Chapter Text
The first time Kim Soleum caught the whiff of smoked cedar, it was in the packed train, full of confused and terrified new employees.
He thought nothing of it at first, brushing it off as someone overdid their perfume.
Besides, he himself had more important matters to focus on— and that was surviving the ghost story, so he put that off in the back of his mind.
The scent mixed with black pepper lingered in the air in the orientation room. Kim Soleum, not yet fully oriented after escaping the train, distractedly thought that the person who bathed themself in the perfume must have come out alive as well.
Then the employees started melting, and he had no mind to pay attention to that scent anymore.
Kim Soleum fully prepared to collapse on his bed as soon as he got the key to his newly assigned dormitory room.
He opened the door, spotting the soft curly hair of another person already sitting in the living room, said person turned at the sound of the door, and the scent of burnt cedar suddenly scorched his senses.
The familiar black pepper sharpened to the point that it stinged his nose. Kim Soleum instinctively wanted to take a step back. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as his dormant instinct immediately became alert of the danger in the room.
Kim Soleum felt his composure rattled. His instinct was screaming at him to back off, to get out at an instant but his feet stayed rooted on the ground. He was alarmed, and also freaked out. He didn’t prepare to be assaulted with the scent when he opened the door to his dorm room at all.
The scent was so sharp in the air. Kim Soleum had half a mind to kick himself for brushing off the distinct scent of perfume so easily.
Now facing off with that scent head-on, the fact slammed into him that the scent was not that of a perfume— but pheromones.
Baek Saheon’s alpha pheromones.
His heart was pounding, his brain was running at full speed as he finally, finally forced himself to move.
The strange occurrence of perceiving other people's scent for the first time, and his instinct responding accordingly to it, was forcefully shoved to the back of his mind when he had a priority at hand.
Kim Soleum had to act, and he had to act fast.
So he stormed ahead to the person who openly accused him of his nonexistent crime. The smell of iron became clearer, and the mixed scent of burnt wood and black pepper almost overwhelmed him as he gripped Baek Saheon’s shoulder. “You see, I had a great time, is this what they call a dopamine rush?”
He was, in fact, not having a dopamine rush at this moment. Still feeling alarmed by his own stirring instincts, and frustrated at Baek Saheon’s nonsense, Kim Soleum leaned in closer, ignoring the urge to wrinkle his nose.
“Hah! Why are you lying?”
How did Baek Saheon catch on!?
Internally, he was freaking out. Externally, he kept pushing his crazed act.
“Now, why would you accuse me of that? I’ve been nothing but honest with you, Baek Saheon.” He gripped his shoulder tighter as he smiled coldly at the man beneath him.
Baek Saheon, looking stunned just for a second, smirked back. “Ah, did you forget to control your pheromones before telling me that?”
Kim Soleum almost reeled back. His what now?
Baek Saheon pushed his hand back as his smile widened. “Your distressed scent was all over in the air, don’t you know that?”
His scent?
Something in him jolted at the statement. What did Baek Saheon mean by his scent was all over in the air?
Kim Soleum did not have any scents.
He was an omega, yes, but he didn’t have any scents. Kim Soleum was sure of that. He had been almost scentless since the beginning, that’s why almost everyone in his life thought he was a beta. He couldn’t smell any scent on himself, nor did he catch any scents on others or being affected by it.
Until now, that is.
He felt himself panicking at the knowledge that he, apparently, had a scent clinging to him, and Baek Saheon, the last person on earth who should know— knew.
Kim Soleum forced himself to calm down. He barely knew how to control his own scent and pheromones. He technically knew how to do it, but he lacked the experience since he usually didn’t even have to do that!
Praying for success, Kim Soleum didn’t back down. He couldn’t, not in front of Baek Saheon. He knew what type of a person he was. If he cowered now, Baek Saheon would be even more smug and lead to him being more of a psychopath towards him.
“Baek Saheon, don’t you think that I just— let you think that?” Kim Soleum was bluffing and straight up bullshitting right now. He wasn't even sure if it would work, but he terribly hoped that it would.
Baek Saheon paused for a split second while his scent kept spiking in the room. Kim Soleum had to gritted his teeth to not gag at the intense scent of burnt wood up close.
“And why would you do that?” Baek Saheon eyed him.
“Because it’s fun?”
Kim Soleum let a small grin spread across his face as he leaned back up.
“…You’re bluffing.” The cedar flickered in suspicion.
Seeing his roommate positioned beneath him made Kim Soleum feel like he was the one in control, so he let the smirk stay on his face while staring down at Baek Saheon. “Let’s work well together from now on, shall we?”
As he left the statement with a smile that did not reach his eyes, Kim Soleum turned back, walked to his room and hoped that his act didn’t come out as if he was escaping.
But he was escaping, goddamnit!
His heart was still hammering loudly in his ears as he clicked the door shut like he had the whole time in the world. He finally let himself spiral.
Because what the fuck?
What even happened? To him? To Baek Saheon?
Kim Soleum, bundled himself up under the blanket, felt like he wanted to scream.
Ever since he came to this world, nothing had ever gone in his way.
Sure, he survived the new employee test, but that was one thing!
He was suddenly thrown into this world full of ghost stories, he didn’t even know how that happened, and he also had to go in the ghost story himself to collect enough points to buy a wish ticket to return home.
And now his perfectly compliant body suddenly betrayed him.
Kim Soleum knew that he, being an omega, and not being able to emit scents nor perceive them was not normal, he even went to the doctor, and the doctor said nothing was wrong with him since he still had his heat regularly, albeit much less intense than other normal omegas.
There used to be a time when he was disheartened by his own defectiveness— but that was a long time ago and he had long since made peace with himself about the fact. He was actually grateful as time passed, since no pheromone bothered him and troubled his life.
He was okay with his life being as it was.
And Baek Saheon suddenly came crashing and destroying his perfectly orderly life with his intense scents and pressuring pheromones.
Kim Soleum groaned out loud. It didn’t even make any sense! Baek Saheon was supposedly just a character, wasn’t he?
Then why did he smell like that? Why could Kim Soleum detect his scents? Why was it affecting him? Why was Baek Saheon able to make out his own pheromones when Kim Soleum was barely aware of it?
It didn’t make any sense and Kim Soleum was having none of it.
He knew he had to do something about it, he knew that.
But he was exhausted, his body had been running on adrenaline for a long time. He could still feel a phantom beating of his heart not long ago. And now that he collapsed on the bed in his room, he finally felt his body starting to shut down.
There was still a mountain of problems for him to solve, but for now, alone in his room, cocooning in a thick blanket, he let his eyes fall shut.
As his consciousness began to blur, he belatedly left the responsibility for his future self to deal with.
Kim Soleum was tired.
/
Kim Soleum started wearing the scent patches from then on.
It was something he had never worn before but it was necessary now so he couldn’t complain.
The relationship between him and his roommate was— vague. Kim Soleum made sure to snap right back at Baek Saheon every time he tried to terrorize him, so that psychopath backed off for now.
Even though Kim Soleum still felt Baek Saheon's gaze on him from time to time, not getting any closer, but always there, he was irritated, yes, but since he didn’t outright confront him about it, Kim Soleum wasn’t going to do it either.
The issue with his scents was an important issue, so Kim Soleum already tested it with his squad. He still remembered the bewilderment on Assistant Manager Eun Haje's face when he asked her if she could detect his scent with his scent patches off. The answer was negative, she also asked him back confusedly if he was not a beta.
The matter of him being omega was out that day then. Kim Soleum didn’t mind. Well, he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the knowledge out in the open. Not because he was ashamed of being an omega, but because it was a private matter. However, considering the kind of people his superiors were, he was assured that they wouldn't just tell anybody.
It settled for now. He fact-checked that it was only Baek Saheon that was able to detect his scent. There was still no answer for that as he wasn’t going to walk right up to him and demand an explanation.
So, he was tied with Baek Saheon. It was not too good, but not too bad either.
He could live with that for a long while, if not for himself, literally, shoving his problem right back in his face.
He stared blankly as Baek Saheon crouched in the same vent right next to him. The familiar scent of smoked cedar wood immediately engulfed his senses.
There’s a reason he didn’t just go and confront him after all.
Kim Soleum wrinkled his nose as the underlying scent of— dry earth? hit him. The scent was so faint he barely noticed it. It wasn’t that Baek Saheon’s scent was bad. Irritatingly, it was, somewhat, calming when it was not sharpening and cutting at the edge. But he would take that small bit of acknowledgment to his grave.
Also, Kim Soleum was not used to picking up other alpha’s scent. It was so bizarre at first when he could easily notice Baek Saheon’s scent lingering in their shared living room. Suffice to say it was not an easy experience for him.
While the silence stretched on, Kim Soleum pressed a finger on his scent patches as he half paid his attention to Baek Saheon’s twitched expression. He knew Baek Saheon was a special case but he was fairly sure the scent patches were doing it magic, proven by his coworkers time and time again.
Speaking of that.
“Control your own pheromones.”
Kim Soleum couldn’t help but bit out as the machines finally disappeared from their sight.
He felt like he was going to drown in Baek Saheon’s pheromones. It was so vivid in this tight space, not to say in a stressful situation where one’s emotion would easily fluctuate. Baek Saheon’s scent was too consuming.
Didn’t this man know anything about public decency?
It was one thing when he was in a private space, but now that they were in a public space, why didn’t this psychopath control his own pheromones!? It was like he wanted to announce his presence to the whole world. It was indecent.
Baek Saheon had the audacity to blink back at him. Kim Soleum yanked him down with him as he silently gauged the information out of the man.
He didn’t comply at first, but since his escape was obviously right next to him, he finally laid the information down.
They were joined by Go Yeong-Eun, who, strangely, was not affected by Baek Saheon’s scents at all. But there was no time to dwell on it since not too long after, they had to run for their life from the approaching machine.
Kim Soleum put Baek Saheon aside.
“Run.”
Kim Soleum didn’t want to have his eyes ripped out, but he didn’t want that man to be the one suffering under the machine’s claw either. Who knew what lengths he would go to after experiencing that trauma twice.
“I said run!”
The cedar burned as he locked eyes with the retreating figure, the lingering dry pepper scent filled the room.
He thought he was going to get his eyes gauged out by then, thank heaven his superior came in time.
They all got out safely and Kim Soleum wanted nothing more than going back to his room and black out.
“Why would you do that?”
But Of course, Baek Saheon, the bastard, wouldn’t let him go into his room peacefully.
While he whirled back to face him, Kim Soleum subtly sniffed the scent in the air. He could sense that Baek Saheon, his pheromones still poorly controlled, was frustrated.
Hey, shouldn’t he at least be grateful? Kim Soleum saved him back then, didn’t he? What was he even frustrated about??
“It was more interesting.” Kim Soleum answered blandly, his emotions wearing thin.
“Stop lying, I know that wasn’t it.” Baek Saheon crept closer and Kim Soleum suppressed a sigh.
“Baek Saheon, did you forget that it wasn’t your business?”
“Well, it was! It was involving me.”
There were only a few steps left between them now, Baek Saheon’s emotion was wild, and Kim Soleum had had enough of the onslaught of pheromones barraging at him for the day.
“Not everything revolves around you. And I said control your pheromones!”
Kim Soleum was going to drown in the damn cedar wood. Now that he knew scarring him emotionally was not working, he was aggravated enough to resort to fistfight him.
“Ah, is it bothering you?” Like a flipped switch, Baek Saheon was suddenly devoid of frustration, his voice dipped lower.
Of fucking course, it was bothering him. Baek Saheon was being an idiot on purpose.
“Do not test me, Baek Saheon.” Kim Soleum looked at him directly in the eyes, uttering the words out slowly.
Baek Saheon obediently took a step back. He looked back at him briefly before averting his eye elsewhere. His pheromones reproached back with him, and Kim Soleum could finally take a full breath.
As he stepped back into his room, one thing was being cleared from the interaction.
Kim Soleum let out a sigh, feeling the beginning of a headache.
His bluff on his crazed act was not working anymore.