Dirty Switch

“Sorry… I just meant to close my eyes for a bit. I’ve been swamped with my thesis lately, and there’s so much foundation-related material I need to go through…”
If he hadn’t been pressing under his brow like that out of fatigue, Baekhan might’ve assumed he’d come straight from the gym. At first he even wondered if Taehyun was coming down with something, but aside from the flush on his cheeks, he looked fine.

Then again, Joo Taehyun had never once gotten sick while bouncing between Pyongyang, Seoul, and Washington. Both he and Baekhan were living proof of the stereotype that Alphas came with innate stamina and physical resilience.
“Pardon me.”
As instructed, the food was served the moment Taehyun entered the private room. Since the restaurant only offered a fixed course menu with private rooms during dinner service, Baekhan had chosen the place to avoid unnecessary decision-making.

“You remember the banquet at Yeonhwagung, right?”
“…Yeah. Mm. Next Thursday evening.”
Even if he’d promised to eat out once a week with Taehyun, see exhibitions, go on dates or whatever—he had no intention of wasting time on meaningless outings alone.

“It’s called a banquet, but it’s going to be packed. Given that it’s at Yeonhwagung, there’ll be plenty of secondary-gendered people. And since the theme’s related to medical research, I heard a lot of lab and hospital people made the guest list.”
Taehyun nodded, acknowledging it, but he seemed slower than usual. He wasn’t normally chatty, but this… this was different. He looked almost dazed.
“You know Kim Seungjun? That crowd’s coming too. Apparently the Prince’s side forced them ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) onto the list.”

“Ah, really?”
“It’s cheap, but it works. Stirring up public opinion with noisy idiots—when I got appointed as Director of Jejungwon and started showing up at big events, it’s the first—”
“Oh, right.”

Baekhan’s hand paused mid-cut. Taehyun wasn’t even listening. He was giving half-hearted responses while his eyes drifted elsewhere. At first he’d thought the kid’s cheeks were just warm from napping, but now they looked too red.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
Baekhan sipped some water and began gathering his things. He’d planned to call the driver at the end of dinner, and it was good he hadn’t touched any alcohol yet.

“Huh? Why all of a sudden… Oh, wait, is this because of me—?”
“I’m not counting tonight’s dinner toward your quarterly request. So hospital first.”
Only then did Taehyun’s eyes regain some focus, and he shook his head. Looking closely now, the kid was holding his fork backward like a construction claw, digging through the appetizers.

“Muscle mass means nothing if you don’t manage your condition. Proper self-care is what matters.”
Taehyun heard the sound of the chair sliding back but still stubbornly stayed put. He obviously had no appetite, yet he kept shoveling food into his mouth like a disobedient child.
“Get up.”
In the end, Baekhan walked around to his side, took away his utensils, and set them on the table. Then he placed a hand on Taehyun’s shoulder.

“Stop being stubborn—”
Smack!
Baekhan blinked, staring blankly at his hand, which had just been knocked aside with an audible slap.

“…Ah.”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Taehyun had struck his hand away. Just from touching his shoulder—and hard enough to leave a red mark.
“…I’m sorry. I—I didn’t mean…”

Taehyun looked stunned, as if he hadn’t intended to push him away that hard, and slowly stood up, wobbling. He kept repeating, “I, right now, just a little…” which made it clear it wasn’t intentional.
Baekhan was taken aback, even though he knew something was off with Taehyun. And realizing how flustered he was made him even more confused.
Did he just… push me away?

He hit me? Taehyun hit me? He rejected me that sharply?
For whatever reason, it had never occurred to Seo Baekhan—not once—that Joo Taehyun would push back. Not during the marriage, not after whatever sticky, murky affection the kid once had had faded. He had unconsciously assumed that Taehyun could never go against him.
“…Alright. Let’s go to the hospital.”

He couldn’t believe it—both that he was stunned, and that Taehyun had snapped at him just for touching his shoulder. But this wasn’t the time to be analyzing things. Demanding decorum from someone who’s sick would be ridiculous.
“Not Jejungwon. I’ll take you to the place I usually go—”
This time, Baekhan gripped Taehyun’s wrist to keep him from pushing him away again and pulled him toward him. That’s when a sudden, unfamiliar scent stopped him in his tracks.

It wasn’t perfume. It was pheromones. A secondary-gendered one. An Alpha’s.
Taehyun’s normally imperceptible scent had begun to fill the room like damp grass on a rainy day.
“Taehyun. Did you… take Switch before coming here?”

“……”
“Not the kind you usually take. You took the one I gave you, right?”
What else could explain why his pheromones were suddenly so obvious?

If he were going into rut, that might make sense—but Taehyun was extremely diligent with his suppressants. There was no way his cycle was off. And if he were in rut, he wouldn’t even be able to be out in public. Baekhan knew this firsthand from his own experiences of inducing rut in the past through suppressant manipulation.
“There’s a test kit in the car.”
“……”

“If this is happening because of the Switch, then I’m not going to a hospital either. Let’s run a test first.”
Taehyun didn’t object, but he also didn’t protest like before. Still holding his wrist, Baekhan led him out of the private room.
“Excuse me—we need to head out. Please prepare the bill.”

“Oh my, was the food not to your liking?”
“No, nothing like that. My partner suddenly doesn’t feel well. Said something earlier about feeling a cold coming on…”
Judging by the manager’s face, she also didn’t think Taehyun looked well. She didn’t say another word as she quickly took Baekhan’s card.

“We’ll definitely come back. I know it was hard to get a reservation, and I feel terrible for leaving.”
“Oh no, it’s fine. I hope he gets well soon. This was your anniversary dinner, right? Congratulations, even if it’s late.”
The manager politely bowed and asked them to visit again next time. Baekhan returned a polite nod.

He hadn’t thought anyone would remember his wedding anniversary with Taehyun, since they’d never dined out together during this season before. But apparently, people had been paying attention to their lives—more than he’d realized. And most of that attention likely fell on Taehyun, the outsider.
There hadn’t been any serious rumors, but maybe it had been stressing Taehyun out a little.
Baekhan helped the now-faintly swaying Taehyun into the backseat and pulled out the test kit he’d brought from work. It required both saliva and blood. He placed one strip in Taehyun’s mouth and pricked his fingertip with a small needle.

Even the minor prick made Taehyun flinch, and each time he did, his pheromones surged. It wasn’t a scent Baekhan particularly disliked, but getting pheromones from another Alpha was never pleasant.
What the hell does he like about this? If he liked someone and they happened to be an Alpha, sure—but because they’re Alpha? He still couldn’t wrap his head around it. Well, it was a personal preference. He respected it.
“…It’s normal.”

The rapid test wasn’t 100% accurate, but there were no signs of any problematic substances. That meant the Switch Baekhan had picked was clean.
There could be multiple factors, but most likely it had interacted with the old Switch in his system. If Taehyun had never taken Switch before or had taken a long break before trying it again, it could have caused serious issues—but that wasn’t the case.
“Were you planning to jerk off alone tonight? Why’d you take the Switch all of a sudden?”

Taehyun didn’t respond. He just kept his lips tightly sealed and breathed heavily, like someone who had swallowed his tongue.
With a long sigh, Baekhan moved to the driver’s seat. With Taehyun in this state, there was nothing else to do—they had to go home.
Taehyun didn’t say a word during the ride. But his pheromones, drifting out from the back seat, became almost visible. He would need to do something soon. It was dangerous for a secondary-gendered person to be spacing out while emitting pheromones like that.

“Hyung, you go up first.”
Baekhan had planned to call Taehyun’s primary doctor in Seoul, but it would take time to bring him to Pyongyang. He was about to call someone local to handle it instead, but as soon as the car entered the garage, Taehyun finally spoke—in a broken, rusted voice.
“I’ll… be up later. On my own…”

After parking, Baekhan glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He’d intended to scold him—stop being so stubborn—but…
The moment their eyes met, with Taehyun brushing sweat-damp hair from his forehead, something strange pulled at him. He opened his mouth but said nothing.
“…I’m just gonna—cough—use the guest room.”

“……”
“No one else… I won’t call anyone. My pheromones… you probably hate them…”
Taehyun’s voice broke often, his breathing drowning out parts of the sentence.

“…Please.”
But that one small plea came through clearly. And with it, his pheromones deepened—like new sprouts pushing up after rain, like a sapling rooting itself into the earth and spreading its branches.
For the first time in front of Joo Taehyun, Seo Baekhan found himself speechless. All he could do was nod slightly.

He’d meant to watch until Taehyun went inside the guest room, but when Taehyun began groaning faintly and curling in on himself, Baekhan turned away first.
He didn’t want to watch. It felt wrong to look.
He used to tease him, calling him a bean sprout that grew too fast—but somehow, today, it seemed like he could no longer treat Taehyun like the twelve-year-old kid he used to know.

“You’re home, sir.”
Inside the house, the staff split into two lines to greet him—one for each side. Even the staff from Taehyun’s side were always polite and competent with Baekhan, but never overstepped. The same went for his own people.
“I heard from Secretary Nam that you had a dinner out with the young master today,” said Chief Hwang, taking his jacket.

Hwang had long worked under Baekhan’s mother, both as a trusted secretary and as the family’s steward. Baekhan had been planning to win him over for years.
“Something came up. Chief Hwang, what happened to all the Switch Taehyun has used so far?”
“I believe it’s been collected near the young master’s study. He always shows me before disposal, but DH Seoul headquarters handles everything from collection to destruction…”

Just as Baekhan had thought.
The house was like a demilitarized zone, clearly divided in two. None of Baekhan’s staff could enter Taehyun’s living quarters. Not for cleaning, not even for something as trivial as towel laundry.
Until now, Baekhan had never been particularly curious about Taehyun’s private space. He received all the reports he needed, and there were cross-checks in place…

But now that he thought about it—what exactly was Taehyun’s Switch usage cycle? Not in the U.S.—but while in Korea?
It was something Baekhan had never once thought to ask himself before.