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It's something Gajun noticed, living the same thing over and over again. He doesn't like playing detective, but you just start to notice some things when you kept seeing it.
"I have a hypothesis." He says, watching through the camera of corpses laid on the floor. The cycle shouldn't have made him indifferent over death, but here he is unfazed anyways.
"Another one?" Yeongah looks slightly worried.
"I feel like…" Gajun paused, testing his words, "Pheromones confuses them."
Throughout run, he notices that the students who died first are the betas in Shinhae High. It's not to say that there weren't any alpha or omega victims, but they're a lot uncommon, at least until the betas are (possibly) all dead, and the victims could be no other than the two sub-genders.
That was, of course, other than Gajun.
Gajun, other than his low SPI and his barely useful SP, also presented as a beta. He's average, normal, and painfully ordinary, all multiplied by three. If there's one thing that keeps him alive so far, it's his wits and Sunwoo who's pretty adamant on staying with him.
He had this thought during somewhere in the early loops, where a monster —strangely, just passed by him despite him hiding himself in a locker. It was useless, he knew how sharp these creatures' sense of smell was, and he knew from experience hiding doesn't mask your natural scent as a human, but.
It passed him.
It passed them, to be exact, because Sunwoo's with him.
Gajun, at that time, came to a decision.
"Scent me."
Sunwoo sputtered, cheeks warming up as usual when Gajun approached him a bit too close. "Wuh— what?"
"Scent me." Gajun blankly repeats, pointing at his useless glands, "I'm testing something."
It took… ten whole minutes, to convince Sunwoo to do exactly that. They were safe, no monsters in sight, no students in sight either, what is he so concerned of? Gajun had to quite literally stand up and corner him before Sunwoo finally gave up in his futile resistance.
"A… are you sure?"
"You asked this five times already." Gajun rolled his eyes. He knew scenting is supposed to be an intimate thing you do with close friends, families or even lovers, but as a beta, it just feels like nothing. Ah, maybe it's rude for him to pressure Sunwoo to do this? But he ended up doing it anyway, right? It's not like Gajun's gonna do anything if he refuses. He was about to back out but then Sunwoo's defense crumbled.
"Right." Sunwoo says, sounding strangely flustered. He had his head nestled in the crook of Gajun's neck, his nose pressed against the shorter's skin where his heartbeat is audible, it really can't be more awkward than this. The things Gajun will do for survival… really.
It was, at least… calm. Gajun doesn't feel anything as a beta, but that doesn't mean he can't appreciate stuff like these. Hugs are a very popular thing to do for a reason. There's something nice about being held closely by the first in Shinhae High, a special sort of security blanket.
Sunwoo's pretty warm too, he notices. It's pretty nice.
…is it because he's burning red? Does he have a fever? Sunwoo can't die from a fever, right?
"Sunwoo?" He asks, taking his hand off from lightly caressing Sunwoo's nape. He settles it on Sunwoo's back, where the other was still as stone, breathing but quiet.
"…yeah?" Gajun felt it, the way his lips slightly move. His lips were that close to his neck? That's a bit…
…alright, it is pretty awkward.
"Is it working?" He is a beta anyways, does scenting goes both ways? He doesn't bother paying attention to sub-gender lectures since betas are mostly disregarded.
"Yeah." Sunwoo answers after a pause, "Yeah. You, uh, you smell like me now."
Gajun hums, detaching himself from Sunwoo easily. He wonders what Sunwoo smells like, but whatever it is, it should stick into his body pretty long. But, if not, he can just ask Sunwoo to rescent him again. Maybe Sunwoo's one of those guys who doesn't mind stuff like these. After all, if he's willing to scent someone he's only friends with in first year, surely he does this often?
Anyway. Back to his eleventh run.
"Ah…" Dokyung lets out, seemingly understanding something but also somewhat confused.
"So that's why you always smell like Sunwoo!" Yeongah yells, before clamping her mouth shut. She looked like she unlocked the secret of the universe.
Sunwoo flushed bright red, looking away awkwardly while Gajun just blankly stares at them. Yeah, he asked Sunwoo to scent him during the bus ride. Why? It's better to have extra security right? He's pretty sure the only reason why the fire wolf monster thing didn't jump him was because he was masked with Sunwoo's pheromones, who, by the way, is an alpha with a particularly strong scent from what Gajun heard. Donghoon is an alpha himself, but Gajun also knew he's particularly lacking scent, a genetic problem or whatever, he accidentally overheard it, no wonder the monster locked on Donghoon so fast.
He stood up, dusting his pants. "Alright, considering you're all alphas and omegas, it should be fine. Someone go scent Donghoon though."
The guy blanched, "You can't just say that super casually!"
"No?" Gajun raised an eyebrow, genuinely confused, "I thought you can do this with friends?"
Sunwoo averted his gaze, a sweat sliding down his burning red cheek.
"We all just met… today…" Donghoon mutters, before realizing halfway it couldn't be Gajun's problem. "Agh! Just because you're a beta!"
It's bold of him to think Gajun's gonna care about sub-genders in face of life and death.
"It's kind of funny that you smell like Sunwoo all the time." Yeongah once said, clicking the button in her phone to take pictures mindlessly. "It's like, the complete opposite of you, too!"
"What does he smell like?" It's not important, but he was pretty curious. Sunwoo looked close to dying everytime Gajun asked the other to scent him again, so he didn't want to push his luck to ask stuff like these in case Sunwoo's overloading or something…
"Sunshine?" Yeongah furrows her brows, "I could be biased since I'm an omega, but he smells really nice. Super cozy, I don't know exactly what he smells like though, but I just imagined sunflowers so maybe he does smell like that."
"Huh." Gajun says. It does sound like what Sunwoo's scent could be.
"Which is totally the opposite of you!" Yeongah casually punched his arm, a grin on her face, "Mister doom and gloom, smelling like sunshines and rainbows! Oh, this is hilarious."
"It keeps me safe." Is what Gajun says offhandedly.
He looked back worriedly when Sunwoo accidentally cracked a vase. Oh no, he's getting red again. Is he okay? It's getting concerning. If he can get this red does that mean he has sensitive skin? That can't happen. He'll get injured easier.
Yeongah, watching him fuss over a bleeding finger, only grins knowingly, looking like a cat who just found out there might be a mouse nearby… but won't catch it for now, after all, it's no fun if it's over so quickly.
.
.
.
"Why do you think pheromones mask our presence?" Dokyung finally asked, mustering the courage after a while of searching in silence.
"There's two possible reasons I thought of." Gajun says, "First, since it's been theorized that monsters also have sub-genders, they naturally became wary of alphas, who seems to still be the top of the food chain."
"…ah, why must you word it like that?" Sunwoo mutters sullenly.
"Sorry. I meant every other alphas but you."
"Hey!"
Gajun ignores Donghoon, per usal, "Omegas on the other hand, is again the protected sub-genders, there's a possibility it could trigger protective packs, so they're wary of them too. Betas on the other hand, smells like nothing. So in turn that makes them nice targets."
Yeongah nods carefully, "That makes a lot of sense… what's the other one?"
"Second, it could be that humans have a typical smell of them that alert monsters that they're prey. Pheromones in general though, smells like objects and plants, so that confuses them." Gajun shrugs, "Either way doesn't matter. As long as it works, it works."
"I see." Dokyung hums, "Then wouldn't moving in groups could better confuse them?"
"Theoretically, it could." Gajun admits, "But."
The four waited his response.
"I have my reasons." His fixed his glasses quietly.
Yeongah sighs, "What did I expected? For you to elaborate? Whatever."
Sunwoo laughs awkwardly.
They make a strange group, but it works. Somehow. Two alphas, a beta, and two omegas. The four trying their best to cover up their scentless leader. While Sunwoo's the most potent one, the others are encouraged by Gajun to touch him either way. He doesn't mind, and it also covers him in a safety cloak. He'll do anything to survive, because if he didn't he won't be able to protect Sunwoo.
The first time Yeongah grabbed his arm —before realizing who she's touching and about to beg for forgiveness, he didn't even walk away or say anything about it. He was fine with it. Even asked why she instantly pulled her hands away.
It was… nice! Of course! She's more than happy to be clingy, she likes being clingy! But! Sunwoo!! Please stop glaring at her!!!
('Strange. Why did I feel so uncomfortable?' Sunwoo blinks at her, the red gleam on his eyes gone. Realizing she's sweating bullets, he tried to send her a gentle smile. Didn't work.)