L*ck Me If You Can-Chapter 161

He wanted to check it himself, but there was no way to do so. Even knowing it was pointless, Koi still lifted his arm to his nose, but quickly straightened up with an embarrassed expression. Watching him, Ariel spoke up.

“That scent you mentioned—if it’s real, doesn’t it totally sound like Omega pheromones?”

“Omega pheromones?”

“Yeah.”

Ariel nodded.

“Omega pheromones are known for breaking down a person’s guard and creating feelings of affection. The stronger the scent, the stronger the sexual pull. That’s why it gets dangerous during a heat cycle. Not only does the Omega go into heat, but the scent becomes strong enough to tempt even Betas. And Alphas, well, they just go crazy.”

“I-I see.”

Like Ariel, Koi had received basic sex ed at school, but since the topic of traits didn’t seem to apply to him, he didn’t remember much.

Elle’s a journalist, so of course she knows a lot more.

As he listened in silence, Ariel furrowed her brows and murmured to herself like she was recalling something.

“They say that extreme Omegas who can control their pheromones can even manipulate others’ emotions at will...”

Ariel looked at Koi with suspicion in her eyes. He blinked, not grasping the meaning behind her stare, and Ariel soon let out a small laugh and shook her head.

“No way. We’re past the age of manifestation, and if you had mutated from suppressant drugs, your pheromones would be detectable—but you don’t give off any scent at all.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

Ariel answered without hesitation.

“There’s an Omega at my workplace. I know what pheromones smell like. You don’t smell like anything.”

Of course not.

Koi closed his mouth, feeling a little embarrassed. If he could have manifested, it would’ve happened a long time ago. He’d had plenty of chances. He’d been exposed to the pheromones of countless extreme Alphas and still hadn’t manifested. To suddenly mutate now made no sense. Watching him, Ariel rested her chin in her hand, deep in thought.

She’d never heard of someone mutating into an extreme Omega...

But extreme Omegas were exceptions to all the usual genetic rules. It was as if they’d been created by the gods to punish arrogant extreme Alphas—mysterious beings by their very existence.

The only ones capable of controlling pheromones by trait were extreme Alphas and extreme Omegas. But unlike extreme Alphas, who showed physical signs, extreme Omegas were nearly indistinguishable from ordinary people. If they consciously suppressed their pheromones, they were indistinguishable from Betas on the outside.

That’s why even a trait test often wouldn’t detect them. Which meant finding an extreme Omega was nearly impossible— 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Unless they revealed themselves.

“...I’m just asking out of curiosity, but were your parents Alphas or Omegas?”

Koi immediately shook his head.

“No, my whole family’s Beta.”

Even if he were an extreme Omega, it could remain hidden for life.

Ariel paused to think. If that’s the case, then the possibility would lie with Koi’s mother—but there was no way to confirm it. It might not have been his mother at all, but someone from a previous generation.

Which, again, was impossible to confirm.

Ariel offered the best guess she could with what she had.

“If you did mutate into an Omega, Ashley would be the only reason. But doesn’t it seem weird for your traits to suddenly manifest now, when nothing happened back in high school?”

Koi nodded in agreement. On top of that, regular Omegas can’t artificially suppress their scent.

Ariel knew just how rare extreme Omegas were. They were on a whole other level from extreme Alphas, who at least appeared in media now and then.

But Koi becoming an extreme Omega? That was ridiculous.

Looking at the classmate seated in front of her, Ariel found herself mentally overlapping his appearance with the traits. She ended up shaking her head. It just didn’t feel real.

More than anything, there was too little evidence to go on. There wasn’t much information on extreme Omegas to begin with, so very little was known. To get any real data, she’d have to go to a species-related organization or a specialized professor, and even then, it was questionable whether they’d share it with Ariel—who, journalist or not, was just an ordinary Beta.

If she were an extreme Alpha, it’d be different.

Extreme Alphas poured massive funding into organizations and research, so the amount of information available to them was on another level. But the only extreme Alpha Ariel could possibly ask for help was the one person she absolutely didn’t want knowing about this situation.

And even if they did a pheromone test now, the results wouldn’t be trustworthy. There was only one sure method.

“If you get a fever again or feel sick like last time, you have to contact me, okay?”

Even while thinking it was an impossible scenario, Ariel still felt uneasy. No matter how much she tried to brush it off, something about that scent, and her coworkers’ reactions, stuck in her mind. Koi didn’t seem like the type to make up such stories, and while he thought it was just a cold, those symptoms were...

Pretty close to manifestation.

Ariel grew serious and added,

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

“Don’t go out late. Always walk on well-lit roads.”

Was she seriously giving warnings like some parent worried about abductions?

Telling a guy bigger than herself to be careful felt absurd, and Ariel suddenly felt drained. Still, it couldn’t be helped. Better safe than sorry.

After getting one last promise from him and handing over the spare key, Ariel left—holding the flowerpot Koi had brought.

Good. It found a nice owner.

Waving toward Ariel and the pot, Koi went home feeling noticeably lighter. Just in case, he took the train, but all that tension was for nothing—no one on the train paid him any mind.

That night, Koi fell asleep peacefully for the first time in a while. But the peace didn’t last long.

*

“Haaah...”

The moment he got home, a long sigh escaped his lips. For over a week now, Koi had been enduring hard labor. One way or another, the other staff were all gone, leaving only the boss and him to run the place.

The boss, who had even offered him money to stay, changed his tune for some reason after the weekend. Koi guessed it was after the scent disappeared, but there was no way to confirm it.

〈There’s so much work, but not a single decent employee.〉

The boss had started swearing more and more under the stress of the mounting workload. With construction delays came complaints from clients, and that pressure rolled downhill straight to Koi. Getting off work on time became impossible, and more and more often he found himself coming home close to midnight.

Still, there was hope. The absent workers would return eventually, and once they did, the overtime would lessen. The real problem was the unpaid wages.

〈We can’t get paid because the jobs aren’t getting done.〉

That was the boss’s excuse, and it had already been nearly two months since Koi had last been paid. With the cost of living skyrocketing, even his savings had started to run dry. He was down to eating one meal a day—a cheap hamburger with a thin patty and water instead of soda. He couldn’t even dream of meeting up with anyone. The money he got from the boss wasn’t even enough to pay his rent.

Eventually, even weekends turned into workdays, and Koi came to a decision. He had endured it all in the hopes of getting his overdue wages, but the money just kept piling up on paper and never into his hands. If this continued, he’d end up homeless.

In times like this, the only option was legal help...

He told his boss he’d quit if the unpaid wages weren’t settled, but even to himself, it didn’t sound very convincing. Filing a lawsuit wasn’t an easy option either. Wasn’t there a simpler way? Lamenting his tiny network, Koi had no choice but to reach out to Ariel.

—Why ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) didn’t you tell me this sooner?

The moment she heard what was going on, Ariel got angry and immediately offered a solution.

—Got it. Just hold on. I’ll introduce you to the best lawyer.

“Thanks, Elle.”

Koi let out a relieved sigh and hung up. Once he got paid, Ariel would be the first person he’d repay. He thought of the members-only restaurant he went to with Ashley just as his phone started ringing. It was an unfamiliar number. Hastily pressing the call button, Koi figured it must be the lawyer Ariel had mentioned.

That was fast—thanks, Elle.

“Yes, this is Connor Niles.”

He answered nervously without meaning to, but on the other end, there was silence. Huh? Spam call? Just as he blinked in confusion, a calm voice came through.

—It’s me, Koi.

In that moment, Koi gasped without realizing it.