Woosung Alpha’s Sour Grapes

Chapter 23

[I’ll be late due to a presentation assignment ㅠㅠㅠ Probably home around 8. Don’t wait for me, have dinner!]

Hyeon-woo arrived home much later than the time he had told Tae-geon. He cautiously scanned the living room. Tae-geon was nowhere to be seen. He hurriedly headed to the second floor.

Why did the group meeting have to be today of all days?

After his last orgasm, he had collapsed from the overwhelming exhaustion. Having overslept, he was pressed for time. He was so busy cleaning up the bedding soiled with bodily fluids that he had to rush to school without even washing the dildo. That had bothered him all day.

…Tae-geon wouldn’t have noticed, right…?

He forcibly suppressed the anxiety creeping over him.

No. He couldn’t have. This was Tae-geon, who hadn’t even noticed his pheromones during his heat cycle. Even for a hyper-dominant alpha with a highly developed sense of smell, it wouldn’t be easy to deduce his nature from the scent left on a dildo.

Believing this, he entered the room.

I think I shoved it somewhere around here….

Hyeon-woo’s hand movements became increasingly frantic as he rummaged under the bed.

Where is it…?

He lay flat on the floor to look under the bed, but it wasn’t there. Nothing was there. Neither the dildo nor the box he had put it in.

He felt as if all the blood was draining from his body. Hyeon-woo, now pale, hastily flung open the closet door.

Did I shove it in the closet mixed with clothes while rushing to get ready this morning?!

But it was nowhere to be found—not in the closet, not in the drawers, not under the desk, not anywhere.

Surely I didn’t drop it outside the bedroom?

The mere thought made his hair stand on end. Hyeon-woo left the room and carefully checked the hallway, bathroom, and living room.

Tae-geon, who was putting on slippers at the entrance to take out the trash, noticed Hyeon-woo and spoke.

“What are you looking for?”

Hyeon-woo reflexively turned his head towards the voice and internally screamed when he saw the semi-transparent garbage bag in Tae-geon’s hand.

The dildo he had been desperately searching for was in the bag. Worse, it was right on top, with part of its grotesque shaft poking out between the knots.

Gesturing towards it with his chin, Tae-geon asked again.

“Is this what you’re looking for?”

Hyeon-woo pressed his lips into a thin line, carefully considering whether to say yes or no. It was an object Tae-geon had collected himself. In a space with just the two of them, any object not belonging to Tae-geon would naturally be his. Besides, it was too late to feign ignorance after his startled reaction upon seeing the object in the bag.

Damn. What should I do?

After racking his brains, Hyeon-woo countered with a question instead of answering.

“…Where did you find that?”

As he asked, trying hard to hide his anxious expression, Hyeon-woo felt Tae-geon’s eyes light up with interest.

“Found it while cleaning. Was going to throw it out because it smells.”

“…S-smell?”

“Omega smell.”

“……”

Hyeon-woo’s face turned pale. Tae-geon gestured towards the object with his chin and said,

“Take it if you need it. Next time, wash it properly so it doesn’t smell, and keep it out of my sight.”

“……”

“And try not to bring other people’s things into this house if possible.”

…Other people’s things.

Before Hyeon-woo could feel relief, Tae-geon’s next words hit him hard.

“You should take this back since you seem to need it. Looks like your omega needs this more than you to be satisfied.”

“…W-what…?”

Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened, and his face turned pale for a different reason this time.

Tae-geon was openly treating him as impotent. Hyeon-woo felt a surge of defiance at Tae-geon’s somewhat sneering face.

He doesn’t even know who’s causing me to suffer with desire every night, unable to sleep. What’s more, the very object of his nightly torment was now treating him as impotent. It felt unfair and frustrating. Inwardly seething and swallowing his indignation, Hyeon-woo’s lips quivered.

“…I was inconsiderate. I’m sorry. But still, how can you dispose of someone else’s property so casually?”

Tae-geon’s eyebrow twitched at this timid counterattack.

“Is it yours?”

“……”

“I’m asking if this is yours.”

Tae-geon’s gaze as he stared directly at Hyeon-woo somehow felt persistent. Hyeon-woo slightly avoided his gaze. How could he admit that such a grotesque object, which Tae-geon said he was throwing away because of its omega smell, was his? Especially to Tae-geon.

There was only one answer Hyeon-woo could give.

“…No.”

“……”

“It’s… not mine.”

As if he had expected this answer, Tae-geon’s voice continued without hesitation.

“I didn’t think there was any reason for such an object that belongs to neither you nor me to be lying around in our private space. That’s why I was going to throw it away, but if you need it that badly, take it back.”

‘That badly…’

Hyeon-woo bit his lip gently as he inwardly repeated those words. He regretted his earlier indignation at being treated as impotent. He hadn’t even broken even.

“No, I don’t need it.”

“……”

“Really, I’m enough on my own. I don’t need that.”

Hyeon-woo didn’t know how he made it up the stairs and to his room. As he heard the front door open and close, he collapsed face-down on his desk and let out a silent scream.

Where on earth did I drop it?! The hallway? The stairs? He had no idea where it had been found.

While he was partly to blame for not cleaning it beforehand, he hadn’t expected Tae-geon to be this sensitive to smells.

He couldn’t get Tae-geon’s sneering expression out of his head. He felt a rush of heat.

“What are you, a bloodhound? Why don’t you just volunteer for the army and become a search dog!”

As Hyeon-woo lifted his head from the desk, his eyes fell on the pen he had used to pleasure himself. His face suddenly turned ashen as he yanked all the pens out of the pen holder and shoved them into the trash can.

Even in this situation, he felt deep self-loathing for feeling relieved that Tae-geon hadn’t discovered that the grotesque dildo was his.

Surely he didn’t try turning it on?

The thought of Tae-geon knowing that that bizarrely buzzing object had been inside him made Hyeon-woo feel like it would be better to die by smashing his face into a plate.

…But still, impotent? Me, impotent! It’s so unfair.

As Hyeon-woo slumped back onto his desk feeling dejected, something seemed to occur to him, and he suddenly dashed to the trash can. He retrieved the discarded pens, wrapped them in tissue several times, and stuffed them into his bag. If he carelessly left them in the house and that bloodhound of a man found them again….

The mere thought was mortifyingly unbearable. He didn’t want to be branded as sexually dysfunctional, worse than even these thin pens.

The next day, the bundle of pens Hyeon-woo had brought turned to ashes in the school incinerator.

Recently, Tae-geon’s condition had been better than ever. This was because Hyeon-woo’s pheromones, which used to seep through the door crack every night, had calmed down after the dildo incident.

Knowing he was partly responsible for inciting Hyeon-woo’s heat to that extent, Tae-geon had stopped responding to Hyeon-woo’s leaking pheromones. Naturally, as the alpha’s pheromones disappeared, the frequency of Hyeon-woo’s masturbation also greatly decreased.

It had been a series of incredibly peaceful days, until he logged back into the Alpha-Omega community.

As they were leaving the lecture hall, Tae-geon suggested having dinner at the student cafeteria, explaining that he had to go to Seoul right away due to some business at his family home. Towards the end of class, he had noticed Hyeon-woo’s condition, which showed signs of an approaching heat cycle.

“…Are you okay?” Tae-geon asked.

Hyeon-woo tilted his head in confusion. “Hm? What?”

“You don’t look well.”

“Me? No, I’m fine! I love pork cutlets!”

Watching Hyeon-woo act obliviously while holding a tray of pork cutlets, completely unaware of the changes happening in his own body, Tae-geon inwardly clicked his tongue.

“But why is your family suddenly calling you home again?”

“……”

“And you’re suggesting we eat dinner at the cafeteria. Do you have to go right away? Is it urgent?”

As Hyeon-woo asked while clumsily cutting his pork cutlet, Tae-geon responded vaguely.

“I don’t know either. Probably the usual stuff.”

“…Successor training, that kind of thing?”

“Well, something like that.”

“……”

“Give it here.”

Tae-geon pulled Hyeon-woo’s tray towards himself, cut the pork cutlet into bite-sized pieces, and handed it back.

“Thanks.”

Hyeon-woo’s flushed cheeks looked like peaches as he picked up his fork. Thanks to his habit of buttoning up to the neck, sweet pheromones began to leak from his nape, which was as white as rice cake from lack of sunlight. Blood rushed to Tae-geon’s lower abdomen in an instant.

Tae-geon’s eyes flashed dangerously like a beast guarding its territory as he surveyed the nearly empty student cafeteria. Of course, no one except him had noticed Hyeon-woo’s pheromones.

There was a good reason why Tae-geon was so on edge, even though he knew well that Hyeon-woo’s pheromones were too weak to be called those of an omega. Somehow, Hyeon-woo’s pheromones had become stronger than before.

After finishing the meal with Hyeon-woo, Tae-geon left the campus alone and hurried to Eden. Then he entered the same suite room as last time.

He opened his laptop and logged into the community. Sure enough, Hyeon-woo was on the list of simultaneous users. It was his first login in a month. Tae-geon opened his message inbox, which had over thirty accumulated messages.

[H☆ Heat ☆ Meetup]

[Hello! I’m a well-lubricated omega~]

[Knotting possible♡No cumming♡ Let’s play messily♡]

[F.u.c.k.M.e.]

Tae-geon’s eyes filled with deep contempt as he scanned through the inbox filled with all sorts of provocative phrases. As he was deleting them one by one, his hand froze. There was also a message from Hyeon-woo.

[Want to meet?]

The content was no different from that of other omegas.

A message from a heat-crazed omega craving an alpha for carnal pleasure.

His heart froze rapidly.