“Uh, don’t pull it out yet. Let this finish first, and when I say you can be discharged, then you go. Okay?”
Marvin, who had unconsciously started to pull out the IV needle from his wrist, stopped and looked up. At some point, the attending physician had approached, hands in the pockets of his coat.
He’d been about to leave anyway, figuring there was nothing good to gain by staying longer. After all, it would all be over once he took the suppressant he’d left in his office at the hotel.
“I’m fine now. I think my fever’s gone down too. It’s not actually because I’m sick or anything.”
“I know. You’re in rut, right? If you want to take your medication, you can do it here at the hospital. But the alpha meds aren’t covered by insurance. Oh, do you live overseas? Your insurance contributions are listed as suspended.”
The doctor glanced back and forth between the chart and Marvin’s name, making an assumption as he asked. Unsure how to respond, Marvin hesitated for a moment, but someone else answered for him.
“Yeah, this guy lives in America. Been about five years now, hasn’t it?”
Jang Jin-woo appeared from behind the doctor and spoke to Marvin in a familiar tone. As if they’d known each other for ages, his demeanor was natural. Marvin rolled his eyes and glanced away.
“If you’re going to get the shot anyway, do it here. Enosil is cheaper here than in the US. You can’t get it in the ER, but if you go to the genetics department and register, they’ll give it to you same day.”
The doctor seemed to naturally assume Jang Jin-woo was Marvin’s guardian.
“Want to?”
He looked at Marvin and asked. Maybe he was just playing along, but it also felt like he was deliberately giving the choice to Marvin.
Aren’t you supposed to be an omega? It was like he was waiting for Marvin to answer for himself. Being caught off guard by this new vulnerability left Marvin feeling more than a little exposed.
“No. I’ll just, uh, go home today… I’m fine. I’ll just leave.”
“Alright, then hurry up and call your partner, say it’s urgent, and go see them, okay?”
The attending physician twirled his pen playfully and handed over the discharge paperwork. Still, he reminded Marvin that he had to finish the IV drip before leaving.
Once the doctor was gone, only the two of them were left. The muffled chaos of the ER filtered through the half-drawn curtain.
Jang Jin-woo was wearing a coat. Maybe he’d just come in from outside, as there was a chill clinging to him. The friendly tone and expression he’d shown in front of the doctor were now gone. With his hands shoved in his pockets, he looked at Marvin as if waiting for an explanation.
It was an awkward situation, but Marvin figured he should at least thank him.
“…Did you bring me to the hospital, Inspector?”
He simply nodded up and down without a word.
“Did I pass out on the road?”
Again, he only gave a simple nod. Marvin continued, doing his best to sound polite.
“I see. I was a little worried I might’ve caused trouble for other cars. Anyway, thank you. For not pretending not to see me.”
“If I hadn’t, my own car would’ve ended up stuck on the road too.”
“Oh, right.”
Of course. That was the simple reason for his supposed good deed. By coincidence, he must have been following behind.
It wasn’t exactly fate. In a small town like this, driving meant passing the same roads again and again. Whether going to the police station or the hospital, it was always the same route. That’s just how narrow and closed off this place was.
“Still, you saved me. I’m fine now, so you can go. I’m sorry for taking up your time. You’re a busy person.”
Marvin tried to wrap things up as politely as possible. He didn’t want to get entangled any further. He hoped Jang Jin-woo would just turn around and leave, acting indifferent like he had the night before.
Instead, Jang Jin-woo came right up next to Marvin’s bed and sat down without asking. Suddenly, he leaned in close, staring at Marvin intently.
“Why….”
Marvin instinctively shrank back, avoiding him. Jang Jin-woo’s handsome eyes narrowed in a faint smile.
“I was right, huh? Omega.”
He murmured openly, clearly the thing he was most curious about. Sure of himself. He let Marvin stew in silence, then straightened up and stood from the bed again.
“If you were in bad enough shape to collapse, you should’ve said something. It’s not like you wanted to get rid of me for good. You could’ve died, you know.”
The absurd scolding made Marvin let out a hollow laugh.
Would you have even listened if I’d told you?
He knew perfectly well Marvin was in heat, but still cuffed him and dragged him along—yet now he was pretending to be a reasonable person? Unbelievable.
“By the way, your symptoms are really unusual. On the surface, it just looked like you had the flu, but you wouldn’t wake up, so the doctor was confused. That’s why I asked them to give you a suppressant. Since I remembered you had a hit yesterday. But then they asked which one—Enosil or Alpecin. I know both are alpha suppressants.”
Ah… so this was coming. Marvin turned his head, avoiding eye contact again.
“……”
“I thought something was weird, so I told them to leave you alone. Giving you the wrong medication could be dangerous. Maybe I was mistaken about yesterday. But seeing you now, I guess I wasn’t.”
Marvin had manifested as an alpha in high school and was officially registered as a secondary trait carrier after a blood test. Once you manifest a trait, it never disappears or re-emerges as another type. So the hospital would naturally assume he’d gone into rut.
“I don’t care for word games, so let’s just do yes or no. Kim Marvin, are you an omega?”
Marvin stayed silent. But the longer he thought about it, the less it worked in his favor. There was no way out now, not after how obvious he’d made it yesterday.
The question was, how had he figured out Marvin’s real trait from the beginning… He should’ve asked that first, but it was too late now.
Kim Marvin, you really are losing your edge.
“…Yes, I am.”
“Then why is the doctor convinced you’re an alpha?”
“They probably checked my registration. Once it’s in the system, it can’t be changed. The person who registered me the first time made a mistake.”
He shamelessly blamed a bureaucratic error. Jang Jin-woo looked like he didn’t buy it at all.
“That’s a pretty serious administrative error. Why didn’t you file to have it corrected?”
“They said there wasn’t a process for that.”
“Of course not. I’ve never heard of a misregistered trait before. So you just left it like that? Didn’t even try to resolve it with a lawsuit or anything?”
There was a hint of reproach in his voice. It sounded like he was asking why Marvin was living such a foolish life.
“Well, I don’t know what you think, but I’m not as close to the law as you are, Inspector. I’ve got my reasons, and honestly, I’m not really uncomfortable living like this.”
In this situation, it seemed best to just let him think Marvin was a fool. There was no other way. Explaining the truth was impossible. The mission in Switzerland had failed, and the Korean government had closed the case as if they’d never been involved. So Kim Marvin, who’d been an alpha, couldn’t exist anywhere.
“You have your reasons?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not from around here, are you?”
“No.”
“Why is your insurance suspended? Didn’t have the money?”
“What? Oh….”
He hadn’t expected him to ask about that.
“Well, you could say that.”
“Does your boss not pay you? Business seemed good last night.”
“No, it’s just… personal issues.”
“What kind?”
Jang Jin-woo kept pressing. Marvin fell silent and looked at him. Like he was determined to sweep away every last bit of dust. Yesterday, he’d acted like he didn’t care about anyone’s business—now he was weirdly interested.
“I’m in debt. I’ve been cutting back on unnecessary expenses to pay it off.”
That was a lie, of course. He really was broke, but he had no debts. He didn’t even have a credit card or a bank account. Marvin had wiped himself completely from every part of the Korean social system—not just health insurance.
He always lived under an assumed identity abroad, and even when he had to come to Korea, he couldn’t leave any records. No one could know where he’d been, who he’d met, or what he’d eaten.
He’d never really thought of this life as inconvenient. It was just the way things were; every other agent lived the same. But now it was different.
Trying to survive as an ordinary person without the shield of the organization was no easy feat. Especially when a wolf with a suspicious nose was circling him.
“And you think health insurance is an unnecessary expense? Especially for a B-type carrier?”
And the wolf in front of him was smart, too.
“So where do you get your suppressants? If you can’t get them from the hospital, they must cost a lot.”
A guy in debt, huh.
He hadn’t said it, but the look on his face made it feel like Marvin could hear it anyway. Marvin was cornered. He had no choice but to back down one more step.