TL | Chapter 8 | What’s Important

Though he didn’t understand how Iden, who had supposedly gone to the United States ten years ago, was still his partner, it was clear they were still together in this timeline. It made sense, given his body’s reaction to Iden’s pheromones as his marked partner.

“Did I mark him?” he asked, though unsure. For him, Iden was the only Alpha whose pheromones he responded to. But if marking hadn’t happened here, it was possible he wasn’t Iden’s only Omega.

“It would be best if you confirmed that directly with the director…” Min began, but another voice interrupted from behind him.

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“Yes, we marked each other.”

Turning, he saw Iden leaning casually against the doorway, arms crossed, watching him.

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“When I called you to come for dinner, you didn’t come,” Iden said, briefly explaining why he’d come to his room personally even after sending Min. His gaze was fixed intently on Seowon, and after a moment, he took a shallow breath, gesturing for Min to leave. Understanding, Min exited, leaving the two of them alone.

“It seems there’s something more important to you than dinner,” Iden guessed, picking up on Seowon’s unease. Seowon didn’t deny it. His head was so full of thoughts that eating felt impossible.

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“You look like you have a lot of questions. Ask whatever you want. I’ll answer everything,” Iden said, as if he already knew Seowon wasn’t grasping the situation.

“Are you thinking I might have amnesia?”

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Seowon thought perhaps Iden might misunderstand and think that, having found him unconscious in the lake. If Iden thought so, it would explain why his behavior, confusing to him, made sense from Iden’s perspective.

“No.”

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Iden’s answer was firm.

“If you had amnesia, you wouldn’t have been able to find your way to the house. You wouldn’t have recognized me. And if you didn’t remember me, you wouldn’t have begged me to hold you during your heat cycle, even if it was overpowering you.”

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A soft groan hovered in Seowon’s throat.

“That… begging you to hold me… was because I wasn’t in my right mind during the heat cycle. It wasn’t because I wanted it.”

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Iden would already know that as his marked partner, Seowon’s body would respond only to his pheromones, so there was no need to explain it further. He had half-convinced himself this was either a dream or he was already dead, so he hadn’t minded much.

As he gazed at Iden, he wondered if Iden found him as strange as he found Iden. Yet, Iden seemed unusually composed, far less bothered by Seowon’s behavior than he expected.

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The way Iden kept silently staring at him was growing uncomfortable. Unlike the Iden he knew, this one’s thoughts were unreadable. That blank expression was foreign to him. Whenever Iden looked at him before, his face had always held a soft smile, a kindness that made Seowon feel warm and safe. He had never seen Iden with such cold eyes.

“So, that house I went to earlier… it was my home, right?” Seowon tried to shift the topic, looking away to avoid Iden’s piercing gaze.

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“Strange to not be certain, considering you walked there yourself,” Iden said quietly, repeating his words back to him. Seowon only scowled and turned his head. There was no point mentioning that the house’s outside was so different he hadn’t even considered going inside.

“Anyway, as long as that’s my house, that’s fine. I want to go back.”

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He wanted to organize his thoughts on his own. He needed to understand exactly what kind of situation he was in.

“It was your house, yes. But I didn’t say it still is.”

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Seowon froze, turning back to Iden. His face remained calm.

“It was sold after you died a month ago.”

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Ah… that was right. Iden kept saying he had died a month ago. On the day Seowon remembered Iden had died, Iden was saying the opposite: that it was Seowon who had died.

The same day, but reversed deaths… did that mean the cause of death was the same?

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“Was it in the United States?”

Iden didn’t answer. Instead, his eyes became chillingly dark, and that alone told Seowon enough.

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“Then why are you here in South Korea?”

“Because I had to bring you here.”

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In other words, he had come to South Korea to return Seowon’s body.

“Why did I go to the United States?”

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Iden had said that he had lived in the United States for ten years. So was it by chance that he had ended up meeting Iden there?

“To be with me.”

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This time, he couldn’t understand right away. To be with him? What did that mean?

“Are you saying I… immigrated to the United States?”

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“Something like that.”

Seowon sighed, but he could understand it. When Iden had been called to the United States by his father, he had vowed to follow him without a second thought. If that was the case, then the “Ha Seowon” in Iden’s memories would have done the same.

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“How… did we meet?”

It wasn’t as if two people who lived in different countries would naturally run into each other at a university. He needed to know what this version of Iden remembered about “Ha Seowon.”

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It was absurd to ask such trivial things, but Iden answered every question calmly, as if it was perfectly natural.

“We first met when you were in your second year of middle school. I helped you when you had a sudden heat cycle on the street.”

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That memory matched his own. But hadn’t Iden gone to the United States after that?

“You were etched in my memory ever since. Your face, your pheromones, everything.”

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The calm confession made his heart clench. It was the same for him. Even with his senses dulled by the heat cycle, he had never forgotten Iden.

“I kept searching for you, even after I moved to the United States, and I eventually found you.”

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Iden’s gaze was fixed steadily on Seowon’s face.

“There was only one reason why the director chose to stay in South Korea,” Min had said earlier.

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Now it all made sense. Iden had been traveling back and forth between the United States and South Korea just to see him. The United States wasn’t right next door… but remembering that Iden’s father was the head of Luciano’s organization, he figured it wouldn’t have been difficult. Still, the thought of him making those journeys solely for Seowon stirred something in him.

For Iden, “Ha Seowon” was just as precious—maybe even more precious—than the Iden he remembered.

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“Luciano…” He opened his mouth, hesitant yet hopeful. The “Luciano” he knew was the name of an Italian-American mafia group, but he’d also seen the name right here in downtown Seoul, so maybe it meant something different here.

“What’s your father like?”

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Could he ask that? In his memories, there had been no secrets between him and Iden, and with that memory guiding him, he wanted to ask the current Iden, who had told him to ask anything.

“What do you mean by that?” Iden asked with a faint smile, more of a smirk than a friendly grin. Seowon didn’t answer, only meeting his gaze. Iden already knew he wasn’t asking about his father’s personality, so there was no need for further explanation.

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“He’s the head of Luciano Company.”

Luciano Company. Did that mean it wasn’t a mafia group? Yet, Iden’s expression was still odd.

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“It’s a legitimate company in form, but at its core, it’s still an Italian-American mafia.”

Hearing this, Seowon unconsciously swallowed. It was the same here as well, after all.

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“You’re not surprised, which means you already knew,” Iden noted, stepping closer. Each step closed the gap between them, but Seowon didn’t look away or back down, keeping his gaze fixed on Iden’s face.

“You’re acting strangely, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re ‘Ha Seowon,’” Iden said, reaching out to tilt Seowon’s chin up, letting his fingers trail over his neck. Even that light touch made the hair on his arms stand on end, and he furrowed his brow, swatting Iden’s hand away.

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“You’re similar, yet different,” Iden murmured, a slight smirk on his lips. Seowon wanted to throw those words back at him—they applied equally well to Iden.

“What’s important is that you’re alive and standing here in front of me.”

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What’s important… Seowon thought the same. Iden was here, standing right in front of him, alive and breathing.

“Everything else is just minor details,” Iden continued.

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If there was a difference between him and Seowon, it was that he was adapting and accepting things far more quickly. For Seowon, it wasn’t so simple. He kept thinking, It’s Iden, but not Iden. It’s not Iden, but it is. The thought twisted and looped in his mind like a Möbius strip.

His body reacted to Iden’s pheromones without hesitation, yet his heart couldn’t fully follow. Even if the face was the same, his tone and expressions were subtly different. Every time he noticed those differences, he was reminded that this person wasn’t the Iden he had loved.

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“Will you… go back to the States?”

Iden’s base was in the United States. If he went back there, Seowon wondered what he would do.

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“That was my plan. I was supposed to.”

Iden kept his gaze on Seowon as he spoke.

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“But circumstances have changed. I don’t have any plans to go back for the time being.”

His answer was firm.

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