior who had dealt with a jerk who had punched him in the face. Looking at Ji-ha, Dae-eon suddenly fumbled through his pockets.

“Ah, Senior. These are your glasses. I picked them up just in case, but they’re broken……”

Resting neatly on Dae-eon’s palm was the horn-rimmed frame, snapped clean in two. Usually, Dae-eon would have tossed broken glasses aside, but knowing Ji-ha’s odd attachment to his belongings, he had retrieved them.

Ji-ha stared at them blankly. Then, he reached out and took the glasses. His long eyelashes cast deep shadows over his downcast eyes.

“……Whoa.”

“What?”

Ye-jun and Dong-chol whispered to each other again. Jung Yoon-ki stood nearby, watching the exchange with a bewildered expression.

With so much whispering going on, Dae-eon couldn’t help but glance at his friends. The moment their eyes met, Ye-jun and Dong-chol simultaneously mouthed five distinct syllables: “HE IS IN-SANE-LY HAND-SOME.”

Only then did Dae-eon take another look at Ji-ha’s face. Without the horn-rimmed glasses, and with his hair slightly pushed back from the earlier scuffle, Seon Ji-ha’s face was…

“……You’re handsome? Wait. Who is this person?”

At Dae-eon’s remark, Ji-ha snapped his head up, mid-reach for the glasses. Dae-eon found himself staring directly into Seon Ji-ha’s stunning face at point-blank range. Seeing it again, it was a “mad” face. He had never realized the man’s jawline was so sharp.

“……Who is……?”

“Who else? You, Senior.”

“……Hand…some……? Me……?”

Ji-ha tilted his head and asked again. At that, Ye-jun and Dong-chol cautiously approached and added their thoughts.

“Senior Ji-ha, please, can you just throw those glasses away and never wear them again?”

“My eyes feel purified.”

“Wow, so that face can actually pull off a checkered shirt.”

Even Jung Yoon-ki, standing a step away, gave a nod of reluctant agreement. However, as soon as Dong-chol and Ye-jun moved closer, Ji-ha’s voice retreated back into a mosquito-like mumble.

“……They’re my favorite glasses, though……”

“Even if they’re your favorite, those frames are way too much. Total overkill.”

Kim Ye-jun, who secretly cared a lot about fashion, shuddered at the thought of the glasses. Ji-ha turned his gaze back to Dae-eon. He asked only one question:

“……Does Dae-eon think…… they’re bad too?”

“The glasses? Hmm, I don’t think they’re particularly pretty either.”

“……Should I not wear them……?”

“They’re your glasses, Senior. Do whatever you want.”

Since they weren’t his, Dae-eon didn’t see a reason to care. After giving a non-committal answer, he turned toward his friends.

“Ye-jun, Dong-chol, you guys should head back to the dorms, right?”

“Yeah. We can walk.”

“Senior and I live near the back gate, so we have to go the opposite way.”

“Okay, let’s split here. What about you, Jung Yoon-ki?”

All eyes turned to Yoon-ki. Being the center of attention, he flinched slightly before speaking up.

“……Me?”

“Yeah, you. Do you live in the dorms? Or the subway?”

“I live in a studio near the back gate, too.”

“Right, then follow Dae-eon. Hey, make sure he gets home safe. He looks like the type to get into trouble at night.”

With that, Ye-jun grabbed Dong-chol’s shoulder and spun him around. Dong-chol stumbled along, and their voices—asking if they should hit the convenience store—faded into the distance.

Left with just the three of them, Dae-eon spoke to Yoon-ki first. Having walked home with Ji-ha frequently lately, he knew the route well.

“Yoon-ki, where’s your place?”

“Me? Uh… near the supermarket at the crossroads.”

“Oh? My place is right there too. Wait, how come I’ve never seen you?”

“I’ve seen you. Occasionally.”

While the two engaged in normal conversation, Seon Ji-ha was still lost in his own world, staring down at the broken frames in his hand. He looked at the two pieces for a long time.

Then, Dae-eon called out to him.

“Senior? Aren’t you coming?”

Ji-ha looked up to see Dae-eon and Yoon-ki already a step ahead, looking back at him. Dae-eon’s clear eyes met Ji-ha’s sharp ones.

“I’m coming.”

In that instant, Ji-ha let the frames slide from his hand. The broken glasses tumbled onto the dirt, rolling until they got stuck near a sewer grate. Without a second look, Seon Ji-ha abandoned the glasses he had cherished for over a decade.

He strode over and tucked himself tightly against Dae-eon’s side. On the other side, Jung Yoon-ki followed in silence, eyes downcast. Caught between two exceptionally quiet people, Dae-eon awkwardly broke the ice.

“Yoon-ki, when did you see me?”

“……Just, since high school. Didn’t you live there back then too?”

“Eh? Really? You knew me?”

“Yeah. You went to Daeguk High. I went to Minhan High.”

Dae-eon’s eyes went wide.

“For real? You went to Minhan? Man, if you knew who I was, you should have said something!”

“Only I saw you. It felt weird to say I knew you when it was just me recognizing you.”

Dae-eon was genuinely delighted to hear Yoon-ki went to the neighboring high school. He had plenty of friends in school, but since not a single one had ended up at the same university, he had felt a bit lonely. Yoon-ki added bashfully:

“And you always had so many people around you.”

“Me? I’m a total outsider.”

“I’ve never seen a real outsider say that about themselves.”

Yoon-ki whispered, “The real outsider is me……” Dae-eon chuckled.

“That’s just because you look a bit cold. Everyone said they wanted to be friends with you.”

“……Really? I don’t mind talking to people. But why does no one talk to me?”

“You look very aloof. Dong-chol said he even messaged you.”

“Messages…… so many strangers send them. I just block them all in bulk.”

‘Ah, the popularity of a Dominant Omega,’ Dae-eon thought, teasing him lightly. Yoon-ki immediately winced and retorted:

“It’s ridiculous that they message just because I’m a Dominant. That kind of popularity is useless, you know?”

“Yeah, seeing today, it does look exhausting.”

Dae-eon frowned, thinking of the senior who demanded a drink just because he was an Alpha. He turned to Ji-ha, who was following silently.

“Right, Senior? It’s annoying when people contact you just because you’re a Dominant, isn’t it?”

“……I’ve rarely ever received a message first……”

“Hear that, Yoon-ki? Being a Dominant doesn’t mean you get messages.”

Dae-eon laughed, gesturing toward Ji-ha. Yoon-ki didn’t seem surprised, as if he already knew Ji-ha was an Alpha.

“Senior Seon Ji-ha is famous for it. Ignoring people when they talk, treating them like they don’t exist, not reading messages for ten years.”

“……Senior? Really?”

“Yeah. Everyone says so. Don’t expect an answer from him. They say he lives life as a lone wolf.”

Dae-eon, who had once received over twenty consecutive replies from Ji-ha after a single text, scowled in confusion. Ji-ha looked back with a face as innocent as if he knew nothing.

Averting his eyes, Dae-eon brought the conversation back to Yoon-ki.

“True. I’ve only heard weird rumors about you too, Yoon-ki. Like your pheromones are always ‘on’?”

That was the most famous rumor about Jung Yoon-ki: “If you get close to him, you can smell citrus.” Thanks to that, even Dae-eon, who knew nothing about pheromones, knew exactly what Yoon-ki’s scent was.

Yoon-ki looked aggrieved.

“That’s a chronic condition. I’m bad at suppressing them……. Weird for a Dominant, right?”

“What’s weird about it? Being a Dominant doesn’t mean you’re good at everything.”

Dae-eon shrugged it off. To him, it didn’t matter if Yoon-ki was good at suppressing pheromones or not—it wasn’t like he could smell them anyway. He added casually:

“I can’t really sense pheromones anyway. I’m dull to them.”

At this, Jung Yoon-ki blinked his large eyes. He looked surprised.

“Dae-eon, you can actually sense pheromones?”

“……Huh?”

“No, I actually wanted to ask you something all day.”

Thinking back, Jung Yoon-ki had been trying to talk to him all day, as if he was dying to ask a specific question. Finally, he let it out.

“It didn’t seem like you were just ‘dull.’ It seemed like you couldn’t sense them at all. So I was curious.”

“……”

The moment he said that, Dae-eon instinctively wanted to cover Yoon-ki’s mouth. But it was too late. Dae-eon’s eyes darted nervously toward Seon Ji-ha.

“You… you’re imprinted, aren’t you?”

Dae-eon watched as Seon Ji-ha’s expression darkened in real-time. It was the exact same look he had when he was beating that man in the pub.