Chapter 60: A Corner in the Music Hall

Perhaps they had misunderstood it as a sound coming from another room.

In this case, he desperately hoped his neighbor had misunderstood.

Chaewoo walked side-by-side with Euigeon toward the end of the alley.

The moment he stepped forward to go down the stairs, he felt as if every single one of his joints was broken.

Not to mention his sore lower half.

Even as he got into the car parked at the end of the alley, he worried whether he would be able to safely attend his lectures and return today.

And he even had his part-time job in the evening….

“Sigh.”

To be honest, it was comfortable.

Normally, he would have barely squeezed in among the bus passengers or walked a long distance to school.

Riding in the car driven by Euigeon without such complications and hassles certainly made his body comfortable.

“What about your bag?”

The sling bag he had taken to Cheongju wouldn’t have the books needed for today’s lectures.

“I’ll stop by my studio briefly on the way. To change clothes too.”

‘Ah, that works then.’

“Wait in the car for a second later.”

“Okay.”

Euigeon turned the steering wheel toward a cafe on the road before entering his studio’s alley.

Right next to the cafe building, an entrance was set up so they could order through the drive-thru.

“I’m getting coffee. You too, Senior?”

Euigeon asked, taking a card from his pocket and biting down on it.

Chaewoo nodded his head several times.

What he needed most urgently right now was coffee.

“May I take your order? What drink would you like?”

As the car entered the driveway, the staff’s voice flowed from the machine.

“What do you want to drink?”

“An Iced Americano.”

“Two Iced Americanos, please. And for the sandwich…”

Euigeon glanced sideways as if asking if there was anything he wanted to eat.

Since it was a cafe Chaewoo also visited occasionally in the past, he roughly knew the menu.

“Then I’ll have… the olive mozzarella sandwich.”

“One croissant and one olive mozzarella sandwich, please warm both of them up.”

After stopping the car and waiting for a moment, the drinks and sandwiches were ready in no time.

It might just be his imagination, but the moment he took a sip of the Americano, his mind, which had been as hazy as fog, seemed to clear up.

Euigeon, who had exited the cafe building after completing the payment, drove straight to the front of his studio.

“Go ahead and eat. I’ll be right back.”

Saying so, he finished the large croissant in two bites and vanished outside the car.

Left alone, Chaewoo ate the warm sandwich while looking out the window.

Since it was near the university district, quite a few students heading to morning lectures were visible.

‘Surely I won’t run into anyone I know here.’

‘It’s not like they can see inside the car anyway.’

While harboring useless worries, Chaewoo diligently finished the sandwich.

Staring blankly like that, this situation suddenly felt very unfamiliar.

‘Wasn’t staying with a partner until morning crossing the line?’

Perhaps it was due to the exceptional contract of being Reset Partners.

Indeed, it was difficult to view his relationship with Euigeon merely as s*x partners.

Since he was a junior in the same department, they also had many reasons to run into each other.

While lost in thought, swept by various stray ideas and reality checks, drowsiness gradually crept over him.

While debating whether to close his eyes and sleep even for a moment, Euigeon, who had changed his clothes, came down.

Jeans, a white t-shirt, and a backpack. He was dressed in a style similar to his usual one.

“Shall we go?”

“Drop me off in front of the school.”

Euigeon, sitting in the driver’s seat, nodded as he pressed the ignition button.

The car soon stopped in front of a quiet alley.

Turning the corner from here led straight to the main gate.

Confirming that there was no one around at the moment, Chaewoo quickly took his bag and coffee and got out of the car, with the sandwich still in his mouth because he was short-handed.

“See you later.”

“Yeah.”

As soon as he closed the door, the car turned the corner and entered the main gate.

Chaewoo walked toward the lecture hall with slow steps.

However, before taking even ten steps, Chaewoo intuitively felt that today was completely ruined.

He hadn’t realized it would be this bad while sitting in the car, but his physical condition was at the level of a patient who should be in a hospital.

Back at his studio, perhaps because he had just woken up and was too conscious of Euigeon, he seemed to have failed to grasp the severity.

Since he had performed an act that would have been straining even on a bed on the bare floor, it was in a way a natural result.

The problem was that he realized it too late.

“What should I do?”

Even his murmuring voice was cracked.

If he were to get a lesson in this state, he would likely be kicked out of the lesson room right away.

What about his singing practice?

With a serious face, Chaewoo entered the music building and boarded the elevator alone, which was unusually empty.

Checking the time, there was still some leeway before the lecture began.

Since he happened to be passing by the department room, he opened the door, wanting to go in and rest even for a moment.

Three vocal department juniors, whom he thought wouldn’t be there at all since it was early, were sitting in a circle, forming a group.

“Exactly. Why do they request that of our school every single time?”

“Is it for real that midterms are coming up soon too?”

“Honestly, isn’t this going too far? It’s not even our school’s event…”

“Ah, Senior Chaewoo. Hello.”

“…Hello, Senior.”

“Hey.”

The group composed of freshmen and sophomores stood up to greet Chaewoo as soon as they saw him.

“Did you catch a cold? Your voice sounds terrible. It almost sounds like the flu…”

“Ahem. I guess so.”

“Come to think of it, Senior Chaewoo, you went to Cheongju yesterday, right? You worked hard.”

“Whoa, I heard another class went down to Cheongju, so that was you, Senior.”

“Just how much manual labor did you do there for your voice to go that hoarse?”

As if his condition looked serious, they all added a word while glancing at Chaewoo.

He regretted stopping by the department room, feeling as if he had become a monkey in a zoo for no reason.

Chaewoo decided to change the subject.

“What were you talking about?”

“Ah, well… They say Taepyeong University of the Arts is staging a student opera soon.”

“Taeye-jong’s vocal department?”

“Yes. The problem is that because their vocal department has too few students, they asked our department to supplement the personnel for the student opera, so it’s a mess right now.”

“It’s not like we’re playing around. We’re busy preparing for exams too, so do we have to clean up after another school’s mess? Isn’t that too much?”

As far as Chaewoo knew, the vocal department professors at Taeye-jong and Yeonseo University had close friendships, so they supplemented personnel every time such an event occurred.

Of course, those who suffered weren’t the professors but the innocent students, though.

“That’s still going on. They should just recruit more freshmen at Taeye-jong instead.”

“Exactly! Ah, so frustrating. We have to prepare for the practical exams too…”

The junior who had begun lamenting suddenly stopped speaking and shifted their gaze behind Chaewoo.

At that, Chaewoo also moved his creaking joints and turned his head.

Euigeon was standing at the entrance of the department office.

“Did you have a morning class too, Senior? You two will be taking it together then.”

“Yes. I came to find Senior Seol.”

“…Me?”

Chaewoo pointed to himself in confusion.

After all, it was rare for Euigeon to openly look for Chaewoo or act like he knew him in public like this.

‘Could it be… he said his rut wasn’t fully over, so did something go wrong?’

Even if that were the case, Chaewoo couldn’t handle any more than this.

“Let’s talk for a second.”

“About what…”

Chaewoo looked up at Euigeon anxiously.

Regardless, he gestured with his head, telling him to open the door and step outside.

Though awkward because of the watching eyes, he couldn’t just pretend not to know him in this situation, so he followed Euigeon out of the department office.

“What is it? Speak quickly.”

Confirming there was no one in the hallway, Chaewoo asked.

“Those three in the department office just now. They’re all Betas, right?”

“Probably. Why do you ask?”

“I didn’t think of it this morning.”

‘Surely he isn’t about to blabber some bullshit about doing it once more in the car, right?’

“I think my pheromones are still lingering on you, Senior Seol.”

“What?”

Chaewoo hurriedly stepped back from Euigeon.

And he checked if Euigeon’s pheromones were indeed lingering on his body.

He thought there wouldn’t be any problems since it had been quite a while since they had s*x and he had even showered.

But just as Euigeon said, although faint, Alpha pheromones had seeped into his skin.

If someone just brushed past, they might not notice, but sensitive Alphas and Omegas would definitely detect it.

A dominant Alpha’s pheromones were strong normally, but exceptionally so during a rut.

He had heard that in truly unfortunate cases, the lingering scent could remain on the Omega’s body for several days after sleeping together.

Since it was completely unexpected, Chaewoo babbled in a panic.

“…What should I do? You lunatic, you should have exercised moderation. If strange rumors start and I have to quit school, are you going to take responsibility? I’m going crazy, seriously.”

“What can I do when it’s a rut? I actually held back a lot. I could have done more.”

Euigeon spoke shamelessly as if it hadn’t been enough, on the contrary.

“What did you hold back? The person who claims he held back spent the entire night…”

“I didn’t even spend the whole night.”

“It’s just a figure of speech! Come to think of it, this is ridiculous. Is it normal to tie someone up and do that just because your other partners all fled from your rut? I have no bed, so my back is killing me. If you had just let me escape then, none of this would have happened.”

To prevent the words from leaking out, the two lowered their voices as much as possible at the end of the hallway and whispered.

“I tied you up because I knew you’d run. And I tried to keep it moderate too. If only Senior Seol hadn’t rolled his hips so well… Ah, thinking about it gets me worked up again. Whew.”

Euigeon suddenly spat a curse and brushed back his heated hair.

‘This crazy bastard.’

Chaewoo’s mouth hung open in disbelief.

“Why is that… that topic coming up here? Forget it, let’s stop talking. Then what do we do now?”

He had to go to class right now, yet of all things, the pheromones of an Alpha who had been in rut were clinging to his body.

If he walked around alone like this, it was equivalent to advertising, ‘I just finished rolling around messily with an Alpha.’

Furthermore, given his voice and physical condition, the meaning was far too blatant.

‘Is returning to my studio the only way?’

‘What if that affects my graduation?’

That wasn’t the only problem.

Even if he tried to return to his studio from here, he had to walk or take a bus, making it unavoidable to mingle with people.

Since it was near the school, the possibility of running into someone he knew and being discovered lurked everywhere.

Come to think of it, whom did he run into when entering the music building just now?

What if someone among them noticed he was an Omega?

The worst-case scenario Chaewoo usually imagined was unfolding before his eyes.

For a dominant Alpha in rut, Euigeon had acted too casually, causing him to let his guard down.

He should have been careful.

“What else can we do? You have to sit right next to me in the lecture hall.”

“…Will that work?”

“Since it’s my pheromones, it won’t be noticeable if you sit next to me.”

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