Romantic Gangster

#27

Hyun-joon, who had never listened to a teacher’s words in his life, pondered once more on the words of the school nurse, the greatest teacher of this era.

‘Like holding hands or giving a light hug.’

…Beyond holding hands, even giving a light hug? Isn’t that crazy? Is it okay for a teacher to tell us to do such lewd things? Just thinking about it made various parts of his body feel hot. Hyun-joon took a deep breath and quietly took in Ji-woo’s sleeping face again.

…Well, I don’t mind. It’s not just a vague excuse, but a real reason now.

He felt good about having an important reason to stick close to Ji-woo, to have to be close to him from now on. Thinking it was quite a good gain to have both a reason and a teacher, Hyun-joon leaned his back against the wall. He planned to stay here with Ji-woo, skipping class.

There was no reason to go to a classroom without Ji-woo. Ji-woo might not fully believe that he came to school because of him, but Hyun-joon was completely sincere. There was only one reason for coming to school: to see Ji-woo.

He didn’t really know how it had come to this. When he first saw Ji-woo looking for him, he thought it was bothersome and wondered how such a person could exist, but as he watched Ji-woo calmly saying whatever he wanted to say despite Hyun-joon’s harsh treatment, and standing firm without yielding, at some point his eyes started seeking only Ji-woo.

…Do I like Ji-woo?

Having never seriously liked anyone before, he couldn’t say for certain, but he also couldn’t say it wasn’t true.

He had never had this kind of interest in anyone before, and had never hung around someone trying to catch their eye even while doing things he didn’t want to do. So he couldn’t help but lean towards the answer, “I like Ji-woo.”

Honestly, it was bewildering. He thought Ji-woo was fixated on him, wanting to do everything together, but that was all a misunderstanding, and instead, he had become fixated… He wondered how such a thing could happen.

But it was too late to turn back now. From the moment he opened his eyes in the morning until he closed them to sleep, he thought only of Ji-woo all day. He felt embarrassed by himself seemingly wagging his tail eagerly to catch Ji-woo’s eye, but when Ji-woo turned his head and smiled as if finding the wagging tail cute, he ended up wagging it even harder.

Is it because I like him? Because I’ve come to like Ji-woo?

Hyun-joon reached out his hand towards Ji-woo’s face, peacefully asleep and unaware of his tumultuous feelings. He lightly touched the tip of his nose. When there was no reaction, he felt a bit mischievous and poked his cheek. This time, Ji-woo’s eyelids fluttered slightly.

He wanted to press his lips lightly one last time, but feeling that it would no longer be just a prank if he touched them, he withdrew his hand.

“…”

Still reluctant to pull away like that, Hyun-joon lightly stroked Ji-woo’s hair, then crossed his arms to prevent himself from doing anything more and closed his eyes. Rather than constantly looking at the sleeping face, touching it lightly, and facing the constantly swelling impulses, he thought it would be better to just sleep.

“…”

Maybe I’ll look just one more time before sleeping. Really, just one more time.

Hyun-joon slightly opened one eye, filled his vision with Ji-woo still sleeping soundly in the same place, and then closed his eyes again. Now he really needed to try to sleep for about 30 minutes.

But after that, Hyun-joon had to spend an afternoon that was quiet on the outside but far from quiet inside, opening his eyes every minute wanting to see Ji-woo again.

His heart felt like it would burst, his mind was complicated, but still, it was an afternoon where everything felt okay because his eyes could be filled with Ji-woo.

* * *

When Ji-woo opened his eyes, he immediately realized he was in the infirmary. Wondering how long he had been here, he started to get up when he noticed a long leg stretched out beside the bed. Ji-woo followed the leg with his gaze and looked at Hyun-joon’s face, asleep leaning against the wall.

Seeing Hyun-joon’s face, the events in the cafeteria unfolded in his mind. While eating, his whole body suddenly felt hot as if he had a fever, his stomach churned, and he couldn’t control anything. It was incomparable to the dizziness he had experienced before.

He felt a burning sensation all over his body, but his body was trembling. He tried to contain what seemed to be an outburst of pheromones, but his body wouldn’t listen.

That’s when Hyun-joon’s strong arm lifted and supported him.

‘Lean on me completely. I won’t let you fall, trust me.’

He couldn’t remember other details clearly, but Hyun-joon’s words vividly came to mind. At that frightening moment when his legs gave out as he tried to walk, thinking he could, he couldn’t describe how reassuring those words felt, telling him to trust and lean on him, that he wouldn’t let him fall.

“…”

A feeling of gratitude spread deeply in his heart. It felt as if Hyun-joon’s firm supporting touch was still imprinted on his body. Unaware of the reason for his pounding heart, Ji-woo carefully took in every detail of Hyun-joon’s face, slightly bowed with arms crossed as he slept.

He knew Hyun-joon had many good sides despite his blunt way of speaking, but he didn’t know he had such a reliable side. The image of Hyun-joon telling him to trust him with a serious face devoid of any playfulness flickered before his eyes.

“…”

For a moment, his heart tightened painfully and then melted softly. Ji-woo reached out and placed his hand on Hyun-joon’s knee.

“Hyun-joon.”

“…”

“Hyun-joon.”

When he lightly grabbed and shook Hyun-joon’s knee, Hyun-joon’s eyes finally opened. The moment their eyes met as Hyun-joon raised his slightly lowered head, Ji-woo felt his heart contract tightly again. Was this happening because of a problem with his pheromones? Ji-woo took a deep breath, pressing his hand firmly against his heart, which felt a bit painful.

“Are you okay now?”

“Yeah, I’m better now.”

Hyun-joon’s eyes moved slowly. At first, he met Ji-woo’s gaze, then looked towards his head, and then lowered his gaze, scanning his body. Ji-woo’s body tensed slightly following the movement of Hyun-joon’s gaze. He pressed his knees together, thighs touching on the inside, and bit the inside of his lip gently.

“Thanks for earlier. If it wasn’t for you, I would have been in big trouble.”

“There were really a lot of crazy bastards, shit. Even in that situation, they were coming at you like zombies in heat, fuck, ah.”

“I’m sorry. It must have been hard.”

“Hard…”

…Yeah, it was fucking hard. It was driving me crazy trying to suppress the urge to just bury my face in you and do whatever I wanted.

“…It wasn’t hard at all. You’re so light, it didn’t take any effort.”

“Still, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on. I should probably go to the hospital.”

“Hospital?”

“So I can buy stronger suppressants.”

“Ah… Well, whatever. But earlier, didn’t the school nurse say something about a way to feel better if something like that happens again? What was it… Something about alpha pheromones, um, you should ask her. I heard it but I’m not sure. Well, it’s important that you know anyway.”

Hyun-joon, pretending not to know the very precise word ‘contact’ that filled his mind, casually dropped the hint. He judged it would be much better for the nurse to directly convey the information to Ji-woo rather than him rambling about contact and giving pheromones.

Isn’t it more natural to follow the nurse’s instructions for the sake of his physical condition?

“I should ask the nurse. Ah, right. You must be hungry. You barely ate earlier.”

“Well, a little.”

“Let’s go to the school store at least. I’ll buy you whatever you want.”

“Hey, how can you go to the school store with that face? Just lie down. I’ll go buy something to eat. You must be hungry too.”

“No, I’m fine now.”

“Just stay here and listen to the nurse about that… method or whatever.”

Hyun-joon got up abruptly and approached the door of the resting room. Ji-woo’s head moved following Hyun-joon’s movements.

“Don’t go anywhere, stay right here. Don’t go out alone.”

“Okay, I got it. Take care.”

Ji-woo, who had waved lightly in response, let out a deep sigh. He had always been healthy and not weak, but lately, these incidents kept happening, increasing his anxiety about potentially losing control again.

“Ji-woo.”

“Ah, teacher.”

“Hyun-joon told me you woke up as he was leaving. How are you feeling? Are you nauseous or anything?”

“I’m okay now. But I do feel a bit… heavy. I’m not sleepy, but I keep wanting to lie down…”

“That’s because the cycle suppressant is strong. It’s good at immediately suppressing pheromones, but since it’s your first time taking it, you might feel the effects strongly and your body might feel sluggish. Don’t overdo it today, make sure to rest at home. Eat dinner properly, drink plenty of warm water. You should feel better in the morning after getting enough sleep.”

“Yes, I will.”

Ji-woo nodded and answered, recalling what Hyun-joon had said to him earlier.