At Wonha speaking with a laugh as if it were absurd, Sangho’s expression hardened stiffly.
“Wh-what?”
“Hm?”
“They, they attack betas too?”
“Usually people take suppressants so that kind of thing is rare… When I overlapped with an alpha colleague for overseas filming, maybe the schedule was too tight, I think his cycle got a bit disrupted. But in those situations, if you’re in an enclosed space, it’s a bit dangerous.”
“B-b-but you’re a beta?”
“If I’d been an omega, I would’ve been trapped and gotten pregnant right there. He would’ve released tons of pheromones. I punched him a few times to knock him out and came out. Doesn’t it say in the trait education? To confine them in a space about 5 pyeong.”
“It, it did.”
“Anyway, if they’re sick or something, it sometimes gets disrupted. Don’t worry, I didn’t get attacked. When rut comes temporarily like that, they come to their senses pretty quickly too.”
Wonha said that and picked up a few more udon noodles to eat. Sangho blinked for a moment and muttered:
“Ah… because they’re sick. Rut can come too. Not because of omega pheromones.”
“Haha. If an omega had released pheromones on top of that, it wouldn’t have ended as just a simple accident.”
“Th-then what happened to that colleague?”
“Well… he had severe bruises on his face… I apologized and we resolved it well. Because of that, he had to postpone his filming schedule.”
“You apologized?”
“Well, I mean, I didn’t even get attacked. I… hit him pretty hard. Anyway, if it’s rut, he can’t control himself, so it’s not 100% his fault either. I can understand that much.”
Wonha scratched his cheek as if embarrassed.
Sangho had slightly complicated feelings. Rut can come when they’re sick… It was Kyungoh who’d helped him when he almost got crushed by sandbags a few days ago. He was hurt enough to be hospitalized for a day, and if he had to do rehabilitation exercises, his body must have been very fatigued. In that state, in an enclosed space like the sports storage room. Thinking about it in reverse, it seemed like he himself had stimulated Kyungoh’s rut.
Why was I so angry at Han Kyungoh then? If I’d just said no and left, nothing would have happened.
Sangho furrowed his brow slightly. When Kyungoh treated him as an omega, he lost his reason along with a feeling of something twisting inside. I think I was tremendously anxious.
And if an alpha was in that state, an omega could have suffered worse with them. Kyungoh seemed to have gradually come to his senses when he resisted.
Then, could he really not be an omega but a beta? As soon as he had that thought, Sangho felt slightly sorry for Kyungoh.
No. Still, touching me that way… was terrible.
What if it had been Wonha? For a moment, an image of Wonha with a very, very angry expression beating Han Kyungoh to a pulp floated in Sangho’s mind. Hehe. Well, someone like Wonha has a big build and is strong. He probably wouldn’t be carelessly attacked. Then Han Kyungoh would have appeared the next day with his face all black and blue.
“What? Why are you laughing?”
“Hehe. Nothing.”
“You’re laughing right now because I said I almost got attacked by an alpha, aren’t you?”
“Hahaha. I said no.”
“I said I didn’t get attacked!”
“Ahahaha!”
Wonha, who’d been looking dissatisfied at Sangho bursting into laughter as if he couldn’t hold it in anymore, also burst into laughter as if absurd. I really didn’t get attacked! Like that, the two looked at each other’s faces and laughed for several minutes.
That night.
Sangho lay on the fluffy bed staring blankly at the dusky ceiling. Wonha also didn’t say much and lay quietly with his clasped hands cushioning his head.
“Wonha.”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks.”
“…”
Instead of an answer, silence continued. He probably wanted to ask what had happened, but seemed to be holding back hard.
“I feel at ease when I’m with you.”
“…Then how about living here?”
Wonha said in a bland voice. Sangho was about to impulsively answer ‘Should I?’ but barely held back. When Sangho hesitated at the sudden proposal, Wonha quickly added a few words as if making excuses:
“I’m not just saying come. You’re living alone anyway. Just pay as much as you were paying for rent.”
“U-uh.”
“Then I’m paying rent here anyway, so I can save money too…”
“Mm… I’ll think about it.”
“Really?”
When Sangho, who’d been pondering for a while, left room, Wonha’s voice brightened. Sangho, who was somehow embarrassed by that too, pulled the blanket up to his neck and mumbled:
“My contract renewal is in June anyway. If they say they’re raising the rent then, I’ll have to find another place…”
“Haha. Got it. Then I’ll wait.”
Sangho, who’d closed his eyes, soon fell asleep making regular breathing sounds. He seemed quite tired. Wonha quietly pressed close to Sangho’s side and wrapped his body over the thin frame. Sangho made a mmm sound and burrowed into Wonha’s embrace. Barely holding back the desire to hug him crushingly, Wonha muttered:
“…Don’t disappear this time.”
* * *
Morning came again.
Sangho put on the clothes Wonha had cleaned for him and headed back to Korea University. When he saw Kyungoh at the gym, he’d apologize. With that thought in mind, Sangho opened the indoor gymnasium door and headed to the first floor.
“Huh?”
But the first floor was coldly empty, with no sign of Kyungoh. Slightly flustered, Sangho went up to the second floor, third floor, and even the fourth-floor athletic storage, but there was still no one. The wrestling team’s training camp wouldn’t end until next week, so until then, Kyungoh was supposed to do his rehabilitation exercises alone. But Kyungoh was nowhere to be seen.
He felt uneasy about something. Could it be that Kyungoh stopped his rehabilitation exercises because of guilt? As that thought occurred to him, the feeling of remorse in his heart grew even larger. He got hurt because of me, and his rut cycle got disrupted too. And I pushed him even in that state? Plus, with a competition coming up when he needs to recover his body, if he gave up rehabilitation exercises because he was worried about bothering me…
Haah… what do I do? I really feel bad.
Should he have gotten his contact information? Sangho had only met Kyungoh a few times at the indoor gym and had no way to contact him separately.
Sangho finished cleaning that day feeling bothered the whole time. When his work ended before lunchtime, the cleaning supervisor told him to go home early and rest since there had been a lot going on this week. It came with a bland greeting to have a good weekend.
Having clocked out early for the first time in a while, Sangho stared blankly at the empty gymnasium before heading to his studio apartment.
The April afternoon felt leisurely and quiet somehow. Warm spring sunlight poured down and the faint sound of children running and shouting from a distant playground echoed.
It’s spring now. Sangho thought of the large-framed man at the warm scent of sunlight he felt on the tip of his nose. I need to… apologize.
“Huh?”
Just then, Sangho stopped in his tracks. In the distance, a man wearing a hoodie was swinging his arms loosely as if his shoulders were stiff, walking around a corner of an alley. At the familiar build and back of the head, Sangho immediately broke into a full sprint.
“E-excuse me!”
Having barely caught the man who was about to disappear around the corner, Sangho panted heavily for a moment, catching his breath. Kyungoh flinched in surprise at Sangho, who had suddenly appeared and grabbed him, and stumbled back a couple of steps. Then, with a slightly reddened face, he hesitated before bowing deeply at a 90-degree angle.
“I’m truly sorry about yesterday. I wouldn’t have anything to say if you reported me.”
“N-no!”
When Kyungoh apologized, Sangho quickly waved his hands.
“No! I, I was the one in the wrong. I didn’t know you were in rut because you were sick… I shouldn’t have vented at you like that. I, I’m sorry.”
“No. Still, I got my pheromones on you without permission,”
“It’s, it’s okay! You can get them on me!”
When Kyungoh’s face twisted with guilt, Sangho cried out urgently. Then Kyungoh’s expression changed strangely as he stared at Sangho. Of course, he had been unwell, but even the day before the storage incident, Kyungoh had unknowingly rubbed against Sangho’s body, getting his pheromones on him. Strictly speaking, he had done strong flirting with someone he’d barely met, but now ‘it’s okay to get them on him’?
However, Sangho didn’t even know what he was saying and tried hard to ease Kyungoh’s guilt.
“Ky-Kyungoh student, it’s not your fault! You got hurt because of me… I didn’t even know you could go into rut when you’re not feeling well, and I pushed you even more in that state, that’s why it happened. And I didn’t even know what pheromone scent was, anyway, it’s okay!”
