※ This work contains coercive relationships, derogatory language about physical appearance, and morally objectionable content. Please keep this in mind before reading.

※ All settings and events depicted in this work are fictional. Any locations, people, organizations, or company names mentioned bear no relation to real individuals or entities.

“I finally felt like I wanted to like you for once. If you pull that kind of shit out of nowhere, don’t you think it’d sting, even if I’m a complete bastard?”

Seokdal Oreum is a part-time university lecturer, scraping through each day beneath the weight of betrayal, depression, and poverty.

Then a student named Eom Itae enters his life, slipping into the cracks of the unhappiness that has become second nature. Before long, the fragile routine Dal Oreum has barely managed to hold together begins to fracture.

The third-generation heir of a wealthy family, son of a gangster, top of his department, devastatingly handsome, and infamous for never turning away anyone who comes onto him, regardless of gender, Eom Itae stands at the center of countless rumors. Openly intrigued by Dal Oreum, he approaches him without hesitation, while Dal Oreum can only find the younger man’s interest unsettling and impossible to read.

Unable to reject Itae’s persistent approaches disguised as questions about class, Dal Oreum’s situation worsens when the perceptive young student uncovers the secret he has hidden from everyone else.

From that moment on, he is swept along helplessly.

“You’re gay, Professor. It’s okay. I’ll keep it a secret.”

”…”

“Well, of course… that depends on how you behave.”

Just as a relationship that began with idle curiosity starts becoming something genuine…

Joo Yoonhyuk, Dal Oreum’s former lover, reappears, and the arrogance that has always defined Itae begins to crack.

* * *

Character Information

Gong (Top)

Eom Itae

A student in the Department of Life Science and Biotechnology at Geumseong University. A strikingly handsome young man with an effortlessly cocky demeanor.

Raised by his biological father, a gangster, he has never wanted for anything. He never clings to people who leave or refuses those who come to him, and he has no faith in something as fickle as love.

After Dal Oreum happens to catch his eye, he approaches him intending nothing more than to toy with him. But as his feelings deepen, he begins changing in ways even he doesn’t understand.

Soo (Bottom)

Seok Dal Oreum

A part-time lecturer in the Department of Life Science and Biotechnology at Geumseong University. A beautiful man with a gentle appearance, possessing truly exceptional talent in his academic field.

Yet when it comes to his own life, he drifts without knowing what he truly wants. Betrayed by the former lover to whom he devoted everything, he has been trapped in lingering depression ever since.

Believing Itae’s advances to be nothing more than an obvious game, he tries to push him away. But as he gradually comes to understand the loneliness and sincerity hidden beneath Itae’s bravado, his feelings become increasingly conflicted.