VDN Ch 116

Nam-woon and Se-han quietly waited for Seo-oh to fall asleep before heading out to the yard for a stretching competition they had done before.

After stretching their arms and legs for a while, they caught their breath and lay down on the ground. Se-han, as usual, took Seo-oh’s phone and watched a video, while Nam-woon went to a corner to call Detective Jang.

“What’s up?”

Hearing Detective Jang’s familiar voice, he said, “It’s Seok Nam-woon,” and immediately got to the point.

“Chairman Seok… I picked up something like a nutritional supplement from his office.”

“……”

Detective Jang asked what the supplement looked like and whether it was in liquid form, then said he would call back in 5 minutes. Nam-woon wanted to resolve it before Seo-oh woke up. As Nam-woon nervously waited, the phone rang again a while later.

Detective Jang instructed Nam-woon to go to a specific place at a specific time, act like a passerby, and discreetly leave the supplement there. He also warned him not to look around anxiously.

“Got it. Don’t worry,”

After listening to Nam-woon’s answer, Detective Jang paused for a moment before asking,

– Did you have any problems bringing it out?

Something had happened. Nam-woon hesitated for a moment and then simply told about the confrontation between Seo-oh and Chairman Seok, leaving out the part about him getting hit. When he said that he didn’t think Chairman Seok’s personality would allow him to get away with this, Detective Jang had a similar thought and said he’d see who he could put around Seo-oh and hung up the phone.

Back in the living room, Se-han, who had been watching a video with bright eyes, handed the phone he had been watching to Nam-woon. The screen was playing a video of someone making hotteok^[1]. Se-han shouted,

“I want to eat that!”

“Hmm. Is it available at Namnam Supermarket? Hotteok mix?”

“Let’s go check it out together and buy it!”

Se-han’s request was simple, so Nam-woon held his hand and headed to Namnam Supermarket. When they arrived, they saw Namnam Grandpa wiping down a display case as tall as Se-han.

Se-han bowed his head.

“Hello, Grandpa. What is this?”

The old man straightened up his back and looked at them.

“Oh, you guys are here? Ah, our supermarket is trying out…ah, what was the name? Ah tanghulu.”

“Wow, tanghulu^[2]?”

Se-han’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he turned to Nam-woon. Suddenly feeling self-conscious under Se-han’s gaze, Nam-woon scratched the back of his head. Namnam Grandpa furrowed his brow.

“Hey, what’s wrong with your face?”

Oh, right. The wound. Nam-woon absentmindedly put his hand to his cheek, covering his face. Then Se-han, who was next to him, blocked Nam-woon’s path.

“Hyung fell down, that’s why! Don’t say anything to him, it’s embarrassing for Wooni!”

And yet, he was talking about it so openly in front of him…? It seemed like Seo-oh had made up an excuse in advance so as not to worry Se-han. Grandpa Namnam clicked his tongue.

“Be careful and take care of yourself! Young Kwon will make a fuss.

“I didn’t get hurt much, but the bandage is big, so it looks worse.

Nam-woon said nonchalantly and quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, do you think this tanghulu business will do well? I wonder if there are enough people in our neighborhood who would buy it…”

“Young Nam-woon will buy a lot, right, Se-han?”

Grandpa Nam-nam cut off Nam-woon and smiled at Se-han. With 40 years of experience in local business under his belt, he seemed to know exactly who to target.

“Yes! Hyung, let’s come here every day!”

“Every day might be a bit much… If we eat too much tanghulu, Seo-oh will scold us.

Nam-woon furrowed one eyebrow as if he were embarrassed. Grandpa waved his hand at Nam-woon and lowered his voice slightly.

“Hey, if you get caught, just try to sweet-talk him, you know, like this or like that.”

“Me? How am I supposed to do that?”

Nam-woon asked back, eyes wide open. At this, Grandpa Namnam furrowed his brow tightly and thumped his chest in frustration.

“Ay, this naive guy… You’re going to be the death of me, seriously.”

With a disapproving look, Grandpa walked into the store with Se-han following him. Thanks to Grandpa’s help, they found and bought the hotteok mix that had been tucked away in a corner of the display shelf. When the two excitedly returned home, Seo-oh, who had just woken up late, was tidying up the bedding. It was later than usual for him to go out.

“Going out late today?”

“…Yeah.”

Seo-oh replied briefly and headed to the bathroom. Nam-woon and Se-han rolled up their sleeves, washed their hands at the sink, and started making hotteok. As they kneaded the dough and made round hotteok together, Seo-oh, who had finished washing up, gently scolded them.

“What’s with the hotteok in the morning? You should eat proper food.”

“Hyung, hotteok is also a pancake too. It’s not jelly, so can’t it be breakfast?”

Se-han opened his eyes wide and spoke confidently. His eyes were incredibly pure, considering he had already finished a pack of jelly in the morning.

Seo-oh let out a shallow sigh and stopped nagging them, moving away from them and shaking his wet hair. His black hair flew everywhere. Because he had taken off his top, his wide back and well-defined muscles on his chest stood out whenever he moved.

Nam-woon opened his mouth and looked at the scene without realizing, and Se-han, who was next to him, urged him.

“Hyung, quickly flip this.”

“Ah, okay…”

Nam-woon reluctantly tore his gaze away, added oil to the frying pan, and started frying the hotteok. Se-han, who was constantly swallowing his saliva beside him, suddenly complained about the lack of chocolate milk to go with the hotteok and headed back to the supermarket. In the meantime, two hotteoks were quickly finished.

Nam-woon placed a hotteok in a paper cup and handed it to Seo-oh, who was checking his phone.

“Try this.”

Seo-oh glanced at the paper cup, then put down his phone, grabbed Nam-woon’s hand, and pulled the hotteok into his mouth. Soon, half of the hotteok disappeared. Licking his lips, Seo-oh said, “It’s delicious,” as if praising him. Nam-woon’s gaze was fixed on his oily, shiny lips.

“Hey, you look like you’ve put on rouge^[3].”

Seo-oh let out a breathy laugh. He raised his hand and placed the remaining half of the hotteok at the corner of Nam-woon’s mouth. Then he pointed to Nam-woon’s lips and smiled.

“Now your lips are the same.”

Seo-oh gently grabbed the hand that was touching his lips and brought his face closer to Nam-woon’s mouth. He opened his eyes wide in surprise at the face that had approached him without him knowing, and their lips touched slightly and then parted.

“What’s saying rouge in this day and age? Hyung, you really are like a grandpa.”

Seo-oh’s long eyes narrowed. At the sound of his laugh, Nam-woon forgot to chew and stared at the pretty face in front of him for a long time. Noticing his gaze, Seo-oh lowered his eyes and took a step closer to Nam-woon. His long, lush eyelashes drew Nam-woon’s attention.

Nam-woon was half lost in thought and frozen in place. Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud noise. Se-han entered, holding a small chocolate milk in one hand and fanning himself with a paper advertising apartments. Startled, Nam-woon quickly moved away from Seo-oh.

“Hot, hot, I’m dying from the heat. I want to eat a fried egg.”

Se-han hummed the theme song to the Al-kong Dal-kong Bul-kong cartoon and held out the paper cup to Nam-woon.

“Hyung, please put my hotteok in here.”

“Okay. But there’s no chocolate milk for me?” Nam-woon asked.

“Nuh-huh,”

Se-han awkwardly smiled.

While Nam-woon finishes to fry the hotteok, Seo-oh, quickly finished his preparations, headed out in a hurry. Nam-woon hurriedly handed him another hotteok as he left.

“When I come back, I’ll get tteokbokki and sundae from the place we went to last time.”

“Okay. While your there say hi to Auntie for me.”

“Hyung, please get me a spicy skewer too!”

“Okay, got it.”

Seo-oh, who had been looking at Nam-woon and Se-han with gentle eyes, stepped outside. He checked the time on his phone and then headed to the main road to catch the bus.

***

After transferring buses twice, Seo-oh arrived at the university hospital. Today was the day to hear the results of his blood test and pheromone wave test. He walked with a slightly nervous expression.

Although he had made a reservation, the place was crowded, and he had to wait for quite some time. After a long wait, his name was called. As he entered the examination room, the professor, who had a sparse head of hair, showed him the monitor screen and explained his current condition.

“This is old data, but compared to before, your pheromone desensitization is much improved. Before, you had almost no pheromone release, but look here. You can see that there’s been a lot of pheromone releases lately. Have you gotten a partner?”

Seo-oh nodded slowly, the tips of his ears turning slightly red. Ever since he met Nam-woon, he had been able to release the pheromones he had been naturally suppressing. He no longer hesitated to express various emotions such as joy, anger, jealousy, and excitement through pheromones. Nam-woon failed to notice his change.

At Seo-oh’s affirmative answer, the professor continued his explanation with a brighter expression.

“You are aware that pheromone dysregulation and insensitivity are problems caused by the lack of pheromone circulation, right? Often, pheromone insensitivity can develop as a result of the improvement of pheromone dysregulation, which means that the body can’t adjust to the sudden increase in the amount of pheromones flowing outward.”

The professor typed something on the keyboard.

“I’ll give you a two-week supply of medication. Since it is a medicine that releases stored pheromones, your pheromones may fluctuate while taking it. Because of this, your partner may feel uncomfortable. What’s your partner’s type, omega?”

“Yes. He used to be a beta, but his trait suddenly changed recently.”

The professor stroked his chin, lost in thought for a moment.

“Adult-manifesting omegas generally have weak pheromone glands. It’s almost like being hypersensitive. If they are exposed to the strong pheromones of a dominant alpha that can’t be controlled, it might exceed their capacity and be perceived as violent pheromones. So, even slight pheromones may inadvertently cause excitement.”

Seo-oh’s face hardened noticeably at those words. It was exactly as the doctor said. Nam-woon reacted to his weak pheromones without fail. He liked the sight of Hyung getting excited because of him, so he sometimes pretended not to notice. But now that he heard it, the problem was quite serious.

“It’s best to refrain from contact with your partner while taking the medication. Pheromones may fluctuate drastically for a while, and in extreme cases, pheromone shock could occur.”

“…Can we be in the same room?”

“Usually it would be fine for a normal omega, but your partner is a different case. Avoid contact as much as possible, and even if you are in the same room, keep some distance.”