# Chapter 10
The doctor delayed his departure to wait for Hwiseo and Wooseung. To be precise, he was waiting for the president of JG Industries and his spouse. The patient’s case was also a special situation. The doctor showed them a few pictures of what looked like organs and graphs indicating pheromone levels and explained.
According to what he confirmed with X-rays, one of Hwiseo’s organs had degenerated and disappeared, and the measurements showing pheromones came out at zero. Hwiseo couldn’t understand this at all. He didn’t even know what questions to ask. Instead, the man next to him asked:
“Doctor, are you saying that the pheromone organ of my spouse, who is an Omega, cannot be seen?”
Even the womb. Wooseung asked the doctor if he had heard correctly. The doctor intertwined his fingers and nodded.
“It’s a rare case that occurs in about 35 out of 10 million people, but it’s not completely unheard of. The cause of this natural degeneration of pheromone organs has not yet been identified. And in the case of a male Omega’s womb, there are occasional instances where it loses function after childbirth and disappears.”
When the doctor asked if he had experienced any unusual symptoms like vaginal bleeding, Hwiseo replied with undisguised bewilderment.
“Vaginal bleeding… a womb? No, I’m a man.”
Then he hesitated when he noticed the two people staring at him silently. Had all the things they’d been saying since entering the examination room really been directed at him? He had thought they were talking about hormone levels or something when they explained pheromone measurements. It’s normal not to have a womb because he didn’t have one to begin with. But now it seemed like he was hearing something strange.
“What do you mean by Omega spouse?” Hwiseo asked the two.
The doctor looked through his charts and said in a confused voice that there was no indication of a concussion.
“According to your examination records, you are very healthy. Although it’s a simple checkup, your numbers are significantly better compared to before. So I thought there would be no other abnormalities. Mr. Lee Hwiseo, do you remember how you came to the hospital?”
“I fell into the sea. When I woke up, I seemed to be in a hospital.”
After timidly speaking, omitting the part about falling into the sea voluntarily, the doctor replied with a serious expression.
“Mr. Lee Hwiseo, you were not found in the sea but in the Han River. You were transported to the hospital with no consciousness but with breathing and pulse recovered. At that time, we only confirmed mild dehydration symptoms.”
For a moment, Hwiseo recalled a bewildered voice saying, “I fell into the Han River.” It belonged to a man who, despite being discovered in the East Sea, insisted until the end that his last memory was of the Han River. He tapped his feet while sitting in the chair. No, wait a minute. Finally unable to contain himself, Hwiseo jumped up from his seat and paced back and forth in the examination room. His heart felt like it was about to burst, and he couldn’t sit still. After muttering to himself for a while, he stood firmly in front of the doctor.
“Am I perhaps a celebrity?”
The doctor pushed up his glasses, which had slid down due to the sweat that had seeped out, and answered Hwiseo.
“I heard you’re a popular singer.”
“An idol?”
“Yes, and I’ve seen your chicken commercial too.”
Hwiseo was just a student in the Department of Theater and Film. There was no way he could have filmed such a commercial. He asked the final question to confirm.
“How old am I, by any chance?”
The man who had been quietly observing Hwiseo’s behavior until now said to the confused doctor, “You’ll need to do more tests,” and got up from his seat.
* * *
Hwiseo was only able to return to his hospital room after being informed of the tests he would undergo the next morning. A nurse followed and warned him not to remove the IV drip at will. He was in a hurry. After having the IV reinserted, Hwiseo quickly sat in front of the TV. While frantically flipping through channels, Hwiseo stopped at one screen.
His father was there, acting with a voice and expression so familiar to Hwiseo. He was wearing an elegant suit and riding in a luxury sedan. His face looked youthful as if it was a rerun of a drama filmed when he was younger, but Hwiseo could recognize him. It was the father he had missed so much.
Dad was a man of many talents. He sang well, and he was the one who taught Hwiseo how to play the guitar. Dad’s influence was significant in Hwiseo’s dream of becoming an actor. Since childhood, Hwiseo had boasted that he would fulfill his father’s dream instead. Looking at his father’s brightly smiling face on the screen, Hwiseo finally shed the tears he had been holding back. His father’s dream, which might have been realized if only he hadn’t been there, was too dazzling.
* * *
Forcibly awakened since dawn, Hwiseo went in and out of various examination rooms. He learned for the first time that even just undergoing tests could be exhausting. He was also very hungry because he had to fast. During the examinations, someone who claimed to be a manager visited again. When asked “Is Je Wooseung not here?” while looking around nervously, Hwiseo said no, and only then did the person reveal his hidden neck. Hwiseo remembered that Peter’s name was Je Wooseung.
When he asked who the person was, the manager was flustered, asking if he really didn’t know. After hearing from the nurse escorting Hwiseo to the examination room that they were conducting drug concentration tests, EEG tests, mental state evaluations, and brain scans, the manager left with a gloomy expression. He didn’t seem like a bad person, but he didn’t seem trustworthy either.
Hwiseo went when told to go and lay down when told to lie down. After more than half a day of tests, he was finally able to eat. Afterward, he was guided to an audiovisual room and watched videos about Alpha and Omega traits. He was prescribed mandatory viewing of educational videos that even children watch.
According to the doctor, Je Wooseung was an Alpha, and Lee Hwiseo was previously an Omega with not only pheromone organs but also a womb. Hwiseo was watching the video blankly but was shocked when he saw a male Omega giving birth. He also learned what a heat cycle was.
“Excuse me, since I don’t have a guardian…”
“I am Lee Hwiseo’s guardian. I am your husband, and Lee Hwiseo is my husband too.”
That was all Je Wooseung had said yesterday evening before leaving Hwiseo confused in the hallway. So does that mean that person, being an Alpha, would experience rut? Watching an Alpha in the video being given medication while suffering from rut, he tried to picture Je Wooseung.
‘So does that mean that man was tricked into marriage? He would have married thinking I was an Omega.’
According to the video, Omega pheromones were a sedative for Alphas. Without them, they would have to take medicine or get injections for life. Although they said these were drugs that had passed safety verification, he wondered if they could ever be as good as the natural remedy of Omega pheromones.
‘No, why didn’t anyone tell me this important fact that I’m married and have a husband?’
That man probably didn’t think about the possibility that Hwiseo wouldn’t know Je Wooseung, but he should have mentioned being married. He might not know about other things, but he should have said that! Every time he closed his eyes, thoughts of his “husband” came to mind. All night long, he beat his pillow and kicked his blanket. Hwiseo, who hadn’t even properly experienced his first kiss, was very frustrated. Skipping all the steps and being a married man! He had no idea what to do.
After telling the nurse that he had finished watching the video materials, Hwiseo stepped into the hallway where the sunset was glowing red through a large window. He recalled the scenery he used to see on his way home after taking the bus from town. It was a beautiful sunset, no different from the one in that other world.
* * *
Je Wooseung looked at Hwiseo, who was absorbed in the TV, not even realizing someone else had come in, with a look of disdain. It seemed he had finished preparing for discharge, as a shopping bag containing the clothes and belongings from when he was found was placed next to Hwiseo. A cheap slipper, just one, was sticking out. On TV, a special broadcast about a meteorite that had fallen into the Yellow Sea was playing.
[Last Wednesday, the 13th, a meteorite fell at the maritime boundary between our country and China. Not only our country but also NASA and Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory have observed it falling into our West Sea, but I’ve heard that China is claiming it fell into the Yellow Sea.]
[Yes. As this is the first meteorite observed in our country, the government’s response is important going forward. It seems it should be investigated more thoroughly.]
Hwiseo once again heard news about an asteroid submerged in the sea. This time it was the West Sea, not the East Sea, but the similar yet different fact gave him goosebumps. Only then did he truly realize it. He had really come to the place, the world where that man had lived.
Wooseung tapped the wall of the hospital room while looking at the man sitting in a daze. Hwiseo slowly turned his head. Wooseung crossed his arms and met the complex emotions in the other’s eyes. Memory loss—a deep shadow settled over Wooseung’s eyes.
* * *
Hwiseo walked behind Je Wooseung, looking around at the meticulously well-maintained garden. He stepped on stones embedded like stepping stones. The wooden fire door leading into the house was thick and large.
Upon opening the door and entering, a stylish though not flashy interior appeared. After sitting on the sofa, a housekeeper brought milk tea, saying it was a drink he usually enjoyed. Milk tea was something he had only drunk from cans before, but he drank it anyway since it was offered.
By the time all the examinations were finished, it was the weekend. After staying in the hospital until Sunday and being discharged, Je Wooseung’s house, which was also Lee Hwiseo’s house, was where they came.
Sip by sip, after finishing one cup, a new one was brought out. Until then, Je Wooseung was still on the phone while looking at his tablet. Only when Hwiseo had drunk about half of the second cup did Wooseung end the call.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
