Dirty Switch

Ah…
Joo Taehyun squeezed his eyes shut, unable to endure the overwhelming dizziness.
“You mean to tell me… you’ve been treating Taehyun like that this whole time?”
“Chairman, please—if this continues, Madam might collapse again. Let’s step outside for a moment—”
Even though he knew all this commotion was because of him, Taehyun couldn’t say a word to calm his parents down. He couldn’t even move.
If someone were to carefully shatter your heart with their own hands, it would probably feel like this. Like your worn and splintered bones were being driven deep into your core.
The sensation of collapsing inward, slowly, from within.
Maybe this was what people meant when they said their heart was breaking.
“Doctor… could you take my parents out for a moment? It’ll only be a minute...”
Taehyun-ah. Young Master.
Their voices, calling him by name, carried the same metallic note of painful resolve. Like the exhausted sighs of adults watching a child crumble under the weight of unrequited love.
“Just for a second. Please, Dad. If Mom collapses again, then what—what do we do then?”
“I heard that bastard with my own ears just now. And you expect me to walk away?”
“Dad, this is something I have to deal with.”
Despite their concern, Joo Taehyun had no intention of yielding to Seo Baekhan’s words.
“It won’t take long. Just a minute. I mean it.”
He had dismissed Taehyun’s decision—this thing called “divorce”—as if it were nothing. As if his will didn’t matter. So why was he the only one expected to yield?
“Please, Doctor. Now.”
His voice urging the adults out was desperate, but Seo Baekhan, even as the chairman nearly throttled him, looked absurdly calm. President Yoo’s complexion, on the other hand, had turned deathly pale. Alarmed by his wife’s face, the chairman had no choice but to release his grip on Baekhan’s collar.
“I’ll check on Madam and return right away. I need to measure both of your pheromone levels.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
Dr. Woo quickly composed the situation and exited. Through the not-quite-closed door, Taehyun could hear his mother’s anguished sigh and his father’s groan—and that was all it took to completely undo his barely held-together heart.
“……”
At last, they were alone.
Seo Baekhan, who had gone wild in front of Taehyun’s parents just moments ago, now stood silent. His pheromones stirred faintly around them, unreadable, like waves without source or direction.
“Hyung… why are you doing this?”
There was something between them—something no instrument could measure, something only the two of them could feel. And yet, instead of trying to understand each other, they kept slashing and tearing at one another.
“You’re right. I guess I haven’t been acting like myself lately. Even Choi Yeonjun asked me if I liked you.”
As he straightened his disheveled clothes, Baekhan spoke casually, like it was no big deal. Maybe it was because of that nonchalance that Taehyun couldn’t immediately process what he was saying. What? Hyung… what?

“So I said yes. Because I do. If it’s just a matter of whether I like you or not—of course I do. I like you.”
“…Wait, hold on. Hyung.”
“I’ll admit it. When you first proposed to me, I was honestly put off. But… I still agreed. So I must not have hated you all that much.”
Back then, the conditions you listed were certainly attractive. But it wasn’t just because of that that I chose you.
“Like I said, I wasn’t in such a desperate place that I’d ignore all my own preferences and settle for someone just based on a deal.”
“Okay, so what are you saying, exactly? Why come all the way here just to—!”
“It means I like you, too.”
Fingers scented with that rich peach aroma lightly tapped the center of Taehyun’s furrowed brow.
“Though… it’s probably not in the way you wanted. But knowing you, I figured you’d at least want to hear me say that.”
“…Do I really seem like someone who just wanted to hear that?”
Oh… don’t you?
Baekhan looked completely serious.
“Whatever happens with the imprint, I think we can keep sleeping together just fine. Honestly, I want to.”
He let out a short laugh, as if he couldn’t believe the words coming out of his own mouth.
“Even if I go into rut, I won’t sleep with anyone else. We’re imprinted anyway.”
“…”
“So what do you want me to do, then? Just say it. What would make you happy?”
So, in short, it was this.
He didn’t hate Taehyun enough to refuse him. And after watching him struggle so hard not to disappoint, Baekhan figured he might as well give up the spouse title. Then, they slept together—turned out, it wasn’t half bad. And somehow they ended up imprinted, so now he didn’t want to let go.
“…Joo Taehyun?”
It was only when he heard the slight panic in Baekhan’s voice that Taehyun realized he was crying. Even after all this, he still had a heart that could break?
“Taehyun-ah, why are you crying?”
Once he noticed, the tears wouldn’t stop. He didn’t even get a chance to wipe them away. They welled up at his chin and dropped onto the floor in fat, wet splashes.
Why…? You’re seriously asking me why?
“…You shouldn’t have said that to me.”
Taehyun forced his faltering body upright and glared straight at Baekhan.
“Your pheromone levels just dropped—why are they spiking like this all of a sudden?”
The panel Dr. Woo had left on flickered erratically, displaying a sudden, dangerous drop. Deep lines creased between Baekhan’s brows.
“When someone talks to you, you should fucking listen! You say we can’t divorce—so that’s it? You think that’s all this is?! Do you know how hard it was for me to say any of this?!”
“Taehyun, that’s not the issue—”
“Please, just stop!”
Each stuttering phrase carried sobs with it, pathetic and broken beyond control.
Joo Taehyun, having lost the last of his defenses, cried like someone who had been waiting for this moment. Not sobbing out loud, not choking on hiccups—just letting the tears fall, thick and fast.
He’d liked being praised for seeming mature, for not showing emotion. Because he wanted to look good for Baekhan. He’d kept smiling, kept swallowing his tears. So now, he didn’t even know how to cry properly.
“For a second, I thought maybe this was because of the imprint. But if that’s really it… I don’t understand it at all. I’m not that far gone.”
If it was just that sex felt good—if all Baekhan wanted was a body that helped regulate his pheromones until the imprint broke—he could’ve just said so. Why go this far? Why be so cruel?
“Your pheromones make me feel like I’m dying, and my body doesn’t even feel like mine anymore. But that’s it. That’s all it is…”
“Taehyun, deep breaths. Sit down—”
Trying to help him calm down, Baekhan reached for his mouth, but Taehyun shoved him away.
“Stop blaming the fucking imprint. Just tell me why you’re really doing this.”
If it were the usual Baekhan, would he have talked like that in front of Taehyun’s parents? No—he would’ve tried to negotiate politely, reasonably.
In a situation where things didn’t go his way, Baekhan would’ve leaned even harder into logic. He wouldn’t have gotten this furious at the word “divorce.” What he hated most wasn’t the breakup—it was being blindsided in front of everyone.
God… fuck.
Whatever the reason, he wouldn’t have acted like some stranger wearing Baekhan’s skin, spouting nonsense like this.
“Stop using the imprint as an excuse. The truth is… you just don’t want to throw away a convenient little thing who listens to you and sleeps with you /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ now.”
I’d done everything I could to preserve this marriage. Fought tooth and nail to hold onto the title of Seo Baekhan’s legal spouse. But even if I managed to get closer than anyone else had, I was never going to be the same as those people he’d dated before.
That’s why I never hoped for anything more. I would’ve been happy just to be close. Like Choi Yeonjun—a confidant he trusted, someone he could open up to.
That’s all I ever wanted.
What I wanted from Seo Baekhan was so modest. But regardless of what I wanted, he had long since become something far too big for me.
If it were just lust, it would’ve been simple. Desire fades with time. Out of sight, out of mind—there’s a reason people say that.
But Seo Baekhan had become Taehyun’s compass, his guide. He was the one who’d broken Taehyun’s small, sheltered world. The one who made him curious about something bigger.
His first love.
And his unrequited love.
Taehyun had always called him that, not because it defined him perfectly, but because there were no better words. In his personal universe, Seo Baekhan existed under too many names.
Baekhan never made space for him—but he’d never felt resentful. It was lonely. It hurt. But he still followed him quietly. Like a disciple worshipping a god, without ever daring to blame Him.
So when did it all start to feel so hard?
He’d treated the hardship as a given. Thought it was his fate to endure it. Constantly tried to prove his worth. Took pride in being able to read Baekhan better than anyone else.
Not being loved? That was natural. Faith in a god was never supposed to come with reward. What you got was self-reflection—painful, pure, one-sided love.
“Doctor Woo! Please!”
When the colorful graphs suddenly plummeted into a sharp dive, Baekhan finally panicked and shouted.
Taehyun knew something was wrong with his body too, but… he didn’t care anymore. He didn’t want to think about anything.
He couldn’t do this. Not anymore.
“Ah… ngh.”
At that moment, a piercing pain spread through his lower belly—and his knees buckled.