* * *
Visitors—especially medical staff—always knocked before entering.
Then—click—a switch flicked on, and the light filled the room.
Seunghyun tried to calm his pounding chest.
Maybe the door had just opened on its own.
He slowly lowered the hand covering his face.
Blinking against the sudden fluorescent light, he started to turn his head toward the door—
‘……!’
But before he could even turn, a shadow fell across him.
Seunghyun gasped.
“Seunghyun, hi.”
Two intruders, dressed suspiciously and with unfamiliar faces, were looking down at him… smiling eerily.
The unexpected situation made his body freeze.
His heart was pounding so hard that he could hear ringing in his ears.
“Seunghyun, say hi~ Be polite, someone’s talking to you~.”
A sasaeng fan leaned in close, grinning as they grabbed Seunghyun’s cheek and gave it a shake.
Reflexively, he grabbed their wrist.
But the wrist didn’t budge.
Panic started to rise—was it because he’d grown so weak?
All he could do was barely hold on.
Cold sweat trickled down.
“H-Help—mph!”
He tried to scream, but a rough hand quickly clamped over his mouth.
His face was pinned down, leaving him unable to lift himself.
“Aww, so cute.”
The sasaeng fan who covered his mouth casually pulled out a phone with their free hand and shoved it in his face.
“Smile for me, Seunghyun.”
Click click click.
“……!”
White flashes burst in front of his eyes.
Shutters went off in a frenzy, and Seunghyun thrashed in protest.
Even if he was sick, Joo Seunghyun was still a tall man with long limbs.
If he struggled hard enough, he could probably break free from their grip.
After that, he planned to crawl out of the room and call for help.
But the fan just cackled like it was nothing, then suddenly their expression hardened.
They turned to someone behind, who was filming the whole time.
“Ugh, why’s he struggling so much? Hey, help me hold him down.”
Suddenly, a heavy pressure pinned him down completely.
‘Alpha!’
A wave of foul pheromones hit like a hammer splitting his skull, invading deep into his body.
The nausea was immediate.
Terror gripped him—the deep, instinctive fear of an Alpha.
His whole body trembled.
With his nose and mouth covered, he genuinely thought he might die.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heart pounded.
“…….”
His eyes rolled back as his body seized up.
The overwhelming sensation of being subdued was terrifying and revolting.
Only when Seunghyun’s body slumped did the intruder finally remove the hand covering his mouth.
Gasping for breath, Seunghyun tried to make sense of the situation with his foggy mind.
“I had a hunch, and yup—he is an Omega.”
“Holy shit. We really scored. An Omega we can pass around.”
“Right? So lucky~.”
“Seunghyun, don’t be too scared. We’ve got some conscience. Just let us touch you a little, that’s all.”
‘How did they get in?’
Even as they whispered to each other, they didn’t withdraw their pheromones.
His body was paralyzed, pinned by unfamiliar Alpha pheromones raging inside him like a storm.
He regretted removing the safety monitors from his body for being “uncomfortable” — if they’d been on, someone would’ve known the danger he was in.
He managed to turn his head toward the door, but it was tightly shut.
‘I’m screwed.’
With his last hope gone, his mind strangely cleared.
The pheromone-intensive ward was designed so no pheromones could leak in or out—but with the door shut, no one outside could detect the assault happening inside.
While his mind had cleared, his body remained locked in fear.
The two Alphas continued to radiate violent pheromones, suffocating Seunghyun.
His body was so overwhelmed, he couldn’t even make a sound.
Eventually, laughing and chatting, they came closer and began to grope him aggressively.
It started with their hands.
Each grabbed one of his hands and laced their fingers together with his.
Taking turns, they snapped selfies with Seunghyun’s unresponsive face in frame.
Then one by one, they climbed onto the bed, hugging up close against him.
“Make sure you get a good shot. Seunghyun, smile~.”
The first sasaeng fan to lie next to him handed their phone to the other and lightly tapped Seunghyun’s cheek.
The camera shutter clicked non-stop, but Seunghyun’s expression didn’t change.
Annoyed or maybe excited—it was hard to tell—the fan whispered as their hand slid under his clothes.
“Why won’t you smile? Maybe if I touch you, you’ll cheer up?”
Seunghyun’s eyes flew wide at the hand creeping across his bare skin.
With a cold, emotionless voice, the hand slid in deeper.
“I said smile.”
Then—
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
“…….”
The chaotic room fell dead silent.
The two sasaengs, who were practically on top of Seunghyun, quickly exchanged glances and covered his mouth again.
Knock knock knock.
In the stillness, the knocking echoed.
Seunghyun’s grip on the sheets tightened until veins bulged in his hands.
“Mr. Seunghyun.”
The muffled voice through the door was definitely male, but that was all he could tell.
Terrified the man might just leave, Seunghyun silently begged for him to stay.
And thankfully, his prayer was answered—no footsteps walking away.
Instead—
“I’m coming in.”
The voice was low and calm, yet firm.
Click.
The door opened.
“…….”
The man who stepped in murmured under his breath.
“What the hell…”
Seunghyun couldn’t see his face clearly, but he could tell the man had stopped cold, frozen in place.
Did he sense the saturated pheromones in the air?
Or was he shocked by the sight of the sasaengs on top of Seunghyun?
Either way, it didn’t matter.
All Seunghyun wanted was his help.
“Aagh!”
Before Seunghyun could finish the thought, the weight pinning him vanished with a sharp scream.
“Let go, let go of me!”
The other person was flung from the bed like a ragdoll.
“Haah… haah…”
As the foul pheromones dispersed, Seunghyun sucked in breath after breath.
His nerves, suppressed until now, surged back all at once—his limbs tingled, and the flood of oxygen sent him into hyperventilation.
He scrambled upright, pressing himself against the headboard.
His whole body was soaked in sweat.
He couldn’t even tell if he was shivering from cold or heat.
His blurred vision focused on the man who had effortlessly subdued both intruders, grabbing them each by the scruff of the neck with one hand.
He snatched their phones and tossed them far away, then straightened up.
Their eyes met.
“Are you alright?”
The man’s figure was still blurry.
His voice was distorted by the ringing in Seunghyun’s ears.
But that pheromone—wrapping around Seunghyun like a warm blanket—was unmistakable.
He could never forget it.
“Han Kangwoo.”
As soon as he whispered the name, the door burst open and a group of medical staff rushed in.
“What on earth happened here?!”
The flustered doctor scanned the chaotic room, only for Han Kangwoo to throw the intruders at him.
“Ugh!”
The doctor stumbled backward as they collided.
Han Kangwoo’s voice was icy as he snapped at the doctor.
“That’s what I want to ask. What the hell is going on? What kind of security does this hospital have?!”
The roar made Seunghyun flinch.
Sensing it immediately, Kangwoo hurried over to check on him.
His hand lightly touched Seunghyun’s swollen cheek.
Seunghyun jerked at the touch.
Kangwoo’s face darkened, and he quickly withdrew his hand.
This was all too overwhelming.
He had always thought of his weakened body as merely an inconvenience.
This was the first time he truly felt helpless.
The delayed realization that things could have ended dangerously made his heart sink with a wave of anxiety.
“…Your body’s cold.”
* * *
