The Main Character is Obsessed With a Foreign Substance

On the morning when Suhwan urgently went to the company, Seunghyun, who had woken up early, was out buying simple food for breakfast. After ordering a sandwich and coffee, Seunghyun made a phone call.

“Yes, I’m sorry for the sudden notice. Yes, yes.”

He called the café to say he wouldn’t be coming in for his part-time job today. He usually worked all day on weekends, but today he didn’t want to leave Suhwan alone at home to go to work.

“Thank you.”

Seunghyun grabbed the sandwich and hurried his steps. What he had unintentionally learned from checking the CCTV daily was that Suhwan tended to sleep in. Even knowing that Suhwan wouldn’t be up at this early hour, Seunghyun quickened his pace anyway.

“Phew.”

Standing in front of the door, Seunghyun nervously rubbed his palms against his pants. The door lock password that he’d entered indifferently every day suddenly felt strange. With slightly trembling hands, he entered the password and went inside.

Beep beep beep beep, beep.

Brrring.

Drawn by Suhwan’s pheromone scent subtly permeating from the entrance, Seunghyun moved forward. The sweet and cozy fragrance grew stronger as he approached the bedroom.

“Sunb…”

Click—Seunghyun opened the bedroom door and stopped in his tracks.

The large bed had rumpled sheets, but no one was lying there. Staring at the cool, empty bed, Seunghyun moved somewhat urgently.

He checked the bathroom and Suhwan’s room, but no one was in the house. Seunghyun paced anxiously around Suhwan’s room, inhaling the baby powder scent that lingered in the air.

Where could he have gone? Frowning, Seunghyun tried to think of places Suhwan might go this early in the morning.

But he realized that he surprisingly knew little about Suhwan. Rather than not knowing, he simply hadn’t cared before. Whatever Suhwan did, he had only found it annoying and bothersome. The only time he had closely observed him was during the week they’d lived together since restarting their cohabitation.

That time was far too short to really know Suhwan. Even when watching the CCTV, Suhwan had always stayed inside without meeting or contacting anyone.

Then suddenly, he remembered the unpleasant phone call that had come to Suhwan’s phone recently. The coquettish voice of an unknown omega clung to his ears.

The seemingly intimate voice of the omega and Suhwan’s stiff responses. His mind even conjured up images of some omega who seemed to know their private situation intimately, flirting by Suhwan’s side.

Shit, just imagining it made his mind go blank. Seunghyun took out his phone and immediately called Suhwan.

“…?”

But only heartless dial tones reached Seunghyun’s ears. When the robotic voice guidance followed, Seunghyun roughly hung up.

After trying three more times in succession, Seunghyun realized the seriousness of the situation. Suhwan was refusing to take his calls. The reason was easy to guess.

As an alpha, he probably couldn’t tolerate being dominated by an omega. Maybe he didn’t even want to see Seunghyun’s face anymore.

“Ha…”

Regrettably, Seunghyun had no intention of letting Suhwan go. If he ran away, he would chase after him and bring him back no matter what. A strange light gleamed in his eyes, visible between the fingers covering his face.

Seunghyun calmly turned his phone screen back on. He went to the app list and launched an app he rarely used—an illegal app that could track someone’s location through registered GPS.

Originally, it wasn’t Seunghyun but Suhwan who had installed it. Somehow, before he realized it, the location tracking app had been installed on Seunghyun’s phone. It was easy to guess the culprit was Suhwan. There weren’t many people who so blatantly obsessed over him.

But now, Suhwan seemed to have completely forgotten about the app’s existence. Ironically, Seunghyun was using the very location tracking app that once tormented him to track the person who had stalked him in the past.

Truly, it wasn’t intentional.

“Hwamyeong Headquarters?”

Seunghyun frowned slightly after discovering Suhwan’s location. It was because Suhwan was in a rather unexpected place.

No, it’s not that unexpected. Hwamyeong is Suhwan’s company, so he might have gone there for some business.

But an ominous feeling kept growing. Unable to bear it, Seunghyun immediately left the room and headed toward where Suhwan was.

***

“How did you…”

Seunghyun gazed steadily at Suhwan’s surprised face. Though he had seen Suhwan in a suit countless times to the point of being sick of it, now it looked somewhat fresh. As he approached him, Seunghyun glanced at Dowun standing beside Suhwan. For a very brief moment, sparks flew in Seunghyun’s eyes.

But he quickly contained his sharp energy as if nothing had happened and approached Suhwan.

“Senior, I was worried.”

“Huh? You were?”

“Yes, why didn’t you answer your phone?”

You called? Surprised, Suhwan checked his phone for the first time. He had set it to silent mode while meeting with Jin Gilnyeong and hadn’t known there were calls.

Checking, he saw that Seunghyun had called four times. Suhwan looked up with an apologetic face.

“I didn’t know you called. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Seunghyun answered in a small voice, relaxing his stiff face slightly. It was a relief to confirm with his own eyes that nothing had happened to Suhwan. His gaze flickered briefly toward Dowun standing beside them. Sensing that gaze, Suhwan hastily spoke up.

“This is Director Kim Dowun. My grandfather’s chief secretary.”

“Ah…”

Seunghyun nodded and extended his hand to Dowun.

“I’m Lee Seunghyun.”

“Ah, nice to meet you, Seunghyun.”

Dowun shook hands with him, slightly moving his arm. The omega whom Suhwan had insisted on getting engaged to. An interested look crossed Dowun’s eyes. Today was the first time he was seeing the subject of rumors in person.

HS was a pharmaceutical company founded by Seunghyun’s great-grandfather. The successful HS began to collapse around the time when management rights were passed to Seunghyun’s father, Lee Taehyun.

Patients who took the new drug developed under his leadership experienced severe side effects. Side effects that hadn’t appeared in clinical trials began to emerge explosively once the drug was released to the market.

It would have been better if the side effects were minimal, but unfortunately, the drug was used on high-risk patients, so the damage was severe. Protests and lawsuits from the bereaved families poured in.

Moreover, the incompetence of Seunghyun’s father, Lee Taehyun, who was the owner at the time, also played a part in endangering HS. Seunghyun’s father, who was more suited to being a researcher than a businessman, wasn’t the type of person who could lead a company. He belatedly hired a professional business executive as CEO, but it was difficult to revive HS, which had already declined.

Eventually, the pharmaceutical company closed, and only the name HS remained. That was why Seunghyun was working hard at part-time jobs while attending university.

So it was natural for Jin Gilnyeong to disapprove of Seunghyun as a marriage partner. Seeing him in person, despite his beautiful appearance and likable impression, Dowun couldn’t help but consider Seunghyun as nothing more than a pretty but worthless person.

And there was something off about his eyes. Dowun, being a beta, couldn’t sense much, but were omegas usually like this? Feeling somehow intimidated, Dowun unconsciously shrank back.

“Are you done with your business?”

“Yes. I just met with grandfather.”

“Then let’s go back.”

“What about you? Didn’t you come here for something?”

“I’m done too.”

Dowun, who had been listening to their conversation, narrowed his brow. Seunghyun’s body moved subtly to block between Suhwan and Dowun. It was too suspicious to be coincidental.

Besides, it was doubtful that he had business in a place like this. Being still a student and the second son of the failed HS, what business could he have at Hwamyeong Headquarters? It made more sense to think he had illegally tracked Suhwan’s location when he couldn’t get in touch with him. Dowun’s shoulders stiffened at the momentary thought.

“Is it okay if we leave now?”

“Huh? Yes.”

Suhwan nodded unconsciously at Seunghyun’s question. Seunghyun smiled with satisfaction. Suhwan found himself blankly staring at Seunghyun’s face. Strangely, Seunghyun’s attitude seemed to have softened.

“Let’s go together.”

“Sure, let’s do that.”

Suhwan, who had nodded in a daze, looked at Dowun. Dowun, cleverly obscured by Seunghyun’s body, moved his head to look back at Suhwan.

“I’m going now, Director.”

“Young master…”

“See you next time.”

Suhwan waved and left the lobby with Seunghyun. Dowun watched them from behind, blinking.

Then, seeing Suhwan go outside, Dowun turned away as well. It was probably just an unnecessary thought. Surely a young student wouldn’t do such a thing. Dowun tried to shake off the uneasy feeling as he walked away.

***

No one spoke on the way back home. As they approached the mansion, Suhwan increasingly recalled the events of the previous night. He was so conscious of Seunghyun that he couldn’t even look at him properly.

What on earth was he thinking? No matter how drunk he was, no matter how helpless he was against the pheromones, how could he do such a thing with his main partner… the person he should break off the engagement with.

Moreover, the fact that his position was on the bottom considerably embarrassed Suhwan. It would have been better if he had been so drunk that he couldn’t remember, but damn Jin Suhwan’s body remembered everything clearly.

“Look, I…”

“Senior.”

“Yes?”