Chapter 19: A Curious Case of Pheromones

Noah had started texting with Hanjoo a few days ago.

It all began with Seolu’s cute little prank.

He had been contemplating how to reply to Hanjoo’s text and had left his phone on the bed while he showered.

At first, he hadn’t even realized his phone was missing as he got ready for work.

He heard a buzzing sound from somewhere, and when he traced it back, he found his missing phone bundled up and crumpled deep within the blankets.

He thought it was strange.

When he checked the notification and saw that it was from Hanjoo, dozens of texts poured in along with several missed call notifications.

Startled, he checked and saw a strange emoticon that he hadn’t sent in the chat window with Hanjoo.

“Peanut, did you send this?”

“Ung. I was playing a prank.”

Hehe, the child’s bashful smile made him lose all will to scold him.

It was his fault for leaving it lying around.

He hugged the child tightly and rolled around with him, showering him with kisses and raspberry kisses on his belly.

To finish, he put on a stern act and told him not to press anything on his father’s phone, but it was anyone’s guess if he had understood.

In any case, he had to explain, given the number of calls he had made.

[I sent that by mistake. I slept well.]

The emoticon Seolu had sent was so funny that he almost sent a smiley face emoticon again, but he stopped himself.

Wouldn’t it seem like he was overdoing it?

There was something about this man that made him hesitate, which was unlike him.

But then again, it was probably natural since their relationship wasn’t ordinary.

Hanjoo said he was going on a business trip for a few days and wouldn’t be able to see him.

Noah wondered if they had even planned to meet, but considering the tendency of Alphas to always come and find him as they pleased, even if he refused, he just let it go.

[I was serious when I said I wanted to meet, but I didn’t mean to force you. Please don’t feel pressured.]

This, too, was a burdensome statement, but he was a little grateful that he had gone out of his way to say it.

No matter if he was his child’s father and a handsome man, he couldn’t judge him rashly.

After that, they exchanged small texts.

Mostly asking how he slept, what he ate.

It was a stark contrast to the over 300 unread messages in his chat windows with other people.

Having someone to communicate with also had its own unexpected advantages.

Given the nature of the department, which consisted of only the team leader, Assistant Manager Lee, and himself, he often had lunch alone with Lee.

Assistant Manager Lee was the type of person who, despite his meager salary, had to have expensive coffee from a coffee shop after a meal to be satisfied.

Even if he didn’t want to go, he had no excuse and would be dragged along.

When he would say he was fine because he didn’t like coffee, Lee would buy him a fruit juice or a drink topped with a lot of cream and hand it to him, saying, “This will suit your childish taste, Noah-ssi.”

He didn’t like the way he would make a big deal out of spending money on him after forcing him to buy it, but he had been putting up with it because most of the things he had tried were to his taste.

Yesterday, they were coming out of their usual grilled fish restaurant for lunch when a text came in.

[I had this for lunch, do you like it by any chance?]

(Photo)

Noah’s breath hitched in excitement as he unconsciously checked the text and the attached photo.

[OMG I really, really love thisㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]

Wow, sh*t, it’s been so long.

Noah told Assistant Manager Lee that he had an urgent call and had to go first, and passed him.

The photo was of his favorite family restaurant’s barbecue back ribs, pasta, and french fries loaded with cheese.

It had been his number one spot for birthdays and anniversaries until high school.

After that, the branch in his neighborhood had closed, and it was too much of a burden to go to a branch in another neighborhood due to the side effects of his secondary gender.

To see his nostalgic food, even if only in a photo, had made him extremely excited.

He had been staring at the food in the photo for a long time, as if licking it with his eyes, and then he briefly remembered the forgotten Assistant Manager Lee.

[Let’s have it together next time.]

[yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes]

After sending it without thinking, he wondered if it was okay to have a personal meal with a director from a client company, going beyond just exchanging texts, but he figured it was just a traditional Korean greeting of “let’s have a meal together sometime” and closed his phone.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, a similar thing happened the next day, and Noah unintentionally ended up ditching Assistant Manager Lee.

When he later returned to his seat, Lee glared at him and asked, “Are you dating, Noah-ssi?”

When he retorted sharply, “What kind of nonsense are you talking about, Assistant Manager?” Lee placed the sweet watermelon slushie he was holding in one hand on Noah’s desk and cleared his throat loudly.

It was the day he had taken a half-day off in the afternoon to go to the hospital for a check-up.

The sweltering weather, with summer at its peak, made him tired just sitting on the bus.

The heat was one thing, but the fact that the purpose of the long journey was a hospital visit was a big reason he lacked energy.

Even though the doctor recommended a check-up every three months, Noah would postpone his hospital visits until his suppressants ran out and he was on the edge.

It wasn’t easy to travel back and forth for over an hour.

But even in this hot weather, he had to go today.

There was something he had to confirm.

His attending physician, Professor Song Minjae of the Department of Secondary Gender Medicine, had been with him through the entire process, from when he presented to his current struggle with pheromone disorder after childbirth.

He had always felt sorry for this young Omega, born with a blessed secondary gender, for living a restricted life without ever experiencing the advantages of a Dominant.

Fortunately, he was patient and cautious, so he hadn’t had any accidents so far, but he was the type of child you worried about, like a child left by the water.

This time, too, Noah had shown up long past his scheduled check-up date, and he had been about to give him a stern talking to.

But his face was unusually serious today.

Professor Song’s attitude also became serious.

“Professor, I recently met someone, and whenever he appears, I can’t control my pheromones.”

Hmm…

The professor was lost in thought for a moment.

There were many Omegas who gave birth without an Alpha.

But it could be said that there were no known cases of Dominant Omegas doing so.

If he was being affected to the point where even suppressants didn’t work.

After briefly searching for a few other patients’ cases, the professor continued.

“By any chance, is that person a Dominant Alpha?”

There were cases where suppressants might not work if the other person’s secondary gender was of a higher grade than one’s own.

However, in the case of general secondary genders, the effects of suppressants were usually good, and since it was rare to meet a Dominant secondary gender, there weren’t many cases.

In any case, there was a case of a recessive Omega meeting a general Alpha and the suppressants not working, so although it was just a hypothesis, it was a possibility.

It would be fine to inform the Dominant Omega patient in front of him of all the possibilities.

“In the case of a Dominant Alpha, the secondary gender itself is strong, so the suppressants might not work. It’s best to avoid him if you can, but if you must meet him, you could try taking another pill… But I don’t want to recommend this method. It’s not good to take a lot of this medicine. You know what I’m talking about, right?”

“Yes. I don’t want to take the medicine either. It makes me nauseous and my head hurts.”

“And… there’s another possibility.”

“…”

“It could also be that your body recognizes that person as a mate.”

“What?”

“I mean, you’re attracted to him. Physically or mentally.”

“…”

Noah wondered if he was perhaps reacting to him physically.

First of all, the fact that he had gotten pregnant on their first meeting might mean they were physically compatible.

He had learned later that it was very difficult for a male Omega to get pregnant.

It had to be during heat, and the partner also had to be in rut, and so on.

The conclusion was that getting pregnant during a heat cycle that came with presentation was a very rare occurrence.

Since they were that compatible, maybe that’s why he had reacted as soon as they met again.

“Noah-ssi, just in case, do you remember when we talked about imprinting before?”

“What? When?”

“…”

For a moment, Professor Song’s lip twitched.

A crack appeared on the face that was usually expressionless, whether he was giving a warning or reacting to one of Noah’s silly jokes.

Oh my god… the professor is pissed.

Noah, noticing Professor Song’s change, was flustered and backed down, starting to make excuses.

“Ha, hahaha. I think I might have heard it…”

Professor Song was flustered that he had forgotten something so important, but he took a small sigh and regained his composure.

“If you imprint with a partner, you can be free from the influence of their pheromones. An imprinted person is not affected by the pheromones of anyone other than their partner. The fact that you can’t control your pheromones in front of an Alpha means you’re being affected even by the faint amount of pheromones they’re releasing, so if you imprint, you might not need to control them.”

“Wow.”

Noah’s eyes lit up at Professor Song’s words that he wouldn’t have to worry about pheromone control if he imprinted.

“Of course, I don’t recommend it because there are too many side effects if you imprint with the wrong person, but if you meet a good enough partner to consider marriage, you should consider it. Of course, I can’t tell you what to do with your private life. But in your current situation, it seems to be the best way.”