Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes

Chapter 3

Not only the doctor, but even the nurse standing guard in front of the examination room was shocked. The nurse who had guided and assisted Hyeon-woo throughout the day looked at the doctor with eyes as desperate as Hyeon-woo’s, but the doctor remained silent.

The doctor, alternating between looking at the chart and Hyeon-woo as if to confirm his age, showed a troubled expression. There was one option, but the doctor hesitated to suggest it due to the possibility of encouraging another crime. After much internal conflict, the doctor finally took something out of the desk drawer, handed it to Hyeon-woo, and called for the next patient.

What Hyeon-woo received was a business card with the contact information for a detective specializing in Omega sex crimes.

As Hyeon-woo walked out of the examination room and down the empty corridor without energy, the nurse called out, “Wait a moment!” and stopped him.

The nurse’s gaze towards Hyeon-woo, who turned around with eyes as big as a rabbit’s, was dripping with sympathy. The image of him earnestly pleading with both hands clasped, begging to know the results today, kept flashing before her eyes. She had thought there must be some story behind it, but she never imagined it would be this reason. Wanting to help even a little, the nurse who had stopped Hyeon-woo opened her mouth.

“There is one method the doctor didn’t mention, but this…”

Finding it difficult to speak, the nurse bit her lip hard once before continuing.

“I’ll tell you instead. Since you’re an adult now and there is a way, I think it’s better for you to know.”

*

The sky was dark. Evening had long since passed. The tips of his ears stung from the blowing wind.

Standing at one end of the bus stop, he let countless buses pass by. He didn’t know where to go.

Due to continuous exposure to Tae-geon’s pheromones since childhood, his body, which should have manifested as an Alpha, had grown into something between Omega and Beta, neither one nor the other.

He had become a mutant that had completely lost reproductive functions of both types. Was that why? Even Tae-geon, an extreme Alpha, failed to notice that he had manifested as an Omega right under his nose. Not only that, but everything was abnormal, from the sudden heat cycle that started with his manifestation to his sense of smell that couldn’t detect pheromones at all.

Nevertheless, he felt no resentment towards Tae-geon who had made him this way. A voice deep inside was even defending Tae-geon, saying it couldn’t be helped. At this, Hyeon-woo swallowed a bitter laugh.

They had spent their childhood years being each other’s entire world. Even if he could turn back time and go to the past, he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave Tae-geon’s side. Even if he had known beforehand that the price would be becoming an Omega, which Tae-geon despised.

Originally, he had wanted to become an Alpha to share a deeper emotional connection with Tae-geon and be together in the same world, but now he had to leave Tae-geon’s side to do so. It was the epitome of contradiction.

Standing in front of the trash can installed at one end of the bus stop, Hyeon-woo tore up the type result sheet he was holding. The shredded paper pieces settled like snowflakes into the trash can.

As long as Choi Tae-geon doesn’t know.

He had lost the possibility of becoming an Alpha, and was no longer even a Beta, but he wasn’t a complete Omega either. So he felt there was no need to feel guilty about not revealing the fact that he had manifested. If he could just safely get through the heat cycle that would come once a month, his relationship with Tae-geon wouldn’t change at all going forward, just as it had been until now.

As for losing his reproductive function, he had no plans to start a family even if he had manifested as an Alpha, so it wasn’t a variable at all. Thinking this way made him feel much lighter.

He randomly boarded one of the buses stopping at the station. He got off at a place as far away from home as possible and looked for an internet cafe.

After taking out his phone from his pocket to check the time, he remembered turning it off when leaving school. As soon as he hurriedly turned on his phone, alerts for missed messages rang out consecutively. They were all from his parents and Tae-geon. 

He replied to his parents first.

[I was preparing my college applications. Don’t worry. I’ll stay here tonight.]

[And Tae-geon? How could you contact us only now, we were worried. Don’t come home too late tomorrow.]

The situation was resolved in an instant.

What should I tell Tae-geon?

The reason why he had disappeared from school and been unreachable until now. Hadn’t they even promised to go home together?

After repeatedly typing and erasing replies to Tae-geon’s messages asking where he was, Hyeon-woo ended up not sending any message at all.

They had been close for over a decade. It was obvious that any lie would be caught. He simply didn’t have the ability to deceive Tae-geon, who knew him inside out even better than he knew himself.

It would be better to talk face to face tomorrow. I’ll make up an excuse that I wasn’t feeling well so I went home early and fell asleep. He’ll probably show his displeasure with a sullen face all day, but when I apologize with an even more dejected face saying I’m sorry, he’ll reluctantly accept it, as he always does.

Thinking this, he turned off the phone in his hand and put it back in his pocket.

He stared blankly out the window with his head leaning against it. The smell of full winter wafted from the yellow light bulbs decorating the bare tree branches.

The method the nurse had told him as she stopped him leaving the hospital was none other than an Alpha’s ‘Pheromone Shower’.

It was not only the sole means to end a heat cycle without suppressants, but for him, the act of covering himself with Alpha pheromones itself was an even more crucial matter.

Although his pheromones were said to be so faint that no one could detect them, he planned to hide his own with Alpha pheromones to prepare for future heat cycles, just in case.

No matter how much he racked his brain, there had to be a more suitable method to deceive Tae-geon than this.

“Ha.”

Hyeon-woo let out a hollow laugh.

Pheromones are so pathetic that even Tae-geon couldn’t notice them when they were in an enclosed car together. Yet here he was, fretting and worrying about being found out as an Omega. It felt somehow ridiculous.

The ‘Pheromone Shower’ the nurse had told him about seemed like it would be a good solution in many ways. Using this method, he wouldn’t need to take suppressants as the doctor had advised. At most, he’d have to pretend he had an Alpha boyfriend, which was far better than being discovered as having manifested as an Omega.

After getting off the bus, Hyeon-woo spotted a brightly lit PC bang sign next to an unfamiliar apartment complex and went inside.

He needed to find an Alpha.

An Alpha to have a relationship with.

Of course, it couldn’t be someone he knew, but someone he would never meet again. That was why he had taken the bus all the way out here.

Not long after starting to surf the web, he easily found an Alpha-Omega dating community. After completing adult verification for registration, the cursor blinked in the nickname field.

Suddenly, he remembered a game he had played with friends on a school trip. Hyeon-woo entered ‘BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot’ in the blank field. He marked his type as recessive Omega (Ω-) in response to the question about his type, filled in the remaining blanks, and completed the registration. Then he immediately scrolled through the currently connected Alphas at the top of the site and sent messages.

He didn’t pay much attention to the other person’s profile. They would just be someone to sleep with once anyway. He decided not to attach much meaning to this act. For Hyeon-woo, there wasn’t much difference between the adult toys for Omegas suggested by the doctor and the living body of an Alpha.

[Seoul OO-dong / Heat cycle / Let’s meet now.]

Around the time he sent his fourth message, he got a reply from the first person he had messaged.

[Twenty years old? You’re just a kid. Do you have any experience?]

Hyeon-woo frowned.

A kid? How old are you then?

He clicked on the Alpha’s profile and a window popped up showing age, height, weight, type, and occupation.

Twenty-two? You’re not much older to be acting high and mighty.

He was about to snap back but changed his mind. He didn’t want to waste time or emotions on someone he would never see again. And his condition was at its limit now. The pill he had taken an hour ago was the last suppressant he had gotten from the school infirmary. He had to avoid a situation where he might cling to any random Alpha on the street.

Hyeon-woo immediately pressed the 1:1 chat button.

[System / You have invited the other person]

[BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot]: I’m not a kid, I’m really an adult, and I don’t have any experience yet.

[BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot]: But can’t you teach me well, hyung?

[I!i!i]: Virgins are no fun though.

[BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot]: I can do well. I absolutely won’t act innocent.

[BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot]: I’ll learn hard, exactly as you teach me.

[BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot]: I haven’t even kissed yet.

[BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot]: I’ll give you all my firsts, hyung.

[BunnyBunnyCarrotCarrot]: Please teach me, hyung.

He desperately clung to the Alpha. Perhaps intrigued by a younger Omega casually saying flirtatious things while calling him hyung, the Alpha soon accepted the meeting.

Hyeon-woo set the meeting place. It was a small motel on the outskirts of the city, five subway stops away from here. The chances of meeting someone he knew were close to impossible. There was also a police station near the motel, so if anything happened, he could run there – that’s the thought with which he chose the place.

Before reaching his destination, Hyeon-woo took off his school uniform jacket and put it in a locker at the subway station along with his phone. He hid everything that could identify him.

Soon, a man in a white padded jacket approached the meeting place. Recognizing each other, they immediately entered the motel.

There was no time to wash up. The Alpha immediately mounted Hyeon-woo’s body, pushing him down onto the bed. Hyeon-woo was equally impatient. His mind kept getting hazy.

The Alpha buried his nose in Hyeon-woo’s nape and took a deep breath. He had clearly heard that today was his heat cycle, but he couldn’t smell any pheromones at all.

He must be extremely recessive, even more than just recessive. Not just the pheromones, but his appearance was also quite different from the typical flashy and sensual Omega look.

However, his neat features and pure atmosphere became more and more eye-catching the longer one looked.

His body shape visible under his shirt was also pleasingly balanced and fit rather than just thin and delicate, and there was a neat and elegant aspect to his every movement that clearly showed he had been raised well. The Alpha’s heart raced at the appearance of an Omega beyond his expectations.

Hyeon-woo desperately endured the Alpha’s touch as he indulged himself frantically. He was perplexed by the constant feeling of revulsion rising within him. It wasn’t like this at all when Tae-geon touched him.

When Hyeon-woo unconsciously made a gesture of refusal as he gritted his teeth and endured, the Alpha showered him with pheromones.

“Huk…”

Hyeon-woo collapsed sideways, trembling all over and gasping for breath at the sudden influx of concentrated pheromones.

“So you really are inexperienced.”

“…huk… heuk.”

“No need to be so nervous.”

The Alpha slowly withdrew his pheromones and started undressing Hyeon-woo. And so, Hyeon-woo had his first experience with someone whose name he didn’t even know.

From the Alpha’s touch, which had only felt repulsive at first, indescribable sensations gradually arose. As time passed, reason disappeared and only instinct remained.

 Self-loathing accompanied by pleasure washed over him like a tidal wave. What tormented Hyeon-woo even more was the fact that he kept thinking of Tae-geon throughout that night.

Hyeon-woo overlapped Tae-geon’s image with the Alpha touching him countless times.

Both his body and mind were in shambles.

Every time he imagined the Alpha before him was Tae-geon, an intense climax ran through his entire body. He reached his peak imagining Tae-geon while in the body of an Omega that Tae-geon so despised. Tears flowed ceaselessly from the corners of Hyeon-woo’s eyes as he writhed in agony from the terrible sense of sacrilege and the pleasure he had never felt before in his life.

*

He regained consciousness at dawn as the first light was breaking.

His whole body was sore, but the maddening sensations and heat were all gone. The memories of yesterday felt like a dream.

The Alpha was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a lone note was placed on the bedside table. It had the Alpha’s contact information written on it. Hyeon-woo shuddered and shoved it into the trash can.

As he picked up the shower head to wash, Hyeon-woo’s hand stopped mid-air. He had endured that humiliation to obtain the Alpha’s pheromones, so he couldn’t wash them away like this.

Standing in front of the mirror, he saw his body reflected, covered in red marks all over his neck and chest. Superimposed on that image was the ugly sight of himself crying out in pleasure while thinking of Tae-geon.

It was dirty and filthy. Hyeon-woo sat down on the bathroom floor and buried his face in his hands. Inexplicable tears burst forth endlessly.

After barely pulling himself together, he left the motel and headed to school. Everyone looked at Hyeon-woo with interested faces as he entered the classroom. It seemed there had been quite a bit of talk about his whereabouts, as he had said he was going to the infirmary but then suddenly disappeared.

The guys who had been gathered in small groups approached Hyeon-woo’s seat and exchanged meaningful glances.

“Oh, Han Hyeon-woo. What was so urgent?”

“The smell is really strong. What are you thinking about coming to school in that state?”

There was friendly concern hidden in their suggestive tones. Although they couldn’t easily approach him because he was best friends with the intimidating Choi Tae-geon, most of his classmates liked Hyeon-woo for his bright personality and neat appearance.

Seeing Hyeon-woo, who looked like a well-raised Alpha young master even on the surface, arrived early in the morning exuding sensual pheromones as soon as he became an adult, naturally creating an atmosphere assuming he had manifested as an Alpha.

Do they think the Alpha pheromones on me now are my own?

While Hyeon-woo was bewildered by the unexpected situation, a guy sitting behind him asked, wrinkling his nose:

“Sniff sniff. But why do I only smell Alpha pheromones? Did you do it with a Beta?”

“Why would you release so many pheromones with a Beta partner? Did you forget after manifesting late? They can’t smell it anyway.”

“Gasp, hey, hey. Be quiet…”

“……” 

The guys who had been surrounding him and spouting nonsense suddenly shut their mouths and parted like the Red Sea. 

At the end of the parted path stood Tae-geon. How long had he been standing there? Had he heard all the nonsense his friends were babbling? Hyeon-woo stiffened his shoulders at the sound of Tae-geon’s footsteps approaching him. 

Tae-geon, who had somehow come close, buried his nose in Hyeon-woo’s hair and inhaled.

After a while, a low voice fell onto the top of his head.

“When did you manifest?”

Hyeon-woo felt his heart sink.

Manifest?

Alpha? Omega? Which one does he mean?

As Hyeon-woo stood stiff with tension, unable to say anything, Tae-geon looked down at him intently for a moment before suddenly frowning.

Tae-geon hooked his finger on the collar of Hyeon-woo’s shirt and pulled it open to look inside. He let out a scornful laugh, as if in disbelief. The pale skin below Hyeon-woo’s nape was covered in reddish bruises. Tae-geon’s voice was cold as he murmured low into Hyeon-woo’s ear.

“You said you were preparing for college applications, but it looks like you were doing something else, with an Omega.”

Tae-geon sneered, referring to the lie Hyeon-woo had told his parents last night.

 Hyeon-woo’s heart pounded. To Hyeon-woo, who was frozen and unable to say anything, Tae-geon added:

“Behave yourself so you don’t get into trouble later.”

“……”

“Well, you do seem like a half-baked Omega with pathetic pheromones.”