“What the— guh!”
Just as Jung Hwangseo moved in as if he were about to kiss me, I drove my fist straight into his stomach.
I’d originally aimed for his face, but then I thought better of it. If that handsome face got scratched up, it’d be obvious later, once he came to his senses, that something was off.
“Haa, haa…. Did you just hit me?”
“So what if I did?”
“Pretty thing. That punch is fierce…. Makes it even more exciting….”
I’d forgotten for a moment.
That you should never engage in conversation with a lunatic….
Deciding that knocking Jung Hwangseo out first and sorting things out afterward was the best course of action, I started pummeling him, focusing on his solar plexus. Since he was already aroused, he went down pathetically under my blows.
“Haa, haht. Th-there.”
“Haang.”
“Ugh. That hurts.”
“You’re, you’re so strong, ngh.”
‘…You perverted bastard.’
I was carefully controlling my strength so as not to leave bruises—worried he might get suspicious if there were marks—but maybe I’d held back too much. The more I hit him, the more he seemed to like it, spasming in pleasure. I stared at him with a face gone cold. It wasn’t just his words that were aroused.
Seeing the important lower part of his body, even bigger than when I’d first entered the room, made my skin crawl.
“Haa, pretty… j-just a little more… huh? Why did you stop?”
‘…Would you keep hitting someone like this?’
Beaten down and rolling on the floor, Jung Hwangseo seemed to have lost strength in his legs. Unable to stand, he crawled toward me.
Watching someone feel pleasure while being beaten made my mood foul. I frowned, trying to figure out what to do with this brat, when I suddenly felt an unfamiliar sensation in my hand.
What is this?
I looked down—and froze.
Jung Hwangseo was holding my hand, tongue out, licking it like a dog.
He’d clearly lost all reason; there was nothing human left in his eyes. At the same time, a scent so dense it made my entire body tingle poured off him.
“Ugh!”
For a split second, even I felt dizzy, intoxicated by that scent. Panicking, I struck Jung Hwangseo away. In my haste, I failed to control my strength. His face took the hit full-on, and he went flying.
Literally flying.
I stared blankly at the sight.
I’d noticed my strength had improved compared to before, but….
I hadn’t thought it’d improved this much.
Jung Hwangseo lay sprawled flat on the floor, blood leaking from his nose and lips where he’d been hit. Completely unconscious. I let out a long sigh.
‘Damn it….’
I’d screwed up. I’d left evidence.
“…Hey. You alive?”
I cautiously approached him. He showed no sign of waking—fully knocked out. Thankfully, he was breathing just fine.
I went out, grabbed a first-aid kit from a room I’d earlier identified as something like a medical office, and treated him. I wiped away the blood and applied medicine as best I could, but unfortunately, the bruise on his lip wouldn’t disappear. At least his teeth were all intact.
If he’d lost teeth too… ugh. Just thinking about it was horrifying.
‘…With injuries like this, won’t he just think he fell out of bed while sleeping?’
Yeah. He definitely would.
I’d been worried because there was so much blood, but once I realized the injuries weren’t that severe, I relaxed. Wrapping the naked Jung Hwangseo in a large towel, I lifted him up with ease.
Cradling someone far taller than me like a princess, I laid him down beneath the bed—making it look as if he’d fallen off.
I swept my gaze around the room. Maybe because Jung Hwangseo was unconscious, the overpowering scent that had clogged my nose earlier was gradually fading. His body, flushed red with arousal, was returning to normal.
I discreetly glanced down at my own lower half. Thankfully, everything was normal.
If Park Gyumin had been an omega, I would’ve reacted to Jung Hwangseo’s scent too. I probably would’ve lost my mind and pounced. But aside from feeling dizzy from the smell, I was perfectly fine. Which meant Park Gyumin really was a beta.
But I could’ve sworn betas weren’t supposed to be able to smell pheromones at all….
Was I mistaken? Either way, thank god I wasn’t aroused. I had zero desire to go into heat over another guy. Letting out a breath of relief, I quickly erased any trace of myself and left the room without looking back.
‘…I was never in this room.’
* * *
‘I really hate rut cycles.’
Lying on the bed, Jung Hwangseo stared hazily at the ceiling as the thought crossed his mind.
A rut cycle—the heat that came to alphas periodically.
Though he came from a gangster household, it was still a family with a name and reputation. He’d been taught from a young age not to spread his seed carelessly. Normally, Jung Hwangseo would’ve let that kind of lecture go in one ear and out the other, but during a rut cycle, it was different. The idea of losing himself and fucking some omega he didn’t even know disgusted him.
He hated the thought of some brat carrying his blood being born without his knowledge. That was why, whenever rut hit, he followed family policy and locked himself in his room. Others might take suppressants, but he hated the dizzy, nauseating feeling they caused, so he endured it through sheer willpower.
Lose his mind if he had to. It didn’t matter. There was no one home anyway. He’d pant like a dog in heat for a few days and it’d be over. That’s how it always was. This time wouldn’t be any different.
“Haa, so boring….”
Once the rut passed, he’d go out and hug an omega like a madman. Once this damn rut was over. As his body gradually heated up, his mind grew foggy and his vision blurred.
All signs that rut was beginning.
In his hazy consciousness, only one thought surfaced.
‘I want to fuck….’
He really fucking wanted to.
That was all he could think about. As his mind blurred, his hand moved on its own toward his lower body. Then, from somewhere, he sensed a faint scent.
A scent. A scent.
Sweet, and enough to make his entire body tingle….
Omega pheromones.
I want to hold them.
I want to seed them.
I want to bite their neck.
I want to make them mine!
I want them.
‘My omega….’
The scent drew closer. Then the door opened and someone entered the room. His vision was too blurry to make out who it was.
“Who are you?”
Come closer. Let me see your face.
Jung Hwangseo staggered to his feet. His arousal peaked, and he wanted nothing more than to tear off that omega’s clothes and mark their entire body with his own. But he clung desperately to his reason. If he lunged right now, the omega might get scared and run.
So, for the first time in his life, he hid the vicious possessiveness and obsession he was feeling and whispered softly, pretending to be normal. But he was reaching his limit.
‘…I’ll take you.’
The moment he finally gave in and tried to pounce—
He was punched.
By an omega.
It was the first time that had ever happened.
It hurt. But even that pain felt good.
The more they touched him, the more they moved, the stronger their scent became. His mind filled with nothing but the desire to cover himself in that scent. They seemed to be saying something, but his reason had deteriorated too much to hear it.
Then he saw a hand.
A small, pale hand.
Wanting to touch it, he instinctively crawled forward and stuck out his tongue first.
He licked it like a dog.
The moment his tongue and their fingertips touched, his arousal surged. His head was filled with the single thought of taking this person and making them his omega—
And then, with searing pain, he lost consciousness.
When he came to again, it was as if the rut had never happened at all. Jung Hwangseo was sprawled on the floor.
“…What, was it a dream?”
For a dream, it’d been way too obscene….
He looked down at his body. He’d been beaten badly, or so it felt—but there wasn’t a single bruise.
‘Was it really all just a dream? From where? From when the rut started?’
No. That couldn’t be it. The rut definitely came. He wasn’t stupid enough to mistake whether he’d gone into rut or not. But once rut hit, he should’ve suffered for a week—yet now, aside from feeling a bit languid, his body was perfectly fine.
‘Hm, don’t tell me….’
He’d heard of cases like this before.
When you met your fated partner.
It was said that just their pheromones alone could calm each other. And when both desired each other, even more intense acts were possible. But….
“A fated partner… I’ve never met someone like that— ngh.”
Pain throbbed at the corner of his mouth. Wondering what it was, Jung Hwangseo picked up the small hand mirror by his bed and looked.
He froze.
“…Found you.”
A flower-bright smile spread across his face in the mirror. He’d finally found proof that it wasn’t a dream. Come to think of it, though it’d become rarer lately, there were times before.
Stray cats sneaking into the house.
Or spies from rival organizations trying to get pregnant with his brother’s or his family’s seed.
It seemed that one such stray cat who’d broken in this time was unexpectedly his fated partner.
‘Even if I have to comb through every CCTV camera….’
I’ll find you.
And once I do….
‘I’ll make you mine and bind you to my side forever, so you can never run away.’
Jung Hwangseo licked his lips.
He’d thought he didn’t need something like an omega, that such a thing didn’t even exist. But after meeting them once, an unbearable thirst surged within him. They were clearly different from ordinary omegas.
Rising to his feet, Jung Hwangseo realized he was going to be very busy from now on—if he was going to find his mate.