IBPC | Chapter 2.1

Pacheon strode across the corridor toward an open door. Just as he neared it, a bloodied eunuch crawled out, barely managing to drag himself forward.

“Hh… hhh…”

The man’s face was drenched in terror, his entire being trembling. Pacheon frowned, clearly displeased. As he came to a stop before the eunuch, the man slowly raised his head to look up at him.

“P… please, have mercy…”

With the last of his strength, the eunuch forced out his plea. Pacheon let out a sigh and gestured toward the end of the hallway.

“I warned you to be careful. Get out of here now, before His Highness decides to slit your throat for good.”

Ignoring the eunuch, Pacheon stepped past him and entered the open chamber. But before he even took in the sight inside, he yanked up his sleeve and covered his mouth.

Even from this distance, the overwhelming scent filled the air, thick enough to make the space itself tremble. Though Pacheon was only a faintly mixed Yangin, the potent pheromones of someone in full-blown erotomania were sickening to him.

“Your Highness.”

Despite the suffocating atmosphere, Pacheon spoke carefully, as if accustomed to the situation.

The man standing inside turned his head. Though the sun was still high in the sky, every window in the room had been draped in black cloth, plunging the space into near-complete darkness.

Towering well over six cheok, his physique was as massive as his height suggested. His long, disheveled hair was a deep, inky black—darker than even the shadows that filled the room. His sharp, slanted eyes and chiseled nose looked as if sculpted by hand, but the sheer pressure he exuded made it feel as if he wasn’t entirely human.

His breath was ragged, his clothing barely clinging to his body in disarray.

Tae Heegon. The third son of King Eulsa, and a prince born with Simyangin traits. He had endured erotomania three or four times throughout his life, but each time, it grew harder to bear. And now, he was at his absolute limit. If nothing was done, this would surely spiral into disaster.

“I told you… not to let anyone into my chambers when my madness takes hold.”

His voice was so deep it seemed to resonate in the air, sending shivers through the space.

His piercing gaze locked onto Pacheon, his eyes flashing dangerously. Pacheon, however, remained unfazed and even mustered a slight smile.

“Please, Your Highness. You still need to sustain yourself if you are to endure this. If you keep going like this, your body—”

Before he could finish, Heegon suddenly moved. He closed the distance between them in an instant, his breath jagged and strained.

“Get out. Before I tear you apart.”

Between the strands of his long, unruly hair, Pacheon could see Heegon’s pupils trembling violently.

The sorcerer’s smile finally faded. His expression turned serious as he spoke again.

“I have brought someone to heal you, Your Highness.”

His words were heavy, deliberate. Yet, to Heegon, they meant nothing.

“More of that nonsense. Get out before I have another corpse to dispose of.”

Heegon’s voice was sharp with utter disbelief, but Pacheon did not step back.

“Just this once, trust me again. Besides, what’s one more body? It wouldn’t be the first, would it?”

“You bastard—!”

That was the final straw. Heegon snapped, lunging forward and seizing Pacheon by the collar, yanking him up with ease. The sheer force of it was enough to choke off any further words.

Heegon was on the verge of letting out a snarl when—

He flinched.

His movements abruptly halted. His entire face twisted into something grim and unreadable.

“This scent…?”

Heegon’s eyes narrowed as he instinctively turned his gaze toward the corridor beyond the door.

“Do you feel it now?” Pacheon smirked again.

It was faint. So faint it could’ve been a mere thread of a scent drifting through the air. And yet, that was all it took.

A single breath of it sent Heegon’s senses into overdrive. Every nerve in his body tensed, his instincts sharpening into something razor-edged.

Without realizing it, he let go of Pacheon and moved. Drawn forward, he stepped toward the door. Out in the corridor, unlike the suffocating darkness of the room, sunlight poured in.

Heegon scowled.

“What is this scent?” His voice was barely above a murmur as he stared down the empty hallway.

Pacheon, standing behind him, pointed toward the very end of the corridor.

“I have brought an Eumin to serve Your Highness.”

“…Eumin?”

“I have prepared them in the chamber at the end. You need only follow the scent.”

At that, Heegon’s pupils, which had been trembling with madness, steadied. Something inside him took hold. Without a word, he took a step forward, as if guided by an unseen force.

Behind him, Pacheon murmured in a low voice,

“Just… don’t be too rough. I made sure they were sturdy, but I’ve never actually experienced this myself. If Your Highness’s erotomania proves too much, they might not make it. You know as well as I do that Eumin are so fragile they can die from their own madness.”

Heegon barely reacted to the words. His footsteps did not falter.

Pacheon was right. Right now, there was only one thing he wanted—to reach the source of this scent.

That single desire consumed him whole.

⊹₊⟡⋆

Is this… really reality?

Seoyul stared out through the open window. He had unlatched it on a whim, hoping that maybe—just maybe—something would change. But nothing did. The palace still stretched endlessly before him, so vividly clear that it felt suffocating.

With a deep sigh, he ran a hand over the foreign garments he had been dressed in after being bathed by unfamiliar hands.

I don’t know. What am I supposed to do? What can I do? It’s the 6th century, for god’s sake. And if omegas haven’t even properly appeared in this era yet… then what does that make me? There’s no way they have proper suppressants or contraceptives in a place like this. This is completely—

It felt like he had been stripped bare and thrown into a lion’s den.

“It was the sacred power of the God of Seombaek that brought you here, and I am the only one, blessed by Seombaek, who can send you back. If you give birth to His Highness’s child, I will return you safely. So you need not worry.”

Give birth to a child? That was insane.

Sure, there had been occasional reports of omegas getting pregnant even from betas in recent years. But still, for a recessive omega like him? It was practically impossible.

“This is ridiculous.”

Even if pregnancy was somehow possible… how could he possibly give birth in a place like this? No anesthesia, no proper surgical techniques—this was a medical wasteland.

As his thoughts spiraled, Seoyul instinctively leaned further out the window.

Guards were stationed outside the door. But below the window? There was no one.

The drop seemed to be about the height of a second, maybe third floor. He wouldn’t die from jumping. Probably.

They say people lose rationality when cornered. But wasn’t this better? Wouldn’t breaking a bone be a small price to pay if it meant buying some time—rather than being consumed by a dominant alpha in rut?

One reckless thought led to another.

But just as he braced himself, preparing to move—

He froze.

A presence.

Thud. Thud.

The floor beneath his feet trembled.

A sudden, inexplicable fear gripped him, spreading through his limbs before he even knew why.

Then—

The heavy doors slammed open.

“……?”

Seoyul sucked in a sharp breath and whipped around.

And what he saw—

It crashed into his senses with an undeniable force.

No need to ask who it was.

The sheer presence said it all.

The man in the doorway was massive. His height was so imposing that Seoyul’s gaze instinctively landed at his feet first before slowly trailing upward. Broad, overwhelming shoulders. Long, black hair cascading down his back like an extension of the room’s shadows.

But none of that compared to his eyes.

The moment their gazes locked, Seoyul stopped breathing. He couldn’t exhale, couldn’t inhale. His entire body locked up, rigid as stone.

His trembling hands gripped the window frame so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Jumping out the window?

That thought from earlier felt utterly meaningless now. His body wasn’t even capable of moving.

Because—

What is this scent?

The instant the man stepped into the room, a wave of scent crashed over Seoyul like a storm.

It coiled around him, thick and suffocating, tightening like a snare around his very being.

Like an unseen hand gripping his will—forcing submission with nothing but its existence.

No, was it really just an illusion?

His heart was pounding so wildly it hurt. The rhythmic thudding in his ears made his head throb.

Seoyul couldn’t look away. His entire body shuddered uncontrollably, his legs trembling as they threatened to give out.

He had never met an alpha before. No omega from his time had.

Everything he knew about alphas came from old records, or from movies and dramas that romanticized them as stories of the past.

But right now—he knew. Instinct screamed the answer at him.

This was an alpha’s pheromones.

Seoyul’s legs finally gave way.

He crumpled, collapsing to his knees, unable to support himself any longer.

It felt like the man’s pheromones were pressing down on him, crushing him.

He didn’t look human. No—he wasn’t human.

He was something else entirely.

That man was—

Tae Heegon.

The thought barely formed before Seoyul’s head drooped, his arms wrapping around himself in a feeble attempt at control.

He recognized this feeling. It was the same as the first time his heat cycle hit.

That unbearable, scorching fever that surged through his body in an instant. That aching, melting sensation that spread through his lower half like a numbing pulse.

But this—

This was incomparable.

It was overwhelming.

It was too much.

I can’t… think straight.

Seoyul, who had been filled with worry, fear, and denial of reality just moments ago, now felt all of that fading away. All he could focus on was the overwhelming, unfamiliar sensation that had taken over him, making his head spin and his mind hazy.

What should I do…? What am I supposed to do now?