NAME 21

“Team Leader, excuse me. Today, this is…”

“If you’re done wiping, just get out.”

“Yes?”

“I said, get out.”

Clack, the sound of the lock releasing rang out. Seowon stepped out of the car, barely managing to gather his bag and clothes. As soon as Seowon closed the door, Baek Kanghyun started the engine and drove off. Seowon stood blankly in his spot, watching the car recede into the distance.

After the car had completely disappeared from sight, the reality of the situation finally sank in again. Not only had he begged Baek Kanghyun for pheromones, but he had ended up doing something akin to sex. The sensation of the man’s touch as he felt him up, his breath, and the lingering pheromones were agonizingly vivid.

‘The crazy bastard isn’t Baek Kanghyun… it’s me, isn’t it?’

Overwhelmed by self-loathing, Seowon crouched down on the ground.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

He took the morning off. He sent a text to Baek Kanghyun, who granted permission immediately without asking anything.

[Team Leader Baek Kanghyun: Go ahead.]

Normally, he should have obtained permission over the phone, but because of what happened a few days ago, he didn’t have the courage to dare call him, so he only sent a text. To be honest, he wanted to use a full day of annual leave, but because of his backlogged work, he compromised by only taking the morning.

After rolling around at home all morning, he stopped by the hospital on his way to work. It was to ask why his body was in this state and if there were any newly released medications.

“Mr. Jeong Seowon, please go into the consultation room.”

As soon as his name was called, he hurried inside. Before meeting the doctor, he also had his pheromones tested with a kit. After looking through Seowon’s medical records, the doctor spoke in a very serious tone.

“Looking at the changes in your body temperature and pheromones, a heat will come within three days.”

“H-heat? Really?”

When the scheduled date for his heat, which had been somewhat vague when he last heard it, became certain, Seowon’s mind snapped to attention.

“I understand. But will things really be okay after the heat passes?”

“Think of it as the same as a clogged drain. Once you blast it open, the water flows well for a while. It’s a similar principle. So, please! Make sure to spend it properly. For the sake of yourself, Mr. Jeong Seowon, and the people around you.”

“A d-drain? Ah, I understand. Can I get a medical certificate to submit to my company? It’s for my leave.”

A medical confirmation form, explaining in medical terms that ‘this person is expected to go into a heat cycle within three days,’ was placed in Seowon’s hand. To prepare for any emergency, he was prescribed heat cycle suppressants—which work slightly better than general suppressants—and heat cycle inducers at the same time.

On the way back to the office, he stopped by a fast-food restaurant to eat lunch. His appetite, which disappears when his temperature rises, returns once it drops. Since he had been starving since morning, Seowon devoured the ordered food in an instant.

“Now I feel like I can live.”

Once his stomach was full, worries about the heat cycle took priority. What should he really do? As expected, he should ask Jaehwan…

<You’re loving it, aren’t you.>

Suddenly, the voice of Baek Kanghyun whispering suggestively flashed through his mind. Seowon clamped his hand over his mouth to stop a scream from escaping and widened his eyes. Why was he suddenly thinking of that son of a bitch?

‘I must really be crazy.’

There was no doubt that Baek Kanghyun was unpleasant, yet his pheromones were fine. He realized anew the saying that manifested people are more instinctive than ordinary people, closer to beasts. There were far more cases than with Betas where the body was attracted even if the heart was not. Seowon, who was once a Beta, knew that difference clearly.

The first thing Seowon did upon returning to the office was to fill out a leave application. Since it was an unwritten rule to apply for leave at least two days in advance, he planned to submit it today and get approval. Of course, the person who would approve Seowon’s leave was Baek Kanghyun. This meant he would be informing him that he was in heat.

‘Should I just use my annual leave instead?’

Special leave is paid leave that is not deducted from annual leave. Furthermore, labor laws dictate that as long as the supporting documents are submitted, a superior must approve it. In short, it was a sweet deal.

However, for annual leave, one didn’t have to disclose the reason for use. Unused annual leave could be calculated and returned as money at the end of the year. Therefore, using annual leave was a loss, and not using special leave was a loss.

Seowon agonized for a long time before writing the application and finally reached a conclusion.

‘Do you avoid poop because you’re scared? No, you avoid it because it’s dirty.’

There was no reason not to enjoy his privileges because of Baek Kanghyun. Seowon quickly filled out the special leave application and even attached the medical confirmation he had received earlier. He placed it on Baek Kanghyun’s desk and sent him a message as well. Now all that remained was to organize his work for the afternoon; since he wouldn’t be coming to the company on Friday, the things he had to do before then…

“Assistant Manager Jeong, when did you get here?”

“Did you have a good meal?”

Assistant Manager Seo Jiyeon, holding a coffee in one hand, walked into the office. She scurried over to Seowon and spoke in a very excited tone.

“Things were crazy in the cafeteria today.”

“Crazy? Why?”

Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes sparkled. It seemed she had seen a very interesting sight. Since Seowon also welcomed unexpected events or rumors within the company, he listened intently.

“You know Assistant Manager Lee Jaehwan from the PR team, right? Your colleague from the same joining class.”

“Yes, I know him. What about Assistant Manager Lee…?”

“Were you close with Assistant Manager Lee, Assistant Manager Jeong? Anyway. Today in the cafeteria, Assistant Manager Lee Jaehwan got a confession!”

“…Pardon?”

Unaware of Seowon’s face turning pale, Assistant Manager Seo Jiyeon continued speaking excitedly.

“I don’t know the full details, but a rookie from the PR department just fired off a confession, saying, ‘Assistant Manager, I like you!’ Wow, still, how could they confess at the company? For a moment, a silence washed over the cafeteria like cold water being thrown! Then people started clapping and whistling, and it was total chaos…”

He couldn’t hear the story that followed very well. Only the sentence that Jaehwan had received a confession circled around in his head.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

“It’s special leave.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

After submitting the special leave application, Seowon thought Baek Kanghyun would naturally call for him. Since he hadn’t expected him to approve it obediently in the first place, he answered his question calmly.

“It’s for this Friday.”

“Yes.”

He could see the medical confirmation he had attached displayed on the man’s second monitor. It was a standard medical confirmation. However, there was one thing: Seowon was bothered by the phrase the doctor had added in the middle.

[Requires securing a stable cycle period due to pheromone abnormalities.]

The doctor had likely written it to help the patient, but to Seowon, it only felt burdensome.

“…”

After checking the document for quite a long time, he nodded without saying much.

“Understood. Make sure to handle urgent tasks in advance.”

That was the end of Baek Kanghyun’s comments. He didn’t even look at Seowon properly while he was speaking.

He wondered what was going on. He had expected to receive private and rude questions, not just about the contents of the medical confirmation, but also about how and with whom he was going to spend his heat cycle, yet the man let it pass so quietly. He thought the man would at least act a bit awkward because of what happened yesterday. Seowon was the only one acting stiff; the man didn’t even bat an eye.

Returning to his seat feeling somewhat deflated, Seowon stared blankly at his monitor.

‘What should I do…’

Now that the leave was settled, only one worry remained: a partner for the heat cycle. No matter how much he thought about it, the only person he could spend his heat cycle with was Jaehwan. He had heard that these days there are even apps that match Alphas and Omegas…

He thought about installing one but stopped himself several times. Even when he saw positive reviews, they all looked like advertisements, so he couldn’t quite trust them. It would be a disaster if he installed it for nothing and met someone strange.

‘Assistant Manager Lee. I wonder how the confession went.’

He felt gloomy. The promise he made with Jaehwan when they started being pheromone partners was that they would end the relationship if either of them found a special someone. He knew that Jaehwan, who had a good impression and a decent personality, was quite popular, but a public confession… If those two end up together, what happens to me?

There was nothing to happen. Before being a partner, Jaehwan was a colleague and a friend, so it would be enough to sincerely congratulate him. Then what about my heat cycle? Should I try bringing it up just in case?

‘…I’m a real piece of trash, aren’t I?’

He felt utterly disgusted with himself for only thinking about his own situation.