Good Night, Brother! - Chapter 3.6

Even after Eunhyun left, Yi Hyeon couldn’t stop thinking about his scent. It was the kind of scent that lingered in his mind, leaving him dazed.

Later, he realized what it was—it smelled exactly like peaches. The aroma of a perfectly ripe peach, so luscious that biting into it caused its sticky juice to trickle down the back of your hand.

That’s why it was hard for Yi Hyeon to believe that Eunhyun was a beta. The Eunhyun he knew had always carried the unmistakable sweetness of an Omega’s scent.

Like water that doesn’t boil until it reaches 100 degrees, perhaps Eunhyun was identified as a beta because of that small, improbable chance of 0.1 percent.

But only I know the truth in this world.

That Eunhyun Jeong is living her life as a beta, masking the qualities that could one day manifest as an Omega.

She had been cramming knowledge about traits into her head, poring over professional books and articles in both Korean and English. And she had found a way to fill the missing 0.1 percent of her Omega traits.

“Hmph, hmph…!”

Eunhyun woke with a jolt, gasping sharply as though she had been dragged out of water. It felt like she had just emerged from a long, suffocating nightmare. Her breaths were ragged as she scanned the room.

Eunhyun wasn’t there.

She was lying in her usual pajamas, not drenched in sweat or anything else. The sheets were smooth, the duvet fluffy, and the warmth around her body made her wonder if everything had been a dream.

But the burning pain in her throat, which made swallowing unbearable, and the aching muscles all over her body told her otherwise. Last night’s events weren’t a dream.

“Haa…”

Eunhyun lifted her arm and shaded her eyes, trying to piece together the fragmented memories of the night before.

At the bar, she had been told that Han Jin-seo had tried to kill her. She had learned she had manifested as an Omega. And then, she had been with her brother, Hyun-hyun.

Noting. Imprinting.

Eunhyun gingerly slipped her hand inside her trousers and underwear, touching the area to check if there was a tear. She felt a distinct warmth and a slightly swollen, raised opening. It was a little sore to the touch, but thankfully, it didn’t seem to be bleeding. A long sigh escaped her lips again.

“I’m thirsty…”

Her vocal cords sounded strange, roughened from a night of screaming and yelling. Every movement sent pain rippling through her body as she slid out of bed. Her weighted steps sent a sharp, stabbing sensation through her pelvis and lower back.

“Ahhh…”

Eunhyun groaned softly as she walked gingerly to the door and opened it.

The moment she stepped outside, she saw him in the kitchen. Hyun-hyun turned at the sound of the door opening, his dimpled smile widening.

“Hyung, are you up?”

Eunhyun’s whole body stiffened, like a wary stray cat encountering a human.

“How are you feeling?” Hyun asked, his voice filled with concern. “You must be tired. You slept all day.”

“…….”

“Are you hungry? I brought abalone porridge and pumpkin porridge. I know you like both.”

“…….”

Eunhyun didn’t answer the next question, instead glaring at Hyunhyun with anger flaring in his eyes as he gripped the door handle like a lifeline. Finally, Hyunhyun tilted his head slightly to one side and stepped closer to him.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

He hadn’t taken more than a few steps before he was standing right in front of Eunhyun, gently brushing his fingers across the corners of Eunhyun’s reddened eyes.

“You must have cried too much yesterday. Your eyes are so red.”

“Get away from me.”

Eunhyun swatted his brother’s hand away with a sharp motion, the sound echoing through the room, and shot Hyunhyun a cold glare. Hyunhyun’s eyebrows drooped downward, and he made a sullen expression.

“Did I overdo it yesterday? I’m sorry, it was my first time…. I’ll try to be more restrained in the future.”

As if to reconcile, Hyunhyun pulled Eunhyun into a tight hug. Trapped in his brother’s wide arms, Eunhyun struggled to free himself, but Hyunhyun didn’t budge.

“Get off me! Let go!”

Hyunhyun ignored the protests and lowered his head, nuzzling his nose against Eunhyun’s ear and along the line of his neck.

“Haha, you smell so good. Mmm….”

The hardness of Hyunhyun’s lower half pressed against him, causing Eunhyun’s face to turn pale as the events of the previous night came flooding back in vivid detail.

Animalistic bastard. Crazy bastard. He’s not normal.

In a burst of desperation, Eunhyun bit down hard on Hyunhyun’s collarbone, exposed through his V-neck T-shirt. Startled by the sudden counterattack, Hyunhyun’s arms loosened, allowing Eunhyun to push him away and create some distance.

“Ouch! That hurt… Hyung, what’s wrong?”

Eunhyun’s icy glare met Hyunhyun’s confused face, which looked eerily unfamiliar, as if he genuinely didn’t understand.

“You crazy bastard….”

“That’s right. Do you finally realize I’m crazy about you?”

“Haaah….”

Ignoring his brother’s words, Eunhyun walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out a bottle of barley tea. He placed it on the kitchen table as he searched for a cup.

Before he could pour, Hyunhyun swooped in, intercepted the bottle, and dumped its contents down the sink. The amber liquid swirled down the drain in a steady stream.

“That’s crazy….”

A surge of anger boiled in Eunhyun, fueled by Hyunhyun’s erratic behavior—a continuation of last night’s events that he could barely comprehend.

“What are you doing?” Eunhyun asked sharply.

“Don’t drink it.”

“Hah, you’re insane. Seriously… What the hell is wrong with you?”

“There are drugs in the water.”

“…What?”

“The water’s poisoned.”

A simple sentence that made no sense at all.

“I’m sorry for sneaking you food, but after being away from you for five years… I was impatient.”

The next words were just as baffling. They were speaking the same language, yet Eunhyun couldn’t make sense of it.

“What… what did you drug me with?”

“Pheromone enhancers.”

“…What’s that?”

“It’s a drug that amplifies your natural pheromones and helps activate your pheromone glands,” Hyunhyun explained casually, like a doctor outlining a diagnosis.

“I bought a lot of it, but I don’t think I’ll need it anymore. You were an Omega after all.”

“……”

“Or maybe it’s just my pheromones.”

“What does that mean…?”

“Oh, it’s important to be exposed to an Alpha’s pheromone shower. If you hadn’t run off to Seoul, I could have triggered your awakening with my pheromones alone. No need for all that crap.”

“……”

“It’s a shame, Grinch.”

“I… I don’t know what you mean….”

A dry lump formed in Eunhyun’s throat at the incomprehensible words.

“From the time I emerged as an Alpha at ten until I was fifteen, I showered you with my pheromones every single day.”

“…What?”

“From the day I came to this house, and again every night, I soaked you from head to toe in my pheromones.”

Still, Eunhyun had no idea what he was talking about. At a loss for words, he stared blankly at Hyunhyun, who was smiling sweetly at him.

“So that means you’re my Omega. From head to toe.”

From “pheromone showers” to being “pheromone-soaked,” Hyunhyun’s words sounded like an alien language to a 25-year-old Beta like Eunhyun.

Unless driven by natural curiosity, people don’t usually delve into things that don’t concern them. Just as someone uninterested in botany wouldn’t bother learning about plant species or diseases, Eunhyun—a Beta—had little reason to understand the complexities of Alpha and Omega physiology. He vaguely remembered learning about pheromones and the distinctions between Alpha, Beta, and Omega traits during secondary school biology class, but most of that knowledge had faded after the SATs.

What little he knew boiled down to this: pheromones were like unique brands of perfume, with each person having their own distinct scent. Most Alphas and Omegas concealed their pheromones with suppressants to avoid drawing attention. It was basic knowledge that Betas, who couldn’t emit pheromones, didn’t need to think about.

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