Seo Jeong-won gave a weak smile.
He could feel the fever slowly leaving his body.
“Did I catch a cold? That air conditioner is so old, the temperature control doesn’t work properly.”
“Is that so? It was fine during the summer though…”
“It’s too old. It’s time to throw it out. Honestly, we should just toss everything here. It’s all old and broken.”
Kang Da-hyun, who had helped Seo Jeong-won stand and brought him to the bathroom, leaned against the doorway and chattered endlessly.
Arms crossed, he kept complaining about Kwon Tae-hee.
“Seriously, being that handsome is the only thing he’s got going for him.”
“I’m telling you, he’s got problems—personality-wise or something. No one’s perfect, Jeong-won. You think like this because you’ve never dated. But there’s always something wrong, no matter what it is.”
Eventually, he went from gossiping to outright slander.
“Hey, what if he has anger management issues? He looks calm and composed, right? Like someone who never gets angry. But maybe when he snaps, he just loses it—can’t tell people from objects and breaks everything in sight. Isn’t that scary?”
While brushing his teeth slowly, Seo Jeong-won quietly thought about Kwon Tae-hee.
He was pretty sure he’d seen him get angry before.
Or was that just being displeased?
Either way, it was similar, wasn’t it?
He didn’t seem like the type to smash things.
But like Da-hyun said, you never know with people.
Better to be careful.
“Yeah. That’s… scary.”
When he spat out the white foam in his mouth and replied, Kang Da-hyun nodded emphatically.
“What are you going to do without me? You’re an easy target for scams, you know that?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“How many times have I told you to be careful around people? Especially your first relationship—you have to be extra cautious. A pretty face isn’t everything. Personality matters more, you know? I can’t relax because of you.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
Seo Jeong-won, now finished washing his face, met Kang Da-hyun’s eyes in the mirror.
As he wiped the water off his chin and stared straight at him, his sun-darkened skin turned slightly red.
“I-I’m just saying, okay? Why are you staring at me like that… You’ll give someone a heart attack.”
“Did you do something wrong to me?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why are you flustered?”
Seo Jeong-won laughed as if he’d heard something funny, pulled a towel from the cabinet, and began to firmly press it to his face.
Like a rash blooming on pale skin, red spots spread delicately across his cheekbones.
“Your face is all messed up.”
“It’ll settle down soon.”
Embarrassed, Seo Jeong-won brushed his cheek and let out a soft laugh as he moved.
Telling Da-hyun to wait a moment, he went into his room and lifted his T-shirt.
Da-hyun’s gaze fell on his pale back.
He swore he hadn’t meant to look.
It was Seo Jeong-won’s fault for not even closing the door before undressing.
Red marks were scattered along the softly curved lines of his back, from the shoulder blades downward.
What the hell, seriously…
The words that spun in Da-hyun’s mind—insane, damn, what is that—never formed a complete sentence.
He left such flashy marks behind.
Glancing at the unmistakable evidence of intimacy, Da-hyun slapped his cheek, telling himself not to let his imagination run wild.
***
Seo Jeong-won headed to the largest medical center in the southwest region with Kang Da-hyun.
While half-heartedly responding to Da-hyun’s mountain of worries, he stopped in front of the building, which had a discolored exterior, and declared he would go in alone.
Since the hospital was quite large, they also offered genetic testing.
He needed to check whether he had manifested, but he couldn’t do that with Da-hyun around.
“Parking won’t take long, you know?”
“You’re busy too. Just go. I’m only here to pick up some medicine.”
“Wait, wait! The pheromone neutralizer! You still reek. That guy’s seriously insane, isn’t he?”
Da-hyun pulled a portable pheromone neutralizer from the driver’s side pocket and sprayed it on Seo Jeong-won without warning.
The liquid hissed as it dispersed and soaked into everything.
“Pfft… Thanks.”
“Hey, do you even know what’s wrong with you?”
“Why wouldn’t I know if my body’s not feeling right? Thanks. Go on now.”
Opening the passenger door, Seo Jeong-won quickly got out and waved.
The window rolled down slowly.
“How will you get back?”
“There’s probably a bus.”
“Your face is red.”
“Is it? I think I’m okay.”
Seo Jeong-won lightly touched his cheek with the back of his hand and calmly responded.
He told him once more to just go.
Right then, a car behind them honked its horn.
“Thanks for the ride.”
“Call me, okay? And the moment you go in, ask the front desk if they have pheromone neutralizers. If they do, take more and spray them. Got it? You have to spray.”
“Yeah, yeah, go.”
With a deep sigh that showed how uneasy he still felt, Kang Da-hyun finally drove off.
Seo Jeong-won figured it was better to turn around now than wait for him to disappear from view.
“Drive safe,” he said as he turned away.
From the driver’s seat, Kang Da-hyun muttered something about how cold-hearted and disappointing that was, but Seo Jeong-won ignored it.
He slowly walked through the revolving door.
As Da-hyun had suggested, he stopped by the front desk and sprayed more pheromone neutralizer.
Then, he registered for an internal medicine appointment.
Since it was his first visit, he had to fill out a medical questionnaire.
He was actually relieved.
This way, he wouldn’t have to explain everything out loud right away.
Sitting in front of the department, he answered each question sincerely.
After submitting the form, he had his temperature taken and waited.
There were many people waiting.
After quite some time, his name was finally called.
As Seo Jeong-won stood, feeling his body getting hotter, his phone vibrated in his pocket, but he didn’t check it.
“Hello, Mr. Seo Jeong-won.”
“Hello.”
“What brings you in today?”
“I’ve had a high fever… Even when I take fever reducers, it only drops temporarily and comes back. Could this be… a manifestation?”
Even though no one else was listening, he lowered his voice to ask.
The doctor gave a small smile and began to speak.
“If there was a triggering event, then possibly. On your intake form, you indicated that you’ve recently been in frequent contact with an Alpha.”
Seo Jeong-won covered his eyelids with his now-cold palm.
His entire face felt hot.
He roughly wiped his cheek and lowered his voice, swallowing dryly.
“With these symptoms… there’s no way to know for sure, right?”
“That’s true. Manifestation doesn’t happen easily.”
“Then… is it possible that it’s not?”
His voice lifted slightly. Unconsciously, he was hoping that maybe it wasn’t.
“We’d need to do a test to give you a definitive answer… But I see here that someone in your family has manifested.”
“If it runs in the family…”
“Manifestation is mostly genetic. So that increases the likelihood.”
“Do you know about your partner’s traits?”
“My partner?”
Seo Jeong-won repeated the unfamiliar word, his voice cracking.
He even flinched slightly in surprise.
At his reaction, the doctor tilted their head as if finding it suspicious.
Did he not consider someone he was in a continuous relationship with as a partner?
“Yes, typically when two people meet regularly and maintain a relationship, it’s defined as dating, isn’t it? As lovers or partners.”
Avoiding the doctor’s questioning eyes, Seo Jeong-won nodded.
Though Kwon Tae-hee wasn’t someone he could call a partner, he felt he shouldn’t reveal that here.
Anxious about being caught in a lie, he tried hard to recall Tae-hee’s traits.
Had he ever heard them directly?
Even when Kang Da-hyun had assumed that Tae-hee was dominant, he hadn’t thought to ask.
“I… never asked what his traits were.”
“Hmm, that can happen. Then…”
“Have you ever received a pheromone shower or spent a rut together? Also, could you tell me whether you’ve taken any manifestation suppressants?”
To the mechanical questions the doctor asked while writing something down on the chart, Seo Jeong-won quickly responded.
“I receive pheromone showers regularly. This time… we even spent a rut together. As for suppressants… I didn’t know those existed.”
“Did you perhaps not want to manifest, but were forced to go along with your partner’s demands?”
Despite the gentle voice, the eyes were sharp.
“Receiving an alpha’s rut or knotting in a beta’s body is basically a form of torture. This is a routine question, so please don’t take it the wrong way or feel offended.”
“No, it’s nothing like that. The manifestation… we both… we both wanted it.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
Although the doctor nodded, they didn’t quite erase the suspicion from their face.
When they suggested proceeding with some tests, Seo Jeong-won suddenly spoke up.
“About the pheromones… I… I’m not certain, but I think I smelled them. So just in case, I asked my friend—he’s an alpha too—to release his pheromones. I thought I’d be able to smell them. But at that time, I couldn’t smell anything. Was I mistaken? Does that kind of thing happen?”
His words trailed off more and more as he spoke.
He desperately hoped it had just been a heat-induced misunderstanding.
Sitting across the desk, the doctor began speaking again as Seo Jeong-won fell silent.
“I can only say for certain after the test results come out, but… it can happen if the trait is weak. Assuming that your manifestation was real…”
“If it wasn’t a proper manifestation but rather a forced one, then it’s a very unstable condition. People tend to think alphas and omegas always produce pheromones, can control them freely, and can even detect faint scents. But in your case, it wouldn’t be correct to say you’re in that condition.”