They Started Taking Care of Me

“Your schedules end at night, then from night till dawn you barely sleep, practicing all the time, then you go out at dawn for shoots! Why are you sitting there studying! That’s why your physical condition…!”

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep—

Just then, the sound of a rather long password being entered was heard, as if telling him to stop his nagging.

Hanbyeol immediately shut his mouth.

This was not a conversation for the living room.

They should have gone inside his room!

However, now that he was at the dorm, holing up in a room wasn’t a particularly good look either.

“Huh? Hello…?”

“H-hello….”

As Danyoung, who had entered the dorm, blinked and greeted him, Hanbyeol hastily stood up and bowed awkwardly.

Danyoung and Yoonseo came in first, followed by the other two members, making the dorm instantly noisy.

“Huh? Is this your brother? That… Hanbyeol?”

“I heard you came last time~ I’m seeing your face for the first time though?”

“Ah, yes. My brother forgot something at home…”

No, actually it’s the second time, including the last.

I’m being forced to tell a lie I never asked for.

All because of this guy right here.

When Hanbyeol shot a sharp glance, Yooseong looked sheepish and pretended not to notice.

He had watched Cha.N for four years.

Of course, only Hanbyeol had been watching.

There were many events family could attend—concerts, celebration dinners after Cha.N won first place, or when new albums were released—but Hanbyeol never showed his face.

They were his brother’s colleagues, not his own, and besides, even walking down the street, Hanbyeol received quite a few casting manager business cards.

Being a celebrity’s sibling would only lead to more noise, not quiet.

So Hanbyeol had begged Yooseong with a serious face, clasping his hands, to only mention having a younger brother and not go into details.

And now this happens.

Damn it.

“It would’ve been nice to see your face more often~.”

He talked to me.

The group’s leader.

As Danyoung, who had said Hanbyeol’s pheromones (actually Yooseong’s) were to his liking, spoke to him, Hanbyeol gave an awkward smile.

“You can use casual speech with me. I’m nineteen.”

“Ah… You’re really younger than I thought… Or maybe not? Come to think of it, maybe not that young…”

Hanbyeol averted his gaze from Danyoung, whose expression had turned serious.

“Huh? Then, can I use casual speech too?”

“Yes…”

“Come often~ Maybe because I haven’t seen you much? Hanbyeol-ah looks super nervous~.”

“Is he shy around new people?”

“He’s still nineteen… a teenager. Cute…”

I’m afraid the lie will be discovered, that’s why!

If there was nothing to hide, he would have been excited about having a celebrity as an acquaintance!

Unlike himself, who was agonizing internally over all the secrets, his brother’s colleagues treated Hanbyeol with great familiarity.

That made sense, as none of them had younger brothers.

Except for Yooseong, they were all the youngest or only children in their families, so regardless of Hanbyeol’s awkwardness, they were showering affection on their colleague’s actual younger brother.

But to Hanbyeol, it just felt like a heavy burden.

Why me!

How did this happen!

“Hanbyeol-ah. I heard you’re applying to K University this time?”

Hanbyeol flinched again.

“Ah… yes.”

“Ooh~ If you get in, you’ll be Yoonseo’s junior. Are you preparing for the special admissions track with the award you won from that contest? Yooseong-ah said you’d won a contest before.”

“No, I decided to apply through the regular admissions track.”

“Isn’t that a hard choice? It’s tough there, isn’t it?”

“Well… K University’s special admissions track is either for currently employed professionals or based on school records. My school records aren’t good enough, and I’m not employed either…”

“Ah, I see. Being a senior in high school, you must have a lot of tiring things going on, right?”

Fortunately, the flow of conversation itself wasn’t bad.

No talk about pheromones or anything about ‘liking the scent.’

He was just an ideal leader, curious about and concerned for the future of a beloved member’s brother.

Hanbyeol, who had been tense because of what Yooseong said, gradually relaxed at Danyoung’s concerned words.

Maybe it was because of the snacks Yoonseo subtly brought over and placed in front of him.

Sweet treats, Hanbyeol’s favorites, were being placed one by one before him.

No, they were starting to pile up beyond ‘one by one.’

“Yoonseo hyung, that’s enough!”

“Yoonseo! That’s too much!”

As Yooseong and Danyoung stopped Yoonseo, he, looking a bit sulky, closed the kitchen cabinet and walked over to sit in front.

“Hyung, Yechan and I are done washing up, both bathrooms are free now.”

“Yeah? Then I should wash up first.”

“No, not Danyoung hyung, Choi Yooseong, you wash up first. You were so excited about Hanbyeol-ah coming that you went out first and haven’t even washed up yet. I bet you were waiting like you were waiting for a delivery package as soon as you got to the dorm.”

“You know too much… I think it’s time for you to disappear now.”

“Scary…!”

Yooseong and Sehyun snickered, while the group’s maknae, Yechan, sighed and shook his head.

Hanbyeol understood perfectly why Yooseong had stayed put until now, when all the members had gathered, and only now was leaving his spot.

Right now, a very small amount of Yooseong’s pheromones was clinging to Hanbyeol.

Probably means I should pretend it’s mine.

He was going to kill his brother.

As he watched Hanbyeol’s gaze fixed on Yooseong’s retreating back, perhaps guessing his thoughts, Danyoung smiled and patted Hanbyeol’s shoulder.

Whether he had already detected the faintly clinging pheromones, Danyoung’s eyes had become very gentle.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Yooseong-ah told me. It must have been tough, but I’m glad you’re holding up well.”

“…Uh, yes?”

“I heard you haven’t been well lately. He said your parents are often away from home, so he was really worried about what you’d do.”

Huh?

Is that how the story went?

Recalling Yooseong’s earlier confident assurance not to worry, Hanbyeol just went along with it for now.

“Ah… yes.”

“Of course, we’re about to have a comeback soon, so we can’t take care of you much. Sorry.”

“No, no! It’s fine.”

“But we changed our schedules as much as we could. You know how tough it was for Yooseong-ah right after Pick My Dol ended, in Cha.N’s early days with the crazy schedule rotation? We can at least do this much.”

“Um… then, is Yooseong hyung now…”

“Yeah. Except for what Yooseong-ah absolutely has to attend, we’re handling all other schedules just by ourselves now.”

Choi Yooseong… you’re really smart.

Hanbyeol pressed his lips together at his brother’s grand plan.

This plan skillfully mixed truth and lies.

The truth was, Yooseong’s body wasn’t well.

But it was also true that Hanbyeol, as a high school senior, was stressed.

And it was true that with their parents’ frequent business trips, parental care was lacking.

“Last time I went, I heard the kitchen cabinet was full of ramen. Yooseong-ah was really upset about it.”

“Ah…”

That was also true.

However, the reason the house had so much ramen was entirely Yooseong’s fault.

‘Hyung, didn’t you send a whole bunch of ramen combinations you said were delicious mixed together?’

In fact, Yooseong had even sent them by delivery, telling him to try them.

With that fact omitted, all that remained was the image of ‘Hanbyeol, a stressed high school senior in desperate need of attention, living on ramen at home and ruining his health.’

What does that make me!

No wonder Danyoung hyung’s eyes were looking at me like I was some pitiful younger brother!

“The fact that he’s considering tutoring you only on days you don’t have academy is part of that too. You don’t go to the academy after school every day, right?”

“Yes… I only go on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“Right. We’ll make sure you can come to the dorm, so don’t feel awkward. If it’s late, you can sleep over. Yooseong-ah is here anyway.”

How meticulously had they built up this false narrative?

The other members also looked at Hanbyeol with pitying eyes.

Wanting to escape the barrage of gazes, Hanbyeol asked if he could rest a bit, and Yoonseo, instead of the showering Yooseong, guided Hanbyeol to Yooseong’s room.

“Um… hyung. Is it really okay for me to be here…?”

No matter what, he was still an omega.

Danyoung might have understood from a leader’s perspective, concerned for a member who cherished his brother, even if he was an alpha himself.

But Yoonseo, a regular member, might not.

Wasn’t he a dominant alpha too?

When Hanbyeol asked with a tense face, Yoonseo raised a hand and gently ruffled Hanbyeol’s hair.

“Rest well. You need to be healthy.”

Then he piled more snacks into Hanbyeol’s arms.

“Eat a lot. I’ll give you more tomorrow.”

If he ate all these snacks, all his teeth would rot.

Hanbyeol nodded with an awkward smile.

****

As Hanbyeol lay slumped over his desk all day, Taeha circled around him with a voice full of concern.

During every break, he asked if he needed to go to the infirmary or maybe even the hospital, so Hanbyeol just waved him off, saying he was just tired.

“…What? At your brother’s dorm?”

“Yeah. I was there all weekend and just came back.”

Even though he went to complete his brother’s lie, as a high school senior, he couldn’t not study.

Hanbyeol was, after all, a student with only about a month left until the exam.

Thanks to Yooseong tutoring him precisely according to the exam timetable, he had an extremely tough weekend.

“Tutoring…?”

“That’s what happened.”

“That… isn’t it dangerous?”

Taeha’s eyes widened as he kept asking Hanbyeol.

Seeing the worry brimming in his eyes, Hanbyeol unconsciously offered words to reassure him.

“Well, I don’t go every day. He only tutors me on days I don’t have academy.”

“Really? But still…”

“The other hyungs are out on schedules anyway, so it was just me and him.”

“Hmm… If it’s studying, I could teach you too…”

“Huh? Taeha, you have to practice.”

“Huh? No, it’s just…”

You have to practice every day, what tutoring?

Hanbyeol smiled and shook his head.

Come to think of it, there was another person like Yooseong here.

Looking at another cheat character who aced every test, Hanbyeol felt a strange mix of emotions.

How on earth do they manage their time, how brilliant are their brains to excel at studying while doing that grueling trainee life?

And on top of that, why are they tall, and why are they good at singing and dancing too?

Looking once more at God’s unfairly created being, Hanbyeol’s vision grew blurry.