It was finally the day before Mr. Kim went back to work after being at the hospital. Instead of resting some more, he spent the weekend looking around his apartment and into his company. Both of which were the exact same as how he remembered it being before that night, yet again, the only difference was the existence of omegas and alphas. 

The only item having a difference  was his nightstand calendar, which had dates marked that seemed to be indicating when his heat was supposed to start each month. And luckily, his next one was supposed to come until three weeks later.

He further believed his almost unbelievable theory of him being in an alternate universe.  Although he didn’t want to think about what happened to the universe he came from, and what happened to the version of him that was here before. He still wanted to find out how he came to this world, maybe it was because he started to believe in this theory, Mr. Kim started to feel a little out of place in this world. This made him feel more nervous to go to work than when he first started. 

To try and ease his worries, he continued to start his usual Sunday night routine. 

Which included picking out a white dress shirt and a tie that matches his suit  and shoes. Along with this, he had to pack a few extra things in his bag this time. A handkerchief and a box of heat suppressants. However, Mr. Kim had forgotten that he left his bag at work that day. So he dug through his closet and looked for an older bag that he kept even though it was on its last few threads.

It was a black bag that he got when he was first job searching, being a cheaper bag, it quickly fell apart. So Mr. Kim saved up for a year to buy a better one, even though he didn’t keep much in his briefcase he’d always bring it with him as if it was something  precious.

After pulling out the old bag, Mr. Kim put a handkerchief and the box of heat suppressants inside. All the tests that Mr. Kim had done at the hospital came back normal, but Dr. Lee still expressed concern over his heat cycle possibly being irregular and told Mr. Kim to bring his heat suppressants everywhere he goes. At least he had gotten more used to it. 

Mr. Kim tucked another handkerchief into his suit jacket pocket. The nurses warned him that the scents in crowded areas could upset Mr. Kim and make his condition worse, especially if there are alpha pheromones. So they advised that Mr. Kim cover his nose with something, although they said a mask would be best, Mr. Kim thought that a simple handkerchief would be enough. 

***

The next day, Mr. Kim held his handkerchief over his nose in the busy train station. He tried to block the mixing scents in the packed train, but they were still leaking through even though he was practically pinching his nose closed. There were various scents that he could sense, from the faint smell of a rose to a smell similar to that of rotten fish. The mixing of the two caused his stomach to turn and Mr. Kim had to run out of the train at its next stop. 

He learned that omegas and alphas aren’t affected by each other's pheromones besides a few situations. 

But still he couldn't help but think,  

“This, this can’t be legal.”

As he walked to a convenience store to buy a pack of face masks. 

Mr. Kim put on his upgraded scent blocker and decided to spend the money on a taxi to work as he was still nauseated. The mask and the taxi driver who didn’t seem to have any pheromones made the rest of the trip to work more bearable. 

Once he was at work however, there were again various scents mixing together that caused Mr. Kim to look severely sick with his mask and having a hand over his nauseated stomach. 

Before he could make it to the elevator, the worker at the front desk stopped him. 

“Ah! Excuse me?” they called out. 

“You’re Mr. Kim, right?” They asked.

Mr. Kim walked up to the desk, “yes, that’s me.” 

They disappeared behind the desk for a few seconds, 

“Here!” they said. As they placed a suit jacket and a briefcase onto the desk.

 “Mr. Lim left these for you when you had to leave.”

Mr. Kim grabbed his things from atop the desk, “Mr. Lim?” he asked.

“Yes, he asked that we make sure to give it to you.”

Mr. Kim had somewhat forgotten about the two people who helped him when he collapsed at work, he knew he had to thank them somehow.

But he started with the desk worker,

“Thank you,” Mr. Kim said.

Mr. Kim made his way to his department floor, as there were less people than in the lobby, the scents became less strong. 

A younger employee came running up to Mr. Kim the second he walked into the department's office space,

“Mr. Kim!” they shouted.

It was the intern who had recently graduated college, they started to talk with no break,

“Mr. Kim, are you okay? Don’t push yourself okay? It’s alright to take breaks. Have you eaten breakfast? Make sure to eat lunch! I hope you feel okay. Once you're all better, let's get a drink!"

They left Mr. Kim's desk once their supervisor told them to start working.

After that employee left, Ms. Park, and two other employees came to Mr. Kim's desk,

“Mr. Kim! This coffee is for you,” one of them sat down an iced coffee onto his desk.

“You idiot, coffee isn’t good for an upset stomach!” the other scolded them.

“Ah, sorry Mr. Kim,” they apologized.

Mr. Kim looked at the iced coffee, and smiled faintly because the scent of the coffee was nice,

“It’s okay, thank you.”

The two went back to their desks after being thanked, Ms. Park who stayed behind looked at Mr. Kim,

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Mr. Kim looked up at her, although the two were close because they joined the company at the same time, he still wasn't sure if Ms. Park could be counted as a friend. But, friend or not, he knew her well enough to know that she's genuinely concerned for him. 

And so he told her the truth,

"I'm fine. The scents," he paused, "they're a little strong. That's all."

Ms. Park, still looking at Mr. Kim, simply said, "I can't sense them so I don't know much. But, if you need a break just tell me, I'll cover for you."

"Thank you."

Ms. Park gave a faint smile while walking back to her desk.

Mr. Kim was glad that the him in this universe seemed to be well liked by his co-workers. And realized that this is the first time he's been gone from work for so long.

***

The intern who already gave his well wishes first thing in the morning came back to Mr. Kim's desk with some bread and a mint flavoured milk. 

"Mr. Kim, these should be easy to eat." He said going to place them on the desk.

He paused as he saw a small mountain of snacks with post-it notes stuck to them. 

"Mr. Kim~! Cheer up~!"

"We all get sick sometimes....so we must all get back up sometimes...."

"Mr. Kim, get better."

"Mr. Kim Junho, take a break sometime. Make sure to eat ^^"

He looked at the pile and decided to give his directly to Mr. Kim,

"e-eat up." He said in a weak voice before walking back to his desk.

After all the employees gave their support, it was the team leader's turn to talk with Mr. Kim. He called him to his desk and scanned him from head to toe, as if looking for anything that's obviously wrong with him.

He spoke in his usual stern tone,

“Mr. Kim, I know you just started getting better so try not to overwork yourself."

He cleared his throat, as if feeling a little awkward to say these encouraging words, "To be honest, I heard a little about what happened, I hope you don’t feel too pressured and take care of yourself.”

Mr. Kim stood there as he cleared his throat once more after speaking, 

"Thank you, Sir," he replied.

***

Despite being grateful for his co-workers' support, Mr. Kim couldn't deal with the well wishes and encouraging talks all day. So he decided to head up to the company rooftop for lunch, for a break from both the smell of pheromones and the building pile of snacks on his desk. He brought the red bean bread and mint flavoured milk that was given to him.

As he opened the door to the rooftop, he could sense the faint scent of freshly baked bread. 

His stomach was still recovering from this morning, but with the scent of fluffy warm bread wafting through the air, he could feel his hunger coming back to him. Making him look forward to the snack he brought up with him.

When he stepped closer to the benches that were on the rooftop, he saw a man in a suit seemingly reading something on his phone. It looked as if he was the only other person there, so Mr. Kim assumed the scent was from him. But, this buttery scent of freshly baked bread seemed familiar. Mr. Kim could faintly remember smelling it before, and the person who it belonged to was Mr. Lim, his boss.