Chapter 102
*
A burst of intense light flooded into Hyeon-woo’s unobstructed vision. Beyond the blinding halo, a hazy figure shimmered. He wanted to confirm its identity, but his eyes stung as if they were burning, making it difficult to keep them open. As if scolding Hyeon-woo for trying to close his eyes tightly, someone’s shout echoed loudly in his ears.
‘It’s K, it’s K. K is right in front of you…!’
A voice filled with anticipation resonated in his head. Hyeon-woo desperately lifted his eyelids that were trying to close, furrowing his brow with effort.
After blinking several times, as his vision gradually adjusted to the light, Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened in shock as he focused all his attention on the black silhouette before him that was becoming clearer.
“……”
As Hyeon-woo’s gaze met Tae-geon’s, his complexion turned ashen.
‘…No…! It can’t be! K… it’s impossible! No!’
The omega’s shrill scream reverberated sharply, as if tearing through his mind.
‘No, it’s not true!! It’s not!! I’m telling you it’s not!!’
The figure, screaming and looking for a place to hide from the light beams like a demon being exorcised by the Holy Spirit, soon crumbled into ash and scattered in all directions. Then, everything fell silent.
The whitish remnants floating in the air gathered around Hyeon-woo, who was curled up in a ball, and began to rapidly penetrate his skin, entering his body all at once. Soon, an unfamiliar sensation arose from those areas.
As if suffering from the awareness gained in exchange for reclaiming his stolen body, Hyeon-woo writhed in pain, twisting his limbs. Suddenly, he sensed a warmth embracing him as if to comfort him, and his body stiffened. He could feel that the other person had also tensed up, seemingly realizing that he had regained consciousness.
Sneering at this, Hyeon-woo forced his eyelids open, squinting at the sting from the fluorescent light, and sure enough, as expected, Tae-geon was there in front of him.
With an expression of disgust, Hyeon-woo barely managed to sit up. He felt a terrible pain in his buttocks. Hyeon-woo surveyed his naked body, from his chest down to his stomach and thighs. Seeing the pubic hair and genitals between his spread legs, glistening with sticky fluid, Hyeon-woo could easily deduce what had happened while he was unconscious.
He had thought Tae-geon’s visits had become infrequent lately, but this was what he did as soon as he came. He was appalled by Tae-geon’s beastly behavior, arbitrarily ravaging the lower body of an unconscious person.
Facing the contempt in Hyeon-woo’s eyes, Tae-geon felt relief along with a deep sense of loss.
He had returned. It was Hyeon-woo’s hate-filled eyes directed at ‘Tae-geon’, not K. The nighttime Hyeon-woo who had snuggled in his arms, whispering sweetly, no longer existed in this world.
Tae-geon blocked Hyeon-woo’s path as he tried to leave the bed. Before Hyeon-woo could snap at him asking what he was doing, Tae-geon was quicker. On Tae-geon’s palm suddenly thrust before him was a small brown glass vial. Hyeon-woo looked up and spat at Tae-geon.
“…What are you trying to do now?”
“……”
“I’m not in the mood to play guessing games with you. Just seeing your face is torture enough, so move.”
Despite the irritated voice, Tae-geon’s gaze, unchanging as he looked at Hyeon-woo, seemed somewhat plaintive and solemn. As Hyeon-woo’s face wrinkled at this inexplicable standoff, Tae-geon spoke.
“It’s a neutralizer.”
“I said I’m not interested, so move.”
“Aren’t you curious why suppressants only don’t work on you?”
At the sudden mention of suppressants from Tae-geon’s mouth, Hyeon-woo desperately tried to suppress the memories trying to crawl out of his mind.
The suppressants that had failed to work time and again, even after swallowing dozens of pills. After spending an unconscious heat cycle, he would come to his senses only to find that the worst had already happened.
Memories he had buried began to surface in a jumble – the silver flute, white pills scattered messily on the floor, and the image of Ju-on on top of his body. As if denying these memories, Hyeon-woo shook his head from side to side, clutching his hair, and barely managed to squeeze out a trembling voice.
“…I’m not curious.”
“……”
“I’m not curious, so stop it and move, please.”
“I made it that way.”
“…What…?”
Hyeon-woo’s eyes, now fixed on Tae-geon as he raised his lowered head, shook uncontrollably. Tae-geon continued with difficulty.
“…I made it that way.”
“……”
“I hated the thought of you rolling around with other alphas. I wanted you to react only to my pheromones, but I didn’t know it would lead to such side effects-”
Slap-!
A sharp, cracking sound split the air. A stinging pain spread across Tae-geon’s right cheek.
“…You… just.”
“……”
“…How far… will you…”
Unable to finish his sentence, Hyeon-woo took rapid, heaving breaths, his shoulders shaking. As Tae-geon straightened his turned head, his heart sank at Hyeon-woo’s broken expression. A strange sensation spread across his chest along with a terrible pain.
He had thought there would be no further fall as he was already at rock bottom, but the fact that there was still room for Hyeon-woo to crumble disturbed Tae-geon’s thoughts.
Paradoxically, an odd hope kept trying to emerge from Hyeon-woo’s despairing expression.
Still, even now, me.
Tae-geon gritted his teeth, steeling himself.
This reaction didn’t stem from faith in him. Hadn’t that trust been shattered beyond recognition long ago? Therefore, Hyeon-woo’s reaction was merely shock and horror at witnessing the ugly depths of a human being, nothing more, nothing less.
…How should he have conveyed it?
Was it wrong to confess the truth?
‘I made it that way.’
The image of Hyeon-woo’s face crumbling in despair before the truth kept flickering in his mind.
How can I stop your fall caused by me?
Tae-geon stared blankly at the vial in his hand. After tightly gripping the brown vial in his palm and then releasing it, Tae-geon spoke to Hyeon-woo as if he had made up his mind.
“…Let’s stop.”
“……”
“Let’s stop now, Hyeon-woo.”
Though the words came out in a jumble, their meaning was clear.
Their gazes tangled in the air for a long time. Breaking the long silence, Tae-geon held out the vial in his hand again.
“It’s a medicine that eliminates the resistance caused by me.”
“……”
“The resistance reaction my pheromones caused in your body is why no suppressants have worked for you all this time. This will cure that, so take it.”
Hyeon-woo’s eyes, which had been silently listening to Tae-geon’s words, gradually narrowed.
“…What are you up to…?”
Tae-geon quietly closed his mouth at Hyeon-woo’s reaction.
“Why are you suddenly acting out of character, pretending to care and look out for me?”
“…I don’t want you to-”
“Shut up. Stop blaming yourself.”
“……”
“When did you care when you were arbitrarily wielding me and neglecting me? What’s your real motive for suddenly acting like this?”
Hyeon-woo felt the turmoil in his heart growing more intense, raising its waves, as Tae-geon maintained a long silence without answering.
…Stop, he says…? Now of all times?
Don’t make me laugh. I haven’t even repaid a quarter of the pain I’ve suffered, and who are you to announce an end to me?
His mood was overturned by the violently surging anger. Hyeon-woo suddenly snatched the vial from Tae-geon’s palm and threw it forcefully to the floor.
Crash-
With a loud noise, the glass bottle that had plunged into the floor rolled for a while before hitting the corner of the bedside table.
“Do you think I’m stupid? That I’d just accept and eat whatever you give me? What tricks are you trying to pull now?”
“……”
Tae-geon stared for a long time at Hyeon-woo’s eyes boiling with hatred. Hyeon-woo felt suffocated by the gaze of those inscrutable black eyes that seemed to bore into him. Though Tae-geon’s eyes were always hard to read, today they seemed particularly persistent and unusual. Just as Hyeon-woo was about to recoil from this, Tae-geon’s gaze dropped away.
Tae-geon picked up the vial from the floor and, with a languid motion, ran his hand through his hair, exhaling a tired sigh.
“…Hah.”
“……”
“I tried to do this nicely.”
Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened as he looked at Tae-geon’s face, now clearly visible with his forehead exposed. Unbelievably, a blatant sneer hung at the corners of Tae-geon’s mouth, his expression completely different from just moments ago.
Intimidated by Tae-geon’s markedly changed demeanor, as if he had removed a mask he had been wearing, Hyeon-woo instinctively hunched his shoulders.
“You seem to be seriously mistaken about something.”
“……”
“I’m not interested in you anymore, not enough to go to such lengths and even resort to cheap tricks.”
Watching Hyeon-woo’s eyelashes flutter at those words, Tae-geon twisted one corner of his mouth into a cold smile.
“You ask why I’m doing this now? What other reason do I need when I’m trying to spit out a piece of gum I’ve finished chewing? So stop overthinking and decide. Will you take it or not?”
“……”
“It’s a favor I’m granting you because we were once friends.”
…What…? A favor?
A piece of gum… he’s finished with?
It was hard to believe even though he had heard it clearly. It felt as if the ground he was standing on was wavering, and his vision flickered white. Hyeon-woo, his body going limp, staggered and slumped back onto the bed. His head felt hot. As Hyeon-woo began to pant roughly, Tae-geon looked down at him with an impassive gaze and spoke again.
