MORE 19

There was nothing Kwon Yuwon said that was wrong. Alphas were born wanton, so they’d tossed any sense of loyalty to the dogs. The man before his eyes was the textbook example of that. Still, if he thought about it calmly, they weren’t children; they were full-grown adults mingling their bodies by mutual consent, so he wondered by what right he had to judge.

Regardless of who Woo Hyunse spent his rut with or took as his partner, what did it have to do with him?

“…Forget it then.”

Siyul, feeling drained, hunched his neck—which he had been holding stiffly—and mumbled evasively. At this point, he didn’t even know why he was sitting in the same space as Woo Hyunse, looking for what kind of riches or honor. Just as Siyul was about to rise quietly, thinking it had been a waste of time, Woo Hyunse’s hand reached across the table and grabbed Siyul’s wrist.

His fingers crawled inside the cuff. He traced the wrist bone with his fingertips and swept down languidly.

“I’ll take you home.”

It was scorching, as if fire were flickering over his skin. He should pull his hand away, but he couldn’t put any strength into his arm.

“I didn’t drink alcohol today. What I drank earlier was non-alcoholic.”

Woo Hyunse blocked Siyul’s words before he could even bring up the designated driver. Siyul shut the mouth he had held open like a bird’s beak. Why was he hesitating when he could just end it by refusing? He snapped his head away, hiding his complicated state of mind.

“Then, just for today, please take me home. …For the last time.”

He was just saying that because it was quite cold to walk; there was no other reason. Siyul clenched his fist tightly and twisted his wrist to pull it free.

The solid fingertips brushed over Siyul’s curled-up fingers. As if reluctant, one beat too slow.

Siyul lay sprawled out, holding his hand up to eye level and staring at it blankly. Because he was wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt in the warm room air, his wrist bone was clearly visible. It was a plain, ordinary wrist with no particular features. Looking closely at every corner, there wasn’t a single spot—not the prominent wrist bone, the knuckles, or the calloused fingers—that could be evaluated as delicate. Only the fair, flawless skin was halfway decent to look at.

He gripped the empty air with the hand he had stretched straight toward the fluorescent light. Woo Hyunse had held this wrist. It was a palm as large and generous as a pot lid. The heat was like that of a fire kept burning for a long time, and the power of the grip was strong. He hadn’t twisted or squeezed. He had just held it, and pressed his fingers inside the sleeve to touch the wrist bone.

Even though it was a simple act of holding him to keep him from leaving, the heat was still imprinted on his wrist. Feeling a rising warmth, Siyul turned his body to the side and pulled his arm close to his body.

As if an invisible handprint were etched there, he fiddled with his wrist with his other hand, then pressed the tip of his nose against it. As if Woo Hyunse’s scent were still lingering on his skin. His eyelashes fluttered, then settled.

“…Hic!”

Startled by himself, he quickly pulled his hand away and shook it hard in the air. After shaking it until it felt like his hand would fall off his wrist, he buried his face in the pillow, cursing, “Ah, crazy… ah, fuck.” Even though there were no witnesses, he felt ashamed and kicked his long legs against the fluffy duvet.

The sound of the door bursting open interrupted Siyul’s foolish behavior. Siyul flinched and lifted his head. Kwon Yuwon scanned him, frozen stiff, from head to toe. It was similar to a detective’s sharp gaze inspecting a prime suspect. Or perhaps it just felt that way because the corners of the other’s eyes were tilted up like a cat’s.

“Why are you so startled? Were you jacking off?”

“Ah, crazy… why would you bring up jacking off?”

“It’s just because you’re looking at me like a mouse caught stealing food. Like this.”

Kwon Yuwon grinned, stretching his two eyes wide with his index finger and thumb. Siyul, having been teased, threw the pillow he had been hugging right at him. The other snatched the pillow out of the air. He hugged it tightly to his chest, then flinched and buried his nose into the pillow. He sniffed, smelling it like a hunting dog.

“Why are you doing that?”

“What is this?”

He tilted his head, sniffed again, and looked at Siyul; his eyes were ominous. He quickly approached, grabbed Siyul—who was pulling his head back—and buried his nose into his cheek and ear to inhale the scent. Even though Siyul tried to push him away, asking why he was doing this, he held on with all his might.

“What is wrong with this crazy guy today? Did you eat something wrong?”

Kwon Yuwon kept his mouth shut, pulled on Siyul’s clothes to verify the scent, and then snapped his head up. A grim light leaked from his eyes.

“Did you meet an Alpha?”

“What are you talking about?”

Siyul pulled his own clothes and held them to his nose. It only smelled of the savory fried food scent he’d picked up at the bar and a faint trace of fabric softener. Well, even if pheromones were clinging to him, there was no way he, a Beta, would know. Siyul desperately hid his guilty conscience and feigned ignorance.

“You smell like an Alpha. Who got pheromones on you?”

“Can Omegas even distinguish between Alpha and Omega scents?”

“Don’t change the subject. What the hell, man. Why do you smell like that fucked-up scent?”

Like a husband who had caught evidence of an affair, Kwon Yuwon badgered Siyul. He grabbed his collar and shook him back and forth. His head was ringing, so Siyul held the other’s wrist and stopped him, saying, “Ughhh.”

“No, the customer who came to the shop must have been an Alpha! I’m a Beta, so how would I know if an Alpha got their scent on me or if I brushed against it while walking? Ah, stop shaking me. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

When he whined, mixing in half a lie, Kwon Yuwon released him, though he still looked suspicious. He didn’t look completely convinced.

“A mere brush-by wouldn’t leave a scent like this. It means you were at least in a confined space together or they grabbed you… do they have touching at the bar you work at?”

Kwon Yuwon was sharp, as always. He’d probably do well as a detective later. Pushing aside the thought that he should suggest he study for the police exam if the opportunity arose, Siyul raised his voice shrilly, like a guilty person getting angry.

“Ah, there’s nothing like that. We must have brushed against each other when they were ordering! And even if I smell like an Alpha, what does that have to do with me? I can’t even smell it.”

“That may be, but…”

“Stop talking nonsense and go wash up first, yeah? You smell like food and I’m hungry. Come out quickly so we can have a late-night snack. I’m going to the convenience store.”

Kwon Yuwon had a suspicious look until the end. After shoving the back of the other—who was still going “Tsk…” and inhaling—into the bathroom, Siyul escaped the inn.

He ran to the convenience store and bought pheromone deodorizer first. He didn’t spray it immediately. If he did, it would only raise more suspicion as to why he was suddenly getting rid of the scent. He loaded his basket with other snacks, placed them on the counter, and while the clerk was calculating, he pulled his sleeve and buried his nose into it.

“….”

No matter how much he sniffed, there was no scent other than what he’d picked up from the shop. Siyul let out a breath as if clearing his nose and rubbed the tip of it. For some reason, his mood sank low.

Siyul bought an armful of late-night snacks: cup noodles, sausages, snacks, ice cream, instant fried rice, and dumplings. They were hungry youths. Even though they were past their teens when they could eat iron, their stomachs were still large. Kwon Yuwon, in particular, ate like a man possessed.

Siyul finished his portion and watched him with a satisfied heart. This was all consumption he could afford because Woo Hyunse had generously not touched his first paycheck.

Having washed up cleanly and eaten his fill, Kwon Yuwon had softened up significantly. Lying on his side like a reclining Buddha, he flipped through TV channels and scratched his protruding belly. Aside from his pretty appearance, his behavior was no different from an older man doing manual labor at a construction site.

“If you lie down right after eating, you’ll become a cow. Sit up.”

“Being a cow would be good. You wouldn’t need to work, just munch on grass all day.”

“What will you do if you get dragged to the slaughterhouse like that?”

He had tried to make him sit up somehow, but Kwon Yuwon just giggled without taking his eyes off the TV. Siyul stole a glance at the other and picked up the remaining snacks to put in his mouth. Chewing, he brought it up casually.

“Hey… that thing called pheromone scent. If you’re an Alpha or Omega, can you smell it all?”

“Yeah.”

“Do they all smell different? Then what scent are you?”

Kwon Yuwon glanced at him, then opened his mouth wide like a baby bird. When Siyul tossed him a snack, he caught it and ate it immediately.

“They say I smell like oranges.”

“Are there bad scents among them?”

“Sometimes, among the Alpha bastards. But most of them are okay. They’re bearable.”

Watching the other’s reaction carefully, he offered snacks to his mouth. Fortunately, Kwon Yuwon didn’t seem to notice anything strange about the current conversation.

“Kwon Yuwon, what did the scent on me earlier smell like?”

The chin that had been chewing stopped. He looked at Siyul with his eyes narrowed sharply.

“Why are you curious about that?”

“No, since I can’t smell it. If it’s foul, it’s a nuisance to other customers. I’m trying to avoid that customer when they come back. What if it smells like fishy raw fish?”

Siyul told the lie naturally. At the attitude that he wasn’t really that interested, Kwon Yuwon’s suspicions quickly faded.

“…No. Objectively, the scent is good. It’s hard to describe… ah, it’s exactly that kind of atmosphere.”

Kwon Yuwon, who had been lost in thought, snapped his fingers and pointed at the TV. It was a travel program. A forest piled high with white snow; pale, naked birch trees were aiming their sharp branch tips toward the deep gray sky.

“A scent like that?”

“Yeah. Calm and cold? It’s like wood scent, too. It’s a bit dense. Unpleasantly so.”

Kwon Yuwon crinkled his brow as if he was annoyed just thinking about it. Fearing he might get grumpy if he prodded further, Siyul shut his mouth there.

Since he said it was a scent like a birch forest, he had no idea what it meant. Thinking it must be similar to the lonely, biting winter sea scent he had smelled in those arms once, Siyul superimposed the scent his own nose had caught onto the scent of the unknown pheromone. The desire to know more, wondering if there was any perfume on the market that even slightly resembled it, drifted away along with the crumbs of the snacks he was brushing off.