While normally talking about the lunch menu he ate this afternoon, he flipped through the calendar to check the date. He thought at least he’d be in a position to visit the hospital before the weekend they were supposed to meet.
Even after finishing the call, he sat for a long while unable to move. Even without deliberately thinking about it, he should have gone straight to the hospital on his own. Perhaps he received back the price of constantly postponing out of fear of facing the reality he’d left neglected with today’s nosebleed that burst out.
Muyoung, who had organized the calendar back to one side, slumped over the table as is. The pain squeezing his lungs as if it had been waiting felt just like it was scolding himself for not knowing how to take care of himself.
* * *
The hospital he found was a general hospital with a trait specialist on staff, a different hospital from the one Yu Jinho had told him about before. The flaw was that it was a bit far from home, but he didn’t have many options and since he’d intended to pretend to receive a health checkup, it was okay. At that hospital until now, he’d never received an examination besides suppressant prescriptions, so it didn’t matter if he didn’t get a medical certificate.
“I don’t know why you only came now.”
So if he’d known he’d hear these words from a doctor he was meeting for the first time, Muyoung wondered if he would have made a slightly different choice. When the doctor who had been muttering while looking at the screen with sharp eyes turned his body toward him and sat, Muyoung flinched at those eyes and straightened his posture a bit.
“…Is something, not good?”
As soon as he arrived at the hospital, after filling out a simple questionnaire, along with blood collection, he moved from room to room taking pictures with various machines. Since they were things he didn’t understand well even with explanations, he thought it must be a procedure that naturally had to be done and silently followed along. And after waiting for a long while again, Muyoung, who had just entered the examination room, was realizing again the fact that he was truly a patient with many things to be caught on.
“First of all, not having had even one checkup after manifestation—you’re already in a state that can’t get any worse.”
“Ah, yes…”
“I’d like to say it’s fortunate you came even now, but…”
The doctor, who continued with a still stiff tone while pushing up his glasses, eventually stuck his face toward the screen and started looking even more closely. At the sight of him not stopping there but even narrowing his brow, Muyoung quietly lowered his gaze to the desk corner.
<Trait Medicine Specialist Lim Hyunsu>
While focusing on the concise introduction written on the long nameplate and comforting himself who kept shrinking, he heard a voice calling his name.
“Lee Muyoung-ssi.”
“Yes, yes?”
Muyoung, who had been blankly there trying hard not to meet his gaze, hastily raised his head at the voice calling his name. The doctor, who had been clicking the mouse and checking various things until then, turned the screen toward him and showed several photos showing white spots on a black background.
“You said the cycle was originally about once every 3-4 months, but now it’s been about 6 months since you had a heat. The photos you’re looking at now are from the tests you did earlier.”
“Yees…”
“To simply put it in conclusion first, there’s actually almost no medication I can prescribe. It’s meaningless.”
Even while hearing words about which part was damaged how so pheromones weakened and which function deteriorated… he couldn’t focus at all. Looking at Muyoung mechanically nodding, at that insincere response, a sigh finally leaked from the doctor’s mouth as he explained. Muyoung, who was rather startled by that sound, belatedly listened.
“Actually, it’s amazing that you’re walking around like this. Your pheromones are hardly functioning. Even considering the patient’s age, health condition, and all medical records, it’s not to the extent that it would suddenly worsen this much. If I were to guess the cause, it would be either having an accident shocking enough to give a big shock or the imprint being unilaterally severed. Either case is one I don’t really want to imagine. So what I’m saying is…”
“……”
On Muyoung’s face listening to the words delivered slowly and clearly, there was no particular shock or agitation. As if the words to follow were sufficiently predictable, a long silence continued at that calm appearance.
Now the one choosing words was rather Lim Hyunsu. Because no matter what explanation he gave, if Muyoung didn’t speak himself, nothing was light. He could predict that he must have gone through something that would obviously tear open wounds just by spitting it out.
“As much as Lee Muyoung-ssi hasn’t come for checkups until now, you need to give me a proper explanation for prescriptions to be possible at all.”
“…Probably, the imprint was released.”
“Ha… Don’t tell me you received it without notice. Then we can proceed with filing a police report through an institution from the hospital.”
“Ah, no. That’s not it. It’s not like that. I was notified.”
“What?”
Muyoung, who was startled by the suddenly loud voice, slightly pulled back his body. The doctor’s face looking at him with a completely frowning expression looked a bit scary, as if he couldn’t hide his expression this time.
Seeing such Muyoung, Lim Hyunsu, who thought he didn’t know what he did wrong, took off the glasses he was wearing. He’d been careful thinking it was a test result that couldn’t come out unless something bad was forcibly done, but he couldn’t believe he’d made a choice to destroy his own body. Pressing down hard on the bridge of his nose and exhaling long, he put his glasses back on and looked at the screen.
“Then why on earth didn’t you receive imprint release treatment? You shouldn’t not know what happens if you don’t receive it.”
“Because it’s recessive, I thought there wouldn’t be much impact…”
“How could that be? Although forced imprint release is possible, that’s only minimizing damage by borrowing a specialist’s help. Even if you receive release treatment, it’s not fine like the media talks about to make it sound good. But if you don’t even receive that, no one knows what will happen inside the body.”
Theoretically, imprint release treatment had no major side effects if both the Alpha and Omega received it at the same time. Of course, in the case of one-sided imprinting, it didn’t matter much which side received it when, but in the case of mutual imprinting, it was naturally a treatment that both sides had to receive simultaneously. Since the cause of imprinting wasn’t clear, it was a part emphasized in both middle and high school health education and in mandatory education for trait holders after manifestation.
Although it was known that normal activities were possible after the so-called treatment, that too wasn’t the same case for everyone, so trait medicine didn’t see it as a definite cure. In the end, Lim Hyunsu’s explanation was that long-term management after treatment had to be carried out depending on the trait holder’s situation and health condition.
Muyoung was even a bit grateful that he explained so well what he as a doctor was worried about. As he’d been pointed out, it was true that he’d been complacent about his body condition until now, so he just listened silently.
“How long has it been since the imprint was released?”
“It’s been a little over three months now, I think.”
“…What about uncomfortable symptoms during that time?”
“…I threw up a bit, and had some headaches.”
Lim Hyunsu, who had been listening while recording on the computer as he spoke, turned his head toward Muyoung.
“Please tell me in detail from the very beginning. You checked that much on the questionnaire too, so all the minor pains or any parts even slightly different from usual.”
“……”
If he said from the beginning, did he mean to talk about everything since that day? Muyoung, who was thinking carefully, had his expression distort for the first time since entering the examination room. Just recalling the memories of that time was still agonizing.
It was hard to judge whether it was simply because his body hurt or because he was buried in the fact that he’d been abandoned. There were also things where he’d just dismissed abnormal signals from his healthy body as stress, making it more so. After moving his lips several times, he slowly started taking things out one by one.
“At first, I think I threw up and it hurt below my chest, but I don’t really know what order… After that, mostly headaches and some insomnia. Sometimes my insides hurt like being squeezed, so it got a bit better when I lay down.”
“Yes, and?”
“And recently I had some nosebleeds… Before that, I suddenly had vertigo too. My vision seemed to blur, then I got dizzy and when I bent my upper body forward while sitting, the nosebleed flowed.”
“…What about symptoms like weight loss or loss of appetite?”
“Ah… I think there’s a bit of that too, but I’m originally like that while working, so I don’t know the big difference.”
“Just a moment, let me check a few more things.”
Lim Hyunsu, who had been recording for a long while with a serious expression, turned his gaze toward Muyoung again. At the words asking for understanding while putting on a stethoscope, Muyoung obediently cooperated by lifting his top. After checking palpation and cardiopulmonary function and writing down a few more things, he opened his mouth as if a conclusion was reached.
“First, I’ll prescribe medicine for you today. Do you happen to have an Alpha you’re currently in a relationship with? Like spending cycles together.”
“Ah… no. I don’t.”
Since the only Alpha he’d experienced in his lifetime was Jinho alone, this was the first time receiving such a direct question. Muyoung couldn’t hide his embarrassed face.
No, it wasn’t the first time since he’d been asked more explicitly and in detail at the place he visited after trait manifestation, but it was definitely been a long time. He’d heard that most trait holders had relationships where they only had sex regularly to comfortably spend the cycles each had to go through. But it was a story he didn’t belong to, having even imprinted with an Alpha.
“I see. What you need to be careful of now is your cycle. You don’t know what the symptoms will be like, and suppressants may become useless, so you need to watch carefully. Forget all the cycle premonitions you’ve had until now. And you need to pay special attention to meals and sleep. If you eat well and sleep well, your body can deal with sudden situations even a little.”
