By Zephyria 
* * *
“Y-y-you…!”
Those fucking bastards are ignoring me until the very end? Kim Seung-jun’s enraged roar split the surface of the pool. However, it didn’t take long for the explosively loud sound to devolve into a pathetic sound effect. The gunshot that erupted from the muzzle, lacking a proper silencer, was utterly shoddy.
“Aaaargh!”
Meanwhile, people easily fell into a panic just from the sound of the gunfire.
“Everyone, hide behind the trees! Or use the tables as shields!”
“How can a crazy bastard start shooting in this neighborhood!”
Joo Tae-hyun just stood there blankly, blinking. Everything… felt unreal.
Liam, pulling on his arm from beside him, his actions and voice, seemed to be in slow motion. Every time he closed and opened his eyes, his vision turned white, and his ears felt muffled, as if submerged underwater.
“Ah, no, I… I really… I really didn’t mean to…”
What jolted Joo Tae-hyun’s senses awake was the loud siren, which even drowned out the screams of the people. The alarm blaring right in front of them made people sob with relief, yet they remained vigilant, urging each other to stay calm. While gun violence was frequent, it wasn’t something that happened easily in the heart of Washington, especially at a pool party attended by esteemed local figures.
The afterimages forming on Joo Tae-hyun’s retina also changed by the second. Perhaps it was the first time he had held a gun, but the bullet Kim Seung-jun fired missed its intended target, Seo Baek-han, and struck an innocent bystander instead.
Someone standing not far from Seo Baek-han was writhing in agony, clutching a leg covered in blood. Perhaps they were secretly live-streaming on social media, as a nearby dropped phone displayed a constant stream of chat messages. However, the phone soon shut off, its battery apparently depleted.
And, and… Seo Baek-han.
“……Ah.”
Fortunately, he avoided the tragedy of being shot at point-blank range, but the situation wasn’t exactly good. From his nape, down his wrist, bright red blood was pouring out ferociously.
If he can still stand on his own two feet like that, he must be okay, right? His wrist movements, too… But with so much blood loss, can he really be considered okay?
“Hah, you’re just standing there blankly, but you’re surprisingly strong… Tae-hyun! Let’s go, quickly!”
Joo Tae-hyun, who had been staring only at Seo Baek-han’s retreating back, snapped out of it and approached him. He had unintentionally misjudged his strength when pushing Liam’s clinging arm away, causing Liam to fall backward. Liam let out an enraged yell, but Joo Tae-hyun had no time to care about that.
“No, I… I really wasn’t going to shoot! J-just a moment!”
Kim Seung-jun, who was left trembling with only his hands while holding a gun with an empty magazine, was instantly grabbed and dragged away by the bodyguards and police who surrounded him. He was surrounded by terrifyingly menacing firearms, incomparable to the one Kim Seung-jun had been holding.
“He seems to be someone you know, is that correct?”
“Yes. He previously orchestrated similar acts of terrorism domestically, in Korea. I heard he was hiding in the US, but I didn’t expect him to pull off something like this again.”
“Hmm, please receive treatment first, and we’ll take your statement later. It’s just for reference to understand the situation, so don’t overthink it.”
“Of course. Ah, just for your reference—”
“……Hyung.”
He couldn’t quite form the word, his lips merely moving. Yet, Seo Baek-han somehow understood and turned around.
Did the bullet graze his cheek? He had never realized that such a small piece of metal could leave such a long, sharp scar. The same applied to his wrist.
“I’m fine.”
Yet, Seo Baek-han just smiled. As if nothing had happened.
“As you can see, I’m alright. Ah, rather than alright… the bullet was lucky to miss.”
“Are you…!”
He was about to yell at Seo Baek-han, asking why he provoked Kim Seung-jun like that. It wasn’t because he still had lingering affection, or because he suddenly liked him again. It was simply unbearable to think that he might have had to witness Seo Baek-han bleeding and collapsing before his eyes once more, that he could have died because of him.
“Hyung, right now… your condition, why is it like this.”
However, Joo Tae-hyun, who had closed the distance to Seo Baek-han, couldn’t voice any of the words boiling inside him. The wounds that had appeared on Seo Baek-han’s body were healing at an astonishingly rapid pace. If Liam and the others’ actions had felt unnaturally slow moments ago, it was as if only Seo Baek-han’s clock was fast-forwarding.
The flowing blood gradually stopped, and the gaping wounds began to close. And Joo Tae-hyun had already experienced this phenomenon once before. It was an effect that could not be explained by modern medicine, an effect only an imprinting partner could provide.
“I heard your pheromones aren’t stable yet. Ah, I didn’t snoop. It’s just… the researchers mentioned it in case something happened.”
Seo Baek-han insisted he was truly fine, shaking his wrist exaggeratedly. Was it the lighting? The droplets of blood, sparkling like jewels, felt chilling instead.
“Perhaps it’s because of that, but it seems to be healing faster than I expected.”
His words confirmed Joo Tae-hyun’s suspicions, driving the nail in.
Unlike himself, who could no longer even sense his pheromones, Seo Baek-han was still in a state where the imprinting was maintained. Seo Baek-han, savoring his own pheromones flowing more thickly than usual, gazed at the rapidly healing gunshot wounds. His gaze was as impassive as if he were observing a test subject.
“……I knew it wasn’t a proper gun anyway. It looked crude at first glance. The silencer was attached incorrectly, and there was a chance the gun itself could have exploded, putting Kim Seung-jun in danger.”
“……So, you acted so recklessly? Because you figured Hyung wouldn’t die?”
“Well, rather than that.”
Seo Baek-han paused, as if finding it difficult to explain. He gestured with his chin to momentarily ward off the paramedics rushing towards him, then turned fully towards Joo Tae-hyun.
“I just had the certainty that I would never collapse in front of you like I did before. And… though I didn’t want to let you know like this, as you can see, I can become perfectly fine as long as I have you. But you can’t.”
Seo Baek-han forced a smile, his complexion slightly pale. While an imprinting partner’s pheromones aided rapid recovery, it wasn’t a panacea. How could he be fine after bleeding so much?
“See? It’s already healed?”
But Seo Baek-han merely reiterated, as if his only goal was to reassure Joo Tae-hyun. That it was no big deal, that he was truly fine.