Unrequited Ownership

“Tteokbokki is here!”

The moment Dae-eon opened the front door, Oh Dong-chol came rushing in, practically out of breath. He kicked off his shoes so haphazardly that they flew into the corners. Dae-eon blinked, startled by the sudden energy.

“Hey, take it easy! You’re going to trip.”

“No can do. The tteokbokki will get soggy. We have to eat it now.”

“It was just a few minutes away; it won’t get soggy. Besides, my floor is slippery, so don’t run—Hey!”

Dong-chol, whose devotion to tteokbokki was absolute, proceeded to slide across Dae-eon’s yellow linoleum floor. His pristine white socks were far too smooth for the slick surface. He narrowly avoided slamming the back of his head against the ground, however, thanks to Kim Ye-jun catching him by the scruff of his neck.

“Knock it off. You’re heavy as hell.”

“Hey! I’m considered skinny!”

Dong-chol grumbled but managed to set the tteokbokki down on the table. Once he regained his balance, Ye-jun let go. Dong-chol immediately dropped to the floor and began unpacking the plastic bags with surgical precision.

“Let’s eat. The fried sides are at peak crispiness!”

“We can’t yet. The two who went for water aren’t back.”

“Huh? Still? I passed the supermarket on my way back.”

The tteokbokki shop was located down the alley opposite the crossroads supermarket. Dong-chol had passed the market both going and coming, yet he hadn’t seen a single hair of Jung Yoon-ki or Seon Ji-ha.

“What, did they wander off somewhere?”

“Maybe the two Dominants hit it off? Pfft,” Ye-jun snickered.

“Ye-jun! Mouth! Watch your mouth! Try saying something nice for once!”

Dong-chol whipped around and started playfully slapping at Ye-jun’s mouth. Despite his small stature, his hands were quick and stinging, forcing Ye-jun to dodge left and right.

Ding-dong.

Just then, the sound of Dae-eon’s outdated doorbell rang. Strangely, it wasn’t the intercom from the main building entrance, but the bell at the actual apartment door. The intercom was so old that the screen hadn’t worked in years.

“Must be the Senior and Yoon-ki.”

Dae-eon didn’t think much of it. He figured they’d simply followed a neighbor through the main gate. He walked to the door and opened it manually to greet them.

“Did you guys stop somewhere else? Dong-chol beat you here.”

“……”

“……No.”

The atmosphere between Ji-ha and Yoon-ki was noticeably strange. Yoon-ki took off his shoes and hurried inside as if he wanted to put as much distance between himself and Ji-ha as possible. Ji-ha, ignoring him completely, crouched down to unlace his shoes.

Beside him sat the six-pack of 2L water bottles. Ji-ha placed his shoes neatly side-by-side.

“Senior, give me the water. I’ll put it away. Hup. Wow, wasn’t this heavy coming up the stairs?”

“……It was heavy……”

Dae-eon grunted as he lifted the pack, reminded of its weight. Carrying twelve liters of water up to the fourth floor was no small feat. As he tried to hoist it onto the top of the shoe rack, he wobbled slightly.

Without a word, Ji-ha reached out and supported the bottom of the pack. With the added help, Dae-eon slid the water into place effortlessly and gave him a bright grin.

“Senior, your strength is really something else. Thanks.”

At that smile, Ji-ha’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. Dae-eon, assuming Ji-ha was just hungry, gestured for him to come further into the room.

Finally, all five were gathered around the table. Dong-chol handed out disposable spoons and chopsticks.

“The tteokbokki is going to get cold. Let’s hurry up.”

“Yeah. You should have started without us.”

“I tried, but I had to smack Ye-jun’s hands away. This guy’s greed for food is insane, seriously.”

Despite his complaints, Dong-chol looked happy as he began ladling portions into small plates. The food was distributed until everyone had a serving. Unlike Dae-eon, who immediately bit into a piece of fish cake, Ji-ha just stared at his plate without picking up his chopsticks.

“Senior? Aren’t you eating?”

“……I’ll eat……”

Only after Dae-eon spoke did Ji-ha slowly start moving. He picked up a single long rice cake and took a tiny bite. The reaction was instantaneous.

Ji-ha’s face turned a brilliant shade of crimson. A moment later, he exploded into a fit of violent coughing. A startled Dae-eon quickly poured a glass of water and thrust it toward him.

“Cough, cough!”

“Senior, can you not handle spicy food?”

“……Not…… really……”

Ji-ha was so overwhelmed he couldn’t even finish his sentence, opting to pour the water down his throat instead. Dae-eon watched him with concern. What Ji-ha had just eaten wasn’t even the Level 5—it was the Level 1 “Mild.” This meant there was practically nothing on the table that wouldn’t set his mouth on fire.

As Ji-ha’s coughing grew more intense, Dae-eon awkwardly patted him on the back. Jung Yoon-ki, watching the scene, spoke up.

“If it’s that bad, maybe tteokbokki just doesn’t agree with your body.”

“True. Senior Ji-ha, don’t force it. We can get you something else later,” Dong-chol added.

“Or since time is tight, why don’t you just grab something from the convenience store? Don’t you have another class after this?” Ye-jun suggested.

While the three were offering genuine solutions out of concern, all Ji-ha heard was the suggestion that he should “eat separately.”

His coughing finally subsided, and he looked at Yoon-ki with watery, stung eyes. He gripped his chopsticks again.

“Senior, eat the fried sides instead. Don’t push yourself,” Dae-eon said.

“……I told you…… I like tteokbokki……”

“You said it was f***ing awful earlier,” Dae-eon teased, casually repeating Ji-ha’s own curse word while moving some fried seaweed rolls and fish cakes onto his plate.

Despite the pain, Ji-ha stubbornly shoved another piece of rice cake into his mouth. His face was red and his eyes were teary, but since he insisted on eating, the others eventually returned to their own meals.

“By the way, where did you and the Senior go earlier? You were a bit late.”

“I’m telling you, they hit it off.”

“Ye-jun! I told you that’s a rude thing to say!”

“Dong-chol, what are you, a Confucian scholar? I can’t say anything around you.”

At that moment, Jung Yoon-ki set his plate down with a firm clack. Everyone turned to look at him.

“……’Hit it off’?”

“No, it’s just a joke. Ye-jun talks without thinking……”

“Yeah, he really does,” Yoon-ki said, staring sharply at Ye-jun. He scowled as if the mere idea of being “linked” with Ji-ha was horrifying. “Please don’t associate me with that Senior. At least I’m a normal person.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? You’re saying the Senior isn’t normal?”

“Yes. That man is not normal.”

Despite being a prideful Dominant Omega, Yoon-ki was well-mannered. He knew that calling someone “abnormal” to their face was incredibly rude, but he couldn’t help himself.

Dong-chol’s eyes went wide. “Why? Did something happen between you two?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Then why are you saying he’s not normal?”

“Just……”

Yoon-ki glanced over at Ji-ha, who was sitting next to Dae-eon. Ji-ha was staring blankly at Dae-eon with a vacant expression, looking for all the world like he had no idea what was being said. Yoon-ki let out a deep sigh.

This had happened exactly thirty minutes ago.

*****************************************

‘Senior, have you imprinted on Yoon Dae-eon?’

Yoon-ki hadn’t been able to suppress his curiosity. Only then did Ji-ha finally acknowledge his existence. Honestly, up until that point, Ji-ha didn’t even seem to know Yoon-ki’s name; he had zero interest in him.

‘I’m asking because I’m truly curious. I won’t tell Dae-eon if you’re worried. You’re a Dominant, so you’d know if you’ve imprinted.’

Dominants are acutely sensitive to pheromones. For those who have lived their lives surrounded by a sea of scents, the moment they imprint and can only truly sense one person’s pheromones, it is impossible to miss.

However, Ji-ha had simply stared at Yoon-ki, tilting his head. Then he spoke.

‘……Ah……’

‘”Ah”?’

‘……I see……’

Yoon-ki’s face twisted. What was that reaction? It looks like he just realized it because I mentioned it.

‘Don’t tell me you only just realized it? That you’ve imprinted on him? Senior, are you out of your mind?’

‘……It’ll be……’

‘Pardon?’

Ji-ha was muttering. Yoon-ki took a step closer to hear him better.

‘……It’ll be purple……’

‘Purple? What will? No, more importantly, can you just imprint that easily? Senior, you do know, right? Once a Dominant imprints, it’s almost impossible to break. The surgery to undo it is incredibly dangerous.’

Though he couldn’t understand Ji-ha’s mental state, as a fellow Dominant, Yoon-ki felt a sincere sense of concern.

A one-sided imprint by a Dominant was extremely risky. The side effects were twice as severe as those for Recessives, and news of Dominants dying from the strain of a one-sided bond was not uncommon.

‘So, get the surgery while the imprint is still fresh and the side effects are manageable.’

‘……Why should I……?’

At that, Yoon-ki’s expression froze. He sensed something fundamentally wrong.

‘Why? Because right now, the side effects of the one-sided imprint are at their weakest.’

Ji-ha’s eyes crinkled. Beneath his thick hair, he smiled—a smile so deep it made dimples appear. It was a chillingly beautiful, yet terrifying expression.

‘These side effects…… they belong to me now.’

‘What?’

Yoon-ki began to feel a creeping dread. He wondered if the man was truly insane. The side effects of a one-sided imprint—the trembling hands, the feeling of dying if the person is out of sight—he was calling those his?

‘……I won’t ever have to worry about losing this……’

Ji-ha was grinning to himself, looking genuinely happy.

The broken horn-rimmed glasses, the shattered phone, the tattered security blanket on the sofa he’d eventually stopped looking at. Ji-ha realized he could finally let go of all those things.

Because this imprint, at the very least, would be his—entirely and perfectly his—until the day he died.