A Noisy Heartbeat

Unlike the usually playful Do Jeong-min, he spoke with a heavy, somber voice that made Yoon Dae-eon freeze. However, knowing his “uncle” all too well, Yoon Dae-eon immediately crumpled his face.

“Uncle, stop dropping your voice like that.”

“Why? Why?! Other people say I sound incredibly cool when I lower my voice.”

“You shouldn’t take the grandmas’ compliments to heart.”

Do Jeong-min, who had indeed received every single one of those compliments from the elderly women he treated, became visibly sulky.

“Where else are you going to find an Alpha like this……?”

“I definitely haven’t seen an Alpha like you before, Uncle.”

“Right? What do you think of your uncle’s chest? I built this lately just by drinking protein shakes, huh?”

Do Jeong-min puffed out his bulging chest and chatted away excitedly. Yoon Dae-eon just shook his head. No matter how much one liked working out, muscles that looked ready to burst like that—Alpha or Omega regardless—didn’t seem like they’d be popular.

Only Do Jeong-min didn’t know that. That crazy fitness fanatic would get terrified just thinking about muscle loss.

“Well, I’m heading out.”

“Ah, Dae-eon.”

His uncle’s lunch break was coming to an end, so it was time to leave. Yoon Dae-eon, who had been leaning halfway back on the sofa, turned his head at the voice calling him as he stood up.

This time, Do Jeong-min looked at Yoon Dae-eon with a smileless face. Sharp eyes hidden beneath his glasses were staring fixedly at him.

“You still haven’t found one?”

“I told you, there are none left.”

Neither mentioned the object of the sentence, but they both knew exactly what they were talking about. Swallowing a sigh, Yoon Dae-eon spoke with downcast eyes.

“……At least in Korea, there’s no one but me.”

Betas.

Yoon Dae-eon’s face clouded with melancholy. There was a reason he was so certain. It was because the ‘Beta Community’ where his parents had met each other had completely collapsed.

In order to avoid the eyes of Alphas and Omegas, the Beta community had moved further and further into the shadows, but it had still been quite active until the 1990s. His parents said that back then, around 100 Betas lived in Korea.

However, as the 2000s arrived, the Beta community vanished entirely. There was no one active anymore. Yoon Dae-eon had looked into it a bit more out of hope, but there was no significant gain.

“Still, there must be some abroad.”

“You want me to go all the way overseas just to find someone like me? Even if I go and meet one, what then?”

“What do you mean ‘what then’! You have to date and get married eventually.”

“I’d be lucky if the Beta I met that way wasn’t a grandma.”

Yoon Dae-eon replied bluntly. Let’s say he went abroad and managed to meet a Beta like himself. The probability of that Beta being his age was incredibly low. On top of that, what were the odds of him actually falling in love?

So, Yoon Dae-eon had cleanly decided to embrace a celibate lifestyle. Marriage—he just wouldn’t do it.

However, every time Dr. Do Jeong-min heard about Yoon Dae-eon’s stance on staying single, he would counter like this:

“If you don’t get married, you might be the last Beta in the world.”

“The world already thinks there are no Betas left. Except for you and me, Uncle.”

“I told you not to talk like that.”

A faint shadow of depression was etched into Yoon Dae-eon’s face. Suddenly, he thought of Kim Ye-jun and Oh Dong-cheol, whom he had seen earlier today.

Yoon Dae-eon wasn’t particularly quick-witted, but even he knew that his friends had been acting strange lately. They would probably tell him they were dating before long. Then, Yoon Dae-eon would offer a clumsy smile and extend his congratulations.

While hiding his own loneliness and envy.

Yoon Dae-eon was alone, and he would be alone forever. It was a future that had been decided since his parents passed away.

Do Jeong-min easily spotted the deep-seated gloom beneath Yoon Dae-eon’s expression. But the moment he tried to say something, Yoon Dae-eon left hurriedly, as if running away. A deep frown formed on Do Jeong-min’s forehead.

Left alone, Do Jeong-min muttered bitterly.

“Why on earth did you do it, Brother……?”

Boarding the bus back, Yoon Dae-eon stared blankly at the passing scenery. Do Jeong-min’s hospital, isolated in the mountains, was so far that a single visit caused time to vanish in an instant.

Snapping out of it, Yoon Dae-eon lifted his phone. Unread messages had piled up quite a bit. Group chats he rarely checked easily exceeded ‘300+’, and there were quite a few private messages from close friends, including Oh Dong-cheol.

Instead of entering each one, Yoon Dae-eon slowly scrolled through the most recent previews in the list. It was a habit he had when intense loneliness plagued his entire body.

Because sometimes, he wanted to confirm how well he had blended into this world.

Yoon Dae-eon hadn’t known this kind of loneliness before his parents passed away. His parents had prepared for a long time for the day he would eventually be alone, but Yoon Dae-eon was the only one who had been thrust into the world without any preparation.

Scrolling down the chat list, he finally reached the very bottom message labeled ‘Dad.’ Tapping it with his thumb, the conversation history appeared. He scrolled all the way to the top as if he had been waiting for this.

[Dad: Let’s have chicken for dinner!] 6:21 PM [Dad: Tell Mom not to cook dinner.] 6:23 PM

[Dad: Son, don’t you need allowance lately?] [Dad: You were so excited about the high school having a snack bar.] 4:12 PM [Hide your emergency fund! I saw it in the bookshelf yesterday.] 4:13 PM [Dad: ..Really?] 4:13 PM

[When are you coming today with Mom?] 11:25 AM

[Dad, what’s wrong? Why did you hang up?] 1:15 PM

[Dad?] 1:16 PM

Yoon Dae-eon’s finger stopped scrolling. There was nowhere left to go. The last message was sent by his father, not Yoon Dae-eon.

[Dad: I’m sorry, Dae-eon.] 1:18 PM

His father’s last text, written with his usual perfect grammar, became his final will.

Yoon Dae-eon’s parents died on their way back from a trip for their wedding anniversary. The cause of death was a car accident. There was no room to suspect foul play; they died while trying to avoid rocks falling from a mountain.

The police judged the deaths a simple accident without an autopsy. But receiving his parents’ belongings, Yoon Dae-eon knew that wasn’t the truth.

His father had committed suicide.

The two of them loved and cherished each other deeply. Watching them made Yoon Dae-eon happy. He even thought that one day he wanted to get married just like that.

But his father, who loved his mother too much, decided on suicide the moment he discovered her, who had died instantly in the car crash. He hadn’t even called for help despite the major accident. Even though he was conscious enough to send a text to Yoon Dae-eon.

A record of the last call remained on his father’s phone. He had dialed 119 but hung up before anyone answered. After that, it was Yoon Dae-eon.

Knowing his father well, Yoon Dae-eon could easily deduce the truth. His father, who loved his mother so much, had chosen to follow her instead of remaining in this world to live with Yoon Dae-eon.

“I really hate you…….”

Yoon Dae-eon’s finger, caressing the chat window with his dad, became wet.

Having held his parents’ funerals alone, Yoon Dae-eon had hardly shed a tear even then. Perhaps the shock of his father’s final decision, which he learned of late, was that great.

But every now and then, when a loneliness he couldn’t handle alone sought him out like this…….

Holding his phone and curling up, Yoon Dae-eon’s body trembled violently. He was glad there was no one on the bus. He didn’t want anyone to see him like this. Just then—

Ding.

At the ringing notification, his barely leaking breath hitched. Lowering his head, he caught a glimpse of the most recent alert.

[Senior Seon Ji-ha: Why aren’t you reading?] 4:57 PM

Forgetting to even reply, he stared blankly at the words labeled ‘Seon Ji-ha,’ when another ‘ding’ sounded. While Yoon Dae-eon was checking the content through the phone notification without tapping it, another message arrived.

[Senior Seon Ji-ha: When are you coming?] 4:58 PM

Ridiculously enough, only then did he see the number of messages Seon Ji-ha had sent. A total of 123. Messages he hadn’t checked while in class and visiting Do Jeong-min’s hospital had piled up. It was a new record among Yoon Dae-eon’s private chats.

One might have found it obsessive or draining, but Yoon Dae-eon felt strangely good. Was it because this was the first person to pay him this much attention?

His mother and father loved Yoon Dae-eon, but there was a clear ranking for them. Yoon Dae-eon had never once beaten his father in his mother’s heart, nor vice versa.

Tapping the screen a few times, the words indicating a call was connecting appeared. The call was answered before the second ring.

“Senior.”

—Where are you?

“You always ask that first when I call. I’m on the bus right now.”

Rustling sounds could be heard from Seon Ji-ha’s end, as if he were doing something. Soon, he spoke again.

—……Bus?

“Yes, right now…… I’m in front of the movie theater near my house. I’m getting off soon.”

—I’ll go there…….

“What? You don’t have to. I’ll go to your place, Senior.”

While on the phone, the movie theater Yoon Dae-eon mentioned came into view through the window. Soon the bus stopped, and he stood up from his seat and headed toward the exit. Yoon Dae-eon moved busily while simultaneously speaking into the phone.

“Since this is right in front of your house, Senior, it’ll take ten minutes…….”

Pshhh, the characteristic sound of bus doors opening rang out. Yoon Dae-eon stepped off the bus into the hot exhaust fumes. And there he faced him.

Seon Ji-ha, waiting for him with his phone clutched in his hand. Standing in front of the stop, he tilted his head slightly, and his eyes, revealed through his hair, spotted him.

A smile slowly blossomed on the lips of Seon Ji-ha as he found Yoon Dae-eon. Yoon Dae-eon forgot to even keep the phone to his ear and just stared blankly at the sight.

In that moment, thump. A loud noise echoed from somewhere inside his body.