Pig Government Official

-76-

Recently, Jeonggwan had been going on food adventures with Junjae, and today’s menu was grilled large intestines. Junjae said he had never eaten grilled large intestines in his life. Although there were many things he had never tried, Jeonggwan couldn’t believe he had never had grilled large intestines. It was Jeonggwan’s favorite food, even more than small intestines or rectum. The grilled large intestine place that Jeonggwan’s family often visited when bored was originally quite old and worn, but on the day Jeonggwan and Junjae visited, it had just finished remodeling and looked as clean as a newly opened restaurant. Jeonggwan thought this was fortunate for Junjae, who was quite particular about cleanliness though he tried not to show it.

“Here’s three servings of large intestines-.”

“Wow. It’s here.”

Three plump pieces of large intestines arrived. This place mixed curry powder into the intestines to mask the smell, which was a special feature. The yellow powder coating the inside already looked delicious, making Jeonggwan’s mouth water.

“Oh, owner, I can do it myself.”

“No, no. Just sit there.”

Usually, the owner grilled the meat here, but since Jeonggwan’s family came often, his dad or Jeonghyun usually did the grilling. Today, however, the owner himself was standing in front of the grill with tongs. He said it was a special service for the remodeling opening, but his eyes kept darting towards Junjae, clearly wanting to get a good look at his face.

“So, young man. Are you this little one’s friend?”

As expected, the owner casually spoke to Junjae, who was staring blankly at the shrinking intestines on the grill. Junjae looked up at the owner, then back at Jeonggwan, as if checking if the question was directed at him. When Jeonggwan nodded to confirm, Junjae finally turned to the owner and spoke.

“I’m his boyfriend.”

“Ah… boyfriend…”

“…Yes.”

“…Boyfriend?”

The owner, who had been cutting the intestines into bite-sized pieces with scissors, looked down at Junjae with wide, surprised eyes. His look wasn’t “Someone as good-looking as you?” but rather like a Stone Age person encountering new technology for the first time. And it wasn’t directed at Junjae.

“Jeonggwan is an omega?!”

“You didn’t know?”

“All his brothers are betas!”

“Yes. I’m the only omega.”

The owner, who had known Jeonggwan since middle school, was very surprised to learn he was an omega for the first time. Jeonggwan giggled and added, “Owner, there are many alpha-beta and beta-omega couples too-.” But the owner waved his hand, saying he was old-fashioned and didn’t know about such things. He had assumed that alphas must be with omegas and omegas must be with alphas, so when he heard Jeonggwan was dating Junjae, who looked like an alpha to him, he naturally assumed Jeonggwan was an omega.

“How interesting. All his brothers are betas.”

The owner moved the intestines to the edge of the grill, indicating they were ready to eat, and then left. Jeonggwan picked up some garlic chives and a piece of intestine, dipped it in sauce, and was about to put it in his mouth when he remembered what the owner had said and looked at Junjae. Junjae seemed unsure if he should eat it and was pressing the fat inside the intestine with his chopsticks, continuing to grill it. Finding this cute, Jeonggwan decided to leave him be until he found the courage to try it.

“I saw your brother today. I’m not sure if he was really your brother though.”

“…Won Seongje? How was he dressed?”

“Like a neighborhood thug.”

“…Then that’s him.”

Ah, so that’s how he normally dresses. Jeonggwan nodded as he put the intestine in his mouth. It was really unexpected. In fact, he had been skeptical even when Jihoon told him. The sports car made him look rich, but his clothes and demeanor were so different from Junjae’s that even when asking Junjae, he wondered if that thug might have been lying.

“But your family uses the character ‘Jae’ in names, huh? Junjae is prettier.”

“…Gwan is pretty too.”

“Oh, stop it. But didn’t kids tease your brother when you were young, asking if his name was Won Bin?”

“No, they didn’t.”

As the only dominant alpha in Won Electronics, Junjae had never been teased, but Jeonggwan, unaware of this fact, mumbled, “The kids were nice. I would have definitely teased him! Your brother’s name is Won Bin… Wait, I think I said this to Gwan Jihoon before…” Thinking about it, Jeonggwan remembered that Jihoon had hesitated to talk about this topic before. So it had been forgotten, and he had completely forgotten about the existence of Junjae’s brother, but now that he was dating Junjae, Jihoon was telling him everything, even things he shouldn’t know, which was mind-boggling.

“Are you not on good terms with your brother? You said you were an only child before.”

“…I hate him the most.”

Junjae picked up a piece of intestine that was now crispy from being grilled too long and put it in his mouth. Jeonggwan quickly picked up some garlic chives and held them to Junjae’s mouth. As expected, Junjae, frowning at the greasy taste, quickly took the chives from Jeonggwan’s chopsticks. Junjae chewed the intestine for a long time as if ruminating, and although the greasy taste didn’t suit him at all, when Jeonggwan asked with expectant eyes if it was delicious, he smiled and nodded.

“Eat a lot. But if you’re using the word ‘most,’ you must really dislike him.”

“…Yeah.”

Jeonggwan didn’t want to bring up his argument with Won Seongje and worry Junjae, who clearly disliked him. It was obvious that Junjae would apologize even though it wasn’t his fault. Watching Junjae put another piece of intestine in his mouth, Jeonggwan grinned and quietly raised his hand.

“Owner, two more servings of large intestines, please!”

* * *

It seemed too much to wear extremely fancy clothes for just visiting someone’s house, but he wanted to dress up and not just wear sweatpants. What should he do? Jeonggwan stood in front of the long mirror attached to the wardrobe door, trying on different outfits and anxiously glancing at the clock. Junjae said he’d pick him up at 4 PM, so there were only 20 minutes left.

“Jeongwon hyung-!”

“What-.”

“Come here-!”

“What-. You come-!”

“Come on-!”

“What-. You said you’d come-!”

Aish. Jeonggwan gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. The universal rule of houses with siblings – “you come” – was activated here. Jeonghyun would just say “Yeah!” and come when called, but Jeongwon and Jeonghyun never obeyed on the first call. Of course, Jeonghyun had gone out to see his friends today.

“Just come and look at this once-!”

“Ah, what is it-. Bring it here-!”

Aish, really! Jeonggwan would have brought it long ago if he could. The clothes were spread out on the bed in coordinated outfits, so Jeongwon needed to come to see them all at once. Jeonggwan, practicing patience, called Jeongwon again.

“Jeongwon hyung, the coolest and smartest in the world~”

“Did you call?”

Despite speaking more softly than before, Jeongwon was suddenly in Jeonggwan’s room. Jeonggwan squinted at him and pointed to the clothes on the bed.

“…Look at these.”

“What is it?”

“Which one looks the most casually stylish?”

“Hmm… Don’t you have a checkered shirt?”

Get out, engineering student. Get out, researcher. Jeonggwan pushed Jeongwon out of the room as if regretting asking him. That damn checkered shirt. He didn’t have time to play along with Jeongwon’s jokes when time was of the essence. Jeonggwan was about to call Jeonghyun to ask, but,

“…It’s 100% going to be sweatpants.”

The recommendation from the youth national team coach was obviously going to be sweatpants. Finally, Jeonggwan decided to call the person with the most sense in the house who knew Jeonggwan’s preferred style best.

“Mom-!”

“Mom went to the store. Why? Dad can help.”

“Never mind Dad. I’ll just wear this.”

But of course, Mom wasn’t home today either. Jeonggwan absolutely refused to take recommendations from Dad, who was the most exaggerating person in the house, so he decided to just wear the outfit he was most drawn to. He had been victimized by Dad dozens of times.

When Jeonggwan was in elementary school, on April Fool’s Day, Dad made him wear an Indian costume, saying that’s how you’re supposed to dress, embarrassing him in front of the whole school. In middle school, when he was going through a terrible puberty, his class was participating in a festival choir, and everyone was supposed to wear neat black suits. Jeonggwan asked Dad to pack his old black suit in a shopping bag.

However, when he opened the shopping bag at school, inside was a purple glittery jacket that looked like something a trot singer would wear. When Jeonggwan called home crying with a collect call, Dad’s response was, “It’s a festival, you should stand out!” In the end, Jeonggwan had to borrow his math teacher’s black suit to go on stage.

Even in high school and college, Dad’s fashion sense hadn’t changed. Dad always enthusiastically recommended overly flashy clothes to Jeonggwan, saying that even if it doesn’t seem right now, it will all become good memories later.

“I’ll just go wearing this.”

“Overalls? Cute. But how about a newsboy cap with it?”

“…”

“The Flanders’ dog look, they call it.”

Jeonggwan just smiled slightly at Dad. It meant “please leave now.” Dad kept muttering, “Sseup-. I think the newsboy cap would be nice-.” as he was ushered out of Jeonggwan’s room.

“Aren’t the overalls a bit too much?”

In the end, Jeonggwan, dressed in a daffodil-colored knit top and dark blue overalls, adjusted his clothes and turned around several times checking the mirror. If this was a regular date, he would have gone out like this, but today was the day he might do adult things(?) that he had been looking forward to, so he hesitated to wear this, wondering if it looked too childish.

Ding-.

[Are you ready?]

3:55 PM. Seeing the clock after Junjae’s message, Jeonggwan gasped and hurriedly packed his things, forgetting about the clothes.