NAME 24

“Assistant Manager, are you staying here?”

“I’ll head down after talking to my friend for a bit. You go ahead first, Ms. Jeongin. I’ll be there soon.”

“Okay, enjoy your conversation.”

As she walked toward the area where the PR team people were gathered, she repeatedly glanced back at Seowon and Jaehwan standing together. She didn’t seem hesitant; rather, it looked like she simply didn’t want to leave. Suddenly, Seowon remembered the story about Jaehwan receiving a public confession.

‘It was her.’

Usually, there were only one or two rookies in a department, and as far as Seowon knew, there was only one rookie in the PR team, so it had to be her. She was pretty and seemed to have a decent personality. Since there was probably a three or four-year age gap, he thought she would be a fairly good match for Jaehwan. It probably didn’t matter if she was a Beta. Unlike Omegas, Alphas dated both Omegas and Betas without distinction. Somehow, it felt strange. Not in a bad way, but in a good way.

“I’m going in. I’ve been out here quite a while.”

“Already?”

“Yeah, I’m going.”

Seowon turned around cleanly. For a very brief moment, he conflicted over whether to ask what his schedule was for tomorrow, but he didn’t voice it. Seeing as Jaehwan didn’t seem particularly uncomfortable around her, the two of them would likely be able to develop a good relationship if things went well.

“…”

On the way down to the office, Seowon made up his mind. He would just handle this heat alone. He willfully interpreted the doctor’s words—that he would be fine for a while if he spent this heat cycle well—to mean that even if he couldn’t do it right this time, he could just do it well next time. He acted bold, thinking it wasn’t as if he would die just by enduring a mating season alone.

Seowon suddenly thought back to the past. How was his first heat…?

“It was truly the worst.”

Because he had endured it without even knowing it was a heat, and he really thought he was going to die. A fever broke out, something kept leaking from below, and he completely lost his mind. At the time of the heat cycle he experienced simultaneously with his manifestation, Seowon thought he had caught a terminal illness.

While repeating the cycle of passing out and waking up again, the person who came to mind was Baek Kanghyun—of all people, it was him. He didn’t know back then why he craved him so desperately. But now he knew. His body, which had transformed into an Omega, was yearning for an Alpha. Because at the time, he was the only Alpha Seowon knew.

While walking to his desk in the office, he inadvertently looked toward Baek Kanghyun. The timing aligned, and his eyes met the man’s. Baek Kanghyun stared at Seowon for a moment with an expressionless face before turning his gaze back toward his monitor. The encounter with him in front of his house last night comes to mind.

<Assistant Manager Jeong, are you spending your heat cycle with that bastard?>

<That bastard… And what… business is that of yours, Team Leader?>

<Just answer what I’m asking.>

To the shouting Baek Kanghyun, Seowon had said calmly.

<Yes, that is correct.>

Upon hearing Seowon’s answer, Baek Kanghyun backed off surprisingly easily. After hearing the reply that he was spending it with Jaehwan, he had simply turned around and left without looking back. It was a relief for Seowon, but questions about Baek Kanghyun’s behavior still remained.

First he suggests being partners, then when asked to release some pheromones he goes as far as heavy petting, and now he acted as if he cared who the heat cycle partner was. Even though he said he didn’t like Seowon and that he wasn’t his type, he couldn’t understand what the man’s scheme was.

Even after making such a fuss yesterday, he hadn’t sought out or called for Seowon a single time today. That didn’t make him feel relieved; rather, anxiety took precedence. Because he didn’t know what the man might do next. Since it would be a disaster if he got caught and had to work overtime suddenly, Seowon intended to stay as quiet and still as possible so as not to upset him. Today, he absolutely had to leave work on the dot to prepare for the disaster known as the heat cycle.

He checked his temperature. 37.7 degrees; although it kept fluctuating, the overall trend showed the fever was definitely rising. Seowon realized late that he had his shirt unbuttoned, so he fastened the buttons and tied his tie.

But even though he tried to pull himself together, he could hardly focus on work after lunch. Spending the heat alone; would that really be okay? Just thinking about the heat and pain the mating season would bring made his knees shake.

Then, he suddenly remembered an app he had installed and deleted before. An app exclusively for matching manifested people; in the past, he thought it wasn’t even worth considering, but being driven into a corner made him think of all sorts of things. His reason shouted that it was definitely a bad idea, but his instincts kept appealing to him.

Just take a look. You never know.

In the end, he pulled out his mobile phone. He installed the app called ‘Cycle Gate,’ which supposedly matched cycle partners, and even finished registering as a member. He felt a sense of self-loathing for doing such a thing during work hours, but the curiosity that had once reared its head refused to subside easily.

Do other Omegas really find partners in places like this? Wouldn’t it be dangerous? Even while worrying, Seowon’s fingers moved busily across the screen.

He entered his personal information for matching along with a photo and even chose his preferred type. Now all that was left was to press the orange button labeled ‘Matching,’ but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He stared at the screen, telling himself he would think about it for just ten more seconds, no, thirty more seconds.

“Assistant Manager Jeong, can you take a look at this?”

“Yes?!”

But suddenly Assistant Manager Seo Jiyeon spoke to him, and Seowon, who was lost in thought, ended up pressing the screen reflexively. Ugh! Before he could shout, the matching button had been pressed.

“This is crazy…”

“Assistant Manager Jeong, what did you say?”

“Ah, no. It’s nothing. What is it?”

After helping Seo Jiyeon with what she asked and returning to his seat, Seowon went back into the app. He checked the notification text that said ‘Matching in progress ♡’. Should he just press cancel? But he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

‘L-let’s just leave it for now.’

Just because a match is made doesn’t mean he absolutely has to do it with that person, so he planned to just have a look. He worked hard to justify his actions to himself, thinking there must be a reason why so many people use it.

“…”

However, his attention kept drifting toward the phone, so he turned the device off entirely. Then he stuffed it into his bag and even zipped it up. He made up his mind never to open the bag until clock-out time. With one hour and thirty minutes left until he could leave, Seowon scraped together his depleted concentration.

𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞

For a while, he had been the last one to leave work, but today he decided to be the first. Since he had finished everything he had to do today, he planned to go home early for once, rest, and prepare for the coming heat. Still, considering he was in a state where the heat cycle might break out tomorrow, his physical condition wasn’t too bad. Other than his complexion being a bit pale, there wasn’t anything particularly bothering him.

“I’ll be heading out now, Team Leader. I’ll see you on Monday.”

“…Yes.”

Before leaving the office, Seowon went to say goodbye to Baek Kanghyun. The man glanced at Seowon with a displeased expression and furrowed his brow.

“Your face is quite… a sight to behold.”

It was clearly a sarcastic remark. Was his appearance really that bad? Seowon rubbed his cheeks with his hands and bowed his head deeply once more. Anyway, since he had received the answer that he could leave, all that was left was to go home.

As he stepped out of the office, he thought of the phone he had shoved into his bag, but he didn’t dare to turn it on. Whether a match had been made or not, both seemed like they would be a source of worry.

As soon as he got home, he showered first and changed into comfortable clothes. The phone was still turned off. Seowon stared at the phone he had tossed onto the bed but left it alone. He felt like he would somehow be losing the moment he turned it on. His opponent was Jeong Seowon’s ego as an Omega. He whipped himself, telling himself to endure as long as he could.

“Where is the medicine?”

He found the medicine he had been prescribed at the hospital last time in a corner. One was a cycle suppressant, and the other was a cycle inducer. The former was to be taken during the cycle, and the latter before the cycle. Since it would be troublesome if it didn’t break out on time after he had taken leave, he had also brought the inducer.

Since he was going to go through it anyway, it would be better to get it over with quickly, so should he just take it now? Or should he wait through tomorrow?

With the white medicine packet in front of him, Seowon became full of worries.

‘Let’s just take it now.’

He made a fairly productive plan, thinking that if he suffered a bit from Thursday night until Saturday and rested well on Sunday, he could go to work refreshed on Monday. He tossed the medicine into his mouth along with a cup of water. Since they said the effect would kick in within an hour. Seowon went to the bed and lay down. He already felt like his body was heating up.