PO 2

After finishing his duty as host and leaving the banquet hall, Han Jaegang first pulled out his handkerchief. He wiped his hands thoroughly and only then slipped the handkerchief into the inner pocket of his jacket.

Joo Yeongmo, who was walking behind Han Jaegang, glanced down at his own palm for a moment. As a beta, Joo Yeongmo still found Han Jaegang’s habit of recoiling at invisible traces curious.

“So, you left that intruder alone in the room?”

“Yes.”

“You should have sent someone first to check.” Han Jaegang was strict about letting people into his space. Besides, the man left alone wasn’t that threatening, so he judged it enough to check together with Joo Yeongmo.

When the elevator doors slid open and cast light on the two standing side by side, Joo Yeongmo stepped out first. He unlocked the door lock with his card key, opened the door, and moved aside so Han Jaegang could enter first.

“Didn’t you say he was in the living room?”

As Joo Yeongmo followed in and looked around the living room, the sofa where the man had lain was completely empty.

Joo Yeongmo began to look around the house searching for traces of anyone. He opened every door and checked carefully, and he finally entered the bathroom. After he looked inside, he came back out with an awkward look.

“No one, Executive Director. He seems to have slipped away.”

“Ha.”

“And this was on the bathroom floor.”

Han Jaegang took the object Joo Yeongmo held out. It was a small white pill bottle. He lifted one eyebrow as he read the main ingredients from the packaging stuck on the surface. It was a suppressant commonly used by trait bearers, especially by omegas.

“I’ll check if anything was stolen.”

The time on the first floor had dragged longer than he thought. In that span, the man must have woken and fled.

Joo Yeongmo’s suggestion that he might be a thief didn’t seem convincing to Han Jaegang. The state of the house suited the claim that no one had ever entered more than the claim that a thief had.

“It doesn’t seem like someone sent by the Chairman or Madam.”

“How can you be certain?”

“…Most of the guests downstairs are unmarried, and most of them are omegas. And if they had planned such a thing, they would have given me instruction.”

Han Jaegang frowned with distaste. He remembered his grandmother’s face that watched him closely through every greeting. She might have hoped he would feel attraction to someone, but for Han Jaegang it was nothing but a dull and tedious time.

“So it was a selection ground. They used a charity event for another purpose.”

“It seems so.”

“Then there was no need to shove someone separately into my room?”

“That’s right.”

“Anyway, if he got inside, he must have been one of the invited guests, right?”

“Shall I find him?”

Han Jaegang sat on the sofa that looked spotless without a trace of use. The man had vanished without a sign, so it felt as though he had dreamed it all. The pheromone that had disoriented him had also vanished without leaving a single trace.

He fled like a foolish bird that thinks it won’t be caught if it hides only its head.

He sneaked into another’s space and thought that slipping away would be enough. That was his pathetic.

Han Jaegang held the pill bottle in his hand. In any case, he had to return the drug to its owner and confirm the truth.

“For now, wait.”

Joo Yeongmo bowed. Han Jaegang laughed, it was ridiculous that he was toyed with by someone he’d never expected. The vanished man pricked his curiosity.

•••

Woojeong tossed and turned, he then flinched and opened his eyes. His body shivered from severe chill. Woojeong sat up with hunched shoulders and stared blankly ahead.

Was he still dreaming? He rubbed his eyes, but the scene before him didn’t change.

Woojeong’s pupils trembled in distraught. The refined interior, the luxury furniture and ornaments that filled the wide space, none of it was familiar. It was a place he’d never seen before.

He tried to lower his feet from the sofa but faltered and steadied himself against it. A heavy dizziness made his vision spin. A chill ran through his body, and it felt heavy all over.

“……?”

In that moment, he remembered why he’d come into this room. He’d tried to take medicine because of his heat cycle.

But his memory wasn’t clear. Scenes without sequence flitted past like photos or short clips, without natural flow.

He didn’t know where this was, but he knew for certain that he’d entered another’s space without permission. He had to get out before anyone came. Woojeong stood up from the sofa and walked straight toward what seemed to be the entrance.

“Ha…”

His sight shook as if he had a fever. He staggered out the door, and halfway along the corridor he saw the elevator. Woojeong stepped into it.

There were only three buttons for floor selection. He pressed the first-floor button, and soon the elevator doors opened.

He stepped into the corridor and scanned his surroundings with caution. He feared someone might be there, but the corridor was empty.

As he wondered which way to go, music drifted from some distance away. Woojeong stopped midway along the corridor.

He’d taken the drug, but his heat cycle symptoms didn’t go away. Could he go among people with such a body?

“When does it end? Ah, I’m sick of it.”

“Why? It’s an omega party today. They’re all good-looking too.”

At that moment an unfamiliar voice came from the end of the corridor. As the voices drew nearer, Woojeong stepped back in retreat.

“So what? It’s nothing but pie in the sky. If I mess up here, my mom’ll kill me.”

“Hey, how old are you, and you’re still a mama’s boy?”

“That’s not it, idiot. Do you think those omegas came for us? They all came dreaming of princes. Their faces smile, but the nerves beneath aren’t a joke, don’t you see? …Huh? What’s this? Hey. Don’t you smell something?”

“What smell?”

“Pheromones, bastard. Hey. One of the omegas must be in heat. Where is it? It feels close.”

The men who were whispering started sniffing the air, searching for the source. Woojeong, flustered, pressed himself against the wall. Those men, who seemed to be alphas, had sensed his pheromones.

If they discovered him, it’d be disaster. He couldn’t know how alphas roused by heat pheromones might act.

The men’s voices came closer. Fortunately Woojeong spotted a restroom nearby, slipped inside, and locked the door.

“Hey. What’s with this smell? It’s insane.”

“Where is it? In that bathroom?”

“Should I knock?”

Woojeong tightly held the knob. His pale fingertips trembled. He prayed desperately that they’d just go, but the men finally began to rap on the bathroom door.

Tok tok. Tok tok tok.

“What? It’s locked.”

“Hey, cut it out. If anything happens, your dad’ll smash your head first. Leave it. We’ve got to show our faces too.”

“No, this scent…”

“Come on. Hurry.”

Their voices faded with distance, and Woojeong, who stood clutching the door, let out a sigh of relief. Since most families attended the charity, it seemed they didn’t want needless fuss either.

His strength gave out, and Woojeong collapsed to the floor. He still held the knob. He leaned his hot forehead against the back of his hand and thought hard what he should do.

Then his phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. The caller ID showed “Hyung.”

“…Hyung.”

-Where are you, Why’d you wander off without a word? Get here quick.

That familiar voice never sounded so welcome. Woojeong relaxed a little and held the phone with both hands and explained his situation.

“Hyung. I don’t think I can go there now, what do I do?”

-What are you talking about. Why can’t you come?

“…I think my heat cycle just started.”

-What? Damn it.

At Woojeong’s words, Lee Doyoung fell silent. Woojeong expected him to harshly scold him, but instead he heard Doyoung speaking with someone else. The occasional replies were Kang Eonju’s.

-Lee Woojeong, where are you now? No one’s with you, right?

“First floor bathroom, but no one’s here now.”

-Don’t you dare come here like that. Did you take the pill?

“Yeah. I took it earlier.”

-You’re a headache, seriously. Anyway… you know which side the exit’s on, right? Go outside right now. Make sure no one sees you. Understand?

Though Doyoung couldn’t see, Woojeong nodded in reply. His mind raced. Where was the exit again? Should he run to avoid people?

-When you get outside, Driver Kim’ll be waiting. How can you not even know your own state? You’re so hopeless it leaves me speechless.

Woojeong listened in silence to the scolding, then stood once Doyoung hung up. Cold sweat stuck to his nape. He opened the bathroom door quietly and stepped out with care. Then he began to walk fast with his hand against the wall.

Scanning around in haste to find his way, Woojeong froze. A large man in a black suit blocked his path. The man wore a translucent tube earpiece, and he asked Woojeong.

“What brings you here?”

“Ah… I-I took the wrong way…”

“Sorry, but this area’s restricted. Please move to the banquet hall.”

Fortunately, the man blocking him seemed to be staff for the event. Despite his stern face, he pointed politely toward the banquet hall.

Woojeong followed his direction for a while, then suddenly turned and ran toward the exit. Dodging people, he ran outside and found Driver Kim waiting near the entrance. Even when he saw Woojeong sigh with relief, Driver Kim urged him curtly.

“Let’s go.”

Leading the way, he walked right past the parking lot. Woojeong, who thought of course they’d take the car, asked where they were going, and Driver Kim answered flatly.

“Madam said to put you in a taxi.”

Driver Kim walked fast until he completely left the place where the charity event was held. Then he stopped in front of a taxi parked before an unfamiliar building.

“Get in.”

He gave a rough bow and turned back as though he’d finished his duty. Woojeong, worn out from keeping pace with his brisk stride, climbed into the taxi weakly.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello. I’ll start now.”

The taxi driver must have already received the destination, because he started the car right away without another word. Woojeong first opened the window and leaned back in the rear seat.

Most taxi drivers were betas, but nothing was certain. To keep pheromones from filling the car, he had to put up with the cold wind.

Once the problem site was far behind, Woojeong finally let out a sigh of relief. Was the mistake that he’d tagged along to an event that didn’t suit him?

Woojeong stared blankly out the window and recalled what had happened at the event. He first felt something wrong with his body when the atmosphere of the charity had reached its peak.

Following Kang Eonju, Woojeong quietly slipped away. He wondered if it was the heat cycle, but he wasn’t sure. He looked for a chance to speak about it, but his family, busy mingling with others, didn’t hear him out.

While he stood alone out of people’s sight, someone came close and spoke to him.

“Are you alright? You… it seems like heat cycle.”

The man asked in a polite tone with a smile. The pheromones of an omega in heat could make even a sound alpha lose his mind in an instant. Woojeong didn’t know his intentions, but instinctive fear seized him, and he refused his words.

“…I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

The man’s look changed suddenly, and without permission he grabbed Woojeong’s hand. Startled, he shook it off and rushed into the elevator he saw before him.

He got out on the third floor and ran blindly into a room with its door standing open. His heart thumped wildly, and his head was in turmoil.

Pressed with urgency, Woojeong found the bathroom and went in. He pulled a pill bottle from his pocket, swallowed two tablets, and drank water from the sink.

Woojeong staggered back and sank into the corner of the bathroom. Until now, he’d gone through heat cycle only three times. Each time he’d spent the day holed up in his room asleep, so he hadn’t expected his state to crash so suddenly.

Maybe because of the medicine, his vision blurred. He thought he had to get out quickly, but he couldn’t raise his body. His eyelids felt heavy, and his strength ebbed.

That was the last thing Woojeong remembered. He must have fallen asleep in the bathroom, but he had no way to know why he woke on the sofa.

It felt like something had happened in between, but his mind was blank.

It seemed trouble would come from having entered that place. But since he hadn’t faced anyone, couldn’t he just let it pass as if nothing happened? The more he thought about it, the heavier the worry grew, and his mouth felt parched.

As Woojeong let out sigh after sigh, the taxi driver looked at him in the rearview mirror and asked.

“Something wrong?”

“…No.”

“Good then. Your face looks pale. If it’s not carsickness, better close the window, or you’ll catch a cold.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Woojeong shut the window quick and leaned his head. Cold air brushed his fevered forehead.

•••

“Yeah, that’s right. I told you. We were supposed to meet today. They pushed me to hurry, so we even moved the date forward.”

Kang Eonju laughed in her high pitched voice. These days she never put down her phone from morning until night. The people she spoke to kept changing, but the content of the calls was almost always the same. So Woojeong knew well why her mood had been so good lately.

“So that’s it. That day, our Doyoung greeted Executive Director Han, and it seems he kept an eye on our boy. Hoho. Oh my, it’s nothing yet. It’s only the first step, just a look. Yes. Right. I don’t know. The match has to be with a family of standing.”

After attending Hansae Group’s charity event,they received unexpected news. a A proposal had arrived through a matchmaker who arranged marriages of well-born children.

Kang Eonju was overjoyed. The bitterness she’d felt when she heard a friend’s son had married a minister’s daughter had already vanished.

“Yes, that’s right. If things go well, what wouldn’t I do for him? You know too, our Doyoung is smart, so I’m not worried much.”

Woojeong, who had come down the stairs, entered the kitchen quietly so he wouldn’t disturb her call. Madam Kwak, who stood at the counter with a ladle in hand, greeted Woojeong warmly.

“Sit down. It started to rain, so I made kalguksu, is that alright?”

“Yes.”

Madam Kwak, with her gentle look, placed a large bowl before Woojeong. From the kalguksu topped with clams, a savory scent rose. Woojeong waited until Madam Kwak sat across from him before he picked up his chopsticks.

“It looks good. I’ll eat well.”

Whenever the rest of the family had dinner plans, Woojeong shared a simple meal in the kitchen with Madam Kwak, who handled the housework. For Woojeong, who ate nervous an stiff at the family table, this time alone with Madam Kwak was far more comfortable.

“It tastes good, right?”

“It’s the best.”

When Woojeong was six, Lee Iljun remarried Kang Eonju and made a new household. He cleared away the home he’d lived in with his first wife and all of that life, and he brought Woojeong into Kang Eonju’s house. The marriage was between two people, yet the rule of the household belonged wholly to Kang Eonju.

For young Woojeong, the change was too hard to endure. Once his father left to work at his new father-in-law’s company, Woojeong was left alone in the unfamiliar house. Madam Kwak was the only one who held him and wiped his tears when he cried in fear.

“Doyoung’s already going to see a match. Time really flies. But is it with someone from a great family? Madam must be very pleased.”

“Seems so. Hyung looks pleased too.”

Lee Doyoung had already gone on many arranged meetings, but he was especially keen for this one. Because of that, the house had been restless since morning.

Like a fashion show, Lee Doyoung changed outfits over and over and had called someone to fix his hair. Every time Woojeong passed by his room, he felt the tension of facing something important pass to him as well.

“Our Woojeong should meet a good person soon too.”

“Ah, but I think I’m too young.”

“Age doesn’t matter. I married at twenty and had a child.”

Whenever the talk turned to children, a shadow crossed Madam Kwak’s face. After her divorce she hardly saw her only daughter, and she lived with longing all year. That might be why she cared for Woojeong so dearly.

When Woojeong’s face showed pity, Madam Kwak gave a warm smile and acted as though she was fine.

“When the time comes, a good person will appear. You’re kind and good-looking, so what’s there to worry about. When it happens, don’t think of this or that, just hold on tight. Understand?”

“…I will.”

Woojeong answered with a soft smile. He had no real expectation that such a person would appear before him. He only wished moments like now, sharing a warm bowl of kalguksu with someone kind, would come often.