Hero Hunter is on Parental Leave C3

Chapter 3

“Who am I…?”

The words left Yeongung’s lips, followed by a hollow laugh that spilled out uncontrollably.

“Ha—!”

Hearing a line straight out of a cheap soap opera right in front of him was so absurd that he almost couldn’t process it. The hours he’d spent agonizing the night before—how to reveal the pregnancy, what to say if Iheun refused to listen, what final card to play if persuasion failed—all of it suddenly seemed idiotic.

In all the countless simulations he had run through in his head, not once had he imagined this: that Won Iheun would wake up and not recognize him at all.

But unlike Yeongung, whose expression betrayed his shock, Iheun remained utterly composed. He looked to Hamgyeol and said with that same faint, teasing smile Yeongung knew too well,

“Our dear defective Hamgyeol. Your security’s a disaster, huh?”

That playful tone that pricked nerves with a smile—yes, this was undoubtedly the same Won Iheun he knew.

“Yeah, it’s definitely the same bastard,” Yeongung muttered under his breath.

Looking deeply troubled, Sanghee rubbed the back of his neck and pointed at his own head to explain Iheun’s condition.

“Yeongung-hyung, you must be shocked. The Master’s recovery rate was monstrous—his body’s completely healed. But… his mind’s a bit…”

The mention of Yeongung’s name made Iheun glance up immediately.

“You’re Hunter Yeongung?”

And that was when Yeongung realized the strange, uncomfortable feeling that had been bothering him since earlier. Iheun remembered Hamgyeol and Sanghee perfectly—but treated him as though they were strangers.

When Yeongung’s sharp gaze demanded an explanation, Sanghee winced and groaned.

“The doctor said it’s partial amnesia. The problem is… he remembers everything—except you. Like someone cut you out of his memory with scissors.”

“Cut the bullshit. That’s not funny.”

The corners of Yeongung’s mouth twitched as he forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Yet the innocent expression that surfaced on Iheun’s flawlessly beautiful face seemed to confirm his sincerity.

Damn it. The bastard really had forgotten only him.

The pregnancy and everything else were momentarily forgotten as anger flared inside Yeongung, raw and blazing. Unrequited love or not, this was too much.

He had stayed by Iheun’s side for years—how many Gates had they destroyed together? How many nights had they spent tangled in sheets? Even if Iheun had never returned his feelings, Yeongung had still been a constant presence in his life.

And now? What—he’d just cut him out of his mind?

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me—!”

The “idiot duo,” Hamgyeol and Sanghee, both lunged forward and grabbed one of Yeongung’s arms each before he could explode.

“Deputy Master, please calm down! You know how foul his mouth gets—it’s not new!”

“Hyung, he might’ve escaped death, but manners don’t resurrect, you know?”

Even as they restrained him, the two couldn’t resist bad-mouthing Iheun under their breath.

“Let go—!”

“Hyung, he looks fine, but he’s still a patient! He just woke up!”

“Please, don’t use your skills—!”

Hamgyeol’s pleading eyes looked like a sad puppy’s, and Yeongung finally sighed and released his mana. The guy was huge, but when he whined like that, it was hard to stay angry. Besides, Yeongung did owe him.

Recently, he had been absent from the office, cleaning up the remaining debris of the destroyed Gate. Technically, any low-ranking guild member could’ve handled the job, while the mountain of administrative work should’ve fallen to him as deputy guild master.

But he couldn’t stand to see Iheun lying there, half-dead because of him. So he had delegated the paperwork to the ever-efficient Hamgyeol and buried himself in fieldwork instead.

Sitting still in the office only invited bad thoughts—What if Iheun never wakes up?—and it became impossible to focus. Physical labor was the only way to silence his mind.

Knowing how hard Hamgyeol had worked to cover for him, he felt genuinely sorry.

“You did well,” he said, his voice warm—a rare thing for him.

Hamgyeol’s eyes welled with tears at the unexpected praise.

“Do something about that ridiculous size of yours,” Yeongung said with a faint grin, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

The taller man bent his head down obediently, and Yeongung ran his fingers through the soft, brown curls. With his massive build, he was more bear than dog, but his fluffy hair felt just the same.

The gesture came so naturally, as if it were something they did all the time. Hamgyeol let out a foolish giggle, eyes crinkling.

Feeling left out, Sanghee sulked and stepped closer, thrusting his head between them.

“Hey, Yeongung-hyung! Don’t play favorites! I had it rough too, you know. Dealing with all those old farts wasn’t easy!”

As the three stood clustered together, Won Iheun—who had been silently watching from where he leaned against the wall—finally spoke, his tone sharp and displeased.

“Step away.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“⋯?”

Three pairs of round eyes turned to him in confusion.

“I said, step away. Now.”

The cold edge in his voice made Yeongung’s shoulders tremble slightly.

What was he even looking at? His arm? No—the man’s icy gaze was fixed precisely on the spots where the “idiot duo’s” hands still rested against Yeongung’s arms, as though ready to burn holes through them.

Bang—!

Without warning, Iheun used his telekinesis to hurl both Hamgyeol and Sanghee against the wall. The reinforced walls of the Hunter hospital barely dented, but the two men groaned loudly from the impact.

Iheun, however, didn’t even glance their way. His eyes stayed locked on Yeongung.

Even after Yeongung obediently stepped back to put distance between them, that fierce glare didn’t soften.

Then, slowly, Iheun took a few steps closer—and suddenly pinched his nose, as though catching a foul stench on the street.

“Ugh, what the hell is that smell…? You’re not regulating your pheromones? What are you, a dog in heat?”

Startled, Yeongung instinctively covered the gland at his neck with one hand. That meaningless gesture only made Iheun’s brows furrow deeper.

“Walking around leaking pheromones during heat season… you’re clearly out of your mind.”

Who the hell could even smell a hyper-reactive Omega’s pheromones? They were almost nonexistent! Yeongung just stared, dumbfounded.

Was every dominant Alpha born with a nose like this?

He’d never met another of Iheun’s kind to compare—an ultra-dominant Alpha, one in ten thousand—but he knew this much: Iheun was unnaturally sensitive to his pheromones.

After all, he had been the only one to ever notice Yeongung’s true nature.

“I guess you’ll take any cock that’s offered, huh?”

Iheun’s next words dripped venom. His eyes gleamed with open disgust, as though he were staring at a street whore.

At that, the mana around Yeongung began to gather again, trembling with barely contained fury. He held himself back only for the sake of the two younger guildmates who were still sprawled on the floor.

Then, Sanghee—who had always believed Yeongung was an Alpha—spoke up, confusion written all over his face.

“Hyung, what are you talking about? There’s no Omega here. You, Yeongung-hyung, and me—we’re all Alphas. Hamgyeol’s the only Beta.”

They were good kids, loyal and discreet, so he didn’t worry about secrets spreading. But seeing Sanghee’s confident expression somehow made his chest tighten painfully.

His throat ached, and his empty stomach churned. He pressed a hand to his neck, swallowing hard. The doctor’s words from the day before echoed faintly in his mind:

‘Because of hormonal changes, you’ll get tired easily, and your emotions may fluctuate more than usual.’

Ever since learning about the pregnancy, his body had been acting differently—weak, fatigued, easily overwhelmed. A wave of dizziness washed over him, and he shut his eyes for a moment.

Deprived of sight, his heightened senses sharpened—and all of them locked onto Won Iheun.

The Alpha’s pheromones rolled through the room—deep and heavy, like a forest after rain. As Yeongung inhaled, his nausea ebbed away, replaced by a strange calm.

When he opened his eyes again, he spoke quietly to Hamgyeol and Sanghee.

“Could you give us a moment? Just the two of us.”

“Will you be alright alone with him?” Sanghee asked, hesitating.

“I’ll be fine, idiot.”

Iheun’s sharp eyes followed Yeongung’s hand as he lightly patted Sanghee’s back—tracking every motion, every touch.

The two guild members finally left, though they kept glancing back anxiously until the door clicked shut behind them.

Clack—

The room fell silent.

“Won Iheun.”

“⋯.”

Yeongung reached out, grabbing the collar of Iheun’s hospital gown. Looking up at him, he realized again that the man was just one hand’s span taller than he was. His soft bangs brushed lightly against Iheun’s straight, proud nose.

The closer they stood, the more Yeongung’s pheromones spilled over, a natural reaction to being near his Alpha. It was beyond his control—his body responded instinctively, the air thickening with the faint, charged scent.

Iheun flinched, covering his face with one large hand. The tips of his pale ears turned crimson, like petals touched by flame.

What’s wrong with him now? Is he still not fully recovered?

Though concern flickered through Yeongung’s mind, the words that came out of his mouth were blunt as ever.

“You call me a slut, and now you’ve got nothing to say?”

He grasped Iheun’s sharp jaw and turned his face toward him, forcing eye contact.

Their gazes met—light brown against cool gray—and Yeongung said clearly,

“Take responsibility.”

…And just like that, he dropped a bomb.