MIM 72

It was a moment when only glances were quietly exchanged, with no one speaking. Then, with tiny, cheerful footsteps, a small Maltese appeared and stood proudly at Woo-jae’s feet. The doll-like dog’s appearance instantly melted the tense atmosphere. Everyone, especially the owner Woo-jae, gave the Maltese affectionate looks while cooing and soothing the lovable creature.

While all the humans were completely taken with it, the Maltese, after receiving plenty of attention, finally took its insignificant front paw forward. Its destination was Shin-woo, who had been indifferent throughout.

“Look at this little punk.”

Woo-jae playfully grumbled, watching the Maltese wagging its tail in front of Shin-woo. Even though the Maltese was sitting cutely with its legs together right at his feet, Shin-woo merely glanced at it with disinterest, showing no particular attention. He didn’t even make a gesture to pet it, though it would have been natural to do so. This attitude completely defied Jae-seung’s expectation that someone who had picked up a stray dog would either love dogs or have a soft spot for animals.

“Don’t you like dogs?”

Unable to hold back, Woo-jae called the dog back to himself and asked. His expression suggested he couldn’t understand how anyone could be so cold to such an adorable creature.

“I doubt that’s true. He even picked up and raised one.”

Jae-seung answered instead, looking at Shin-woo. He wondered how someone who didn’t seem particularly fond of dogs ended up taking in and raising a stray. Not just leaving it in the garden either, but taking it for grooming and playing with it well.

Shin-woo put down the drink he had been casually sipping and shrugged. Seol-ye, who had been looking pitifully at Young-woon trying to squeeze out excuses like “Maybe he doesn’t want other dog scents on him?” tried to change the subject.

“Come to think of it, Woo-jae, didn’t you say you picked up a dog from the street before too?”

“Ah, Gooreum? The one I met near Cloud Park.”

“Right. Where is it? I’ve never seen it.”

“Well… Gooreum isn’t here.”

Woo-jae trailed his words regretfully. His hand, which had been petting the Maltese in his arms, paused briefly.

“Gooreum had some trauma that made it have periodic seizures and become violent, which really scared this one and my younger sibling.”

“Oh dear… That can happen when they’ve been abused or abandoned multiple times.”

“My sibling is still young, and I thought keeping it wouldn’t be good for their emotional well-being, so I eventually took it to a good facility. Ah, of course, I didn’t abandon it.”

Woo-jae added seriously in the middle of speaking.

“It’s a good facility with a yard to play in, good food, and even veterinarians. I’m paying quarterly fees too.”

“You did well. That’s better for the dog too. It must have been hard for you.”

“I check regularly, and it seems to be doing well.”

Shin-woo, who had been sitting and listening indifferently, stood up. He excused himself saying he needed some fresh air.

Once Shin-woo disappeared, the others spoke more actively to Jae-seung.

“About pheromone sprays, other companies’ products are better. The completely unscented ones.”

When Seol-ye brought it up, everyone chimed in as if they’d been waiting. They said that while pheromone sprays came in various scents and brands offering many choices, the product Shin-woo used was widely known and had a distinctive woody scent that young people nowadays tend to avoid.

Jae-seung frowned. This was news to him, and there was no way Shin-woo, a Beta, would have known either. He must have just bought whatever he found when asked to get spray from the pharmacy. It was the first spray he’d tried because he kept getting bothered by his own pheromones faintly lingering on Shin-woo. If he’d known this would happen, he would have just left it alone.

As he narrowed his eyes quietly, Young-woon came and sat in the empty seat beside him. After hesitating briefly, he spoke carefully.

“If I were you, I’d be more concerned about my reputation. You’re going to inherit the business, after all.”

“Hey, why are you talking like that?”

“I say this because it feels personal. For people like us, image is important.”

When Woo-jae scolded him, Young-woon embarrassedly scratched the back of his head. Reputation. Jae-seung slowly mulled over the word while subtly raising an eyebrow. Encouraged by his non-displeased response, Young-woon lowered his voice.

“It’s not a good idea to let your pheromones get on an employee. Even if most people are Betas and can’t notice, the people we’ll be dealing with in the future will mostly be Alphas or Omegas. If it’s because of rut, it would be better to just pick any Omega and bond with them. Even doing it once makes your condition completely different.”

“I still don’t want to bond with an Omega I don’t like. Suppressants are better.”

Young-woon clicked his tongue at Woo-jae’s words, calling him old-fashioned. He added that nowadays, people don’t place as much importance on bonding as before. His point was that since it’s not limited to just one person for life, and it improves your physical condition, what’s there to hesitate about?

Jae-seung leaned forward, removing his back from the sofa. When he changed his posture after showing little interest all day, everyone’s attention naturally turned to him.

“How effective are suppressants usually?”

The topic that caught Jae-seung’s interest in the long discussion was completely unrelated to bonding. Even while answering this unexpected question, Seol-ye looked confused.

“Haven’t you tried them? They’re quite good. When you take them, you just feel a bit weak for about two days? There’s muscle pain like you have a cold, but the rut symptoms decrease a lot.”

“They don’t work for me.”

“How can that be? Does it vary by constitution too?”

When Seol-ye sought opinions, Woo-jae shook his head.

“That shouldn’t be possible. Since it’s similar to narcotic painkillers, it’s unlikely to have no effect at all. There are various types depending on the pharmaceutical company, so why don’t you try one you haven’t used before?”

Jae-seung searched for the suppressant Woo-jae mentioned. It required a prescription, and as the ingredients were powerful, it had both good effects and various side effects. Apparently, most rut suppressants were like that.

Although he had suffered severely from rut since this year, he had never tried suppressants. This was because his attending physician said suppressants had absolutely no effect on him. He had never doubted the doctor’s words, but thinking carefully now, the doctor was also someone Shin-woo had appointed. His mother had many complaints about stopping visits to the family hospital and unnecessarily hiring a new doctor.

Was it because he was an artificially created Alpha that suppressants didn’t work? What if Shin-woo was intentionally trying to influence his self-control to manipulate him?

There were too many suspicious circumstances to dismiss this as excessive suspicion. His mother who hired people to kidnap him. The duo who appeared at his birthday party. Their quiet disappearance with Shin-woo’s arrival. Hye-jung’s whereabouts. His older brother hiding in a mental hospital claiming Shin-woo killed Hye-jung. The changed will. Shin-woo meeting his mother and Ye-wook in succession.

“Oh right, speaking of reputation, can I ask you something? I heard you installed your personal lockers near the back gate?”

“That’s right! Why did you do that? I really wanted to ask you whenever I got the chance to talk to you. I just couldn’t understand the reason.”

Questions suddenly poured in on Jae-seung, who was absorbed in his own thoughts. It seemed everyone at school knew about the existence of the unused lockers he had placed where the ice cream shop used to be. Young-woon enthusiastically explained the difference between luxury and wasteful spending, spitting as he spoke. In short, overseas travel or expensive hobbies fell under luxury because many people could relate to them, but the unheard-of act of renting space near school just to put in lockers was wasteful spending that no one could sympathize with.

“People are already sensitive these days because life is hard, so there’s no need to invite unnecessary criticism.”

“Even if they envy the lavish parties with celebrities, they say personal lockers cross the line.”

“Right. Why do you need lockers when Shin-woo carries all your bags anyway?”

Everyone burst out laughing at once. Surrounded by the cheerful laughter, Jae-seung firmly pressed his lips together. An inexplicably unpleasant feeling settled heavily in his stomach.

Just then, the Maltese barked loudly toward the sound of approaching footsteps. Following the dog’s gaze, they saw Shin-woo walking in. As he got closer, the woody scent in the air grew stronger.

“Let’s go.”

Jae-seung stood up as soon as Shin-woo came near. Ignoring him asking if they were leaving already, he packed his bag himself.

“Let me carry that.”

“No need.”

After a brief nod as a minimal gesture of courtesy, Jae-seung promptly left the place. Standing empty-handed and trying to make sense of the situation, Shin-woo heard small sighs.

Did we say something wrong? I don’t know. We just wanted to be nice, but it’s not easy. When Shin-woo turned to look at them, their quiet conversation abruptly stopped.

“Hey, about that,”

Woo-jae was the first to speak. He approached Shin-woo and smiled awkwardly, as if unsure how to say what he wanted to.

“I’m asking without prejudice because I might have made a mistake,”

“…”

“You are an employee, right? Or are you two… um.”

While Woo-jae trailed off, searching for the right words, Shin-woo keenly observed them. After carefully considering what conversation they might have had with Jae-seung in his absence, he remembered the spray he had momentarily forgotten about. Though he couldn’t smell it himself, the pharmacist had warned it might have a sharp scent.

“I used the spray for personal reasons.”

When Shin-woo brought it up, Woo-jae blinked. He immediately blushed and exchanged glances with Young-woon. They looked like they had just realized their mistake.

“Ah, he has every right to be angry. We were out of line. Please tell him we’re really sorry for the misunderstanding.”

“Don’t worry, he has a generous personality.”

After responding with a bright smile, Shin-woo immediately turned to follow Jae-seung. As he left, the smile gradually faded from his lips.