“Yuri. I have a favor to ask.”
“Don’t ask favors with that kind of face. The malatang I had for lunch is about to come back up.”
“Oh dear. That would be a problem.”
Instead of snapping back aggressively, he chose a conciliatory approach. Of course, I wasn’t swayed in the slightest.
“If you know that, turn around and disappear into your room right now, you bastard.”
He didn’t listen to a single word I said. I had forgotten. Do Jihoon’s face was made of stainless steel.
“You erase it.”
Do Jihoon spoke those outrageous words far too casually.
Erase the scent, he said.
There was only one way to erase a scent that had already been left behind. You had to overwrite the marked spot with someone else’s pheromones—marking over the existing mark. That was the only method.
The problem was what marking meant. Marking was a warning sent to others. It heightened vigilance for a spouse or lover, and caused discomfort for anyone approaching them.
In other words: This guy already has someone, and that someone is me, so don’t try anything funny. It was simply the animalistic, instinctual way of expressing that message.
“…?”
I wondered if I had heard wrong and dug a finger into my ear. Ah—. I even made a sound like I was doing a mic test. My cochlea was perfectly fine. If my ears were normal, then maybe my brain was the problem.
“Yuri. Stop messing around.”
“No. I think I’m hearing things.”
“I’m asking you to erase this omega scent.”
“Wow. You hear it too? I keep hearing bullshit.”
There was a speaker but no listener. Pure chaos. I stubbornly denied reality.
Didn’t that pheromone warning last Saturday already cover it…? Stop already, damn it…
Tears blurred my vision.
“Yuri. There’s something you’re forgetting.”
There was indeed something I had forgotten. The fact that this bastard Do Jihoon had an extremely high level of pride and self-esteem.
“You owe me a debt.”
He said it in a very gentle voice, as if soothing a child. I forced a smile and denied his claim.
“Hey. That’s just a formality. If I just say screw it and refuse, then the debt doesn’t exist, right?”
Heat shimmered off Do Jihoon. The air around him was practically boiling.
“Yuri, think about it. What if I tell your parents or your sister about your disgraceful behavior?”
Do Jihoon handed down a death sentence.
Whether it was the first disgrace, the second disgrace, or even the third disgrace—fuck—if my mom and dad heard about it, I was finished. I’d definitely get beaten with a broom made of twigs and have my credit cards cut off.
I froze where I stood. The words got stuck in my throat, and I could only stammer helplessly.
He walked around the sofa toward me. Each of Do Jihoon’s steps landed with a heavy thud, causing earthquakes inside my chest.
By the time he reached me, the strength drained from my legs and I collapsed onto the spot. Do Jihoon kindly bent his knees and lowered himself to meet my eye level.
“You cruel bastard…”
“Let’s watch our behavior from now on, hmm?”
I gave a bitter smile.
“Yuri, you need to answer.”
“Yes… fuck…”
“Did you just swear?”
“Damn it—no.”
“Let today be a lesson. Don’t go around owing debts carelessly.”
“Yes, yes…”
Do Jihoon urged me to hurry up and erase the marking. I forced my stiff neck—like it had been glued in place with a glue gun—to nod.
To cover the mark engraved on him and place a new one, I first had to figure out where the existing mark was. Feeling like I was walking past a pile of food waste, I cautiously approached him.
I brought my nose close to his ear and took a sniff. It was disgusting. But I wasn’t sure if that was the actual marking spot.
I moved my head and pressed my nose against his neck. Do Jihoon’s pheromone scent covered most of the unpleasant omega smell. From his neck, there was barely any of that nasty scent left.
Tilting my head to the side, I pondered.
“Let’s just finish this quickly, Yuri.”
“I want to, but… I’m not sure.”
“Sometimes I really doubt whether you’re actually a dominant.”
“That’s a seriously disrespectful thing to say, you bastard.”
“Don’t take it the wrong way.”
“No, it’s definitely either your right ear or your neck… but your pheromones are so strong around your neck that I can’t tell exactly where.”
Do Jihoon laughed at me as I stood there with my head lowered, thinking seriously. Then he said simply,
“Then mark both.”
“Fuck—what did you say?”
“I said mark both.”
“Don’t casually say something that ridiculous.”
“I’m surprised you’re capable of feeling a high-level emotion like embarrassment.”
He looked at me indifferently. This bastard was serious.
At this point, there was nothing I could do. Damn it. I sniffled theatrically. Someday, I would definitely repay these three debts and escape Do Jihoon’s clutches.
Keeping as much distance from him as possible, I lightly brought the tips of both hands toward his neck and ear—barely touching, almost not touching at all.
My pheromones flowed from my fingertips into Do Jihoon’s skin.
Honestly, I wanted to just dump them on him all at once, but I held back. I was worried about what his classmates would think if he walked around reeking strongly of my pheromones.
After a little while of lightly spreading my pheromones, a faint rose scent began to drift from him. Even from a distance with my arms fully stretched out, I could smell it—so the pheromones of that recessive omega had been completely erased.
I was very satisfied. At this level, it was barely accurate to even call it my scent. There was no emotion in the pheromones, and the fragrance wasn’t strong enough to sting the nose. I told Do Jihoon to just lie and say it was perfume, then stood up from my seat with a refreshed expression.
“Doji-doji, all done.”
“What kind of moon-dog bastard nickname is that?”
“It’s you. Doji-doji.”
“Cut it out.”
“Doji-doji. What’s wrong?”
Do Jihoon looked at me like I was a rotten root vegetable. Then he stood up and, without the slightest hesitation, turned and headed straight back to his room.
Watching him, I came to a conclusion.
To Do Jihoon, I was just a portable omega needed in emergencies, or maybe a temporary partner of convenience.
There was no way I was actually that bastard’s omega. Damn it.
Up until now, I had only hoped that Do Jihoon and Ha Min-young wouldn’t meet. The starting point of Yeon Yuri’s downward spiral was basically the meeting between Do Jihoon and Ha Min-young, so I had simply thought I needed to prevent them from ever encountering each other.
But thinking about it, there was another option. Even if Do Jihoon and Ha Min-young did meet, as long as I didn’t interfere with their relationship progressing, there’d be no reason for them to hate me.
“Yeah. I’ll just let life go wherever it goes.”
It’ll work out somehow!
With a sense of liberation, I flopped down onto the sofa and decided to take things easy.
***
Two weeks had passed since the semester began. Surprisingly, I was adapting very well to university life.
“But I can’t adapt to this assignment…”
“Agreed.”
I was sitting in a café near campus doing assignments with my classmates.
During the first week, I had thought, Wow, university life is a piece of cake. But by the second week, the professors had apparently thrown away even the last scraps of mercy they possessed and started showering students with assignments.
My family has plenty of money, so I planned to just slack off and enjoy myself… I gave Lee Daeju, Kwon Jisoo, and Shin Gi-hyeok several longing looks, hoping they’d help me skip class.
But these bastards were all study addicts. They grabbed both my arms when I tried to skip lectures and dragged me straight into the classroom.
Birds of a feather really do flock together. Similar bastards gather together.
“But why am I…”
I groaned while clutching my head.
“Yuri, you’re noisy.”
Kwon Jisoo shot me a sharp glare.
“No, listen. How are we already doing assignments instead of playing around when we just started university… guys.”
“The deadline is a week away anyway. It’s better to finish early and relax afterward.”
Shin Gi-hyeok said something extremely logical.
“I agree.”
Kwon Jisoo and Lee Daeju nodded.
Kwon Jisoo was one thing, but I had trusted Lee Daeju… I had trusted the Lee Daeju who suggested going to a PC café on the first day…
In the end, with tears in my eyes, I started solving General Physics problems. I definitely graduated high school, so why does it feel like I’m in my fourth year of high school again… sob.
After working on the assignment for two hours, we compared answers. My efficient proposal to divide the problems into parts and share answers had long since been mercilessly ignored.
“I’m heading out first.”
The moment the problem-solving session ended, Lee Daeju checked the time and hurriedly stood up.
“What’s up? Got plans?”
“Yeah. My boyfriend.”
“Wow, go ahead and keep flirting it up.”
After Lee Daeju left, Kwon Jisoo stood up as well. Apparently her part-time shift was about to start.
As soon as the assignment was finished, the two of them left without even looking back. I looked at Shin Gi-hyeok and said bitterly,
“Those heartless bastards…”
“Actually, this works out. I had something I wanted to tell you.”
Shin Gi-hyeok looked straight at me as he spoke.
“Something to tell me?”
“Yeah.”
