Chapter 334

Siron, who had been staring blankly, suddenly lifted his gaze and looked around. He seemed flustered, as if he had left his wallet behind.

“Where’s Baekgyeong?”

Isaac was bothered by Siron’s attitude of wanting Baekgyeong beside him like a wallet he always carried, but the emotion hardly showed on his face.

“He’s sleeping in the car.”

“He needs to wash too. I mean... uh... he’s dirty.”

Embarrassed, Siron wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Only now did it seem to bother him that while Isaac endured half the day on the road at the wheel, he himself had spent the entire time rolling around with Baekgyeong in the back.

“The bath is small. Let’s have him wash after we finish.”

“Okay.”

Like a child not fully awake, Siron stared blankly at the black surface of the water. The man who used to chatter endlessly about trivial things as if he could always find topics now fell silent, as if he had no strength left to speak.

Isaac’s nerves sharpened. He wanted to know what Siron was thinking. It wasn’t simply that the unusual silence felt strange. They did not share the long history Siron had with Baekgyeong, nor the casual familiarity that allowed light jokes like those between Lewis and Siron. If anything existed between them, it would only be Siron’s one-sided hatred toward Isaac for turning him into an Omega.

Bubbles from the spring erupted through the gaps in the bath and popped on the surface. Without taking his eyes off the trembling black water, Siron stroked down his arm.

“Maybe because I’ve nearly died so many times... I hate black water. It scares me.”

The bath Siron soaked in was dark and opaque, impossible to gauge its depth. To him, black water at midnight seemed to evoke nothing but fear. Just as Isaac reached out of the water to turn on the light, bracing himself on the edge to rise, Siron spoke.

“Don’t turn it on. I’m even less in the mood to see your face.”

Isaac stopped. He withdrew his hand and slowly sat back down. Siron turned his head toward him and said,

“Jackson Cliff gave me a cyanide pill. Lied that it was a Heat-cycle Suppressant and tried to kill me. If the Designer hadn’t taken it away... I’d already be dead.”

Catching his breath with effort, Siron continued.

“The Designer’s just as insane. He tried to peel my skin off for a biological experiment. He planned something disgusting — fertilizing Omega cells with Alpha sperm and implanting them into a surrogate. Jackson tried to eliminate me before that plan succeeded.”

Siron let out a hollow laugh.

“Don’t you feel guilty? You tried to kill me for the same reason.”

Isaac stiffened as if he had stepped on a tack. Siron did not miss the subtle reaction. The thread that maintained his form of trust toward Isaac seemed to unravel strand by strand into anger and disappointment. Siron let out an incredulous laugh.

“I thought you’d come to save me — save me, my ass. You tried to kill me instead. It’s not like I wanted to become an Omega.”

He glared at Isaac with a disheartened face, then burst out in sorrowful anger.

“You made me like this. So you should’ve protected me! You should take responsibility!”

He did not hide his disappointment, nor the bitter sense of betrayal in his trust. Like a child abandoned by parents, the crushed faith he had blindly held showed with almost naïve honesty.

“I’ll never forgive you, even if I die.”

He deliberately voiced the resolution meant to steady himself. But to Isaac, Siron’s declaration sounded like permission — a chance to soothe and explain. Like a child who ends up forgiving his parents, Siron seemed unable to completely hate the creator who had turned him into an Omega.

Perhaps from the beginning there had been something like a bond between them. After all, the only person in the world capable of understanding Siron’s Omega body was Isaac alone.

“That’s right. I tried to kill you.”

Siron looked at him with wounded resentment. Isaac gazed into Siron’s eyes already growing wet and spoke without hope.

“It may sound strange, but I realized too late I couldn’t kill you.”

“...What? Why couldn’t you?”

Siron eyed him suspiciously, as if Isaac hid some grand secret. But there was no grand reason.

Why couldn’t he kill him? Because Yoon Siron was precious. Isaac knew the answer but could not find the words. Even he could not measure the size or meaning of that preciousness.

As Isaac hesitated, suddenly the surroundings brightened. The lodging lights turned on. Warm light spilling from the front window slid across the ground into the open-air bath and lit the night.

Baekgyeong stood inside the building. Naked, his cumbersome sex hung half-erect and heavy. Letting the massive weight swing, he opened the door, stepped outside, and entered the water.

He inhaled deeply, gathering oxygen, then plunged underwater. After roughly scrubbing away the traces of intercourse left on his skin, Baekgyeong sat beside Siron and grimaced, clutching his head.

“My head’s splitting. Where are we?”

Still thinking about Siron’s question, Isaac answered,

“Georgia State.”

“If it’s Georgia... about twelve hours since we left Helso State?”

“Yeah.”

Stretching both arms wide with satisfaction, Baekgyeong smirked mischievously.

“Can’t believe we managed to screw in such a cramped space.”

He pulled Siron’s wet shoulder close and pressed his lips to him. The brief contact alone raised goosebumps along Siron’s upper arm.

“You okay? Having sex somewhere uncomfortable must’ve been rough.”

“Yeah. My whole body aches.”

“Want a massage?”

Siron shot Baekgyeong a look for his sly attempt, splashed water into his face, and moved away. Their Rut had entered a lull but was not over. A moment’s carelessness would break the dam of reason and sweep them into desire again.

Suddenly recalling something, Siron changed the subject.

“I’ve been curious about something.”

“What?”

“What did Gezar say in Somora Prison?”

Somora Prison. So much had happened since escaping that Baekgyeong felt it was ages ago and did not immediately understand.

“When I asked what the Imprint conditions were, Gezar Bazelli said something in a foreign language. I didn’t understand a word, but you and Isaac did.”

Startled, Baekgyeong glanced at Isaac. Isaac watched them like a third party unrelated to the matter. Thinking the two were conspiring, Siron pressed him.

“Come on, what was it!”

At the urging, Baekgyeong grew suddenly impatient. He had decided to bury the Imprint condition as a secret but had not prepared to lock his heart.

“Well... it was...”

Flustered, he kept looking at Isaac, silently demanding he intervene or change the topic.

“Stop conspiring and tell the truth.”

Baekgyeong opened and closed his mouth like a carp hooked and dragged out of water, looking around for an excuse. Then, like a dream dragging nonsense from the unconscious, he blurted an absurd lie.

“They say if you knot under the energy of nature, the chance of Imprint increases.”

Siron did not even laugh. After a long silence, he spoke in a dark tone devoid of humor.

“Nature? Knotting? The Imprint method is outdoor sex?”

“...Sounds ridiculous, right? I thought Gezar was insane too.”

Judging there was no turning back once spoken, Baekgyeong brazenly pushed the lie to the end.

“If you don’t believe me, ask Isaac.”

Isaac could never say the Imprint condition was ‘love.’ Baekgyeong himself could not utter it; Isaac certainly would not.

Isaac glared at him with clear irritation. Baekgyeong did not yield and returned the gaze. Watching the two alternately and judging the truth of Baekgyeong’s words, Siron snorted and kicked Baekgyeong into the bath.

As Baekgyeong slipped and fell backward into the water, flailing, Siron snapped viciously,

“You think I’d believe that crap? As if Gezar Bazelli would say something so stupid!”

Siron jumped to his feet and approached Isaac.

“Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“The real Imprint condition.”

Isaac remained silent for a long time, then let out a long sigh. As if reluctant to voice the foul condition, he said,

“It’s as Baekgyeong said... though the probability increases when there’s a full moon.”