Chapter 5: Pheromones and Parallels

Kang Hangyeol had a lot to say to Baek Haejun from the moment they met that morning.

Haejun had disappeared with Moon Sijin at the after-party the night before and never come back.

He’d held back, waiting for Haejun to bring it up first.

But when the guy who said he was going home to eat his grandmother’s cooking suddenly announced he was eating with him instead, his curiosity overwhelmed his patience.

“Hey, Baek Haejun.”

“What.”

“What’s your relationship with Senior Moon Sijin?”

He’d expected the question, but that didn’t make it any less awkward.

Haejun smiled vaguely and tried to dodge it, but Kang Hangyeol was faster.

“You know how many people asked me how you two knew each other after you ran off like that yesterday?”

Haejun had always known Sijin drew attention wherever he went, but hearing such questions from someone close to him felt strange.

Moon Sijin was an Alpha with the title of top graduate from the business school.

He’d ranked first in every semester since entering, and before even finishing his third year, he’d joined a strategy consulting firm as an intern.

When he returned to school to finish his degree, the spotlight on him was blinding.

Rumors spread that he had enough credits to graduate early and was aiming for an MBA, and the professors were said to be scrambling to recruit him into the graduate school.

“He’s… my brother.”

“Brother? You call that senior ‘brother’?”

“He is. He’s five years older than us.”

“What I mean is, are you close enough to call him brother instead of senior?”

Haejun realized only then that Kang Hangyeol had been calling him ‘senior’ all along, because Haejun had used ‘brother’ from their very first meeting.

He thought for a moment.

Should he say they’re close? Or that they used to be close?

Maybe he should hear what Sijin thought.

The thought made him unable to give a precise answer.

“We just… I visited his house a few times when I was young.”

“Isn’t that being close?”

Kang Hangyeol looked puzzled.

A connection that went back to childhood, with several visits to the house, and yet Haejun was speaking as if it were just some vague acquaintance.

That didn’t make sense to him.

Haejun’s face brightened slightly at the confirmation coming from someone else’s mouth.

“I guess?”

“Look at this guy. You came over to my house to study too. Did you think we weren’t close all this time?”

Kang Hangyeol suddenly slung an arm around Haejun’s shoulder and pretended to strangle him.

He giggled while threatening him to admit they were friends.

Haejun laughed along and struggled weakly.

“Are we close or not!”

“Ah, my neck really hurts.”

“Say it and I’ll let go.”

Haejun was patting Kang Hangyeol’s arm in surrender when his instincts caught a pheromone.

The amount was tiny, but it was easy to recognize a scent he’d already registered.

His gaze followed.

Under the clear sky and the roadside trees whose leaves were beginning to turn red and yellow, Moon Sijin was walking in long, leisurely strides, drawing everyone’s attention.

Kang Hangyeol, who’d been playing with him in a pose that was half arm-around-shoulder, half chokehold, also looked up at Haejun’s pause.

The arm around his neck loosened.

They straightened up side by side and stared blankly at Sijin approaching.

Sijin was looking around as if searching for something, then suddenly fixed his gaze.

At the end of it stood Haejun.

His expressionless eyes curved softly and settled into unmistakable warmth.

His well-shaped lips formed a perfect arc, and he even gave a light wave.

It was a clear sign of pleased recognition.

“Whoa… I think I fell in love at first sight.”

Kang Hangyeol muttered, clutching his chest.

Haejun, who had been half-dazed, frowned instantly.

He dragged his fingertips down Kang Hangyeol’s entire face.

“Don’t even dream about it.”

“Ow! Your finger went in my mouth!”

His fingertip had caught on Kang Hangyeol’s lower lip, which had been hanging open in a daze.

The guy spat repeatedly in disgust.

Haejun casually wiped the slightly damp finger on Kang Hangyeol’s clothes.

Then Haejun’s body went rigid.

There was an Alpha pheromone sharp against the back of his neck.

A piercing current aimed at a specific target.

Haejun snapped his head up.

The realization that that had been a mistake came too late.

He’d already met Sijin’s eyes, the man now standing within arm’s reach.

“…Brother?”

“Haejun.”

The moment his name was called, the Alpha pheromone that had stung his skin faded as if it had never been.

By the time Sijin’s shadow fell over him and a large hand began to ruffle his hair, it was gone completely.

Haejun stared up at Sijin blankly.

If his senses were right, that pheromone had been Sijin’s.

For some reason, Sijin’s pheromone had been thick with displeasure, barely concealed.

Haejun was confused, unable to figure out why.

But he couldn’t show that confusion.

If he so much as glanced at Sijin warily, he’d be admitting he could feel Sijin’s pheromones.

With a gentle face, Sijin looked back and forth between Haejun and Kang Hangyeol, who still had an arm around Haejun’s shoulder.

“Haejun’s friend?”

“Hello, senior! I’m Kang Hangyeol.”

Kang Hangyeol bowed at a perfect ninety degrees.

The excessively formal greeting seemed to make Sijin uncomfortable, and he gave an awkward smile.

The look in Hangyeol’s eyes, as if gazing at an object of admiration, reminded Haejun of himself as a child.

Something about that made his heart twist.

For just a moment, he wanted to cover Kang Hangyeol’s eyes.

He pushed Kang Hangyeol, who kept gasping as if watching a celebrity, behind him.

Then, composing his face, he asked,

“What brings you here?”

“I was in the area when we talked earlier. I figured you wouldn’t have left yet.”

Even if he’d been nearby, it sounded like he’d come all this way just to see him.

And since Haejun had just lied to him, he scratched his cheek, embarrassed.

“Is this the friend you said you had plans with?”

“Ah, yeah. I’m going to eat with Hangyeol.”

Haejun glanced back and gave a subtle pleading look.

He’d been teasing earlier about being friendless, but they hadn’t properly wrapped up the conversation, and now worry crept in.

What if Kang Hangyeol lacked social awareness?

Fortunately, Hangyeol nodded at Sijin.

“Okay. So he’s Hangyeol. Got it.”

His well-shaped lips repeated the name.

Before the juniors could even wonder at it, Sijin smiled.

“Enjoy your meal.”

Contrary to his words about seeing each other often, Haejun barely met Sijin in the two weeks after their reunion.

‘Sorry, Brother. I’m eating at the cafeteria with Hangyeol today too.’

‘Got a group project. Meeting with the team members…’

‘I have to cover someone’s shift today.’

‘Tomorrow’s no good either. I have work…’

Avoiding him on purpose was half true, but Haejun really was busy.

On weekdays he attended lectures and tutored.

On weekends he worked at a hotel banquet hall.

He did have small pockets of free time, but he couldn’t bring himself to contact Sijin.

On the way home from his hotel job, he’d had a phone call with Sijin.

When Sijin learned why Haejun had been unreachable all day, he stayed silent for a long time.

Haejun could guess what that silence meant.

Back when he first started working part-time as a high school student, his grandmother, after demanding to know why he kept coming home late for days, had reacted much the same way.

Haejun had good stamina.

He rarely tired, which let him chase both work and school without compromise.

But the people around him seemed to find it pitiful.

‘I’m fine, though.’

Haejun murmured calmly.

Maybe it was because he was still young, not knowing what it meant to be tired.

But he was busy precisely because he was young.

Every year counted.

The family debt wasn’t overwhelming, and his grandmother didn’t need expensive hospital care.

But two people, Haejun who just turned twenty and his elderly grandmother, had to make a living somehow.

It was a life of earning just enough each month to eat.

When he’d been younger, he’d thought maybe it was better to jump into the working world early.

Being an Omega wasn’t received as favorably as being an Alpha, but it wasn’t actively rejected either.

There were plenty of paths.

Natural ability and talent had nothing to do with one’s designation.

Even someone born with the enviable Alpha designation could fall to being just another Alpha if they lagged in their league.

Many Betas and Omegas were already showing genius in their fields.

Designation was just one factor that could add synergy.

To gain meaningful advantages from it, you either had to build a steady career from childhood and prove your potential, or be born into a powerful family.

Haejun had a perfect example right in front of him.

Moon Sijin was an Alpha who met all those conditions.

In one corner of his spacious living room, his certificates of appointment, awards, and trophies from childhood were displayed in a long row.

It would take months just to look at one a day.

When he stripped away the fantasy of a hazy first love from childhood, he could see Moon Sijin objectively.

His harsh reality pushed him every day, and he’d lost his way for a time.

But he realized that a faint light was seeping into his life.

It felt like taking a detour when there was a faster road, but in the end, continuing his studies was the fastest path.

The vague dream of making a lot of money slowly took shape.

There was actually a simple, efficient way out of this hardship: follow half of Moon Sijin’s path.

Moon Sijin was a good person to model one’s life on.

‘I’ll make Grandma live well, for sure.’

Just as his grandmother used to stroke Haejun’s hair and swallow her tears at dawn, Haejun now looked at his grandmother’s sleeping face every night and made the same promise.

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