As the red medicine was applied smoothly around the wound, he felt it sting and clot with blood. When the tense Sangho pressed Dohyun’s thigh firmly with his toes, Dohyun moved the hand that had been fiddling with the calf up a bit more and gently stroked the soft part that folded behind the knee. This time when Sangho flinched and trembled his thigh, Dohyun took out a hydrocolloid bandage with an indifferent expression, cut it generously, and attached it to the knee. After treating the other side the same way, Dohyun quickly organized the first aid kit and stood up.
“Is something wrong? You’re making mistakes you didn’t make before.”
“No.”
At the seemingly indifferent question, Sangho shook his head. Suddenly, he wanted to ask what it meant that Wonha’s “views on relationships are complicated,” but Sangho knew that his affairs weren’t something to confide in detail to others. How should he describe this strange relationship? Wonha likes me, but doesn’t mind me sleeping with Kyungoh? I like Wonha, but when Kyungoh seduces me, I always end up giving in? Kyungoh is coveting my body every time with a calm face?
“…It’s nothing. Thank you for treating me.”
“Jang Wonha is going to his family home this weekend. He doesn’t usually go to his family home unless it’s something important.”
Pause. At Nam Dohyun’s words, Sangho stopped in place while trying to leave through the door.
“It seems like Wonha is living together at wrestling team member Kyungoh’s apartment. Right?”
“I-I don’t really know.”
“Didn’t you say you like Jang Wonha? But from what I hear, it seems like you’re closer with Kyungoh.”
“I don’t, I said I don’t know.”
When Sangho spoke in a more firm voice, Nam Dohyun let out a sigh.
“I told you. His views on relationships are complicated. I don’t know how well Wonha has treated you.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Among the people Jang Wonha has dated so far, there are no alphas. So the family has also turned a blind eye to it.”
“…”
“But this time he’s close with an alpha. The family home is turned upside down. He’s already an only child, and if he meets an alpha, there’s no hope for a second generation.”
“…I don’t know why you’re telling me this.”
“You said Wonha treats you well.”
Thunk, Nam Dohyun approached close behind Sangho. Then several veins bulged on the hand he placed on the door so Sangho couldn’t open it and escape.
“When he meets one person, he goes all in on that person. He’s never treated two people well at the same time.”
“…”
“That’s the problem. I don’t care whether Jang Wonha suddenly changed his tastes and is meeting an alpha or whatever. But two people is different. It’s a scandal that would properly hit both the entertainment industry and the political world. You know Assemblyman Jang Uiseong, right? Wonha’s grandfather. He’s challenging for his sixth term as National Assembly member this time.”
Dohyun, who approached close behind Sangho’s ear, whispered.
“I’m advising you. Don’t get too close to Jang Wonha. Do you know why I’m bothering to stick around cleaning up after Jang Wonha? Because if a strange scandal breaks out, I don’t even know how that family will react. If that happens, I have no way to stop it either.”
Slam.
Nam Dohyun, who lowered his hand and opened the door, added lastly.
“We’re the same age. Lee Sangho, I’m telling you this specially.”
***
Crash!
“Damn it…”
The cup handle suddenly fell from Wonha’s hand as he was pouring water into a cup and shattered. Han Kyungoh, who had been away from home all week preparing for the competition, glanced at the fragments scattered on the floor and said one thing.
“Sangho will be here soon. Clean it up well so he doesn’t step on it.”
“…I’ll take care of it myself. Don’t you remember what the doctor said? He said absolutely don’t force it. If you do that to hyung’s body,”
“I didn’t force it. Sangho came onto me first.”
“Fuck, you released your pheromones blatantly and knocked him out of his senses before doing it. What?”
At Wonha who fiercely crumpled his face, Kyungoh didn’t even pretend to listen and plopped down on the sofa. That fox-like bastard. While acting all gentle and soft with Sangho as if he couldn’t kill an ant, that guy’s true nature was the type to smile brightly while stabbing a knife in the back. To him, at first he pretended to be somewhat polite, but when his true colors were revealed over Sangho’s matter, now he’d thrown off even the mask he’d been using and was acting like this. However, that didn’t mean Kyungoh would be intimidated or scared. Rather, the fact that Jang Wonha was throwing a fit came from anxiety that he couldn’t monopolize Sangho by himself.
‘Then there’s a chance for me too.’
Smack, Kyungoh slowly licked his lips. Even if he seemed to be lagging behind now, there would be an opportunity that would come someday.
“So, we confirmed that Sangho hyung’s trait test was switched. What are you going to do about that psychiatry professor?”
“That type isn’t someone who will cooperate just because you simply appease or threaten them. This kind of thing needs to be approached more carefully.”
“How?”
“I decided to go to the family home on the weekend. The professor’s closest alumni is doing hospital director work in grandfather’s constituency.”
“Do we have to go that far? We can just take Sangho to the hospital. Won’t they give him his counseling records if he asks for them himself?”
“Do you want to see hyung completely lose his mind? He can’t even accept that he’s an omega. First we need to check the psychiatry records and find the bastard who imprinted him. After dealing with that bastard, when hyung stabilizes, we can slowly treat him. That will be the most… safe.”
Wonha said, firmly suppressing his emotions. Then Kyungoh muttered with a sullen face.
“Idiot. You’re raising Sangho too weakly. Isn’t he the oldest among us?”
“Fuck, shut up, Han Kyungoh. Did you forget the doctor said hyung could have seizure symptoms because of your bastard pheromones?”
“…”
“Don’t rashly act up and stay put. I’ll settle things with that professor over the weekend.”
When Wonha warned with a cold expression, Han Kyungoh shrugged his shoulders up and down. Certainly Jang Wonha had many connections here and there, so he was useful. A few days ago, it was also Jang Wonha who had cajoled a resident he knew at the hospital where Sangho had the trait test and secretly pulled out the test records.
But when they stopped by the hospital to check the records, they learned a truly unexpected fact. In Sangho’s medical chart, besides the trait test, there were records of going in and out of psychiatry for several years.
‘Psychiatry for 3 years from age twenty-two until last year.’
Kyungoh leaned loosely against the sofa and recalled what had happened at the hospital a few days ago.
***
Pureum General Hospital.
Kyungoh looked at the large sign and entered the hospital’s main entrance. Last weekend they had confirmed Sangho’s trait test results, and they had decided to simply test Kyungoh’s pheromones as well, and it seemed personnel inside the hospital had been arranged in the past few days. The interior of the large hospital, quite famous even in the city center, was busy with patients and hospital staff mixed together.
[Come to the 2nd floor of the Examination Building.]
Kyungoh, who glanced at the text from Jang Wonha, was going up to the 2nd floor when a hospital employee asked if he’d registered, causing him to stop in place. At the employee’s rebuke to register first, Kyungoh was scratching the back of his head and moving his steps back to the reception desk when he discovered Wonha crouching in a corner of the hallway clutching his phone.
“They say you need a number ticket to register.”
Then the startled Jang Wonha went “shh” and put his index finger to his lips. Around the corner of the hallway, some man in a white coat was being held by an orthopedic doctor.
“You said you were going to apply to orthopedics, but you’re betraying me?”
“Ah, Professor…”
“You said something about being the best carpenter in undergrad. Trait Surgery?”
The doctor made a fierce expression while pointing at the name tag on the coat of the man standing in front of him. The man seemed to be a hospital resident, and looking closely, he was desperately hiding some paper and dripping sweat. Wonha couldn’t take his eyes off the paper in the resident’s hand with a dismayed expression. Kyungoh, who grasped the situation at a glance, let out a light sigh and walked trudging toward the two people. Wonha was horrified and tried to stop him, but Kyungoh was already quickly approaching the orthopedic doctor.
“Doctor. Hello.”
“Ah, athlete Han Kyungoh! Is your shoulder okay?”
“Yes. Rehabilitation is finished and I’m preparing for the competition.”
“You’re really sturdy. After hearing the explanation from the paramedics, I thought you’d come in with completely shattered bones.”
While the doctor greeted Kyungoh with delight, the resident hesitantly backed away, preparing to escape. Then the doctor frowned fiercely and threatened.
“You come to my office later! The quota isn’t even filled this year and you’re stabbing me in the back.”
“Yes, yesss!”
