[Baek Jeongwoo: Hey]
[Hey]
[You sleeping?]
[Answer]
[Fuck, ignoring me again]
[Hey]
Veins popped out on my forehead from irritation at the constantly ringing notifications.
[Baek Jeongwoo: Ignore me again and I’ll contact Baek Seolheon?]
[It’ll be quick to get his number]
[Me: I’m sleeping so please stop sending messages]
[Baek Jeongwoo: Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk idiot look at you getting scared at the mention of your brother]
[I’ll contact you soon so come out then]
[Answer ㄱ]
[Answer]
[Ans]
[Me: Going to sleep]
[Baek Jeongwoo: Kkkkkkkkkkkk]
[(Mocking character emoticon)]
…What the hell, this bastard? Is his mental age really that of an elementary schooler?
‘What was I thinking doing that.’
Regret rushed in like a tide, but it was already too late.
My fingers holding the phone trembled, but this too was something I had to endure.
Still, I had no choice but to think this was the best option and push forward.
For Seolheon, all of this, it’s for Seolheon’s college entrance exams…!
“Hyung.”
“Huk. You startled me.”
When did he arrive home? The scenery that had grown faint as I was absorbed in my phone instantly became clear with Seolheon’s voice.
2:30 AM. The living room was pitch black.
At least thanks to the streetlight seeping in from beyond the veranda window, I could barely make out Baek Seolheon’s silhouette.
“You’re still not sleeping? It’s already dawn.”
“Studying.”
“Ah, aah. You’re working hard.”
Just one word. That was it.
Even though he was on the quiet side compared to his peers, I thought he’d warmly say several words in front of me… but somehow today he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood. Was it because he was sleepy?
“Still, do it within limits that won’t harm your health. Studying is a battle of stamina. You need to get enough sleep too…”
“Hyung?”
“Mm?”
“Where were you? Until this early morning.”
I obviously couldn’t tell him honestly.
No matter that I was only pretending to associate with Baek Jeongwoo as a facade, from an outside perspective, wasn’t it no different from the lackey behavior of that ‘Baek Gunho’ in the novel?
While I was breaking out in a cold sweat inside, Baek Seolheon spoke first.
“Did you meet a friend?”
“Huh?”
“Who?”
“Uh, yeah. Jaewook…”
As I responded to Seolheon’s words, a lie naturally popped out.
No, it wasn’t a lie. I did show my face at the department dinner first before meeting Baek Jeongwoo. Even though I left after 30 minutes.
“I was hanging out with my classmates after so long and the time became like this already.”
“…”
“Haha, sorry for disturbing your studying. Go ahead and rest.”
But there was no response. The black silhouette stood still without moving.
I couldn’t see his pupils, but I could feel his gaze.
It was strange that there was no answer for so long, so I approached Baek Seolheon first.
“What’s wrong, Seolheon… Ah!”
At that moment, a brutish grip grabbed and pulled my arm.
“W-wait. Seolheon-ah?”
“…”
“Why are you suddenly like this?”
I called out to Baek Seolheon several times trying to stop him, but his strength was so great that my feet dragged and I almost fell midway.
The place Baek Seolheon dragged me to was my room with a queen-size bed, and the bathroom inside it.
“Seolheon-ah?”
“Take it off.”
Then he grabbed the collar of my coat and pulled it hard.
“It smells. Take it off.”
“Smell…?”
It happened in an instant.
From the position of having my collar grabbed, I felt Baek Seolheon’s breath.
The breath touching my skin was hot.
“From my body, a smell?”
“…”
“What kind of smell do you… Ah.”
The shock at Baek Seolheon’s sudden behavior was brief.
Before meeting Baek Jeongwoo, I recalled the cigarette smell embedded in chain-smoker Kim Jaewook’s body and the oily air characteristic of a pork belly restaurant.
Now I understood the whole situation.
‘Seolheon must be under severe entrance exam stress…’
High school senior year, when humans are said to become most sensitive and violent.
It’s no wonder he’s reacting sensitively to such subtle smells.
As a guardian, I should naturally create the best studying environment, but this person calling himself hyung was playing around until late and reeking of cigarette and meat smells.
‘I did something terrible as a hyung.’
It was a situation worthy of anger.
“Sorry, Seolheon-ah. Since it’s a wool coat, the meat smell must have stuck to it.”
“…Meat?”
“You smell cigarettes and alcohol too, right? I lacked consideration. I should buy a deodorizer and keep it in the car. If there’s anything else uncomfortable while studying, tell me right away. I’ll fix it immediately.”
“…”
“Ah, about the smell, and the fine dust has gotten bad these days too, right? Should I get a new air purifier?”
“Air purifier…”
Baek Seolheon let out a deep sigh.
Was the active apology effective? The prickly atmosphere from earlier had loosened a bit.
When I fumbled on the wall and turned on the switch, Baek Seolheon’s face was revealed over the dark silhouette.
Although he was glaring at me with a sullen face, he didn’t look as angry as before.
“…Just hurry up and wash.”
“Alright, alright.”
At Seolheon’s urging, I stood in front of the mirror and slowly took off my coat.
At the same time, I said to Baek Seolheon.
“But even if you don’t like the meat smell, still. Dragging me with force like this wasn’t right, Seolheon-ah.”
“…”
“I’ll fix what needs fixing, so from next time, even if you’re angry, try to resolve it with words first rather than actions. You startled me.”
“…”
“Go in and sleep. You have school tomorrow too.”
By the time I had unbuttoned my shirt and revealed my white chest and lean abs, I finally said something about the gaze I felt through the mirror.
“Aren’t you leaving?”
“I’m going to monitor whether you wash properly.”
“Am I a child? I said go to sleep.”
“I’m not sleepy.”
Even though he was my much younger brother, having him stare at me like that made it embarrassing to take off my pants.
Then suddenly an old memory came to mind and I impulsively said to Seolheon.
“Then how about we bathe together for the first time in a while?”
“…?!”
“A warm bath helps with good sleep, you know. Want to?”
Cracks appeared in Seolheon’s face that had been expressionless throughout.
Seeing him visibly flustered made me laugh involuntarily.
It was most fun when my brother, who had become notably mature lately, made such childlike expressions. It was also reassuring.
“When Seolheon was little, I washed your hair and wiped your body. Those were the days.”
“When are you… talking about. Again.”
“When your height didn’t even reach half of half my waist?”
Thinking about it, when he was young, Seolheon was always with me.
Instead of our busy adoptive parents, I took him to school, bathed him, and fed him.
His looks were considerable even back then, but he was always expressionless and pale, more like a doll than a person.
Now I should stop teasing and just take a shower.
Just as I was about to completely remove my shirt—
“…?”
Seolheon grabbed my wrist.
And then pulled my arm to his lips.
Seolheon’s steady breathing touched my palm, then the inside of my wrist.
“…What are you doing?”
When his lips touched the inside of my wrist, I could feel the pulse throbbing thump, thump beyond that thin skin.
I was so surprised by such a sudden action that I couldn’t even stop him and just watched what Seolheon was doing.
Seolheon, with his eyes half-closed, deeply inhaled just like that.
For a moment, I got goosebumps remembering the bizarre behavior Baek Jeongwoo had shown at the main house gathering, but I didn’t show it.
“Did the smell get there too? I’ll have to wash thoroughly everywhere.”
I tried to smile and pull Seolheon away.
But Seolheon didn’t move. Unlike the soft, downy skin touching my wrist, I was flustered by the strong grip.
It was the same earlier too. I’m 6 years older than high schooler Baek Seolheon, and as an alpha who regularly exercises and maintains myself, I should naturally have the advantage in muscle strength…
In the quiet apartment with no one but the two of us, only Seolheon’s breathing sounds could be heard.
Seolheon held my hand tightly and only after repeatedly exhaling and inhaling deeply several times did he finally pull his face away.
Navy blue eyes looked at me.
“Hyung.”
“…Why?”
“You still smell.”
“I got it. I said I’ll wash thoroughly.”
…That startled me. As the tension released, I finally began to hear the sound of the air conditioner filling the silence alone.
Without answering, Seolheon released the hand holding my wrist and stood up.
“Promise. Remember?”
Now what is he talking about?
Even as I broke out in a cold sweat at the suddenly changed topic, the day Baek Seolheon manifested as a beta crossed my mind.
“If I collapse again from constitution problems… you’d do as I say?”
“Yeah.”
They were words I had thoughtlessly blurted out to console the sobbing Seolheon who was worried about my constitution.
I didn’t know he still remembered that old incident.
“I’ll trust you.”
With that, Seolheon leisurely closed the bathroom door and left.
Left alone, I could only mutter in bewilderment in my disheveled shirt.
“Entrance exam stress… It’s scary.”
* * *
“Gunho-ssi. You’ve developed tolerance.”
“Pardon?”
“In a word, you’re screwed.”
“…Pardon?”
As I kept repeating “Pardon?” like a parrot, my attending physician adjusted his glasses and pointed at the monitor screen.
“You see this graph?”
The graph was a gently ascending proportional line that suddenly shot up very steeply at a certain point, and at the end it became a 90-degree slope close to vertical.
“This is when you were in military service. And this is now.”
“…”
“Tachyphylaxis—think of it as a graphical representation of the decreased effect due to excessive long-term drug administration. Didn’t I always warn you not to be exposed to alpha or omega pheromones?”
“Still… for it to worsen so suddenly…”
“Have you been engulfed in strong pheromones recently?”
Normally, I pour my heart and soul into not even making contact with alphas and omegas.
I was briefly supported by Lee Haram at the department dinner, but Haram suppresses himself to the extreme to emit even less pheromones than an intensely热性 alpha in front of me. As someone I meet frequently, it’s hard to think he suddenly had such a big impact.
Then what remains is…
“Ah, no way!”
That beast-like Baek Jeongwoo’s ill-mannered pheromones.
This happened just from talking briefly in the car?
‘That… bastard!’
For the first time in a long while, I was overcome with murderous impulses.
