RACA 42

“What is it? Spill it.”

Though he spoke as casually as ever, Jaebeom’s piercing gaze was enough to make Bulgom tense up.

That look appeared precisely when he felt like he was going to completely strip the other person bare.

“Um… Could we move seats for now?”

Judging that this wouldn’t be resolved in a few words, Bulgom cautiously suggested. Jaebeom said nothing and turned away from the kitchen, heading toward the living room.

“Speak.”

Under Jaebeom’s gaze, Bulgom swallowed his saliva and spilled everything he’d discussed with Eunsol.

“Well, you see. Not long ago, sister-in-law asked me about the CEO’s eating habits.”

“How would you know my eating habits?”

“I’ve cooked for you before, so I have a general idea. But honestly, you don’t have many strong likes or dislikes, right?”

Bulgom was right. Jaebeom wasn’t the type to fuss over food anyway; whatever was served, he ate without complaint.

“But strangely, when I talked with my sister-in-law, I found myself thinking, ‘Huh? That seems about right?'”

“Him?”

“Yes. For example, the dried pollack that came up recently. Honestly, we don’t eat much fish, do we?”

It wasn’t so much that we didn’t eat it; it was just that everyone had such big appetites that one or two fish weren’t nearly enough. In the end, they decided to exclude fish altogether.

It was better to pick a day and have sashimi or make a stew; grilling several fish was a huge chore.

“But sister-in-law said hyung-nim especially loves dried yellow croaker among white-fleshed fish and asked me to prepare it.”

“He did?”

At a question similar to the one earlier, Bulgom nodded. Eunsol’s certain tone had made Bulgom unconsciously buy a bundle of dried pollack at the supermarket and come back.

“Yes. That day, didn’t hyung-nim eat more rice than usual and finish three dried pollack? Seeing that, I realized sister-in-law was right.”

Is that so? Jaebeom recalled the meal from a short while ago. But since he hadn’t thought much of it at the time, nothing stood out clearly in his memory.

“Again?”

“It’s the soup. Didn’t hyung-nim say he prefers the one with seafood?”

“Huh… I did?”

This time, when Jaebeom referred to himself, Bulgom nodded vigorously again. Watching this, Jaebeom finally recalled how seafood dishes had been unusually plentiful on the table lately.

‘I just thought Eunsol wanted to eat it.’

But apparently, it was a ploy to figure out his eating habits. What was even more ridiculous was that Eunsol acted like he knew his tastes perfectly well.

‘How well could he possibly know me?’

Jaebeom had spent more years with Bulgom before him than with Eunsol. And he’d also spent quite a while hanging out with Kwak Sang.

Kwak Sang was someone Jaebeom met when he joined Chairman Jang’s organization. Both started as low-level thugs, but Jaebeom was so conspicuous that his rise to the top was incomparable.

Naturally, Kwak Sang came to regard Jaebeom as his elder brother, and their connection has lasted until now. Conversely, Bulgom joined when Jaebeom had risen to become a mid-level boss. Even when Jaebeom chose money over fists, Bulgom followed without hesitation.

‘But Lee Eunsol is different.’

There was absolutely no connection between him and Eunsol back when he was a college student. At best, it was just that his father had brought him over in response to a job ad seeking an Omega.

And yet he went and blabbed about what Jaebeom liked.

“He probably just guessed right.”

“That may be possible, but at any rate, it’s fortunate that you enjoyed it. ”

That much was true. Jaebeom agreed, yet felt uneasy. But he quickly bruhed it off. As long as it didn’t harm him, he didn’t care what Lee Eunsol did.

Then suddenly, he remembered Lee Eunsol’s bold insistence that they needed to renew the contract.

“Where is Kwak Sang now?”

“He’s meeting with President Kim right now.”

The unexpected turn of events made Jaebeom tilt his head in confusion.

“President Kim? He never mentioned that to me?”

He assumed he’d be at the bank, so why is he there? Setting aside their acquaintance, meeting President Kim personally isn’t beneficial.

President Kim’s boisterous personality wasn’t bad, but Jaebeom often frowned upon how he treated Omegas like commodities.

“Originally, the contact was for the CEO, but since he was unavailable, Kwak Sang-hyung came instead.”

“When?”

“Just a little while ago. About… 20 minutes ago.”

That would have been right when he was bickering with Lee Eunsol in front of Chairman Jang. Jaebeom pulled out his phone and checked his call log.

Sure enough, a message arrived reporting that Kwak Sang had ended up having drinks with President Kim.

“Tsk.”

Kwak Sang would handle it well enough, but he needed to be careful. Jaebeom rose from his seat with a distinctly displeased look on his face.

“Are you going yourself, CEO?”

“Yeah. Call me when Lee Eunsol wakes up.”

Hearing the reply, Bulgom understood it meant they’d eat together, Jaebeom left the house.

‎

‎

Eunsol blinked blankly. his nose tickled, making him frown, but no sneeze came out, only tears welled up in his eyes.

“Jongjong…”

The cat nestled in his chest had fallen asleep with his fluffy rear end pressed against Eunsol’s face. he tried patting his soft buttocks to tell him to move, but the huge cat didn’t budge an inch.

Finally, Eunsol pulled his face back and carefully lifted his body.

“Haaah…”

He had just woken up, so why wasn’t the sleepiness gone yet? Eunsol yawned widely and climbed out of bed. Seeing how dark the room was, it seemed evening had long passed.

“I should have had seafood soft tofu stew!”

He was thrilled at the thought of finally eating a meal he liked instead of catering to Pyo Jaebeom’s tastes. But after that unexpected encounter, he ended up sleeping soundly and missed out on eating it, which was a real shame.

Just thinking about soft tofu stew made his stomach rumble loudly, announcing his hunger.

“Ah…”

Eunsol sighed softly, gently rubbing his stomach. Had those two big eaters really left his share? Probably not.

“There must be something left.”

Not knowing how much time had passed, Eunsol quietly opened the door, thinking he should slip out quietly. The hallway was dimly lit, but thise was no sign of anyone around.

It seemed more time had passed than he had anticipated.

“I suppose I should ask them to put a clock there too.”

“Why do we need a clock?”

“Eek!”

Eunsol’s shoulders jerked at the voice behind him. he turned around, screaming, only to find Pyo Jaebeom raising his eyebrows as if to say, What’s got you so startled?

That smug look instantly infuriated Eunsol, and he squinted his eyes.

“Please be careful, CEO! They say getting startled is dangerous during early pregnancy, you know?”

“I told you not to worry. You’re tougher than you look.”

“Ugh… That’s not what I meant!”

Eunsol doesn’t understand why someone who should be more concerned about the fetus than he is so insensitive. Fuming, Eunsol got angry and walked right past Pyo Jaebeom.

After the heated exchange, his hunger only grew worse, making him feel he needed to eat something. Entering the kitchen, Eunsol stopped in his tracks at the strange smell that hit him.

‘What is this? This fishy, bitter smell.’

It’s like some foreign cigarette with tar added in a nasty way, or like the smell when you burn fiber material.

It wasn’t unfamiliar, similar to a smell he’d often encountered on set, but the thoroughly unpleasant sensation made Eunsol’s face crumple.

“Why?”

“No, it’s just… Did you go somewhise?”

It bothered me even more because he’d never smelled anything like this while being here.

“What? Why are you acting like that?”

“I smell something weird.”

“Huh?”

Pyo Jaebeom raised his arms. Alternating between both arms, he brought them to his nose and soon scowled.

“President Kim’s son must have pheromones oozing out of him.”

“President Kim?”

“Yeah. A client. I just saw him a moment ago.”

That sounded like Pyo Jaebeom had eaten first. Guess he really should eat dinner alone after all. Lately, eating with someone had become a habit, so Eunsol felt a strange emptiness as he was about to head into the kitchen when Pyo Jaebeom suddenly spoke up from behind him.

“I waited all this time for you, and what? You’re going to eat alone without any loyalty?”

Eunsol, who had just spotted the pot filled with seafood sitting obediently on the induction cooktop and was about to cheer, turned to look at him.

“Haven’t you eaten yet?”

What time is it now? Even when he got home, it was already close to dinnertime. Eunsol had originally planned to walk for just 30 minutes and come back to cook.

Unexpectedly meeting Chairman Jang, and then Pyo Jaebeom barging in, made the conversation drag on. It must be quite late now. Besides, hadn’t he just said he had an appointment?

“Yes, I was waiting for you.”