One-sided Imprinting phenomenon?
While still burying his face, Joo Tae-hyun only slightly rolled his eyes. He didn’t want to hear anything, but there must be a reason why Doctor Woo would mention such an unfamiliar term in this situation.
“Oh my, our Young Master.”
Even though his eyes were probably rolled back, showing the whites, Doctor Woo simply stroked the back of Joo Tae-hyun’s head, pleased that he had responded.
Doctor Woo was responsible for the health of the entire direct family of the DH Group, but the youngest Young Master, whom he had watched grow up after a life-or-death crisis due to fever since birth, was special to him. Joo Tae-hyun also felt close to Doctor Woo, not just as his doctor but as a relative.
“You said you only took one bottle of the Switch that Director Seo recommended recently, right?”
At the mention of the Switch, Joo Tae-hyun buried his face again, busy making excuses in a small voice.
“…Really. I thought the effects would be gone in about an hour anyway, so I really only tried one bottle.”
He was aware that he was acting even more childish than when he was a child, but right now, it was impossible to even pretend to be the ‘mature Joo Tae-hyun’ that Seo Baek-han had praised.
He wished he had just fainted. Every time fragments of yesterday resurfaced, Joo Tae-hyun wanted to bite his tongue off.
His own voice, pathetically begging as he looked for Hyung, his foolishness in spouting nonsense because he thought it was just a hallucination, and even amidst all that, Seo Baek-han’s embarrassment and displeasure…
Joo Tae-hyun was also frustrated. He had only touched the Switch Seo Baek-han gave him once, so why was his body reacting like this?
‘It didn’t matter who you slept with in America or what Switch you picked up until now. But it’s not the same anymore. The Royal Hospital is different from Donghwa Hospital.’
He said he would look at the test results himself, so he couldn’t secretly throw away the medicine like he used to.
Wouldn’t it be best not to touch the Switch, as he had done until now? Then the test results would be perfect, and that’s what Seo Baek-han would want. He tried to think positively and cover up the big and small lies he had told so far.
However, because he knew how important the test at the Royal Hospital was to Seo Baek-han, the lies that he had always been able to tell so easily didn’t come out this time.
Joo Tae-hyun had already repeatedly deceived Seo Baek-han in big and small ways. In the first place, this marriage itself was a sandcastle built on lies.
But now, if he were to confess that he had never taken a Switch, that he had never slept with anyone, let alone an Alpha. So even if he didn’t take a Switch, the test results would be clean, if he confessed that to Seo Baek-han…
Just imagining it sent shivers down his spine. It wouldn’t just end with Seo Baek-han disliking him. He would be cleanly cut out of his life.
He should have confessed sooner that he had told too many lies. He should have at least said that he had stopped taking the Switch right after the marriage…
Regret washed over him, but it was already too late. The extent to which he could cover it up as a childish lie had long been exceeded.
So Joo Tae-hyun closed his eyes tightly and swallowed the Switch that Seo Baek-han had given him. He thought lightly that his body would just burn for about an hour, as it had before. The medicine he had chosen was guaranteed by Doctor Woo and other prominent doctors in Seoul to be completely safe.
Certainly, the medicine Seo Baek-han gave him was very different from the cheap Dirty Switch he had bought in Washington. There was no tickling in his ears from Seo Baek-han’s voice, no stimulating sight of popping candy exploding before his eyes, and no itchy feeling as if he had slathered aphrodisiacs all over himself.
The Switch he gave him was very straightforward. While the drug flowed through his veins, he just staggered around looking for traces of the Alpha who would plant his seed in his body.
Like breath visible in the cold air, Seo Baek-han’s Pheromone was clearly readable. Joo Tae-hyun rummaged through the faintly remaining Pheromone of Seo Baek-han without realizing it, wandering around the house.
By the time he remembered that he had an appointment with Seo Baek-han, the heat had barely subsided, but that didn’t mean he was back to normal. He was so ashamed that he wanted to die when he locked himself in the guest room, soaking the front and back of his clothes, but this time it was even…
“This is just my guess, but I think Young Master has done a one-sided Imprinting.”
“…Yes?”
He was biting his lip, thinking about how to clean up the mess he had made at the Lotus Flower Palace, when Doctor Woo suddenly said something absurd.
“One-sided Imprinting?”
“Yes, Young Master imprinted on Director Seo-.”
“No, I know what Imprinting is. But how, how is that possible? I’m an Alpha, and Hyung is an Alpha…”
It was an absurd sound that instantly pulled Joo Tae-hyun, who had been floundering in a misery that could not be explained by words such as shame or embarrassment, back to reality.
“That’s right, according to what has been revealed so far, Imprinting only happens between opposite Shifters.”
Everything about Shifters was an unsolved mystery, but Imprinting was the most unusual problem of all.
Generally, the definition of ‘Imprinting’ is this: a process in which Alphas and Omegas, who have spent a long time together and become accustomed to each other’s Pheromones, become completely bound to each other.
A phenomenon that occurs when one desperately craves the other’s Pheromones to the point that their pulse races like crazy and even their own Pheromones cannot be controlled.
An extreme Pheromone abnormality, in a way, in which every single gene is stamped with the mark that they cannot be without this person, and they feel pain to the point of wanting to die when another Shifter’s Pheromones touch them.
“Isn’t it still being researched whether Imprinting can be established between the same Shifters? I think Hyung told me that before…”
The Imprinting phenomenon seems quite romantic to ordinary people, so it is often used as a drama material these days, but in fact, from the perspective of Shifters, Imprinting on someone is only unpleasant.
It is not clear when and how Imprinting is established, but what if you break up with the Imprinting partner? Even if you live together for a hundred years, what if the other person dies in an accident first? There was nothing known about what would happen in such cases.
“Yes, that’s right. That’s why I said it was just a guess. I think something went wrong when Young Master took the Switch.”
“But Doctor-.”
“The Switch is temporarily deceiving your body, right? That my body is not an Alpha but an Omega. In the meantime, Young Master lived in a space full of Director Seo’s Pheromones, so I think that’s probably when it happened.”
Ah…….
So, it’s because I’ve liked Seo Baek-han so much since before. So, as soon as I felt like I had become an Omega, I imprinted on him as if I had been waiting for it? Even arbitrarily, alone?
“Ha, haha…”
Joo Tae-hyun unknowingly let his arms and legs droop. Everything he saw in his field of vision was disgusting.
He liked Seo Baek-han, but he had never felt so terrible about himself as he did today.
What should he do? Now, even the excuse that he has no personal feelings for him will not work. He has even imprinted on Seo Baek-han alone, so it is no longer possible to lie that he has another partner.
He can’t even handle the Switch properly, and if he gets caught still liking Hyung, then I…….
“Director Seo didn’t detect Young Master’s Pheromones going wild, but if you’re Imprinted, that could be the case. Young Master’s Pheromones wouldn’t have bothered the Imprinting partner, Director Seo.”
“I alone, unilaterally Imprinted, but it had such an effect on Hyung, no, that’s not the problem now… Then Doctor, what do I do now?”
Joo Tae-hyun crawled on his knees and grabbed Doctor Woo’s arm.
“How can I tell Hyung that I think I Imprinted on him alone? He must be disappointed in me because of this, what should I do…”
“…Don’t worry. I’ll keep it a secret from Director Seo. Fortunately, one-sided Imprinting is not as binding as two-way Imprinting, so there are cases where it breaks quickly.”
But, Doctor Woo swallowed a light sigh. Joo Tae-hyun’s face, which had been relieved by the words that one-sided Imprinting could be easily broken, darkened again.
“Why…?”
“This is something I told Director Seo before Young Master came to his senses, but for the time being, it seems necessary to periodically exchange Pheromones with Director Seo.”
“Pheromone exchange? What is that?”
“It means that periodic sexual relations with Director Seo Baek-han are necessary.”