Romantic Gangster

#26

“…Shit.”

How could he be unaffected? To be honest, he wanted to bury his face in Ji-woo’s nape, which was emitting a sweet scent, not in the infirmary but anywhere visible. No, he felt like he was going crazy with the desire to do even more than that.

But he couldn’t. It was a contradictory feeling of wanting to do it but not wanting to at the same time. Feeling the tension in his genitals, Hyun-joon crossed the skyway, went down one more step, and immediately opened the infirmary door. There was no time for niceties like knocking.

“Suddenly opening the door without knocking… Oh, Ji-woo?”

The school nurse, startled by the sudden opening of the door while drinking coffee, rushed over with wide eyes to check on Ji-woo.

“Come inside first.”

Following the teacher, Hyun-joon carefully sat Ji-woo down on the bed in the resting room. Ji-woo, barely perched on the bed, was shivering as if cold.

“Since when has Ji-woo been like this?”

“Since just now. Suddenly his pheromones burst out and he said his head hurt…”

Hearing Hyun-joon’s words, the nurse left the resting room. Judging by the clattering sound from outside, it seemed she had gone to get some medicine. Hyun-joon looked down at Ji-woo, who was barely sitting, with worried eyes. When he gently touched Ji-woo’s damp bangs with his hand, Ji-woo visibly flinched.

“Ah, sorry.”

As he withdrew his hand, Ji-woo slowly raised his head. It was a look Hyun-joon had never seen before. Eyes that seemed both pained and excited… Hyun-joon couldn’t bear to look any longer and turned his gaze away. He felt uncomfortable as he sensed his genitals becoming fully erect.

“Ji-woo, let’s take the medicine first. This is medicine you take at the beginning of your cycle. It’ll make you feel better. It seems like your cycle is really about to start now. You must be having a hard time.”

Seeing Ji-woo’s hand trembling severely as he took the cup offered by the nurse, Hyun-joon quickly took the cup from his hand and held it. After seeing the medicine go into his mouth, he slowly poured water into it. Ji-woo, after swallowing the medicine, drank a few more sips of lukewarm water without removing his lips from the cup.

“You’ll calm down soon now that you’ve taken the medicine. I’ll talk to your teacher, so lie down for an hour before you go.”

“Okay…”

The nurse, after laying Ji-woo down, covered him with a thin blanket and then looked at Hyun-joon.

“Ji-woo’s friend, let’s talk for a moment.”

Hyun-joon, who had been examining Ji-woo’s face with closed eyes, followed the nurse out of the resting room.

“Sit there. Want something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Hyun-joon plopped down on the round swivel chair next to the nurse’s desk and slowly rotated the chair left and right.

“You’re an alpha?”

“Yes.”

“A dominant one.”

“Yes.”

The nurse nodded as if she had expected as much, took a sip of the coffee she had been drinking earlier, and continued.

“You did really well today. It must have been difficult.”

“…Well, yeah.”

“This might happen again in the future. It’s fortunate if it happens when he’s alone, but if it happens at school like today or if his pheromones suddenly burst out when he’s outside, dangerous situations could occur.”

Hyun-joon thought he knew what those “dangerous situations” the nurse was talking about were. He felt disgusted as he recalled those who had looked at Ji-woo with impure eyes and even approached him as soon as his pheromones burst out.

“It would be good if a friend like today… What’s Ji-woo’s friend’s name?”

“Lee Hyun-joon.”

“Right, Hyun-joon. It would be good if you could help Ji-woo like you did today, Hyun-joon, but since you’re also an alpha, it won’t always be easy. Not because you’re bad, but because alphas and omegas inevitably react to each other’s pheromones. That’s why everyone takes suppressants and suppresses their pheromones to live in society.”

“Yes.”

He wondered what she was trying to say with all this build-up. Was she going to say that as a dominant alpha, he shouldn’t be around an omega just before their cycle starts? He felt a bit tense, wondering if he was about to hear that he was Ji-woo’s biggest risk factor.

“So it’s important to prevent situations like today from happening as much as possible, right? It would be even better if, when it does happen, it can be suppressed with regular suppressants.”

Ah, who doesn’t know that? Just like a teacher, explaining step by step without getting to the point, listening to this made him feel so frustrated he thought he might explode.

“For that, Ji-woo needs alpha pheromones.”

“…Pardon?”

Just as he was about to feel bored, completely unexpected words flowed from the nurse’s mouth. Hyun-joon, who had been listening half-heartedly while rotating the chair, stopped moving.

“Alpha pheromones can also calm omegas down.”

“Not excite them?”

The nurse laughed out loud at the direct question and nodded.

“That’s right. It’s true, but in cases like today, alpha pheromones can also calm omegas. In situations where an omega desperately desires alpha pheromones, exposure to a satisfying level of pheromones can provide some calming effect.”

“…”

“So if Ji-woo ever loses control of his pheromones again, release a little bit of your pheromones while making light physical contact.”

Hyun-joon, who had momentarily frozen at the word ‘contact’, pulled his chair closer to the desk.

“…Contact?”

“Yes. Like holding hands or giving a light hug. If you release your pheromones slightly while maintaining that contact, it should provide some stability. It’s also good to expose him slightly to your pheromones during normal times, just enough not to have a big impact. It can prevent sudden outbursts.”

All the words that had been boring until just a moment ago now resonated clearly in his ears. So, the nurse had personally given him a reason to stick close to Ji-woo. Hyun-joon, thinking he should send a flower basket to the school nurse on Teacher’s Day after graduation, leaned in even closer, almost climbing onto the desk.

“How slight is ‘slightly’?”

“Since you’re dominant, what might be weak for you could have a very strong effect on Ji-woo. It’s enough if you’re not sure whether you’ve released pheromones or not. Exposure to too strong pheromones can have the opposite effect. It can pull forward cycles that should come slowly, or cause sudden symptoms like today out of nowhere.”

Hyun-joon suddenly recalled the day Ji-woo first came looking for him on the rooftop. At that time, their eyes had suddenly met, startling him and causing his pheromones to burst out unguarded, and Ji-woo had been enveloped in his pheromones. After hearing the nurse’s words, he thought that perhaps these strong symptoms in Ji-woo might be due to that exposure to his pheromones back then.

“Still, I feel a bit relieved that Ji-woo has such a wonderful and reliable friend by his side.”

Hyun-joon answered with just a smile and pushed his chair back away from the desk. Then he glanced at the resting room.

“Can I go in?”

“Yes, of course.”

Hyun-joon stood up and quietly opened the door to the resting room and went inside. Ji-woo was sound asleep. The pheromones that had been flowing out with enough intensity to sweeten the whole world were now all contained, clearly showing the effectiveness of the cycle suppressant.

“…”

Although he was sleeping peacefully now, his slightly damp bangs seemed to show the urgency of earlier. Hyun-joon reached out his hand and gently touched Ji-woo’s disheveled bangs to tidy them. Then he brought a chair from the corner and sat down next to him as if he were a caregiver.

From the moment he realized Ji-woo’s pheromones had burst out until now, he had no idea how time had passed. The journey to the infirmary, firmly holding onto a body that seemed about to collapse at any moment, felt longer than expected, and throughout that time, the castella scent he loved kept urging impulses in a direction he shouldn’t cross. Honestly, resisting that was the most difficult part.

Why wouldn’t it be? He was an alpha and Ji-woo was an omega, and moreover, someone he was interested in. Having such a person’s sweet pheromones pouring out and enveloping his entire body was truly not an easy thing to endure.

Moreover, every time he felt Ji-woo’s hand gripping his arm was hot, and every time his body recognized that trembling, the impulse grew stronger. Although his lower half had naturally calmed down while talking with the nurse, earlier it had been painfully erect. As if to prove this, just looking at Ji-woo’s sleeping face made his lower abdomen flutter a bit. Hyun-joon covered his face with both hands, rubbed it down, and then patted his cheeks. It was to regain his composure.

‘If Ji-woo ever loses control of his pheromones again, release a little bit of your pheromones while making light physical contact.’

Contact… Light contact… No, I’ve been trying not to make contact as much as possible, how can they tell me to make contact instead? And it’s the teacher saying this.

…Since the teacher said it, I guess I shouldn’t disobey. You’re supposed to always listen to what teachers say, right? They must have said that because it’s better for us to touch each other.