Heavy Rain Chapter 70

“Show him in as soon as he arrives. And have the secretary join us as well.”

Burns, the mayor of this city, Heavy Rain, had sent word that he urgently wanted to meet with Lyle. Since he could roughly guess what the matter was about, Lyle signaled his agreement despite the rather hurried request.

While he proceeded with other business for a moment, the mayor soon entered his office.

“It has been a long time, Chairman Vermouth.”

“It has been a long time.”

Lyle briefly organized his documents and guided the mayor to a table on one side. Having entered with a somewhat excited face, the man took a sip of the tea the secretary brought in and hastily unburdened his business.

“I heard that the main Vermouth mansion is going under construction.”

“That is correct.”

As soon as he had arrived at work, his capable secretary had organized the mansion renovation plan and posted a public notice. It was a procedure to recruit experts.

When the mayor called in a flurry shortly after the notice was posted, Lyle vaguely guessed that his business would be related to this.

“Looking at the notice you posted, it appears to be a very large-scale project.”

“I did not realize that a mere renovation concerning my private space would be enough to bring the mayor himself all the way here.”

“Ahem, it is not like that. How could you say you overlooked the symbolism regarding the Vermouth mansion?”

At Lyle’s cynical tone, which offered no roundabout pleasantries, the mayor awkwardly took another sip of the tea in front of him. Lyle watched the man—who took care of his appearance as a politician should—with a stoic expression before glancing briefly at the watch on his wrist.

“It is not just a simple repair but seems to be a structural change of an entire building; as you know, the Vermouth ancestral home is a cultural heritage site of this city, is it not?”

Indeed, the Vermouth mansion was an ancestral home built over two hundred years ago. The Vermouth family had settled in this city even longer ago than that. Because they had consistently performed renovations in between, there were no difficulties in living there, but from a distance, it looked like a massive castle.

The city occasionally bothered Vermouth under the pretext of cultural heritage management. For the most part, it was nothing more than elegant extortion to squeeze out more political funds, but sometimes they did make efforts for the sake of the historic home’s scenery. As a metropolis where only the economic sector had developed to an extreme, they were in a position where they lacked proper tourist attractions.

The problem was that even if his mansion was treated as cultural heritage, it was not a subject for the mayor to personally visit and offer clumsy interference.

He had heard the mayor was meeting frequently with Uncle Daniel and the clan council lately; were they plotting something bothersome?

“What I mean is, please think of this not as overstepping interference but as a heart for the city…”

“Is that how you think?”

“Ahem, of course.”

Whether he was unpleasant that his words were cut off in the middle, the mayor coughed repeatedly. It was as if he wanted to express his displeasure skillfully like a politician. Of course, there was likely a part of him that disregarded the young chairman in front of him.

“I understand.”

“…Ah, yes. Thank you for listening.”

Perhaps having arrived full of tension, he stammered an answer in a daze when Lyle responded unexpectedly readily. Ignoring all those reactions, Lyle glanced back at his watch again.

“Actually, I have another meeting soon.”

“Ah. I have committed an impoliteness by holding up such a busy person. Since I intruded urgently, I should clear out of your way quickly.”

“I won’t see you out.”

Whether he felt he had achieved his goal, the mayor stood up with a bright smile as if he had never been frowning. Lyle stoically shook the hand offered to him once and naturally cast his gaze toward the door.

Even as he walked hurriedly out of the room as if being kicked out, the mayor seemed not to have noticed this subtle situation.

“Shall I cancel the mansion renovations?”

Only the secretary, who had watched the scene from the side, asked while feeling a strange lingering discomfort. Lyle, who rubbed his hand with a handkerchief as soon as the mayor disappeared from the office, threw it into the trash can without lingering attachment and replied.

“No. Change the political party we support.”

“…The supported party.”

“Yes.”

“…”

As if there was nothing more to say, Lyle nodded. It meant he was free to leave.

Having gained more work again, the secretary swallowed a sigh and walked out of the office. However, his steps were quite light. It was because Lyle had recently promised a massive bonus and a salary increase, perhaps recognizing the heavy workload lately.

Behind the secretary’s back, only Lyle’s voice remained, murmuring lowly. It was a somewhat chilly temperature.

“It is about time the mayor changed.”

Lyle continued his thoughts stoically, thinking that it was also about time to trample over the relatives who had been watching and waiting.

“You have arrived. It seems… you were unable to resolve your pheromones.”

The primary physician who greeted him pivoted his words hurriedly as soon as he saw Lyle’s complexion. Because of this frustrating patient who insisted he couldn’t resolve his pheromones despite having imprinted, the doctor had been staying up all night recently looking for research papers.

“There are circumstances, so I cannot do it right now. Is there no other way?”

“I have told you repeatedly that the direct approach is the safest for pheromone resolution.”

“I know. Sometimes one needs a shortcut.”

Watching Lyle’s face as he smiled bitterly, the primary physician let out a sigh. He didn’t know exactly what the circumstances were, but the man would not break his stubbornness. It had been the same when he contacted him by phone out of anxiety over the past few days.

So, he had no choice but to dig through every foreign case study to find a plan.

“I presume sitting in the same space would be possible, wouldn’t it?”

“…Perhaps.”

Since he had been refused the chance to even face him this very morning, Lyle answered without confidence. The primary physician, who watched him with a heavy gaze, spoke firmly.

“There is no other way beyond this. Once you have imprinted, other medications are useless. Perhaps even drugs that forcibly resolve pheromones will no longer work now.”

“…”

Imprinting was an extremely rare case worldwide. It was also a unique bond that occurred only between Alphas and Omegas, which could not be seen in Betas. Some referred to this as a union of souls. It was the reason it appeared exceptionally often in romance movies or books and such.

He didn’t know if souls existed, but the primary physician agreed that this was a bizarre phenomenon that could not be perfectly explained by science regardless.

Imprinting did not mean a great change occurred in daily life. Both the party who imprinted and the partner of the imprint could feel the pheromones of all other people as usual.

The problem, however, was in cases of one-sided imprinting like Lyle’s. The one who has imprinted can only perform the physical union for pheromone resolution with the imprint partner. Furthermore, even if pheromone resolution is not the goal, the cells of the body gradually die off if the partner’s pheromones are not present periodically.

In short, it was nothing but a destructive bond for only the party who had imprinted.

“Sit in the same space and receive a pheromone shower. You must do it for at least one hour a day.”

Setting down the paper he was holding, the doctor rubbed his tired temples. If imprinting were even a slightly more common phenomenon, laws would certainly have been enacted to protect those who have imprinted. This is because if the imprint partner refuses to provide pheromones, the person will soon wither and die.

The mechanism of how imprinting occurs was still largely unclear.

“Hmm… Is that possible even for a recessive type?”

“It should be possible. If not, you must at least have continuous contact with positive pheromones. It is an interim measure at best.”

A pheromone shower and positive pheromones. There was truly no obstacle like this. Lyle narrowed his eyes and fell into thought about how on earth he was supposed to tell Haejin about this outrageous proposal.

“The best thing is still to actively perform pheromone resolution.”

Though his words were not being heeded, the primary physician emphasized it repeatedly to fulfill his duty as a doctor. As expected, Lyle didn’t even listen and asked about the necessary part.

“By any chance, can the partner also know that I have imprinted?”

“Have you really not told him yet?”

“Just answer.”