Choi Jeongseo patted the seat next to him with his palm and spoke.

“Won’t it be uncomfortable?”

“Because of you, Hyung?”

“Well, anyway, since I am an Alpha, you might…”

“What? You told me not to worry, so why are you the one being so conscious of it?”

Being in the subordinate position, I felt like I was unintentionally shrinking into a shell. Without saying more, I headed toward the bed where Choi Jeongseo was.

Perhaps because the bed was wide, there was plenty of room even with two adult men sitting on it. Choi Jeongseo took a small remote from the bedside table and pressed the power button, and a screen descended toward the blank wall.

“I like watching movies.”

“That’s nice. Being able to watch movies at home like this.”

“Do you like movies too, Hyung?”

“I don’t dislike them.”

“That’s great. We can kill time by watching movies every now and then.”

“Yeah.”

“What do you want to watch? Any genres you avoid?”

“Watch whatever you want; I don’t really have a preference. Ah, I don’t really like ones with ghosts.”

“Ghosts? Because you're scared?”

Choi Jeongseo looked at me with a surprised expression and asked. His face was full of mischief, as if he had just found a weakness to exploit.

“Yeah, because I'm scared.”

“That’s really unexpected. You look like the type who would say things like ‘where do ghosts even exist?’”

“Is that an insult?”

“No, I just meant you look… cynical?”

With a smirk, Choi Jeongseo replied, “Then watch this,” and played a movie.

“This fucking…”

The moment I looked at the screen to see what movie he had chosen, a curse escaped my lips automatically. The title of a horror movie—one so notorious that even people who don’t enjoy the genre know it just by the name—was displayed largely on the screen along with a face in grotesque makeup.

“Wow, you actually curse.”

“Then why the hell did you ask?”

“It was a joke, a joke.”

Now with a face completely brimming with laughter, Choi Jeongseo fiddled with the remote again. Soon, the title of a generic action movie appeared on the screen. Only then did I realize I had been teased by a brat I’d only met a couple of times. My face flushed.

“This is fine, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Huh? Hyung, your face turned red.”

The movie had started, but instead of looking at the screen, Choi Jeongseo looked at my face again and began to tease me.

“…Stop looking at my face and just watch the movie.”

I felt the heat rise further in my face at Choi Jeongseo's reaction. Feeling like I would be swept away uncontrollably if this continued, I pushed his face away with my hand.

“Alright, alright.”

Choi Jeongseo let himself be pushed away with an air of reluctantly doing as I wished, then straightened his posture and turned his gaze forward. Only then could I breathe again.

I left the house at exactly 10:35. To check the housekeeper's movements, I had gone downstairs around 10:00 under the pretext of being thirsty, but since she was still cleaning up, I had to go back up to the room. However, since it seemed she was about to finish work soon, I slowly packed my things around 10:30 and came downstairs.

“Bye.”

“Yeah.”

“Next time, you pick the movie, Hyung.”

“Okay.”

After saying goodbye to Choi Jeongseo, I opened the front door. As I passed through the garden and left the magnificent mansion, a long sigh escaped me. Perhaps I had been tense without realizing it; although all I had done was sit comfortably on a bed and watch a movie, my shoulders felt stiff.

As I trudged down the alleyway, I felt a vibration from the phone in my hand. [Are you tutoring right now?]

It was Jeong Haejun. I wondered why he was contacting me, but thinking he was just more concerned since he was the one who introduced me, I tapped the keyboard.

[Finished, on my way home]

[Already?]

[My mother isn't home today, so I just watched a movie for a bit and left]

[A movie?]

[Yeah, Jeongseo has a screen in his room]

Whether he had the chat window open or not, the message was marked as read immediately, but the messages that had been coming in like clockwork until now suddenly stopped.

[Jeongseo?]

And after a short while, those two words arrived.

[Yeah, Jeongseo. Why?]

[Did you get that close in just one day? To the point where you drop the surname?]

What the… I stopped walking for a moment because of Jeong Haejun, who was asking such a trivial thing with such seriousness.

[It's just a hassle to attach the surname every time, and he's a student I'm teaching]

[Do you call him that at home too? Like, "Jeongseo-ya," all affectionately?]

[No, I don't actually call him that. Between guys? It gives me the creeps.]

I stopped there and started walking again.

[Even over text, it gives me the creeps, so use the surname]

“Unbelievable.”

I let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity of the content.

[K]

And I sent a curt reply. Being in a position where I had to do as I was told, I had nothing more to say.

[How are you getting home? Subway? Bus?]

[Bus]

[Isn't it quite a distance?]

[Bus or subway, it's about the same. I'm too lazy to go down the stairs, so I'll take the bus] [I'm near Choi Jeongseo's house right now]

So what about it? While I was frowning at the message that cut off without a purpose, another message arrived shortly after.

[I'll give you a ride]

As I was typing a reply saying it was okay, the phone rang.

“Hello.”

-Where are you?

“I've come out to the entrance of the alley.”

-Come straight out to the main road.

“It's really okay if you don't give me a ride…”

The call cut off while I was still speaking.

“A pair of relatives, I swear…”

I swallowed a curse and widened my stride. Being poor was truly a sin. Once I passed the alley entrance and reached the main road, I saw his now-familiar car, just as Jeong Haejun had said. Jeong Haejun must have spotted me too, as he let out a loud honk. I waved my hand to signal I saw him and headed toward the car.

“Seatbelt.”

Jeong Haejun spoke as soon as I got in.

“Yeah.”

Thinking it was slightly funny that he insisted on the seatbelt when there seemed to be nothing to fear, I buckled up.

“How was today?”

“How what? I didn't do anything.”

“What movie did you watch?”

“Just an action movie.”

“Nothing unusual happened?”

“Unusual?”

“Like Choi Jeongseo saying or doing something strange.”

“Nothing did, why… Ah, he asked if I was really an Alpha. You told him, right?”

For a moment, I thought Jeong Haejun's question was somewhat odd, but then I wondered if he was asking indirectly because he knew Choi Jeongseo had asked me about being an Alpha, so I brought it up.

“That's right. I thought the party involved should know, so I told him.”

“Are you sure it's okay to tell him?”

“Why? Does he look like the kind of kid who would use that as a weakness to plot something?”

“It's not that, but…”

“It's fine. He doesn't have the capacity to plot something like that; he's too stupid. And since everyone is getting the benefits they want right now, why would he want to ruin things? That would be truly stupid. I know him better than you do, Hyung, so you don't need to worry.”

While I was being strangely persuaded by Jeong Haejun's words, a question occurred to me.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Like you said, he and I have clear goals, so I get it. But you haven't gained anything, have you?”

“That's true, for now.”

“For now? What does that mean?”