Barely restraining the urge to collapse anywhere, by the time he finally reached the bus stop, his body was drenched in sweat.
Yeonwoo sat on a bench inside the bus shelter and remained in a daze for several minutes.
He had thought his body was completely relaxed after sitting in the warm bath in the hotel room, but that was an illusion. What if the pain continued like this? Today was already Saturday. He wondered if he would be able to work at the mart on Monday in this physical condition.
In exchange for moving to Seoul, Yeonwoo had agreed to receive hospital bills and living expenses from Lee Jonghoon, but the living allowance was only 500,000 won. Moreover, the apartment Jonghoon had provided was a monthly rental.
At first, he had been grateful just to receive support for his omega father’s hospital bills. But after living in Seoul, he realized his situation wasn’t so comfortable. On top of that, he discovered how little 500,000 won per month was for living in the city.
So before long, Yeonwoo had sought employment. The job he found—which didn’t require transportation costs or disclosure of his omega status—was at a large supermarket four bus stops away from his home.
It wasn’t that Yeonwoo had never worked part-time before.
The neighbors where he used to live were good people who often looked after his family. The owners of a nearby fruit shop and supermarket would occasionally call Yeonwoo to help with various tasks and give him several ten thousand won as pocket money or wages. And of course, working at the mart was completely different from his previous jobs at the supermarket or shops.
Whenever his body ached or he encountered minor troubles, he considered asking his father for more living expenses, but ultimately decided to earn and spend his own money. Somehow, he felt that if he asked for even a little more money, that man would demand more from him in return.
“…”
Honestly, Yeonwoo had been skeptical about the arranged meeting with Ho Munbeom.
He was an extraordinary alpha who, as Lee Jonghoon had said, would never normally cross paths with someone like Yeonwoo. Though he had only begun receiving media attention in the past year, a search of his name yielded numerous articles, videos, and photos. The articles, filled with terms Yeonwoo couldn’t easily understand, were followed by words like “successful attraction,” “contract,” “enormous profit,” and “rapid growth.”
He belonged to a world Yeonwoo had never seen and would likely never encounter again. Perhaps the same was true for his father, Lee Jonghoon. Though Yeonwoo had expected to meet Ho Munbeom immediately upon arriving in Seoul, he had been neglected for months after coming in October. As the year changed, Yeonwoo had assumed he would no longer get to meet Ho Munbeom.
So he focused even more on his part-time job. He never knew when Lee Jonghoon, unable to arrange the meeting, might suddenly stop supporting his father’s hospital bills and his living expenses. As a precaution, he was considering taking on another part-time job when the call came.
News that a meeting with Ho Munbeom had been arranged.
[You don’t know this, but this wasn’t easy! But I did it! He’s someone you could never even brush sleeves with in your entire lifetime, so you need to do your best! Do you understand?!!]
The barrage of words that came as soon as he answered the phone left him bewildered.
Beginning with complaints about why he had taken so long to answer, the tirade went on endlessly.
After hearing over twenty times how difficult it had been to arrange the meeting and how worthless Yeonwoo was, Lee Jonghoon finally got to the point. He instructed Yeonwoo to go out immediately to buy nice clothes, new shoes, get his hair done, and even get makeup done before the meeting.
Yeonwoo understood that he should dress up somewhat for an arranged meeting. But makeup? Wondering if he was expected to wear lipstick, Yeonwoo finally opened his mouth, which had remained closed throughout the conversation, and asked why he needed makeup.
At that, Lee Jonghoon, who had been excitedly repeating the same thing, lost his temper.
[Where did my previous words go! I told you to seduce Ho Munbeom by any means necessary! All you have going for you is that pretty face, so use it well when you have the chance! When you meet Ho Munbeom, release your pheromones, throw yourself at him, do whatever it takes…!]
Is this really something a father should say to his child? More importantly, would doing as he said actually help captivate Ho Munbeom?
He might have believed it when he knew nothing, but now Yeonwoo knew better.
None of the omegas who had gone to these meetings with the same bold ambitions as Lee Jonghoon had gotten what they wanted. Rumor had it that Ho Munbeom rarely even showed up for these meetings anymore. The likelihood of Yeonwoo meeting the same fate was high. No, it was virtually certain.
When Yeonwoo remained silent, Lee Jonghoon became even more agitated.
[Do you know how much money I’ve invested in you! Unless you want your father to die…!]
Not wanting to hear any more of Lee Jonghoon’s voice, Yeonwoo replied, “I understand.”
The man, who had been ranting as he pleased, seemed to detect the subtle nuance in Yeonwoo’s voice and cleared his throat with a “hmm hmm.” Then he repeated, for what might have been the umpteenth time, what amounted to: make sure my investment in you isn’t wasted by producing results somehow.
Even after hearing Yeonwoo’s agreement, Lee Jonghoon contacted him multiple times a day. Are you getting skincare treatments? You haven’t gained weight, have you? Send me pictures of the clothes you bought. You need to act as pretty and appealing as possible, and so on. None of his words offered any practical help.
The interference continued until the day of the meeting, at which point Yeonwoo turned off his phone. There would be trouble, but he decided to worry about that when the time came.
And that’s how things had turned out.
“…”
Seeing his bus approaching in the distance, Yeonwoo slowly stood up. Clenching his molars to prevent himself from involuntarily moaning due to the throbbing inside his intimate area, he barely managed to board the bus and sat near the exit door.
After turning on his phone, Yeonwoo blinked in surprise.
He thought he must have seen wrong. Until 3 PM yesterday when the meeting was scheduled, there had definitely been many calls from Lee Jonghoon while his phone was off. But since then, there had been no messages or missed calls. It was strange, considering how curious the man should have been about the outcome.
Concerned about the lack of contact, Yeonwoo finally pressed the call button. The steady ringing tone continued for quite some time.
He tried calling Lee Jonghoon several more times on his way home, but none of the calls were answered.
If he had known it would be like this, he wouldn’t have turned off his phone.
He hadn’t realized how anxious he would feel when his calls repeatedly went unanswered.
Even after arriving home, Yeonwoo still held his phone in one hand when he suddenly remembered the check he had tucked away. Placing his phone on the floor and carefully looking around, he took out the folded check. After unfolding it and counting the zeros, he murmured:
“He really is rich.”
How could someone think to give a ten million won check? More than that, there are people who carry checks of this denomination in their wallets?
Well, even the mobile phone Yeonwoo was using was made by Ho Moon Group. He had read articles about their involvement in electronics, semiconductors, entertainment, and recently, electric cars. For the heir of a conglomerate with fingers in every domestic business, a ten million won check might be nothing…
The largest check Yeonwoo had ever handled before contained the full amount from selling their house.
His father’s villa, acquired through years of hard work, became a single check that was entirely submitted for hospital bills. He didn’t feel it was a waste. It had originally been his father’s money, and the number on that single check somehow didn’t feel real. The same was true for this check.
He should have just given me 50,000 won bills instead.
Without realizing it, Yeonwoo had been crouching and fiddling with the check when he raised his head, feeling a vibration from somewhere. Seeing the name displayed on his phone on the floor, he answered the call.
“Hello…”
[Did you forget I told you not to contact me casually?!!]
As if he had been waiting for this moment, the man’s shout erupted, and Yeonwoo held the phone at a distance, oddly reassured. After thoroughly scolding Yeonwoo for rudely calling first, the man, breathing heavily, finally asked what he had been curious about all along once he had calmed down.
[So, what happened?!!]
His angry voice couldn’t hide the expectation it contained.
Could he hide what had happened last night? The arranged meeting with Ho Munbeom took place in a hotel restaurant, and in that spacious venue, they were the only two guests. They had checked his ID upon entering, and at the entrance stood unusually imposing, well-built individuals.
Whether it was his imagination or not, the hotel itself seemed to have fewer people than normal. This meant no one would know about what had happened from last night until he left the hotel today.
Fiddling with the check on the floor, Yeonwoo murmured softly:
“Nothing happened.”
[…]
“He came late, we saw each other’s faces briefly, and that was it.”
Lee Jonghoon was someone who begrudged even investments for his own desires. A human who felt bitter about paying hospital bills for the omega who had borne his child. Such a person probably wouldn’t have assigned someone to follow him. Nor was he in a position to contact Ho Munbeom’s side directly to verify if truly nothing had happened with Yeonwoo. This meant that if Yeonwoo kept his mouth shut, the matter could simply be overlooked.
