3.
“What, you came out as an omega without any romance, tension, or conflict?”
“Is there a problem with that? We became even closer after that. Do you know how overwhelming it is to find someone who understands and can share your struggles? Huh? No, you don’t, you beta bastards.”
Gong Pyeonghwa bristled.
The truth was, Gong Pyeonghwa commemorated that day as an anniversary, savoring the emotion of it every year, so being told it lacked romance really pissed him off.
“It was a monumental day that marked the beginning of our history.”
“Shit. What kind of history has multiple beginnings?”
Seonwoo Jeong, who had heard about the beginning of their history numerous times, took a jab at him.
Gong Pyeonghwa pretended not to hear him.
It wasn’t just Gong Pyeonghwa; the other classmates were the same. Those who weren’t familiar with Seonwoo Jeong’s grievances brought up Saebyeok and Gong Pyeonghwa’s love story again.
“So after finding out he was an omega, you naturally started dating? As you understood each other’s struggles?”
“Shit. Hey. Don’t ask about that.”
Seonwoo Jeong, sensing they were about to fall into a talk-hell, quickly tried to stop his classmate, but the words had already been spoken.
“Ah, you’re asking how we started dating.”
Watching his classmates willingly walk into the furnace of talk-hell, Seonwoo Jeong decided to just… just… get his money’s worth. He ordered more meat and drank alone.
“We did get closer after learning about each other’s dispositions, but that doesn’t mean we started dating right away. Just because two gay guys know each other doesn’t mean they’ll date, right?”
“Then? How did you end up dating?”
“It was during the sports festival, wasn’t it? I think? The day we had the soccer finals against Class 4.”
Gong Pyeonghwa recalled memories from 11 years ago.
“Saebyeok suddenly went into heat. It wasn’t his cycle, but it suddenly hit.”
◀◀◀
After learning that Saebyeok was an omega who always overdosed on suppressants, Gong Pyeonghwa became even more concerned about him.
Even when he thought Saebyeok was a beta, he had worried about his health because he seemed so frail, but knowing that he was taking suppressants that weren’t good for his body every day, and multiple types at that, made him even more worried.
He himself felt nauseated taking suppressants just once a day starting a week before his rut. But Shin Saebyeok, who was a head shorter than him, was taking them three times a day.
‘No wonder he’s been sleeping during class since entering high school. It’s the side effects.’
Yet the tenacity with which he maintained his position as the top student in school was truly that of a real man.
Gong Pyeonghwa was too embarrassed to say anything. Though his words had been spoken in ignorance, whining to Saebyeok about how being an alpha was unfortunate was truly deceptive.
‘But still, it’s really pitiful.’
After revealing that he was an omega, Saebyeok opened up more. He shared that the atmosphere at home had deteriorated after he manifested as an omega, and he had to more desperately prove his worth.
That’s why he had made unreasonable demands like asking Gong Pyeonghwa to lose to him on the test, and he apologized for it once again.
Gong Pyeonghwa felt bad even receiving an apology and kept sweating profusely.
‘I mean, no matter what, how could they? Parents should love their children as they are. How can they give someone the cold shoulder just because they’re an omega?’
It must be hardest on Saebyeok himself, and these conservative adults, really! Gong Pyeonghwa felt sorry for Saebyeok.
It’s not like Saebyeok wanted to manifest as an omega, but to be treated like a criminal?
Just taking the medication regularly was already a physically taxing burden. Having to hide being an omega on top of that must be unimaginably difficult.
‘That’s way too harsh.’
He just felt sorry for Saebyeok.
At first, he had thought Saebyeok was rude and unpleasant, and he had wished he would trip and break a bone while walking, or wanted to subtly step on his shadow if he saw it, but now he just felt pity.
Shin Saebyeok was kinder and gentler than he appeared. Maybe because he only focused on studying, he responded well to even the smallest things. In short, he was fun to hang out with.
Plus, with his brown eyes and delicate appearance, while harboring a real man inside, it was kind of cool?
‘I should be better to him.’
Natural compassion and affection arose, the kind that any human would have.
Gong Pyeonghwa decided that since there wasn’t much else he could do, he would at least make sure to provide him with tastier food.
And on the fateful day of the sports festival, an incident would occur that would make Gong Pyeonghwa become obsessed with food temperature.
***
The weather continued to be quite hot for autumn.
As the weather forecast had predicted, unseasonal heat continued, and heatwave warning messages kept coming in one after another. In the sweltering heat, Gong Pyeonghwa thought:
‘Today I’ll treat him to shaved ice.’
He just wanted to eat it himself.
Having prepared an ice box and dry ice on the rooftop since dawn, Gong Pyeonghwa smiled slightly as he imagined how happy Shin Saebyeok would be.
Hoping it wouldn’t melt until lunchtime, Gong Pyeonghwa put on his class T-shirt (which looked like a prison uniform) and went down to the playground.
After enduring the boring speech from the principal, the sports festival officially began. After the group jump rope, tug-of-war, and relay preliminaries ended, it was lunchtime.
They hadn’t done well in the group jump rope and tug-of-war, but they weren’t in a bad position thanks to their order and cheering scores.
“The relay and soccer are the main events anyway, so it’s fine. Focus, starting players. Here, remember the defensive formation!”
Their homeroom teacher, who was usually far from passionate, displayed charisma no less than a national soccer team coach as he wrote on the blackboard with a flourish.
“Just don’t lose to Class 4.”
The eleven starting players, including Gong Pyeonghwa, listened halfheartedly as they ate lunch.
Gong Pyeonghwa tapped his leg nervously as he ate his fried chicken, wondering if the shaved ice had melted.
And then, 10 minutes before the much-anticipated match, Class 1’s top striker, Gong Pyeonghwa, disappeared.
“Where the hell did Gong Pyeonghwa go?!”
“I saw him dragging Shin Saebyeok somewhere.”
***
“Hey, hey, are you okay? Are you okay?”
Gong Pyeonghwa ran up to the rooftop with Saebyeok on his back.
Saebyeok, riding on Gong Pyeonghwa’s back, was gasping for breath. His cheek against Gong Pyeonghwa’s nape was burning hot, perhaps due to heat fever. The sighs he exhaled also felt hot.
“Medicine, did you take your medicine? Did you? Medicine? Medicine?”
“Took… took it…”
“Yeah, yeah. Right, you took it. You did. Right. You take a lot of medicine, right? Right.”
Gong Pyeonghwa rambled on incoherently. He felt like he had to do at least that.
The problem was that the Class 4 bastards had released pheromones as a form of intimidation.
‘They probably released them because they thought there were no omegas around, but I knew Shin Saebyeok was an omega!’
In that moment, he had flared up and tried to dominate them with his own pheromones, and unfortunately, Saebyeok happened to pass by at that exact time.
No matter how diligently he took suppressants, being exposed to multiple alphas releasing pheromones seemed to have triggered a sudden heat cycle.
Saebyeok’s heat cycle was bad enough, but Gong Pyeonghwa, who had no immunity to omega pheromones, was also in a terrible state.
He just wanted to cry.
The spaces between his toes were itchy, and he felt a tingling sensation from his calves to the tops of his thighs.
Mentally, he knew he needed to help Saebyeok, but his body only cared about itself.
He needed to contain his pheromones, but due to anxiety, he couldn’t settle them.
“Hic, I’m sorry…”
In the end, with tears welling up, he kept apologizing. Despite having completed 40 hours of mandatory sex education, there was still so much he didn’t know.
Sex education hadn’t taught what to do when encountering an omega who suddenly went into heat due to the pheromones of multiple individuals.
Upon reaching the rooftop, Gong Pyeonghwa, sniffling, was about to call an ambulance. Saebyeok grabbed his wrist with a trembling hand.
“No, no!”
Saebyeok shouted urgently. Absolutely not, he gripped Gong Pyeonghwa’s wrist tightly.
“But, but you’re, you’re in pain…”
Gong Pyeonghwa wiped away his welling tears while trembling.
“It’s okay. This much is okay. It’s okay.”
Saebyeok, repeating that he was okay as if hypnotizing himself, exuded determination like someone looking for a way to survive while backed into a corner.
Gong Pyeonghwa, thinking he needed to pull himself together, held his breath. He inhaled deeply until his chest swelled and then exhaled slowly.
His heart was still pounding, but his head felt lighter than before.
Gong Pyeonghwa slowly organized his pheromones.
Slowly, very slowly, and carefully, he released his pheromones.
“The, the teacher said that a pheromone shower might help. I, I’m going to release pheromones? Is that okay? Okay?”
Saebyeok didn’t answer, but Gong Pyeonghwa could feel that he was more comfortable than before.
Gong Pyeonghwa slowly released more pheromones.
‘Good thoughts. Good thoughts. Beautiful thoughts. I’m an adult. I can do this. I can do this. Cute things, delicious things, liquid monsters, slime, puppies, cats, chicks, sparrows, the shares I’ll inherit one day…’
Both Gong Pyeonghwa, who controlled his pheromones through extreme mind control, and Shin Saebyeok, who received the pheromone shower, were breathing evenly.
“…Are you okay?”
“…Yeah.”
Completely drained of energy, Gong Pyeonghwa sat on the floor and wallowed in self-loathing.
“I’m, I’m so fucking sorry… Really. I can’t believe I’m such a goddamn bastard…”
“No, no. It’s not like you did it on purpose; it’s my fault for being an omega…”
“Shit, why would you say that? There’s nothing wrong with being an omega. It’s those fucking Class 4 bastards who are at fault. You were just walking normally, and suddenly four electric scooters hit you.”
And I was one of those electric scooters. Huk. Feeling embarrassed and ashamed, tears formed in Gong Pyeonghwa’s eyes, and he buried his face in his palms, holding back the tears.
Saebyeok lightly patted the shoulder of the crouched Gong Pyeonghwa and instead encouraged him.
“Why are you cowering when the person who got hit says it’s okay?”
“You might be okay, but I’m not.”
Gong Pyeonghwa, whose worst misdeeds in life had been destroying ant hills as a child and making prank calls to his homeroom teacher, trembled with fear at the thought that he could have committed a criminal act under the influence of pheromones.
While it was a mental state that Saebyeok couldn’t understand, he figured there must be a good reason for him to act this way.
Saebyeok, being the victim but able to think more calmly and objectively, decided to boost Gong Pyeonghwa.
“Your pheromones were really nice.”
“…”
“You, you did the pheromone shower well.”
“…”
“It was like some kind of phytoncide. It’s like it released negative ions or something.”
“…Really?”
Gong Pyeonghwa, who had been depressed, showed a response.
‘Is he an elementary schooler?’
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
