Dirty Switch

DH Group, and Alpha.

If Joo Taehyun were to name the two words that most defined his existence and identity, he would choose those without hesitation.
And yet, just moments ago, Joo Taehyun had made a decision that threw both of those things away.
He had ordered none other than a Switch through a delivery app—specifically, one from the “Dirty” category.

Alright, I’ll deliver it within the hour. You ordered quite a lot, so make sure to tip your delivery guy well :)
It hadn’t been hard to get a hold of the Switch.
These days, people say it’s easy to get drugs even in Korea, and this was the United States. On top of that, Switch wasn’t even illegal here.

Granted, the “Dirty” variants of Switch carried more legal risks and were trickier to acquire, but even that wasn’t hard—one search on a portal site turned up the code phrase used to place an order.
It took less than three hours from the end of his call with Joo Sangwoo for Joo Taehyun to go through with this bold act.
If Yoonwoo had been an Alpha, or if you were a girl, Baekhan would’ve pushed the marriage himself. She said it was such a shame.

If Director Ahn Yeseon had gone so far as to personally call his family and say something like that, it clearly wasn’t just idle talk. The conditions he possessed must be quite appealing to Seo Baekhan.
Knowing the Seo Baekhan he knew, there was no way he’d be swayed by emotion. If Taehyun tried clinging to him with “I still like you, please just think about it one more time”… he’d probably have to prepare himself to never see Baekhan again. In that case, it wouldn’t matter if he were the youngest son of DH Group or a full member of Haechi—none of it would work on him.
But that meant… if he presented the most necessary condition from Baekhan’s perspective, maybe he’d still have a shot. That thought struck him out of nowhere.

If Baekhan still prioritized “must be a woman” above all else, Taehyun wouldn’t have dared to dream. But since the top condition was “Alpha,” he couldn’t help but start doing the math.
Then what was it that Baekhan needed most right now?
A man who already possessed both wealth and reputation—what was he trying to gain through marriage? Deep in thought, Joo Taehyun replayed the conversation with his brother that he had barely paid attention to in his shock, and he found a clue.

Isn’t he maybe using his marriage as a tool to push through some Switch-related legislation?
Switch...
A drug that temporarily induced physical compatibility for those with the same secondary gender.

Seo Baekhan… interested in a drug like that? In Switch?
Taehyun searched Baekhan’s name on the site he’d been browsing earlier—a kind of archive that summarized the authorship and index listings of academic journals.
Seo. Baek. Han.
Maybe because it was an uncommon name, once he typed it in, a whole list of results for just one person came up, no need for filtering by field.

“…Wow.”
Of course it was Seo Baekhan.
The number of first-author papers, collaborative studies, and citations—given his age, it was astonishing.

Joo Taehyun grew a little gloomy as he looked at himself, a man who couldn’t even measure up to a talking potato, and then kept digging for more traces of Baekhan.
Sure enough—as the records got more recent, it became increasingly clear that he was pursuing ways to legalize and safely commercialize substances with effects similar to Switch. He must have disliked the term “Switch” itself, since he used phrases like morphogenic alteration or temporary transformation… but all of them meant the same thing.
Seo Baekhan was seeking a same-Alpha marriage because it would help in the process of legalizing Switch.

Well, that made sense. If anyone could turn Switch into a safe, properly used drug as originally intended—instead of it being a borderline narcotic like the Dirty variant—it would be Seo Baekhan. Whether he developed it himself or imported it, he would get it done.
Once Taehyun had thought it through that far, the nervous pounding in his chest finally began to settle. Not that it mattered much—he had literally ordered Dirty Switch, so he’d already committed a crime.
In any case, this was the plan Joo Taehyun had prepared.

If you insist on marrying an Alpha, then honestly, no one is more suitable than me. More than anything, legalizing Switch in the Daehan Empire is very important to me. Because…
“…I’m °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° a Switch user.”
Since they shared the same goal, why not join forces? Under the pretense of marriage.

What would happen afterward… well, he didn’t know. He hadn’t thought that far. It wasn’t something he could control anyway.
If Baekhan rejected him—which seemed more likely than not—then at least he’d gone all in. He would have no regrets. If he could just see Baekhan’s face one last time and say he was really sorry for that impulsive confession back then, he might finally be able to let it all go.
And if, by some miracle, Baekhan actually agreed to marry him…

Joo Taehyun’s imagination in this area was so lacking that even the thought left him breathless.
But in his vague imagination, Seo Baekhan seemed like a perfectly fine husband. He wasn’t expecting anything huge. As long as Baekhan did the bare minimum a spouse should, Taehyun would be more than satisfied.
And just like many couples in the political and business elite, if they lived together under the same roof for a long time, wouldn’t affection naturally build up?

Even if it wasn’t love—if he could become family with Seo Baekhan… if he was granted the chance to become the person Baekhan trusted most in life… if they could pursue the same goals together… ah, even just that would make him indescribably happy.
But a major problem presented itself.
The Seo Baekhan he knew would, without a doubt, try to verify whether he really was a Switch user.

The moment he thought of that, a chill went down his spine like he’d swallowed ice. No matter how much he liked Baekhan… was doing something this insane really okay? Not to mention, the last time he saw him, he’d left only bad memories behind through an impulsive confession. What if he failed again? Then how was he supposed to recover from that…
Clutching his phone, Taehyun hesitated for a long moment, trying to think like Baekhan and approach it coldly.
First, unlike the previous confession, Switch was a business Baekhan seriously wanted to pursue. Which meant, even if the marriage didn’t happen, he could use the excuse of having taken Switch as a way to open up a new line of communication with him.

If things went well… then maybe they really would get married.
Laid out like that, it seemed clear: there was no downside to trying this scenario.
“…Still, I don’t actually have to take this stuff, right?”

To be honest, Joo Taehyun didn’t know much about Switch. He’d assumed it was something like powdered drugs. But the Switch the dealer had delivered was about the size of his pinky finger and looked more like a drinkable vitamin.
Even the packaging was cute—pink and shiny…
But if an Alpha took this, they’d temporarily exhibit Omega-like physical responses, right?

He knew the theory, but it didn’t feel real.
He had lived his entire life as an Alpha. He had learned—over and over again—how to manage rut, what knotting was, and all the precautions that came with it.
After coming to the U.S., it became even more intense. Sex ed here was far more explicit and practical. As a dominant-gendered student, he had to take a required general education course during his first year—and that’s when he first learned to put on a condom. Not in front of anyone, of course—he’d just clumsily tried it in the bathroom to submit the required reaction essay…

In any case, thanks to that, he had learned exactly how rut-proof condoms differed from regular ones, how they felt, how to wear them safely, and even what to do when masturbating in advance of rut. He knew it all.
All of his foundational knowledge was centered around being an Alpha.
And now… his body, with just one vial of this stuff, could get wet like an Omega’s…?

Feeling a little unsettled, he stared at the mountain of Switch bottles in front of him—only to see the app’s notification flash. It was a new message from the dealer.
Thank you so much. Hope you’ll use us again!