PAO 26

“…How did you know?”

“Because that’s exactly what I think of him.”

He replied as if it were no big deal, turning his head back to his phone.

“He’s giving me crap, asking when I’m going to buy him that shirt. I think he really has a problem.”

He was talking about the incident when Junghoo had seen him trying to stretch Seowon’s shirt. It seemed Minhee hadn’t forgotten Junghoo’s words about buying him the shirt and had been contacting him about it.

“When does he contact you?”

“Like an alarm, every morning at 7 a.m.”

“Since when?”

“Since the day after we went drinking back then?”

Minhee answered nonchalantly. Seowon gave Minhee a strange look. It was impossible to say who was more tenacious—Yoo Junghoo for contacting him continuously since then, or Minhee for putting up with it.

“You two should just be friends.”

“We already decided to be friends.”

“Since when?”

“I’m not sure about that? Ah, I think it was when he sent me links to all sorts of luxury brand T-shirts, telling me to buy him one. I got worked up and swore at him, and he swore back.”

Minhee tapped his phone screen and then shoved it in Seowon’s face. They really were amicably exchanging curses. Are these guys insane?

“And then?”

“We recognized each other’s crazy streak. So we decided to be friends.”

Seowon found himself understanding without even realizing it. To think there was this whole history without him knowing.

Minhee rummaged through his pockets and pulled out two lollipops. He tore the wrapper off one and put it in his mouth, then shoved the other one into Seowon’s mouth.

Seowon didn’t want the candy, so he kept his mouth shut and resisted, but unable to withstand the lollipop pressing against his teeth as if to break them, he opened his mouth. Belying his resistance to eating it, the lollipop was quite sweet and delicious.

“Anyway, I’m just kind of ignoring or brushing off the messages I get from him.”

Minhee mumbled, sucking on the lollipop.

“Can’t you just say you bought it for him? Or, tell him I said I didn’t need it.”

It wasn’t like Seowon genuinely intended to receive it from Minhee. He had just let him do as he pleased when he tugged on his shirt, but it bothered him that Minhee was getting messages every day.

“I don’t want to lie.”

Minhee crunched on the lollipop, then wrapped the stick in the wrapper and set it aside.

“Then just buy him one. I can tell you where I bought it.”

“Just buying it for him obediently is no good either. It’s no fun.”

“…Aren’t you enjoying Junghoo’s messages?”

“It is pretty fun how he sings your praises every morning.”

Maybe Minhee is a better match for Junghoo than I am. Following Minhee’s lead, Seowon bit down on his lollipop and set his bag down. Just as he pulled out a chair and sat down, Minhee turned halfway to meet his eyes.

“But you know.”

“If you have something to say, just say it instead of dragging it out.”

“What do you think of Yoo Junghoo?”

At Minhee’s meaningful question, Seowon took the wrapper that was rolling around on Minhee’s desk and wrapped his finished lollipop stick in it.

“I don’t think anything of him.”

“Really?”

Ignoring the gaze fixed on his face, Seowon waved at Minsung. After making eye contact with Minsung and confirming he was coming up, Seowon opened his book. Minhee, who had been watching the whole process with his chin in his hand, threw out a comment.

“Be careful of Yoo Junghoo. I don’t think he’ll leave you alone if you present as an omega.”

Feeling a prick of guilt, Seowon turned his head, pretending not to hear. He didn’t want to talk about Junghoo at all. It wasn’t until Minsung arrived and the professor came in that Minhee’s attention shifted.

Seowon let out a soft sigh and picked up his pen. As if he didn’t know.

*

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

Seowon rested his chin on his hand and muttered.

“What is?”

Minsung asked, placing a straw in Seowon’s mouth. Seeing how Minhee would stick a lollipop in his mouth and Minsung would feed him coffee, the two really were twins. In return for the coffee he’d bought yesterday, Minsung bought coffee today.

“The pheromones.”

Now that he was alone with Minsung, Seowon candidly shared what was on his mind.

“I might not know about other things, but I thought I was pretty good at sensing pheromones.”

“Right. You have a dog’s nose.”

Minsung nodded and drank his own coffee.

“Exactly. I can smell pretty much everything.”

Seowon hadn’t just presented as a dominant omega; he had also diligently trained with his pheromones. Controlling his own pheromones was the top priority, but he had been incredibly enthusiastic when taking classes on sensitively detecting others’ pheromones. Thanks to that, he had recognized that Minsung was a recessive omega when he first met him.

Seowon tilted his head.

“But I’m just so confused.”

“About who?”

“I’m sure he didn’t have many pheromones, okay? I can say this with certainty, but suddenly the amount has increased.”

“Isn’t it because he was hiding them, like you?”

Minsung asked, as if it were no big deal.

“It feels different from me.”

Seowon took another sip of his coffee and frowned. Only after a few sips did he realize his drink wasn’t an Americano. Why is this so sweet?

“If he’d hidden them completely like I do, I wouldn’t know, but that wasn’t the case either. I was even more certain because they weren’t restrained pheromones, but now it turns out I was wrong.”

“You’re talking about Yoo Junghoo’s pheromones.”

“How did you know I was talking about him?”

“I smelled his pheromones at the pub. They were definitely strong.”

Since Minsung was surprisingly receptive to the conversation, Seowon brightened up even more and shook his head vigorously.

“Right? You felt something was off too, didn’t you? I’ve been feeling that for a while, but now I’m just all confused.”

“Seowon… If you have nothing to do later, you should become a private pheromone detective. I smell and find pheromones for you.”

“That’s not a real job, my friend.”

“You see that kind of stuff in comics, you know. This pheromone is? The culprit is… you!”

Minsung swung his arm dramatically and then pointed his index finger somewhere. But he happened to point directly at a person passing by, which made Minsung jump in surprise and bow his head in apology. While Minsung sighed and cooled his sweat, Seowon thought of Yoo Junghoo again.

When they met only briefly, he didn’t think about that guy this much, but now, he was a guy he couldn’t get off his mind for a single moment.

“Then again, why should I care? It’s not like I’m going to do anything with him.”

“Do what?”

Minsung nudged Seowon’s coffee-holding elbow up and down, as if telling him to hurry up and drink. He’d been acting antsy to feed him this non-Americano coffee for a while now, so Seowon grimaced and finished the drink. Since Minsung had bought it, he was forcing himself to drink it, but it was getting harder and harder to swallow.

Seowon finally left one sip and lifted the coffee cup to eye level.

“What on earth did you order?”

“Chocolate latte.”

“…You said you were buying coffee.”

“Isn’t a latte just espresso with milk in it?”

He said he’d ordered a type of coffee, but Seowon looked at him in disbelief.

“How would I know? All I can taste right now is sweetness.”

“So it doesn’t have any in it?”

For a moment, Seowon felt a sense of futility, wondering why he had to have this conversation.

“You know I don’t like sweet things, so why did you buy me this?”

Although he devoured any cake he could get his hands on and his pheromones were as sweet as syrup, Seowon did not like sweet foods. There was no way Minsung didn’t know that, so he was puzzled as to why he had bought it.

“I just wanted to mess with you a little, but I also wanted you to cheer up.”

Minsung had found a suitable menu item that combined both feelings. The sweet drink did give him a boost of energy.

Seowon finished the rest of the chocolate latte. Even though he had bought it himself, Minsung felt sorry for Seowon and offered his own Americano.

It was a signal asking if he wanted a sip, but Seowon answered by drinking his own chocolate latte.

Perhaps feeling uncomfortable that Seowon was drinking it all after he had played a prank, Minsung gently tapped the back of Seowon’s hand.

“I’ll buy you a meal too.”

“Next time. I have somewhere to be today.”

Seeing Seowon take out his phone to check the time, Minsung craned his neck forward. He seemed ready to look at Seowon’s phone with him, but he couldn’t see anything.

“Where are you going?”

“To see the chairman.”

“The chairman? Not the president, but the chairman?”

Minsung was flustered by the title, which he had only ever heard in dramas.

“Yeah. I have to go thank the chairman, and if necessary, sign a slave contract.”

Seowon replied as if ticking things off a list, then stood up from his seat.

“I’m leaving.”

“Suddenly? I haven’t finished my drink yet.”

Minsung had been staring blankly as Seowon hastily drank the chocolate latte by himself and stood up, and he missed the timing to get up with him.

“Take your time. I’ll go ahead.”

Seowon gave a casual wave and ran off. Then, he headed towards a sedan that had been waiting there for who knows how long. At that, the passenger-side window rolled down, and a young man in a suit gestured for Seowon to get in the back.

Minsung watched blankly as Seowon got into the back seat, not even noticing the condensation from the plastic coffee cup dripping onto his pants.

“Is he really going to see a chairman?”

*

Seowon intended to give the thanks he had been putting off until now.

Junghoo had lent his father money. On top of that, Seowon was also indebted to him, so he felt sorry for not having visited Junghoo’s parents sooner. Fortunately, Junghoo’s father’s contact information hadn’t changed, and he had answered Seowon’s call after a long time without any awkwardness.

“Good afternoon, sir.”

Entering the chairman’s office, Seowon greeted the man sitting at the head of the table energetically. At that, the middle-aged man who resembled Junghoo turned toward Seowon and beckoned for him to come closer.