Damn! Damn! Chapter 124

Maybe it was only because that guy was a Royal Alpha that he was able to smell it. Since the concentration was incredibly faint, he had mistaken even that for just a regular scent.

“…Haa.”

With a small sigh, Achim supported his dropping head with his palm as if propping it up.

Who would have guessed that what he had thought was just a regular fever back then was actually a symptom of manifestation?

They said that to become a secondary gender, one shows symptoms in their teens at the latest, so even Peter wouldn’t have had a pheromone test in mind.

As if an ill-fated relationship from the past wasn’t enough, he even ended up carrying that guy’s child. And of all people, the child of the guy who loathes children and Omegas…

At something that flashed through his mind all of a sudden, Achim slowly raised his gaze, which had been dropped to the floor.

He thought that that guy must have definitely heard through Peter that he was an Omega and pregnant, but…

Of all times, wouldn’t he think that it was impossible for him to have manifested so suddenly at a time like this? Since the result sheet would only display the results.

Frustratingly, he truly had been a Beta. From the perspective of that guy who didn’t know the circumstances, wouldn’t he have no choice but to think that he had been pretending to be a Beta?

Furthermore, if he still didn’t know the reason for his escape…

“…Damn it.”

It felt like there could be no better timing than this to invite a misunderstanding.

Since he would think that he turned out to be an Omega after all, and ran away while carrying his child.

It might actually be better for him to find out about that matter from eight years ago first. No, wouldn’t that be the absolute worst in its own way? At any rate, these were things he would find out sooner or later.

With even his own mind vacillating, Achim rubbed his propped forehead hard.

Conclusively, no matter what he put first, the fact that it was the absolute worst remained unchanged.

Michael Bernhard, Omega, child.

Just that incongruous combination heavily whipped the tension that was trying to loosen up.

🖤🥀

Knock, knock. At the sound of a knock on the door, Achim opened his eyes.

Staring at the door where someone was bound to be standing, all the senses in his body opened up, and at the same time, his nerves automatically went on edge.

Sitting with his back resting against a side of the room amid the flowing tension, he fumbled inside his jacket. The moment his fingertips brushed against the cold piece of iron, Achim locked his gaze onto the doorway and noiselessly raised his body.

Approaching rapidly to press his back right next to the door, Achim pulled the Glock out from his jacket and cocked it.

Click-clack. The sound of the mechanical parts clashing against each other resonated near his chest. Drops of sweat that had trickled down in the meantime drenched his temples.

Is it that guy? If it is him, how, and by what means did he find him already?

How many of them would there be? Clutching the Glock with both hands, Achim was thinking while staring at the doorway. Once again, knock, knock, the sound of a knock was heard from the other side.

At that, strength automatically went into his hands holding the Glock. Damn it. He hadn’t expected them to find him this quickly.

There was no such thing as time given to him. Pulling himself together with all his might, Achim hurriedly ran a simulation in his head. If they broke the door open by force first, he would subdue that guy first, and then immediately after…

“Hey there, young man.”

“…”

However, at the unexpected voice that came through, Achim’s hand holding the Glock slipped. Having almost pulled the trigger, he instantly corrected his ruined posture and gripped the Glock properly again.

As Achim froze for a moment to grasp the situation, this time a sound that seemed like murmuring was heard.

“Hmm, is he asleep already…”

Though it wasn’t familiar, it was a voice that rang a bell somehow.

Mulling it over, Achim realized that he was the old man who had handed him the key earlier, and immediately decocked the gun.

However, he didn’t know what business he had with him. Since he might have come to him after being bribed by that guy, he must not let his guard down just yet.

Achim shoved the Glock deep into his back pants pocket, and with his other hand, carefully opened the door that was held by the security latch chain.

“Oh my, you weren’t sleeping after all.”

It was as soon as he opened the door. Locking eyes with him through the tightly stretched gap of the latch chain, the old man quickly continued his words.

“How can a young person be so slow? Even this old man climbed all the way up here while holding his aching back.”

“…”

Looking at the white-haired old man who rattled on words as if he had been waiting, Achim just blinked his eyes blankly. It was a relief that no malicious intent could be seen, but it was because he was taken aback.

As Achim kept blinking his eyes silently, the old man thrust something through the narrow gap of the door.

“…”

What the old man held out was a basket containing steaming hot potatoes. However, because it was bulkier than expected, the basket got blocked between the door, and only then did Achim hurriedly undo the latch and fling the door wide open.

“They were just steamed, so they’ll be delicious. I brought them to give to you, young man, so eat them.”

The old man spoke and thrust the basket forward. When Achim took the basket into his arms in his bewilderment, the old man wore a benevolent smile as if he had never scolded him.

“Since I grew them myself, they might look like that, but the taste will be exquisite.”

At that, it was when Achim stared blankly down at the basket he had hugged under the impulse of the moment, then raised his eyes to express his gratitude. He saw a tiny hand squirming and rising over the old man’s shoulder, and soon a child, whom he hadn’t even realized was being piggybacked, peeked their face out from behind his back.

“…”

As he stared back into those clear, bright eyes, the child suddenly opened and closed their tiny fingers toward him.

Not knowing the meaning of it, around the time Achim just watched silently, the old man looked back at the child.

“Huh? What’s gotten into this one. You want to hold hands with the older brother?”

The child didn’t say anything, but the old man turned back to Achim and spoke as if requesting a favor.

“Would you hold the child’s hand for a bit?”

“…”

With that, he added in a murmuring tone that normally his grandchild was very shy around strangers and never acted familiar with anyone.

Wondering if it really meant to hold hands, as he watched, the child this time stretched out a short arm straight toward him.

A slightly chubby finger flailed in front of his eyes. At that, Achim unconsciously and hurriedly reached his hand out toward the child.

“…”

Soon, as the tiny finger curled around and gripped his index finger, Achim trembled at the tips of his fingers at the foreign sensation.

The child also hesitated a bit along with him, but soon put strength into their grip around Achim’s finger again. A laugh leaked out for no reason at that insignificant strength, and Achim let out a chuckle.

“Do you like the older brother?”

At the old man’s question, the child curled their body inward tightly as if hiding behind his back.

Staring intently down at that face that seemed shy, Achim slightly flipped his hand over. As he carefully stroked the tiny finger with his fingertip, the child suddenly beamed with a bright smile.

The old man chided them lightly to stop now, but paying no heed, the child tightly held hands with Achim.

“…”

After the old man and the child went back, leaving behind the basket with potatoes, Achim stood in front of the door for some time, silently looking down at his palm.

It was the hand that had held hands with the child just a moment ago. For some reason, not wanting to lose that small but warm sensation left on his fingertips, Achim tightly clenched his hand into a fist.

🖤🥀

[The location has been tracked down.]

At the incoming phone call, Michael let go of the fountain pen he was holding.

Thud. After dropping the fountain pen as if tossing it, he opened his lips.

“Where is it?”

[It is a hospital located within Stuttgart.]

“A hospital?”

When Michael asked in a voice that had grown sharp in the meantime, the man spat out the words.

[To be exact, it is confirmed that he received treatment at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic.]

Fuck. At the man’s words, Michael let out a curse under his breath.

It had been a week. To think that the place where they barely discovered a trace was of all places that location.

There was no way he, who had left absolutely no tracks as if he had made up his mind during that time, would have gone there on his own two feet. An unavoidable circumstance must have arisen.

As he thought of that, the Alpha they had been searching for together all this time came to mind, and Michael tightly clenched and unplugged his fist until his knuckles turned stark white.

[Shall we depart right away?]

“…”

At the man’s words, Michael’s eyes, which harbored a mysterious light, slowly lifted.

It was after some silence flowed. “No.” Short in his negation, he raised his body from the chair.

“Let’s go directly.”

🖤🥀

“A manifestation after adulthood…”

Wondering if there was any related literature, he was in the middle of rummaging through specialized books.

A commotion suddenly arose outside the consultation room, and his eyes, which had been looking into characters as small as ants, turned toward the doorway.

Someone was carried in during the dawn, and now what kind of commotion is it this time? Since the scale of the hospital was small and it was located in a particularly secluded spot in the village, it had never been noisy. Is today some kind of special day?