NB | Chapter 17

Dark eyes slowly scanned the two of them. Seo Woohyun seemed almost unconscious, and Park Sejin was struggling to support him.

The difference in their sizes made the scene look pitiful, but Kang Jiwon, the strongest of the three, just watched leisurely with his hands in his pockets. Then, he laughed cynically at the strong pheromones wafting through the air.

“…Don’t misunderstand. Woohyun’s really drunk, so I’m just trying to get him to a room.”

“Need help? I might as well watch until you’re rolling around in bed to be sure.”

“Got a voyeurism kink?”

Sejin snapped back irritably. He didn’t have the strength to support Woohyun, and Jiwon wasn’t helping, just getting on his nerves. Jiwon, already aware of Sejin’s true nature, didn’t bother to hide his expression. His next words were even more biting.

“You acted like you wouldn’t come, so why are you here?”

“Because of this.”

Sejin frowned, not understanding. More precisely, he was too anxious waiting for the elevator to come up from the lower floors to care.

Though he appeared calm, Jiwon was just as displeased. The unrefined Alpha pheromones from the unconscious Woohyun irritated his skin. But he couldn’t tell if his rising anger was due to the foolish Sejin or the clueless Woohyun.

Jiwon narrowed his eyes, looking over the limp Woohyun.

“I don’t care who you sleep with. What I’m curious about is why you want to be engaged to me while fooling around with others.”

“Uncharacteristically curious. Unless you’re planning to sleep with me instead of him, why don’t you mind your own business?”

“I have a reason. Both of you are under my management.”

“You’re the one who put Woohyun with me.”

“Put him with you? You must’ve forgotten, but you’re the one who wanted to retake the training.”

Jiwon corrected him sharply. Sejin had been the one eager to join the training for new actors without a filmography. Jiwon hadn’t been impressed by his enthusiasm, suspecting it was due to personal interest in the new acting instructor.

Jiwon’s gaze shifted to the lounge pub behind Sejin. It was called a birthday party, but half the guests were people Sejin had lured in with favors, essentially his fishing pond.

An affair by a fiancé was grounds for breaking off an engagement. Jiwon had expected Sejin to reel someone in today, planning to catch him in the act and embarrass him so he’d never mention engagement again.

“You knew I was like this. Surprised to see it in person?”

Not wrong. Knowing Sejin approached anyone he liked regardless of their type, Jiwon had intentionally grouped Woohyun with him.

More precisely, he hoped that if Sejin came out with someone, it would be Woohyun. Until he actually saw it.

“Why is it taking so long…”

The elevator was slowly but steadily coming up. Sejin anxiously adjusted Woohyun’s body. The way Woohyun’s pale neck was pressed against Sejin’s straight nose looked pitiful.

It was an Alpha’s instinct to seek the spot where the Omega’s scent was strongest. As an Alpha himself, Jiwon knew this, but it still made him frown.

Jiwon watched them intently. It felt like discovering a thorn under his nail only after it started to sting in water. Now that Woohyun was getting on his nerves, it seemed the thorn was Woohyun.

Just then, the elevator arrived. The clear signal rang in Jiwon’s mind like an alarm.

Sejin’s face brightened as sweat began to bead on his forehead. He was already exhausted. As he tried to support Woohyun and move towards the elevator, Woohyun’s body wobbled precariously.

“Ugh!”

Lacking the strength to support someone larger, Woohyun’s body tilted dangerously. His arm slipped from Sejin’s shoulder in an instant.

The one who caught Woohyun’s collapsing body, about to hit the floor, was Jiwon, who had been standing idly by. In that brief moment, Woohyun’s consciousness flickered back, and he reflexively lifted his head, bringing their faces close.

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“What?”

Even though no one had entered, the elevator doors began to close. Jiwon, holding Woohyun securely with one arm, grabbed Sejin’s collar with the other. Then, he stepped into the elevator with Woohyun and pushed Sejin out.

“I saw reporters in the lobby on my way up.”

“Ah, damn! Hyung!”

“You’re not planning to wander around outside like that, are you?”

“Hey! Kang Jiwon!”

Sejin, already weakened, collapsed to the floor. Even in that state, his legs reacted to the Alpha pheromones, bulging between them. Sejin could only watch helplessly as the elevator doors closed, taking his prize away.

The elevator began to descend. Jiwon moved towards the wall, adjusting Woohyun’s body. He wondered why Sejin had struggled so much, but Woohyun’s waist fit easily in one arm. He hadn’t expected Woohyun to be so light, though he’d guessed he had little body fat.

Seeing Woohyun’s head droop, Jiwon supported it, resting it against his chest. The Alpha in his arms trembled intermittently, panting heavily.

To an outsider, Woohyun might look simply drunk, but the elevator was filled with pheromones. Even drunk, the amount of pheromones he was releasing wasn’t normal. It was believable he was suffering from a rut.

The fresh pheromones he’d briefly encountered under the hawthorn tree had left a vivid impression, but this was the first time he’d experienced such a youthful scent.

Still, an Alpha was an Alpha. Jiwon’s neck began to tense as he looked down at Woohyun. Woohyun’s hot, rapid breaths against his chest made him feel like his own temperature was rising.

The back of his neck tingled, and his clenched fists tightened. As Jiwon’s pheromones, stimulated by the same type, began to flow, Woohyun’s eyes fluttered open.

“Ugh…”

“Seo Woohyun-ssi. Can you pull yourself together?”

Woohyun still seemed unable to hold his head up, so Jiwon lifted his chin with his fingers to meet his eyes. His eyes were wet, his face blotchy red, showing no sign of wariness.

Jiwon couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight. This childlike face belonged to the same person whose Alpha pheromones were chilling his neck.

“Do you recognize me?”

“…Director Kang?”

Woohyun squinted, struggling to focus on the face just a hand’s breadth away. Jiwon took advantage of his regained consciousness to ask.

“Is it a rut?”

“No, ugh, no… But it’s hot, and, ha, my pheromones, I can’t control them…”

Listening to Woohyun required patience. Meanwhile, the elevator reached the underground parking lot, and the doors opened. Jiwon clicked his tongue softly, stepping out of the confined space. Woohyun’s feet barely touched the ground due to Jiwon’s brisk pace.

As Manager Lee, waiting near the exit, opened the car’s back door, Jiwon practically shoved Woohyun inside. While Manager Lee circled the sedan to the driver’s seat, Jiwon lowered the partition between the front and back seats.

Although Manager Lee was a Beta and wouldn’t speak about his boss’s privacy, Jiwon had no intention of openly showing what he planned to do with a pheromone-leaking Alpha.

The car’s interior wasn’t too dark, allowing him to see clearly. Jiwon took a deep breath, looking down at Woohyun, who was trembling on the seat. Despite his lack of composure, Woohyun was trying to cover his arousal by pulling down his shirt hem, a sight to behold.

As he opened his mouth, saliva pooled under his tongue, wetting his lips. He seemed to be saying something, but his voice was too soft to hear.

“What did you say?”

“It’s hard to hold back. I don’t know what I might do…”

Jiwon’s hand, which had been loosening his tie, paused. Essentially, Woohyun was telling him to run away.

“I knew you were interesting, Seo Woohyun-ssi, but this is the funniest you’ve been.”

Despite his light words, a dangerous aura emanated from him.

Do you know who’s above you right now? The Alpha’s eyes seemed to ask. Even after loosening his tie, his collar felt tight, so he undid a couple of shirt buttons.

“I’m the one who’ll be doing something, not you.”

Kang Jiwon whispered to Seo Woohyun, releasing his suppressed pheromones.