Chapter 7: Consequences and Confessions

Whether he heard the message or not, the Alpha really did show up at his house the next day, just as he’d said.

Noah spewed all sorts of curses at him, but the Alpha stubbornly waited, saying he would wait until he came out.

In the end, he was chased away after a warning from the police, whom Noah had called.

It was the first day Noah had exercised his rights as an Omega.

If it were just two men, the police would have never come for something like this.

He had been doubtful even as he reported it, so he was a little surprised when they dispatched immediately.

“This is the first I’ve heard of an Omega living in this neighborhood…”

The policeman seemed suspicious.

When Noah showed him the presentation certificate from the hospital, he seemed to accept it, but then spoke to Noah with an attitude that suggested he’d become a nuisance.

“Take care of yourself. If trouble starts because an Omega is spraying pheromones, we won’t be able to help you then.”

It was absurd, as if he were assuming Noah had intentionally sprayed his pheromones to seduce the Alpha.

It was an unpleasant treatment he had never experienced before, and Noah wanted to argue, but by the time he could think of what to say, they were already gone.

And then there was this.

[When I saw you yesterday after so long, wasn’t it because you liked me that you sprayed your pheromones?]

Noah was dumbfounded by the message that similarly blamed him.

He was so furious he started composing a long, curse-filled message, but feeling uneasy about leaving unnecessary evidence, he deleted it all and sent just one line.

[I’m blocking you. Don’t come looking for me again.]

Even after that, the Alpha persistently sent messages from different numbers.

At first, he had ranted, not understanding what he had done wrong, but in the end, he simply apologized and begged to meet just once.

Honestly, if his pheromone control had been perfect, he might have considered meeting him—since he was curious about the species called Alphas—but the pathetic fool had lost his chance by running his mouth.

“Hah… How did my life end up like this?”

The complete change in his circumstances over the past few days was slowly starting to sink in.

His dream had been to work hard, earn money, and live well with his mother, but a childhood classmate’s curse had come true, and a similar incident had happened again.

Just like the saying “history repeats itself,” his own history was repeating.

After a week of boring self-confinement, the day of his hospital appointment arrived.

Na Eunsun decided to close the restaurant for the day and went to the hospital with Noah.

It was a general hospital in Gangnam, over an hour’s drive from their house.

The mother and son arrived at the unfamiliar ward of the Department of Secondary Gender Medicine and held hands, tense with nervousness.

“Yunoah-nim, please come to consultation room 1.”

The doctor who had examined Noah in the emergency room last time greeted the mother and son.

“Yunoah-nim is a Dominant Omega. This is an exceptional case. It’s extremely rare for a special secondary gender, let alone a Dominant, to appear in a Beta family. However…”

At the word “Dominant,” the mother and son looked at each other, too stunned to speak.

The doctor tilted his head, looking a bit troubled.

“I think we need to do one more test. I’ll explain it to Mr. Noah, so could the mother please step out for a moment?”

With an anxious expression, his mother left the consultation room, her eyes still fixed on her son.

Noah’s pupils also trembled with anxiety.

He gripped the armrests of the chair tightly and studied the doctor’s face as he looked at the monitor, a gesture to glean even a hint of what he was about to say, wondering if it was a diagnosis of a terminal illness.

“Actually… in the blood test we did last time, there was a suspicious reaction in your hormones. You said you presented the day before the test. Did you happen to have sexual intercourse after you presented?”

The doctor’s tone was extremely business-like, as if efficiently trying to resolve a necessary question.

But Noah felt a strange sensation, as if he were being interrogated for a wrongdoing.

It was the same feeling he had gotten from the policeman and the Alpha named Lee Seungho—a subtle implication that he was somehow responsible.

‘I didn’t even do anything wrong.’

Feeling inexplicably defiant, Noah held his head up even straighter and stared into the doctor’s eyes as he nodded.

‘Let’s see what he has to say.’

He knew there was a world of their own for Alphas and Omegas, and that they were revered by most people for their innately superior looks and abilities.

But Noah had never once been envious of them; on the contrary, the rumors of him being an Omega had only been a nuisance.

He had only met three people since presenting.

The annoying Alpha, the police officer, and the doctor in front of him.

But the way they treated him was of a completely different nature from what he had experienced so far.

Noah was afraid of this change.

Still immature for a full-fledged adult, he had no one to show him a precedent, to say, “This is what it’s like to live as a special secondary gender.”

He had thought he could just spit at those who looked down on him, but an ominous premonition washed over him like a wave, that what the doctor was about to say would turn his life upside down.

‘As if I’d lose…’

“You’re pregnant, Mr. Yunoah.”

‘This is too much!’

After another blood test to confirm the results, the doctor delivered the sentence to Noah, who sat there with a dazed expression.

The doctor explained that pregnancy in a Dominant secondary gender could be confirmed by a more distinct and rapid hormonal change than in Betas, so the chance of a misdiagnosis was almost nil.

“Can you come with the Alpha partner next time?”

Seeing Noah’s despairing expression, which clearly indicated an unwanted pregnancy, the doctor couldn’t even offer the customary congratulations.

A rare Dominant pregnancy was more than a cause for celebration; it was a major event.

Even if it was an unwanted pregnancy, if the Omega were cunning, they could live a life of luxury.

But the youthful Omega had a desolate expression, as if his world had collapsed.

Noah silently shook his head.

‘F*ck, I’m not some dog. I got knocked up after a one-time thing and I can’t even remember the face of the guy who sowed his seed. If I had at least met him at a club for a one-night stand, I would have remembered his face.’

It was too big a piece of evidence to be dismissed as a one-night mistake or an accident.

Regardless of whose fault it was, he felt like finding the Alpha who had done this to his body and beating him to a pulp, but there was no one to take his anger out on.

Tears welled up in his eyes out of frustration.

The doctor seemed startled to see him cry.

“During the pregnancy, you need to periodically receive the partner Alpha’s pheromones for the baby to grow stably. It’s important for the baby’s healthy development, but it’s especially crucial for the Omega’s health.”

“The Alpha… I don’t know who he is. Is it bad for the baby if I give birth alone?”

Even though it was hard to believe a new life had formed inside him, he was concerned that his situation might be bad for the baby.

“It’s not good for the mother, more than the baby. For mild symptoms, you’re more likely to experience various pregnancy side effects, starting with severe morning sickness. The biggest concern is a pheromone imbalance after childbirth.”

“What kind of…”

“Symptoms like an irregular heat cycle or difficulty controlling your pheromones.”

“I see.”

“Oh, and your pheromones are leaking a little right now. Is the control method still difficult for you?”

“What? …Heup!”

When he suddenly held his breath and made a strange sound, the doctor tilted his head.

When he explained it was a pheromone suppression method he learned online, the doctor suddenly bowed his head.

Seeing his shaking shoulders and reddened ears, it seemed he was desperately trying to hold back his laughter.

“Ahem, I apologize.”

The doctor composed himself and taught him the proper control method.

It was an incredibly simple method that didn’t even require holding his breath.

When he claimed that his pheromones had actually weakened using the internet method, the doctor explained it was because of the pregnancy.

He also advised him not to rashly look things up online, as it was rampant with speculation and ridicule about special secondary genders.

For a moment, he felt so ashamed of the foolishness he’d been engaged in that he wanted to disappear somewhere.

It seemed the doctor had noticed he hadn’t studied about secondary genders at all.

“Um… I’m not sure if I should be saying this, but if you’re thinking of giving up the child, it’s better to decide quickly. Still, I would recommend giving birth if at all possible…”

The doctor said that even if he became a single father, Noah could receive various financial support from the government because he was a rare Dominant Omega.

It was a measure to ensure that he wouldn’t give up the opportunity for a precious special-secondary-gender birth due to financial difficulties, at the very least.

Noah said he would think about it and left the consultation room.

“What took you so long!”

“Mom…”

He hadn’t considered that his mother was waiting anxiously outside.

He was so overwhelmed by the daunting realities crashing down on him that he was completely out of it.

After a moment’s hesitation about how to break the news, Noah opened his mouth.

It was a simple thought that if he said it in a public place, he probably wouldn’t get hit.

“Mom, I think you’re going to be a grandmother.”

“…”

He didn’t get hit, but for a while, the relationship between Na Eunsun and Noah became frosty.

He thought it might have been better to be hit.

His mother seemed to be more worried than Noah himself, the one who was pregnant, and she sighed frequently.

Around the time his pheromones, which had been leaking naturally, stopped being noticeable even without effort, Noah decided to have the baby.

His mother decided to respect his decision and accompanied him to his regular check-ups, studying up on the pregnancy and childbirth process, which was different from a Beta’s.

With the reassurance of having a strong ally by his side even without an Alpha, Noah gradually relaxed and accepted his changing life.

Except for the severe morning sickness.