Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes

Chapter 10

The day after Hyeon-woo arbitrarily broke his promise, he appeared reeking of sex, and Tae-geon was blinded with rage.

With the mindset that he could do anything as long as he could have Hyeon-woo, he ended up accepting even that ridiculous proposal. He had barely managed to secure 4 years to spend together with Hyeon-woo in their own nest, just the two of them, on the condition of no interference, but…

“Ha.”

Tae-geon rubbed his forehead.

His mind was reeling as if he had been hit on the back of the head.

Why hadn’t he realized?

Even if others only smelled alpha pheromones from Hyeon-woo and thought those pheromones belonged to him, he, as an extremely dominant alpha, should have noticed that omega pheromones were mixed in with those pheromones.

Moreover, while he had found it strange that Hyeon-woo’s alpha pheromones frequently changed their scent, why had he overlooked the possibility that the consistently unchanging omega pheromones might be Hyeon-woo’s?

There was only one reason.

Due to his lack of experience with omegas, he hadn’t been able to properly discern the smell of sex emanating from Hyeon-woo. Knowing this full well, Hyeon-woo had played him. He had deliberately deceived him while covered in alpha pheromones.

He had been fooled. He had been completely played in Hyeon-woo’s hands.

“Haah…”

Tae-geon smiled faintly, curling one corner of his mouth.

How stupid must he have looked? It must have been amusing to see the extremely dominant alpha spouting nonsense about going to the hospital while Hyeon-woo paraded around right in front of him, reeking of sex.

The tendons on the back of Tae-geon’s hand bulged ominously as he repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist.

[Ding dong. You have received a message.]

A small notification window popped up in the bottom right corner of Hyeon-woo’s monitor. When Tae-geon clicked on it with a puzzled look, an automatically logged-in browser opened to an ‘Alpha-Omega Community’ page.

…What is this now?

*

Hyeon-woo returned home after midnight.

In fact, he had gotten out of the taxi much earlier, but he just couldn’t muster the courage to face Tae-geon.

It was his heat cycle. Not just the prodromal symptoms, but the very moment he entered his heat cycle, he had run into Tae-geon. His arm, where Tae-geon had grabbed him, was still burning. Every part of his body that had been in close contact with Tae-geon’s firm physique was tingling with electrifying tremors.

‘Han Hyeon-woo!’

At the sound of Tae-geon calling his name through gritted teeth, he had almost lost his reason and clung to him right there. He had almost begged, hugging Tae-geon and rubbing his soaking wet lower body against him.

Throughout his encounter with the alpha, Hyeon-woo had thought of Tae-geon.

Unlike the mere phantoms in his imagination before, today’s image of Tae-geon was different. His voice, warmth, body scent, and the firmness of his flexing muscles had all become so much more concrete.

He had writhed in ecstasy several times beneath the thrusting alpha. It was maddening.

…Did he smell it?

Did he find out… that it was my pheromones?

Just recalling that dizzying moment filled him with a chilling fear that sent shivers down his spine, along with an inexplicable excitement. Because of this, he had been incredibly aroused even while lying beneath an old alpha with no technique whatsoever.

He hadn’t expected the prodromal symptoms to come in the early morning while he was asleep. Although his cycle was irregular, the time had always been similar, so it was a mistake to have let his guard down. He hadn’t even heard the morning alarm. He woke up with his hair standing on end, feeling the sticky wet underwear clinging to his buttocks.

After confirming that Tae-geon wasn’t home, he hurriedly logged into the community to look for an alpha who could come to a hotel right away. However, it wasn’t easy to find an alpha who could rush out at 11 AM on a weekday. As a result, he had to mix bodies with an alpha over fifty. There was no other choice.

The alpha had changed again. If Tae-geon found it strange that the pheromones were constantly changing and decided to grab his hand and head straight to the hospital, Hyeon-woo would have nothing to say.

Would he have to keep meeting this old alpha in the future to avoid Tae-geon’s suspicion?

He didn’t want that…

It wasn’t just his age that was old, his manners were terrible too. Despite being told repeatedly not to ejaculate inside, he hadn’t complied. Even after scraping out the alpha’s semen leaking from his hole with his fingers, he had to shudder at the foreign sensation of it flowing down his inner walls with every step he took.

He had heard that most omegas who sold their bodies were recessive. It was because their reproductive functions were lower, making them ideal for one-night stands due to their low implantation rates. The way alphas treated him was exactly like that.

A convenient existence that could be fucked, cum into, and knotted without any need to take responsibility.

His self-esteem plummeted instantly, but he tried to compose himself, thinking that he was using them too, so it was fair. It was a decision he had made of his own will, not forced by anyone. So he shouldn’t regret it. He shouldn’t fall apart. Trying to pull himself together, he headed home.

After walking for a while, he found himself on the route he used to walk to school with Tae-geon.

After finishing classes, they would walk home along this path with the red-tinged sunset at their backs. Looking at their parallel shadows cast on the ground while discussing what to have for dinner together was a small but great happiness of the day.

His chest ached.

He missed Tae-geon desperately. He wanted to sit across from him again like before, eat together, chat about trivial things, and fool around.

He wanted to lie down with his head on Tae-geon’s lap, rubbing his sleepy eyelids while a movie played before bed.

He still felt ashamed and pained by his inability to be honest about his feelings for Tae-geon, but despite that, he wanted to return to Tae-geon’s side. He missed and cherished every moment he had spent with Tae-geon so much.

He killed time sitting on a swing in a playground near home, thinking of excuses to deceive Tae-geon. As the night deepened, lights began to go out in each house. Only after the surroundings were plunged into pitch-black darkness did Hyeon-woo head home.

Even after confirming that the lights were off on both the first and second floors, he was still hesitating in front of the entrance when the door suddenly opened and Tae-geon appeared.

Tae-geon smirked at Hyeon-woo, who had gasped in surprise.

“Why are you so surprised? Like someone who’s committed a crime.”

“……”

“You’re just coming in now?”

“Huh? Y-yeah…”

Hyeon-woo was visibly flustered, not having expected to encounter Tae-geon like this. Tae-geon was holding a standard garbage bag and recyclable waste in his hand.

At this late hour…?

He thought Tae-geon had gone to sleep since all the lights in the house were off.

As Hyeon-woo hesitated with a puzzled face, Tae-geon asked:

“Dinner?”

“……”

“Did you eat?”

“…What about you?”

Tae-geon lightly shook his head at Hyeon-woo, who was asking back while gauging the situation.

“I was waiting for you. To eat together.”

“……”

“I kept waiting since there was no contact from you.”

At those words from Tae-geon, guilt pricked at a corner of Hyeon-woo’s conscience. Come to think of it, he realized he hadn’t made a single call until now after running out in such a frenzy that morning.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to not contact you on purpose. Were you worried?”

Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened suddenly as he looked up at Tae-geon with an innocent face like a lamb. For a moment, it seemed like the corner of Tae-geon’s mouth had twisted maliciously.

“…Of course, I was. Very much so.”

Hyeon-woo scrutinized Tae-geon’s expression again as he answered that he was worried, but it seemed no different from usual. He felt embarrassed. It seemed he had seen things due to his unnecessary guilty conscience. As Hyeon-woo lowered his head in embarrassment, kicking at pebbles with his toes, Tae-geon’s gentle voice reached his ears.

“Let me just throw this out, then we’ll go in and eat. I made kimchi stew.”

Kimchi stew…!

Hyeon-woo’s eyes lit up as he raised his head. His mouth watered involuntarily. If he had Tae-geon’s kimchi stew, which was moderately spicy and refreshing, considering Hyeon-woo’s inability to eat very spicy food, he could empty a bowl of rice in an instant even without any other side dishes.

“I’ll help. Give me that.”

After taking the standard garbage bag and putting it in the designated area, Hyeon-woo returned and followed closely behind Tae-geon, who was sorting plastic, paper, and glass into the recycling bins, carefully gauging the situation.

He should have noticed by now…

As if seeing through Hyeon-woo’s anxious state of mind, trying to gauge how Tae-geon would react to the omega pheromones that must be on him, Tae-geon asked:

“So, you even skipped school. Did you meet that omega well? What did you do for fun?”