Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes

Chapter 50

What frustrated Tae-geon the most was the class observation email Hyeon-woo sent to the professors after submitting his leave of absence.

[…a secret to my fellow students…]

It wasn’t a secret to the students; it was a secret to me. Why on earth?

Tae-geon couldn’t even begin to guess the reason for Hyeon-woo’s disappearance.

As he calculated the timing of the leave of absence, Tae-geon suddenly furrowed his brow. It was around that time. The day he opened the door to Hyeon-woo’s room, which he had been told not to enter. It felt like everything had unraveled from that hit cycle.

Was it really that terrible? Was it so awful that I poked a little at the back hole with my finger?

It wasn’t the first time, after all, that hole.

Recalling how lewd that body was, pretending to be pure, Tae-geon twisted his lips in disdain.

Once again, he had been blindsided.

Wearing the mask of a victim, Hyeon-woo condemned himself as a shameless person, allowing not even a sliver of closeness, while Tae-geon patiently waited from a distance for him to come closer. And this was the result he got.

Let’s see how well you can hide. I will definitely find you.

Tae-geon clenched his fist, the veins on the back of his hand bulging ominously.

*

Hyeon-woo headed to an underground Omega shelter. He learned of this place through the business card of an Omega crime detective he received from the doctor who first diagnosed his condition. It was a non-governmental, non-profit Omega shelter whose location was shared discreetly only among Omegas in dire situations.

Although societal awareness had improved compared to the past, Omegas still occupied the lowest tier of the human rights pyramid. This reality made the Omegas band together tightly.

Built not with government support but through voluntary fundraising by Omegas, this shelter was an illegal refuge providing a place for abandoned Omegas with nowhere else to go. It was illegal not because of any criminal activities but because it had not received government approval to operate as a shelter.

Such shelters, existing outside the law, were scattered here and there. As was often the case for Omegas who ended up here, many were in desperate situations, so there were no CCTV cameras or even signs indicating what the place was.

Even though it was a place shared secretly among Omegas, it wouldn’t be able to deceive Tae-geon for long. It was only a matter of time before he realized that he was wandering around such places with nowhere to go.

Hyeon-woo unpacked his belongings at the shelter but packed them again before a week had passed. Then, near the third shelter he visited, he met a kind lady who lived alone with her soon-to-be second-year middle school son. Both of them were Betas.

The encounter began when Hyeon-woo stopped by a corner store to buy ramen, and the lady, sitting on a bench in front of the store chatting with the shelter director, suddenly spoke to him.

“Are you a student by any chance?”

When a stranger began to pry into his personal life, Hyeon-woo became extremely wary. The lady quickly apologized, flustered.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“…….”

“We’ve met often in front of here. I guess I’ve developed a sense of familiarity on my own. Was it uncomfortable? You don’t have to answer. I’m really sorry again.”

Feeling more embarrassed by the lady’s sincere apology, Hyeon-woo replied awkwardly.

“…Yes, I’m a college student.”

The lady’s face lit up with joy.

“Great! I was just looking for a tutor for my son. Would you be interested?”

“Oh. I’m not from a good school…”

“It doesn’t matter. My child is still in middle school, so it won’t be too difficult. If you want, you can even stay with us. But the pay won’t be high.”

When Hyeon-woo hesitated at the sudden proposal, the shelter director, who was next to the lady, chimed in.

“She’s lived in this neighborhood her whole life. Don’t be too wary; how about trying it for just a month? It seems like a good opportunity.”

With the highly respected director joining in, Tae-geon felt genuinely tempted. He was already anxious about when Tae-geon might catch him. Staying in a home was much less likely to be discovered than wandering from shelter to shelter.

Thus, after being offered the tutoring position, Hyeon-woo no longer had to move from shelter to shelter.

Since he consistently ranked high in school, he had no trouble helping the child with his studies. The child, who had just entered middle school this year, was named Lee Jiyun.

Watching Jiyun, who looked up to him like a real brother, Hyeon-woo felt a sense of pride. It was only after a week of staying at the house that he learned the reason for Jiyun’s lack of a father. Jiyun calmly shared that he had lost his dad and older brother in a car accident a few months ago. He mentioned that he resembled his deceased brother a lot.

“…So, when my mom first saw Hyeon-woo hyung, she came home and cried a lot.”

What must it feel like for a parent to miss their deceased child? The thought of his own parents, who might not even know whether he was alive or dead, praying for his safe return, made Hyeon-woo bury his face in the blanket that night and cry silently.

How did it come to this? When he came to his senses, he had become a shameful and worthless child.

He promised himself that once the wounds on his arms healed, he would return home. However, that promise became meaningless as new self-inflicted wounds appeared every day, showing no signs of healing.

*

The more Tae-geon chased after Hyeon-woo’s trail, the more he felt incredulous. Hyeon-woo had disappeared on purpose. He wasn’t using cards or even the internet. He was cleverly avoiding all routes that could lead to his tracking.

It was impressive. Who would have thought it would take this long?

Hyeon-woo’s hit cycle was just around the corner. Tae-geon checked the community again, but since the day Hyeon-woo had withdrawn, there had been no sign of him.

Tae-geon flopped onto Hyeon-woo’s bed. The scent of Hyeon-woo that lingered on the blanket had faded significantly compared to a month ago.

What kind of Alpha was he planning to roll around with this time?

As he thought this, Tae-geon clenched his fist tightly. The veins on the back of his hand rose ominously.

Recently, Tae-geon had been suffering from breathlessness to the point of it being painful and a chest pain that felt like it would burst. He often felt nauseous, as if all his organs were turning inside out, wondering if an Omega about to hit nearby was emitting disgusting pheromones. But every time he looked around, there was no one there. The frequency of the pain was increasing.

Tae-geon buried his nose in Hyeon-woo’s pillow and inhaled the remaining scent until his lungs felt like they would burst. Even if just slightly, it eased his breathing and calmed his heart.

The first thing he did upon realizing Hyeon-woo was missing was to check if he had left the country. If he had gone abroad, it would have been a hundred times more troublesome, but fortunately, he was still in the country. In that case, the mode of transportation he would have used was obvious.

From the CCTV at the intercity bus terminal, as expected, Hyeon-woo’s figure was captured. The destination was boldly written above the ticket counter where Hyeon-woo purchased his ticket.

Knowing Hyeon-woo’s relationships like the back of his hand, Tae-geon frowned at an unexpected location. It was a place with no connections, including Hyeon-woo’s relatives.

But why there?

It meant there was something. Something that could feed and shelter Hyeon-woo.

Tae-geon immediately searched through government agencies, NGOs, and any Omega relief organizations he could find, looking for traces of Hyeon-woo, but he found nothing. During a conversation with his doctor, he accidentally stumbled upon a clue. The doctor had expressed vague concerns about Tae-geon’s request not to inform his family about his symptoms.

“I’m reminded of a Messiah executed by the law.”

At first glance, it sounded like a worry about the consequences he would have to bear in the future for concealing a secret, but Tae-geon immediately thought of the message from Apostle Paul.

Lawless justice.

That justice can sometimes be realized beyond the law.

It was a philosophical discourse covered in the royal studies he learned as a child. The Messiah sent by God became a rebel against the empire due to the law and was executed by crucifixion. The law had become a tool that produced injustice. Apostle Paul stated that it was not the law as justice, but the community itself striving to realize justice that was true justice.

Why hadn’t he thought of it? The Omega shelter that might exist outside the law.

Tae-geon searched the buildings around the bus terminal where Hyeon-woo had disembarked once again. This time, he changed his method and focused on suspicious establishments without signs, soon narrowing it down to dozens.

After bribing a few Omegas to disguise himself in shabby clothes and sending them there, he soon obtained information about the existence of an illegal Omega shelter. And in one of them, he found traces of Hyeon-woo.

As expected, he had been wandering from shelter to shelter because he had nowhere to go.

Hyeon-woo, who had disappeared in less than a week after staying there, was traced again at another shelter in the nearby city. And at the third shelter, all traces were lost. He widened the search radius and scoured thoroughly, but he could no longer find any sign of Hyeon-woo in any Omega shelter.

…He hasn’t set up house with some other guy, has he?

Tae-geon felt a rush of blood to his head at the absurd thought and jumped up from his seat. He picked up the pillow in his hand to throw it but realized it was Hyeon-woo’s and instead stuffed it back on the bed. It was the only remaining item that still carried Hyeon-woo’s scent among the few belongings left.

He threw everything away. Not knowing it would come to this.

He had personally thrown away several bags of waste from Hyeon-woo’s room. His chest felt hot. Tae-geon’s back rose and fell dramatically as he buried his face in Hyeon-woo’s pillow, sobbing.