Siwoo’s eyes widened even more at the sound of his own voice. But that was only for a moment before his knees buckled. The large body of Siwoo fell forward heavily. Paramedics in orange uniforms rushed over. Among the dizzying crowd, Siwoo’s beautifully curved eyes slowly closed, a clear image etched in Sanho’s mind.
“Let go, let me go!”
He couldn’t understand why he was being stopped. It was only after the stretcher carrying Siwoo was loaded into the white ambulance that the arms holding him back loosened. Only then did Sanho lift his head to look at the person who had restrained him.
“…Mr. Baek Sanho.”
It was a man dressed in a sharp black suit. With a cool and tidy demeanor, he glanced at the receding ambulance before meeting Sanho’s gaze again.
“It would be best to get treatment first.”
“I’m going to see my senior.”
“You’re badly injured. Let’s get you treated first.”
“If I go to the hospital where my senior is…”
“No, you can’t go there. I will take you—”
Sanho glared fiercely, his eyes wide open. He shot a look at the expressionless man.
“What do you mean you can’t? Why can’t I go?”
The man let out a small sigh.
“Mr. Baek Sanho, listen carefully. It seems you don’t understand how serious the situation is right now.”
Sanho’s eyes widened. It felt as if cold sweat had slightly soaked the bedding. He slowly pulled away the shabby blanket he had been curled up in. The cramped little room was fully visible at a glance. A tightly packed small space. It was definitely his home behind the blue door at the end of the alley. Sanho instinctively looked at his phone screen.
“……”
It was just past five in the afternoon. The call he had been waiting for had not yet come. As if trying to shake off the dream he had just had, Sanho shook his head slightly. He couldn’t tell how many times he had had the same dream. He had been falling asleep day and night, repeatedly waking up from the same dream. Just like now.
Sanho glanced at the long scar beneath his collarbone. He needed to change the bandage and disinfect it, but he merely stared at his wound with indifference. His injury didn’t matter to him.
The man in the black suit had said at the small hospital he took Sanho to that it was okay not to stitch it up. He hadn’t even looked at Sanho’s face, so he had heard the information through the man in the black suit.
“They said to disinfect it regularly and change the bandage. There might be a scar, but if you take care of it, it should be fine.”
The man in the black suit handed Sanho disinfectant, ointment, and bandages as they left the hospital. Accepting them, Sanho stared at him intently. This wasn’t what he wanted. He just wanted to know what had happened to his senior, where he was. But the man in the black suit silently helped Sanho into the car.
Sanho knew who he was. He was the man that Siwoo referred to as Director Jung. He had once taken Sanho home at Siwoo’s request. Even then, he had said nothing other than what was absolutely necessary. The brief words he had shared about the serious “current situation” were very few.
“The director is in a lot of trouble. Especially since this incident has occurred, it would be best for you not to meet Mr. Baek Sanho for a while.”
The area near Sanho’s home had changed quite a bit. The narrow, tightly woven alleyways were now fairly organized. Perhaps due to the increased number of streetlights standing sporadically, the alley was quite bright. The car that had driven up the widened alley stopped in front of the blue door. The man in the black suit glanced at Sanho and spoke.
“Do you have any luggage to bring from the hotel?”
“……”
“It will be difficult for you to return to the hotel.”
“But my senior…”
He briefly closed his mouth at Sanho’s words but soon continued with an expressionless face.
“Please don’t go outside for a while.”
“Why?”
“As I mentioned, the director is seriously injured, so the situation is likely not good. The chairman must be very angry.”
Avoiding Sanho’s frown, he slowly spoke.
“It would be best to wait until the director contacts you.”
“When will that be…”
“That’s up to him.”
He glanced at Sanho with dry eyes.
“The director will decide.”
It was a vague statement. Sanho said nothing more and got out of the car. He unlocked the door that Siwoo had installed and stepped into the cold house. Then he collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep. Three days passed like that.
The blanket spread over the hard floor was stiff. Lying curled up on it, he thought for a long time. I wonder if my senior is okay. He lost a lot of blood. He had thought several times about jumping up and searching all the nearby hospitals. Since he was not just a simple traffic accident victim but someone stabbed with a knife, it seemed like it would be easy to find him. If that were the case, wouldn’t he be able to find him just by searching aimlessly? If only he could find him, even if it meant searching the entire country.
“……”
But the words of the man in the black suit lingered in his mind. A fear crept in that his existence might put Siwoo in a difficult position. But what was even more frightening was something else. Sanho leaned back against the solid wall. He quietly hugged his knees and exhaled.
“Did I… interfere again?”
He slowly rested his forehead on his knees. The image of Siwoo looking at him through half-closed eyes came to mind. Siwoo, who had released pheromones to Joo-cheol. His hair was disheveled as if he had rushed over, and his cheeks were tense. The face that had misunderstood that he was trying to seduce Joo-cheol looked utterly despairing. No, was that despair? Was it not disappointment in him?
“……”
He was afraid of Siwoo’s misunderstanding. He tried hard to think that Joo-cheol’s words, that someone like him, an Omega, was nothing to the real Siwoo, were just simple mockery, but those words clearly touched the deep-seated fear in Sanho’s heart. What if my senior is disappointed in me and doesn’t want to see me anymore? The anxiety grew as much as the volume of his thoughts.
That’s… not it… it wasn’t like that…
Tears welled up in Sanho’s eyelashes as he gasped for breath.
At that moment, he heard soft footsteps. Sanho quickly lifted his head. A shadow appeared beyond the translucent glass window. Soon, there was a knock on the door.
“……Senior?”
Sanho hurriedly got up. There weren’t many people who would come to his old home. Just as the man in the black suit had said, he had been waiting at home without moving for a while, so it could be Siwoo who had come. The few steps to the door felt incredibly far.
“Is it you, senior?”
However, just as he was about to open the door, Sanho hesitated. The person outside was not Siwoo. He sensed a very faint Alpha pheromone. It was completely different from Siwoo’s pheromone.
“…Who, who are you?”
Sanho spoke with a guarded voice. The disappointment that had swelled at the realization that the person was not Siwoo slowly transformed into anxiety. His hand gripping the doorknob trembled slightly. At Sanho’s question, the shadow outside the door quietly stopped walking.
“Mr. Baek Sanho?”
It was a strange and cold voice. If the person who had come here was not Siwoo, then perhaps it was the man in the black suit, but that was clearly not the case. The presence and voice were very different from him.
“Who are you?”
The cold voice answered without delay.
“Please come with me. There is someone who wants to meet Mr. Baek Sanho.”
Sanho’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. The cold and authoritative voice felt threatening, beyond just stirring up anxious feelings. Sanho’s instincts judged him as a threat. Still gripping the doorknob tightly, Sanho spoke again, his voice as cold as the other’s.
“Who is that?”
“You will find out when you go.”
“Why should I go? I’m not interested in who wants to meet me—”
“Isn’t it Director Jin Siwoo who wants to meet you?”
Sanho’s eyes widened in surprise. He instinctively inhaled sharply but soon exhaled in a rush. His heart began to race at the mention of Siwoo’s name. Biting his lower lip, Sanho glared through the glass door.
“The person who wants to meet Mr. Baek Sanho will let you meet Director Jin Siwoo.”
“How can I believe that—”
“Whether Mr. Baek Sanho believes it or not is not important. You can decide for yourself. I assure you, this is not a request.”
“……”
“It would be best to go with me now.”
The man’s voice remained cold and authoritative, yet it also felt dry. His tone was as if he were stating a fact. Even though what he said was akin to a threat, it felt strangely calm.
“……”
“……”
“……”
After standing for a considerable time, gripping the doorknob, Sanho finally lifted his head. Slowly, he pushed the doorknob. A tall man appeared through the narrow gap of the slightly opened door. He was also dressed in a suit like the man in the black suit, but he exuded an even colder atmosphere. The man’s pheromone began to seep in through the narrow opening of the door, which was barely wide enough to fit a foot.
“…I can see my senior, right? For sure.”
Sanho asked quietly. He instinctively sensed that he would not hear any answer from him. However, Sanho had already made up his mind. As the man stepped back to make space, Sanho moved outside the door. He then raised his gaze to the man. The man’s face was expressionless, like a porcelain doll.
“Alright. I’ll go. To see my senior.”
The man did not answer again. Sanho did not wait for his response either.
***
As Chairman Jin entered the hospital room, Professor Kim, Siwoo’s attending physician, stood up. He gave a slight nod to Chairman Jin, who also nodded in return. Chairman Jin did not add any further words, but Professor Kim quietly relinquished his seat. As Professor Kim left and closed the door, Siwoo turned his head toward his father.
“Father.”
Chairman Jin stood tall, looking at Siwoo, who was sitting on the bed. His gaze lingered for a moment on the IV needle in Siwoo’s arm, stained with blood. The nurse was reattaching the IV and cleaning the blood, but it was impossible to erase the bloodstains on the patient’s gown. As if he could guess what had happened, Chairman Jin slowly shifted his gaze back to his son.
“Siwoo.”
“Yes, Father.”
“When you were very young, you were bitten by a dog and almost got seriously hurt. I wonder if you remember that.”
Siwoo stared at his father for a moment. He felt anxious, unable to grasp his father’s intentions, but he replied in a calm voice.
“No. I only remember my mother telling me that something like that happened.”
“Right, that makes sense. It was when you were very young. Your mother was so shocked that she tried to send that dog away. Back then, you cried so much, trying to stop your mother.”
“Me?”
“While saying that mistakes can happen to anyone, you insisted that it wasn’t your fault since you weren’t the one who got hurt.”
“……”
“At that time, your mother said this to you.”
“……”
“My good son. Mistakes can happen to anyone. If you had been hurt, I wouldn’t have forgiven you even if it was a mistake, but since you are safe, I will forgive you this time. You nodded when you heard that.”
“……”
“Your mother could say that because you were safe. You weren’t hurt to the point of not waking up for three days like now.”
“Father, this is…”
“You have always been kind and intelligent. I have always respected your judgment. Even from your childish days, you have consistently made the right decisions.”
Chairman Jin gazed steadily at his son. There was no warmth or tenderness in his expression.
“Of course, I still believe in you. Just like you said when you were a child, everyone makes mistakes, and you can make mistakes too. There will be moments when you are swayed by emotions or desires.”
“No.”
Siwoo raised his eyes to his father. With an unwavering expression, he spoke.
“If you’re talking about Sanho, no. It’s not a mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake.”
Chairman Jin coldly repeated Siwoo’s words, lowering his gaze. Looking into his father’s narrow eyes, Siwoo spoke clearly.
