Today, the consultation with my attending physician was a bit special.
At the physician’s request, I came together with Lee Haram.
“Lee Haram-ssi is quite unique as well. I’ve only seen people with such skillful control on ViTube.”
“Haha. Am I really that impressive?”
“You are impressive. How can you regulate your pheromones so faintly……. Oh dear. I’ve gotten off track.”
He kept admiring Lee Haram, then focused on me again.
“So you’re saying you can now distinguish the characteristics of pheromones? And you experienced pheromone rampage once?”
“Yes.”
“The amount discharged in that one time must have been considerable. Though it was a good thing for Gunho-ssi, how did you calm it down? Since you were inexperienced with control, it must have been very difficult.”
“My younger brother helped.”
“Pardon? Your younger brother—you mean the CEO’s second son…… isn’t he a Beta?”
“With my younger brother’s help, I took a cold shower and slept, and then I was fine.”
“Pardon……?”
The physician blinked as if bewildered.
“Washing with water isn’t completely unhelpful for dealing with pheromones, but…… I’ve never heard of controlling rampage with just that.”
“See. I told you I’d never heard of a cold shower.”
“Was that really all?”
For a moment, what happened with Baek Seolheon flashed through my mind.
Being carried like a princess.
My lower half getting hard.
Getting in the bathtub together.
The voice whispering in my ear.
……I couldn’t possibly list out those embarrassing things here in detail.
“Yes. Nothing else in particular? Oh, I ate kimchi octopus porridge. Is kimchi or octopus good for pheromones by any chance? Like how they’re good for stamina……”
“Not at all.”
“Ah, I see.”
“With such a clean face, you occasionally say strange things. Really. I don’t know how to respond.”
“I apologize.”
The humorless physician lightly brushed off such nonsense and said,
“Pheromone rampage is something that immature children very rarely experience, so there isn’t really a procedure to speak of. It gets better with time, but I didn’t know it would apply to a situation like Gunho-ssi’s as well.”
“There’s no separate…… emergency treatment method?”
“No. Not at present.”
I was confused.
Doctor. This person is an elite among elites carefully selected by my stepmother. They’re not someone who would say something wrong.
Then did that mean what Baek Seolheon said about it being ’emergency treatment that kids these days naturally learn’ was a lie?
If so, why?
Why did he lie? I wanted to call and ask right away, but…… after the party, running into Baek Seolheon at home had drastically decreased.
In the morning he left before me and wasn’t there, and at night he came home late, washed immediately, and went to bed. The conversations we managed to have were only things like “You’re up?” and “You’re home?”
How could I call him with my face brazen as a steel plate in this situation?
While I was lost in anguish, holding my head, the physician spoke again.
“No matter how good your progress is, overusing medication was a fatal mistake.”
I had briefly explained to the physician what happened at the party.
That I’d unavoidably gone to a social gathering full of Alphas and Omegas because of family matters, and briefly collapsed after getting intoxicated by pheromones.
“Taking more medication doesn’t make you able to withstand pheromones better. It merely suppresses the autonomic nervous system so pheromones aren’t detected; it can’t do anything about the actual effects you receive. The nasal bleeding was probably due to capillaries rupturing as blood flow pressure suddenly surged from the suppressant.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll be careful.”
“Haah, please be careful. Even now I’m very conflicted about whether or not to contact the CEO. If today’s progress hadn’t been good, I would have called right from this spot.”
“I’m always grateful, Doctor.”
“Dosage. Follow it.”
“Yes. Then, today’s examination……”
“There’s still an important matter left.”
The physician sat me back down as I was about to stand.
“Here, there’s a somewhat concerning figure.”
He held out a paper.
On a chart filled with incomprehensible medical terms, a number written in particularly red and bold text caught my eye.
[ROPI – Rut Onset Probability Index: 97.8%+]
“What’s this?”
“The probability of a rut cycle coming within the next month.”
“Pardon?”
“A rut cycle.”
“……”
“It seems the cycle that had stopped has started moving again as pheromones began discharging normally. You’ll need to prepare yourself.”
“Prepare…… you say.”
My body froze at the thunderbolt-like words.
“You should find a partner.”
“……Partner? You mean a business partner?”
“Why are you acting like this when you know perfectly well?”
I tried denying reality, but the physician was merciless.
He clasped his hands and covered his mouth. His glasses reflected the ceiling light and flashed.
“Of course I mean a sex partner.”
* * *
“Gunho hyung……”
“……”
“Gunho hyung? Hyung!”
“Uh. Yeah.”
“You went the wrong way.”
“Ah, so I did. Sorry.”
I came to my senses only after Lee Haram called my name several times.
While I’d briefly lost focus, I’d taken the wrong road. I sighed and turned the steering wheel to the side.
“Thanks for making time today, Haram-ah.”
“No worries. I had nothing to do this morning anyway.”
And so silence settled in the car again.
From the passenger seat, his gaze kept landing on me then pulling away repeatedly, until finally a voice came.
“……Hyung. So, about the partner the doctor mentioned—owagh!”
The car jolted heavily as I saw a speed bump too late.
“Hy-hyung. I almost spilled my water.”
“Sorry. I don’t usually make mistakes like that……”
“You’re worried about it after all?”
“Haha, I came for nothing today and ended up hearing all sorts of things. How embarrassing.”
“I, I was fine with it. Don’t mind it.”
I never thought I’d end up hearing something like that in front of Lee Haram.
‘A sex partner……’
I’d barely managed to find a pheromone control teacher, and now a mission to recruit an even higher-difficulty colleague had been dropped on me.
‘My head is already full of the Seolheon situation……’
Even though several days had already passed, his voice was still vivid.
‘I don’t even have the right to be angry.’
‘……We’re not related anyway.’
Was that a soliloquy?
Or was it something said for me to hear?
‘C-could it be. Does he know I’m not his real older brother……!’
An ominous thought crossed my mind for a moment, but I immediately brushed it off.
There’s no way he knows. Under the control of my stepmother and Chairman Baek Ildo, the rumor still hasn’t spread even now. That was a fact I confirmed at the party.
If there were any place this information could leak from…….
‘Baek Jeongwoo. That bastard.’
Only him.
If that guy held a grudge over me cursing at his friend once and caused trouble for Baek Seolheon…….
‘I absolutely won’t let it go. Absolutely.’
For the details, I have no choice but to hear them from Baek Jeongwoo himself. Since I can’t ask Baek Seolheon.
“Haah……”
Is this that, the sibling quarrel I’ve only heard about? Is that what this is?
After living happily my whole life with a good younger brother and then this happening, it felt suffocating and heavy like a stone had settled in a corner of my heart.
What rut, what sex, when I’m experiencing this tense situation for the first time? My head ached.
“Hyung, do you have any Omega you can ask?”
……Omega.
What immediately came to mind was Lee Yeongwoo, whom I’d recently met, and that History Department fairy freshman. Those two.
Of course, we weren’t close enough to suddenly request relations. If I did that, I’d be reported to the police.
They’re physiologically out from being men in the first place.
“Betas…… wouldn’t work after all, I guess.”
“That Beta would have an incredibly hard time. They say pheromones during rut are difficult to calm without an Omega.”
An Alpha’s pheromones during rut cycle are special, so they’re difficult to subside without an Omega’s pheromones.
If you have relations with a Beta, not only the Alpha but the partner suffers for a long time, so the ideal partner was still an Omega.
In my case especially, even an ordinary Omega won’t do.
“It’s difficult. An Omega who knows how to regulate pheromones according to hyung’s condition……”
As Lee Haram said, the recruitment requirements handed down by the physician were as follows:
- Secondary gender: Omega
- Required condition: Must be skilled in pheromone control
- Notes: In the emergency situation where my pheromones rampage during relations, must be an experienced Omega with enough composure, patience, and steel-like rationality to immediately withdraw their pheromones
- Recruitment deadline: 1 month
In other words, I had to find an Omega capable of ultra-high-difficulty control—soothing rut pheromones, withdrawing when I’m having difficulty, and frantically repeating that.
“Does such an Omega even exist, Haram-ah?”
“I, I don’t really know. Ah, should I ask my Omega friends? If I include SNS friends, there are quite a few.”
“No. That’s fine.”
Even though the situation couldn’t be helped, I felt like some sleazy old man arranging a one-night stand, which wasn’t very pleasant.
“How do you handle it when your rut comes? What are the symptoms? The cycle?”
“Ah, hyung! Asking that kind of thing is bad manners! But since it’s you, well……”
Lee Haram continued with a reddened face.
“If you’re a minor, you usually just take medicine and deal with it alone. Most adults solve it by finding a lover or partner if possible.”
“If you can deal with it alone, wouldn’t I be able to as well?”
“The doctor said so, didn’t she? Since it’s unclear whether hyung can calm it alone from the start, let’s go with the safe option. That time you got intoxicated by pheromones, just that made it hard for you to even walk.”
“Just……?”
“Rut is incomparable. You truly lose your reason.”
Veins stood out on my hand gripping the steering wheel.
More than that? Does it mean I truly turn into a beast blinded by heat?
In that moment, a certain memory flashed through my mind.
That nightmare of being caught by an Alpha and forcibly covered in pheromones.
Writhing in pain, I seemed to have even lost some reason at the end.
Even if I had to cling to sexual sensations to endure the pain that transcended cognition…….
‘What if I really become a fucking dog?’
‘Ngh, ungh, ah……’
I think I might have swayed my hips without caring about others’ dignity…….
“Uwagh! Another speed bump!”
“Sorry.”
No. It’s a dog dream. It’s a dog dream, isn’t it? It doesn’t make sense.
I can’t accept it. No, what can I do if I can’t accept it? As long as I was born an Alpha, what can I do……!
While my head was all jumbled from denying memories, ego, and traits, Lee Haram’s voice came.
“Gunho hyung. Would it have been better if I were an Omega?”
“Don’t say such horrible things.”
Suddenly all the stray thoughts fled as if cold water had been poured on my head.
“Don’t ever say that again. Got it?”
“……Okay.”
An Omega version of Lee Haram.
When I’d worked so hard to forget the Lee Haram from that original novel, I didn’t like being reminded of it now.
“Me being an Omega, it’s kind of disgusting even to imagine, right? Haha……”
Lee Haram laughed weakly, then dropped his head gloomily.
I sighed silently, then spoke to the large dominant Alpha fidgeting with his fingers.
“I’m already receiving more than enough help. If you really were an Omega, it would have been difficult for you to take on the teacher role too. What more could I want?”
“……”
“I don’t want to force anything more difficult on someone precious to me.”
Lee Haram was silent.
Instead, the gaze subtly touching my cheek and the much brighter air in the car became the answer.
“Haram-ah, we’re here.”
Soon the main gate of Hanguk University appeared in view.
“Should I take you all the way to the Physical Education building?”
“Ah, no. Just drop me off at the main gate.”
I stopped the car in front of the impressively large stone gate.
“Thanks for the ride, hyung.”
“I’m the one who should be thankful. You’ll be late for class, go.”
“Right, when is the next lesson—”
BANG!
Suddenly a loud impact sound rang through the car body and a dark shadow fell over the window.
“What the fuck is this bastard?”
Some man punched down on the car roof, then shoved his face toward the driver’s seat.
Grinding his teeth, he said,
“This. Golden hair. What the hell is this?”
Bleached hair and sunglasses.
An orange supercar visible behind him.
“You son of a…… Did you become an Alpha too?”
It was Baek Jeongwoo.
