* * *

“…Han Kangwoo.”

Seunghyun muttered quietly, ensuring his voice wouldn’t reach Han Kangwoo.

For a fleeting moment, he had held onto a foolish hope, only to feel like an idiot for doing so.

Why hadn’t he thought of this sooner?

After his grandmother’s passing, only he and Han Kangwoo knew the house’s door code.

There was no one else who could have entered.

Seunghyun fixed his gaze on Han Kangwoo, not lowering his guard.

The man standing before him looked noticeably younger than the last time Seunghyun remembered him.

Of course, he would.

It was three years ago now.

True to his past as a model, Han Kangwoo’s tall frame and the physique he had refined after transitioning to acting filled the doorway.

“…”

His strikingly handsome face seemed like something straight out of a Hong Kong movie, glaring directly at Seunghyun.

His bold features struck a balance—masculine yet boyish, with deep-set eyes, a high nose bridge, and no double eyelids, lending him an exotic appearance.

Thick eyebrows, jet-black hair with natural pigmentation, and a jawline that was sharp but not overly harsh completed the picture.

When paired with his pheromones, reminiscent of a stark winter’s emptiness, it was easy to see why media outlets celebrated him as a “classic beauty.”

It wasn’t just Seunghyun who was caught off guard.

Han Kangwoo also froze in place, his posture tense with caution.

In a low voice, he finally spoke.

“Who are you?”

The house faced west, making it dark in the early morning light.

While Seunghyun could see Han Kangwoo’s face clearly, Kangwoo could likely only make out a vague silhouette.

Though Kangwoo had shouted “Joo Seunghyun” the moment he saw him, it was clear he quickly realized this wasn’t the person he had been searching for.

“…”

Or perhaps… it was.

Han Kangwoo crossed the small room in an instant, reaching Seunghyun in just two strides.

Abandoning meaningless thoughts, Seunghyun directed all his focus to remaining wary of him.

As Kangwoo drew nearer, the faint trace of his pheromones wafted over.

Though subtle, it was overwhelming to Seunghyun, who had never been exposed directly to anyone’s pheromones.

His body stiffened instinctively under the tension.

Han Kangwoo’s face twisted into a frown as he studied Seunghyun’s features.

Then, he voiced a puzzled question.

“Joo Seunghyun?”

The name was the same as before, but this time, it ended as a question.

It seemed Kangwoo recognized the idol, Joo Seunghyun.

“What are you doing here…?”

Instead of responding, Seunghyun kept his lips tightly shut.

Better to stay silent than offer up some clumsy lie.

Blinking slowly, he gazed up at Kangwoo.

Kangwoo hesitated, as if confused by Seunghyun’s presence, but soon shook his head, dismissing it.

His eyes, briefly clouded with uncertainty, regained their sharp focus.

“Joo Seunghyun… do you know where the Joo Seunghyun who lived here has gone?”

His voice trembled with anxiety.

His bloodshot eyes betrayed the heightened emotional state he had been in even before entering the house.

Seunghyun took an instinctive step back from him.

Though he had felt Kangwoo’s imposing presence before, it was now downright frightening—perhaps due to their different traits.

Kangwoo’s gaze remained fixed on Seunghyun, unrelenting.

Seunghyun barely managed to swallow dryly.

“I don’t know.”

Better to act like he didn’t.

In a normal situation, deceiving Kangwoo’s uncanny instincts would’ve been impossible.

But the absurdity of having entered someone else’s body and traveled three years back in time made it improbable for anyone, especially the hyper-rational Kangwoo, to even consider such a scenario.

“I’m here looking for hyung too.”

There was no way Kangwoo could know.

That Seunghyun had ended up in someone else’s body. Or that he had returned to three years in the past.

“…hyung?”

Kangwoo echoed, his brows furrowing.

Seunghyun nodded slowly, crafting as innocent an expression as possible.

“Yes. He stopped responding to my calls, so…”

“And that’s why you broke into a house with no owner?”

Kangwoo’s words were slow and deliberate, each syllable cutting.

His eyes flashed coldly.

Seunghyun hurried to add more.

“He gave me the address and told me to visit sometime!”

“Liar.”

Kangwoo’s face twisted further in displeasure.

“Don’t lie to me.”

The low growl in his voice made it abundantly clear he was furious.

His bloodshot eyes and weary face showed signs of sleepless nights.

Had he been looking for Joo Seunghyun all this time?

“I know every single person around Joo Seunghyun.”

“…”

“And you? You’re telling me you were close enough for him to share the door code?”

His voice grew louder, bordering on a full-blown interrogation.

Kangwoo, now agitated, seemed blind to anything else.

“He’s never been involved with someone as… ostentatious as you!”

“Urk…!”

Kangwoo grabbed Seunghyun by both arms, forcing him against the wall.

The impact jolted Seunghyun, and he grimaced at the crushing grip on his upper arms.

His body, inexperienced with pheromonal exposure, reacted sensitively to Kangwoo’s overwhelming presence.

Even though three years had passed, Kangwoo hadn’t changed at all.

He still lost control and resorted to violence when it came to matters involving Seunghyun.

Suppressing his ragged breaths, Seunghyun looked up at Kangwoo with fearful eyes.

“Tell me the truth! Where is Joo Seunghyun?”

“I don’t know—!”

“Someone who vanished, claiming to be terminally ill, ends up here? Explain yourself properly!”

Kangwoo’s fiery gaze burned with a deadly intensity.

His pheromones filled the room, suffocating Seunghyun under their weight.

A sharp pain tore through Seunghyun’s chest, making him clutch at it instinctively.

He wanted to escape Kangwoo, but the oppressive pheromones left him paralyzed.

Forcing pheromones on someone of an incompatible secondary gender was a criminal offense.

But Kangwoo, oblivious to Seunghyun’s unique physiology, poured his rage unchecked.

“Hah… hah…”

Seunghyun’s vision blurred, turning stark white.

Breathing became harder, and the omega pheromones he had hidden so carefully burst forth, unable to withstand the threat of death.

“Ugh!”

But it was no match for Kangwoo’s alpha pheromones. Seunghyun’s pheromones barely managed to carve out a sliver of breathable space amidst the overwhelming pressure.

As Seunghyun’s body grew weaker, confusion flickered across Kangwoo’s face.

“Omega…?”

Kangwoo murmured in disbelief.

For a moment, he froze, then swiftly retracted his aggressive pheromones and stepped back.

“Cough, cough!”

But the lingering pheromones in the air still wreaked havoc on Seunghyun.

His legs gave out, and he slid to the floor, leaning against the wall.

Faced with Seunghyun’s fragile state, Kangwoo hesitated, unable to approach recklessly.

He remained composed even in his surprise, suppressing his pheromones and opening all the windows in the room to allow ventilation.

“Are… you okay?”

“Haa….”

No. It felt like dying.

The pheromones he had been holding back erupted with greater intensity, leaving him drained.

His unregulated pheromones seemed to invade his body, causing pain everywhere, as if they were pulling his very soul out.

His vision went white from the agony.

Seunghyun, desperate, grabbed onto Han Kangwoo and pulled him close.

The humiliation of having to ask for help from him was overwhelming, but his instincts demanded he do whatever it took to survive.

“I-It hurts. It hurts.”

Without hesitation, Han Kangwoo unzipped Seunghyun’s padded jacket and embraced him tightly, almost to the point of crushing him.

Holding him close, Kangwoo released his pheromones—not the violent ones from earlier, but the soft, soothing kind meant to calm an Omega.

“I’m sorry,” Kangwoo whispered, wrapping Seunghyun securely in his arms.

Seunghyun writhed in pain, clutching Kangwoo’s clothes and groaning softly.

“Ahh….”

“Breathe slowly. It will help.”

The sudden gentleness in Kangwoo’s demeanor was both bewildering and oddly reassuring.

Of course—it made sense now.

Seunghyun was an Omega.

Not just any Omega, but one who deserved protection, especially from an Alpha like Han Kangwoo.

Kangwoo cupped the back of Seunghyun’s head, pressing his face against his own neck—the location of an Alpha’s pheromone gland.

The thick, cool scent of Kangwoo’s pheromones began to fill Seunghyun’s body.

A heavy, bittersweet aroma.

As an Alpha, he had once found the scent repellent, but now, as an Omega, it was unbearably alluring.

* * *