Chapter 10: The Imprint

That day, after a satisfying one-night stand, he was able to immerse himself in work, feeling better than ever before.

He had never realized before that one pleasant night could have such a positive impact on his well-being.

It was because it was rare to find pheromones that suited his taste.

A Dominant’s pheromones were more than enough to satisfy a recessive Omega, but the reverse was rarely true.

For the first time, he could almost understand how the Omegas who threw themselves at him felt after sensing his pheromones.

At first, he was furious that the Omega had run away without a word, leaving only money behind. But his heart fluttered with the thought that once he found him, everything would fall into place.

This, too, was a feeling he had never experienced, which was bewildering. Yet, having never failed to obtain what he wanted, he took it as a given.

It was an arrogance born from the belief that everything would be resolved once he had the Omega in his possession.

He immediately began to search for the Omega.

The floor with the restroom where they had met had a few small banquet halls and a business center for hotel guests.

Since it was a restroom near the banquet hall, it was more likely that the Omega was a staff member or a guest of the banquet, rather than a regular guest using the business center.

It turned out that besides his own engagement party, there had been no other events that day.

Therefore, he checked the list of employees who had worked at the engagement party, but the Omega wasn’t on it.

Questioning the staff yielded no answers.

The list of hotel guests who had used the business center was, of course, useless.

He hadn’t expected much from it in the first place, as the Omega didn’t seem like the type to frequent such a place on a Saturday afternoon.

When his expectation of finding the Omega easily was shattered, the emotion that naturally followed was rage.

He couldn’t forget that day, and as time went on, he was losing sleep over it.

How could the Omega leave so coldly?

He wondered if he was the only one who had enjoyed that night, and he replayed their encounter from beginning to end in his mind dozens of times.

No matter how he thought about it, the Omega was the one who had clung to him, saying how good it felt.

Just the memory made him heavy below, and even though he felt pathetic each time, he couldn’t stop.

Soon, his fiery rage made even those around him start to avoid him.

After a while, the intense emotions gradually subsided, and Hanjoo began to grow anxious.

He figured the Omega must be the type to sleep around.

He probably came to the hotel for that very reason.

To toy with Alphas, exuding that captivating scent.

Just imagining the Omega who had cried beneath him being with another Alpha made his heart feel like it was being crushed, and he was so anxious he couldn’t focus on anything.

On his days off and after work, he would sit in the hotel lobby and watch the people passing by.

It was with the hope that, just as a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, his Omega would one day appear.

He took a seat where he had a clear view of the entire hotel lobby.

He spent his time imagining what would happen if the Omega appeared while he was in the restroom, or what he would do if the Omega showed up with another Alpha.

Months passed like this.

All the employees recognized Hanjoo, a member of the owner’s family, and were extremely uncomfortable, but he himself was in no state of mind to care about their stares.

Eventually, rumors reached his uncle, the hotel’s president, and his father, and only then did Hanjoo leave the lobby.

Anxiety and depression took turns visiting him, as if they were waiting in line.

Hanjoo couldn’t understand it.

He had just spent one night with a sexually compatible partner, so why was he acting like a madman?

He even consulted his psychiatrist, but nothing was resolved.

He gradually lost his appetite and couldn’t sleep.

The foods he used to enjoy were all reduced to things that emitted a nauseating smell.

When he finally managed to fall asleep with the help of sleeping pills, the Omega from that night would appear in his dreams.

In his dreams, the Omega’s face, once crying in pleasure, had somehow transformed into one that cried with resentment.

He resented the Omega for crying and asking why he couldn’t find him.

The feeling upon waking was worse than before he fell asleep, but he felt he had to at least dream to not forget that face.

“It’s been a long time since your rut. You should get a check-up.”

His personal secretary, Yoon Seunghwi, suggested with a calm expression.

It was also Secretary Yoon who had recommended the psychiatric consultation last time.

He hadn’t known that he was even keeping track of his rut.

As Hanjoo’s condition had rapidly deteriorated in recent months, he had been handling most of the work.

Hanjoo noticed anew how haggard his secretary’s face had become and nodded.

A few days later.

“Other than the significant weight loss, there’s nothing particularly wrong with your body. However…”

His personal physician, Director Kim, dragged out his words, which was unusual for him.

As his secretary had wished, he had undergone a health check-up at a general hospital affiliated with the group and was now in the VIP consultation room to hear the results.

Next to him was a young doctor with a face he had never seen before.

Director Kim gestured to the young doctor.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Director. I’m Song Minjae from the Department of Secondary Gender Medicine.”

The doctor, with a face so bright you could mistake him for an intern, greeted him.

Usually, when the director went out of his way to call in a specialist, it was for political reasons, to promote someone in his line.

Many had come and gone like that, just to say hello, and they usually had a tendency to be overly subservient to him.

But this doctor, after his greeting, immediately returned to a business-like attitude and stared at Hanjoo’s face as if observing a test subject.

That demeanor somehow inspired confidence, but at the same time, a fear crept in that something was seriously wrong with him.

“Director, I heard your last rut was six months ago. Your original cycle was about a month. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

He had had his engagement party around the end of his rut and had met the Omega in question.

He even remembered taking a specially prescribed suppressor so that the pre-arranged engagement party wouldn’t be disrupted.

Still, the remnants of his rut must have lingered, because he recalled having to use all his willpower to restrain from knotting during their encounter.

It would have been impossible if he weren’t a Dominant.

“Did you have sexual intercourse with an Omega after your last rut?”

“Ha!”

It was an unexpected question.

For someone to mention that Omega, whom no one had ever asked him about before.

A surge of anger rose within him.

Director Kim, who was sitting next to him, noticed Hanjoo’s displeased expression and cleared his throat.

“Why are you asking such a question? Is there any reason I have to tell you who I’ve slept with and how many times? Just give me the results.”

“Yes. Go on, Department Head Song.”

“Director, your pheromone levels are abnormally high. After conducting several tests to determine the cause, we found that the pheromone reaction showed a pattern similar to that of someone who has imprinted.”

“What?”

The doctor’s words, “imprinting,” were impossible.

Imprinting, which could be poetically described as the “fruit of love,” was like a lifelong pledge made between an Alpha and an Omega, exclusively for each other.

In the old days, there were cases of Alphas forcibly imprinting on Omegas they desired, but as times changed, imprinting became legally restricted to married couples, and any imprinting without mutual consent was illegal.

Imprinting, where the two only affected each other’s pheromones, sounded romantic at first glance, but it required caution as it didn’t guarantee the character of the imprinted partner.

There were unfortunate cases of people who imprinted after marriage and couldn’t escape even if their partner became violent.

Due to these various side effects, the number of couples who imprinted even after marriage had decreased in recent times.

Moreover, research had shown that the success rate of imprinting was also declining, perhaps as a result of human evolution.

And he was imprinted?

Had he performed the act of imprinting that night?

Hanjoo was extremely confused.

“Director. Excuse me, but may I speak with Department Head Song alone for a moment?”

At Hanjoo’s request, the director looked uncomfortable for a moment but had no choice but to get up.

Hanjoo’s test results had to be reported to his father, Chairman Lee Sejoong.

The Department of Secondary Gender Medicine was usually a dead-end post, far from the hospital’s political lines, so he wasn’t confident he could properly find out what was discussed.

Song Minjae, who just leeched off the hospital budget with his innocent face, practically oozed with inflexibility just by looking at him.

How was he supposed to handle this guy…

Director Kim, now with a headache, grumbled as he left the reception room.

“Let’s keep this conversation between you and me.”

“Of course.”

The doctor, who had seemed to be crossing a line at first, now looked quite trustworthy.

His gaze and attitude were different from Director Kim and the doctors he always brought with him.

In the eyes of Hanjoo, who had lived his entire life with doctors catering to his every whim, this was a type of person he had never seen before.

He couldn’t stop the results of the imprinting from reaching his father’s ears, but letting him know it was the result of a one-night mistake was another matter entirely.

He couldn’t prove his lack of qualification as a successor through such an absurd event.

“I will compensate you handsomely for maintaining this secret.”

“…That… is not necessary. I will never speak of it.”

Everything has a price.

Hanjoo tried to compensate the doctor according to the way he had been taught and had lived, but he was cleanly refused.

Hanjoo watched the doctor suspiciously as he refused with a quizzical expression, as if asking why he would even offer such a thing, but seeing him refuse again, insisting he wouldn’t take it, Hanjoo decided to trust him this once.

Hanjoo confessed a brief version of the story to the doctor and then opened up about the anxiety, depression, insomnia, and eating disorder that had followed.

The doctor, who had listened intently to Hanjoo’s story, spoke.

“It’s common to feel anxious when you’re not with the Omega you’ve imprinted on. If that period is prolonged, it can also lead to depression. It naturally affects your sleep and eating habits, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a case where you have an appetite but can’t eat. It’s almost like the morning sickness of a pregnant person.”

Morning sickness…

Hanjoo clicked his tongue and let out a low laugh at the ridiculous idea.

He thought that if his Omega had been pregnant, he might have shown up, if only to find the baby’s father.