By Zephyria 
Prologue
Right after their lips collided fiercely and parted, a lingering taste like blood mixed with liquor remained on the tip of Haon’s tongue.
Haon’s chest heaved.
“My Omega Amulet.”
Cha Jeong-won muttered, roughly grabbing Haon’s chin and lifting it. His knuckles pressed against the jawbone, forcing their gazes to meet.
“Mother was so obsessed with it. But I found it first.”
Light spilled through the windowpane, illuminating Cha Jeong-won.
The scent of processed hardwood made the air between them heavy. Haon’s body was gradually pushed back. His back hit the cold edge of the workbench.
His breath hitched for a moment. There was nowhere left to retreat.
“Senior…”
The voice calling Jeong-won was small and cracked. It trembled unsteadily, but it wasn’t a refusal.
As if that was the signal, the hand holding Haon’s chin descended and seized his waist as well.
The shirt crumpled within Cha Jeong-won’s large hand. Even without directly pressing against the skin, he could feel how hot the hand was through the thin fabric.
“But you know.”
He leaned his upper body closer. At a distance where their breaths mingled, he brought his lips right next to Haon’s ear.
“If you accept your fate, you’ll never escape from me.”
The low voice seeped into his ear.
It wasn’t mockery, nor was it blatant anger. It was a fatigue that had festered for a long time, and an obsession crawling up from the depths.
Haon’s heart pounded as if it would burst. His chest continued to heave noisily, but his arms and legs strangely wouldn’t move.
“That’s… not true.”
It was a barely squeezed-out reply.
“What do you mean ‘not true’?”
Cha Jeong-won grabbed both of Haon’s wrists with one hand. Not to hold him with force so he couldn’t break free, but as if to eliminate any possibility of escape altogether.
And holding him like that, he lifted and pushed him onto the workbench. The woodworking tools originally there clattered.
The hard wooden surface felt long against his back. As his waist and shoulders made contact simultaneously, his body jolted once more.
Soon after, Cha Jeong-won’s pheromones spread thickly.
Mixing with the breath still carrying the lingering scent of alcohol, they settled heavily. It was a scent that suffocated and tensed him up.
Inside the sealed workshop, the fragrance grew denser with nowhere to escape.
“I won’t let you go.”
Cha Jeong-won’s voice trembled ever so slightly. It was a voice tinged with a subtle thrill.
As he spread his legs again, his cock pushed up.
At the moment of dominant penetration, static crackled from the workshop radio. The sound felt like it was being driven directly into his brain.
Haon looked up at Cha Jeong-won, panting. Even in the darkness, only his gaze was clear.
Sharp, desperate, precarious.
They were the eyes of someone who had lost something precious. Eyes that knew well what that something was.
His hand moved slowly along Haon’s side.
It traced the line from his waist, ribs, below the chest, to his neck, as if taking his pulse.
“Ahhk!”
Then, when Cha Jeong-won suddenly pulled his waist back, Haon’s body arched like a bow. Each time the large cock pulled out, it felt like his inner walls were being dragged along, making him jump.
“You’re my custom-made Omega Amulet. You.”
Cha Jeong-won’s lips touched Haon’s jawline. They brushed past lightly, leaving a trace.
“Hhhuut…”
The Alpha’s emotions, saturated with obsession for him, were conveyed through the fingertips caressing his body and the cock thrusting up from below.
“And the talisman that ruins my mind.”
Each word was stamped clearly into Haon’s ear.
He laughed lowly. His breath tickled the skin below his jaw.
As if to return the ruin he was experiencing in full measure to Haon, his hip movements grew fierce.
He finally triggered Haon’s pheromones. The sweet, soft scent that had been suppressed escaped Haon’s control.
‘No.’
Haon’s mind was screaming desperately, but his body was already reacting.
His heart raced, his breath grew short, and the fragrance bloomed more intensely. As that scent tangled with Cha Jeong-won’s pheromones, the air inside the workshop grew heavy in an instant.
It felt like the last veil separating the two had been torn away.
“Ha…”
Cha Jeong-won exhaled a rough breath. The muscles in his neck moved significantly once.
“This scent…”
His hand slid from Haon’s waistline along his spine. It burrowed right into the cleft of his buttocks, caressing the hole.
Amidst the heat, a ticklish sensation rose, making Haon twist his body, but he couldn’t escape Cha Jeong-won.
“I should have recognized it from the start.”
The hand that had been thoroughly tickling his back grabbed Haon’s cock. Clutching it in one hand and thoroughly prying open the hole with his thumb, Haon’s moans grew louder.
“S-stop that…”
Haon grabbed Cha Jeong-won’s shirt with trembling fingertips.
Even though he knew he shouldn’t hold on, letting go felt more frightening. This time, the hem of Cha Jeong-won’s shirt crumpled in Haon’s hand.
His lips slowly descended from Haon’s jawline down his neck.
They moved along the boundary between skin and fabric, then stopped as if finding the spot where the fragrance pooled.
Cha Jeong-won’s eyes darkened sinisterly as he found the pheromone gland and swept over it with his rough tongue.
“If I had known you were mine sooner, I would have taken you faster.”
“Ah…”
A sound seeped out, mixed with rejection, panic, and desire. It was his own voice, yet unfamiliar.
“Everything will be different now. Your life, I mean.”
Cha Jeong-won’s continuing voice persistently dug into his ear. It felt like each word was sinking deep into his bones.
The workshop was filled with the sound of their ragged breaths and rustling clothes.
Cha Jeong-won whispered, gripping Haon’s shoulders more deeply.
“Omega Amulet or whatever…”
The words he couldn’t utter to the end caught in his throat.
“The only place you have to go now is one place.”
Instead, a heavy breath poured out once more.
“You’re my talisman.”
The voice drilling into his ear was cruelly gentle.
“Forever.”
“Why do you keep…”
Haon managed to force out the words between pants.
“…talking by yourself?”
I’m scared to death of just listening.
With Haon’s one remark, the atmosphere flipped.
Haon swallowed a few quick breaths, then tightly pulled Jeong-won into a hug. Not to escape, but to cling and hold on.
Because of that, their pressed-together groins meshed deeply, making his whole body tremble finely, but he didn’t let go.
His palm slowly swept down between the shoulder blades and patted, and strangely, that slow rhythm gradually stabilized Jeong-won’s breathing.
Cha Jeong-won stiffened his body more firmly, like someone who didn’t like it, but ultimately couldn’t push him away.
The flinching reaction was subtle, but Haon didn’t miss it and acted even more brazenly.
“Senior.”
Haon called out, catching his breath, then continued as if nothing was wrong.
“I just stuck a real talisman on your back. Didn’t know, did you?”
Cha Jeong-won’s darkened gaze cleared up a little.
Seeing that, Haon smiled faintly.
“The effect seems to be kicking in already. Senior, you seem less scary now.”
Cha Jeong-won’s gaze fixed on Haon’s face. He pretended to be unshaken, but his eyes actually lost focus for a moment.
Haon slipped a thin smile into that gap.
“Senior kept trying to head towards ruin, so I’m trying to take the reins.”
Jeong-won silently pulled Haon closer.
It looked similar to the possessiveness from before, yet also like a movement to confirm, so Haon only swallowed a short breath inwardly. And seeing what was reflected in the small mirror hanging at the end of the workbench, he confirmed he had landed a proper blow.
A white Post-it note was stuck to Jeong-won’s back. The hastily scribbled writing was crooked, yet strangely noticeable.
[Lucky Talisman]
Below it, even smaller letters were added.
[Senior is a fool]
Cha Jeong-won froze stiff the moment he saw the mirror.
It was the timing to get angry, but like someone hesitating because doing so might make the warmth in his arms disappear, he was briefly speechless.
Haon didn’t miss that hesitation and said, wrapping his arms more around his shoulders.
“Don’t take this off. And don’t get angry, don’t speak scarily.”
“Yoon Haon.”
“Yeah, what Cha Jeong-won is holding is Yoon Haon.”
Haon stroked the Alpha’s cheek.
“I won’t get tired of you. In fact, even if you get tired, I won’t let you go.”
Cha Jeong-won’s chin shook very slightly.
The obsession clearly remained. But it felt like someone was pulling him back before that obsession could slide into catastrophe.
Finally, he muttered as if admitting defeat.
“Having you won’t be easy, will it?”
Haon laughed at that.
“That’s why I’m going to have you.”
He felt like he wanted to save this man steeped in misfortune.