PO 6

Could a place like this even be called a house? Woojeong couldn’t take his eyes off the Snow Reflection Residence through the car window.

Even Woojeong, who grew up in a good home envied by others, felt overwhelmed by the scale of the Snow Reflection Residence when he entered.

It was rare for a residence to hold space fit for formal events like the Night of Charity. The sight of rows of dark windows made him feel as though he had stepped into an empty school late at night.

The car sent from the man dropped Woojeong off at the same place as last time. After a short wait, someone walked out from the front entrance. Recognizing him, Woojeong lowered his head in greeting, and the man’s secretary returned it with a polite smile.

“You arrived on time. Let’s go up right away.”

Joo Yeongmo adjusted the black-rimmed glasses on his nose and went ahead into the entrance. Woojeong stared at his back for a moment as he went up the stairs, then slowly began to walk too. He couldn’t believe he was in a place like this at this hour.

“Was there any trouble coming here?”

“No. Thank you for sending the car. It was easy.”

“No need to thank me. It’s only natural.”

In this unfamiliar and oppressive space, the only person Woojeong could lean on was Joo Yeongmo. Unlike the man, who felt like someone from a completely different world, his secretary still had some humanity.

“Um, Secretary Joo.”

“Yes.”

“Could it be that he…”

“You can address him as Executive Director.”

Woojeong opened his mouth awkwardly, and Joo Yeongmo quickly picked up the words. Woojeong knew nothing about the man except that he was the owner of the building. Even the subject written on the oath papers was Joo Yeongmo, so he still did not know the man’s name.

“Ah… yes. Is the Executive Director upstairs now?”

“No. I don’t think he will be coming today. He has another schedule.”

“Then I’ll be here alone?”

Joo Yeongmo stopped at a familiar hallway and stood in front of a door. He opened it and gestured inside.

“Yes. That’s how it is today. Please spend your time comfortably.”

“……”

The wide-open doorway looked like a giant beast opening its mouth. Being alone felt stifling, but he thought he wouldn’t feel at ease even if someone stayed with him.

“I’m a beta so I don’t know the details well…” Since Woojeong didn’t move, Joo Yeongmo carefully added an explanation.

“I heard there are quite a few cases where people temporarily lose memory during a heat cycle or rut cycle. Many regain their memory later, so it would be best if you stayed as relaxed as possible and focused.”

“How do I know if what I remember is a real memory? What if… I just made it up?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. We already secured some objective information.”

“What kind of information?”

“It’s difficult to say. For today, you only need to stay three hours. You may freely go through all indoor spaces, and you may use any items left out. We also prepared some simple snacks in case. I hope they suit your taste.”

Once Woojeong stepped inside, Joo Yeongmo bowed politely and closed the door. The sound of the lock sliding echoed unusually loud. It was built to open from inside, but Woojeong couldn’t help but feel like he was trapped.

Facing the dim lights, Woojeong sat down at the entrance. The CCTV lens watching the doorway quietly captured his figure.

‎

‎

Knock knock.

Han Jaegang raised his head.

“Come in.”

Joo Yeongmo entered, bowed to him, and reported the situation.

“He arrived on time, and I led him to the room.”

“Good work. Do you have something to say? Say it quickly.”

Han Jaegang kept his gaze on the slightly distressed experience on his face and asked.

“You said he asked if I was upstairs, and he looked nervous when told he would be alone?”

“Whether he feels at ease alone depends on his nature.”

“What kind of nature does Lee Woojeong have?”

Joo Yeongmo paused for a moment as he pictured Lee Woojeong in his head, then answered.

“He seems like someone who lived gently and innocently. Because he is young and lacks social experience, he seems to struggle over how to act. Right now he looks very frightened, so he comes across as a little pitiful.”

Han Jaegang’s eyes narrowed for a brief instant and then returned to normal. He gathered the scattered documents and pushed them to one side of the desk.

“Pitiful, you say…”

“I didn’t mean anything particular by it.”

Joo Yeongmo handled not only Han Jaegang’s work matters but also his personal tasks. That was possible because Han Jaegang almost never pulled him into his private life.

Company work was always at the level of overwork, but compared to other secretaries dragged into cleaning up sordid personal messes, his position was far better. Since Han Jaegang kept a clear distance from the household attendants, there was no risk of being caught in needless power struggles.

But this was a personal matter he had ordered for the first time in a long while. Even while obeying, Joo Yeongmo was conflicted about being made to deal with a mere twenty-year-old.

“Executive Director, may I ask what you plan to do going forward?”

“What do you mean?”

“If the elders of your family or Lee Doyoung’s side learn that Lee Woojeong comes in and out of the Snow Reflection Residence, won’t that become a problem?”

Joo Yeongmo carefully chose his words so as not to cross the line. Han Jaegang looked at the tablet screen and answered casually.

“If it doesn’t get known, then it won’t be a problem.”

“Executive Director.”

Strangely, Lee Woojeong moved only through the blind spots of the CCTV set up across the Snow Reflection Residence. His figure was briefly caught in the parking lot, but there was no record of any car leaving at that time, so it became no real clue.

Because of that, it took far longer than expected to track down Lee Woojeong. After Han Jaegang confirmed his family ties in the investigation papers, he laughed in disbelief. What a coincidence. It was a ridiculous connection.

He turned out to be Lee Doyoung’s stepbrother. The familiar pheromone scent Han Jaegang had felt from Lee Doyoung was in truth the one that belonged to Lee Woojeong, who lived in the same house.

The moment Lee Woojeong, who had secretly slipped into his home and hidden inside, had held him in desperation still lingered vividly in Han Jaegang’s memory.

His heart had pounded in response to his pheromones, and the impulse to hold him had seized his consciousness as he surrendered to instinct. It was a sensation he had never felt before.

Han Jaegang was curious about Lee Woojeong. He had to find out why his faulty heart had reacted so fiercely to him that day, and why his pheromones had been accepted with no resistance.

Once that question was answered, the direction of their relationship would naturally settle into place, and then he could bring it to a quiet close.

“Secretary Joo, as a beta, cannot make sense of it. Lee Woojeong is cooperative, and I don’t intend to create a problem. If Secretary Joo pays attention properly, then no one will know that Lee Woojeong comes and goes from here. Isn’t that enough?”

It was nothing more than letting a young omega into the Snow Reflection Residence for a brief time. The other was frightened, and he had signed the written oath, so he was in no position to open his mouth easily. Even if it leaked out, it wouldn’t be difficult to spin a passable excuse before the family elders or Lee Doyoung.

“Do you need more explanation?”

“…No. As you said, I told Lee Woojeong that he only needs to stay for three hours.”

“Good. Let him rest, and send him away when the time is up.”

“Understood. Do you need anything else? Shall I bring you something to eat?”

“I don’t want anything.”

After Joo Yeongmo left the room, Han Jaegang savored the bitter taste of cold coffee and set the cup down. He closed the report file open on his laptop and clicked the program in use, which brought up the CCTV feed.

He switched the camera view that showed the entrance to full screen and stared blankly at the dim display.

Even after quite some time had passed, Lee Woojeong still crouched at the entrance. Sitting with his back to the door and staring straight ahead, he looked like someone terrified before a monster.

Perhaps because of that, Han Jaegang felt as if he had become that monster himself, staring into Woojeong’s eyes.

“……”

The coffee cooled to the bottom, but Lee Woojeong still remained frozen at the entrance.

Bored of the unmoving image, Han Jaegang rested his chin on his hand and tapped the man’s figure on the laptop screen with his finger.

Then something happened. As if he had felt the touch through the screen, Lee Woojeong suddenly stood up. He glanced around and walked toward the bathroom.

After turning on the light, he crouched in the doorway of the bathroom and once again let time pass blankly. He rubbed his face roughly, he mussed his hair, and sometimes he pressed his face into his knees.

He looked as if he was straining to recall a memory, but it didn’t seem to be working.

“Try harder, kid.”

Han Jaegang spoke toward Lee Woojeong in the feed. He didn’t even notice that he was smiling.

•••

On the second day of his visit to the Snow Reflection Residence, Woojeong again sat quietly by the bathroom door. Doing nothing but sitting still made his chest tight and his mind hazy. Joo Yeongmo had told him he could go anywhere in the house and use whatever he wished, but Woojeong felt cautious about everything.

He carefully stepped into the bathroom and turned on the water. When he washed his face with cold water, his skin stung, and his mind cleared. After washing, he dripped water and bit his lip as he stared down at a corner of the bathroom floor.

He had definitely fallen asleep there, so why had he opened his eyes on the living room sofa. Now he started to wonder about himself even more.

Had someone moved him to the sofa? But if someone had seen him, they would have shaken him awake, not moved him so he could sleep comfortably. He felt that something was almost coming back to him but not quite left his chest heavy.

Woojeong had gone through heat cycles only three or four times. Because of that, he did not know exactly how his body changed in those periods. Other than Lee Doyoung, he never had a chance to know how other omegas endured their heats.

The first time Lee Doyoung went through a heat, the entire household was thrown into chaos. Kang Eonju, who had been caring for him when he was unwell, was the first to notice, and she immediately called a doctor from the pheromone center to come and give him a diagnosis.

Kang Eonju spent the night caring for Lee Doyoung, who suffered in his first heat.

A few years later, Woojeong also had his first heat. Thinking it was a cold, he suffered alone, and only much later did he realize something was wrong and go to Kang Eonju. To Woojeong, who spoke with difficulty, she coldly said, “Keep your body under control,” and tossed him a pill bottle.

Even after taking the suppressant, Woojeong continued to suffer for days. The one who looked after him, who seemed as if he would collapse as though someone twisted his body until it broke, was none other than Madam Kwak.

He remembered Madam Kwak, who had brought porridge and sat watching him eat, worrying about how he could sleep like the dead all day.

Woojeong only now realized that when he took the suppressant, he would collapse and sleep.

“Ha. What in the world happened…?”

Woojeong sighed and sat on the sofa. He fiddled with the hangnail on his finger out of habit. Since this had started happening, his habit of picking at his hangnails had returned, and his fingers never had time to heal.

Then something happened. He caught a scent in the air he didn’t know. Startled, Woojeong turned his head toward the entrance where the smell came. Behind the faint presence of someone approaching came the sound of the door lock releasing.

“You were already here.”

He heard a low voice as the door opened. Woojeong hurried to his feet. The man who had said he didn’t know when he would come stood in the doorway.

He said one short line and crossed the living room straight to the bedroom without even giving Woojeong time to greet him.

Woojeong sat blankly on the sofa for a long while before pulling out his phone. The man who had gone into the bedroom showed no sign of coming back out.

If he was resting, shouldn’t Woojeong give him space. Woojeong stared at Joo Yeongmo’s number and hesitated for a long time. He wanted to ask if it was all right for him to go back a little earlier, but it was not easy to bring himself to speak up. Just then, the tightly shut bedroom door opened.

“Why are you standing there like that?”

Han Jaegang, in casual clothes, came out and looked down at Woojeong as he asked.

“I asked you, why are you standing there like that?”

“I just… was waiting for you to come out.”

“Why? Do you have something to say to me?”

“No. Just…”

“Don’t mind me, and do whatever you need to do, Lee Woojeong.”

The man shifted his gaze indifferently and walked over to the desk. Sitting down, he opened his laptop and focused on work as if Woojeong, still standing there, didn’t exist.

Pushed out of his attention, Woojeong quietly sat on the sofa. Another person had entered the space where he had been alone, but nothing had changed. The man was busy with his work, and Woojeong was busy struggling with the lost time.

But it was harder than expected to stay focused on one thought. No matter how much he tried, the blurred memory didn’t clear, and his focus kept breaking. Each time his mind wandered to other thoughts, Woojeong roughly rubbed his cheek out of habit.

Because the room was so quiet, his senses naturally fixed on the small sounds behind him. The rustle of papers being turned, the rhythm of fingers on the keyboard, the occasional tap of a pen against the desk, every time he heard those sounds, Woojeong became aware of Han Jaegang.

Had he adjusted the room temperature? Since the man arrived, the air seemed warmer. On this winter day, even his hands, normally icy, held warmth.

Woojeong tilted his head slightly and stole a glance at the man. Leaning back in his chair, he stared at the laptop screen. When he felt the man start to turn his head, Woojeong quickly dropped his eyes.

The air felt different, and it seemed it was because of the man. The faint scent that brushed the tip of his nose grew stronger little by little. But the tightness in his chest each time he breathed didn’t seem to come from the scent alone.

…Pheromones. The word suddenly surfaced in his head.

Was that why his fingertips had grown warm? The fact that he could feel another person’s pheromones so vividly felt strange, and at the same time it left him a little afraid.

When the promised time had passed, Joo Yeongmo came to fetch Woojeong. The man only cast a brief glance at Woojeong, who said he would leave now, and spoke no word.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Woojeong went down to the first floor with Joo Yeongmo. Before he got into the car waiting outside the building, Joo Yeongmo pulled a white envelope from his coat and handed it to him.

The last time he came, he had been given the same envelope. Then he did not even know what it was, and he had no chance to refuse, but now he knew he shouldn’t accept it.

“Sir, you really don’t need to give me this. I have no reason to take it.”

“It is the executive director’s instruction. Since you even quit your part-time job because of this matter, there must naturally be compensation. You don’t need to feel burdened.”

With a kind smile, Joo Yeongmo pushed the envelope into Woojeong’s hand, seated him in the car, and sent him off.

When Woojeong opened the envelope far from the Snow Reflection Residence, he found the same amount of money as before.

It was a sum he could hardly touch even if he worked part-time every single day for a week.

Did it mean they would give him this money each time he came here? On the second day of visiting the Snow Reflection Residence, another kind of burden began to weigh heavily on Woojeong’s chest.

When Woojeong asked what would happen if he never remembered, Joo Yeongmo showed an awkward look. He said he didn’t really know what the executive director was thinking either.