Ch 46

“What do you mean by that?”

Despite barely having enough time to search for Ji-an, Ideun had come to the hospital at Rowoon’s call, casually tossing the file in his hand onto the table.

“There’s something wrong with his pheromones.”

“Who?”

“Ji-an. While conducting additional tests on him, you should get tested too.”

“Are you saying the imprint is breaking?”

“We need to run more tests to know for sure. But has Ji-an been acting strange recently?”

“I don’t have time for this, Lee Rowoon. And neither Ji-an nor I are in a situation to be getting tested right now. Is there another problem with Seo Ji-an’s health?”

Running a hand roughly through his hair, Ideun finally tore his gaze away from the monitor and met Rowoon’s eyes.

“…When was the first time you and Ji-an were together?”

“Early December.”

If it wasn’t something urgent, he could have just said it over the phone. Yet Rowoon insisted he come all the way to the hospital just to ask this? Annoyed, Ideun checked the time and responded immediately.

“Ji-an came to our hospital in mid-December, and a few days ago, we took a blood sample from him at your place.”

“Just get to the point.”

“Do you know when Ji-an imprinted?”

“…How the hell would I know that? Is this why you called me here?”

“Yes. Bring Ji-an in as soon as possible. Today would be best. Have his mild fever and cold symptoms improved?”

“No.”

Maybe his base body temperature was naturally high, but his temperature slightly spiked at night, and he wasn’t sleeping properly—his condition was definitely unstable. Come to think of it, he hadn’t been taking his medicine properly. Knowing Ji-an’s personality, he wouldn’t have taken it diligently on his own, and when Ideun searched the house earlier, the pill bottles were still full.

In this freezing weather, with his condition worsening… On top of that, Ji-an was dressed too lightly for the season. Since he could go straight from his officetel to the subway and from the subway to work without stepping outside, he probably didn’t think he needed a thick winter coat.

All he had was a suit and a thin coat.

“Fuck.”

Muttering a curse under his breath, Ideun sprang to his feet. If he was going to keep running around outside, he should at least be wearing something warm. Just imagining how careless Ji-an was with himself made his stomach twist. He needed to find him as soon as possible instead of wasting time here.

“I’ll make sure he takes his meds and bring him in as soon as I can. So just say what you need to say properly. You’re being way too damn vague.”

“Ha, I don’t even know how to put this… It’s about the imprint…”

“Lee Rowoon, stop beating around the bush. What? The imprint won’t break? Is it the pheromones again? I don’t care if the imprint won’t break. You said exposure to other alpha pheromones over time would be enough. If that’s all, I’m leaving.”

With time pressing, Ideun had no patience for playing twenty questions with Rowoon.

“No, no. Don’t let him take the medicine I gave you last time. Until we confirm things through tests, it’s better if he doesn’t take it. If that’s still the case, I’ll prescribe something else for now…”

“Stop talking in circles and just say it straight.”

Suppressing his growing irritation, Ideun glared down at Rowoon, who was hesitating.

“Ji-an’s pheromones and hormones—nothing about them is normal, so it’s difficult to compare him to typical cases. But one thing is certain. His imprint is still intact. The one he imprinted on…”

“…”

Does he even know who he imprinted on?

Ji-an’s words echoed in Ideun’s mind—”You’ll never be able to break it.”

Shaking his head slightly, Ideun exhaled. Breaking an imprint wasn’t easy to begin with. And considering Ji-an had no feelings for him, it was probably even harder. The image of Ji-an’s nape, which Ideun had mercilessly marked, flashed in his mind, making his stomach churn.

So, in the end, it wasn’t him?

“But are you really okay?”

“Just keep talking. My head already hurts.”

“I’m not completely sure yet, but…”

Rowoon observed Ideun’s expression carefully while subtly moving his hand. It didn’t take long for omega pheromones to spread in the small consultation room.

“Hey, what the hell is that smell? It’s disgusting. Is the pheromone purification system broken?”

Before Rowoon could say anything more, Ideun frowned, visibly uncomfortable, and glanced up at the perfectly functioning purification system. Rowoon quickly closed the lid of the container he had opened.

“It looks like you imprinted on him.”

A dominant alpha who instinctively showed immediate aversion to the pheromones of another omega in heat. Rowoon spoke firmly as he observed Ideun’s reaction.

As Ideun had said, the scent had barely spread before the purification system cleared it, yet in that short moment, Ideun had noticed. An alpha who had imprinted on an omega would feel repulsed by the pheromones of any other omega.

Further testing was needed for confirmation, but the simplest and most direct test had already given them one answer. Ideun had imprinted on an omega. Given the circumstances, it was unlikely that Ideun had imprinted on anyone else.

Which meant he had imprinted on Ji-an.

Whether Ji-an’s imprint had broken or not could only be confirmed once he came in, so Rowoon couldn’t say for sure. Had Ji-an’s imprint broken, allowing Ideun to imprint on him? Or was Ji-an’s imprint still intact while Ideun had imprinted on him separately? There was no way to tell yet.

Rowoon hesitated, weighing his words carefully.

“…Are you saying I imprinted on Seo Ji-an?”

“If he’s the only omega you’ve bitten and attempted to imprint on within the past month, then yes.”

“What about Ji-an’s imprint?”

“We can only find out if he comes in for testing.”

“This is insane. We’ll talk about that later. There’s something else more urgent right now.”

Ideun clenched his fists, closed his eyes for a moment as if deep in thought, then turned around as if he had nothing more to hear. Seeing that, Rowoon stopped trying to put his thoughts into words.

“Choi Ideun. You need to carefully manage Ji-an’s condition. You know how weak he is. He might be even more unstable now because of your pheromones. So make sure he doesn’t take any medicine carelessly, and if he refuses to come here, at least take him to another omega center. As soon as possible.”

And that was all Rowoon could say for now.

It was a very slight change in levels, but a hormone found only in certain omegas had been detected. As time passed, the hormone levels would show noticeable patterns, and in a few weeks, they would be visible to the naked eye. Or they might degrade early and disappear. And this was something Ji-an, not Ideun, needed to know first. After all, the decision was his to make.

As Ideun left Rowoon’s office and headed to where he assumed Ji-an would be, his mind was more tangled than ever. Ji-an’s sudden disappearance, his own unexpected imprinting, and Secretary Baek.

Tapping his fingers against the steering wheel, Ideun cursed when he saw white flakes falling one by one from the sky. Snow, on top of everything? He hoped it would just be a light flurry, but the snowfall thickened over time, eventually forcing him to stop at a rest area to put on tire chains.

He had only ever considered breaking the imprint, never the possibility that he would imprint on someone himself. If it had been mutual imprinting, maybe—but Ji-an was someone’s, and he… had imprinted on Ji-an. They said imprinting was difficult, yet it had happened so easily that it felt hollow.

As he secured the chains at the repair shop and checked over his car, Ideun watched the steadily thickening snowfall. His gaze soon landed on a couple, doting on each other with warmth. Meeting someone naturally, liking them naturally, and being together like everyone else… had that always been such a difficult thing?

“Are we even going to make it through this? Ugh, I was really looking forward to that pension stay.”

“We should be fine. It might just be heavy in this area. We’ll go as far as we can, and if it gets too bad, we’ll turn back.”

“But I’ve been waiting for this trip forever!”

Unintentionally overhearing their conversation, Ideun sighed and downed the rest of his coffee. At least they had the option of turning back. He, on the other hand, had to get out of here before the blizzard warning shut down the roads completely. There was no next time for him.

“We can always go on another trip later. You and the baby come first.”

 “Which is why we have to hurry. Our baby wants to get to the pension and rest already.”

As he walked toward the repair shop, Ideun glanced at the couple passing by. More precisely, at the person rubbing their completely flat stomach while insisting, “It’s true! If you don’t believe me, ask the baby.” Without hearing their conversation, he wouldn’t have known they were pregnant.

Watching them indifferently, Ideun tossed his empty coffee cup into a trash bin and stepped inside the repair shop.

Eavesdropping on strangers wasn’t his hobby, and every second counted for him right now. The snow showed no signs of stopping, and traffic was slowing down. Those who had prepared with chains, like himself, might manage, but he occasionally spotted others scrambling to put them on by the roadside, having realized too late.

His team was sweeping up from the bottom, checking their way upward, so his first stop was the bus stop with the broken CCTV. And Secretary Baek… despite saying he would compile and send over the data as quickly as possible, he had yet to contact him.

Honestly, Ideun didn’t trust him. The situation was just too urgent, and he needed any help he could get—even from a cat’s paw. Since he had told Secretary Baek about Ji-an’s disappearance, the old man had probably heard about it by now.

Blood relative or not, the man still belonged to that old bastard.

At the very least, the old man knew Ji-an was missing. He was probably pleased. Maybe he had even stopped Secretary Baek from taking any action.

As his car slowed further, Ideun’s thoughts grew more chaotic. Ji-an wouldn’t be stuck outside in this cold, would he? There had been no reports of his departure yet, meaning he was still somewhere in the country.

The sedans ahead of him were starting to skid and slide off to the side. He just had to get past this pass—after that, the road wouldn’t be so bad. For now, he had to trust his four-wheel-drive Jeep and focus on driving.

***

“Wow, Grandma, the snow is…”

“It’s cold. Don’t stay out there—come inside. Want some steamed corn?”

“What? No! I just ate!”

Startled by his grandmother’s words, Ji-an dropped the snow he had been packing together and turned around.

“You barely ate anything.”

Barely ate? He had slept in until midday, warmed by the heat rising from the floor, and woken up to breakfast before he could even rub the sleep from his eyes. A simple spread of side dishes, beef radish soup, and a fried egg had filled him up completely, yet he hadn’t even managed to finish a third of the rice his grandmother had piled high for him.

Sure, he didn’t eat much, but it was mostly because she had given him such a large portion. After that, she had fussed over his cough and made him yuzu tea. He had already consumed more than half of his usual daily intake just at breakfast, leaving him feeling bloated enough to come outside and move around for a bit.

When he had woken up yesterday morning, the sun had also been high in the sky, and he hadn’t been able to refuse the meal his grandmother had prepared. Just as he had finished eating and was about to leave, his grandfather had asked if he wanted to see the calves, and before he knew it, he had ended up at the barn.

And then, when his grandfather had asked if he wanted to try feeding them, he had fed them milk. Nearly got knocked over by their strength, too, only for his grandfather to catch him at the last second. After lingering around with his grandfather and the workers, he had finally returned to the house, only to be told to wash up because he smelled like the barn. And when he came out… dinner was already set.

He had meant to leave then. But apparently, the last bus had already stopped running.

So, he had ended up staying another night. And now, after waking up and having yet another meal, there was a blizzard. He had tried insisting he would go, but his grandmother had told him the buses weren’t running because of the snow and that he should wait until the roads cleared. Dazed, he had simply nodded.

“You don’t want corn? How about roasted sweet potatoes?”

Ji-an hesitated at the mention of sweet potatoes, even though he had barely rolled snow for five minutes after finishing his yuzu tea.

“N-no, thank you!”

“Not that either? Hmm… maybe I should make some kimchi pancakes since it’s snowing.”

“Grandma. I just ate.”

“You barely ate anything! No wonder you’re always so weak. I’ll take care of it, so just come inside and warm up.”

With a wave of her hand, as if ending the conversation, his grandmother disappeared into the kitchen. Ji-an stared at her, dumbfounded, before shivering as a cold gust of wind hit him.

He had only been standing outside for a short while, yet snow had already piled up on his hair, shoulders, and arms.

He had meant to make a snowman, but… snow had never brought good memories for him. It was cold, slippery, and treacherous once it froze over. But watching the snow fall, untouched and piling up softly outside a warm home, had drawn him out here in the first place.