NUTMEG 12

When he gave a stupid answer, the person filming him made an ambiguous expression. He must have said something strange again. Feeling awkward, Minje added an even less interesting comment, “I think this movie will be a huge hit because of this opening,” and gave a thumbs-up. The lack of reaction made it even more awkward.

After the making-of team left, he watched Ms. Yeonja’s take from a distance. Wonoh, who had gone for a smoke, came back to Minje’s side, ruffling his hair.

“Ah, fuck.”

Wonoh didn’t look happy. Minje looked at Wonoh, startled by reflex.

“Why?”

“Some omega bastard in the smoking area kept rubbing his pheromones on me.”

“…”

“Ah… I’m pissed off.”

Wonoh kept brushing off his shoulders and thighs with his hands, as if that would shake off the pheromones. When their eyes met, he suddenly placed a hand on Minje’s shoulder and leaned his upper body against him. Minje unconsciously swallowed dryly. Gulp.

“…Is the smell of pheromones really that strong?”

“Ah, I don’t know. The other alphas say it’s not that bad. But sometimes I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

‘Omega pheromones make me want to puke, so get lost.’

A faded memory from his past life surfaced, and Minje’s back went rigid.

“Kihwan hyung says it’s because I’m a neat freak. Funny, isn’t it?”

Minje tried hard to erase the unwelcome memory from his past life and continued speaking with a nonchalant expression.

“It’s probably because you’re a dominant.”

One of Wonoh’s eyebrows shot up and then came back down.

“You’re very interested in me, hyung. Ah, you said you were a fan.”

Wonoh poked Minje’s cheek firmly with his index finger. He didn’t have much cheek fat to begin with, but since starting boxing, he had lost even more weight, so there was nowhere for the finger to sink in. Nevertheless, Wonoh seemed to like it, as he would occasionally poke or touch Minje’s cheek. This kind of contact was nothing new, but for some reason, it suddenly felt uncomfortable today. Minje pushed his hand away with the side of his own.

“That’s not it… Who doesn’t know you’re a dominant alpha?”

“You don’t need to know things like that, hyung. You’re a beta.”

He seemed to let Minje retract his finger obediently, but then he wrapped an arm around Minje’s shoulders from behind. Startled for a moment, Minje was about to pull away when a staff member passed by and said with a laugh, “You guys are really close.” At those words, Minje realized he had almost overreacted. To others, they must just look like normal, close friends.

He leaned his head on Minje’s shoulder and smiled, his eyes crinkling.

“I like that you’re a beta, hyung.”

“…”

Suddenly, a tightness gripped his chest, and Minje missed the timing to reply.

🍊

“Good work, everyone~!!”

Filming for the last scene of the day was finally over. Director Im, who wanted to stick to a shooting schedule of under ten hours a day as much as possible, began to pack up before it was completely dark. Wonoh and Minje, who had been watching the filming nearby until the end, finally headed to the container being used as a wardrobe room to change their clothes.

“Hyung, should we order stir-fried chili peppers and pork with cream shrimp today? I’m craving Chinese food.”

“Sure.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What is?”

“You’ve been a little sulky for a while now. What are you pouting about?”

“…About what.”

“Last one to change buys ice cream.”

Without giving him a chance to ask again, Wonoh dashed into the wardrobe room. Minje let out a small sigh behind him.

Wonoh’s words must have been bothering him, and it showed on his face. Since he was lying to him about being a beta, feeling depressed about those words was a contradictory emotion in itself. In three months, the filming and this ‘friendship’ would all be over. Until then, he just needed to act like a normal, close friend in the eyes of others. It wasn’t difficult at all, but he didn’t know why it sometimes felt incredibly hard.

The two of them walked down the dark street, each with an ice cream bar from the convenience store in front of the shared house. It felt a little better now that the sun had set, but trying to travel on foot instead of by car in a season where the heat had started unusually early made sweat bead down his back.

Wonoh must have been hot too, as he kept saying how hot it was, but he was also smiling continuously, seemingly happy about the free treat. Before he knew it, Minje was smiling along with him. It was always like this when he was with him. His heart would feel rough, and sometimes it would sink, but then he would end up laughing over something trivial.

Paju, where the set was, had a lot of factories and warehouses, so there were very few people around after work hours. Wonoh said he didn’t know the last time he had eaten ice cream without a hat or a mask. Minje knew that feeling all too well, so he nodded in agreement.

There were few streetlights on the street, which was now covered in a blue darkness. Minje took a bite of his tangerine-flavored ice cream bar and stole glances at Wonoh’s profile as he walked beside him. Wonoh tilted his head back to look at the sky, asking if that was a star or a satellite, then flapped his t-shirt, seemingly hot.

A single, dim streetlight illuminated a drop of sweat slowly trickling down from the back of Wonoh’s short-cropped hair to his nape. Minje was staring at it absentmindedly, and only after Wonoh casually wiped the sweat away with his palm did he tear his eyes away and look straight ahead.

Just then, Wonoh stopped walking. With the soda-flavored ice cream bar between his teeth, he rummaged through the sports bag slung over his shoulder and handed one earphone to Minje. Minje took it, bewildered, and as soon as he put it in, a familiar intro began to play. Minje looked at Wonoh. Wonoh had the other earphone in and was just taking the last bite of his light blue ice cream bar.

“There’s this one, and one more. Listen to this too.”

The next song started playing from the earphone. This was also a song familiar to Minje’s ears. They were all songs from Uncontrol’s third full-length album. The only difference from his memory was that these were the guide recording versions.

“What do you think? Which one is better?”

“Is this a song for the next album?”

“Yeah.”

In his current life, this song would be released half a year later. Minje didn’t know how to answer, so he just handed the earphone he had been wearing back to Wonoh.

“They’re both really good.”

“Which one do you think is a better fit for the title track?”

“…How about pre-releasing the first song and making the second one the title track? The second one seems like a song that will get an immediate reaction, but the first one fits the group’s color better.”

Wonoh grinned upon hearing that. He seemed pleased. Of course he was. It was the correct answer.

“How do you know my mind so well?”

“Huh?”

“How can you think the exact same thing as me?”

Wonoh put his arm around Minje’s shoulders again and stroked the short hair at the back of his neck. His chest tingled again.

Minje couldn’t be purely happy that their minds had connected, like Wonoh was. It was too easy to give answers that Wonoh liked, like solving a math workbook with the answer key. That was why every time Wonoh smiled like that, Minje was plagued by a small sense of guilt.

---

“We’re home.”

“Why is the living room like a steam bath?”

“You’re back. You guys ordered the Chinese food, right? Your sunbae-nim and I were eating first.”

When they arrived at the shared house, the air felt strangely hot and humid. Wonoh put his bag down in the living room and immediately went to the air conditioner. There was a ding sound as the power turned on, but something seemed off, and Wonoh stood at an angle with his hand on his hip, flapping his t-shirt. Minje could see sweat trickling down the back of his neck. While unconsciously gazing at that broad, straight back, Minje also brushed his sweaty bangs up.

“Ah, Wonoh. I think the air conditioner is broken. It was only blowing air, so we just turned it off too.”

“Ah…”

As if to prove his words, a single fan was whirring away next to the dining table where Director Im and Ms. Yeonja were sitting.

“Boys, hurry up and come eat.”

“Yes.”

“Thank you for the food.”

Ms. Yeonja called the two of them over to sit with a benevolent expression, as if calling her real grandsons. This was the first time the four of them had gathered like this since the first day of living together. For some reason, it felt like having dinner with his grandmother and uncle. Minje picked up a piece of cream shrimp from the Chinese food spread all over the table and put it in his mouth. Delicious.

So he picked up a second piece of the same thing, but then he noticed that the plate of cream shrimp had been placed in front of him, oddly aligned perfectly with the corner. He looked around, but everyone was focused on their own plates, so he couldn’t guess who had brought it closer. Director Im and Ms. Yeonja were both generous and kind to Minje. …Even Choi Wonoh.

“We were talking about ghosts with your sunbae-nim.”

“Ghosts?”

“Yeah. A little while ago, while we were changing the lighting setup, the sound team’s youngest member started telling a story so realistically. He said he’s always been able to see ghosts since he was young because he has a weak constitution.”

“Do you two believe in things like that? Director Im is the biggest one here, but he’s really a scaredy-cat.”

“Sunbae-nim! You should have heard the story directly from him. It was really… really… Aaaah!”

Then Director Im buried his face in his hands, which were as big as pot lids. The three of them snickered at how funny he was. Director Im, feeling wronged, kept trying to reenact the story the sound team’s youngest member had told, but the more he tried, the more boring the story became. Director Im had a natural talent for screenwriting and directing, but his storytelling skills were quite poor.

“Minje. Can you sleep with me tonight?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m so scared.”

Before he could answer, Choi Wonoh cut in.

“Minje hyung said no.”

“Then let’s all sleep together in the living room.”

“It’s hot. And Minje hyung is going to hang out with me before bed.”

“Ah, Choi Wonoh!” Director Im started to grumble, and Minje looked at Wonoh with a slightly bewildered expression.

“…Are you sleeping over today?”

“Yeah. I’ve cleared my schedule. For a while, aside from one fixed gig, I’ll be able to stay on set.”

And he smiled so brightly. Minje swallowed dryly as he looked at that handsome face.

He had prepared a contingency plan just in case this happened. The plan was to use the excuse that the bed was too small, let Wonoh sleep in the room, and sleep in the living room himself. But a problem arose. Firstly, if Director Im, who was scared of ghosts, followed him out to the living room, he would end up sleeping with another alpha anyway, which would be pointless. Secondly, Minje was very sensitive to heat. Just walking from the set, which wasn’t even that far, to the house made him drip with sweat. The thought of sleeping in the living room with a broken air conditioner was horrifying.

“Let’s practice lines and hang out together for the first time in a while before we sleep.”

“…”

Whether he knew of Minje’s complex feelings or not, Wonoh looked excited.

---

The small room with the working air conditioner felt like heaven.

“Have you seen this movie?”

“What is it?”

“It’s a movie Kihwan hyung watched a lot while writing the script.”

He lowered his gaze to Wonoh’s long, smooth fingers showing him his phone screen, saying, this one. When he said he hadn’t seen this one, Wonoh’s lips curled into a smile.

“You must like watching movies.”

His saying he hadn’t seen ‘this one’ must have sounded like he had seen many others. It was true, so he nodded meekly.

“Yeah. I like it.”

“Where do you usually watch them?”