Pheromone Off Chapter 41

“The kimchi is really delicious too. Try it together.”

Kwon Sabin could not take his eyes off his face—not his usual nonchalant face, but a face with a hint of a smile. To be exact, a naturally smiling appearance. Inside the shabby gukbap restaurant, Kwon Sabin realized something. In a place like this, where not a single shred of romance could be found, he felt an unidentifiable emotion alone, quietly rubbing his pit of the stomach that had suddenly grown tightly blocked.

Fuck, I’m going crazy….

He had met every Omega said to be pretty. He had received proposals to date since he was much younger. If he went on overseas shoots, he could meet even grander Omegas. To the point where even that remarkable Seong Yeonwoo brought no inspiration to Kwon Sabin. And perhaps because he manifested at too young an age, he wasn’t the type to be that stimulated by Omega pheromones either. To the extent people said his handsome face was a waste, he held no interest in either the opposite or the same sex.

But why on earth did a mere Beta fellow like him look pretty. It wasn’t even a pretty face. Although his lines were thin, it was a face that was better suited to being called handsome. Yet, Kwon Sabin himself could not understand why his gaze was stolen more than by those remarkable Omegas.

In truth, it had been that way since their school days. Paying no mind to whether someone was an Alpha or an Omega, buried inside his own remarkable traits, Seong Hajin always looked elegant. Even when he always had wounds on his face, even when not a single drop of sweet pheromone wafted out. There was something that inadvertently drew his gaze every time. His expressionless face, his nonchalant gaze, that face that showed interest in nothing—his gaze kept going to it to the point of irritation.

“What do you think about the concept?”

The question pierced into the ears of Kwon Sabin, who was in the middle of blankly having other thoughts. Hajin, who had been eating silently, asked casually as if suddenly remembering.

“…Well, do you even know a thing if you look at stuff like that?”

“In truth, I don’t really know. I understood it roughly, but when I actually picture it in my head, it’s abstract.”

Even at the disregarding question, Hajin answered naturally as if accustomed to it. It was an appearance of being undamaged by just about anything. Kwon Sabin let out a dumbfounded breath and gulped down some water. Then, clearing his throat again, he swirled his spoon around the gukbap.

“They say… they say there could be a kiss scene too.”

“Yeah. I heard.”

“…I suppose it doesn’t matter to you?”

“Why?”

At the question calmly asked back, Kwon Sabin’s mouth was conversely stopped completely.

“What do you mean, why, why. Have you even shot a kiss scene before?”

The meaning of the question wasn’t that, but a sarcastic question tumbled out before he knew it.

“…There’s no way I have. Even if it’s awkward, please understand.”

Hajin responded calmly, tracing a faint smile. Understand, my foot…. Kwon Sabin felt a useless irritation rise at the attitude that lacked a single change in expression. Does he act that way because he doesn’t know who he’s shooting a kiss scene with? If he were to speak of himself, he was a person ranked first among fellow celebrities as the celebrity people wanted to shoot a romance piece with. I am a human that older Omega actors go crazy for, having hit the top market value despite still being young. Yet he doesn’t even bat an eye?

“But is it really okay for me to… do it?”

The hand gestures that had been eating the gukbap slowed down, and all of a sudden, Hajin asked slowly. Whether the fact that he was plugged in weighed heavily on his mind, he looked exceedingly embarrassed.

“It’s not okay. You’re not a professional model, and it’s not like your career is good either.”

Kwon Sabin shot back firmly, delivering sharp, biting words. The cautious Hajin’s face became a layer more embarrassed.

“…Then why on earth….”

“The one that suggested it first was the company side.”

“You couldn’t refuse because it was a topic hyung brought up, right?”

Hajin smiled awkwardly and asked back. Well, it wasn’t a false statement. Whatever the circumstances might be, Seong Hajin had become Kwon Sayoung’s fiancé, and because company matters were entangled as well, it was true that he accepted inevitably. It was true, but… in truth, it was also a casting that would have been canceled if he himself had hated it. Because Kwon Sabin held that much power and authority as well. It wasn’t a matter Kwon Sayoung had particularly forced either. Literally, the company had merely suggested it once.

“…Stop asking useless things and just eat.”

Kwon Sabin avoided the answer and forcefully scooped a spoonful of gukbap into his mouth. Following that, as he stuffed it into his mouth haphazardly, he suddenly set his spoon down with a clack.

“But you’re really okay with it?”

“Huh?”

At the sudden question, Hajin, who was in the middle of other thoughts, faced him with surprised eyes.

“The kiss scene.”

Whether that fact was thoroughly to his dislike, Kwon Sabin repeated it once more with a heavily distorted face. At those words, Hajin let out a hollow laugh, letting out a small sigh.

“Why, because it feels bad to do it with me?”

At the words asked back, Kwon Sabin’s brow distorted even further. The moment he was about to continue speaking as if to say it wasn’t that kind of talk, Hajin was one step faster.

“It’s not like we’re actually doing it anyway.”

“…What?”

Kwon Sabin opened his eyes wide with a face as if hearing it for the first time.

“The client side said so during the meeting earlier. That we just need to give the feeling of doing it.”

The face continuing the words with a casual expression was nonchalant. Kwon Sabin, who had failed to concentrate on the meeting content at all, could not continue his words as if he were broken. Come to think of it, the manager had also said it was something like a kiss scene…. Fuck….

Fuck…?

“It’s not like we’re actually touching…. Still, if it’s uncomfortable, if you try talking to the client….”

Kwon Sabin wiped his face down with a somewhat flustered expression. It was a mind-boggling thing. At Kwon Sabin’s gradually freezing face, Hajin trailed off his words for a moment and looked at the opponent wonderingly.

“Kwon Sabin.”

At the question as if asking what was wrong, Kwon Sabin faced Hajin with a face laced with frustration. Then, he stood up abruptly and took a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?”

When Hajin asked urgently at his appearance of suddenly kicking back his chair and standing up, Kwon Sabin tried to say something, hesitated, and soon muttered a small curse, “Fuck….” and hastily escaped the place. Leaving behind Hajin, who was staring bewilderedly at his sudden action, Kwon Sabin came outside, inhaled the external air, and let out a soul-less laugh.

He was dumbfounded to the point words wouldn’t come out.

At the fact that the first emotion he felt upon hearing it wasn’t a kiss scene was disappointment. At the ridiculous fact, Kwon Sabin held his head up and grabbed his hair with both hands. At his appearance of despairing in the middle of the street, every passing person glanced at him, but he paid no mind, repeatedly despairing and falling into dejection over and over, chewing on curses.

࣪˖ ִֶָ🍇་༘

After the meal, Hajin, who was returning home, held his phone and contemplated continuously.

In any case, since one of the reasons he was able to do this work was Kwon Sayoung, whether he should convey his gratitude or not—that contemplation alone had already been going on for several hours. One could think he was contemplating over nothing big, but calling him serenely was a quite difficult matter for him.

Furthermore, since he also knew roughly the reason he was made to change companies, he couldn’t tell well whether he should be grateful or not either. Because those words telling him to match the CEO moderately kept surfacing. He also knew that this work was merely thrown to him as if giving alms. He wanted the person who was his fiancé to be moderately remarkable.

Hajin could tell well, while living together for a few days, that he was a person for whom what is shown is important. He is a person who likes him acting nobly like a chaebol, and who finds it damaging to his pride and considers it unclean for the person who is his fiancé to belong to an agency without even a name. Hajin could tell roughly that this work was also a proposal to moderately raise his own rank. However, whatever his purpose might be, the bottom line was that it wasn’t a bad result for him. If he thought about it primarily, it was also a matter to be grateful for on his part….

Thinking that he should still deliver his greeting properly, Hajin eventually called him. Had the ring tone gone twice or so. His refined voice was heard from beyond the phone.

—Yeah. Speak.

It was a business-like tone asking for his business as soon as he picked up. However, if there was something slightly different.

“…Are you unwell anywhere?”

That his voice was slightly sunken. Suddenly, his appearance of uniquely being tired lately came to mind.

—Useless words are enough. What is the matter?

He barked coldly and asked for his business again. Hajin continued his words with a somewhat worried face.

“Ah…. That. I wanted to say… thank you.”

—Thank you?

“Yes. I’ve been to the company. That… agency.”

—What are you grateful for?

It was a reaction as if he couldn’t understand at all. Suddenly, his appearance of distorting his eyebrows was imagined.

“Ah, because I’ve come to newly take on… that one advertisement work.”

—What of that. I get it for now, so let’s talk again at home.

Whether he was busy, or whether talking itself was tiring, he cut off the conversation rapidly.

“That’s something hyung did for…”

—It is not a matter to feel grateful for one by one.

“…”

—I told you. That if you accept this condition and work, I will do everything I can do for you.

“…”

—And if you are my fiancé, it’s a matter of course.

“…”

—Why don’t you get used to it by now.

He seemed frustrated with himself for feeling gratitude one by one, and he spoke with that kind of meaning. Hajin had no choice but to stay silent. These situations were ironic. He was grateful, but a bitter mind kept arising. Like his words, he should get used to this kind of thing, but it was all the same that he was frustrated with himself for not being of that caliber. Furthermore, he was pathetic for feeling bitterness every time at his cold-heartedness, which acted as if there was no special meaning to all these grateful matters.

“…I am sorry.”

The sound of a faint sigh was heard. And soon, the call was disconnected.

Hajin, who was sitting in the subway, hung his head low and stared down at the turned-off phone screen, letting out a small sigh lowly as well. Then, forcing his lips up, he raised his gaze unconcernedly and looked straight ahead. His own appearance reflected in the subway window came into his eyes. His face, trying hard to be nonchalant, just like it always did.