Chapter 339

Siron, who had unconsciously released thick pheromones, lowered his flushed face and rubbed the back of his neck. No matter how dim the restaurant lighting was, making small changes in skin color hard to notice, he worried Isaac might notice the perverse thoughts he had been having.

At the same time, he regretted letting this faintly heated sensation and atmosphere slip away like sand through his fingers. Ever since leaving home, his life had been a chain of incidents and hardships, leaving him no time to reflect on his feelings. Not even loneliness.

Siron picked up the beer glass he had not touched until now, intending to quench his thirst with just a sip. Yet even after nearly draining half the glass, instead of relief, his throat grew drier.

I don’t even know what I’m expecting.

He pressed the cold glass against his face to cool the heat in his skin.

“Has the Heat Cycle not ended yet?”

Isaac leaned back against the chair and folded his arms. It was a defensive posture, as if blocking the subtle heat Siron had revealed.

“It’s over. Right now it’s just... Baekgyeong’s Rut hasn’t ended.”

Siron spoke indifferently while cupping his chilled cheek in his palm.

“Without a Rut Suppressant, instead of being swayed by Baekgyeong’s pheromones, I should’ve just relieved him more.”

“In the back seat of a car?”

“Is there another way? I don’t think there is.”

Siron answered shamelessly, eyes fixed on his beer, hiding that he was not entirely uncomfortable with the situation. He found himself anticipating what Isaac would say. But Isaac did not respond as Siron wished.

“I don’t know why you’re provoking me.”

Siron kept his head lowered and only lifted his eyes to glance at Isaac. Perhaps because of the dim lighting, he could not read what emotions flowed beyond those abyss-dark eyes.

“Provoking?”

Isaac rested his arm on the back of the adjacent seat and tilted his head.

“Are you hoping I’ll get jealous?”

At that moment Siron realized the nature of his expectations. He wanted Isaac to lick and caress him as though devouring him from head to toe. And not only that.

Siron harbored a childish wish. He wanted attention from Isaac Bazelli — the very man he had never had enough time to hate — as if he even wanted to date in this insane situation.

No excuse or rebuttal came to mind. Staring stiffly at Isaac, Siron finally let out an awkward laugh.

“N-No. Why would I want jealousy?”

Despite having released pheromones as if spurting out desire in waves, Siron denied it. Isaac looked at him as though he could not understand his lack of honesty.

“I just... had the vague impression you wanted me to be jealous.”

Keeping the distance between them, Isaac slowly ran his hand along the armrest. He was trying to interpret every ambiguous signal Siron sent. Everywhere Isaac’s gaze touched seemed to make Siron’s pulse pound. At last Isaac concluded:

“If you want to enjoy that kind of psychological game, just say what you want honestly. Whatever it is, I’ll comply.”

“That kind?”

“Affection.”

Siron jutted out his lips and rolled his eyes. Isaac was the one confusing him. His words sounded as though if Siron liked him, the responsibility of advancing was entirely Siron’s. Without time to think deeply, Siron glared resentfully and muttered:

“You should be begging me instead of acting stiff.”

Isaac let out a low chuckle.

“I won’t beg.”

“Why?”

“I don’t need affection.”

Isaac reached out and took the beer glass Siron had been drinking from. As if it were strong liquor, he gauged how much remained. Siron stared at him with wounded eyes, then folded his arms and leaned loosely against the backrest.

“Well, it ended before it even began. I don’t need your attention either.”

Isaac did not reply. Instead he stared somewhere on the table with a thoughtful expression and gave a dry laugh. Bringing the glass to his lips, he drained the remaining beer at once.

A man who could give affection if he wished but did not want to receive it. To Siron, who had always craved others’ attention, it was incomprehensible. He did not love Isaac, yet he felt hurt like a boy rejected before confessing.

But Siron had no time to dwell on the lukewarm conclusion. A news report on the TV he had glanced at absentmindedly caught his attention. He straightened upright.

In Baggers City, a high-ranking public official had committed suicide by jumping from a skyscraper in Technovelly. The man who leapt from the upper floors fell onto the walkway before the building’s entrance. He collided with no pedestrians or vehicles, but died instantly on the spot.

The tightly cordoned scene with yellow control lines and the cracked pavement where the impact occurred filled the screen in close-up. A brief interview with the rigid-faced field supervisor followed, and a caption revealed the victim’s identity: Angus Stone, Commissioner of the Baggers City Police Department.

As he stepped out through the glass door, a cold wind brushed his cheek. Chill seeped into his overheated body and ran down his spine in shivers. It felt like a fever without pain.

Since becoming an Alpha, Baekgyeong had spent countless days locked in a closed ward, engulfed in rutting heat until a Rut Suppressant was developed. Because of that, he understood his current condition well. For a day, perhaps two, he would suffer unpleasant lingering heat under unsatisfied desire.

After being confined in Ward 3 — the most isolated ward of Stonecreek Psychiatric Hospital — Baekgyeong endured the Rut Cycle with his bare body until the suppressant was developed, letting endless time pass. Not only that, he was dragged through countless experiments like a laboratory rat and consumed in the development process.

Though the researchers finally completed the suppressant through great effort, just as preliminary Clinical Trials were about to begin they all died at once in a helicopter crash. The chief director, Dr. Tigri, died of illness, and his mother was murdered just before revealing the suppressant.

Even after all those tragedies, Baekgyeong hid from his family that he had become an Alpha. So Baeksang, who learned part of the truth only after Daniel visited, must have felt tremendous betrayal.

Baekgyeong opened his folder phone and checked the text that had just arrived from Baeksang.

[Baeksang]:

It’s hyung. Call me.

Baekgyeong hovered his finger over the call button, hesitating whether to dial.

“Why am I scared of something like this.”

Pacing in short steps before the restaurant, he squeezed his eyes shut and finally pressed the call button.

—I waited. Finally I hear your voice.

Baeksang’s voice came through the receiver. The dissonance between the words and his brother’s tone made Baekgyeong uneasy. He neither sounded pleased nor sarcastic about Baekgyeong’s long disappearance. He simply sounded tired.

“Looks like you didn’t sleep at all.”

—Because of you.

Baekgyeong scratched his forehead awkwardly. He felt he should say something familiar, but nothing came to mind. Eventually he spoke of business first.

“You heard the rough situation from Daniel?”

—Yes. Everything that guy says sounds absurd.

“Well, talk about new humanity and Hybris does sound unbelievable.”

—I still don’t believe it all... but considering the changes that happened to you, I couldn’t say it was impossible.

“What are you going to do now?”

—I’ll finish what Mother couldn’t. Tomorrow morning I plan to submit the Rut Suppressant Clinical Trial authorization to the FDA.

“Even after trials, it’ll take at least two years before real supply, right?”

—Actually, regardless of the trials we’re moving to commercial production. The raw material list is finalized and production slots are secured.

“You’re going to break the law? You’re more reckless than I thought.”

—Unbelievable.

Baeksang laughed incredulously. Hearing his brother’s laughter for the first time in a while gave Baekgyeong a strange feeling. Though he had never formed much attachment to his much older brother, he felt relief hearing his voice.

Baeksang had many questions for Baekgyeong, and during the call Baekgyeong revealed several truths related to their mother’s death — from Director Kim Seontae harboring resentment toward her for refusing to develop treatment drugs for his child with a rare disease, to Hybris approaching him to steal and eliminate the Rut Suppressant technology, and finally to the murder of their mother when she attempted to bring Alpha existence into the open by seeking U.S. government approval for the suppressant Clinical Trials. He told both what had been revealed to the media and what had not.

However, he did not share everything else with Baeksang. Baeksang only knew superficially, through Daniel, about the relationship between Hybris and the underground drainage tunnels. At least for now, Baekgyeong judged it was not time to share everything with his brother.