Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes

Chapter 39

The blanket bulge, shaped like Hyeon-woo’s curled-up silhouette, trembled intermittently. 

Just imagining Hyeon-woo hiding under there, crying alone, made Tae-geon’s chest feel tight, as if a heavy rock was pressing on his solar plexus.

“Hyeon-woo, come out.”

“……”

“It’s okay.”

It’s all okay.

At those words from Tae-geon that he had been waiting for, Hyeon-woo finally burst into tears, kicked off the blanket, came out, and hugged Tae-geon tightly. Just as Tae-geon embraced him back…

“Ughk!”

The nausea he had barely suppressed rose again.

“Uwek!!”

Hyeon-woo, who had been struggling violently in Tae-geon’s arms, finally lost his balance and fell off the bed. Hyeon-woo’s eyes were bloodshot as he braced himself on the floor and retched.

The smell.

Omega smell…!

A terribly awful omega pheromone was emanating from Tae-geon.

Coincidentally, it was a different smell from his own.

Tae-geon gently patted Hyeon-woo’s back as he suddenly started dry heaving. Enduring the disgusting stench, Hyeon-woo glanced at Tae-geon from the corner of his eye. As Tae-geon leaned down towards him, his collar gaped open, revealing his collarbone and nape. They were dotted with red marks, as if bitten by insects. The color was deep and distinct, as if they had been made recently.

Hyeon-woo narrowed his eyes with a strange sense of déjà vu.

‘It’s almost October, but summer mosquitoes are still rampant.’

He remembered thinking that once when he saw red marks on Tae-geon’s neck.

Hah.

…Wrong. These aren’t marks from insect bites.

“Uhahaha…”

“…Han Hyeon-woo?”

“Hahahaha!”

Hyeon-woo suddenly burst into eerie laughter, shaking like a madman. His head and heart instantly turned cold.

‘Why shouldn’t I know? You’re having sex with the owner of that phone.’

That wasn’t nonsense.

“Ughk!”

Hyeon-woo pushed Tae-geon away and ran into the bathroom. He clutched the toilet bowl and desperately tried to empty his stomach. He wanted to throw up something, anything, but Hyeon-woo’s empty stomach had nothing to release.

“…Ughk…!”

Instead, tears flowed endlessly. Clear tears fell continuously from Hyeon-woo’s eyes, creating dozens of concentric circles in the toilet bowl. Groaning in pain as if his insides were twisting, Hyeon-woo eventually started pounding his own chest.

Tae-geon, who had been standing in the doorway, couldn’t bear to watch any longer and approached Hyeon-woo.

“…Are you okay?”

“……”

“Why are you suddenly like this? Do you feel sick? What kind of discomfort? Let’s go to the hospital.”

Hyeon-woo irritably pushed away Tae-geon’s hand that was reaching out to him with a worried face.

“Get away!”

Tae-geon froze in that position. Startled by his own action, Hyeon-woo rolled his eyes and swallowed dryly.

“…Ah…”

Hyeon-woo’s shoulders trembled as he grabbed the arm that had pushed Tae-geon away with his other hand, as if surprised.

“…Ughk!”

Unable to suppress the intense nausea rising again, he hurriedly buried his face in the toilet bowl once more. He retched like this several times. The back of Hyeon-woo’s hands gripping the toilet was pale and bloodless.

Tae-geon’s gaze moved from Hyeon-woo’s hands to his forearms, which were covered in terrible wounds. Scratches and gashes from something sharp revealed raw flesh and were oozing red blood.

He knew these wounds well.

The self-inflicted injuries that once never left his own body had now transferred to Hyeon-woo’s forearms.

It’s not that he hadn’t anticipated the mental shock Hyeon-woo would experience when he woke up. He had ignored Hyeon-woo’s desperate voice screaming not to come in and opened the door anyway.

He knows Hyeon-woo’s feelings towards him. That’s why he could somewhat understand the shame and humiliation Hyeon-woo must feel at having his most hidden vulnerabilities exposed, especially to the object of his unrequited love.

However, it was an unavoidable choice for him. Hyeon-woo had been truly in danger that night. Hyeon-woo’s body, which had developed a tolerance to his pheromones, didn’t respond to suppressants, and he could no longer be with Hyeon-woo in the guise of K, whom he had bid farewell to.

The image of Hyeon-woo losing his mind, unable to endure his desires, was vivid before his eyes. He clearly remembered that first night, holding the unconscious Hyeon-woo, checking repeatedly if he was breathing properly, if his heart hadn’t stopped, worrying endlessly. How could he let go and abandon Hyeon-woo in such a state?

Although they had gotten through it this time, Tae-geon was more worried about Hyeon-woo’s future heat cycles. He couldn’t rashly offer to take responsibility for Hyeon-woo’s heat cycles when Hyeon-woo was showing such strong aversion.

It wasn’t just Hyeon-woo’s problem. He had just come back from confirming once again his hatred for omegas lurking within himself.

After calming Hyeon-woo’s heat, that cursed fever would stick to him like a contagious disease. Each time, Tae-geon would summon a different omega, as if performing a ritual to drive out evil spirits.

The insatiable craving would subside instantly just by having an omega other than Hyeon-woo in front of him. Tae-geon strongly resisted his capricious desire for Hyeon-woo by imprinting this gut-wrenchingly disgusting sensation deep into his bones.

This was right. This was the correct sensation. Someday, the moment would come when he would realize that Hyeon-woo’s pheromones were no different from this.

He never wanted to feel such terrible emotions towards Hyeon-woo. Hyeon-woo was too precious for that. He didn’t want to ruin his relationship with Hyeon-woo by succumbing to immediate impulses he couldn’t take responsibility for. He didn’t want to hurt Hyeon-woo.

For the same reason he had to ignore Hyeon-woo’s feelings towards him while knowing about them, Tae-geon voluntarily put himself in a position where he could only watch Hyeon-woo’s heat cycles from afar.

Tae-geon felt like applauding his own self-restraint for not inserting himself into Hyeon-woo last night. This proved that there was no impurity in his intentions when he entered the room, and that his sole purpose was to end Hyeon-woo’s heat cycle.

That there was no selfishness, no lust, no meaning in the act between you and me that day.

He wanted to convey that it was an act carried out with only pure intentions. He hoped that this would ease, even a little, the sense of sin, guilt, or self-loathing that Hyeon-woo might be feeling towards him. He hoped Hyeon-woo would escape from the memories of yesterday as soon as possible.

“…I did wrong.”

Hyeon-woo’s back stiffened at Tae-geon’s sudden voice.

“Your request not to come in. I couldn’t honor it.”

“……”

“But I had no choice. For an omega unresponsive to suppressants, an alpha is the only answer. I was the only alpha in this house at the time, and I couldn’t just leave you suffering for days.”

Hyeon-woo’s hands gripping the toilet tightened. Although he couldn’t see Hyeon-woo’s face, he could clearly feel that Hyeon-woo was on edge with every word he uttered.

“If you were me, you would’ve done the same.”

“……”

“It’s just like an accident, no one’s fault. So, Hyeon-woo.”

“……”

“Forget it all.”

As soon as Tae-geon finished speaking, Hyeon-woo’s convulsions stopped. Instead, his unfocused eyes began to tremble endlessly.

Forget it all?

…An accident…?

I’m… like an accident…?

Hyeon-woo clenched his fists tightly. His sharp nails dug into his skin, but he couldn’t feel any pain.

‘Why shouldn’t I care? You’re having sex with the owner of that phone.’

The omega’s voice echoed in his mind, gnawing at Hyeon-woo’s nerves.

Then what about that omega?

That omega you slept with…?

Just imagining Tae-geon embracing another omega felt like his heart was being torn apart. 

Biting his lip and enduring the pain, Hyeon-woo spoke with a feeling of spitting blood.

“…The fact that I’m an omega.”

“……”

“Even though you knew all along, why did you pretend not to know?”

His voice was heavily suppressed, gasping as if forcibly swallowing something that was about to burst out.

“The alpha scent from my body. That. You knew it wasn’t mine, didn’t you?”

Even though you knew what that scent meant.

Just this one smell he caught from Tae-geon was enough to make his insides twist with jealousy and pain. Yet Tae-geon, who clearly knew what the alpha scent on his body meant, had never once gotten angry at him during all those countless hours. He hadn’t asked a single question throughout the entire process of his omega manifestation resuming.

“I pretended to be an alpha, I deceived you.”

“……”

“So why did you just stay quiet?”

It hurts so much I can barely breathe, like I’m dying. How could you act like nothing was wrong…?

He had believed that Tae-geon had covered it up to preserve their relationship. Believing that Tae-geon felt the same way, he had suppressed his own feelings, obeying Tae-geon’s decision. But as time passed, he felt that something was off.

The small gaps he felt between Tae-geon and himself had piled up, eventually forming a chasm too wide to cross. He no longer believed that Tae-geon had turned a blind eye to the truth with the same feelings as him.