Chapter 98: Knot

The moment he saw the message, he knew.

Choi Han-geon had realized what his own changed secondary s*x trait was.

Even at a time like this, instead of chasing after me to kill me on the spot, he sent nothing more than a single message.

It was so like him that it was almost absurd.

It seemed he had handled the immediate aftermath properly.

If he had been in the middle of manifestation sickness, there was no way he could have even sent a message like this.

I knew that better than anyone, since I myself could hardly stand to remember the day I first manifested.

Even so, I felt I wouldn’t be able to rest unless I confirmed it, so I called him right away, but as expected, he didn’t answer.

Worse, he turned his phone off entirely.

Receiving the message didn’t ease my anxiety at all.

If anything, it drove me closer to madness.

The restlessness that had been steadily building now sloshed up to my throat, full to the brim, mocking me.

The pitch-black surface, swollen to bursting, flicked out its tongue and asked me:

‘What will you do if he leaves you now?’

The moment that thought surfaced, the heat drained from my body all at once.

My hands and feet began to shake so violently that I couldn’t control them.

At that point, the only thing I could do was sit in this house and wait, clinging to that single message from Choi Han-geon.

If he had chosen to contact me like this, then there was no way I could find him right now.

I sat on the sofa in Han-geon’s house and spent the night wide awake.

The night dragged on like a f*cking eternity, and the time after morning broke felt even longer.

Sleep never came.

Countless delusions bounced wildly atop my razor-sharpened nerves, gnawing away at both my body and mind.

If he doesn’t come back like this.

If he goes somewhere far away, beyond my reach.

If he tells me he’s sick of someone like me and to f*ck off.

Then…

I didn’t know.

I didn’t know what I would do then.

It was the first time such a question had ever occurred to me.

In all my life, I had never posed a question like this about anyone.

I treated everyone however the hell I wanted, and they adjusted themselves to me on their own.

If someone fell away, I simply left them behind.

Then, as if they’d been waiting for it, even more people would flock in to fill that empty space.

Naturally, Choi Han-geon couldn’t even be compared to them.

Thinking back, I couldn’t even clearly remember a time when being with him had ever felt uncomfortable.

Aside from the moments when I let other bastards wedge themselves between us, there wasn’t a single thing about our relationship that had ever made me uneasy.

That had been a given.

Because Choi Han-geon liked me.

Because his feelings were so big that I couldn’t even fully understand them.

But what if those feelings disappeared now?

What if he said he had no affection left to give to someone like me?

I couldn’t endure it any longer and sprang to my feet.

I paced around the house, saturated with his scent, again and again, trying to swallow down my rage.

An unpleasant chill crept over me.

Rubbing my arms compulsively as goosebumps rose horribly across my skin, I forced my boiling emotions down.

I stared at the clock, ticking forward as if weighted with lead, until evening arrived.

Choi Han-geon had said he would be back by Sunday evening.

Regardless of leaving without a word, he wasn’t the type to break a promise.

Because I trusted him absolutely in that regard, I let all the emotions raging inside me churn unchecked and simply waited for him.

As expected, Han-geon contacted me around evening.

He refused a call and firmly stated that we would talk by message.

Watching him shut down a call so decisively made my hands go cold.

After barely managing to send my message, I tossed my phone onto the sofa with trembling fingers.

I covered my face with both hands.

I couldn’t understand myself, acting like a madman out of sheer anxiety.

Looking at this pathetically ridiculous situation, I realized I could never go back to the days when I spouted bullshit about being just friends.

Words that simple could no longer explain what I felt.

Was it because he was the omega I had imprinted, and because that omega was pushing me away, that I felt this anxious?

I tried thinking that way, but the changes happening now didn’t come from my body.

They came from my heart.

There was no mistaking it.

More than pheromones, traits, or mates, what mattered most was the fear of losing Choi Han-geon.

That fear swelled beyond its limits and surged like a tidal wave, swallowing me whole.

“Where the hell did you go?!”

The moment I saw him, I lost all reason and shouted.

Anxiety drilled straight into my bones.

A mind completely overtaken by fear couldn’t think properly.

But instead of lashing back, he spoke in a calm tone.

He told me not to use force.

He told me to talk.

Looking into his eyes, already firmly settled and cold, I could be certain once again.

He knew about his trait.

At the same time, the thought that he had run around dealing with everything on his own made me furious like a lunatic.

I’m the one who made you an omega.

That was me.

So why would you try to handle it alone and leave me out of it?

If you’d told me first, I could have taken responsibility and protected you safely.

I wanted to grab him and say all of that.

But his composure shattered in an instant.

As he trembled and asked whether I had known all along, the look in his eyes was on the verge of collapse.

It felt like he would shatter into pieces with just a single touch.

With eyes full of deep betrayal and hatred, Choi Han-geon slapped my cheek.

It was the first time he had ever struck me.

But the pain blooming across my face didn’t even register.

Watching him lose control and try to bolt away, I felt the anxiety and fear that had been drowning me since yesterday surge back all at once.

Without thinking, I grabbed him.

A body that hadn’t slept all night, that had waited for one person alone like a starving beast, refused to let go of the wrist caught in its grasp.

Like a beast, I tried to devour him whole.

By the time I came to my senses, I had forced him down and bound his wrists.

“Don’t, Geol…”

Seeing Choi Han-geon cry like a child, the only thought left in my mind was that I couldn’t let him go.

It was as desperate as standing at the edge of a cliff.

If he ran away now, I had an instinctive certainty that I would never see him again.

Choi Han-geon might leave me for good.

That single sentence struck my head and wiped out what little reason I had left.

Fear swarmed over me like a flock of crows, gnawing me apart.

If Choi Han-geon left right now, it felt like every emotion I had suppressed until now would rush in at once and strangle me.

I could never let him go.

No matter what it took, I had to keep Choi Han-geon with me.

My mind, clouded by surging anxiety, arrived at an answer faster than anything else.

I had imprinted him.

He was mine.

My pheromones were something he could never reject.

If I did this, he would never be able to push me away again.

Without hesitation, I released my pheromones thickly.

As expected, Han-geon’s resistance melted away, his eyes going unfocused.

He even wrapped his arms around my neck and clung to me.

f*ck.

The sight of his face, soaked with tears and saliva amid the dense sweetness of omega scent, made it feel like my brain was melting entirely.

Even as I drove into him brutally, I kept ordering him.

No, it was closer to begging.

I told him to call my name.

I told him to look properly and see who he was with right now.

With his face completely undone, Han-geon called my name over and over.

He sobbed and begged me to take him.

Hearing him call my name sent desire surging so hard it made my head ache.

Choi Han-geon crying beneath me looked terrifyingly beautiful.

I didn’t even have the presence of mind to be shocked by that realization.

Yes.

He was so beautiful it made me want to lose my mind.

I had no intention of denying it.

I liked Choi Han-geon.

I liked him so much that I wanted to chew up and swallow even his body and soul.

I wanted him completely, wholly, as my own.

I didn’t know when my reason had evaporated.

It was as if two beasts had gone into heat together.

Every kind of fluid splashed and spilled, soaking us both.

I licked up every single tear and bead of sweat that fell from Han-geon.

The house filled with nothing but the sound of flesh slapping together, moans drenched in pleasure, and cries that were barely distinguishable from sobs.

Shoving nothing more than this single cock into my omega wasn’t enough to satisfy me.

I wanted to crawl entirely inside Han-geon’s body.

I wanted to break my existence into pieces and embed it inside him.

The more I moved my hips, the deeper it felt like I was going.

Just a little more, and it seemed like we could truly become one.

If we meshed together without even the smallest gap, completely entwined, then Choi Han-geon would never be able to escape me.

So just a little more.

Just a little more…

“…Huh?”

As Han-geon was about to slump backward into unconsciousness, clarity flickered briefly back into his eyes.

The moment he looked at me with a dazed expression, I widened my eyes.

It was knotting.

Even though it was my first time experiencing it, I knew instinctively.

I couldn’t help but be startled myself.

I had never been that immersed with anyone before, so knotting was also a first for me.

“…Choi Han-geon.”

I slowly reached out my hand.

There was no response.

His sweat-soaked head drooped limply.

Looking down at my omega, who had passed out after taking my knot, I bowed my head.

After stopping my movements, I kept spilling myself deep inside Han-geon for a long time.

Only after everything ended did my vision, blurred by heat, slowly return.

His once-flat stomach was visibly swollen.

I traced the outline protruding in the shape of my cock with my fingers.

Seeing the bulge reaching up to his navel sent dizzying shivers through my entire body.

Trembling with the pleasure of knowing he was completely mine, I kept stroking Han-geon’s body with my palm.

Mine.

My omega.

Unable to restrain myself, I captured his slightly parted lips.

I rolled them between my own and sucked sweetly.

Only after a long while did I pull away, then press gentle kisses to Han-geon’s eyes, nose, and cheeks.

As if I hadn’t just driven him to the point of unconsciousness, my movements grew exquisitely careful without me even realizing it.

I brushed his sweat-damp hair back with my hand and once again planted soft kisses all over his face.

Just like this, connected together, Choi Han-geon was undeniably mine.