Baek Seolheon was familiar with it. Saying he was skilled would be more fitting.
In an emergency situation where pheromones were running rampant, Baek Seolheon alone easily stabilized my constitution.
More than that, how did he even know about my condition?
Baek Seolheon, who is a Beta.
“How on earth…….”
“First aid.”
“F-first aid?”
“Hyung. Didn’t you learn it?”
“Learn what?”
“When manifesting as an Alpha or Omega, rarely pheromones are excessively released causing shock. First aid treatment that can quickly calm down kids in that situation.”
Baek Seolheon said it casually as if it was nothing.
“They teach everyone in school health class.”
“That kind of thing…… I don’t remember learning it.”
“The current curriculum is like that.”
“I-is that so?”
“Your symptoms seemed similar to that, hyung, so I tried it. I’m glad it worked.”
Well, with a 6-year age gap, mountains and rivers change, regimes change, and kids’ textbooks get replaced.
Kids these days learn detailed things like that in addition to CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.
I don’t know who the current Minister of Education is, but I decided to first give them a deep bow of gratitude in my heart.
‘The pheromones have definitely stabilized.’
Now I can clearly feel my pheromones. The pheromones that had been overflowing like a collapsed dam were now just lingering like a gentle fog.
It still felt precariously wavering so it was unstable, and I had no idea how to control it at all.
Even so, just being able to detect the pheromones that had been suppressed was tremendous progress.
Though the damp smell like a wet forest was still unpleasant.
“Thanks for everything. Seolheon-ah. If it weren’t for you…….”
“Then it’s my turn now.”
Baek Seolheon lightly ignored my thanks, then sat on the bed and said.
“Hyung. You collapsed.”
“…….”
“Because of your constitution problem.”
Suddenly the lead in the conversation changed.
“The promise. You remember, right?”
“S-Seolheon-ah. This time I collapsed alone from my own pheromones, so isn’t the situation a bit different…….”
“It’s not different.”
“H-how could I have known it would suddenly run rampant? Rather than my fault, it was just an accident that happened by chance…….”
“It’s not because hyung didn’t take medicine. With sensory inhibitors, you wouldn’t even feel your own pheromones.”
As expected of a gifted student.
Cold sweat broke out at the sharp deduction.
“Did you not take it on purpose?”
“That…….”
“Why?”
My lips wouldn’t part.
There’s no way I could tell the truth.
That my constitution problem worsened and I might die from shock or lose reason and do something to someone, so I started pheromone control practice, and the one helping with that practice is Lee Haram whom you hate. ……Looking at it listed out, it’s all a minefield.
The moment I honestly confess all of this, there’s a high probability that Baek Seolheon will immediately enforce confinement under the name of hospitalization in a deep mountain villa where no Alphas or Omegas exist, then volunteer to nurse me. Throwing away his duties as a student.
‘Then he’d become distant from Chairman Baek Ildo.’
Baek Seolheon is fully qualified to sit in a key Group position. However, to have those qualifications, a first-class university diploma is essential.
If a flaw appears in Seolheon’s bright future because of me…… I won’t have the face to see him.
“Just, well. I was trying to practice pheromone control a bit…….”
“Pheromone, practice? You, hyung?”
I have to deceive him.
With that single thought, excuses popped out of my mouth on their own.
“W-well, you know. I wanted to try living like an Alpha too.”
“So, why suddenly.”
“Do I have to tell you?”
“Tell me.”
“I found an Omega I like.”
Baek Seolheon’s lips, which had been relentlessly pouring out attacks, froze.
I know. This is an absurd excuse, as absurd as that expression on Baek Seolheon’s face right now.
But what can I do when this is all that comes to mind right now?
“As you know, with my body like this, it’s hard to even get close to that person, right?”
“…….”
“Before, I was too scared to even try, but seeing that person’s face, I gained the will to overcome my constitution. So I wanted to get used to pheromones first.”
“…….”
“It’s embarrassing that I’m a constitution that reacts more sensitively to Alpha pheromones than Omega ones, and as an Alpha male, I wanted to show off my pheromones a bit too……. Ah, I didn’t expect to have to say this much, so it’s embarrassing. Haha.”
“…….”
“Hahaha. Yesterday was a bit dangerous, but still, since I became able to feel my pheromones, isn’t it half a success…… I think.”
“…….”
“Seolheon-ah?”
Baek Seolheon didn’t move at all.
* * *
“It really got completely smashed.”
When I came to check the entrance, glass shards that had fallen from the broken middle door were piled on the floor.
Even the front door’s doorknob near the lock was rattling.
“How did this happen?”
“…….”
“You did this, right?”
“…….”
“Seolheon-ah.”
When I patiently waited for an answer, Baek Seolheon muttered in a small voice.
“……I was in a hurry…….”
Looking closely, it seemed he had pushed the sliding door sideways with tremendous force, causing it to shatter around the handle.
Well, even I would be so startled I’d kick down the middle door or whatever and rush over if my family member had collapsed and was rolling around.
I was glad there were no injuries on Seolheon’s hands.
“Your hands and feet, they’re okay, right?”
“…….”
“Even if there are no wounds, just in case, let’s go to the orthopedic clinic together.”
“…….”
“This will cost a lot to repair. Should we just take this opportunity to remove the middle door and open it up completely?”
“…….”
“Since it’s dawn, let’s clean up the glass shards later. Where are the indoor slippers?”
“…….”
From earlier, Baek Seolheon’s words had drastically decreased.
He just kept his mouth tightly shut and followed behind me.
“This porridge in the fridge, you bought it, right? Looks delicious.”
“…….”
“There are several types. Will you eat too?”
“…….”
“Not eating? Then I’ll have the kimchi octopus porridge?”
“…….”
“It’s delicious. With nursing care and meals, I’m happy to have such a kind and thoughtful younger brother.”
Even looking at Baek Seolheon’s face frozen like a stone statue, I continued my monologue without showing any particular reaction.
After emptying a bowl of porridge and taking medicine, I felt livable. Though I was bothered the whole time by someone’s gaze boring through my cheek.
As I was clearing the empty bowl, a voice came from behind.
“……Who is it.”
The little brother who had been a wooden statue for a while finally parted his lips.
“Who is it?”
“What?”
“The Omega.”
Ah, that story.
“Mm, roughly a university friend.”
I shouldn’t have said ‘roughly.’ I didn’t expect him to dig into the crush’s details, so I made a verbal slip while improvising the setting on the spot.
Fortunately, Baek Seolheon didn’t catch the tail and press on.
“A woman?”
“Umm…….”
I fell into thought, stroking my chin.
Of course…… it should be a woman, right? No matter how fictional the person is, I can’t imagine myself having a crush on a man.
Just as I was about to nod, Baek Seolheon’s voice came first.
“You said you liked women.”
Baek Seolheon’s navy blue eyes looked straight at me.
“You said…… you liked Beta women.”
Somehow it was a tone as if he was already convinced the other party was an Omega man.
Feeling like my sexual orientation was being fabricated, I tried to say it was absolutely not a man…… but I was left speechless.
Because of the distorted expression.
“Why, an Omega?”
A shadow fell over the face that was always expressionless and calm.
“Were you attracted from the start?”
His expression wasn’t good.
My heart sank for a moment, to the point I wanted to immediately pull Baek Seolheon into a hug and stroke his back.
I don’t know why Baek Seolheon is acting like this, but it was rare to see the kid this agitated. For a moment I even felt like honestly confessing the truth.
As I could neither do this nor that, anger began to seep into Baek Seolheon’s voice.
“Did you want to stick it in?”
“What?”
Stick? What?
While I was dumbfounded by the unexpected statement, Baek Seolheon continued.
“Did you want to sink your teeth into the nape of their neck, chew the flesh, lick it, and mark your territory saying ‘you’re mine’?”
“Pfft, h-hey! What kind of words……!”
I almost spit out the water I was drinking.
I felt dizzy at the obscenities uttered by a minor.
“Like other common Alphas. Are you going crazy wanting to do that?”
“Wh-where did you learn to talk like that!”
Wait, let’s momentarily escape from the aftershock of the linguistic shock and think rationally.
Why is Baek Seolheon speaking so roughly?
‘Does he hate Alphas like I do?’
Actually, there are quite a few people like this among Betas. Those who don’t hesitate to make hateful remarks toward Alphas and Omegas who are swayed by pheromones.
I’ve often seen them in internet comment sections, but I didn’t think Baek Seolheon would be like that.
Well, of course, everyone in the family except himself is Alpha or Omega.
“Yesterday too, drunk on pheromones, you were probably thinking of an Omega, right?”
“N-no. Seolheon-ah…….”
“Disgustingly. Even getting it up down there.”
“Kheuk.”
I involuntarily cried out in shock as if hit on the head with a blunt weapon.
So he did see that disgraceful state. Gray training pants……. My eyes squeezed shut.
“Really, it’s ridiculous.”
Even in the moment Baek Seolheon clicked his tongue and laughed, I couldn’t say a word of excuse and only broke out in cold sweat.
“A half-baked Alpha who doesn’t even know pheromones properly…… an Omega?”
This was the first time seeing Baek Seolheon so excited and pouring out words.
Even while flustered by the unfamiliar appearance, Baek Seolheon’s words showed no signs of ending.
“That person is pitiful too.”
“What…….”
“That Omega, they don’t know hyung has this kind of constitution, right?”
Suddenly Baek Seolheon approached me with big strides.
“Who is it?”
In exactly three steps, Baek Seolheon stopped right in front of my nose.
His eye level was slightly higher than mine.
……I thought I’d be taller, but did he grow again?
“Where did you meet? Classmate? Junior?”
Rough breathing was felt close by.
“What’s their name?”
I couldn’t answer.
I haven’t decided on a name yet, so of course.
“What do they look like?”
