Dirty Switch

“Oh, Taehyun? What are you doing here?”

He had gone out of his way to squeeze himself into a cozy spot with minimal lighting, but someone had still managed to find him and strike up a conversation.
It was the second son of Dongmyeong Group, the one who’d newly joined Haechi just last month.
“…Hello.”

“Whoa, didn’t mean to startle you. You’re… not really the type I expected, you know?”
The small smile that had softened on Joo Taehyun’s lips while watching Seo Baekhan disappeared instantly, sealing back into a tight line.
He had tucked himself away in a corner precisely because he didn’t want to deal with people. Yet the guy had sought him out only to act weirdly uncomfortable—what kind of social etiquette was that?

Taehyun shut his lips like a clam. Just because someone older pushed for a conversation didn’t mean he was going to go along with it. It depended on the person. If he gave in to someone rude, they’d start thinking they could walk all over him. That was the first survival rule he learned on the day of his middle school entrance ceremony.
“Well, uh… hope you had a good Christmas. Happy New Year.”
“Yes.”

With Taehyun’s curt reply, the other boy looked a little embarrassed and walked off.
In the meantime, Taehyun had lost track of Seo Baekhan.
He edged closer to the center of the event to peek around, but Baekhan was still nowhere in sight.

There were only a few likely places someone would confess—left terrace corner, under the tree at the far right, or behind the bulletin board in the center…
As Taehyun mentally listed the known spots, guilt made him grab the first plate he saw. It wasn’t like he had gone snooping—it was just that the rumors had reached even him, so he’d memorized them by accident.
“Isn’t it kind of amazing? Even knowing they’ll get rejected, people still line up to confess. The ones who lose their minds over Seo Baekhan just never quit.”

“But what’s weird is none of them ever talk shit about him afterward.”

“Well, duh. Who’d go around broadcasting they got rejected? Why would they publicly badmouth him and look pathetic? They probably just trash him behind his back.”
Guys who had never once been invited to one of those spots used moments like these to grumble about Seo Baekhan. Pure jealousy.

They envied him, but knew they had no chance of surpassing him—so instead of openly slandering him, they whispered petty insults in private.
“Speaking of Baekhan, didn’t he used to cycle through girlfriends constantly? But lately, he’s been quiet again.”
“Maybe he got all the fun out of his system and is ready to settle down.”
“Or maybe he changed targets. He is an Alpha, after all.”

“Wait—what, like… a male Omega?”
“Whoa. Baekhan with a guy? I can’t even picture that. I mean, the way he looks, he’s obviously got women falling all over him.”
“Shit, you never know. He could’ve already done it. They say male Omegas are something else in bed.”

“Damn, lucky bastard! If you’re Seo Baekhan-level, you probably get to choose your pick.”
“Pick? He’s probably eating his way through a whole menu. You know that rut thing? People say it hits like drugs. Some even take their suppressants lightly on purpose.”
“Ohhh, so that’s why suppressant talk’s been trending lately?”

“Right? The whole heat cycle thing—it’s not like anyone can control it. Expecting individuals to medicate themselves is kinda weird. Shouldn’t it be more tightly regulated—”
“Hey. You know that thing? The Switch? That drug that’s been all over the news lately.”
A Christmas carol started playing just then, and the rest of the conversation became hard to hear. Taehyun thought he might’ve heard his name, but he didn’t care enough to go confirm.

He wasn’t the type to start trouble, and especially not with Seo Baekhan present. He had no intention of causing a scene tonight.
Instead, as he looked up at the glittering Christmas tree decorations, he decided to treat this as practice. Practice in keeping his face calm, no matter what happened—practice in delicately crafting expressions that betrayed nothing.
“……”

What would Seo Baekhan do in this situation? Taehyun pressed his forehead into the hollow of his palm and held his breath.
…Maybe I shouldn’t study abroad.
Maybe I should just go to Pyongyang University.

He didn’t know Baekhan’s exact future plans, but he did know that Baekhan hoped to eventually join Jejungwon. But who knew when he’d finish his doctorate? And even then, there was no guarantee he’d come back right away. Realistically, given his career, it would make more sense to spend a few years at an overseas research institute or international organization.
If Taehyun really wanted to increase his chances of seeing him again, maybe a school on the West Coast would be better. Even the East Coast would give him chances to run into him through Korean community events. At least it would be closer in time zone than Korea.
But still… the fact that even Seo Baekhan, that Seo Baekhan, was being talked about like that just for being an Alpha—it made Taehyun feel sick.

He understood. He knew that even if Baekhan weren’t a carrier, people would still mock him for being attractive or for dating frequently. It wasn’t about his gender.
But right now, what stung the most was that someone he loved dearly was being treated unfairly because he was an Alpha.
It didn’t matter that Taehyun was an Alpha too. Whether he’d been an Omega or a Beta, if it meant he could be of help to Seo Baekhan, if it meant he could open even the faintest chance to support him—then he might’ve chosen Pyongyang University for that reason alone.

No—he was choosing it.
Just because a school was friendly toward carriers didn’t mean it would magically change everything. Taehyun still felt skeptical about institutions. He still [N O V E L I G H T] disliked people.
But at seventeen, love gave him the reckless courage to believe he could endure anything. To believe he could overcome it all.

This was the resolve of a boy who’d once, on a summer night, listened intently as his first love shared with absolute sincerity that everyone should be equal in the face of their biological traits.
Looking up at the giant Christmas tree adorned with jangling ornaments, Taehyun unknowingly nodded. The bobbing motion grew more determined, as if echoing his inner vow.
It was the first time he had ever made a decision without discussing it with his family. The first time he’d decided to tell someone outside the family about it first.

A glance at the clock told him he didn’t have much time. Minors were usually asked to leave around 9 p.m., so he needed to find Seo Baekhan before then.
He planned to check every spot where Baekhan might be.
Maybe Baekhan wouldn’t care at all about his academic plans. He probably wouldn’t. He might even laugh and say it wasn’t that big a deal to pick Pyongyang University.

But Taehyun wasn’t looking for validation. He wasn’t asking Baekhan to understand what the decision meant to him. He just wanted to talk. Just ask what the campus was like, how the student body felt—just something casual.
Ah, maybe he could ask about good neighborhoods to live in, since it’d be his first time living alone away from home.
Come to think of it, where exactly was Seo Baekhan’s family home? He knew Assemblyman Seo Hongkyu’s district was Moran-gu, and that they lived somewhere nearby… but he didn’t know the specific area. Maybe he could find a way to ask casually. Would it sound too personal? But still, he was about to become a Pyongyang University junior. Not a Seoulite anymore, but a Pyongyang citizen…

“…Baekhan, what do you think?”
In the middle of all these buzzing thoughts, as Taehyun headed toward the terrace, his steps abruptly came to a stop.