Correction Chapter 70

“It’s okay. You don’t need to feel guilty.”

At those words, Jungmin felt a surge of emotion and deliberately brushed away Shinwoo’s hand that was stroking his head.

“It’s not guilt, it’s worry.”

“Thank you.”

“Hyung. If you’re okay with it, can you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“Can you tell me what happened? What went on?”

If he knew the process, perhaps he could find a way.

“You’re curious?”

“I am. But it’s not a light curiosity.”

“I know. Well… it’s not a pleasant story to listen to. And you might be disappointed in me.”

“I already heard you did drugs, so what more could there be.”

“Haha. That’s true.”

Shinwoo sighed and clasped his hands together tightly. Then, as if he had made up his mind, he continued his story from after he left the twins.

The beginning was no different from what he had said at the hospital a while ago. He had entered medical school in America and learned about pheromone research and clinical trials involving alphas and omegas. As it happened, there was a clinical trial for alphas, and he participated in it, only to develop pheromone hypersensitivity as a side effect.

In his distress, he started using drugs, and when the school found out, he was expelled. When his parents learned of this, Yoo Shinwoo’s mother came to America to help him through rehab, and he managed to quit the drugs, but the pheromone hypersensitivity was not resolved.

“After looking around, I found out there was a school in the UK researching a drug for pheromone hypersensitivity. I sent them an email, and they asked if I could help with their research right away. They said I was a rare case. Pheromone hypersensitivity is usually congenital, and nearly 90 percent of cases are betas, whereas mine was acquired and I have a trait. Without any need for hesitation, I went to the UK immediately. There, I inevitably underwent clinical trials on my own body again, but… this one showed some progress. A drug was developed that, like an allergy medicine, would allow me to live a normal life for a few hours after taking it.”

“So that’s the medicine you said back then… the one you have to take three times a day.”

“That’s right. If I don’t take that medicine on time, even a small amount of pheromone can cause a shock reaction like that time….”

“Does that medicine have any side effects?”

“It does.”

“What… what is it?”

“It makes me notice pheromones more sensitively. Usually, when you take a suppressant, your pheromone level becomes 1, right? But for me, I started to feel that 1 as a 5. The doctor you saw at the cafe back then must have had extremely faint pheromones.”

That was true. His colleague had said his pheromones were leaking, but in truth, Jungmin hadn’t felt anything at all. It was probably a level that only the person himself could detect.

“But I felt it strongly. The effects of the medicine I had taken before were also wearing off at that time, so it all coincided. That’s why I collapsed from the hypersensitivity back then.”

“My god….”

Jungmin placed a hand on his forehead and bowed his head. It was despair. There were no other words to describe it.

“Then shouldn’t you be staying in the UK? Why did you come to Korea?”

“There are three reasons.”

“Three reasons?”

“First, the professor who was in charge of my case was transferred to Korea. To the hospital where you are. Second, a new research institute for pheromone hypersensitivity is being established at your hospital, led by that same professor. While studying me, they found that the symptoms differ between Asians and Westerners. So the pharmaceutical company realized that separate research on Asians was necessary. And the third… hoo, this is the biggest reason. I mentioned that the way I perceive pheromones is different from normal people. Westerners don’t hide their pheromones. They emit them so boldly, it’s unbearable. They even wear pheromone perfumes on top of that. So I reached a point where I couldn’t stand it anymore. It’s less severe in Korea, at least.”

He could understand. Jungmin had also gone to the West several times for academic conferences and had struggled on multiple occasions because of how openly they released their pheromones. It was even mixed with the smell of marijuana, so he had to wear a blocking mask all day.

“Selfish, isn’t it?”

Shinwoo asked Jungmin with a complex yet relieved expression after finishing his story.

“I ended up like this because of my own greed, and yet I came to this country for my own sake again. Even I think it’s pathetic.”

“That’s not true. I don’t think so.”

“Back then and now… you’re always the only one who believes in everything I do. That’s why I always thought I had to show you a good side of me. I was always careful, trying not to stray even a little from the right path. Because you were always watching.”

And that gaze was probably not what his hyung wanted.

“I’m sorry. It was my fault. I… back then, I… hyung….”

If only he hadn’t made that mistake back then. If only he hadn’t held his hyung out of greed…. He shouldn’t have confessed those feelings. In the end, it was his own greed that had messed everything up. I should have given up on my feelings sooner. I was punished for trying to have something I couldn’t.

As Jungmin clutched his head in anguish, Shinwoo stood up, sat down next to him, and patted him gently.

“We were just too young, you and I. It’s the same now. Everyone fails, and only then do they realize and learn. So it’s not your fault, and it’s not my fault. We just made a small mistake, that’s all.”

Shinwoo’s eyes fell on the bookshelf. And in the middle of that bookshelf were Jungmin’s childhood photos, graduation photos, and family photos. Among the several pictures, he could also see one of himself, Youngmin, and Jungmin. All three of them.

A past to which they could never return. But even if he could go back to that past, he felt he would make the same choice. So he decided not to regret it anymore. He would just struggle not to make the same mistake again.

“I really didn’t want to show you this side of me, you know.”

Shinwoo said with a laugh. Jungmin let out a small smile.

“You’re disappointed in me, aren’t you?”

“No, I just thought that you’re a person just like me, hyung.”

“I was always a person, though?”

“I guess so….”

Back then, he had seemed so high up. He felt like someone he could never reach… so he thinks he was even more desperate. But now, he could be held in his hands like this. And now, he felt like they were on the same level.

“So, can you continue to receive treatment in Korea, hyung?”

“For now… I’ve been arranged to continue receiving the medication. And I’ll keep helping with the experiments. I have to do what I can. For the sake of others, too.”

“Ah, by any chance, are my pheromones okay?”

Jungmin shot up in surprise. Even though he was on suppressants, he was worried. Shinwoo grabbed Jungmin’s wrist.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry.”

“But…. Should I spray some more neutralizer?”

“This room is already full of your pheromones.”

“Ah, hyung. You need to leave right now—.”

“Jungmin, it’s really okay. Don’t worry. And strangely….”

Shinwoo suddenly stopped talking and seemed to be thinking about something.

“Hyung?”

“No. It’s nothing. It’s just fine. Now, tell me about yourself. How have you been?”

Shinwoo quickly changed the subject. Worried that he might be hiding that he wasn’t feeling well, he observed him discreetly, but thankfully, there seemed to be no major issues. Still, just in case, Jungmin moved to sit opposite him.

Jungmin began to tell Shinwoo the stories he was curious about. However, he didn’t mention the story of Soohan, who had briefly come and gone from his heart one day. Not because he wanted to hide it, but because it was his own painful memory. A thing of the past that he didn’t want to let go of so easily.

After Shinwoo left, Jungmin once again researched pheromone hypersensitivity. Then, he suddenly remembered the research institute that Shinwoo had mentioned was being established within the hospital.

“That research institute….”

It was the institute being established in collaboration with Karl Front. He hadn’t heard of any other research institute being built, so he was sure of it. He searched for the research institute in the UK and checked its parent company, and he definitely saw the name Karl Front.

“Ha.”

He knew it was unavoidable. That Karl Front was the largest corporation in the world researching all trait-related drugs…. So naturally, they would conduct this kind of research too. Thinking of Shinwoo, he was grateful for this lifeline he could grasp onto, yet he felt a sense of unease.

Was it because of Kim Joohwan? Whether it was a coincidence or not, he didn’t know why he was connected to everything. It was as if Kim Joohwan had prepared all of this from the very beginning.