***
Young Munbeom crouched in a corner, covering his ears with both hands. Though he was away from the main house where it was somewhat quieter, he still pressed his palms against his ears as tightly as possible, leaving no gap between them.
Even so, he felt like he could still hear people talking about him from all directions.
“What a handsome child. His future looks promising. His eyes are so clear and bright; he must be intelligent too. An extremely dominant alpha from the Ho Moon Group family—his future is secure. I want my children to spend time with him and learn from him. My child wants to be friends with him,” and so on.
It was mostly adults who spoke like this wherever he went.
Behind these adults who showered a child under ten with all sorts of flattery stood their own children with indifferent expressions, wanting to become friends with Munbeom, the target of this adulation. Children who initially stood there blankly, as if completely unable to understand why they had been dragged to such a place, soon grouped together among themselves.
If he wanted to, Munbeom could easily socialize with these children.
But his surroundings and the adults wouldn’t allow it. Whenever they saw an opportunity, they would somehow crowd around young Munbeom, trying to exchange even a single word with him.
Munbeom hated and felt uncomfortable with all of it. Words without sincerity. Greedy eyes that wanted only his background, not him. And the pheromones they subtly released. All of it simply disgusted him.
This was always the situation at every gathering he attended.
Ho Munbeom wanted to avoid attending gatherings altogether, but his mother wouldn’t allow that.
“You will eventually inherit the Ho Moon Group. All those people gather to flatter you—what’s so difficult or tiring about that? Don’t say such weak things to anyone.”
His mother was fundamentally someone who craved attention. Someone who desired more than what she already had and wished to climb even higher than her current position. Someone who despised a complacent life. She had probably married his father because he was from the Ho Moon Group.
His father was a leisurely, carefree person. Content with being part of the Ho Moon Group and knowing how to fully enjoy his background. That’s why he was more passionate about travel, personal hobbies, and learning rather than management.
A person who couldn’t settle in one place and would spend his whole life wandering.
When his father, known for such traits, married his mother, everyone around them was surprised. After all, the two were complete opposites. Eventually, their marriage didn’t continue smoothly. The couple began living separately, and from then on, his mother became even more obsessed with Munbeom. She took him to every event and gathering as if he were some kind of ornament.
As discussions about divorce with his father went back and forth, his mother became increasingly sensitive. Knowing this, Munbeom tried to accommodate her to some extent, but today was really tough. It was a day when he was particularly sensitive to pheromones. Perhaps it was because of the person who clung to him and blatantly released pheromones, he thought as he raised his head.
Without realizing it, the room had grown dark.
Munbeom fixed his gaze on the window visible from where he sat.
The raindrops hitting the window were quite thick and loud. Led by the sound that resembled hail—tap-tap-tap—he rose from his seat. He stood in front of the window, looking outside.
A day with heavy clouds, thick raindrops falling enough to obstruct his view, a humid smell that made even his mood gloomy, and…
With a loud boom of thunder, the room where Munbeom was suddenly lit up brightly.
Unlike other children, Munbeom wasn’t afraid of thunder. He just frowned as the loud noise made his ears hurt, but at that moment, he felt a disgusting pheromone stinging his nose. The grimacing child discovered a figure standing in front of the half-open door.
“Little one, so here you are.”
The corners of the person’s mouth rose in a way that was eerily unnatural as soon as they saw him. As the pheromones intensified to match, Munbeom felt nauseous and had a throbbing headache. He gripped the windowsill that his hand was resting on.
Occasionally, there were manifested individuals who used such dirty tactics to seduce others.
But Munbeom was young then. Releasing such blatant pheromones toward a child was nothing short of criminal. Nevertheless, as the pheromones grew increasingly intense, young Munbeom couldn’t bear it anymore and used all his strength to release his own pheromones toward the person.
The person screamed and collapsed at the aggressive pheromones, completely different from what they had been emitting. And when another loud thunder rumbled and filled the view with a light so bright it turned white before fading, she was standing behind the fallen omega.
Munbeom’s mother, Heo Yeongran.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
Though he said that, his face didn’t look apologetic at all. And the one who had been waiting didn’t seem particularly angry either.
Younghwa checked Ho Munbeom’s usual stoic face and then headed for the coffee pot. After brewing a strong cup, he took a tumbler filled with ice from the refrigerator and sat down at the desk. As soon as he sat, he let out a groan and moved his head from side to side.
“Today was tough too. No, what I don’t understand is, they chose me as their attending physician, but why do they add garbage comments like ‘since you’re not manifested, you probably won’t understand’ at the end of every sentence? Makes a beta feel dirty.”
Younghwa was a specialist in manifested pheromones. Even though he was a beta, his excellent skills and discretion made him a popular attending physician with many patients who consistently sought him out. Most were patients he had known for many years, so there were no issues, but occasionally there were people like this who made him feel uneasy.
“I felt dirty from the first consultation. Anyone would think they were an extremely dominant alpha.”
Grumbling, Younghwa carefully mixed his coffee into the tumbler and then downed about half of it in one go. With his expression somewhat relaxed, as if from a coffee transfusion, he looked at Munbeom.
“What’s the sudden matter? Haven’t you been doing okay lately? Is there any need to seek me out specifically?”
Even as he asked that, Younghwa checked the calendar.
Munbeom was also one of Younghwa’s long-time patients and acquaintances. So without having to flip through his chart, he knew his cycle and made a humming sound.
“You do have a rut this month, but you weren’t planning to use medication this time, right?”
“…”
Although Munbeom hadn’t said it directly, Younghwa knew he was seeing an omega. Otherwise, his pheromone levels, which hadn’t decreased despite medication, wouldn’t have stabilized so much.
An extreme dominant alpha like Ho Munbeom wouldn’t have chosen just anyone as a partner. When he had seen him briefly before, his complexion and expression seemed quite comfortable. Seeing that, he thought he must have met a good match. So he assumed he would spend his upcoming rut with that partner…
The ice in the tumbler made a clinking sound as it settled.
“Your expression seems a bit off today? Did you break up with your partner in the meantime?”
If so, would he need medication to get through this rut?
He had thought this time would pass comfortably without any struggle, but had he not been able to hold out and broken up with his partner in the meantime? Well, who could handle this Ho Munbeom? Though not particularly mean or bad, there was something about Ho Munbeom that could intimidate people even with just his expressionless, steady gaze. He managed to brush it off since he couldn’t sense pheromones, but for an omega, with the subtle pheromones added, it would be even more difficult.
Though curious, he couldn’t pry further. Younghwa decided to take care of Munbeom as his doctor.
“Shall we proceed with the examination then? We need to check your condition first before prescribing any medication…”
“My mother appears to have entered the country.”
“…”
Younghwa’s eyes, which had been still, gradually widened.
And his expression as he looked at Munbeom contained the question, “How?” Though it wasn’t incomprehensible why he would make such an expression, Munbeom spoke calmly.
“Manage my records well. Or it’s fine to delete them all. If there’s any external leak, I’ll formally sue you, no matter how close we are.”
“…Don’t even joke about that. A medical lawsuit with Ho Munbeom? That’s chilling.”
“Does it sound like a joke?”
At his calm retort, Younghwa’s cheeks turned pale.
Why wouldn’t he know that Munbeom wasn’t the kind of person to say such things as a joke? But before answering, he wondered how Munbeom really viewed him or the hospital he was affiliated with. After all, the hospital Younghwa belonged to was operated by his family.
“You know my father. He’s someone who would scoff even if your grandfather came. Let alone your mother… he wouldn’t even associate with her.”
While he wanted to speak well of his acquaintance’s parents whenever possible, it also depended on the individual. Younghwa, who knew enough about Ho Munbeom’s mother, Heo Yeongran, sighed.
“I thought your mother would never return to the country again.”
More accurately, he had thought she couldn’t return. The chairman of the Ho Moon Group, who adored Ho Munbeom, wouldn’t have just stood by. Well, things were different now, and the current Ho Munbeom was a man capable of resolving issues on his own. Besides, it was someone else’s family matter. Since it wasn’t an issue to delve deeper into, Younghwa changed the subject.
“So, you don’t need medication for your rut period?”
“…”
It was a question he had asked thinking that the reason for Ho Munbeom’s bad mood was his mother.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
