“Jun-ah, you should have called me the moment Yeonsu was like this!”

Jihee-noona scolded Kim Jun.

“Sorry... I thought he was just tired. I’m a beta, so I can’t smell pheromones...”

Even in the middle of my confusion, his flustered voice cut through.

“Who doesn’t know that? Even without pheromones, if someone’s running a fever like this—”

“Jun-ah, you’re a beta?”

“Huh?”

Kim Jun, in the middle of talking to Jihee-noona, turned to look at me.

“I asked if you’re a beta.”

“Yes.”

He nodded without the slightest hesitation.

“You’re really a beta?”

“Yes.”

“Since when?”

“Well... since birth, obviously...”

He trailed off awkwardly, not because he was hiding being an omega, but because I’d asked something so obvious that it threw him off.

“Yeonsu, why are you acting like you didn’t know Jun was a beta? You must be delirious from the fever. We need to get you to the hospital right away.”

Jihee-noona had apparently decided I was spouting nonsense.

She was an omega, and sensitive to pheromones. She’d also been around Kim Jun a lot since last semester. And she was calling him a beta. That meant she wasn’t covering for him—Kim Jun really was a beta.

What was going on?

In the original, Kim Jun was an omega and Lee Yeonsu was a beta. Why had our traits changed?

“Lee Yeonsu, get on my back.”

“No, it’s fine—”

Kang Inho moved to carry me, but I shook my head.

I had to find Park Geonwoo. I had to ask him about Joo Junghan and Joo Taehan... I had to—

But my vision swam against my will, and the world tilted.

***

When I opened my eyes, a white ceiling swam into view.

Where was I? My eyelids blinked slowly, and I saw a man sitting with his head bowed.

“Seunghyuk...?”

Of course I thought it was Joo Seunghyuk. He was the only one who would be sitting at my bedside.

But the moment I saw the sharp eyes behind glasses, the smile lingering on my lips faded.

“You’re awake?”

“Inho...”

“Wow, you’re not even trying to hide your disappointment.”

“Did I...?”

“Yeah.”

“...Where am I?”

I’d been on my way to find Park Geonwoo. So why was I lying in some place I’d never seen before? 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“A hospital near the school. You collapsed, so I brought you here. I thought about the infirmary, but reporters can get in there.”

There were a lot of reporters at the Academy today. Even with restricted access points, if they heard I’d collapsed, they’d ignore every rule and swarm in.

“I see. Thanks.”

“I just did what I was supposed to.”

Probably something Seunghyuk had asked of him. I’d barely begun to picture his face again when the door opened and a doctor and nurse came in.

“Lee Yeonsu-ssi, you’re awake.”

“He just woke up,” Kang Inho answered for me. The doctor stepped up to my side.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better than before. Still a little nauseous, though.”

“When did this start?”

“This morning.”

“Any other symptoms?”

“Dizziness, a strange foul smell... then suddenly I got a fever and chills, like the flu.”

“Manifestation fever has similar symptoms to a cold or flu.”

“I... really manifested?”

“Yes. You’ve manifested as an omega.”

So it was true. I’d really manifested—into an omega.

I’d half expected it after Jihee-noona’s comment, but hearing it from the doctor made it real.

“Congratulations, Guide Lee Yeonsu.”

The doctor smiled—not at a patient, but at a fellow ability-user.

It was rare, but sometimes non-ability users manifested. I’d heard that in such cases, a lot of people actually felt discouraged.

But most ability-users rejoiced. Manifestation brought a mana boost like reawakening. And an omega or alpha stood higher in social value than a beta.

The old me probably wouldn’t have been happy about it. ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) The disadvantages—living with pheromones for life—would have outweighed any benefits. I might have even been irritated at his congratulations.

But now was different.

“Thank you.”

I was purely glad. I could finally smell Seunghyuk’s pheromones. I could feel everything of him.

“Your manifestation fever will continue for now. The fever will spike and drop, and you’ll feel headaches, dizziness, and nausea.”

“How long will it last?”

“Usually three or four days, but it could be longer. Please make sure to eat, even if it’s hard.”

“I see... Then when can I be discharged?”

“You could leave now, but I recommend staying until the fever subsides. Since your manifestation is late, the pain will be worse, and the fever might last longer. And since you’re already awakened, the manifestation will cause a sharp mana increase. As an S-rank, your rise will be steep. It’s best to be monitored in the hospital.”

“I’ll leave.”

I’d heard enough about manifestation fever before.

It came with intense pain from both the change and the mana surge, but in the end, you had to endure it alone.

There was no special medication except fever reducers, so staying in the hospital wouldn’t help much.

Even now, the doctor hadn’t offered any active treatment—just observation.

So I’d rather go home. In fact, even if staying would help, I still had to go.

“Yeonsu, just stay here.”

Inho tried to stop me, but I shook my head firmly.

“No. I’m going. I have to.”

I’d manifested as an omega instead of the original beta. Kim Jun was a beta now. And Joo Taehan, who in the novel had been a powerless D-rank Esper, had reawakened as an S-rank.

It wasn’t just the story flow—people’s innate traits and ranks had changed. And I thought I knew why.

If I was right, there would be proof in Joo Seunghyuk’s home. I had to go back.

***

In the end, Kang Inho let me have my way.

He probably knew there was nothing to do for manifestation fever but endure it.

The hospital gave me a pamphlet on manifestation precautions and a prescription for fever reducers.

Because manifestation usually happened in the mid-to-late teens, the cover illustration showed a boy and girl in school uniforms.

To think I’d actually manifest now... I was happy about being able to sense Seunghyuk’s pheromones, but before I could indulge in that, I had work to do.

The fact that I’d manifested meant the original Lee Yeonsu’s body had been capable of it too. But he’d died the next year without ever doing so—despite his desperate efforts.

And those efforts had been suspicious.

In Guide’s Swamp, Joo Junghan, pitying Yeonsu, had given him a special Red Lotus Flame in the form of medicine—surely the special variety from Abite Island. In the original, both Abite Island and its special Red Lotus Flame would have been under his control.

But the medicine had done nothing, and Yeonsu had fallen into despair again.

What if, instead of helping, the medicine had blocked his manifestation?

Joo Kyungchan’s research notes at the Abite Island villa said that while experiments to induce manifestation in betas had little success, side effects like pheromone loss in alphas and omegas were common.

Foreign research had also shown that taking Red Lotus Flame could reduce omega and alpha pheromone levels to beta range.

By now, it was fair to say its effect was to lower mana, lower matching rates, and erase pheromones.

And if Red Lotus Flame could harm in the past, then with special Red Lotus Flame, producing such effects would be even easier.

If Joo Junghan had wanted, he could have made a drug to block manifestation.

And loss of taste was another known side effect of such experiments.

The original Yeonsu had liked the Lambert restaurant in the Shinjeong Hotel—but the food there had been atrocious, beyond “hit or miss,” so bad it had no customers.

What if that, too, had been a symptom of drug-induced taste loss?

Joo Junghan could have given Yeonsu a manifestation-blocking drug, and the taste loss had been a side effect.

Of course, this might just be wild speculation. But it wasn’t the only strange thing.

The original Seunghyuk had found Yeonsu’s mana disgusting, and their matching rate had kept dropping. That much could happen. Matching rates changed for many reasons, and in the novel, the two of them were fundamentally incompatible.

But despite finding Yeonsu’s mana so distasteful, he’d rated Aaron’s mana as “decent.”

If Aaron had been using Dust—whether in the original or now—that was suspicious.

In the present, Seunghyuk could tell Aaron was on Dust from the barest touch. But in the original, he’d guided with him many times without noticing, and had even called his mana decent.

When I’d learned Aaron was a Dust addict, I’d thought that odd—but I’d brushed it off, since so many things from the original had already changed.

Now, thinking Joo Junghan might have used illegal drugs, it felt different.

What if the falling matching rate between the original Seunghyuk and Yeonsu, and Seunghyuk’s failure to detect Aaron’s Dust use, were connected?

Joo Junghan might not only have blocked Yeonsu’s manifestation, but also given both him and Seunghyuk drugs to lower their matching rate.