This time, even the doctor visibly failed to keep his expression neutral. Having inadvertently put on a show of suddenly sucking on the man’s neck right in front of him, I hastily pried his head away and played dumb.
“Wh— when did I do that. When did I ever do that. I don’t remember.”
I stubbornly averted my eyes from the conspicuous marks visible above his shirt collar and denied everything.
The truth was, I remembered it perfectly. It was even vivid — like a dream you have before an important event.
I’d unconsciously clung to him and pleaded for more of whatever it was that was driving me mad. But that was just my dream. In dreams, heaven and hell were easy enough to pass between. But something that felt that ecstatic and wonderful exists in reality?
And on top of that — it’s Kang Jaeho’s pheromones, the ones I’d always been curious about?
“I’m still releasing it right now. Can’t you tell?”
“I can’t really tell……”
But right now, he genuinely couldn’t feel anything.
“Director Kang. Could you try stopping the pheromone release for a moment? I think it’ll help the patient understand more quickly.”
The doctor said this while throwing the hospital room window wide open. He even took out a small spray from his coat pocket and spritzed it here and there. In contrast, the man made no movement at all, still holding him in his arms.
What’s he doing? Airing the room out? Is he spraying air freshener because it smells?
The air in the hospital room must have genuinely been stale, because the doctor’s complexion visibly brightened.
And that was when it happened. The headache that had stopped came rushing back.
It felt like a stone had been placed on his chest, and everything in this room — which had felt so comfortable just moments before — became unbearable. Even lying under a blanket, the breeze coming through the open window made him cold, and instinctively he burrowed into the man’s arms. What was most absurd was that even as he was pressing himself into the man’s embrace, he suddenly felt as though he might go crazy with how much he hated him.
In short — every symptom that had disappeared came back to find him all at once.
“Why— why am I hurting again?”
You said it wasn’t a fatal illness. You said I just became an omega! Is that quack a fraud after all?
He leaned against the man’s chest, breathing in ragged bursts, then snapped his head around and glared at the doctor. The man covered his eyes with his palm, but he paid no mind and leapt out of the bed and grabbed the doctor by the collar.
“Gack!”
“What is this! What did you just do?”
The only things that had changed were the doctor opening the window and spraying that unknown substance — which made him the prime suspect for causing the pain. He snatched the spray roughly out of his hand, and small text engraved on the surface caught his eye.
“Pheromone neutralizer? What is this thing!”
“Ugh, pl— please calm down——”
“Doctor! Do I look like I’m in a position to calm down right now?”
He hurled the spray bottle he’d been gripping down to the floor.
I became an omega overnight! My body is malfunctioning — hurting one moment and fine the next — and you expect me to just sit quietly! I was treating you with respect because you’re an educated man, but I don’t think that’s going to work. Let’s start with one hit.
He grabbed the doctor by the collar and shook him, growling — and from behind, the man called out to him quietly.
“Gangi. Come here.”
“Am I some dog that goes where you say and comes when you call?”
“Are you not going to listen?”
Ah, of course not! Why would I listen to my ex!
With nothing in his field of vision registering, he still had the doctor by the collar. His body wasn’t in great shape, but it wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t handle one measly doctor.
“If you don’t explain right now——”
The doctor swallowed hard, not even managing to straighten his crooked glasses. His complexion, which had started to improve for a moment, had gone pale blue again.
“I’ll be sending you out through this window instead of that door!”
The doctor kept glancing past him, sending obvious help-me looks behind his back. An unmistakable SOS signal directed at his ex.
In that moment, something sparked inside him. At least he knows a good-looking man when he sees one.
“Oh? Going to talk fast now, are you?”
“Aaagh!”
He shoved the doctor toward the open window, doubling down on his threats——
“Come over here. I’ll make the pain go away.”
“Ha, and how exactly are you going to——”
Do what the doctor can’t?
The man tried his useless coaxing. He wasn’t naive enough to fall for something that absurd.
“He can do it! An Extreme Dominant Alpha can!”
The doctor cried out desperately at him as he was about to let it go in one ear and out the other.
“Right now, you’re suffering side effects from your secondary characteristic changing so suddenly. These symptoms can be relieved by receiving an Extreme Dominant Alpha’s pheromones!”
He eyed the doctor skeptically as he rattled off an explanation at impressive speed and articulation — apparently too eager to avoid falling out the window to be anything less than coherent — and then asked:
“Are you sure?”
You’re not bluffing?
“Yes. Please trust me!”
He released the doctor’s coat as the man nodded vigorously, and glanced back over his shoulder. Does his pheromone really heal me?
“Come here.”
You know how there are those things you occasionally see on magazine covers — a photoshoot where a model is lying on crisp, rustling white hotel bedding with a few shirt buttons undone, elegant yet blatant, sexualizing the model in such a way that it stirs something in anyone who so much as glances at it.
The reason he was suddenly thinking about this was because he’d just witnessed exactly that, right in front of his eyes.
For a brief moment, the hospital’s logo and name printed on the bedding looked like a luxury brand’s logo pattern. There was a strange atmosphere that came from the incongruity of a man in a suit and a hospital setting. And in particular, the uncharacteristically rumpled shirt and loosened tie looked, to his eyes right now, remarkably improper.
The man who had been lying there as though he’d made up his mind to seduce him was now perched on the edge of the bed. Even so, his long legs caught his eye first, and he rubbed his eyes again. Could getting treatment fix the way he lost all composure at the man’s appearance like this?
“Stop rubbing your eyes.”
“It had better not be a lie……”
He was going to the man because he said he’d make the pain stop. It was no different from going to a pharmacy with a prescription. It wasn’t as though he’d been lured in by the sight of that broad, solid chest.
He moved very slowly toward the man, who was waiting with his arms slightly open.
Without a single word of hurry, the man pulled his arm as he drew close enough, and folded him into his embrace. Like two pieces sculpted as a set, he fit perfectly into the familiar hold, and all the tension drained out of him.
“Haaah……”
The solid upper body received his boneless self and held him upright.
Melting. He’s melting.
What’s so great about a hug that it feels like this? They’d hugged dozens of times every single day — and yet today’s ranked first out of every single one. And remarkably, just as the man had declared, the pain began slowly receding. Even the hatred toward him went with it.
It was strange — he hadn’t felt anything in particular right up until he was in his arms…… What on earth is this. Magic? Superpowers? He’s not teaming up with the doctor to mess with me, is he? He’d entertained various theories, but all those suspicions were like a bath bomb dropped into a tub full of warm water.
He couldn’t keep his wits about him, pleasantly dissolving like a body submerged in warm water. It was the exact same feeling as in the dream. Is this what heaven is? No — this right here is heaven…… haah……
“Hah……. What is this and why does it feel so good……”
“It’s pheromones. The reason you had no particular symptoms until I opened the window and sprayed the medical-grade pheromone neutralizer was because Director Kang had been continuously releasing his pheromones.”
“Pheromones……?”
The real pheromones — the kind that only alphas and omegas are supposed to have?
“You should be feeling remarkably better already. Because you’re receiving the pheromones again.”
The doctor hurried to close the window and pulled the curtains carefully shut, then approached him where he was still tucked inside Kang Jaeho’s arms. He was clearly trying to straighten his disheveled clothing, but the wrinkles in the coat from where he’d fisted it in his grip weren’t coming out easily. He felt a pang of guilt for grabbing an innocent man like that, and he averted his eyes to spare him the embarrassment.
“For the time being, you’ll continue to need an alpha’s pheromones. Until your presentation stabilizes, you’ll need to receive your partner’s support without any gaps — and you’ll need to come in for regular checkups.”
“So…… I need to keep receiving pheromones?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Until when?”
“It’ll depend on your recovery speed, but you should plan for at least six months at a minimum.”
“Then what if I can’t receive alpha pheromones……? If…… I don’t have a partner. What happens then?”
The only alpha I know is the man holding me right now — what am I supposed to do?
“I’m here.”
“But……”
“Since Director Kang is an Extreme Dominant Alpha, you don’t need to worry about that particular aspect separately. You’re incredibly fortunate. Ha ha.”
But still — we’ve broken up, and you’re telling me to receive his help…… We broke up, Doctor! This doesn’t make sense — he wanted to shout it, but divulging his private life to the doctor felt awkward, so he pressed his mouth shut.
“Ah, by the way — is there a particular scent in the pheromones you’re sensing right now?”
“The scent of pheromones? No. I don’t smell anything……”
He stopped moving as something suddenly dawned on him.
“Wait…… this……”
Why is this scent coming from here right now?
