NAME 23

I got off in front of the convenience store near my house. While putting water, drinks, and snacks into my basket, my eyes stopped in front of the condoms. It was unclear who I would spend my heat cycle with—or even who I could spend it with—but I put a box of condoms in the basket for now.

“That will be 21,900 won. Would you like a bag?”

“Yes, please give me one.”

I looked at my reflection in the convenience store door. I looked like an average office worker worn out by fatigue and stress. At least I looked neat this morning, but now I had lost even my cleanliness and was the definition of ugly. Why did Jaehwan ask to continue being partners with someone like me? And why does Baek Kanghyun keep… to me?

‘In the end, it’s probably because of the pheromones.’

Even if I’m not his type, I’m still an Omega, so he must be instinctively attracted. Since they say Alphas consider pheromones very important. They say it’s the same for Omegas, but… for Seowon, whose pheromones were erratic, it was a realm he couldn’t fully understand yet.

I walked toward my house after leaving the convenience store. Seowon’s home was a villa, a pilotis-style building with a parking lot on the first floor and residential units starting from the second floor. It was relatively safe because the central entrance on the first floor had a password lock, but the only thing was there was no elevator. So, climbing up and down to the fifth floor where Seowon lived was quite taxing, but it was okay. Since it was the top floor, the monthly rent was 50,000 won cheaper.

‘It’s especially hard today.’

My breath became sharply labored as I tried to climb the steep hill. If I hadn’t gone to the convenience store, I would have been dropped off right in front of my house.

Seowon glanced at the plastic bag.

‘What am I really going to do about the heat?’

The heat was a headache, but he decided to postpone the problem he couldn’t solve immediately until tomorrow and get a good night’s sleep today. Even if he couldn’t get a ‘good’ sleep, he intended to at least make an effort to sleep.

“Phew…”

But someone blocked Seowon right in front of the villa. Large dress shoes entered the field of vision of Seowon, who was walking with his head down because holding it up felt like a burden.

It was Seowon’s nose that reacted faster than his eyes. A familiar scent, that very smell his body loved so much, wafted over him.

“Why are you so late?”

“Team Leader…?”

“I asked why you are so late.”

It was shocking enough that Baek Kanghyun had suddenly shown up in front of his house, but the man point-blank rebuked Seowon for his late return. It was behavior that was utterly incomprehensible by Seowon’s common sense.

“That’s… none of your business!”

Since he had done nothing wrong, there was no reason to be intimidated. It wasn’t even that late, and there was no reason to hear such things from Baek Kanghyun. However, after raising his voice at him, Seowon’s heart beat as if it would explode. Even though he was in an open space, he felt stuck as if he were caught in a trap.

“There’s a limit to how much I can look the other way.”

Eyes shimmering with blue flames were directed solely at Seowon. Baek Kanghyun looking the other way for him? Even a passing dog would laugh at that. Driven by spite, Seowon raised his voice even louder than before.

“Look the other way? Team Leader, do you ever even look the other way for me?”

“You’re being noisy. Just follow me for now.”

He grabbed Seowon’s wrist and pulled him roughly. He saw the man’s car parked on one side of the alley. An instinctive warning echoed loudly in his head that he shouldn’t be dragged away like this.

Seowon desperately shook off his hand and stepped backward. In the middle of resisting, the plastic bag slipped from his hand and rolled across the ground. Seowon immediately picked up the plastic bag, but perhaps the bottom had torn, as the items inside spilled out with a clatter. Among them, Baek Kanghyun’s gaze stopped on the box of condoms.

Noticing that fact, Seowon flushed deep red and hurriedly picked up the items.

“I-if you have something to say, say it here.”

“…”

“And what brings you all the way here?”

The man said nothing until Seowon had put all the spilled items back into his bag. Seowon kept moving back, widening the distance between him and Baek Kanghyun. However, the man narrowed the distance faster than Seowon could move away. And finally, when Seowon was cornered against the wall and could no longer retreat, the man leaned down and brought his face close to Seowon’s ear.

“Exactly. Why the hell did I come all the way here?”

And then he muttered a self-deprecating complaint in a low voice.

“…”

“…”

A suffocating silence followed. Seowon hugged his bag tightly and held his breath. Should he just push Baek Kanghyun and run? If he could just get inside the communal entrance, the man wouldn’t be able to chase him… While Seowon was making a clumsy escape plan, Baek Kanghyun finally showed his true colors.

“Assistant Manager Jeong, are you spending your heat cycle with that bastard?” 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

Ahead of his special leave, his workload miraculously decreased. The deadlines for tasks he had to finish by this week were all pushed back to next week or ten days later, giving him a lot more breathing room. It was a stroke of luck for Seowon to have such fortune the day before his special leave. However, Seowon, who still hadn’t decided who to spend his cycle with, was full of anxiety.

“Phew…”

They say if you keep sighing, your luck escapes, but sighs burst out automatically when he thought about the heat cycle he would endure for three days starting tomorrow. No matter how much he agonized over whether he should just tell Jaehwan even if it prickled his conscience, or who he should do the deed with, no satisfactory answer came. He didn’t even have the chance to complain about why his body had ended up like this. Just worrying about work and a partner for his heat cycle had brought his brain capacity close to its limit.

“I’m going to go get some fresh air for a bit.”

Seowon rarely left his seat during working hours, but right now he couldn’t just sit quietly in the office. He also had the purpose of trying to clear the pheromones that were leaking out at will. Before coming to work, he had sprayed so much deodorizer he was practically soaked, but the sweet scent was still rising. Seowon popped a suppressant—one that worked relatively well for him—into his mouth and headed for the rooftop.

He decided to rest for a while until the medicine took effect. Here and there on the rooftop, employees were having smoke breaks. Seowon stood as far away from the smokers as possible and took in the air. The summer wind, heavy with moisture, wrapped around his whole body, and sweat broke out on his skin. Phew, it’s hot, Seowon muttered as he loosened his tie, tucked it into his pocket, and even unfastened the top button of his shirt.

“Ugh… it’s intense.”

The body odor and pheromones that had been trapped inside his clothes were released all at once. It felt like sticking his nose into cotton candy melted by the sun. If even the smell coming from his own body was this unpleasant, how must it be for others? He fanned his shirt to cool the sweat while waiting for the medicine to kick in.

‘There aren’t any Alphas around, right?’

Seowon looked at the employees standing a good distance away. It wasn’t like they had ‘Alpha’ written on their foreheads, and since it was an open space, pheromones weren’t being detected, so there was no way to know who was an Alpha.

Manifested people usually numbered only one or two in a department. For that, Sales Team 3 had quite a lot of manifested people. Since there were three, including Seowon. However, the Alpha assistant manager of Sales Team 3 had an imprinted partner, so he was essentially no different from a Beta. Therefore, the only person Seowon had to worry about was Baek Kanghyun.

He felt the medicine starting to work. Along with the side effect of feeling a bit lightheaded, the sweet scent decreased significantly. His body was hot, but since it seemed to be because of the heat, he didn’t mind much.

“Assistant Manager Jeong? What are you doing here? You actually came up here?”

He looked back when someone called from behind, and it was Jaehwan. It was the first time he had run into him on the rooftop. To Jaehwan, who looked extremely happy to see him, Seowon lightly raised his hand and smiled. But a stranger was standing next to him.

“Who is…?”

“Ah, a rookie from our department. Ms. Jeongin, this is my colleague from Sales Team 3, Assistant Manager Jeong Seowon.”

“Hello, I am Park Jeongin.”

The way she bowed was quite cute. Feeling like he was looking at a fresh new sprout, Seowon smiled broadly without realizing it and reached out his hand to her. Smiling brightly, she shyly took Seowon’s hand. Was I like this four years ago? Seowon was caught in a wave of sentimental reflection.

“Did you two come together?”

“No, everyone from the department came out together. Since we’ve been breathing only air conditioner air, our heads were feeling foggy, so we came out for a bit of photosynthesis.”

“I think you’ll burn to death while photosynthesizing.”

Seowon fanned himself with his hand and shook his head.

“I should go back down after staying just a little longer.”

Jaehwan grinned and stood close beside Seowon. And the rookie from the PR department was standing next to him.

Why is she standing there without leaving? Is she waiting for Assistant Manager Lee?