PO 10

“Woojeong-ah.”

Knock knock. After the sound of knocking, the door clicked open. Lee Doyoung poked his head in with a bright smile.

“What were you doing?”

Lee Doyoung asked kindly, and he pushed the door wide. At his side, the man stood with his arm held.

“This is Woojeong’s room.”

“May I come in?”

Woojeong, who stood rigid against the wall, slowly nodded. Han Jaegang inclined his head slightly and stepped inside.

As he entered, a scent brushed past the tip of Woojeong’s nose, and Woojeong blinked rapidly. It was the scent of pheromones. It passed briefly and vanished right away, but it was certainly the man’s pheromone scent.

Lee Doyoung, too busy with the man to notice it, showed no reaction.

“It looks cozy. Hm.”

After giving that short impression, Han Jaegang raised a clenched fist to his mouth and coughed lightly. The cough, which began as he felt some irritation in his throat, didn’t stop. Lee Doyoung held his arm with a worried face.

“Jaegang-ssi, are you unwell?”

“… My throat feels a bit itchy.”

“Is that so? Shall I bring you water?”

“Yes. May I ask for warm water?”

“Of course. Please wait a moment.”

After asking to be excused, Lee Doyoung hurried out of the room. Once he left, Han Jaegang’s cough soon subsided. He stopped the perfunctory cough and lowered the hand that had covered his mouth.

“I meant to ask how you have been after such a long time, but you don’t look well.” Even though only one more person had entered, the room somehow felt smaller. Han Jaegang quietly looked around the room. His face was so composed that one might suspect he had feigned the cough only to send Lee Doyoung away.

Since there was little to see in the modest space, the man’s gaze stopped at Woojeong’s desk. He stepped closer to it and stretched out his hand, brushing his fingertips over the books neatly arranged on the shelf.

“Are you interested in this field?”

He asked casually as he pulled out a book. It was a book that contained information on metal craft and metal design.

“…Yes.”

“Unexpected. I didn’t think you would be interested in something like this.” In a manner at odds with his words, he flipped through the pages without care and then returned the book to its place. With his hand still on the desk, he turned, and his gaze turned cold.

The man closed in without warning and reached out. With his large hand, he cupped Woojeong’s chin and touched the cut on his lip with his thumb. When Woojeong tried to draw back, the man seized his arm.

“Why is your face like this?”

“I, I just fell…”

Han Jaegang tilted his head slightly and brushed back Woojeong’s fringe. Woojeong lowered his head in alarm, but Han Jaegang’s hand went straight to the greenish bruise. When Woojeong flinched from the slight pain, his eyes narrowed and his look hardened.

“Did you fight with someone?”

“What?”

“It bothers me. Tell me who laid a hand on you.”

Woojeong couldn’t understand why he was showing concern over his wound. Even though the man’s words sounded angry, Woojeong continued glancing nervously toward the door.

Lee Doyoung, who had gone to bring water, would return soon. If he saw them standing this close together, Woojeong didn’t know what might happen.

“That person in the garden earlier, that was you, Woojeong-ssi?”

“Ah…?”

“You could have at least said hello.”

Woojeong was startled at his words. The person who had stood at the alley in front of the house had truly been him. Now he understood why he had felt familiar.

Han Jaegang, who seemed not to have spared him a glance then, must already have recognized him.

Woojeong was startled by the man’s sharp eye, but only for a moment, and then he opened his mouth.

“I didn’t know the person my brother is seeing was the Executive Director…, I, that is….”

He wanted to ask since when the man had known about the relationship between his brother and himself, but no words came to him. Just as the man was about to speak, the sound of slippers scraping against the floor began to draw near from afar. Lee Doyoung was returning.

Woojeong, flustered, looked back and forth between Han Jaegang and the door. But it seemed Woojeong was the only one flustered, as Han Jaegang looked down at his lips with leisure.

“You need to put ointment on.”

With a faint smile that seemed meant to reassure Woojeong, Han Jaegang turned toward the open window. The breeze that entered ruffled his hair and cooled the air in the room.

“Jaegang-ssi, here’s the water.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Han Jaegang received the cup Lee Doyoung held out, took a sip, and handed it back. Even though the cough had completely gone, Lee Doyoung fretted over him noisily.

“Are you really alright?”

“Yes. After taking in the outdoor air, I feel much better.”

“I was worried, so I’m relieved.”

Fortunately, Lee Doyoung paid no mind to the fact that Woojeong had been alone with the man. The faint trace of pheromone scent that lingered in the air had also disappeared entirely. The man shut the window firmly and conveyed his intention to Lee Doyoung.

“I need to leave now.”

“Already?”

“I have to go into the company.”

“At this hour again? You came back from a business trip today, shouldn’t you rest? And we haven’t seen each other for so long… We hardly saw each other’s faces because you were so busy.”

With a face full of regret, Lee Doyoung clung to his arm. Han Jaegang glanced at his watch to show that he had no time, and he added an apology.

“Let’s talk as we go down. I enjoyed seeing the room.”

Han Jaegang, with Lee Doyoung complaining that it had been about half a month since they last met, left the room with him. He gave Woojeong a brief look of farewell and closed the door himself.

Woojeong, left alone again in the quiet room, crouched down on the floor. Pressing his chest, he calmed his breath for a moment, and then he went to his desk. As he tried to put back the book that Han Jaegang had taken out, he found a business card resting on the books beside it.

[Han Se Corporation Han Jaegang 010-######]

Woojeong looked down at the scrap of paper smaller than his palm for a moment, and then he slipped it between the books and hid it in the row. His heart pounded. Both the card and the beating heart felt like things that must not be found out by anyone else.

•••

Lee Doyoung, who had gone out to see Han Jaegang off to the alley before the house, returned earlier than expected. Kang Eonju, who had nearly worn her eyes out waiting, hurried to ask him about how it went. Lee Doyoung said he needed to catch his breath and moved to the sofa in the living room.

“Lee Woojeong. Come sit here.”

He sat down with a plop and called Woojeong. Woojeong, who had been about to carry a bottle of water upstairs, hesitated. Lee Doyoung tapped the seat beside him telling him to sit.

When Kang Eonju came last and sat on the sofa, the four of them were gathered in the living room for once. After asking for a cold coffee to be brought from the kitchen, Lee Doyoung turned his body toward Woojeong.

“Earlier, when I went to get water, what did you and Jaegang-ssi talk about?”

Woojeong’s heart missed a beat, and he studied Lee Doyoung’s face first. He worried that maybe he was asking because he knew something, but Lee Doyoung was smiling. His tone wasn’t harsh either. Realizing it was just simple curiosity, Woojeong let out a small sigh of relief.

“He only looked around the room.”

“Nothing else? He didn’t ask about me?”

“…No.”

“Really?”

Woojeong, who nodded in reply, clasped his hands together. The conversation he had shared with Han Jaegang in the room was something he couldn’t tell anyone. Lee Doyoung laughed and turned his body back.

“Well, what could that man possibly have to say to you? Anyway, you did well today too.”

“What did Executive Director Han say? Did he look like he liked the atmosphere of our house?”

“I think so. He told me to tell Mother thank you for the dinner, and he said he would contact us and that we should meet again.”

“That is a relief. You don’t know how much I worried because of Executive Director Han coming, I even lost sleep every night. Did he say anything about inviting you to his home?”

“Mother, please. I told you if you rush like that, things that might have worked won’t.”

Kang Eonju, who had spoken with one lowered note while the guest was present, had regained her original tone. Her loud voice had also returned.

“What did Father think? You talked a lot with him earlier.”

Lee Doyoung was confident as he asked after his father’s opinion. Lee Iljun, who had taken off his glasses and set them down, also wore a satisfied look.

“At first I thought, since he was family, he must have gotten that executive seat. But it wasn’t only because of bloodline that he sat there. He has insight into how the world works and an excellent eye for reading the current flow. Of course, since he grew up under that strict Chairman, it is only natural he grew up as a tiger’s cub.”

“You mean you are pleased with him?”

“There is no need to say it twice.”

It seemed that even with only a brief encounter, Lee Iljun felt a strong liking for Han Jaegang. Once he left, Lee Doyoung caught Kang Eonju and lowered his voice.

“Mother. Before anything else, we need to do something about him. Earlier when Jaegang-ssi asked him something, his face went red, and I almost died. I don’t want us to get dragged down because of him.”

“Mother will take care of it, so don’t worry.”

Kang Eonju cut him off and lifted her coffee cup with grace. In any case, Woojeong was someone she could keep under her control as much as she wished.

She only had to keep him quietly at home so he wouldn’t harbor vain thoughts, and then either marry him off into a suitable family or send him abroad.

There were plenty of alphas around who would covet a young and pretty omega, so all Kang Eonju needed was to pick one who would bring her gain.

•••

“The drug is strong, so it puts strain on the body. You should stay lying down a bit longer before rising.”

The injection that affected the entire pheromone system was strong, and the dosage was high, so it wore the body down.

Kim Junghyun pulled away the cotton that had been pressed to the spot where the needle had been withdrawn and let out a small sigh. Before he could even finish telling him to rest longer, Han Jaegang raised his body.

Han Jaegang dropped his feet to the floor from the bed and straightened the sleeve he had rolled up, and he stared at Kim Junghyun. With that unspoken pressure telling him to bring out the test results quickly, Kim Junghyun handed over the file he had prepared in advance.

“Here it is.”

Han Jaegang couldn’t read the full medical chart from the pheromone center, but he could check several figures for certain items. So Kim Junghyun showed him the whole test paper and then added explanation, fitting the taste of a demanding VIP patient.

“The main figures were really right at the brink of overflow, but now they have gone down below your usual level. The result of the heart ultrasound is not bad either. With figures like this, you must have felt your body become different than usual, how was it?”

“Well. When that person was near me and left, I think I slept well.”

“So it was like that.”

Kim Junghyun nodded in agreement. It had truly been a long time since Han Jaegang’s test figures, which had only worsened without end, had drawn a graph of such improvement.

Even though he had served as his doctor and taken care of him all this time, the existence of a dominant alpha was still something Kim Junghyun could not understand. It was hard to explain with ordinary sense.

Looking only at the figures, Han Jaegang was in a state where living a normal life had been impossible.

Especially the problem with his heart had already been grave enough to push him across the threshold of life and death several times, and the decline of his extraordinarily heightened sensory functions compared to others was another great problem.

Because of that, Han Jaegang had barely managed to endure with injections of medicine that had even stronger concentration. If he had been an ordinary alpha, he might not have been able to live an ordinary life at all.

Han Jaegang endured the side effects of the high-dose pheromone regulator with his stamina and willpower. Even though he received intensive special management from the pheromone center, the fact that he lived without showing it outwardly was remarkable.

But maintaining his current condition and curing it were entirely different matters. Although Han Jaegang’s body looked fine at a glance, it constantly sent warning signals that it had already reached its limit.

“You said there has been no physical contact, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And no rejection response to pheromones either?”

Han Jaegang nodded in reply. As Kim Junghyun checked his chart again, he let out a small sound of admiration.

It hadn’t been long since he heard from Joo Yeongmo that Han Jaegang was meeting an omega. Since he had long discarded the option of involving an omega in Han Jaegang’s treatment, Kim Junghyun couldn’t hide his astonishment at the improved condition of his body.

“Even if it is temporary, the figures shifting this much make me wonder what use research on treatment drugs has. I now see why professors say over seventy percent of pheromone disease treatment depends on partner compatibility.”

“……”

“But how absurd is it that a person with pheromone blockage shows rejection response to the pheromones of the very omega he is supposed to interact with?”

People with traits stimulated one another with pheromones, and they were stimulated by them. It was something entirely natural for them.

But Han Jaegang showed rejection response to others’ pheromones. He was especially sensitive to scents, and he showed immediate bodily reactions to rut pheromones.

Headaches and mild nausea were the basics, and if unlucky, it often led to pain in his heart.

All this time, Han Jaegang had been a major research subject at the pheromone center. The entire medical staff devoted themselves to solving the pheromone blockage that had developed in a dominant alpha, but so far they had achieved no notable results.

“Interaction between people with traits is truly difficult to explain. It is not something that comes out in figures either. Well, so….”

At first, when Han Jaegang said that whenever he was with a certain omega, his condition seemed to change, Kim Junghyun had tilted his head. He doubted whether such an effect could really exist. But after seeing the changed state of Han Jaegang with his own eyes, he found it curious.

“What if we bring that person and run tests together? We might find an unexpected solution.”

If they examined the condition of the omega who influenced Han Jaegang, they might discover an answer. Kim Junghyun asked carefully, but Han Jaegang stood up from his seat without answering.

“What, you are leaving already? You said you just returned from an overseas business trip not long ago. Since you had your injection, why don’t you stay admitted today, rest, and recover your condition?”

With a dose this strong, even after resting three or four days recovery was uncertain. So it would have been better if he stayed at least half a day, but Han Jaegang was not someone who followed his doctor’s advice.

“As long as rut doesn’t come, there won’t be trouble.”

“For now, yes, but who can be sure of that?”

“And after filling me with that vicious medicine, now you say this?”

The one thing they had to prevent was rut. If it was not suppressed in advance, his heart might explode, but Han Jaegang didn’t even blink an eye at the threat.

Han Jaegang put on his jacket, strapped the watch he had set aside back on his wrist, picked up his phone, and slid it into his pocket.

After brushing back and tidying his hair, he no longer looked like someone who had just been lying on a bed receiving intravenous fluid.

People envied the fact that despite his short career, Kim Junghyun had become Han Jaegang’s doctor, but in truth it wasn’t a position to envy.

He had to bear the constant worry and pressure from those around Han Jaegang, and managing the patient himself, who refused to listen, was also a headache. It was only because they had a private bond as senior and junior beyond doctor and patient that he had even a little breathing room.

“Can I go now?”

“Yes, sunbae.”

Unable to resist his human curiosity beyond his role as physician, Kim Junghyun asked at Han Jaegang’s back as he turned away.

“But how did you find the other person? You have no interest in people.”

Han Jaegang paused in his steps, stood for a moment, then turned back and replied.

“…I didn’t find him, he suddenly came rushing in.”

“What?”

Kim Junghyun, who looked at him with a blank face, furrowed his brow. He seemed to think it was an insincere answer.

“My interest came after that, and I’ll go.”

“Yes. I will send your next appointment date to Secretary Joo.”

Han Jaegang raised his hand carelessly and left the consultation room.

Lee Woojeong made him feel as if he had drunk iced water with lime juice squeezed in.

In the midst of the people around Han Jaegang who were full of stifling and sticky feelings, it was a refreshing sensation he rarely encountered.