Chapter 74
A mere stud who sells his body. No, to be precise, he wasn’t even a stud, but a common horse. A common horse that gets kicked by the mare to bring out the highest sexual arousal before yielding its place to the stud, to prevent the well-bred stud from getting hurt.
Se-jin licked his lips as he scanned Tae-geon’s face and naked body with an arrogant expression. If it weren’t for that magnificent exterior and pheromones, he would be nothing but an empty shell not worth obsessing over to the point of experiencing such dirty feelings.
A lowborn of unknown origin and background, an illegitimate child of the Tae-ryeong Group who was nothing. A bastard who couldn’t even call his father ‘father’, not even a recognized illegitimate son. So his treatment in the family was exactly at the level of a common horse.
“I’ll believe that you’re in rut,” Se-jin said, stepping down from the bed with a sarcastic expression. Then he added coldly, “But I don’t believe you, Tae-geon.”
Tae-geon looked at Se-jin with surprised eyes at the sudden mention of his name. Se-jin smiled in response.
“Let’s meet again in a proper setting after your rut is over.”
“……”
“We have a lot to discuss about our future, don’t we?”
As Se-jin was about to leave the room, Tae-geon quickly grabbed his wrist. Then he pulled the captured wrist and embraced Se-jin.
“…You knew… my name……”
Se-jin nodded slowly. His whole body felt burning hot where it touched the alpha. Tae-geon’s desperate attempt to hold onto him sent a thrill through his lower abdomen.
“Just… 10 minutes.”
“……”
“I’ll explain… everything… without hiding anything.”
At that moment, the door burst open and the sound of several pairs of shoes stormed in. As a startled Se-jin tried to break free from Tae-geon, Tae-geon, firmly holding Se-jin’s wrist, surveyed the intruders. They were the attendants who had been tailing him last night.
Se-jin’s eyes widened as he saw the black-clad figures line up in front of Tae-geon and bow.
“Young master, the Chairman is looking for you.”
…Perfect timing.
Tae-geon sneered inwardly.
*
Tae-geon dismissed all the attendants. When they resisted leaving, Tae-geon threatened them with his pheromones, making them flinch and agree to wait outside the door, promising to really take him away in 10 minutes. Only when they were alone in the room did Tae-geon speak.
“As you can see, I was in a position where I couldn’t freely reveal my identity.”
Tae-geon nodded towards the door where the attendants were waiting. He offered a handshake to Se-jin, who was slowly nodding with an obviously perplexed expression.
“I apologize for giving you a fake business card. I’m Choi Tae-geon.”
“……”
“If I had known I’d be greeting you like this, I should have done it properly yesterday.”
Tae-geon joked as he pulled a thick blanket to cover his lower half. Sweat rolled down Tae-geon’s temple as he tried to maintain some semblance of formality with this greeting. The omega took Tae-geon’s hand and asked,
“Then… the Chairman you mentioned……”
“Tae-ryeong Group’s Chairman Choi Mu-seok is my father.”
Se-jin’s eyes darted rapidly from side to side. He had sensed it from the way the attendants had treated Tae-geon respectfully, but hearing it from Tae-geon’s own mouth made it even more certain. He might not be just a common horse after all. Although of unknown origin, he might possibly be designated as the next heir to the Tae-ryeong Group.
Tae-geon keenly observed the omega’s thinking face with narrowed eyes.
“And to add, I had to deceive you to protect you as well, Se-jin. In case any unsavory rumors about me were to circulate, you would be free from suspicion if you didn’t know my true identity.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“That omega you mentioned yesterday, the one you said you encountered a few times in the hotel lobby.”
Tae-geon’s voice lowered.
“They’re missing now.”
However, unlike the reaction he expected, the omega didn’t seem particularly surprised. Given his attitude towards Hyeon-woo yesterday, there should have been some reaction.
One of Tae-geon’s eyebrows slightly raised.
…He already knew.
It seemed he had completed a thorough investigation of Hyeon-woo’s background.
This level of obsession was not something one would have for someone they had only spent one night with. Moreover, he was very quick to act, and while seeming hot-tempered, he was surprisingly patient.
The puzzle pieces scattered in Tae-geon’s mind began to quickly find their places and fit together. Soon, a large picture emerged in clear form.
Struggling to hold onto his consciousness that was trying to blur like smoke, Tae-geon, breathing heavily, secretly fumbled on the bedside table. He grabbed whatever he could reach and pressed it against his bare thigh under the blanket three or four times. A terrible pain pierced through, snapping him back to full alertness. Riding on that momentum, Tae-geon continued speaking.
“That omega was actually my friend. Someone I’d roll around with occasionally if I felt like it. But their mouth was the problem.”
Only then did the omega look at Tae-geon with a curious expression, as if urging him to continue.
“They noticed my imprinting and spread false rumors that they were the one I had imprinted on. You had an arranged partner, Se-jin. Your father-in-law, Congressman Kim, and my father are closer than blood brothers. I couldn’t cause them to be at odds because of me. So I had been hiding my imprinting, but because that friend was running their mouth carelessly, my family found out.”
“……”
“Unlike you, Se-jin, they had no notable education, family background, or wealth. They were far from suitable to be my mate. My family, who already viewed imprinting as shameful, wouldn’t have left alone a subpar omega who ran their mouth so carelessly.”
“……”
“Yet my imprinting didn’t break. Because the one I imprinted on wasn’t them, but you, Se-jin.”
Se-jin’s eyes gradually filled with shock as he looked at Tae-geon. Soon, goosebumps spread all over his body.
So, he was saying that the disappeared omega wasn’t actually missing.
…So that’s why he acted like that.
Se-jin recalled how the alpha had pretended not to know when asked about that omega, saying “Who’s that?” The mountain of doubts that had been piling up now started to make sense, fitting together like cogwheels. His intuition that the alpha must have had something to do with the young omega’s disappearance had been spot on.
Tae-geon curled his lips as he observed Se-jin’s expression.
He’s quite quick-witted. The time given for him to process this information was sufficient.
Suddenly, Tae-geon tightly embraced the omega.
“What should I do to have you, Se-jin?”
Tae-geon took a deep breath with exaggerated breathing, as if craving the omega’s pheromones. Se-jin, exposing his nape to the alpha, shuddered once and spoke.
“I’m different from that vulgar omega.”
Se-jin hugged Tae-geon back and answered firmly.
“I’m not lacking in anything. I’m neither loose-lipped nor stupid.”
“……”
“There won’t be any conflict between the two of them. Just trust me.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the attendants burst into the room again. The promised 10 minutes had been perfectly consumed.
“Take him home.”
Only after confirming that one of the attendants had taken the omega out of the room did Tae-geon lose consciousness.
When the panicked attendants lifted the blanket to tend to Tae-geon, they were horrified to find the bed and even the floor covered in red bloodstains. Soon, they all recoiled in shock as they discovered the source. A wine opener was vertically embedded in Tae-geon’s unconscious thigh.
*
Tae-geon only regained consciousness after his rut had ended. He had been unconscious for a full two days. He was in his room at the main house in Seongbuk-dong. An IV needle was still in his left arm.
Mu-seok entered after being informed that Tae-geon had woken up. Tae-geon removed the needle himself and got up to greet Mu-seok.
The two sat facing each other on sofas with a table between them. Mu-seok’s expression looked somewhat complex.
“…Since when?”
Tae-geon snorted at Mu-seok’s question that broke the long silence.
“What? The imprinting? Well, it must have been the day you forced me to roll around with that omega.”
Tae-geon drove the point home towards Mu-seok, who sat silently.
“For the first few months, it was bearable, like having a mild cold, but recently it suddenly got worse.”
“……”
“I thought dominant alphas didn’t have things like imprinting? What now? I guess that was all bullshit?”
Tae-geon inwardly rejoiced as he shot back with a tone of mockery. From now on, they wouldn’t carelessly send omegas to him using this as an excuse. Liberation from being a stud. This was the first harvest Tae-geon would reap from this plan.
And then.
“Are you satisfied now?”
Tae-geon sneered, curling his lips.
“You changed the emergency meeting date to coincide with my expected rut because you doubted my imprinting, didn’t you? Because the only way for me to attend the meeting normally would be to roll around with the person I imprinted on. Now that you’ve confirmed that person with your own eyes, I’m asking if you’re satisfied.”
With this, Hyeon-woo would be completely excluded from being that person. This was the second harvest.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“……”
“…Of all people……”
Tae-geon closely observed Mu-seok, who was furrowing his brow and pressing his temple as if he had a headache. It was clear that he had not expected at all that Tae-geon would imprint.
