“It’s not bleeding and you do not have rabies,” said the doctor in a dry voice.
The alpha Tae Hyun glared at Yoo Jin who sat on the chair beside the bed he occupied. “You said you had rabies.”
Yoo Jin shrugged, giving him his best innocent expression. At first, he had not planned on replying but then thought better of it. “Better safe than sorry. I thought maybe I got it after getting bitten by one of these huge monkey dogs that I came across while foraging in the mountains.” He raised his arms wide and high up in the air as he stood. “I was sure it had rabies. It was this big and its eyes were darting from side to side, white foam spilled from its mouth and gray vomit–”
“Alright,” the alpha shouted, his face having turned slightly green.
Yoo Jin sat back down with a smirk. Serves him right for having dragged Yoo Jin back into this room like a rotten sack of rice and unceremoniously dropping him on the floor despite knowing that he was still reeling from the effects of his pheromones.
Doctor Yoon sighed. “There are no monkey dogs, Tae Hyun,” he said. “I can’t believe you just believed him like that and after I had just examined his sister’s bite as well.”
“What kind of siblings bite people,” Tae Hyun said in a tone full of bewildered outrage.
Yoo Jin shrugged. “Apparently, our kind.”
The alpha’s grimaced. “Why am I not surprised? An ill-mannered omega, the world is full of you.”
Yoo Jin rolled his eyes. There he goes again with the omega talk. “Yeah, that’s right,” he said as he stood, “I’m an ill-mannered omega.” He then made a show of sniffling and wiping his nose on the back of his hand before extending it toward the alpha.
Tae Hyun, horrified, inched backward in the bed until he hit the wall behind him.
“Enough,” said the doctor, though he looked amused and a bit perplexed. He turned to Yoo Jin. “It’s rare to find someone who talks to him like that and while I find that amusing, I think, for now, it might be best if you don’t agitate him too much.”
Yoo Jin paused and wiped the back of his hand on his own shirt, enjoying the look of disgust on the alpha’s face. “Alright,” he said and sat back down.
The doctor turned back to Tae Hyun. “Like I said, you don’t have rabies but your pheromones are extremely unstable even now I feel a significant leak coming from you.”
Tae Hyun turned to look at Yoo Jin. “I had told you, hadn’t I? Just become my omega already. You can do it as thanks for saving you.”
Yoo Jin looked at him, bewildered. Was he really suggesting that Yoo Jin sleep with him as thanks? He had already decided to accept the offer but the alpha’s twisted thoughts made him want to shove it back down his throat. He opened his mouth to tell him exactly what he could do with his proposal when the doctor spoke up again.
“Mr. Tae, I’ll just call you Yoo Jin if that’s okay. Can you please lift up your arms again?”
Confused, Yoo Jin did as instructed.
“I’d like you to do, say, ten jumps while moving your arms up and down.”
Yoo Jin raised his brow but performed the exercises.
Doctor Yoon pulled out a small notebook from his coat and quickly jotted down a note. “And you said that you were exposed to Tae Hyun’s pheromones along with the two alphas?”
He nodded. “Who are they anyways?”
The doctor didn’t look up from his notebook as he responded. “They are hunters, alpha wizards, who go into dungeons for damage control and raids.”
“Raids?”
“Yes, most of the time we send them in search of rare materials not found in our world. Tae Hyun is also a hunter though he outranks those two.”
“I’ll report them,” said Tae Hyun suddenly and Yoo Jin turned to look at him in surprise. He had just expected that there would be no consequences for those alphas, after all, they were alphas. “What can you even do about it?”
Tae Hyun gave him a look as though he thought him brainless. “Who do you think I am?”
The doctor took that moment to cut in. “Yes, behavior like that shouldn’t be tolerated. Though based on my examination of their omegas, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was not the first time.” He turned back to Yoo Jin, whose eyes were still on them with a dubious expression. “I gathered you don’t think too highly of us alphas.”
Yoo Jin shrugged. “No, not really but you’re not so bad, doctor.”
He let out a small chuckle. “And what about Tae Hyun here?”
Yoo Jin shrugged again. He didn’t like him but he also didn’t exactly hate the guy.
Doctor Yoon smiled. “And tell me exactly what happened after Tae Hyun let out his pheromones. I would ask the man in question myself but Tae Hyun has always been notorious for not being very detailed.”
Yoo Jin scoffed. That was an understatement, thinking back on the alpha’s explanation of wizards and manas and how he had left the room with barely an instruction during the ‘ghost’ attack. “They fell to the ground and fainted.”
The doctor nodded. “I figured as much, his pheromones are extremely potent.” He looked up, meeting Yoo Jin in the eyes. “What is curious is that you didn’t, though you were in the same space as the alphas and now you seem perfectly fine.”
Yoo Jin blinked. “Well – yeah, I’ve never really been all that affected by pheromones and I’ve always recovered quickly. I’ve got thick skin.”
“And a thick skull,” Tae Hyun added.
Yoo Jin chose to ignore him, enjoying the glare the alpha sent his way.
“The alphas are still out cold but here you are able to even do some light exercise… It is interesting. Regardless,” said the doctor as he stood, “both of you seem perfectly fine and your wounds from the ‘ghost’ are healing as expected. Since I have a few other patients I must see to, I suggest you both rest.”
“Here?” said Yoo Jin, surprised.
The doctor nodded as he opened the door. “Yes, while we get a room prepared for you, you’ll have to stay with Tae Hyun. We’ve washed the clothes you had been wearing when you arrived and will have that delivered to you in the morning.” He then promptly walked out, closing the door quietly behind him.
Yoo Jin blinked, having not expected that the room he had woken up in, sparse in decor belonged to this rich, pompous man. He turned to look at the alpha, even more surprised by the fact that he did not object.
“Since you’re my omega, I suppose I can tolerate having you here with me for a day or two.”
Yoo Jin rolled his eyes. “I didn’t agree to it yet.”
“You will.”
Suddenly tired, Yoo Jin no longer felt like responding and a strange, comfortable silence passed between them.
“Hey,” said Yoo Jin after a while. He scratched his head. “Thanks… for that– you know, saving me back there and with the ghost monster thing too.”
The alpha gave him a look. “I didn’t save you with the ‘ghost’. When I had returned, I had found both you and your friend unconscious on the floor and the creature was gone.”
Yoo Jin scratched his head in confusion. “Someone had to have saved us. If not you then who? Could it have run away?”
“I don’t know,” the alpha replied. “It isn’t unheard of for monsters to simply leave but it would have had to pass me before exiting the building and I sensed nothing.”
There was silence again as Yoo Jin ran through his memories. He couldn’t believe that the thing had just left, not when it had him in his grasp. Could there have been another wizard somewhere with them? Or perhaps Liam had done something – damn, he really wanted to see him.
“When are you going to give me an answer?” asked the alpha suddenly, breaking into his thoughts.
Yoo Jin blinked then gazed at the alpha in disbelief. It hadn’t even been twenty minutes since he last brought up the topic. Did it really matter that much to him? “Fine,” he said after a moment, “I’ll agree to it but I have conditions of my own.”
“The money isn’t enough?”
Not when it comes to my ass, he thought but decided not to say so. “I want to be a student here.”
The alpha looked at him in surprise. “You want to be a student here?” he repeated.
Yoo Jin raised a brow. “That’s what I said.”
“But,” he replied, then stopped before simply saying in confusion. “You’re old.”
Old? “I’m barely thirty.”
But the alpha acted as though he did not hear him. “The test alone is physically demanding, beyond what you can probably even imagine. Do you think you, an omega, can keep up with alphas who are a decade younger than you?”
There was no condescension in his voice but Yoo Jin still found it incredibly grating. “I also want to be part of the dungeon stuff.”
“You want… to be part of the raids? Well, naturally as my omega…”
“No, not as your omega. I want to join as a hunter and be paid competitively.”
Tae Hyun’s eyelids suddenly lowered into a glare. “Why? I said that I would pay you. The amount of money you need is trifling to me–”
“You said so yourself,” Yoo Jin cut in, “it’s not like we’re going to be married. This isn’t going to be forever, for all you know there might be another omega wizard and that person will suit you better than me. But since for now, if I agree to do this, I want to be able to create my own means of getting the money I need for now and the future.”
The alpha sat quiet a moment, his eyes unmoving from Yoo Jin’s face. “Fine,” he finally said, “but you don’t just become a hunter or even a student. There is going to be a test and it’ll be difficult but I’ll make it happen.”
“Thank y–”
“Under the condition that we start the pheromone stabilization now.”
Yoo Jin froze. What? “What? Just like that? Now?”
The alpha smirked. “That is my condition.” He laid himself back down on his bed and waved his hand in the direction of the bathroom as if indicating the end of the conversation. “Go take a bath and be back here in exactly ten minutes. Make sure to wash thoroughly.”
Yoo Jin looked at him in bafflement. The alpha had closed his eyes as though he planned to take a quick nap. He stood, his fists clenched as his sides. Fine, he had been the one to put in additional conditions, he would just be a child to argue when the alpha did the same. Standing, he stomped his way into the adjoining bathroom.
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