Pheromone Off Chapter 37

࣪˖ ִֶָ🍇་༘

In truth, the existence named Kwon Sabin was quite comfortable. He was the only person Hajin spoke casually with, and to someone like him who had lived with Seong Suhyun and Seong Yeonwoo, Sabin was a person whose intentions were completely transparent, making him easy to deal with despite being a bit bothersome. Whether he was angry or annoyed, his emotions were displayed entirely on his face, and since he was the only one around of the same age, Hajin secretly thought of him comfortably in a corner of his mind.

However, back in their school days, Hajin purposefully did not act like he knew him. He figured that if he was known to be acquainted with a guy who was famous in many ways, things would get noisy around him for better or worse. And he considered that it would also be more comfortable for Kwon Sabin if they didn’t act close.

But school life flowed differently from his expectations.

‘Hey, hey. I heard you’re Seong Yeonwoo’s brother?’

Of course, it wasn’t only Kwon Sabin who was famous. In this school where only the wealthy had come for generations, there was no one who didn’t know that he was the youngest child of Seongsan. Because of that, it was only natural to get entangled with the publicly famous Seong Yeonwoo. Seong Yeonwoo was, in a word, the immovable ideal type for Alphas. Despite being male, he was born as a rare dominant Omega, and there was more than just a couple of guys who were bewitched by his appearance, which didn’t even compare to an ordinary Omega.

So there were many guys who used that as an excuse to talk to him, and the majority were guys who immorally poked at him.

‘Hey, damn, must be so fucking nice. Don’t you see that Seong Yeonwoo at home every day?’

The majority of those who had as much as one could possess, and even held the trait of being an Alpha, were guys like that. Just like any full-blooded youths of that age, they had an immense interest in things like sleeping together and Omegas. Perhaps because of that, those words they said while snickering didn’t sound pleasant at all.

‘How is it, his pheromones are killer, right? I bet it’s fucking insane.’

‘Hey, this guy doesn’t know about stuff like that. He’s a Beta.’

‘Still, there’s such a thing as a feeling. If it’s someone like Seong Yeonwoo, no matter if he’s the brother—’

“That’s harassment.”

Hajin listened without a word and then nonchalantly shot back. No matter if it was Seong Yeonwoo, there was no reason for him to hear that kind of talk from guys whose names he didn’t even know in this manner, and it was also unpleasant to have Seong Yeonwoo and himself linked like that.

‘What?’

The guy, who asked back as if such a sharp reaction was dumbfounded, immediately shifted his face.

‘I only talked to you because you looked like you were being a pathetic loser all by yourself.’

It was true. Hajin was the child of a concubine, so anyone who needed to know the situation already knew it all, and those around him naturally knew that he was given the cold shoulder. After all, when the Seongsan Group family made appearances at official events, he was never once there. Whether in the news, in economic magazines, or in the media, whenever the story of the Seongsan Group family came up, the mention of him was always zero.

‘Hey, the rumor that you’re a concubine’s brat has already spread all over this place. Are you even aware of that?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Ha, looks like you’re full of yourself just because you carry the Seongsan name, huh? Even though you go around getting beaten up every day. You should be grateful when people talk to you. At least because you’re Seong Yeonwoo’s brother—’

‘Ah, fuck.’

For reference, back then, Kwon Sabin was in the same class as him, and Kwon Sabin was a fellow who had just as little interest in academics as he did. Every day during class time, he would lie down and sleep, look bored while surrounded by friends, or not show up to school at all because of a shoot.

‘If anyone heard you, they’d think Seong Yeonwoo was your friend?’

Whether he woke up from his sleep because it was noisy, Kwon Sabin got up with a listless face and tossed those words toward the guy who kept repeatedly mentioning Seong Yeonwoo, Seong Yeonwoo. Just as the fact that he was a concubine’s child was famous, any family worth their salt also knew that the Seongsan Group and the HK Group shared a close relationship.

‘…That’s not…’

At Kwon Sabin’s single remark, the opponent shrank in an instant. This was the difference. The difference between the child of a legal wife and the child of a concubine. And the difference between a dominant Alpha and a Beta.

‘Hey.’

Just then, thump, something flew at Hajin’s head. The thing that hit his head and fell was a heavily crumpled bill.

Holding the crumpled fifty-thousand-won bill, Hajin turned back to look at Kwon Sabin with an expressionless face.

‘Hey, go buy some bread.’

And the thing he did, at best, was say that.

‘…’

When he stared back without an answer, Kwon Sabin raised his eyes even further and raised his voice.

‘Can’t you hear me?’

‘…’

‘I said buy bread, bread!’

At the childish treatment, Hajin let out a low sigh, placed the crumpled bill back on his desk, and returned to his own seat. At Hajin’s action of quietly ignoring him, Kwon Sabin jumped up, approached Hajin, and pointed fingers, asking if he was ignoring his words. Even though he acted that way, perhaps because Hajin had seen the fellow since childhood, he wasn’t particularly afraid. Rather, it just looked childish, overlapping with his younger appearance. But thinking about it later, there was a commonality to those simple and childish acts of his.

It wasn’t always like that, but it was the case for the majority of the times. Every time he was placed in a disadvantageous position. Whenever an absurd quarrel was picked with him in this manner, he would instead pick a quarrel with him himself, tapping at him. Back then, he didn’t place much meaning on it. Since school matters weren’t important to him anyway. The quarrels of the school kids were nothing. Compared to Seong Suhyun and the things that occurred in that house, those things were gentle.

But it seemed Kwon Sabin considered that he was tormenting him himself. That he had given him a hard time. There were times he was put in a difficult spot, and there was harassment too, but it wasn’t to the extent that it became a big problem for him. Rather, looking back, there were also parts he was grateful for.

Kwon Sabin was that kind of existence to him. An existence that was at least not terrifying. A less uncomfortable existence. An existence with whom he could drop his honorifics and speak without walking on eggshells. A fellow where, even if he openly criticized and insulted him, sometimes he was even grateful for it.

Hajin quietly stared at the back of the fellow who would say things like that but whose actions would be different. Even if he spoke meanly, in the end, he was keeping every secret he needed to keep. He knew he regarded him with displeasure, but he was a fellow who did not cross the line beyond that.

࣪˖ ִֶָ🍇་༘

Having shared a conversation with Grandfather while he was at the main house, Hajin felt at ease for the first time in a while. It was because Grandfather looked hearty, contrary to the news that his appearance didn’t have much time left. Because during the meal not long ago, his complexion seemed a bit poor, so he had been secretly worrying deep down. One year. He had said it was one year, but Hajin was actually secretly hoping that he might be able to hold out longer.

However, he was troubled over whether it was right to just watch like this. For some reason, the family members seemed oblivious. It felt like a fact only known to Kwon Sayoung, and since he had also overheard it, he was pretending not to know, but he couldn’t form a certainty on whether it was the right thing or not. To begin with, the question of whether those words saying only one year was left were true was a doubt. Because in his eyes, though Grandfather was elderly, he looked healthy.

“What are you thinking about so deeply?”

While he was sitting blankly in the living room, suddenly, a low voice drifted over. Since he hadn’t come even past the time to leave work, he had been waiting blindly. Thinking that he should at least see the face of the person who came back from working before falling asleep.

At the voice he heard, Hajin subconsciously checked the time. It was a time close to midnight.

“You’re late.”

“What kind of thoughts are you having that you don’t even know a person is coming in.”

Replying calmly, he took off the coat he was wearing and plonked down heavily on the head seat of the sofa with an exhausted appearance. Surely, signs of fatigue were distinct. Suddenly, Seong Yeonwoo’s words came to mind. The image of Seong Yeonwoo worrying over his state of being unable to discharge his pheromones for a while also surfaced, as expected.

Does even that remarkable and grand person feel fatigue?

While putting away his coat, Hajin asked quietly.

“…Have you eaten?”

When he asked lowly, the man, who had been closing his eyes with his head tilted back, lifted his eyelids and watched him with a suspicious look. At the peculiar gaze, Hajin faced him with a visibly flustered face.

“…Why?”

Wondering if something was on his face, he caressed his face and asked, and the man let out a deflated laugh.

“You’re doing it properly today.”

“Pardon?”

“The fiancé role, I mean you’re doing it properly.”

“…”

“Do well. You’re doing well.”

He wore a listless smile, as if it was quite to his liking.

“…Are you not feeling well?”

“Why. Do I look like that?”

“Your complexion is a bit….”

“A dominant Alpha doesn’t even catch a cold easily.”

“…”

“Even if I stay up for three days and nights, I’m perfectly fine.”

“…”

“Still, if I’m tired, there’s only one reason.”

With an exhausted face, his listlessly smiling face felt like he was teasing him. Hajin, who felt like he understood what the vague words meant, looked at him wonderingly as he held his head back.

“…Is it because of the pheromones?”

“You know well.”

He replied textually and rubbed his face. Because his quite subdued face looked truly tired, Hajin opened his mouth carefully.

“Then, how…”

At the carefully asked words, the man, who had been covering his eyes with the back of his hand, turned his head slightly and gazed at the other quietly.

“Did you think about it?”

“Pardon?”

“I told you. The alternative plan.”

“…”

“Didn’t you tell me not to sleep with Yeonwoo.”

At his appearance of bringing up explicit words calmly, Hajin couldn’t help but flinch. It was a tone as if he were asking an ordinary greeting, like whether he had eaten a meal. Flustered for a moment, Hajin hesitated and couldn’t open his mouth.

“About once or twice, I can endure it with medicine.”

“…”

“Any more than that won’t work. At that time, I have no choice but to sleep with Yeonwoo. If that doesn’t work, then even with another Omega.”

He continued speaking as if explaining something business-related. As if sexual remarks were a daily routine. They seemed accustomed to this kind of conversation. Unlike him, who was a Beta.

“…Did you grant my request?”

“You said it yourself. That it’s manners.”

“…”

“Because it seems your words aren’t wrong either. Whatever the circumstances may be, we’re even living together.”