46
Junghyun repeated the words to himself over and over as if making a personal pledge.
But contrary to his resolve, his eyes kept burning with emotion, and he cleared his throat softly. Feeling like he couldn’t breathe properly, he unconsciously took deep breaths in and out repeatedly, but it didn’t help at all.
He felt guilty that he was more hung up on the fact that Seunghyeok had sent him away than he was grateful that his parents had paid off that enormous debt and come for him.
This wasn’t right.
Junghyun, having collected himself, raised his gaze from his hands. He tried to ignore the constricting tightness in his chest, but it was to no avail, making his efforts futile. Still, he couldn’t keep focusing only on that. As Junghyun was about to say something, he looked out the window and slowly observed his surroundings.
It seemed they had been driving for quite some time, yet they were still going somewhere.
They appeared to have left the city center and entered an area with few people. It wasn’t just sparsely populated—it was a mountain road with many trees. He’d been so out of it that he hadn’t even noticed they’d come to such a place. He must have been completely lost in thought.
The car eventually entered an unpaved road. Watching cautiously as the car shook and bumped, Junghyun finally spoke.
“Um, M-Mother. Where… where are we going now? Are we heading to a new house?”
His mother, who had been listening in the silent car, seemed to tilt her head back slightly before looking straight ahead and answering.
“There’s someone who will take good care of you. They’re a good person, so be obedient and listen well to avoid offending them.”
“…What?”
The car was now crossing through a well-maintained garden. The destination appeared to be a two-story building with white walls.
The car stopped smoothly, and his parents got out. However, Junghyun remained inside, just staring at them. The two didn’t even tell him to hurry up and get out; instead, they stood outside the car whispering about something.
At that moment, a large man walked out of the building.
His parents immediately straightened their posture and bowed deferentially toward the man.
The man seemed to exchange a few words with his parents before handing them a thick white envelope. Then, without hesitation, he flung open the car door. The scent of the forest rushed in. He spoke to Junghyun, who had frozen with wide eyes.
“Get out.”
His voice was so coarse and cracked that it was difficult to understand. It took about three seconds for Junghyun to realize that what the man had said was “Get out.” Just as Junghyun was about to respond, opening his mouth to speak—
“…Ah!”
Junghyun was forcefully dragged out of the car. The pain of hair being ripped out came next. His body, unable to react properly to the sudden situation, failed to respond. His knee hit the ground with a thud, but before he could even feel the pain, he was being dragged by his hair. Marks from his struggling feet were left in the dirt.
“M-Mother, Father, h-help…”
Junghyun looked toward his parents, the only ones who could help him in this place, but they were already disinterested, examining the contents of the envelope. His mother might have glanced in his direction once, but she quickly turned away. Meanwhile, his father had started counting the yellowish bills from inside the envelope.
That scene burned into his retina.
Their actions explained the entire situation.
The two of them, his parents—they hadn’t come for him out of family affection as he had thought.
Even his parents were abandoning him.
He felt a devastating sense of falling from a pitch-black cliff.
He needed to ask them something, to say anything.
“Ugh, p-please let me go…!”
“Well, now you’re struggling.”
“Aah!”
As Junghyun resisted by scratching at the man’s hand that gripped his hair, the man chuckled. Then he roughly shook Junghyun’s head left and right while maintaining his grip. Though Junghyun could feel his hair being pulled out, the man’s hand continued to hold his hair firmly.
Even in this state, Junghyun flailed his arms and legs, and the man muttered something before raising his arm. Like a radish being pulled from a field, Junghyun was lifted by an enormous strength, biting his lips as he felt indescribable pain in his scalp under the weight of his body.
The man’s other hand grabbed Junghyun’s nape. The brutal grip choked him, and Junghyun thrashed his limbs with the instinctive fear of dying. He tried to remove the man’s hand but to no avail. Even clawing and tearing at the man’s arm with both hands didn’t make him budge at all.
As he continued to struggle to breathe properly, strength began to leave his limbs. His vision started to blur.
“Let’s not make this complicated. The assemblyman doesn’t like it when the merchandise gets damaged.”
Though the man was surely speaking right in front of him, his voice sounded distant. Junghyun’s vision turned white, then black, before barely returning to normal. Feeling dizzy, he closed his eyes and forced them open again, but it didn’t help much. Each time he closed and opened his eyes, the surroundings changed slightly. Though brief, he must have lost consciousness several times in the meantime.
It took him a moment to realize that the hand choking his neck had been removed.
Perhaps finding it easier that Junghyun had gone limp from the sudden assault, the man dragged him inside.
Tears welled up from the pain that felt like his scalp was being peeled off, but only groans escaped his lips.
The man opened a door and entered without hesitation.
Dragged in without even taking off his shoes, Junghyun belatedly struggled while feeling nauseous from his swaying vision, but it was completely useless.
Then suddenly, the man’s strong hand released Junghyun’s hair. Torn-out strands fell to the floor.
“I’ve brought him, Assemblyman.”
“Hmm.”
Junghyun, who had practically collapsed on the floor, gasped for breath. The place he had arrived at looked like a quite spacious living room, but one wall completely covered with mirrors was unusual.
“What happened with them?”
“I only confirmed they took the money. I’ll go check if they’ve left.”
“Well, the reason they adopted him was for that anyway, so they probably have no further business. That’s fine.”
Adopted?
What did he mean by adopted?
Junghyun stopped moving and looked toward the source of the voice. There sat an elderly man with white hair who still looked robust. And there were five or six more people in the room. Specifically, four men and two women.
He couldn’t grasp what they had just discussed.
“Adopted…?”
The question escaped involuntarily. But no answer came.
Junghyun felt dazed as if the suddenly revealed truth had struck his head. But that feeling didn’t last long either.
At the old man’s nod, the man grabbed Junghyun’s nape and dragged him like a dog to stand before the elderly man. Junghyun’s brow furrowed involuntarily at the merciless grip on his neck.
“…Ugh.”
The old man’s eyes examined every inch of the struggling Junghyun’s face and body.
The elderly man placed his hand under Junghyun’s chin to lift his face, but Junghyun quickly turned his face away, shaking off the hand.
With no change in expression, the old man could be seen raising his arm.
The next moment, a loud slapping sound rang out next to Junghyun’s ear.
Junghyun realized his head had turned to one side. The burning sensation on his cheek came immediately after. A ringing sound filled his ears before everything became dull.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen an omega. They’re hard to find these days. With trash laws like the Trait Discrimination Prevention Act being passed. Let’s see now, a recessive type, hmm. Quite handsome. Jo said he emphasized that you’ve never properly experienced a heat cycle yet. I should check that.”
The old man’s voice remained completely flat.
At his gesture, a middle-aged man appeared from somewhere, carrying a small bag. Though Junghyun didn’t know what it was, he had a very ominous feeling.
Junghyun tried to back away, but the man who had brought him here pressed his knee firmly against his upper body, preventing him from moving. With his torso being pressed down forcefully from behind, he couldn’t breathe properly.
The middle-aged man took out a syringe and an ampoule from the box.
Though Junghyun couldn’t identify it, he knew it couldn’t be anything good for him. His chin hurt from being pressed against the floor.
“N-no, why are you doing this? Don’t, don’t do this, hng.”
“Do you know how much I paid your parents? You need to be worth that price.”
The old man spoke in a flat tone, as if admonishing him. The men around them rushed forward to grab and immobilize one of Junghyun’s flailing arms. Pressed down with such force that he couldn’t move at all, Junghyun began begging them not to do whatever they were planning.
But no one there responded to his pleas.
The thin needle of the syringe, filled with some unknown substance, pierced Junghyun’s arm.
“No, stop it. Stop it, ugh.”
He felt the stinging sensation of the drug entering his arm.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
