#99

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Dragging my heavy body home, I saw a pair of women’s shoes sitting by the entrance.

Jung-hyun let out a faint sigh and composed his expression. Soon, the expected voice drifted from beyond the hallway.

“You’re late. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

“…Mother.”

As if she couldn’t even wait the brief moment it took for Jung-hyun to take off his coat, his mother fidgeted restlessly, shifting her weight up and down.

Jung-hyun pretended not to notice her for a moment, taking his time to put away his coat. He thought that if he had known his mother was home, he should have spent a little more time outside.

Nevertheless, out of habit, Jung-hyun put on a smile and turned to her.

“Would you like some tea?”

“I heard something strange from Director Kim at the pheromone center earlier, Jung-hyun.”

Jung-hyun’s plan to stall for time under the pretext of preparing tea failed immediately. His mother sat on the sofa with her legs pressed together and spoke with a solemn air.

“Director Kim said that the pheromones you’ve been receiving all this time weren’t Alpha pheromones. Then he started rambling about pheromone levels and how it was all the nurse’s doing… I honestly don’t understand what on earth he’s talking about….”

“…….”

“Nothing is wrong, right, Jung-hyun…? You just got back from a date with Writer Kyung. Right?”

Jung-hyun looked at her without affirming or denying. He saw the corners of his mother’s mouth tremble as she looked up at him.

“……Why aren’t you saying anything? Why are you looking at me like that…?”

“The appointment with Writer Kyung was a lie, Mother.”

Jung-hyun admitted it calmly.

“I stopped by the hospital immediately after leaving you. I felt unwell, so I wondered if I had some kind of illness. But they said it’s not an illness.”

His mother’s eyes wavered.

“Th-then. What Director Kim said….”

“He said I’m a recessive Omega.”

“What……?”

“He said the manifestation happened recently.”

His mother’s brow furrowed strangely.

“What are you talking about…? Why, why are you saying such a horrible thing? Why would you say that in front of your mother?”

She then reached out and grabbed Jung-hyun’s arm fumbling.

Jung-hyun looked down at his mother in silence.

“An Omega…. That can’t be. Right? Do you know how hard our Jung-hyun worked to become an Alpha? Do you know how much money I gave to the temple?”

His mother’s gestures seemed desperate, like a drowning person flailing to grab onto anything. However, all she had grabbed was someone else who was also drowning.

“The head monk said that once our Jung-hyun becomes the club owner, everything Mother wants and everything Jung-hyun wants will come true. He’s a gifted man. He’s the one who warned us before your brother’s scandal; he definitely said so.”

“…….”

“Yes, that’s right. Our Jung-hyun has been very sick lately. It’s because you were under too much stress over your brother’s situation. I heard that whether it’s hormones or pheromones, levels fluctuate due to stress.”

His mother began to stroke Jung-hyun’s arm anxiously, as if she had suddenly found hope.

“My poor son. To think you suffered so much mentally that you kept throwing up and your levels came out wrong to that extent….”

“They said it was morning sickness.”

“Huh……?”

“They said I’m pregnant, and that’s why I’ve been so sick.”

Though he himself had not yet fully accepted it, Jung-hyun’s voice was exceptionally calm. Perhaps it was because these were words he had repeated twice in a single day—once to the nurse and once to his mother.

Normally, he would have chosen his words carefully, fearing that his fragile mother would be shocked, but he didn’t have the mental capacity for that. Or perhaps, he simply wanted to share this burden with someone.

A baseless trust—no, a hope—that his mother might take his side.

That method felt like violence. Violence pouring indiscriminately onto someone who was completely unguarded. Both to himself and to the other person.

And as is always the case with violence, the first time is the most terrifying; gradually, one becomes accustomed to it. It seemed the same applied to the one inflicting the violence. Seeing as it had now become easy for him to utter words like ‘Omega’ or ‘pregnancy.’

“Jung-hyun…. Why are you saying such horrible things?”

His mother murmured with a blank expression.

“Do you want to scare your mother? Is that why you’re making this up?”

“…….”

“What nonsense. Where is there anyone as Alpha-like as my son? You, pregnant? If you had gotten someone else pregnant, that would be one thing….”

Jung-hyun looked at his mother without a word. For a moment, silence settled between the two. His mother stared intently at Jung-hyun’s face.

“……Could it be Writer Kyung’s child?”

His mother spoke with a forced smile.

“If that’s the case, then it’s a relief. I hear premarital pregnancy isn’t such a flaw these days. Since Vice Minister Kyung’s family lacks grandchildren, they might even be happy. Right? That’s it, isn’t it?”

Jung-hyun said nothing. He simply looked at his mother, feeling as if they were being swept away by the same wave.

The hope that had been sparkling in his mother’s eyes vanished instantly, like a candle being blown out.

“Jung-hyun, why aren’t you answering…?”

“…….”

“Say something. Please…?”

“…….”

“Please, Jung-hyun. Just once, tell me that Mother is right!”

Just as her voice turned into a scream mixed with desperation, he felt something in the air.

A scent that spread strongly, as if a spray had been released. Jung-hyun lifted his eyes and looked into the air.

The scent soon became tiny droplets that poured over his skin. In that moment, it possessed a physical presence that felt as if it could be touched.

White flowers that bloomed profusely in spring, creating tunnels. Flowers that used to bloom in abundance near the house where he lived with his mother as a child.

“…I didn’t know.”

Jung-hyun murmured in a small voice.

“Your pheromones were an acacia flower tunnel, Mother.”

With a flinch, his mother trembled and looked up at Jung-hyun with a face of disbelief.

“They were next to the house we used to live in.”

“……Jung-hyun.”

Thick streams of tears rolled down his mother’s cheeks. Soon, the strength left the hand that had been gripping Jung-hyun’s arm.

His mother cried for a long time, to the point where he worried she might collapse from exhaustion.

Instead of preparing the warm black tea with sugar that his mother liked, Jung-hyun just sat there and stared blankly at her.

If only he could cry and lament his fate like his mother. His face felt parched, like someone whose tears had completely dried up.

The only thoughts that formed in place of tears were brief impressions about pheromones.

So that’s how it feels.

With Kyung Seung-hee, he hadn’t recognized it as a pheromone, so he had no memory of it other than it being an unpleasant sensation. Thus, his mother’s was the first pheromone he had properly experienced.

It was a profoundly mysterious experience. He finally understood what Shin Ho-jae meant when he called it a ‘sense that isn’t smell.’

Now that he had become an Omega, would he be able to smell Shin Ho-jae’s pheromones too? Ridiculously, even at this moment, such thoughts occurred to him, perhaps as a way to evade the current situation. He wished time would just stop. It was a weak thought, unlike him. Likely because he couldn’t think of any way to resolve this situation.

“…Those bastards. Do they know how much I poured into that temple? And Director Kim at the center.”

Jung-hyun’s reverie was broken by his mother’s sudden voice.

“They looked down on me. Thinking I’m just some lowly woman who gets called ‘Madam’ thanks to her son. How else could they have deceived me like that? Isn’t that right, Jung-hyun?”

As his mother slowly lifted her head, her face was completely consumed by malice. Her bloodshot eyes and the venomous way she spoke made her seem like someone other than the mother he knew.

“That damn Director Kim said it was the intentional act of an Omega nurse at the center.”

“…….”

“What did Mother tell you? I told you that you have to be most careful of those Omega bitches whose backgrounds are unknown!”

He could understand her. She probably wanted to hold someone accountable, to find a target to pour her blame upon. Just as he had done a few hours ago.

“…That crazy bitch. Even if you brought dozens of trucks full of women like her, they couldn’t compare to my Jung-hyun, yet she dares to do such a foul thing to the second son of Myeong-jeong?”

“…….”

“Even if it kills me, I will make that bitch pay for her crimes, Jung-hyun. So don’t worry. I’ll tell your father and I’ll….”

“Kwon Ki-hyuk instigated it, Mother.”

His mother’s face froze.

“The one who had the nurse inject Omega pheromones into me was Kwon Ki-hyuk.”

Jung-hyun elaborated slowly.

“So, touching the nurse will be the same as touching Kwon Ki-hyuk.”

His mother’s face gradually distorted.

“……Ki-hyuk… did this?”

“Yes.”

His mother stuttered, her face looking exceptionally anxious.

“Ki-hyuk…. How…. Surely he didn’t do this knowing that…. Y-yes. It must be a coincidence…? There’s no way he could have known….”

Jung-hyun narrowed his eyes and looked at his mother’s face.

“A coincidence? What are you talking about?”

“…….”

His mother stared at Jung-hyun without even blinking.

Suddenly, goosebumps rose on his arms. His mother’s face, which had always seemed young and beautiful, suddenly looked shriveled, like someone who had aged overnight. And what about those eyes? They felt like empty black beads that could hold nothing.

Mother…? Just as Jung-hyun frowned and called her.

His mother murmured, as if speaking to someone other than Jung-hyun.

“I deceived the pheromone levels of my son to bring him into Myeong-jeong.”

“……What?”

100 – Puck Drop