Chapter 117: Bound Without Knowing

“Guardian of Cha Eun-gyeol.”

“…Yes.”

His voice trembled violently.

Looking at the doctor’s face, calm and unreadable, Han-geon covered his mouth with his hand.

The tension had grown so overwhelming that he felt a dry heave rising in his throat.

“The surgery ended a short while ago.

He’ll be moved to the recovery room now.

Fortunately, his life is not in immediate danger.

The stab wound was deep, but it narrowly missed all major organs.

It’s nothing short of a miracle.”

“Eun-gyeol…”

Listening beside him with a face drained white, his mother covered her mouth and choked back sobs.

As Eun-gyeol’s father staggered, his legs seemingly giving out as the tension drained away, Han-geon’s father firmly caught and supported him.

“However, it’s still too early to be fully relieved.

The first issue is bleeding.

He lost a significant amount of blood, so we’ll need to monitor him closely while continuing transfusions through today and tomorrow.

The second issue is…”

At that point, the doctor’s gaze shifted toward Han-geon.

“I apologize for the personal question, but given the circumstances, I must ask.

Are you Cha Eun-gyeol’s imprinted partner?”

“…Ah, yes.

I am.”

As Han-geon nodded with a bewildered expression, the doctor continued in a grave tone.

“The second issue is pheromones.

His blood test shows extremely unstable pheromone levels.

He’s close to shock.”

Han-geon’s breath stopped on its own.

The heart that had been quivering violently earlier was now thrashing like a fish skewered on a spear.

Holding his breath, Han-geon waited for the doctor’s next words.

“This condition usually occurs when an Omega has gone a very long time without contact with their imprinted partner.

It appears to be a mutual imprint.

In your case, the only reason you were able to maintain stability without falling into shock was likely because you were pregnant…”

“D-Doctor, wait.

Just a moment, please.”

Han-geon cut him off desperately, eyes wide.

“Mutual… imprinting?

What do you mean by that…?”

“…You didn’t know?”

The doctor, now visibly taken aback, asked in return.

“Cha Eun-gyeol is also imprinted on you.

And it appears to be quite an old imprint.”

“Th-That… is that even possible?

I never did anything like that…”

His words wouldn’t come out properly in his confusion.

After learning that he himself had been imprinted, Han-geon had searched through countless materials and recalled fragments of memory.

Back at the main house, in his own room, when they had tangled bodies, there was the moment Eun-gyeol had bitten down hard on the back of his neck.

But I never did anything like that to Eun-gyeol.

Then how…?

“It’s possible.

Rare, but possible.

If one party has an intense desire to submit to the other and they maintain a continuous physical relationship, imprinting can occur even without biting.”

Looking at Han-geon’s blank expression, the doctor added heavily.

“You can hear the detailed explanation from an endocrinologist later.

For now, this is an emergency situation.

From this point on, you must stay with him continuously and supply pheromones.”

Eun-gyeol, once out of the recovery room, was immediately transferred to an isolation room attached to the intensive care unit.

Normally, visits outside designated hours were not allowed in the ICU, but due to the pheromone issue, Han-geon was granted special permission to remain in the same space as Eun-gyeol.

While Eun-gyeol was being settled into the isolation room, an endocrinology professor rushed in to assess his condition.

After studying the chart with a deeply serious expression, he spoke gravely.

“The trauma itself is serious, but the pheromone issue is even more critical.

He’s gone far too long without exposure to his imprinted partner’s pheromones, and the severe injury has made that need even more acute.

It’s truly fortunate that his imprinted partner is right beside him.

If he fails to receive sufficient pheromone exposure in this state… it could be genuinely dangerous.”

Just because they had crossed one hurdle didn’t mean they were truly past it.

The words genuinely dangerous left Han-geon’s mind reeling.

Without thinking of anything else, he asked urgently.

“Then what… what exactly do I need to do?

I only manifested recently, so I don’t really know…”

“You must remain in the same space and continuously release pheromones twenty-four hours a day.

Physical contact would help as well, but since the patient is currently unconscious, that may be difficult.

Regardless, the most important thing is that you stay by his side.”

After explaining in detail how to release pheromones, the doctor left the isolation room.

In the suffocatingly clean, white room, Han-geon was left alone with Eun-gyeol.

He had no room for stray thoughts.

Following the doctor’s instructions, Han-geon immediately tried to release his pheromones.

As expected, having never consciously done so before, he felt nothing at all.

It was daunting.

Still, Han-geon didn’t give up and repeatedly practiced deep breathing just as the doctor had taught him.

Like during meditation, he fixed his gaze on a single point and tried to focus his mind.

Over and over, with desperate sincerity, he repeated the process.

At some point, he felt as though something was slowly leaking out of his body.

Yet as it drained away, another sensation surged in to fill the emptiness like an incoming tide.

The moment he realized this, all his nerves sharpened at once.

Every fine hair on his body stood on end, and a jolt ran through his spine strong enough to make him shudder.

What began to fill the space left behind was Eun-gyeol’s pheromone.

Feeling his pheromones flow in like spring water, Han-geon quietly closed his eyes.

Eun-gyeol’s pheromones, rushing urgently into Han-geon’s senses, lunged greedily like a starving beast.

He flinched for a moment, but soon accepted them.

At the same time, he found himself able to give more of his own in return, more naturally with each breath.

Like spring water flowing endlessly in a cycle, Han-geon exchanged pheromones with Eun-gyeol for the first time.

With repetition, it felt as though a passage he had never realized was blocked finally opened, allowing him to breathe freely at last.

It was a sensation Han-geon had never experienced before.

As an imprinted partner sharing pheromones, Han-geon faced Eun-gyeol as an equal for the first time and truly connected with him.

Eventually, the room filled with the intertwined pheromones of the two of them.

Though Han-geon knew little about pheromones, in that moment, he could vaguely sense that he and Eun-gyeol were completely joined.

Now all he had to do was maintain this state.

Only after passing through one crisis did his tension finally ease slightly.

“…..”

Sitting beside Eun-gyeol, Han-geon stared at his face for a very long time.

A gaze filled with countless emotions settled heavily upon him and refused to lift.

His face was badly damaged.

Who would believe it?

That this defenseless man lying before him, looking endlessly fragile, was the same confident and beautiful man who had once been so dearly loved by everyone.

Han-geon could no longer see the tyrannical side Eun-gyeol had once shown.

The man who had swept him into storms of emotion was gone.

The Eun-gyeol lying before him now was simply a man who had thrown his body in harm’s way for his Omega and their child.

With a deep sigh, Han-geon closed his eyes.

His hesitation did not last long.

Slowly lifting his hand, he took hold of Eun-gyeol’s limp hand resting on the bed.

The moment he grasped the hand, cold as ice in a way so unlike him, Han-geon’s heart dropped heavily.

Once, Eun-gyeol’s body temperature had been so high it made him nauseous just to touch.

Yet now, the warmth someone had stolen from him was missed to the point of tears.

Praying desperately for that scalding warmth to return as before, Han-geon tightened his grip around Eun-gyeol’s hand.

“…Cha Eun-gyeol.”

Just saying his name made the center of his chest throb.

“You don’t have time to be like this.

You said you wanted my forgiveness.

You said you wanted to be a father.”

In the room filled only with monotonous machine beeps, Han-geon’s voice echoed emptily.

“You said you’d spend the rest of your life paying everything back.

You said that yourself.

So how can you be lying here like this now?”

His voice shook thinly.

With blurred vision, Han-geon glared at Eun-gyeol, forcing his eyes open.

Tears spilled out and rolled down his cheeks.

“If you just save me and Podo and don’t come back after this…
Then you’re… you’re really a terrible bastard.

I’ll never forgive you.

Never.

I absolutely won’t forgive you.

So…”

Roughly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, Han-geon bit down on his trembling lips.

In the end, his body slowly collapsed onto the bed.

“…So please… come back quickly, Eol…”

His shoulders shook faintly as he cried.

Han-geon clung to him and sobbed until Eun-gyeol’s hand grew damp.

Until his prayer, filled with desperate longing, finally came to an end, Han-geon did not move for a very long time.

Within the pheromones of the two who had now become completely one, only Podo ran about brightly and innocently.