Beyond the golden door, a spacious room welcomed Sanho. A large U-shaped sofa was lined up, and there was a table filling the space. Ice buckets and expensive whiskey were neatly arranged, but the sheer size of the table made it look somewhat sparse. The room was empty. Sanho stood tall in the wide space, quietly catching his breath. His heart was pounding, reflecting his anxiety.
However, the time alone did not last long. Perhaps it felt long, but it didn’t seem that way. As the golden door behind him opened and the sound of someone’s footsteps echoed, Sanho slowly turned his gaze.
“…….”
A middle-aged man entered the room. Dressed in an expensive suit, he looked very neat. Despite the faint smile on his lips, he exuded an overwhelming presence. And there was something familiar about him. More precisely, he resembled someone Sanho desperately wanted to meet.
The middle-aged man walked past Sanho and headed deeper into the room. Naturally taking a seat at the most spacious position, he looked at Sanho and spoke.
“Sit.”
His voice was surprisingly light compared to the weight of his presence. The expression on his face as he looked at Sanho was the same. Sanho, with a wary look, stared back at him. For a moment, the man, who had been facing Sanho, gestured towards the large sofa. Hesitating, Sanho slowly perched himself at the edge of the sofa, a considerable distance from the man.
“It’s been a while.”
His words were as light as the first greeting. The greeting of “it’s been a while” felt very unfamiliar. As Sanho bit his lip in silence, the man continued as if to make an excuse.
“We met a long time ago. It seems you don’t remember.”
His voice was deceptively gentle. Sanho’s shoulders, which had been tense, slumped slightly, as if trying to distance himself from him. He couldn’t understand his words. Had they met a long time ago? This person? This person was definitely a senior of… As Sanho continued to look at him without answering, the man let out a short laugh.
“It’s not unreasonable. You were very young back then. A long time ago, your mother brought you to find me.”
“…Ah.”
“I was looking for an Omega to keep my son company. I thought a child of the same age would be good, so I was looking for a young Omega. Hearing that, your mother brought you to me.”
Sanho’s eyes narrowed slightly. Was this one of the wealthy families where his mother had hustled to sell him off?
“I thought you were a lovely child when I saw you then. You had an innocent face, completely unaware, but as your mother said, you seemed like a superior Omega. Watching you naturally exude pheromones next to my son…”
“…….”
“It was quite unpleasant.”
The sharp words pierced Sanho like a sudden thorn, causing his eyes to widen. The man continued speaking with an unchanged calm expression and tone.
“Yes, it was truly unpleasant. Your mother was vulgar. The very thought of selling her own son for money was distasteful.”
“It’s my mother who is vulgar, not me.”
At Sanho’s rebellious response, he smiled faintly.
“True. What wrong could a young child like you have done? The act of exuding pheromones in front of my son, let’s say you didn’t know any better at that age. If anything, it’s pitiable that you had a mother who tried to sell you off. But after meeting you, seeing my son manifest as an Alpha, your existence became quite bothersome.”
“He manifested as an Alpha…?”
“It’s rare, but there are cases where traits manifest through interaction. I have no way of knowing if you and my son are such a case, but that’s not the important part. The problem was that your mother, putting you forward, might do something disgraceful. Even if I poured in as much money as I wanted, what would it matter? But human greed knows no bounds. Especially for people like your mother.”
“I told you, my mother and I—”
“It’s better to cut off the sprouts of trouble beforehand.”
He spoke softly, but the underlying meaning was very cold. Sanho quietly closed his mouth.
“After meeting you, I thought it would be best not to let you meet my son, who had manifested as an Alpha. I made sure to block any opportunities for you to cross paths, whether in politics or business, so that your mother couldn’t reach out.”
Memories from his childhood quickly flashed by. No matter how much his mother hustled, there was no place willing to take Sanho. Even though a young superior Omega would have been very precious. He vividly remembered the faces of those who initially seemed interested but always turned him down with awkward expressions. And the terrifying face of his mother, who would blame him each time. When Sanho lifted his head, the man smiled faintly at him.
“In fact, I had forgotten about you for a long time. There were many more important matters than a vulgar woman with only an Omega son. But if I had known we would meet again like this, I would have paid a bit more attention back then.”
The man shrugged as if making an excuse.
“Even then and now, it’s very unpleasant. That you are next to my son Siwoo.”
His tone was rather apologetic. Facing him, Sanho felt a chill spreading in his chest.
Slowly, childhood memories began to fit together like puzzle pieces. The words Siwoo had said at the camping site, and his own childhood memories. They were memories of a beautiful child playing with a toy fire truck in a sunlit garden. The pleasant scent of that child. That child was… a senior.
“…My mother… is no longer here.”
“Yes, I heard. She passed away from cancer four years ago.”
“If she cast me away because she hated being vulgar, then there’s no reason for you to hate me now.”
The man tilted his head slightly. It resembled Siwoo’s habit when he was deep in thought. The fact that he and Siwoo shared the same bloodline struck Sanho profoundly. He bit his lip hard.
“Let’s say it’s a kind of premonition. And usually, my premonitions tend to be quite accurate. Look. Because of a worthless Omega, there’s a scandal, dirty leftovers are smeared on, and a mediocre criminal even stabbed you… don’t you think there’s enough reason to hate you?”
Sanho bit his lip so hard that blood seeped through, and a small laugh escaped through the gap. He looked at the man with cold eyes.
“Whether you hate me or not, I don’t care. You’re not Siwoo’s owner. And Siwoo isn’t your possession either.”
He laughed again, this time a bit longer. It was a genuine, cheerful laugh. Leaning slightly forward, his eyes sparkled in the light as he looked at Sanho.
“The problem is, you have the power to keep Siwoo and you from meeting.”
“So what right do you have—”
“You say something quite interesting. So audacious. If we hadn’t met like this, I might have liked you. What a pity.”
“Is this what you call interesting?”
He gazed quietly at Sanho’s face. However, the sudden silence didn’t last long. After a while, he spoke with a faint smile.
“Do you know there was a CCTV in that alley?”
“…….”
“It captured Siwoo crushing the limbs of that criminal in full view. Honestly, isn’t that a bit excessive to be considered self-defense?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“It didn’t record sound on the CCTV. But I wanted to understand the exact situation. Why Siwoo did what he did. He’s not the kind of child who would do something so foolish for an Omega who was enticing him. So, I requested an analysis of the lip movements. I succeeded in roughly reconstructing the conversation you had with that criminal before Siwoo showed up.”
“…And?”
“I know that the reason you released pheromones was because of Siwoo.”
He lightly stroked his chin. The way he looked at Sanho was akin to a merchant assessing value. While he found Sanho’s existence bothersome, it was also evidently intriguing.
“As I told Director Yang Joo-cheol, are you really willing to sacrifice a finger or an organ for Siwoo?”
Sanho’s eyebrows furrowed. His tone was very strange. What was he curious about? Was he testing him? Or did he have another intention? But soon, Sanho straightened his back. It didn’t matter which side was true. The answer was the same anyway.
“I can do anything. I can.”
“Anything.”
“Everything. Being with my senior is my everything. So I can do anything. No matter what it takes.”
He laughed once more. Staring intently at Sanho, he tapped the table lightly with his fingertips. As Sanho clenched his fists in anxiety while watching him remain silent for a while, a small vibration rang from the man’s pocket. He took out his phone and glanced at the screen for a moment. As he looked at the screen, the lights kept flashing, indicating that messages were coming in one after another.
Tilting his head slightly, he seemed to be organizing his thoughts as he slowly blinked. Finally, he lifted his gaze to Sanho.
“Then how about this? Let’s make a bet. If you fulfill my request, I’ll grant you what you want.”
“…What…?”
“I’ve just been informed that a guest I hoped wouldn’t come has arrived… and this guest is quite a headache. Can you try to entice this guest?”
“Suddenly, what… why would I—”
“He’s an Alpha. I don’t want to define Omega in this way, but… I don’t want an Omega who can’t even entice a mediocre Alpha to be next to my son. Plus, I’m curious about how far you’re willing to go for Siwoo.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Sanho’s head shot up. He looked directly at the man and spoke clearly.
“Are you saying that if I entice this guest, you’ll let me meet my senior?”
He nodded his slightly tilted head.
“You’re promising… right? It’s not a lie.”
His eyes widened for a moment before a big laugh erupted from him. With a relaxed body, he nodded his head again.
“I don’t lie, at least not about that. You can believe that.”
“You’re definitely making a promise.”
“However, you must promise me too. If you can’t entice this guest, you’ll accept whatever I decide to do with you.”
“What do you mean by whatever—”
“The easiest way would be to assign you to this club. You might live in a haze of pheromones, but in a club like this, you could live quite lavishly. Otherwise, I could turn you into a back-alley prostitute.”
His voice was casual. As light as picking a favorite item and putting it in a cart. That lightness was chilling.
“Though I don’t like it, that’s the most certain way to ruin an Omega. It’s much better than physically separating you by offering some kind of recognition. Even if I send you far across the sea, as long as you’re alive, you might inevitably appear before Siwoo again. But killing you…”
He smiled faintly.
“That would be unpleasant.”
Sanho’s fists trembled slightly on his lap. He realized that his words were not mere bluster or lies. He was indeed someone who could sell him to a club or a brothel. A person who would not hesitate to kill if it came to that. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t afraid of him, but there was something Sanho feared even more.
The fear of never being able to meet Siwoo again. If he were to be left in a club or become a back-alley prostitute… what would Siwoo think if he saw him like that? What would he say? He might not look at him kindly as he had until now. He might not allow him to stay by his side. What Sanho feared was solely that. Slowly, but surely, he nodded his head.
“Okay. I’ll believe your words.”
“Thank you for believing me.”
“I will stay by my senior’s side no matter what.”
