Part 2. The First Task Successfully Completed (1)
Ding-dong.
The sound of the doorbell cut through the artificial darkness and silence of the suite, its blinds fully drawn. A long, lean, muscular body sprawled across the bed stirred.
“Mm… mm…….”
Even when the sound rang out again—ding—long and drawn out—Choi Suho only buried his face deeper into the pillow, showing no sign of getting up.
Just as his body shifted beneath the plush goose-down duvet, breathing evening out as he was about to sink back into deep sleep, his phone suddenly erupted with a loud ringtone.
[Dad’s calling! Dad’s calling!]
At that instant, the body that had stubbornly ignored the doorbell shot upright. He groped for the phone on the bedside table, found it immediately, and upon seeing the name displayed—Beloved Dad <3—pressed the call button without hesitation.
“Yeah, Dad.”
His low, husky voice came out sweeter than usual.
[Suho, I sent you some tonic yesterday. Did you take it?]
Though he had turned seventy-eight this year, the voice on the other end was still steady and authoritative—hard to believe it belonged to someone with chronic heart disease. It carried the commanding presence befitting the honorary chairman of Free Enterprise, South Korea’s largest conglomerate. Beneath it lay unmistakable affection, warmth reserved for only one son.
“Yeah.”
Choi Suho answered petulantly, sounding nothing like a man who had brutally raped Kim Minju from night until dawn, mounting him relentlessly before stuffing him into a 120-liter garbage bag. As though nothing had happened, he smiled gently as he spoke, his voice soft enough to feel almost fragrant.
“I’m twenty-eight now, and you still sent caramel candy.”
[Haha. Our Suho. You’ve never handled bitter things well. You’re always working late, so of course your dad should at least take care of your tonic.]
Closing his eyes, Choi Suho smiled deeply. His father’s affection melted him into something languid and indulgent, softened his heart, gave him the strength to survive another day.
[If the Omega who gave birth to you hadn’t died like that back then, our Suho wouldn’t have had to grow up so lonely……]
Lately, Jang Yuguk—Choi Suho’s father—had been bringing up the Omega who died giving birth to him more often.
“No, Dad. You know how much you’ve loved me. Why are you saying that?”
[It’d be nice if your brothers looked after you, but those brats are nothing but greedy!]
At the sharp edge in his father’s voice, Choi Suho bolted upright under the covers and swallowed dryly. This was exactly why he needed to show up early and maintain a perfect image at work.
He checked the time. Even if he rushed, he’d barely make it.
A curse slipped out silently. His half-blood siblings—whom he refused to call brothers, each more than ten years older—had already secured executive director positions or higher thanks to their father. Though Jang Yuguk was still healthy, at seventy-eight, Suho knew he had to work harder than anyone else. Before his father died, he needed at least one solid foothold.
[Suho, I worry about you. Do you have a maternal family backing you? Siblings who truly support you? You have no one but me—and I’m getting old too……]
“Dad!”
Emotion surged before he could stop it. His eyes reddened as he clenched the blanket and bowed his head.
“Don’t say that. You promised you wouldn’t leave me behind. Just like my Omega dad……”
[That’s right. I have to live at least until you get married, have a grandson, and see him enter elementary school. Don’t cry. You need to go to work—and Dad’s already messed up our handsome Suho’s face this early. I’ll keep sending tonic morning and night, so make sure you take it. Understood?]
Choi Suho pushed back his tangled bangs and murmured,
“Yeah. You get to work safely too. I love you.”
[Dad loves you too, our Suho.]
No matter how often he heard it, it was never enough. He missed hearing those words in person—skin against skin, breath warm against his ear.
When Suho was born, his Omega father died, and as a result, Suho was never entered into the Jang family registry. On weekends, Jang Yuguk would visit the Pyeongchang-dong mansion where Suho lived, sit him on his lap, and say:
If your dad had lived, you’d be on my registry now, inheriting everything I have. Of all the Omegas I’ve known, your dad was the one I loved most. If he hadn’t died, you would’ve been the child I loved most……
[Suho?]
Pulled back from the memories worn thin by repetition, Choi Suho answered softly,
“Yeah. I love you.”
[Good. Get up now. You’ll be late for work.]
Jang Yuguk could tell from his voice alone that Suho had overslept—and that he was slipping once more into longing for his dead father. Instead of scolding him, he urged him gently.
[Hurry, Suho.]
Jang Yuguk had never once scolded him. Guilt over Suho’s grandfather’s rejection and his wife’s hostility had made him excessively gentle with his youngest child.
Seeing Suho only twice a week, hidden away because he was illegitimate, he claimed he “couldn’t bring himself” to scold him.
Suho resembled the Omega Jang Yuguk had loved most.
The child believed he was rejected because he was a bastard—but that wasn’t the truth.
The moment Hwang Su-young saw Suho, she screamed:
—That bastard is never being raised in my house!
Jang Yuguk’s own father turned away the instant he saw him, calling him filthy—a parasite’s child dragging his father’s death behind him—and forbade him from ever entering the house.
After losing the divorce case all the way to the Supreme Court, Jang Yuguk had no choice but to hide Suho away in the Pyeongchang-dong mansion.
That wound festered into resentment.
[Suho.]
Perhaps sensing his father’s desperation, Suho finally got out of bed.
“I’m up.”
At that moment, the doorbell rang again—ding-dong, ding-dong—rapid and impatient. Suho shot an irritated glare toward the door.
“And thank you for the tonic……”
[But how long will you leave your house empty and live at the hotel? I gave you the hotel for convenience—not to abandon your home.]
At the word house, Suho licked his lips and sighed.
There was no way he could tell his father the truth—that he’d been living with a recessive Omega, Do Si-in, since college. Worse still, the Omega he believed couldn’t conceive had gotten pregnant—and Suho had disguised the forced abortion as a traffic accident.
[I’ve already taken care of things with that recessive Omega, Do Si-in.]
Suho’s breath hitched.
[Did you think Dad wouldn’t know? Since you ended things on your own, I didn’t investigate further. You weren’t thinking of marriage with that child, were you……]
“No!”
Suho replied smoothly, masking the panic clawing at his chest.
“How much do I love you, Dad? Do you think I’d do something that would disappoint you?”
If Dad finds out Do Si-in was pregnant, he’ll never let me off.
[Right. I know.]
Cold sweat slid down his spine as Suho thought, It was the right call to throw him into a mental hospital.
[That’s why I didn’t dig further.]
“Yeah…… he was just… just a pretty Omega……”
For a brief moment, Do Si-in’s bright face and soft curves surfaced in his mind. Suho forced his gaze downward.
No. Do Si-in was now confined in an institution disguised as a psychiatric hospital somewhere in rural Gyeongsang Province. His only blood relative—his father—was dead. No one remained to even confirm whether he was alive.
When Do Si-in was forced into the abortion disguised as a traffic accident, his father had been dying in another hospital. With Do Si-in critically injured, the baby dead, and his uterus removed, he couldn’t even sign the consent forms.
Suho felt a twinge of guilt later—but really, who told a recessive Omega to get pregnant in the first place?
If Do Si-in hadn’t conceived, none of this would’ve happened.
Damn it.
[When you’re young and a dominant Alpha, that’s how it is. I was the same. So were your brothers. Just don’t get anyone pregnant. You need to marry a beautiful, excellent dominant Omega like your late father.]
“Yes.”
[Before I die, I’ll choose one for you. Until then, play as much as you want—but no pregnancies. Recessives are absolutely out of the question.]
Something burned in Suho’s chest.
As he wiped his eyes, Jang Yuguk chuckled.
[Suho, do you think I gave you just one XX Hotel for convenience? If that were all, I’d have bought you a few officetels. Why would I give you a hotel? Just in case……]
