PC | Chapter 1.7

[I’ll check the results myself.]

“Um.”

[Say it.]

“Are, are you okay?”

I gripped the steering wheel hard and clenched my teeth. I knew it was a pointless question, but I was still worried, in a way I hated. Jung Inhyuk had never once been off cycle, as if to prove he was a healthy adult alpha.

So when I had filming schedules, he always made adjustments to them part of the contract. Since I had experienced his rut up close, I knew well what state he was in.

[Hearing your voice gets my dick up, but I can manage.]

“If you’re really struggling, I can call someone else…”

[Quit acting up and stay in your lane. And warning you, don’t get any more smug. I keep telling you you’re cute and now you think the sky’s the limit.]

I glanced around the car and switched on my turn signal. With too much on my mind, I was not keeping the lane properly. Because of that, the driving assist kept chiming and the cars in the next lane kept honking. In the middle of it all, the call ended.

I turned on my hazard lights and pulled over on the shoulder. After just one phone call, I felt drained. I leaned back in the seat and covered my eyes with my hand. Jung Inhyuk was absolutely hateful, but thinking of him enduring that brutal time alone made me feel awful for no reason.

It was such an ambivalent feeling. I shook my head violently to throw off the thought and grabbed the wheel again.

✿ • ✿ • ✿

With my face completely hidden by a hat and mask, I headed to the hospital’s first-floor café. I coughed awkwardly in front of the staff who greeted me brightly, then scanned the menu.

“What would you like to order?”

“Two hot Americanos, please. Add an extra shot to one of them.”

“Yes.”

When I opened my wallet to pay, a card I had never seen before was tucked inside. I turned it over and saw Jung Inhyuk’s name written in English. I let out a short laugh, found my own card, and handed it to the staff.

While waiting for the coffee, I examined the card Jung Inhyuk had given me from every angle. But soon I lost interest and slipped it back into my wallet. It was not like I would ever use it anyway. I already had three of Jung Inhyuk’s cards in my wallet.

Since he covered almost all material expenses, I had no reason to spend money. All I needed money for was coffee and snacks like this, and even if I did not have much, I could handle that much myself.

“Your coffee is ready.”

I reached out and took the coffee carrier. I passed through the hospital lobby and stepped onto the escalator leading up to the second floor. For some reason I felt a little dizzy. My stomach was a bit nauseous, so the emergency suppressant probably did not agree with me.

The hallways were busy with patients and guardians who had come early for treatment. I checked the sign outside Kang Jigyu’s exam room, which said it was being prepared, and knocked carefully on the door.

A voice told me to come in, and I slowly opened the handle. Kang Jigyu was sitting at his desk, absorbed in something. I took off my mask, held it in my hand, and walked quietly toward him.

“Hyung.”

“Oh? What happened to you?”

“I came to get checked.”

“That works out. I was just about to call you anyway.”

Kang Jigyu closed the papers he had been reading and took off his glasses. I set the coffee with the extra shot down in front of him and sat. I took a sip of my own coffee, and my stomach lurched as gagging rose up.

“What’s wrong? Feeling sick? Come to think of it, you look a little pale too.”

“…I took an emergency suppressant yesterday and had it this morning, but it makes me nauseous.”

“Do you still have the medicine you were prescribed?”

“…Wait a second.”

I pulled the medicine packet from my pocket and handed it to Kang Jigyu. The moment he saw it, he let out a short sigh. Then he grabbed the thermometer and slipped it into my ear. With a beep, he checked my temperature and gave me a sharp tap on the head.

“This is for dominant omegas.”

“How was I supposed to know? I got the consultation over the phone and had the medicine delivered by courier.”

I muttered softly and bit my lip. It seemed my sloppy answers during the call had been the problem.

“You need suppressants made for recessive omegas. And since you’re a mutated special case, you should get prescribed ones instead of taking store-bought medicine whenever possible.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll first see if the suppressant clinic has an opening. Wait.”

Kang Jigyu crumpled the medicine packet and tossed it into the trash, then picked up the internal phone. While he was on the call, I rested my chin on my hand and looked out the window.

A child in a thick padded coat was walking in a clumsy little waddle. Even in the harsh cold, the child was smiling brightly for whatever reason. So harmless. The smile was so pure and gentle that I ended up smiling a little too.

“What’s so funny?”

“Because it’s cute.”

Kang Jigyu shifted his gaze and looked at the child grinning outside.

“Come to think of it, you really do like kids.”

I turned away awkwardly and scratched the tip of my nose. I had never really thought about it, but I suppose I did. On set, I was especially fond of child actors. And no matter how busy I was, if children asked for my autograph, I never passed them by without signing. Just the existence of a child was so adorable that my eyes kept drifting toward them.

“You could just have one and raise it.”

“Hyung!”

“Well, it’s not impossible.”

“Go ahead and keep talking nonsense.”

“I booked you into the suppressant clinic in an hour.”

“Okay.”

After taking a sip of coffee, Kang Jigyu suddenly seemed to remember something and pulled a thick document envelope from the drawer, sliding it toward me. I looked at him in surprise, then opened the envelope and checked the contents.

“You need to apply for a secondary sex correction, right?”

“Dr. Kim said he would handle it. But what’s this?”

“What do you know about omegas, having lived as a beta? I organized the basics and the things you need to be careful about, plus some traits. Unlike normal expression, cases like late expression or mutation aren’t something anyone can claim to know 100 percent. Just use it as a reference.”

“Thanks.”

I took the materials out of the envelope and skimmed them. I was already overwhelmed by the first page, which began with explanations of alphas, omegas, and betas. I frowned, folded the papers in half, and flipped through them quickly. Kang Jigyu gave a short laugh.

“I worked hard to narrow these down. Read them carefully, idiot.”

Kang Jigyu came over with cotton and alcohol from the treatment tray and began to unwrap the bandage around my wrist. When the alcohol-soaked cotton brushed the wound, a sharp sting shot through me. When I tried to pull my hand back, Kang Jigyu gave me a stern look and held me firmly in place.

“You know it’ll hurt, so why do something like this?”

“Hyung, don’t say things you don’t understand.”

“At least go get some counseling…”

“I don’t need that kind of thing.”

“Fine, whatever. If anything confuses you while reading, ask me.”

Kang Jigyu sounded indifferent, but he was clearly displeased with how I kept flipping through the stack of papers without interest, and he kept tapping the desk to demand my attention. In truth, because I had not slept and my stomach was off, the words would not go into my head.

Honestly, what I worried about most right now was the reproductive side of alphas and omegas. More specifically, my heat cycle. From what I had heard in rumors, a secondary sex’s first heat could not be handled by suppressants and had to be endured.

However, most people in that position experienced their first heat while still young and without sexual experience, so it supposedly was not too devastating. But I was already an adult, and I had sexual experience. That part worried me.

As I turned the pages, I cautiously asked,

“Hyung, when do you think my heat cycle will come?”

“…What?”

“My heat cycle. I’m omega now, so of course I’ll go into heat eventually. I’m asking roughly when that would be.”

Kang Jigyu, who had just finished wrapping and securing the bandage, seemed briefly flustered as he scratched his head, then turned on his laptop and began searching something.

The only sound in the exam room was the quiet clacking of his keyboard. I sat in silence and watched him. By the time the coffee that had warmed my fingertips had gone cold, Kang Jigyu took his hands off the keyboard and straightened up.

“I looked into mutation cases, and statistically, about a week after the uterus has settled.”

“…Then I still have some time, right?”

“No. You came to me after your uterus had almost settled, and by now it’s probably fully in place.”

“…That makes no sense. So you’re saying my heat cycle comes in a week?”

I shot up from my seat and planted both hands on the desk. My legs went weak and my body swayed. The timing was much too soon, and my heart was pounding wildly. My thought process felt broken, as if no coherent thought could form.

“Shinjae, are you okay?”

“Hyung, this really can’t be handled by suppressants?”

Only then did Kang Jigyu realize what I was worried about, and he let out a long sigh while rubbing his forehead.

“…Hah, the first heat can’t be helped. It’s like a rite of passage all secondary sexes go through.”

I took off my coat and unbuttoned my shirt. My hands trembled as I undid the buttons.

“Ch-Check me. Check how settled it is, properly check it.”