Chapter 509: "Can I curse at you?"
I kept my head down as I walked into the cafeteria, my eyes fixed on the heels of the Cha Hye-Jin shoes. She was chatting about something—student council forms or club registrations—, but her voice was just background noise.
I felt like a ghost haunting my own life, trying to ignore the way the air in the room curdled the second I stepped through the doors.
The whispers followed me like a physical trail of slime. People were nudging each other, pointing at my new blazer, and then looking toward the center of the room.
The Alphas were at their usual table—the ’throne’ that no one else dared to sit near.
I thought they wouldn’t come to school, especially Seo-Jun, since he seemed the least bit expected, but he was there as well.
And worst of all, unlike me, who was walking with legs that were as weak and trembling kike jelly, they looked completely refreshed and healthy.
They didn’t look like they had spent the night in a feverish mess at all. They just looked perfect. Polished. Untouchable.
Seo-Jun was leaning back, a smirk playing on his lips as he watched me struggle to keep my pace steady. Jin-Yeok was elegantly cutting into something on his plate, but his eyes were fixed on me with that same predatory calm.
I tried to steer the girl toward the farthest corner, as far from them as possible, but the room was too open. There was nowhere to hide.
"Hey! Bunny!"
Min-Cheol’s voice rang out across the entire cafeteria, sharp and cheerful, cutting through the low hum of gossip like a knife.
I froze. Beside me, Cha Hye-Jin stopped and turned, her eyes widening as she realized who was calling out. Every student in the room went silent, forks hovering halfway to their mouths.
"You’re finally here," Min-Cheol continued, waving me over with a wide, innocent grin that didn’t match the mischief in his eyes at all. "We saved you a seat. Come on, you shouldn’t be standing on those legs for too long, right?"
Cha Hye-Jin nearly gasped, her head whipping toward me. "Jo-Pil? You... they saved you a seat? Is there something I missed?"
I don’t know if she lives under a rock. For someone who is well known about all the going ons in this school, she’s slow to hear the rumors.
Anyways, that’s not the issue.
I felt the blood drain from my face at that not-so-friendly invite. It was a public execution of my privacy and the rest of myself that I planned to keep intact.
By calling me over like that, he had just confirmed every single foul rumor that had been flying through the halls since the party.
Seo-Jun chuckled, the sound echoing in the sudden silence. "Don’t be shy, kitten. We went through a lot together last night. The least you can do is have lunch with us."
The cafeteria exploded into a fresh wave of hushed, frantic talking. The look on the orientation girl’s face shifted from confusion to a sort of stunned realization. The rumor was no longer just a rumor. The Alphas—the four most powerful, terrifying guys in the school—weren’t just interested in me. They were acting like I was theirs.
I stood there, pinned by their collective gaze, feeling the weight of the entire school’s judgment pressing down on my shoulders. I wanted to turn and run, but my legs felt like they were made of lead, and I knew that if I moved, I’d just be proving Min-Cheol right.
"Jo-Pil," Ki-hoon said. His voice wasn’t loud, but it had a way of commanding the room. He wasn’t smiling, and he wasn’t mocking me. He just pulled out the chair next to him, his dark eyes locking onto mine.
It wasn’t a request. It was an order. And the way he looked at me made it clear that if I didn’t walk over there myself, he’d have no problem coming over to get me. And it wouldn’t be just ushering me. He would flip me over his shoulder and take me there.
I felt Hye-Jin take a small step away from me. The friendly, helpful girl was suddenly looking at me like I was a stranger—or worse, a target she didn’t want to be standing next to when the arrows started flying.
"I... I think I should go," Hye-Jin murmured, not meeting my eyes. She clutched her clipboard to her chest and scurried away, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the aisle.
I felt abandoned, standing there in the high-grade blazer they had forced me into, smelling like a mix of their scents.
My legs felt like they were going to give out again. The soreness from the morning was a sharp reminder of why I shouldn’t be here, and why I shouldn’t be anywhere near them.
"Jo-Pil," Ki-hoon called again, and I let out a shaky breath.
With my head hanging low, my hair shielding my burning face, I forced my shaky legs to move. Every step felt like I was walking toward my own execution. When I finally reached the table and sank into the chair Ki-hoon had held out, the silence in the room was absolute.
"Good boy," Seo-Jun whispered, leaning in so close I could feel his breath on my ear. "See? That wasn’t so hard."
I gritted my teeth and just let out the words that were buried in my heart.
"Can I curse at you?"
The cafeteria went so quiet you could hear the hum of the industrial refrigerators in the back.
Seo-Jun’s smirk didn’t just fade; it froze. He stayed leaned in, his face inches from mine, but his eyes narrowed until they were sharp enough to draw blood. Beside him, Jin-Yeok’s fork clattered against his plate, and Min-Cheol’s playful grin twitched, his eyebrows shooting up toward his hairline.
"Tell me, am I allowed to curse at you?" I asked again, my voice steadier than I thought possible. I finally looked him in the eye, my hands trembling under the table where no one could see. "Because right now, you’re being a real pain in the ass."
I felt Ki-hoon’s gaze shift from my face to the table. He didn’t move to stop me. He just sat there, his presence heavy and silent, watching the fuse I’d just lit.
"What did you just say to me?"
