PAO 6

“You only have one bed in your house.”

Seowon was being quite serious. Like Junghoo, Seowon also trusted his father.

The one who ran off with the money was the bad guy, not his father who took care of the subcontractors first. Even if they lost the house, he would be able to save many families. Besides, it hadn’t been seized yet, so what was there to worry about in advance?

I’ll protect myself because I believe my father will do just fine on his own.

“Let’s write a contract.”

At that, Junghoo’s eyes lit up as if he found it amusing.

Seowon had presented as a dominant omega. The doctor’s surprised expression when he said Seowon was in the top 0.1% of dominant omegas was still vivid in his memory. The doctor had offered to introduce him to a dominant alpha of matching caliber, but he had refused.

Seowon had little desire to meet an alpha right away just because he had become an omega. Dominant omegas were excellent at controlling their heat cycles anyway, and they were barely affected by the pheromones of the opposite dynamic, so there was even less reason to be desperate for an alpha.

Instead, he focused on pheromone training. From controlling his own pheromones to sensing others’ pheromones with extreme sensitivity or letting them pass by insensibly. When the doctor asked why a top-tier dominant omega would even need to train, Seowon thought he had replied with something like, “because it’s good to do it.”

His control was already excellent, but with training, his pheromone control became so skillful it was incomparable. The best part was that if he set his mind to it, no one could sense his pheromones.

However, there was an exception.

‘This guy makes me anxious.’

He could hide it from everyone, but not from one person: Yoo Junghoo.

This son of a bitch, who turned into a puppy just for him, was needlessly perceptive. He acted as if he knew everything about Seowon, which meant that if he showed even the slightest strange behavior in front of him, he would notice right away.

‘Of course, I have no intention of revealing that I’m an omega.’

He had no desire to be on the bottom after having his dynamic exposed.

“I have a lot to put in this contract.”

Despite Seowon’s solemn tone, Junghoo just smiled brightly. As if he was happy just to be face-to-face with Seowon.

*

Seowon placed the contract in front of him and picked up a ballpoint pen. Now that he had confirmed his apartment lease was being terminated by the landlord, a contract was essential.

“What’s a contract between friends? A simple promise would have been enough.”

“Friends shouldn’t even co-sign for each other, so a mere promise is too light. Don’t you think?”

Seowon replied nonchalantly, rescuing the paper from Junghoo’s hand as he slyly tried to pull at the corner of the contract.

Then, pretending not to see the look on Junghoo’s face as he smacked his lips in disappointment, he wrote “CONTRACT” in large letters at the top.

“You know that a handwritten contract is legally binding, right?”

“Would you rather we fill out a marriage registration form?”

Suho stared intently into Junghoo’s eyes. Eye contact was the perfect response to bullshit. After about three seconds, Junghoo backed down.

“Fine.”

“I’m not going to drag this to court anyway. It just needs to serve as a pledge of sorts.”

“If that’s the case, why write it? I’m fine just as things are. We can figure things out as we live together.”

Noticing that Junghoo seemed uninterested, Seowon casually added on.

“Let’s think of it as setting the rules for living together.”

“That sounds good.”

As soon as he added the word “cohabitation,” the corners of Junghoo’s mouth curved up widely. Junghoo, having snatched the bait Seowon had thrown, immediately reacted with enthusiasm.

“Should I get my laptop?”

“No. I’m going to write it down and organize it all at once.”

“Your fingers will hurt.”

“It’s more comfortable to write by hand.”

Seowon moderately pushed away Junghoo’s consideration, who always overprotected and coddled him. However, Junghoo, knowing Seowon well, calmly reached out his hand.

“You have a callus here.”

Seowon looked at the long fingers touching his own. Unlike himself, who had a callus on his middle finger, Junghoo’s fingers were smooth without a single one.

As he gazed at the hands, which were as pretty as a model’s, his fingers gradually intertwined with his.

At the soft sensation that slid smoothly between them, Seowon paused what he was about to say and just stared at it quietly.

“Why are even your fingers so pretty?”

Look who’s talking.

Seowon swatted Junghoo’s hand away with a smack.

“First, the content of the contract will be things we want each other to abide by. We need to set minimum boundaries so neither of us has to experience any discomfort.”

Having said that much, Seowon pondered. Would Junghoo really follow along obediently? Just because he treated him well didn’t mean he was just a gentle dog, so it was best to lead him subtly without him noticing.

“Still, conversations that are just about pushing things away like ‘I don’t like this’ and ‘I don’t like that’ won’t be good, so shall we each state what we want first?”

“Okay.”

“You say what you want first.”

So I can shoot it all down.

Seowon hid his inner thoughts and prompted Junghoo to bring up his conditions.

“Is it really okay for me to go first?”

“Yes.”

I’m going to shoot them all down anyway.

Swallowing a more detailed reply, Seowon picked up his pen. Junghoo thought for three seconds and then spoke.

“I want to sleep together at night.”

“I can’t sleep with other people.”

“A morning kiss when we wake up is a basic, right?”

“My breath is no joke. All your affection for me will vanish.”

Seowon’s retorts were too fast. Junghoo’s eyes narrowed and then returned to normal. The initial anticipation reappeared in his eyes.

“A light hug before going out?”

“Let’s do a fist bump instead.”

When he suggested a fist instead of a hug, Junghoo looked at him with dissatisfaction.

“If I hug you, I can touch your waist and smell your scent.”

“That’s why I’m suggesting a fist. Because if it’s not a fist bump, I might just punch you in the face.”

“…What about getting dressed after showering?”

“Hey, let’s have some manners. Don’t go around with it dangling.”

Seowon, clicking his ballpoint pen, added phrases to the contract one by one. At some point, the conversation died down, and Junghoo gazed intently at Seowon’s face.

Seowon was seriously filling out the paper by himself, touching the tip of the pen to his lips in thought, and tilting his head when he couldn’t think of the right words. Watching his face, a smile brushed past Junghoo’s lips as if his earlier dissatisfaction had vanished.

“You know I’ve been waiting for nothing but to live with you, right? Today will be a day I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. You’ll be there when I open my eyes in the morning, we’ll go grocery shopping together, cook and eat together, and go shopping.”

“When I open my eyes in the morning, I have to pour some cereal and go straight to school, okay?”

What grocery shopping and cooking?

He even knew there was a separate person who managed this house.

Seowon completely crushed the suggestion as if it were utterly absurd. Junghoo, who had been soaked in happiness while looking at Seowon’s face, belatedly looked at the contract. The writing was upside down, but he had no problem reading it.

As Junghoo read down the items, starting from number 1, the red flush on his excited cheeks vanished as if it had never been there.

“Seowon, are you taking out a loan from a loan shark right now? Why are there so many clauses tied to your body?”

Junghoo, his brow slightly furrowed, suppressed his bewilderment and spoke in a calm voice.

Do not embrace without permission. Violation of this will cost one finger.
Do not covet a friend’s lips. Violation of this will cost one internal organ at a time.
Come out of the bathroom fully clothed. Coming out naked will result in all dangling parts being…

“If you take all this off, there won’t be any body left.”

“Really? I didn’t even put that many stakes on it… Anyway, you just have to follow them, so let’s leave this as is.”

Seowon carefully began to speak.

“Now I can write what I want, right?”

In fact, the reason he had told Junghoo to state his conditions first was so he could mentally organize and dismiss his clauses one by one.

“What are you trying to put on the line, I wonder?”

As if he could see right through Seowon’s thoughts, Junghoo let out a chuckle and leaned his upper body forward.

“I…”

Seowon closed his mouth for a moment and organized his thoughts. If possible, he had to be careful so Junghoo wouldn’t notice, and he hoped he wouldn’t get caught until the very end.

“I’d like you not to enter my room without permission. I’ll speak to the cleaning staff separately.”

“I can go in when I’m with you, right?”

“Not without my permission.”

“Alright.”

Unlike Seowon, who shot down every single thing, Junghoo readily accepted.

“And please be careful with your pheromones.”

At this point, Seowon focused on keeping his breathing as steady as possible. Telling him not to come into his room was just a smokescreen to say this. Junghoo had to not find it strange…

“Pheromones? But you’re a beta, so why?”

At Junghoo’s light response, Seowon relaxed his shoulders, pretending to be unfazed, and answered.

“It gets on me. Even if I can’t smell it, other people might.”

The moment “other people” came out of Seowon’s mouth, the smile in Junghoo’s eyes vanished.

“Why should we care about strangers we have no relationship with?”

“I’m not talking about people I pass on the street. Classmates, sunbaes, juniors. There are a lot of people I’m entangled with at school. Rumors are already spreading here and there that I have a handsome friend, so imagine if I went around reeking of your pheromones.”

Seowon scribbled a meaningless doodle on the corner of the paper.

“Being misunderstood is uncomfortable.”

At some point, Junghoo had crossed his arms and was listening to Seowon. His expression was one of scrutinizing whether Seowon really meant it without any hidden motive or if there was something else.

Seowon, armed with shamelessness, met Junghoo’s eyes.

“I’m just asking you to be a little careful with your pheromones, not to get rid of them completely.”

Seowon secretly swallowed, making sure Junghoo wouldn’t notice. The last part remained.

“And… I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here, but once every two months, I need to have some time for self-gratification.”

I’m drawing it out, but you get it, right? It’s that, that. Seowon’s eyes were practically tacking on the rest of the words relentlessly, so Junghoo, as if he understood everything, readily jumped in.