"So you're a virgin?" asked Yoo Jin with a curious look upon his face. He couldn't believe it after all the posturing the guy did, saying that he wouldn't get a better offer. Of course, Yoo Jin had guessed that he hadn't necessarily been talking about his skills in bed. "Wow, an alpha of your level and your age– I think I remember hearing on the news that you were twenty three."
Tae Hyun glared at him. "What does that matter?"
He shrugged. "It's just unheard of. Even the doctor had said that no alpha here is a virgin, wait – so I'm guessing your pheromone insensitivity is the reason why you were able to become a wizard in the first place despite still being a virgin."
A touch of pink tinged the alpha's cheeks and Yoo Jin found that he enjoyed teasing him.
"You said you can't get this up because I am not your fated mate," he said with a sly smirk, pointing at the alpha's pintle, hidden beneath a pair of silk pajama pants. "But are you sure it's not because you're nervous since you're still a virgin?"
"Wha–" said the alpha startled, his eyes wide when Yoo Jin suddenly sat down on his lap. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to help you," he said, trying hard not to laugh. It was fun teasing the alpha now that he felt relaxed. If Tae Hyun couldn't get it up for him then his ass was safe for another day. He moved his hips slightly back and forth but then suddenly felt something... hard poking him from behind.
His eyes widened and he jumped off as though scalded. He looked down and suddenly paled. A massive tent pointed right back up at him.
A virgin, that was what he had said, right? But a virgin that big. He gulped and suddenly gripped his bottom in his hands, his fingers digging into the flesh as his mind again wandered into his horrifying imaginings. A virgin with such a weapon... His ass would have been destroyed.
"What the –," he said, his voice shaking slightly in panic. "You said you couldn't get it up!"
The alpha groaned in embarrassment. "Of course, it'll get hard if you rub it!"
Yoo Jin took a few steps back. "I don't – I don't know if I can do it with a... it's like an anaconda...."
"It's because you kept rubbing against me!" Tae Hyun protested. "Just give me a minute, it'll go back down."
Yoo Jin was too busy being relieved to see the tent shrinking to be irritated at his words.
"See," he said, his face still flushed with embarrassment. "I wasn't hard because of you, it's a natural reaction to the friction. Anyways as soon as we started, it would have likely gone soft on its own. Like I said, I don't think I can do it if not with my fated mate."
"Then why did you even make this deal with me in the first place?"
"I thought I could do it but it's no use. Even the thought of having sex with you makes me ill."
Yoo Jin rolled his eyes but let the comment go. "Okay, fine. I think we can both agree that sex is no longer on the table so then what do we do? You still need mana stabilization and I still need money and a way into the Academy."
Tae Hyun looked at him for a moment. "I still plan to compensate you for the attempt."
Yoo Jin's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected such gallantry from him. Or perhaps it was naivety. He felt bad for a second even thinking about taking the offer with a failed attempt. He took a deep breath, hesitating, his mind yelling at him for even considering it, and started to pull down his boxers. "Then let's try to–."
But the alpha, startled, suddenly took his hands in his and yanked his underwear back up. "Like I said, it would be impossible. I'm entirely soft now and, though I thought it was impossible, I'm even softer."
Yoo Jin stared at him for a moment. This alpha really did not care at all if he insulted him. Then he laughed, releasing his thumbs from the waistband. Perhaps he was going crazy because he was slowly getting used to the way the alpha spoke to him. "Alright, then what do we do? I can't just accept all that and not even try to help you," he said, still chuckling.
Yoo Jin could almost see the gears in his head turning as the alpha stared at him.
"Just pour your pheromones on me."
Yoo Jin opened his mouth and then closed it a moment after. A 'pheromone pour' was something that pairs did in emergency situations when an omega's heat needed to be calmed temporarily during a situation where intercourse was impossible. But it was usually performed by the alpha, it was also temporary and for many, didn't do much to stave off the heat symptoms. "You think it'll work for this?"
"Perhaps," said the alpha slowly. "Mana isn't exactly the same as heats but since pheromones are a necessary ingredient in both situations, we might as well try it." He arched a brow and gave him a look, "Unless you'd prefer to attempt intercourse."
Of course not, he was certain he would die if they even tried. "Okay," he said as he moved forward until he once again stood before him. He paused, standing awkwardly, unsure of exactly how he was supposed to go about it.
"Hurry up," said Tae Hyun and Yoo Jin glared.
"It isn't as if I can help it. I've never done one before."
"It doesn't take a genius, just let your pheromones out on me."
"Omegas don't normally do that!"
"Here!" Tae Hyun took his hand and yanked him forward until Yoo Jin was again between his legs, nearly pressed up against him. He placed Yoo Jin's hands on his shoulders. "Just relax," he said, his tone suddenly calm. "And release them."
Yoo Jin looked down. The alpha was staring up at him, his expression one of serious concentration. And for a moment, Yoo Jin could see his youth. Twenty four, a high level alpha, a distinguished wizard, a virgin who is saving himself for his fated mate and yet having no choice but to obtain pheromones from someone he didn't even like or respect.
Yoo Jin paused. Did he suddenly find him pitiful? Omegas everywhere were put into that position every day, having to find mates against their will because of their pheromones. So did one alpha experiencing the same but due to a different reason cause enough for him to pity him?
He was certainly naive to believe in waiting for his fated mate when such a small percentage of the global population ever came across them. But that mentality did make him a bit more tolerable, now all Yoo Jin saw when looking at this alpha was a naive boy, whose perception of reality was horribly skewed. He was funny though he didn't mean to be and strangely honorable, promising to give him compensation despite the fact that sex was no longer an option between them.
Yoo Jin suddenly shrugged to himself. Eh, he supposed that this alpha wasn't so bad.
Tae Hyun's brow rose and looked at him in obvious confusion. "What are you doing?"
Yoo Jin laughed, he looked so serious. "I'm going to try now," he said, focusing his body on the task but he had never purposely let out his pheromones before...
"You look constipated," said the alpha looking up at him with an even more confused expression.
Yoo Jin laughed again. He didn't doubt it. "Alright, let me try again." He relaxed his face and then his shoulders, his chest, stomach, then his extremities, and closed his eyes. He had read once in those health textbooks about how alpha released their pheromones by concentrating on certain key parts of their body and so Yoo Jin did the same.
"I can smell something," said Tae Hyun and Yoo Jin opened his eyes.
The alpha's face was scrunched up. "Your pheromones stink."
Yoo Jin didn't respond, instead rolling his eyes and strengthening his focus. Just deal with it.
It felt as though the pheromones were mostly pouring into the room as opposed to directly onto Tae Hyun and so he leaned forward and roughly embraced him, surrounding the alpha in his pheromones.
Tae Hyun jerked slightly in his arms but remained still when several minutes later, he pushed him away. "I think that's enough for now," he said.
Yoo Jin wasn't entirely certain that he could stop them but he didn't mind the matter, thinking that the pheromones would cease eventually.
Tae Hyun stood. "Let's determine if that worked."
Yoo Jin watched him, wondering if he would again exhibit some ridiculous act like the one in Liam's office but instead of an overly dramatic display, he merely raised his right hand and flicked his wrist. Almost immediately, a small purple swirling form appeared in front of him and Yoo Jin watched as the alpha placed his hand into it and pulled out a large, wide, black sword, free of all embellishment except at the end of the hilt, which looked like a flat stylized flower.
"Finally," he said as he pulled the sword in front of him, holding it at an angle parallel to the ground.
"What?" said Yoo Jin, his mouth open in shock. "How–"
"It's a mana pocket or mana purse," he explained without looking at him, his eyes still on his sword, as though examining each and every groove. "You'll learn how to create one yourself when you become a student."
"That was a lot more impressive than the moving chair."
The alpha looked at him and smirked. "I had told you, hadn't I? It was simply because my mana control was incredibly weak then, I was forced to use those meager methods."
Yoo Jin took a step forward, still in nothing but his underwear, until he stood only a few inches from Tae Hyun and his sword. "So, what is this? Your weapon?" he said, peering up at it, tugging on Tae Hyun's hands until he brought it down to his eye level.
"My sword," he replied. "It's called an ingeom."
"Ingeom?" Yoo Jin scrunched up his nose. "I think I heard of that in a video game somewhere."
Tae Hyun rolled his eyes. "Apparently you don't know our history. It's known as the 'Tiger Sword' but unlike those of our history, this is not purely for decoration." He then lifted it away from Yoo Jin who was trying to touch the object in question. "This is how I channel my mana."
"Hey," he said, excitedly. "Can you show it to me?"
Tae Hyun looked at him as though an annoying pest. "No."
"Come on," replied Yoo Jin unfazed, grabbing at the arm that still held the sword. "You can redeem yourself for that pathetic display earlier in Liam's office."
A light tinge of pinks suddenly colored his cheek. "It wasn't pathetic."
"Yeah, it was," said Yoo Jin with a laugh. "You were all like–" he then proceeded to imitate his motions, slamming his hands down onto the ground like a posturing gorilla. He looked up to see that the blush had deepened.
"Fine," said Tae Hyun, his face flushed with embarrassment and annoyance. "But that is not what I looked like."
Yoo Jin laughed, "Okay, we can talk about that later. I'd rather you prove to me that you can look cool while wielding that weapon."
Irritated, Tae Hyun pushed Yoo Jin back until he stood at the far corner of the room. "I am only going to do this once so you better watch closely."
Yoo Jin nodded, his eyes wide.
Tae Hyun placed his sword at a high ninety degree angle above his head, his other arm placed in a defensive position in front of his chest. He then swung the sword down powerfully.
A single swipe, that was all he did. A bright purple light followed the procession of the blade. And before Yoo Jin knew it, the light swirled about itself, forming a vortex in the middle of the room.
A moment later the light settled and dissipated before revealing a small curled up black form in the middle of where the vortex had been a second ago.
Yoo Jin blinked, his vision having been affected by the bright light and then took a step forward toward the black form, transfixed.
When he was about two feet or so away, the figure unfurled itself to reveal...
"A cat?" he whispered.
The cat turned to look at him, his gaze haughty and proud. It looked strangely familiar.
It then about-faced and met Tae Hyun's eyes. The alpha bent down onto one knee and presented a finger to which the cat stared for a long moment.
"My apologies, it'll never happen again," Tae Hyun said softly.
Then finally, the cat reached forward and touched its nose to the extended finger before leaping onto his shoulder and curling its tail about his neck.
Tae Hyun stood and faced Yoo Jin again. "I can tell by your face that you are impressed," he said in obvious self-satisfaction.
"You bet I am," said Yoo Jin, who then bounded forward still in just his boxers. "What are you?" he said to the cat.
Tae Hyun gave him a look. "It won't speak to you. It is my familiar." And added upon seeing the expression on Yoo Jin's face, "A creature summoned by magic and tied to my ingeom."
"Is this something that I will be able to do?"
Tae Hyun scoffed. "It is highly unlikely as it is one of the most difficult classes to achieve."
But Yoo Jin seemed unfazed. "What class is that?"
Tae Hyun stared down at him as did the cat and for a moment, Yoo Jin swore that they looked exactly the same.
"The summoner class, of course."