What Happened at the Party
Beneath the blue sky of late April as it awaited summer, on a warm Monday morning.
“Look at that.”
“Whoa, what?”
“That’s him, right? The art department prince…”
Changseong Global University was unusually noisy.
He usually attracted a lot of attention, but today was different somehow.
‘What’s going on? Why is everyone staring? Did I leave my fly open or something?’
He surreptitiously checked his reflection in the glass windows, but fortunately that wasn’t it.
In any case, all those stares were making the sandwich he’d eaten this morning still sit heavy in his stomach.
“Oh? It’s Baek Gunho.”
Just then, he spotted a familiar face among the murmuring crowd.
It was his classmate, Park Dongsu, the department representative for the art department.
“There were so many people I came to see, and sure enough, it was Baek Gunho.”
“Dongsu.”
“But there are seriously a lot of people today. What did you do?”
“That’s what I want to ask…”
“Oh. Look over there. The famous omegas from our school—they’re all staring at you from over there, you know?”
Where the department rep pointed, pretty faces were clustered together.
Thanks to the stench creeping up, he’d already noticed without Dongsu’s explanation.
“Why?”
“Because you’re Changgul’s representative alpha male?”
“Shut it.”
Just then, three or four people broke away from the pretty crowd and headed this way.
“Oh, the history department fairy is coming.”
“Fairy…?”
“Supposedly the prettiest among the freshmen.”
Prince and fairy. Can’t something be done about this naming sense?
While he let out a deep sigh, the history department fairy and their friends came rushing over to him.
“Y-you’re Gunho sunbae, right? From the art department…”
Indeed, they were a beauty with a pretty face befitting the name “fairy.”
Though male.
“Yes, that’s right. What can I do for you?”
At his perfunctory answer, they started squealing amongst themselves with things like “Kyaaah!” and “What do I do, that voice!” while jumping up and down.
He’d gotten used to seeing this kind of reaction from guys with the same equipment as him by now…
“Ah, w-well, I was curious about something.”
Based on the big data accumulated from his past university life, this pattern had over a 90% chance of being a request for his phone number.
He appreciated them working up the courage, but he had his precious younger brother at home who’d asked him not to make contact with omegas.
So he was about to smile awkwardly and refuse when—
“D-do you have a lover?!”
“…Pardon?”
An answer not in his big data came back.
Not just him, but department rep Park Dongsu was also surprised.
“Whoa. When? You’re dating someone? Who?!”
“No. I’m not.”
“Announcing in the group chat right now. Breaking news, asexual Baek Gunho has a hidden lover…”
“I said no.”
After landing a punch to Dongsu’s solar plexus and snatching away his phone, he asked the history department fairy.
“I don’t have a lover or anything like that. Why would you think that…”
“Ah, I know it’s rude to say this so directly, but…”
The fairy hesitated, then shouted with a reddened face.
“Y-your pheromones! They’re overflowing!”
“…?”
It took exactly 10 seconds to understand what they meant.
“My… pheromones, you mean?”
“Yes. Your pheromones, sunbae.”
“Are you sure?”
“Huh? Y-yes.”
Their attitude suggested he was asking something obvious, which made him the perplexed one instead.
Since he’d lived unconsciously suppressing his pheromones and even taking medication, he’d never imagined hearing something like this.
‘Pheromones…? Me? This me? Me with pheromone allergies?’
He focused his mind for a moment.
After his pheromones went out of control, he’d become able to sense his own pheromones.
Even while on sensitivity suppressants, he could now detect his pheromones faintly.
Let’s recall the sensation from a few days ago, when he’d felt his pheromones for the first time. Thinking this, he sharpened all his senses.
Then he felt pheromones rippling throughout his entire body.
‘This can’t be.’
But… there seemed to be a lot of it. The amount.
Previously, the amount of pheromones he exposed was so sparse that other alphas and omegas even mistook him for recessive, but now it was flailing around crazily like an inflatable tube man set up in front of an event venue.
…Baek Jeongwoo’s pheromones were exactly like this—rough and frantic.
‘I’ve been… acting like that bastard… such bad manners?’
To him, alpha pheromones were like walking around with your fly open while brazenly holding your head high.
In other words, he’d really been walking around with his fly open since morning…!
It felt like belatedly realizing his body odor that he hadn’t known about due to rhinitis.
“Oh no. What do I do? I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
“Oh, no, no. Th-that can happen.”
“I apologize if it was unpleasant. I’ll resolve it quickly.”
Though he didn’t know how to resolve it.
First, he should call Lee Haram. As a pheromone teacher, couldn’t he do something about it?
“Huh! R-resolve? Aah! Y-yes! Please resolve it…!”
At his words, the fairy’s group ran away with even redder faces for some reason.
Then he could hear them chattering amongst themselves.
“Crazy. He must really have gotten a lover.”
“Look at how his pheromones are just swaying like that. You can tell at a glance.”
Those people… he even clarified that he didn’t have a lover, so if they were going to decide amongst themselves, why bother asking for his answer?
The fairy’s group kept chattering.
“What do we do! Didn’t he do it this morning too?!”
“He said he’ll resolve it. Seems like he’s going to go do it again right away.”
“Kyaaa! So he was restraining himself a lot normally…!”
…Did it this morning? What exactly did he supposedly do?
“I don’t know who his partner is, but I feel sorry for them and jealous too.”
While he was tilting his head, unable to understand the subtext of the conversation, the fairy’s group suddenly stopped walking.
“Hyuuuuung!”
From far away, some cheerful blond pretty boy was running over.
‘Golden retriever…’
The way he ran while shaking his golden semi-curly hair made him look exactly like a large dog.
“It’s Dongsu hyung! Hello!”
“Hello. Haram-ah.”
“Gunho hyung, I’m here!”
Lee Haram warmly exchanged greetings with the department rep—when did they become close?—then waved at him.
“What’s going on?”
“Hyung, you don’t have any more classes today, right? I don’t have classes this afternoon either! I thought we could eat lunch together and go home… Huh? Hyung, your pheromones.”
Then suddenly Lee Haram leaned his head toward him and frowned.
“What’s with your pheromones?! They’re totally like that inflatable balloon in front of the newly opened pork cutlet place!”
His level of comparison was similar.
“It’s the result of lessons.”
“Result?”
“Thanks to you, I can feel my pheromones now.”
“What? Really? That’s great! But why are your pheromones like this!”
Lee Haram’s expression was busy being surprised, happy, and shocked again.
“The problem is I can’t control them well.”
“Ah, I-I see. No wonder. It feels like a newly manifested alpha elementary or middle schooler.”
Alpha elementary or middle schooler… Suddenly he felt rejuvenated.
He pointed to the gazes (including the fairy’s group) still fixed on him from behind and asked.
“I can tell my pheromones are making a fuss too, but why are people staring like this?”
Couldn’t they just overlook it?
Even when people normally emit pheromones in public places, everyone just frowns and passes by—he couldn’t understand why they were staring with such ambiguous yet suggestive eyes. What the fairy’s group said bothered him too.
“Ah, that’s, ahem…”
“Why?”
“Hyung, you don’t know pheromone language, right?”
“Pheromone language?”
What’s that now? Nonverbal expression, something like that?
Lee Haram hesitated before saying quietly.
“When pheromones sway roughly like this… it gives a strong feeling of being agitated… and when a proper adult like hyung looks fine while doing that… um…”
“Hurry up and say it.”
“S-sexual tension!”
…Sexual?
“Sexual as in test grades?”
“No! Like, that! Pheromones like you just finished the deed! Do I really have to say this with my own mouth?”
Ah, I see.
So from the perspective of those alpha and omega spectators over there, not only was he walking around with his fly open, but he was also covered in things like lipstick marks or kiss marks or nail scratches dangling all over him.
‘Should I drop out?’
While thinking with a smile about what the withdrawal procedure would be, Lee Haram suddenly shouted loudly.
“I’ll take responsibility!”
“Hm?”
“Your pheromones ending up like this is my fault in a way! I’ll fix it somehow quickly.”
As expected, Lee Haram was a teacher overflowing with responsibility.
“Forget lunch, let’s just go straight to my studio apartment!”
He even had exceptional action skills.
“I’ll teach you all day today, staying by your side. All sorts of things!”
At his reliable appearance, his head nodded automatically.
He said to Park Dongsu, who’d been standing beside him the whole time.
“Department rep. I’m leaving first.”
“Oh, o-okay. Go…”
And so he left Changgul’s main gate together with Lee Haram.
Behind him, he could hear the history department fairy muttering.
“Prince… lover… alpha with… alpha…”
It seemed like the gazes looking this way had turned to pure shock, but it was probably his imagination.
