Reunion pt.4

While suddenly vomiting blood, Radel coughed three or four times. Each time he deeply furrowed his brow in severe pain.

The dark red blood that fell out stained Radel’s mouth and chest, and even pooled a little on the floor. At the reaction as if he had drunk a bowl of poison, In-woo panicked and unconsciously stepped back.

“What, what is this?”

“It’s nothing…”

“You’re spewing toxic substances in someone else’s house and say it’s nothing?”

“In-woo, hey…”

Radel looked up at In-woo with sorrowful eyes while deeply furrowing his brow. Though he himself had said his species’ blood was like poison to humans, he seemed upset at it being called toxic substances.

Anyway, the scolding was effective. Radel took out a handkerchief from his chest and wiped the blood splattered on his mouth and chest, then covered the blood that had fallen on the floor. Though it wasn’t clear what technology was in the handkerchief, it absorbed all the blood as if sucking it up and became clean. Radel again carefully pushed the now bright red handkerchief back into his chest.

“It’s clean now.”

“Yeah.”

“…”

As if wanting to be asked more, a sharp gaze kept pricking at In-woo. What an annoying bastard. Though In-woo cursed internally, he was unbearably curious inside so he pretended to give in and opened his mouth.

“Why are you suddenly vomiting blood?”

“…Just, a bit.”

“Don’t make me ask multiple times. What is it?”

“Just… it’s like a backlash that occurs when an imprinted partner excessively rejects me.”

Hearing the word imprint, the first thing that came to mind was the phenomenon where birds think the first thing they see after hatching is their mother. But there’s no way a thousand-year-old geezer would suddenly see Kim In-woo as a parent, so it must be something else.

Kim In-woo threw a reluctant question at Radel who was again looking at him with eyes hoping to be asked directly.

“You mean I’m your imprinted partner?”

“Yes.”

“So what is that?”

“Hmm.”

Though he had wanted to be asked, Radel stalled. After slowly organizing his thoughts, Radel watched In-woo’s reaction as he answered.

“In Arkea, there’s something called alpha or omega, like a kind of secondary gender classification… Alphas and omegas have their own characteristics but that’s not really important, um… When an alpha or omega considers someone their one and only mate for life, they become imprinted to only respond to that person’s pheromones.”

In-woo frowned reluctantly. Just what was he saying, he understood it in his head but couldn’t quite accept it.

“What’s pheromones now? I’ve never responded to anything like that.”

“Of course you don’t respond to pheromones since you’re a beta without a secondary s*x… Actually, imprinting on a beta is extremely rare to begin with.”

“Then why did you do that to me? I have nothing to do with any of that weird stuff.”

Kim In-woo is a normal human, and has no connection whatsoever to the concepts of alpha or omega that he’s hearing for the first time. At the reproachful gaze, Radel lowered his head.

“It wasn’t by my will. Just because I like you so much…”

“…”

“Because I have no one but you. From now on too…”

It was a desperate confession. Though wiped with a handkerchief, his pale white cheeks with spots of remaining blood looked pitiful. Even more so combined with the sculpture-like handsome man who seemed far removed from any kind of frailty. If the recipient wasn’t Kim In-woo, it would be beautiful enough to make anyone want to accept. In-woo savored the particularly pitiful confession.

“So because I’m your imprinted partner, just the fact that I reject you makes you vomit blood?”

“Yes. Since it hasn’t been just one or two days of rejection… My condition has been bad for the past year, and recently it got worse due to certain circumstances.”

Radel, who hadn’t even screamed once when stabbed in the stomach, looked quite pained while forcefully vomiting blood. It must have been no ordinary pain to endure for a year. In-woo just found Radel foolishly persistent.

“If it’s that bad, just imprint on someone else. Get that imprint removal surgery or whatever.”

“…Actually, cases of getting imprint removal surgery are extremely rare. Usually when rejected by their imprint partner, they die from depression or suicide.”

A desperately intense gaze was directed at In-woo. In-woo unconsciously swallowed hard. It could be a lie but… it didn’t seem like he was lying.

In that moment, what In-woo felt was a sense of achievement at victory.

To think Radel had imprinted on what he considered a mere inferior being, a pet. Though In-woo had thought he would easily find a new partner when he died, if those words were true, Radel would die just like that.

Next came a wave of regret.

He should have made the decision to die earlier, or at least stabbed himself. He had wanted to see Radel crying his heart out in front of his corpse. But… if he died he wouldn’t be able to see that sight either. How truly regrettable…

“…Kim In-woo.”

Perhaps sensing the uneasy atmosphere, Radel called out to In-woo.

“What.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m thinking how horrific it is that you imprinted or whatever on me.”

While feeling elation, In-woo said the opposite. Radel slowly chewed on In-woo’s words.

“Horrific…”

The expression gradually faded from Radel’s face as he murmured gloomily. It wasn’t a very good sign.

The Arkean depression. When extremely depressed, Radel tends to act out violently instead. Like when he casually killed his own kind, and when he casually peered into Kim In-woo’s inner thoughts.

Though he had been acting confident until now, his hands trembled with fear. Though Radel was lowering himself now, fundamentally he was far superior to Kim In-woo. Just as a carnivore playing with an herbivore doesn’t actually become weaker than the herbivore.

His hands trembled finely. There was a limit to bravado. Before In-woo could hide his own agitation first, Radel noticed In-woo’s fear. He gave a hollow laugh at the trembling reaction to him.

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.”

“Don’t lie.”

If things go slightly wrong, Radel will once again rummage through In-woo’s mind and look for ways to subjugate him. They’ve seen each other’s rock bottom. Having fallen once to the worst, the second time would be easier.