“Go quickly. Hurry and take the medicine… you do have suppressants, right?”
“It’ll be hard to move right now, so lie down. I’ll go to another room and check my condition. When you come to your senses, be sure to leave a message.”
Until he left, Muyoung, who could only nod repeatedly in response to Dowon worrying about him, soon fell asleep as if losing consciousness. Only after seeing his eyelids heavily sink did Dowon move his steps.
* * *
Feeling his body had become much more comfortable, Muyoung opened his eyes and a strange ceiling caught his vision. As his pupils, which had been slowly surveying the situation, moved toward the surroundings, memories of what had happened came back in order. Thinking it wasn’t time to be spacing out, he put strength into getting up when a transparent line caught on his forearm. Following the thin IV line up to see when it had started, he could clearly see water drops falling from the IV bag.
Glimpsing through the curtain gap, outside the window was still dyed black, letting him know dawn hadn’t come yet. He wanted to toss and turn and move his body, but he couldn’t move easily because of the IV. Right now his body didn’t seem very uncomfortable, so he was contemplating whether to just pull out the needle right away.
“Are you awake?”
“Ah……”
A middle-aged man approached beside Muyoung who had sat up. After briefly checking the state of the IV going in, he immediately met eyes with Muyoung beyond his glasses and continued speaking.
“I’m Kim Youngseok. I came at CEO Han’s request, excuse me. The medicine you’re receiving now is just regular IV fluid, so don’t worry. But, you suddenly went into heat?”
“……Yes, I’m Lee Muyoung. I’m sorry for the late hour.”
Looking at Muyoung greeting politely, his face that somehow smiled warmly was kind. At his introduction, Dowon’s words that a doctor might come came to mind together. At Muyoung’s attitude of quickly understanding the situation, Kim Youngseok, who seemed to have already heard from Dowon, also pulled a chair to sit beside the bed.
“Aren’t you thirsty? Water is next to you. Please drink comfortably.”
“Thank… you.”
He had been thirsty just as he said. Muyoung turned his gaze to pick up the water bottle and slowly moistened his throat. As moisture entered his body, only then did he wake up a bit more.
Taking a deep breath in and out, he clenched and unclenched his fist. After confirming that the sensations of his extremities, which he couldn’t properly perceive until he lost consciousness, felt normal, he realized how precarious the evening’s events had been. And at the same time, worry for Dowon, who wasn’t here, rushed in.
“Excuse me, but where is CEO-nim? I got him involved because of me……”
“He’s probably resting. First, it’s hard to say the patient has recovered now either, so lean back comfortably and listen.”
“Ah, yes……”
At Kim Youngseok’s words, nodding as if knowing what he was worried about, Muyoung adjusted his position and leaned his body against the headboard. But unable to hide his anxious heart, he kept moving his hand gripping the blanket. Perhaps thinking it was an understandable reaction, naturally overlooking the obvious awkwardness, Kim Youngseok continued speaking.
“Since this isn’t a hospital right now, it’s difficult to tell you precisely. But the sudden heat cycle you experienced seems to be largely due to overexposure to someone else’s pheromones.”
“……Me? Not CEO-nim?”
“Yes, I heard you’re experiencing trait abnormality, is that correct?”
“That’s, yes…… That’s correct. So I was periodically taking suppressants too……”
It was hard to understand. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Dowon’s words, but it was strange that a heat cycle came even though he had been taking medicine and being careful according to the hospital’s prescription. Moreover, pheromone exposure. Even if he had visited a place with only trait individuals, it couldn’t have happened.
In public places, controlling and being careful about releasing one’s trait was a matter of courtesy that everyone handled themselves. There were no exceptions, whether alpha or omega. Even if pheromones were released deliberately or unintentionally shown, there was no exposing them to the extent of harming others.
That’s why it was even harder to understand. If it was enough to be overexposed, it would only be when blatantly drawing someone in with pheromones. Unless it was a cycle period spent with a consenting partner, it was practically an accident. In fact, cycles were even more so now that many medications that could be prepared in advance had come out. Just like how Dowon went into rut because of his heat.
But what Kim Youngseok was saying now wasn’t that. He was saying that Muyoung had forcibly gone into heat because of someone’s pheromones.
“So there may have been a more sensitive reaction. Because the degree differs depending on the person with the trait. If it hadn’t been for the emergency suppressants you were prescribed and carrying, it would have been very dangerous.”
“Where on earth…… There wasn’t much chance of that. All I did was be alone and then meet CEO Han.”
“Hmm, CEO Han is an alpha, and you seem to know that. You’re saying nothing like that happened between you two? Then, besides CEO Han, were you with any other alphas today?”
“Another alpha……”
Muyoung’s face hardened as he recalled the moment he ran into Jinho. Until Muyoung pointed it out, Kim Youngseok’s expression also became troubled, as if he had naturally assumed it was because of Dowon.
Though it wasn’t something to judge hastily, Muyoung couldn’t shake off the thought of “no way.” Even trying to think it wasn’t so, Jinho’s face, full of anger and spewing venom at him, was still vivid in his eyes. However, what caught him was that he was in a state where he couldn’t feel pheromones. If he couldn’t feel them, no matter how much pheromones vibrated, shouldn’t they not be able to have much effect?
“Right now, whether alpha or omega… I can’t feel pheromones.”
“You said you’re taking suppressants because of trait abnormality, right? Then you yourself might not feel it. Just because you can’t feel it doesn’t mean pheromones don’t exist. Like how when I arrived, CEO Han’s pheromones were lingering in this room. Didn’t you know?”
“No, not at all……”
His head became tangled at the continuing explanation. Come to think of it, even when he was with Dowon, he had never felt pheromones. He could have known if he’d thought about it. For whatever reason, he had suddenly gone into heat and because of him Dowon went into rut, so there was no way pheromones hadn’t spread. No matter how well someone controlled it, pheromones were inevitably exposed during cycles. But even now, sitting on the bed listening to Kim Youngseok’s explanation, he couldn’t feel anything.
Then, was it really because of sunbae?
He recalled the time their voices had risen in the hotel corridor. That queasy feeling inside and the brief dizziness he felt—if that was a precursor symptom that heat was coming. He hadn’t been able to take any measures, practically facing Yu Jinho’s malice bare-bodied.
He never thought Jinho would do something this lowly. Muyoung, who was already struggling to revisit the past situation he couldn’t handle, frowned weakly and let out a sigh.
“Is CEO-nim really okay? The last time I saw him, he looked really agonized……”
“He should be able to endure. Seeing as he didn’t enter this room after I came. He probably took suppressants before I arrived too.”
That’s a relief. Muyoung answered in a voice that crawled out and then remained silent for a while. Perhaps wanting to change the atmosphere a bit, Kim Youngseok looked around the room slowly before asking Muyoung.
“Are you being treated for the trait abnormality? It must have been inconvenient if you can’t feel pheromones to that extent.”
“Yes, I’m receiving treatment. Before today’s incident, there was nothing particularly inconvenient…… I was told to be careful about cycles just in case. But now, with things turning out like this……”
“You probably couldn’t tell well, like a first manifestation. It can happen in unexpected situations. Moreover, you’re in a state where you can’t feel pheromones.”
Instead of answering, Kim Youngseok nodded and pushed up his glasses, continuing his questions while quietly examining Muyoung’s face. Feeling the gaze moving here and there silently, Muyoung raised his hand to stroke his cheek. No matter where he looked, he didn’t seem to be in very good shape right now, which bothered him. Noticing Muyoung trying to compose his expression to act as if nothing was wrong, Kim Youngseok soon smiled, telling him to be at ease.
“While you were sleeping after receiving the suppressant, I ventilated everything. I also took medicine just in case before coming in, so there was no effect. You can’t tell my pheromones well right now either, can you?”
“Then, you too, doctor……”
“Recessive, but an alpha.”
“……Ah.”
“At the moment the patient went into heat, since CEO Han is an alpha, he would have been affected quite strongly. But since you don’t have a trait abnormality like the patient, or aren’t in poor health, you’ll probably recover enough to talk face-to-face by tomorrow.”
Muyoung, who had been calmly listening to the flowing story, hesitated before opening his mouth. He had already heard about it at the hospital and the person before his eyes probably didn’t know all his circumstances, but he couldn’t stop the impulsively bursting question.
“This isn’t… normal, is it? Not being able to feel pheromones, or suddenly having a cycle come, things like that.”
“Hmm……”
Deep wrinkles formed in Kim Youngseok’s brow as he pondered for a long time, either choosing his words or considering another problem. Muyoung, who couldn’t quite meet his eyes directly because of what he’d asked, just vaguely stared at the area around those wrinkles. Soon, as if his thoughts had concluded, his closed mouth opened.
“With traits, it’s not easy to say definitively this is the cause and this is the problem. Just like everyone’s faces are all different, pheromones also all have different characteristics. That means conditions are all different too. Now we try to manage by dividing into dominant and recessive, but still.”
“……”
“What’s certain is, it’s ambiguous to call it abnormal to the extent that the patient’s pheromones became sensitive due to trait abnormality and your body struggled after suddenly being affected by someone else’s influence and going into heat. Because going into heat and having a target to react to is a normal response for a trait individual.”
“Normal……”
The worsening changes in his body, the helplessness of not even being able to cope with the sudden situation—these remained vivid for Muyoung. Whether his fingers clenched and unclenched properly moved, whether his feet stood on the ground without trembling, every moment he tried to stay sane but it didn’t work well. Except for clinging to Dowon’s clothes like a lifeline and leaning on him. Was this kind of situation normal? This feeling of not being able to control himself… like this?
