“Ha ha, our Igyeong looks a little dim but turns out he’s smarter than I thought. Walking away without even taking the five thousand. If you had gotten greedy enough to take all five, I really would have cut you to pieces.”
Seo Igyeong’s face went even more ashen. Gu Jongyeol clicked his tongue and patted Seo Igyeong on the shoulder.
“In my view, deciding to walk away from our Young Master was genuinely the right call. What good would come from claiming to be pregnant by someone who’s little more than a host body for his own cock. Your life would be over, Igyeong.”
“……”
“You’re not pregnant, are you.”
Seo Igyeong flinched, then nodded firmly. Gu Jongyeol laughed.
“Don’t make me deal with you again. Understood?”
Seo Igyeong didn’t respond. Gu Jongyeol watched him for a moment, then headed toward the inner room of the suite. With a click, he opened the door to find a blond, handsome man glaring at him with his head wrapped in bandages.
Young Master. Our Young Master.
“How did you end up becoming someone who does nothing but go around fucking everything in sight, Young Master.”
Gu Jongyeol sighed and approached Kang Yeonkyu. Kang Yeonkyu reached up to lightly touch the gauze that showed a faint trace of blood and stuck out his lower lip.
“Who hits someone that hard. I genuinely thought I was going to die.”
“If Your Young Master’s reckless cock had found its conscience, I could have hit you harder.”
“You thug.”
Kang Yeonkyu muttered flatly, his lips twitching.
“So?”
“He says he’s not pregnant.”
Kang Yeonkyu snorted.
“Obviously. I always pull out clean!”
Is that something to brag about.
“So in the end that bastard was lying too. If he was going to get caught anyway, why put on such a damn scene?”
……Ha.
To think I raised someone like this.
I’m overwhelmed with feeling.
Setting aside the matter of Seo Igyeong — every single time Kang Yeonkyu parted ways with someone he’d slept with, the method was invariably infuriating.
Gu Jongyeol glanced at Kang Yeonkyu muttering “You really can’t let your guard down around omegas” and opened his mouth.
“Well then, seems the matter’s more or less wrapped up — I should be on my way.”
“You’re leaving already?”
“Is there something else?”
Gu Jongyeol asked flatly and moved to turn away when Kang Yeonkyu threw his arms around his waist.
Gu Jongyeol looked down wordlessly at Kang Yeonkyu, who had buried his face into his stomach and was murmuring “Mmm, Jongyeol hyung.”
Sniff.
“……”
Sniff sniff.
“Hm?”
“……”
Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff sniff.
After holding Gu Jongyeol in his arms for a while, Kang Yeonkyu sniffed him several more times — then abruptly raised his head.
“Hyung.”
“Yes.”
“Why do you smell like an omega?”
4.
Fuck.
Gu Jongyeol felt a cold sweat pouring down his back without pause.
Come to think of it, this guy always detects omegas like he has a sixth sense.
It’s like he has a radar or something.
Sniff sniff.
Whether or not he was aware of Gu Jongyeol’s inner turmoil, Kang Yeonkyu furrowed his brow and sniffed Gu Jongyeol’s body once more. Gu Jongyeol couldn’t tell whether he was smiling or on the verge of tears, but he soon curved up the corners of his mouth and brought his hand down.
“Ow!”
“Young Master.”
Gu Jongyeol grabbed Kang Yeonkyu by the head — the very head that had been buried in his stomach.
“Who goes around sniffing people like that.”
“Hyuung.”
“Don’t ‘hyung’ me, fuck. Stop sniffing me. It’s annoying.”
“Hyuung~”
“And besides — the reason I smell like an omega is entirely your fault, Young Master.”
“My fault?”
Kang Yeonkyu made an aggrieved face, and Gu Jongyeol jerked his chin toward the suite’s living room.
“Why do you think I keep getting tangled up with omegas. It’s because you make a mess every single time and never clean up after yourself. I was just with an omega who was crying his eyes out until a moment ago — of course the smell would rub off.”
“……”
“Ha, seriously. This is such bullshit.”
Gu Jongyeol loosened the grip he’d had on Kang Yeonkyu’s hair. Kang Yeonkyu stuck out his lower lip and rubbed his face against Gu Jongyeol’s stomach, murmuring “Don’t be mad, Jongyeol hyung.” Gu Jongyeol stared down at him for a moment, then clenched his jaw.
It was right then.
“Oh, Jongyeol hyung! Dad says we’re having a company dinner tonight!”
An alarm went off on his phone, and Kang Yeonkyu, who had sneaked a look at his screen, lit up and called out to Gu Jongyeol. Instantly switching up the mood — that was so like Kang Yeonkyu.
* * *
60 hours before the incident.
Sniff sniff.
“……”
Gu Jongyeol solemnly lifted his arm and smelled himself. Strange.
There’s no particular scent at all.
Gu Jongyeol didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
[Ugh. Hyung. You okay? The smell of omega in here is overwhelming.]
[Smell? What smell?]
[Ah right. You’re a beta. Understandable. Being free from those damn pheromones — that’s actually a bigger deal than you’d think.]
[The Young Master is just being too faithful to his instincts. Try to hold back a little.]
[Ha ha, is that even possible. If that situation actually hits you, hyung, you’d be the same. Come to think of it, sometimes I wonder — what if you were an alpha or an omega? I get a little curious whether someone like you would react to pheromones or not.]
Whenever they came across omegas with strong pheromones, Kang Yeonkyu — with his bloodhound nose — would always scrunch his face and pinch his nose shut, and then look at Gu Jongyeol standing there unfazed and mutter enviously.
Gu Jongyeol had simply said so because there really wasn’t any particular smell for him — yet every time Kang Yeonkyu would say that and then shove his face in to sniff him, it had been so uncomfortable.
Sniff sniff.
Gu Jongyeol took one more whiff of his own body. Sure enough — nothing beyond the natural smell of skin.
It was probably just his imagination.
[You’ve clearly manifested as an omega, that much is certain — but your pheromone levels are too low. Does it really not smell at all? Sniff sniff. Wow, it really doesn’t.]
Dr. Kim Juwon had already verified this by smelling Gu Jongyeol himself. If a doctor who specializes in omegas said so, it was probably safe to trust. Kang Yeonkyu had no doubt smelled not Gu Jongyeol himself, but the scent of Seo Igyeong that had clung to his body. Gu Jongyeol decided not to worry about it.
Hyung. I heard the Construction Division has a company dinner tonight? Will you be alright?
