Chapter 56

A heavy musk crashed over his skin, instantly crushing his breathing beneath its weight.

“Ugh.......”

It wasn’t simply a matter of concentration.

Yo Han Sung’s pheromones possessed density.

Like stepping into suffocating midsummer humidity so thick it stole the air from your lungs, the instant Gyeol sensed Yo Han’s pheromones, he lost all control over his breathing.

As though instinct itself had ignited, memories of the time he spent with Yo Han at Ivory Mansion surged forward.

Their skin pressed together inside the bathtub.

Hot breaths spilling down the back of his neck.

A hand stroking across his inner thighs and groin.

The vivid pheromones pinning him beneath blankets in the bedroom....

No, don’t.

Heat shot vertically through his body until his head rang.

It felt as though his brain were slowly melting.

Forcing his drooping eyelids open, Gyeol grabbed a fistful of his pants beneath the table.

“Hngh.......”

Unable to endure it any longer, Gyeol rubbed at his burning neck and flushed cheeks before finally collapsing forward against the table.

“Haa... ah.......”

Even after taking strong suppressants, his entire body had opened up.

He could feel it.

Every corner of his body, every single cell, was reacting to Yo Han Sung’s pheromones.

He clenched his teeth, but he couldn’t stop the gradual swelling beneath his clothes.

At the same time, the memory of kissing Yo Han flashed through his mind.

Then even further back—

The drama filming set from years ago surfaced next.

And if he traced the memories back even farther.

‘You don’t need to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong, Gyeol Go.’

Further still... farther back in time.

‘Gyeol Go, your lips. You got a drink on them.’

The instant those warm eyes studying his face and the hand brushing against his lips filled his thoughts, the final thread of rationality he’d barely maintained snapped apart.

“Ah... hnngh.......”

Face burning red, Gyeol pressed his cheek against the table and let out a shaky moan.

He wanted to touch himself.

He wanted someone to do something about the soaked heat between his legs too.

It hurt.

What hurt most was the fact that he had to endure it.

He wanted to let go of everything and surrender completely to instinct.

He wanted Yo Han Sung—the owner of the pheromones he now knew far too well—to appear in front of him right this instant.

His paralyzed mind kept dragging Yo Han into his thoughts against his will.

Barely functioning anymore, Gyeol continuously thought of Yo Han.

And blamed him for all of this.

This was all Yo Han Sung’s fault.

Smiling at him.

Treating him well.

Then suddenly turning cold.

Looking at him with contempt.

Then abruptly drawing close again.

Helping him.

Acting desperate to devour him alive one moment, then looking at him with concern the next.

Threatening him one second, then seducing him with pheromones the next.

I’m not stupid.

Even if these pheromones had intoxicated him badly enough to blur the world around him, he wasn’t an idiot incapable of recognizing the signs wrapping around his ears, touching his skin, sinking into his emotions.

Yo Han Sung.

Every single thing you do.

“......Hngh.”

It all looked exactly like someone who desperately wanted him.

Not just the textual construct of “Go Gyeol.”

But someone aching to possess his mind, body, everything.

...I hate Yo Han Sung.

So why did he desperately wish Yo Han would open the door and walk in right now?

If Yo Han pulled his chin up and kissed him.

Touched his body while pretending innocence.

Laid him down.

Gently soothed him.

Then maybe Gyeol could pretend not to notice too.

All the burdens he carried.

The compromises reality forced onto him.

Everything he couldn’t abandon.

Maybe, just while being held in those arms, he could forget it all.

The crushing heat strangled his breathing.

Gyeol couldn’t understand why he was thinking these things.

If it were possible, he wanted to sever the thoughts immediately.

But his unconscious had already fallen into a pit beyond saving, relentlessly digging up everything he had buried deep inside himself.

He hated Yo Han Sung.

He hated the man who spoke hatred with his eyes and mouth while threatening him with his secret.

But if someone asked whether he hated the obsessive desire and possessiveness Yo Han directed toward him beneath all that...

That didn’t seem true either.

Maybe it was only hormones playing tricks on him under the influence of pheromones.

Maybe once he escaped this overwhelming sensation, he would dismiss everything as false—as something that had never been genuine.

But right now, in this moment—

It was real.

The instinctive lust and helpless desire surging through him in response to Yo Han’s pheromones could not possibly be fake.

‘Accept my proposal. Unless you want to stay bent over like this.’

His mind went blank white.

Unable to endure anymore, Gyeol finally moved his hand toward his groin.

The mere sensation of his palm brushing against the swollen hardness sent violent pleasure shooting through him.

Fuck.

Biting down hard on his lip, he forced the curse back down his throat and curled tighter into himself.

The thought that he shouldn’t do this simply no longer existed.

Maybe it had never existed from the beginning.

Just a little.

Only a little.

As long as nobody noticed, touching himself a bit should be fine, right?

‘What do you think will happen if people find out a father appeared on a dating show?’

Ring.

A sharp ringing filled his ears.

Every movement Gyeol made stopped instantly.

Time stretched painfully slow.

Between the violent urging of instinct and the crashing drop of his emotions, Yuli’s face suddenly appeared.

Over it, those words repeated endlessly.

What do you think will happen if people find out a father appeared on a dating show?

The hand resting against his groin slowly curled shut on its own.

Clenching his fist to suppress the desire, Gyeol stared down at the floor through reddened eyes.

He couldn’t tell whether the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes were physiological—or emotional.

Everything felt chaotic.

Nothing made sense.

He wanted to cry.

Then, as though a soul had suddenly departed a living body, the pheromones saturating the room vanished all at once.

The suffocating pressure disappeared from his lungs, and time finally began flowing normally again.

— Go Gyeol’s pheromone matching has ended.

— Go Gyeol, which pheromone would you like to choose?

The announcement voice declared the end of what had felt like eternal minutes.

His body hung limp and drenched with exhaustion, making it impossible to move.

Face buried against the table, Gyeol remained motionless for a long time.

— Go Gyeol. Please select your pheromone and exit the booth.

The announcement called to him again.

After dragging both hands over his face, Gyeol barely managed to sit upright.

Then his lips slowly parted.

***

As Gyeol opened the booth door to leave, Yo Han Sung was standing directly outside.

He was next in line after Gyeol—the final participant of this pheromone matching.

Of course it was him.

The very last person Gyeol wanted to face right now.

Thinking about it, things had always been this way ever since entering Pheromone Island.

Whether it was forced coincidence—or inevitability disguised as coincidence.

Go Gyeol’s story kept becoming entangled with Yo Han Sung in bizarre ways.

Even though he wanted to avoid him.

Even though he kept trying to run and create distance.

Without giving Yo Han even the slightest glance, Gyeol merely offered a shallow nod and walked past him.

It would have been nice if he could simply leave.

But Yo Han had no intention of letting him go.

“Gyeol Go.”

The voice sounded disgustingly gentle.

“Are you okay?”

If a stranger overheard him, they would genuinely believe Yo Han was worried about Gyeol.

Gyeol stopped walking.

The cameras were filming them.

“Yes. Of course.”

“I don’t think so.”

He answered with a smile, only to be denied immediately.

If the cameras hadn’t been there, Gyeol would have instantly snapped back asking what exactly Yo Han thought he knew.

“I’m really fine. Good luck with the pheromone matching, Yo Han Sung.”

Without letting his expression crack, Gyeol lightly clenched his fist in encouragement.

He desperately hoped Yo Han would just leave already.

I’m the version of me you hate, aren’t I? Stop pretending to care. Stop pretending to worry and just go do your own thing.

Yo Han stood there silently, staring at him.

At first, because Gyeol couldn’t bring himself to meet his eyes, he assumed Yo Han was looking at his face.

But that wasn’t it.

Yo Han was staring at the hand Gyeol had clenched.

Bandages wrapped around his thumb.

Fresh red blood had seeped through the thick white gauze.

Not old blood.

Fresh blood.

“...Ah.”

Only then did Gyeol realize that inside the booth, he had completely forgotten about his injury.

Pressing against his groin.

Clenching his fist desperately afterward.

He had done all of it using the injured hand.

Reflexively, Gyeol hid the wounded hand behind his back.

“.......”

A faint crease formed between Yo Han’s brows.

“You don’t look fine.”

Speaking firmly, Yo Han stepped toward him.

Gyeol shook his head.

“Go do your thing.”

“But you—”

“I’m going to the medical staff. So stop worrying.”

In his panic, his voice came out sharper than intended.

Regret hit him immediately afterward, but he couldn’t take the words back now.

Conscious of the cameras pointed their way, cold sweat broke out across his skin.

There was nothing he could do.

All he could hope was that the scene would either be edited out—or interpreted as him being emotionally unstable from the pheromone matching.

“...Haah.”

Yo Han sighed while brushing back his hair.

He looked like he had far more to say, but Gyeol turned away without hesitation.

He wanted to escape this place as quickly as possible.

“See you later, Gyeol Go.”

Yo Han spoke toward his back.

“Yes. Fighting.”

After bowing stiffly despite himself, Gyeol hurried away almost like he was fleeing.

***

“...I’m completely exhausted.”

“Seriously, wasn’t this round insanely intense?”

Every contestant who had completed the second pheromone matching looked utterly drained.

Tommy occasionally made a few cute comments, but aside from Hee Jun Kang, nobody even had the energy to respond anymore.

Even Jun Shin looked incapable of lifting the mood.

“Hanseul, what was pheromone matching like for your first time?”

“I mean... it was interesting.”

“Right? It’s wild, isn’t it? Ah, this is bad. I seriously feel like I’m gonna get matched this time.”

“Ah, yeah.”

Woo Seok babbled excitedly by himself, completely mismatched with the exhausted atmosphere around him.

Meanwhile Hanseul responded politely but with a flat, utterly unenthused expression.

He looked exactly like an office worker emotionally dead from routine.

After a brief silence, Hanseul tilted his head cutely toward Yo Han.

“Yo Han senior. What did you think of pheromone matching? It was your first time too, right?”

“Yeah, my first time. I was worried, but it turned out smoother than I expected.”

“Really? As expected from you, senior. You look exactly the same as before you went in.”

Hanseul was right.

Out of everyone there, Yo Han Sung had changed the least before and after the matching.

Impressive.

Gyeol mocked silently to himself while absently rubbing the fresh bandages the medical team had wrapped around his hand.

Today, Gyeol had chosen a different pheromone than last time.

Would he end up matched with it?

At this point, he genuinely didn’t know which outcome would benefit him more—being matched with an Alpha, or not being matched at all.

— The results of the second pheromone matching will now be revealed.

“Ahh, it’s starting.”

“I think my heart just dropped straight to the floor.”

— The matched couple is Woo Seok Jung and Jaekyung Park.

“Huh?”

“What? Seriously?”

The contestants slapped their hands over their mouths in shock.

“Yes!”

Woo Seok shot to his feet and thrust his fist triumphantly toward the sky.

Meanwhile, Jaekyung sat frozen stiff, looking utterly stunned.

— And....

“Huh? There’s more?”

The noisy contestants instantly fell silent and held their breath.

— Sun Choi and Go Gyeol.

— Congratulations.