Seven years ago, when I was a second-year in high school, I moved out on my attending physician’s recommendation.
"Geonho, your refill cycle keeps getting shorter."
"Ha ha, I even transferred to a regular school on purpose, but there are still plenty of Alphas and Omegas."
"I asked you to avoid contact as much as possible. You’re still taking the medication at home, right?"
"I can’t help it with my parents around…"
"Born in XX? You’ll be an adult soon."
"Sorry? Yes."
"It would be better for you to live independently."
Independence? My thoughts stalled for a second.
Leaving home and living alone—ever since I manifested as an Alpha, the idea had brushed past my mind at least once.
Adopted status, a body with Pheromone allergy.
From the moment those two elements came together, I always felt like someone was shoving me in the back, telling me to get out of the house.
"A minor living alone? No way! Dad is absolutely against it!"
"Mom’s worried too, but your condition is an issue… We’ll respect our son’s opinion. What do you want, Geonho?"
Of course my kind adoptive parents asked me first.
That was around when people from the Group started showing up.
"Are you that adoptee?"
Even with Chairman Baek’s heavy punishments within Baekil, a few brazen ones began lurking near the home where my family lived.
At this rate it was only a matter of time before my adoptive parents heard about it. I didn’t want to give them another thing to worry about here.
So I left the house I’d lived in for seventeen years.
"So quiet…"
The new place was excellent—my adoptive parents had poured their hearts into getting it for me.
Inside, everything was white and wood-toned, and the fridge was crammed with side dishes my clumsy adoptive father had made.
It was a warm space full of their care.
But it was empty.
I couldn’t shake that impression as I looked around the apartment filled only with silence.
I’d already lived alone for a long time in my previous life. I should have been used to this kind of quiet, so why was my heart unsteady…?
I turned on the TV I rarely watched to fill the silence.
About a month later, the doorbell rang.
"I’m going to live at Hyung’s place too."
"What?"
Seolheon Baek, then a fifth-grader, had shown up dragging a suitcase as big as he was.
"I’m worried about you living alone, Hyung."
"I’m more worried about an elementary schooler running away from home…"
Naturally, our adoptive parents had not given permission.
When they rushed over to the apartment fuming, the normally never-clingy Seolheon stubbornly stayed put. After days of back-and-forth, our adoptive parents finally threw up their hands.
They trusted I could be a proper guardian, and it also helped that my address overlapped with an elite school district close to Seolheon’s school, which cut his commute drastically.
In the end, under the condition that our adoptive parents would regularly check whether we were eating properly and keeping things clean, Seolheon moved in with me.
Even so, it weighed on me that he’d ended up separated from our parents because of me.
It felt like… the path of "Geonho Baek" who tore a younger brother away from his parents.
"No. Don’t overthink it. Seolheon is going to Manifest as an Alpha anyway, right? I’ll just send him back home around then."
He’s a younger brother who worries about his Hyung’s health more than our parents do; he won’t be stubborn about it then.
And exactly half a year later, Seolheon tested as a Beta—and then stayed for over six more years.
"Seolheon, are you… seriously going to live here even after you graduate?"
"Yeah."
Then he dipped his head slightly and spoke in a small voice.
"Is that not okay?"
His face still didn’t change, but the slightly lower tone and shoulders dropped by about two centimeters caught my attention.
For a moment, an image overlapped: a puppy with ears folded back and tail drooping.
"There’s… no reason it wouldn’t be. Do what you want."
"If you’re done, give it here."
As if he’d never looked crestfallen, he calmly took the empty water glass from my hand.
"Hyung. Where did you go today?"
"Nothing special. Just meeting an acquaintance."
"You met an Alpha, didn’t you?"
[gasp]
My hand trembled for a beat, but I quickly smiled like nothing was wrong.
"…An Alpha? Why would you think that?"
"You always come back around this time with a tired face and reach for your meds first. And since you’re in a suit for once, it must’ve been someone high-up."
What is he, a master detective?
"Who is it?"
"I said it’s nothing."
"Who is it. I’m curious."
I had never brought up Chairman Baek in front of Seolheon.
I forced a smile and shrugged.
"There is someone. You know, like a graduate-school professor type."
"Hyung, are you going to grad school?"
"Ha ha. Maybe, maybe not? I’m exhausted—I should flop down."
Trailing off to end the conversation, I sprawled on the sofa.
When I turned on the TV, the anchor’s voice rang through the living room.
A report that harmful bacteria had been detected in a large batch of frozen foods supplied by W Food, followed by audio of the CEO’s verbal abuse and swearing.
"W Food… so that side."
Thinking of the woman I’d met just a few hours earlier made my head throb faintly.
If Seolheon steps into Group business, the annoying attention aimed at me will finally die down…
But all those hostile gazes would then turn directly on him.
"Ah, cold."
Suddenly a chill spread over my forehead. The coolness wasn’t too cold—pleasantly refreshing—and my headache seemed to ease.
I turned my head to look up at the ceiling and saw Seolheon’s face.
"Tired?"
"…"
"If it’s too much, go lie down."
At some point he’d sat by my head, pressing a green bottle of sparkling water to my forehead.
With his face filling my field of view… for some reason it was hard to look straight at him, so I turned back to the TV.
The news was showing the W Food CEO’s press conference.
"Seolheon."
"Yeah."
"If I tell you to go to Korea University, the way I chose your middle school and high school… will you go?"
"Yeah."
"If I pick your department too, will you go there?"
"Yeah."
As always, he nodded easily to what I said.
"…Your career path, too?"
A passage from the original novel flashed up.
I didn’t remember the plot in crisp detail, but I did remember that after countless efforts, Uheon Baek barely managed to take back a position in the Group that had been stolen by Geonho Baek. But the vicious negative war with Geonho saddled him with all sorts of infamy and slander, and he had to shoulder heavy responsibility and unfair blame alone.
"After Geonho Baek utterly collapsed later, I think he rose smoothly without much noise…"
So I made up my mind.
I would not covet what should rightfully have been Seolheon’s as "Geonho Baek"—I would pass it all on to him intact.
I’d believed for a long time that this was my role.
"Even your job—are you fine with me picking whatever I want?"
So I planned to send him to Chairman Baek soon.
If he insisted, I would even accompany him.
If it’s Seolheon, wherever he becomes the person in charge, he’ll surely do the job excellently.
"Yeah. I’ll go wherever you tell me to."
He nodded.
I was freshly amazed. In the novel he’d been some rampaging sex maniac, and yet here he was, evolved into a gentle puppy…
Praising the results of my long education, I reached out and vigorously mussed his hair.
"Ha ha. You look like you’d die if I told you to."
"I would."
"…What?"
His reply stopped my hand mid-air.
Under the thoroughly tousled hair, dark navy eyes stared straight down at my face.
"I’ll do anything you tell me to, Hyung."
Suddenly he gripped my shoulders as if to pin me in place.
The ceiling light was blocked, shading my upper body.
"Because everything you say is right."
He leaned closer, bringing his face toward mine.
His eyes, darker than usual from the lack of light, came closer and closer.
"Seolheon…"
When he got close enough that I could feel his breath on my skin—
I flicked my finger against his forehead.
"…!"
Rubbing his reddening forehead, he backed away.
I used that opening to sit up and scold him.
"Don’t say things like that carelessly."
"That hurt…"
"As if I’d ever tell you to die."
He said nothing, only widened his eyes and kept rubbing his forehead.
"Did I raise him to be too dependent?"
A younger brother who listens well to his Hyung is great. But I didn’t want him so obedient that he’d say something that extreme.
"Seolheon Baek. Words like earlier—don’t ever say them again, not even as a joke."
"…"
"Got it?"
"Yeah."
…What on earth is he hiding behind that rigid blank face?
I’ve already spent eighteen years with him. By now I can easily tell the faint emotions that surface on his impassive face, but his heart is still hard to read.
Every time, that strange wall leaves me with a growing sense of regret.
Maybe it’s because this is my first time belonging to a proper family—I still don’t know the right distance for brothers.
Just then, with a notification chime, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
When I checked the screen, several messages had come in from an unknown number.
[Sender: 010-XXXX-XXXX]
[Hey]
[Fuck]
[Block me again and you’re dead]
"What is it?"
"Just spam."
At his question, I blocked the number and stretched.
"It’s already dinner time. Want anything?"
"I’m not hungry."
"You’re a test-taker—you need to eat well. What should we get? Sashimi?"
I had just opened the delivery app when—
[slam]
"Geonho Hyung! I’m here! Seolheon! I brought chicken!"
The front door burst open and a flashy blond youth strode in.
"Huh? Why’s the mood like this. Kinda gloomy. Did something happen?"
First-year, Department of Physical Education, Korea University.
191 centimeters. Prime Alpha. Mixed-race.
Haram Lee, who lives four minutes away on foot, grinned wide.
"When you’re down, it’s chicken time!"
"Eat it yourself."
Seolheon slammed the door shut at the speed of light.