Chapter 21: Traces of the Night

It wasn’t until the dark hours of dawn that Chaewoo could lift his heavy eyelids.

It seemed like it was broad daylight when he first entered this place, but now, only the yellow glow of a streetlight seeped through the motel window.

His memory was patchy in between, but whenever he jolted awake after dozing off, he found himself rutting with Euigeon like dogs, over and over again.

Having eaten nothing, he felt a strong hunger even in his sleep.

But more urgent was the need for sleep.

Around the time the crisis of ‘I’ll die if this goes on any longer’ hit him, Chaewoo completely lost consciousness and fainted.

Now that he had opened his eyes again.

Though the fatigue hadn’t completely worn off, he opened his eyes after tossing and turning in the unusually plush bedding.

Through his blurry vision, he saw scattered clothes around the bed and sheets messy with saliva.

Next, Chaewoo checked his own condition.

The pheromones that had been strangely unstable for days were now completely stable.

The heat cycle that had started like an unexpected downpour was completely over, and Euigeon was not in the room.

“…What time is it?”

A hoarse sound came from his throat.

Even after coughing, the sound didn’t clear up but became severely cracked.
It even stung.

Chaewoo swallowed dryly and searched for his phone.

–Choi Jaeyeol (Co-worker): [Hyung, I heard you have a cold. Are you okay? ㅠ]

A cold?
Chaewoo tilted his head.

Ah, he had barely managed to contact the manager when he had been briefly conscious.

But what had he said?

He couldn’t remember anything clearly.

Chaewoo hurriedly entered the chat room with the manager.

–Me: [Manager, I have a very bad cold. I don’t think I can make it today? I’m really sorry.]

–Manager: […]

–Manager: [Oh.. okay. It seems really serious. Get plenty of rest for now. Don’t forget to take your medicine.]

At the time, he thought he had typed it out normally, but looking at it now, the spelling was a disaster from hell.

At the stark black history, Chaewoo screamed inwardly and exited the chat room.

Another notification showed a missed call and a text from Park Myeong-seon.

–Park Myeong-seon: [I can’t reach you. Is something wrong?]

–Park Myeong-seon: [I’ve been well-informed of the situation. We’ll cancel the hospital appointment for Saturday and see you during the next heat cycle after rebooking. The date is… (omitted)]

It seemed Euigeon had made up a plausible excuse while he was asleep, and based on the text, it didn’t seem to be a problem.

What had he said?

Surely he hadn’t told her they slept together.

That was a clear breach of contract…

It didn’t seem likely that the woman named Park Myeong-seon would have sent such a nonchalant text after hearing that.

“Well… whatever, it must have worked out.”

Chaewoo put down his phone and got out of bed.

Muscle aches wracked his entire body, as if he had been beaten.

As expected, he was naked. He should have felt light without clothes, but he didn’t.

Various residues had dried all over him.

Bodily fluids he couldn’t even identify… and why was a torn condom stuck to his side?

Startled, Chaewoo peeled the condom off his skin and threw it in the trash.

“What was I thinking, with Beom Euigeon.”

The state of the motel room made him realize even more what he had done.

Swallowing a sigh, Chaewoo entered the bathroom.
His socks and shoes were crumpled miserably on the bathroom floor.

He really must have been out of his mind.

Unable to calm his troubled heart, Chaewoo took a shower.

After drying himself, he picked up the clothes from the floor and put them on.

But the clothes were in a terrible state as well.

Two buttons were missing from his shirt, the sleeve was torn, and even the zipper on his pants was broken.

It wasn’t completely unwearable, but there were fatal-looking yet somehow functional flaws everywhere.

In fact, it seemed there was nothing normal in this room, including Chaewoo himself.

With no other clothes, Chaewoo had no choice but to awkwardly put on the shabby garments.

He covered the unzippable pants by pulling his shirt down long.

Just like last time, he was commando.

His underwear… wasn’t damaged, but apart from that, it was so stiffened that it was completely unwearable.

To think he had roamed the streets without underwear twice.

He felt a pang of guilt, as if he had become a serious pervert who was undermining the social atmosphere.

Chaewoo left the room in his rather abnormal attire.
He didn’t have to pay anything at the counter, so Euigeon must have taken care of the motel fee.

After barely dragging his creaking body outside, he found the dawn streets chilly.

But the cold wasn’t the problem.

The problem was his physical condition.

A faint scent of the pheromones he couldn’t control last night lingered on his clothes, and the fabric was torn in places, making him look like he was wearing rags.

His body was a wreck, and he couldn’t walk properly, limping along.

…And he was commando.

“This is hopeless.”

Worst of all Chaewoo, looking suspicious to anyone who saw him, walked diligently, took a late-night bus, and arrived at his studio apartment.

The only fortunate things were that it was dawn, so he wouldn’t run into anyone he knew, and his pheromone control was as perfect as before.

That day, after returning to his studio, Chaewoo stayed in his room, eating and sleeping repeatedly.

His backside burned as if it were on fire, and he couldn’t move.

He still couldn’t believe he had done that with Beom Euigeon.

He had been more confident in his pheromone control than anyone…

In the evening, he dragged his creaking body to his part-time job, and the manager, saying he didn’t realize it was this bad, let him just handle the cash register.

On Sunday, too, Chaewoo spent his time lying down, except for when he went to work.
Throughout that difficult weekend, there was no contact from Euigeon.

****

On Monday, there were no overlapping classes with Euigeon.

So, as long as he paid attention to his movements like before, he wouldn’t run into him on campus.
Packing his bag at his desk, Chaewoo soothed his nervous self.

In truth, he hadn’t sorted himself out yet and wasn’t confident he could face Euigeon nonchalantly.

It was embarrassing enough to have shown his worst side to the person he was usually jealous of, but to have had s*x with him for half a day on top of that—his feelings were complicated.

Why had this happened to him?

As Chaewoo was grabbing his sheet music, he noticed a piece of paper in the corner of his desk and paused.

“What’s this?”

He unfolded the roughly folded paper.

His father’s nursing hospital bill.

He now remembered he had pushed it aside, pretending not to see the overdue amount because he had no money.

Of course, it was now paid off cleanly with the advance he had received from Euigeon.

At the time, seeing this had made his heart sink and his breath catch, but now, he felt nothing.

It was just a meaningless scrap of paper.
Chaewoo lightly threw the receipt into the trash can.

His situation hadn’t improved, but the big difference from then was that he was no longer in debt.

…Debt? Wait a minute.

A thought suddenly struck him.

Didn’t Euigeon pay the motel fee last week?

He had ended up sleeping with him, but that was because of his heat cycle.

…He should probably pay him back.
Chaewoo closed his bag with a tired face.

He didn’t know how much the motel cost, but when his family stayed at a hotel for vacation, his father used to pay over a million won per night.

That was a large, expensive hotel, so a motel should be a bit cheaper.

Maybe half that, around five hundred thousand won.
That seemed too expensive.

But even half of that would be two hundred and fifty thousand won.

He would have to empty out the emergency fund he had barely saved up.

While walking to school, Chaewoo searched for motel accommodation prices online.

The prices varied wildly, from fifty thousand to two hundred thousand won.
Fortunately, there were no five-hundred-thousand-won motels.

But what if, by some terrible luck, that motel was the most expensive one, at two hundred thousand won?

That was still a significant expense.

Chaewoo withdrew two hundred thousand won in cash from an ATM before entering the school and went to class.

In any case, it was thanks to Euigeon that he had gotten out of the rehearsal room safely and his heat cycle had ended.

His pheromones were back to normal, too.

The s*x was unexpected, but Chaewoo had wanted it as well.
Not now, but at the time, he did.

“Euigeon! How’s the opera going?”

An accustomed name reached the ears of Chaewoo, who had arrived earlier than usual and come to the department room for a moment.

Perhaps there was a meeting, because the entire third-year vocal class was gathered at a time when the room should have been empty.

“Oh? Hello, Senior.”

A junior from another class but the same department greeted Chaewoo.
Chaewoo nodded awkwardly.

“Hey.”

Among them, of course, was Euigeon.
Feeling burdened by the sudden attention, he decided to leave quickly.

“Aren’t you in the creative opera too, Senior Chaewoo?”

“Don’t even start. Our Senior Chaewoo turned the audition upside down, you punk. He beat a 12:1 competition to win the role of Pinto. You know?”

…It’s Tinto. And 12:1?
Jeong Taehyun’s exaggeration and fuss already made him feel tired.

“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Chaewoo corrected him.

“Whoa. But what’s wrong with your voice, Senior?”

“Isn’t it a throat cold? I heard the flu is going around these days.”

Everyone murmured at the voice that was choppy and cracked.

If there was one thing the vocal department cared about most, it was the condition of one’s throat.
Embarrassed, Chaewoo cleared his throat a few times, but it had no effect.

To make matters worse, he felt Euigeon’s gaze from across the room, which flustered him even more.

“I’m just not feeling well.”

“Wow, what’s up? It sounds serious… You should take some medicine later. Ah, I have some throat lozenges. Should I give you some?”

“…It’s okay. I’ll go to the pharmacy later.”

“Anyway, Senior, you don’t have to be so modest. I am a living witness of that audition room, you know?”

“Was he that good?”

“If you don’t know, just stay quiet. Omegas were swarming to be Beom’s partner, and among them, Senior Chaewoo received high praise and BAM! He was cast. Right, Euigeon. You saw it too, didn’t you?”

“I saw it.” For once, Euigeon answered.

At that, Jeong Taehyun chattered on even more excitedly.

“See, I wasn’t the only one who saw it. Didn’t you think he sang the solo part so deliciously? Wow.”

“It was tasty.”

‘What is that crazy bastard saying.’

Unlike the others who seemed to think nothing of it, Chaewoo was the only one who jumped in surprise.