PAO 22

He shouldn’t have stayed at Yoo Junghoo’s house. If he had just kept a moderate distance and only seen his perverted side, he would never have been swayed. If he hadn’t seen him sick and in pain, if he hadn’t experienced that day when his nose wouldn’t stop bleeding, he could have turned a blind eye any number of times.

“Let’s go home.”

Swallowing the words he wanted to say, Seowon turned his gaze away from Junghoo. He looked at the people passing by, and then stared intently at a round, silver object on the ground, wondering if it was a coin. Intervening between those two earlier was enough of him overstepping his bounds.

While Seowon waited, Junghoo still didn’t get up. Instead of dawdling like this, he should just hurry home and sleep. Frustrated, Seowon grabbed the hem of Junghoo’s clothes and pulled. Even with the urging to get up quickly, Junghoo didn’t move. Instead, he grabbed Seowon’s hand that was holding his clothes.

“I like you.”

At the confession that was delivered, Seowon reflexively pulled his hand away from his grasp.

“Let’s keep the drunken ramblings to a minimum. I don’t have the capacity to deal with them.”

He hadn’t been in good condition due to the successive days of not being able to sleep properly because of Junghoo. He felt a headache coming on, so Seowon pressed his temples and turned away. He was about to take a step, thinking Junghoo would follow on his own.

As if he had never been dawdling, Junghoo approached and rested his head on Seowon’s shoulder.

“Get off me before I throw you.”

“My head hurts.”

“You should have drunk in moderation.”

“You smell good.”

“Stop it.”

“Why isn’t this a pheromone? It smells so good.”

Seowon forced himself to swallow a sigh that was about to escape.

“If I become an Omega, are you really going to eat me up? Even if I say I don’t want to?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it’ll be just as Taeha hyung wants.”

“If that’s the meaning, then I won’t.”

“…You don’t want to for treatment purposes?”

“I told you, you can’t do it alone.”

At the sound of Junghoo’s laughter, Seowon flared up.

“Do I look that inadequate to you?”

“No.”

“Then why do you say you don’t want to?”

“You….”

Junghoo, who had closed his mouth as if in thought, buried his lips in Seowon’s shoulder.

“…I don’t want to. To see you get hurt.”

“What are you talking about?”

His pronunciation was mumbled and hard to hear, but Yoo Junghoo didn’t open his mouth again.

After coming home, Seowon looked down at the sleeping Junghoo. The guy hadn’t gone to his room but had gone to the sofa and collapsed on it. Still, to just lie down without changing out of clothes that had been scuffed up here and there outside…. Seowon frowned but didn’t shower Junghoo with any more nagging.

He was surprised he hadn’t collapsed from the strong smell of alcohol coming off him the entire way home. Seowon had only checked that he was staggering but still following him, so he hadn’t exerted much effort, which meant Junghoo must be tired.

The way he was lying face down, breathing intermittently, suggested his condition was not good, and not just because of the alcohol. He had drunk in that state.

‘It’s a wonder he didn’t collapse.’

Seowon shook his head and went to wash up. By the time he came out, Junghoo had fallen asleep. His eyes were closed, but a vertical wrinkle between his eyebrows revealed his discomfort. Looking down at Junghoo, Seowon let out the sigh he had been holding back.

“Are you really like this because you’re not having sex? Or is it because of me?”

He had never seen Junghoo date anyone since he had appeared before him.

“No, but am I inadequate? I can’t understand it, maybe because I’ve never seen anyone get this sick from not having sex.”

Yoo Taeha had shouted like that, but the idea of dying because you can’t do it must just be an exaggeration. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to turn a blind eye anyway, Seowon sat down roughly on the floor and yawned continuously. He released his pheromones while admiring Yoo Junghoo’s face, where his long eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes.

“Eat up quietly.”

That way I can go to sleep quickly too.

As Seowon was soothing Junghoo with his pheromones, he frowned. Perhaps because of the alcohol, Junghoo’s pheromones were not cooperating at all. On the contrary, they were sharp and unstable, as if they had returned to how they were at the beginning. At the movement that seemed to be poking him with sharp thorns from all directions, Seowon shook his head hard to wake himself up.

“I’ll have to stop him from drinking.”

This is all because of the alcohol, Seowon thought, and released a little more pheromones than usual. That was the maximum he could do without awakening the other person’s sexual desire.

“This is pheromone therapy, what else could it be?”

He wasn’t using various devices to measure and control pheromone levels, but if this wasn’t a form of treatment, what was it?

This time, it took quite a while. As Junghoo’s pheromones gradually subsided and became as calm as a sea without a single breeze, Seowon stood up. For a moment, he swayed as sleepiness and dizziness combined, but he quickly regained his balance and managed to get up.

“I’m sleepy.”

Seowon rubbed his eyes and staggered into his room. The only things different from usual were the late hour and the tightly closed window.

*

Junghoo, having woken up, habitually raised his hand to touch his forehead, but then paused. It was a habit he had developed due to the splitting headaches he always had when he woke up in the morning, but it had been less severe lately. It wasn’t to the point of feeling refreshed, but it was better enough to get through the day somehow.

While he was at it, Junghoo recalled the events of yesterday. He had drunk alone and had been wandering aimlessly before stopping in front of a convenience store. And he had come home with Seowon who had come to find him, but when he fell asleep, it was morning. Opening his eyes and sitting up, Junghoo looked around.

He recognized the familiar structure and furniture, but Junghoo frowned as if he understood less and less.

“Pheromones….”

The house was thick with pheromones. A sweet scent, like syrup powder floating in the air. It wasn’t an unfamiliar scent, but he couldn’t immediately recall where he had smelled it. He also couldn’t tell where these pheromones had come from. But thanks to them, his condition was much better.

Finally, having fully come to his senses, Junghoo looked down between his legs. His own member was fully erect from smelling the faint scent wafting in the air. Was this why he was feeling different than usual?

“I’m such an idiot.”

He had said he would rather die than have sex, and yet here he was, getting turned on by this faint scent. He felt a wave of nausea at how pathetic he was, being swayed by pheromones.

“You’re up?”

Junghoo, who hadn’t heard the door open, snapped his head up. Then Seowon, who was coming out scratching his head, also spotted Junghoo and stopped in his tracks, his expression crumpling for some reason. Could it be that he felt something, just like him? As Junghoo stared at Seowon, he showed clear annoyance.

“Don’t look at me with that thing hard, will you!”

“Ah, right. I’m hard.”

It wasn’t that he had sensed the pheromones lingering in the house, but it was because of the hard erection that was making his pants bulge.

“That’s why I told you to sleep in your room. Do you sleep in the living room every morning because you want to show it to me? You think I’ll fall for you if you do that?”

As Seowon spat out the words irritably, the corners of Junghoo’s mouth relaxed. Hearing Seowon’s voice first thing in the morning felt good.

The way his hair floated in the air was cute, and Seowon’s puffy face was lovely.

“You perverted bastard.”

Seowon messed up his hair as if annoyed. One moment he was scratching, and now he was messing it up, thrashing about, oblivious to whether his hair was sticking up in all directions.

“Your hair is a mess.”

Junghoo wanted to smooth down Seowon’s hair, so he started to get up, but suddenly Seowon leaned his upper body back to avoid him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I was just trying to fix it for you, why are you avoiding me?”

“Fix your own dick.”

“Couldn’t I fix mine while I’m fixing yours?”

At Junghoo’s cheerful voice, Seowon’s face crumpled as if to say, don’t do that.

“Don’t be so ambiguous, please. And keep those biological phenomena to yourself.”

“Alright, so come here. I’ll fix your hair.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

It was the moment Junghoo playfully reached for Seowon’s hair again. At the pheromones he felt from Seowon, Junghoo suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked at him.

The pheromones that had been floating in the living room felt thick, as if they were wrapped around Seowon’s body. He had been able to smell pheromones more clearly than before, but now it was to a dizzying degree. Junghoo’s face hardened as he looked down at Seowon.

“Seowon, why do I smell pheromones on you?”

At Junghoo’s question, Seowon froze as if he had been caught red-handed. Seowon’s eyes couldn’t look up and only darted around below. Is there something he feels so guilty about that he can’t even make eye contact?

As Junghoo’s pressure mounted, Seowon’s eyes trembled even more 불안정하게.

“Seowon….”

“Don’t tell me, did I manifest?”

“What?”

Seowon was just as flustered as Junghoo’s surprised question.

“I’ve been with you for a few days, so did I manifest?”

That’s not something that happens so simply. Manifestation was a process that lasted for several days, with a symptom called manifestation pain, where the whole body burned with fever.

“What are you talking about? Seowon, do you have a fever?”

Junghoo put his hand on Seowon’s forehead and confirmed that he didn’t have a fever. There was no manifestation pain.

“You said you could smell pheromones on me.”

Moreover, the way Seowon responded with just words, his face showing that he didn’t feel anything, made it clear that nothing was wrong. He knew it was all a misunderstanding, but Junghoo couldn’t easily accept it. His heart was pounding, and his mind was a mess.

“You really don’t feel anything?”

“What am I supposed to feel….”

Seowon hurriedly covered his nose and mouth. At the horror etched in his wide eyes, Junghoo found himself watching with anticipation. At the thought of having a relationship with Seowon who had become an Omega? No. His intention not to sleep with Seowon remained unchanged.

It was just… if these pheromones he was smelling were Seowon’s, then it would be a valid reason for him to be turned on by this scent.

Seowon frowned and stomped his foot on the floor as he approached the window.

“You threw your clothes anywhere last night and didn’t air out the room? It reeks of alcohol.”

Seowon shouted and picked up the clothes strewn on the floor with a rough hand.

“Wait a minute.”

“You talk about smelling pheromones or whatever, but is the smell of alcohol that wafts from you every time you speak a pheromone? Is your pheromone an alcohol scent?”