RACA 11

“Ah, no. CEO Pyo, it’s just that…”

Under the crushing pressure that the slightest misstep could leave him unable to walk away with his limbs intact, President Shin desperately tried to make excuses.

“President Shin.”

Before he could finish, Jaebeom spoke first.

“Why? Is it tough making ends meet these days, so you can’t pay the interest?”

“No, it’s just that… CEO Pyo…”

Shin stammered, stubbornly clinging to polite speech even if it killed him. A cold smile appeared on Jaebeom’s lips.

“I’m asking. Where did you spend the money you owed me?”

He uncrossed his legs, and his feet thudded against the floor. It was merely a light scraping sound, yet Mr. Shin jumped up as if a knife had touched his body.

Watching his trembling opponent, who had even closed his eyes tightly, Jaebeom clicked his tongue in disapproval. Then, rising from his chair, he headed toward the desk piled high with documents.

With a languid gesture, Jaebeom flicked through the papers before pulling one out and turning back toward Mr. Shin.

“President Shin, I don’t want excuses right now. I want a concrete plan for how you’ll repay the money you borrowed.”

He immediately returned to his seat and tossed a file onto the desk in front of Mr. Shin. The noise of the file hitting the floor made Mr. Shin’s shoulders flinch.

“Don’t you know how precious my time is?”

“Ah, I know! I know!”

“Right, Mr. Shin. If you pull stunts like this again, it’ll be trouble. Got it?”

President Shin, who had been standing awkwardly, ready to kneel at any moment, turned his head up at those words. His quick-thinking mind concluded he’d been spared.

“T-t-thank you. Thank you, CEO Pyo. I, I, I…”

“We’ll see.”

Jaebeom cut him off, glancing at his wristwatch. A brief errand at home earlier had made it already 2 PM.

“I’ll give you until midnight tonight. Pay back the principal, the interest, and the cost of my time wasted. Simple, right?”

“What…?”

“Didn’t you hear? Pay back everything, from what you owe to what you borrowed.”

“Wh-what…!”

President Shin’s face flushed scarlet as he gritted his teeth. Jaebeom paid no heed to the menacing grimace on his face, which looked like he was ready to pounce at him any moment.

“Better hurry, don’t you think? Otherwise, you might have to start by selling that second home you cherish so dearly. Ah, or surely you wouldn’t dare tell your wife the truth?”

“Gah!”

Exposed in an instant, Shin gasped for breath and stumbled backward.

“You wrote it in the contract, Mr. Shin. If you can’t repay the money, you’d substitute something else. I’ll follow the law. The law.”

It was rare for such a perfectly sculpted face to wear a smile so wicked and chilling. Shin fled the office without uttering a word. Jaebeom watched his retreating figure until it vanished, then stretched his neck as the room finally quieted.

“Kwak Sang-ah.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“Handle President Shin at your level. Got it? Why escalate it to me? Annoying.”

“My apologies.”

Kwak Sang-ah bowed his head, his expression rigid. It was precisely while Jaebeom and he were distracted by the Omega at home that President Shin had barged in and caused trouble, but Kwak Sang offered no further excuses.

“I’ll resolve it tomorrow.”

Jaebeom sat silently in his desk chair, seemingly finding the response unworthy of comment. Resting his chin on his hand, he clicked the mouse without even telling his subordinate to leave.

The computer screen was divided into 32 sections. The thumbnails displayed real-time footage from inside the recently moved-into apartment.

Jaebeom’s gaze, which had been languidly fixed on the feed, suddenly sharpened.

“Ah?”

His mouse cursor clicked on one screen, filling the monitor. There was Lee Eunsol, just emerging from the bathroom.

Peeking his head out cautiously, he glanced around before running into the opposite room. He was completely naked.

“Huh? What the hell is that? Who’s he trying to show off for?”

Intrigued, Jaebeom immediately switched the screen to the room Eunsol was in. He pulled a robe from the closet, threw it on, and sprawled out on the bed. Suddenly, he jumped up and ran out of the room again.

“Ah, that Omega’s got some nerve.”

Jaebeom chuckled softly as he watched him tiptoe away in the loose robe. The robe was tied so carelessly that it slid down one side, exposing half his shoulder.

Following the curve of his smooth skin, a hint of pink teased the edge of visibility.

Where on earth was he going dressed like that? This was more entertaining than watching a home cam feed.

“You mean that omega?”

Kwak Sang, who’d been frozen in place like a statue after being told to leave, perked up his ears at the mention. Jaebeom, who’d been watching the monitor with a smirk, finally turned his attention.

“Go.”

“Yes…”

Swallowing his curiosity at the CEO’s unresponsive tone, Kwak Sang exited the office. Jaebeom’s attention had already returned to the monitor.

The screen switched to footage from another angle. Jaebeom’s eyes narrowed as Lee Eunsol stepped into the study came into view.

“There’s no way hee’d clean looking like that. “

Tap. Tap.

As he drummed his index finger on the desk, the door opened and Eun-sol finally stepped inside. Jaebeom swiftly switched the screen back.

“Huh? What did you say?”

Zooming in on the feed from the study camera, he could see Lee Eun-sol’s lips moving as if he were speaking. Unfortunately, the camera didn’t support audio, so he couldn’t make out what he was saying.

“Huh?”

To his surprise, Eunsol’s next destination was the laptop on the desk. There was no camera mounted there, making it hard to see what he was doing.

Tap. Tap.

Jaebeom’s fingernails tapped the desk. A moment later, he abruptly stood up from his seat.

•••

“Ugh… What is it?”

Goosebumps instantly rose on his skin. Eunsol shivered, rubbing his arms with his palms. Then he noticed his gown had slipped down and re-tied the strings.

“I have no idea what that means.”

He searched everything from blogs to videos, but found nothing but nonsense and no proper information.

He clicked his tongue at the content, hardly suitable for a beginner omega guide, then gasped when he glanced at the time displayed on her laptop.

“When did time fly by like this?”

He’d only intended to search for about ten minutes before heading back to his room, but nearly thirty minutes had slipped by since he’d turned on the laptop. Eunsol hurriedly closed the internet window and shut down the laptop.

His steps leaving the study were quicker than when he’d entered. He went straight to his room and flopped onto the bed.

“So basically, it’s like consciously turning off the faucet to stop the water flow, that’s how you consciously shut down your pheromones.”

He closed his eyes, trying to sense his pheromones. His brow furrowed as he concentrated.

“Haa.”

He took a breath, silently repeating, ‘Shut off!’ After repeating the action several more times, he raised his arm and sniffed.

“Still me.”

The pheromones that had briefly vanished after washing were faintly detectable again. Of course it wouldn’t work on the first try.

“What am I gonna do…”

He couldn’t exactly ask Pyo Jaebeom for help.

“Huh.”

Eunsol, whose thoughts had been drifting aimlessly, suddenly sat up as he recalled his words about looking forward to seeing how well he’d perform tonight.

“He wouldn’t actually be planning to overwhelm me with pheromones and make me submit, right?”

His thoughts took a wild turn, and he suddenly felt a sense of crisis washed.

“That can’t be it…!”

He couldn’t just wait quietly for Pyo Jaebeom to arrive. Eunsol scrambled off the bed and ran toward the door. Just as his hand closed around the doorknob, his body lurched forward.

“Huh?!”

Startled by the sudden movement, he let out a gasp and collided with something hard. Lifting his gaze, he found himself staring at a face he was anything but happy to see.

“Mr. Pyo…”

It was a cliché development straight out of a melodramatic soap opera.

“Why are you practically walking around naked?”

“Huh?”

Confused, he tilted his head, then followed Pyo Jaebeom’s gaze and dropped his head in embarrassment. In the meantime, the knot must have loosened again, causing his robe to slide down to one side.

“Ah!”

Spotting the hint of pink peeking through, Eunsol hurriedly pulled his gown back into place and tightened the ties. No matter how hard he knotted them, they kept coming undone, it clearly wasn’t an expensive gown.

“I was planning to wait until nightfall, but you’re tempting me like this. What else can I do?”

“…Huh?”