With a deep sigh, Hugo exhaled and slowly shook his head, like he was trying to shake off a lingering desire.
“Don’t be so scared. Sure, your pheromones are incredibly enticing, but I’m not some trash who’d pounce on someone just because of that.”
At Hugo’s wry smile and words, Yeon Yiseo felt a mix of guilt and relief.
Hugo told him to wait a moment, then stepped away. And in that brief moment, a wave of sleepiness washed over him.
His eyelids felt unbearably heavy—he just wanted to fall asleep right there. But he couldn’t let himself be that defenseless. He forced them open over and over again.
At some point, he felt something soft and warm wrapping around him. Realizing Hugo had covered him with a blanket, Yeon Yiseo struggled to lift his eyelids.
“…Ah…”
A kiss landed on his cheek.
The unexpected kiss—from someone he never would’ve anticipated it from—didn’t bring joy, but discomfort and dismay.
Yeon Yiseo’s eyes flew open, and as he tried to sit up in shock, Hugo blocked him.
“It’s just a little gesture. A greeting, really. I won’t do anything more.”
Can I believe that?
Yeon Yiseo couldn’t take his suspicious gaze off him. And judging by Hugo’s reaction, he had sensed that distrust.
“I mean it… I’m leaving now. Just call me if you need anything.”
After saying that, Hugo stared at him for a beat before standing from the couch.
His footsteps grew distant… then disappeared.
The quiet brought with it a sense of relief. Left alone, Yeon Yiseo wondered if maybe he had overreacted to that kiss.
Maybe he didn’t need to respond so strongly. Still, kissing someone’s cheek without permission—even in a situation like this—was rash and, in a way, a kind of violation.
And yet, a small part of him wondered if he hadn’t been too harsh to someone who, in the end, had stopped himself.
Realizing his thoughts were spiraling, Yeon Yiseo reminded himself that he probably wasn’t thinking straight after the pheromone exposure.
His mind was a mess.
The blanket was a bit too warm for his already flushed body, but it was also soft and comforting, and he had to admit—it felt nice.
“…Haaah…”
He sighed and shifted, staring up at the ceiling. If he let his eyes close now, he’d fall asleep in this position.
Even though Hugo had stepped away, it didn’t mean he could relax and sleep peacefully.
Come to think of it, how did I fall asleep so easily when Alexander was supplying me with pheromones?
Was it because, back then, he hadn’t fully realized what it meant to be an Omega?
The more he thought about it, the stranger it felt. But… he’d been sure that Alexander wouldn’t do anything to harm him.
That certainty, in itself, was odd. And yet, based on the way Alexander had always treated him, it made sense that he felt safe around him.
His eyes fluttered shut again.
Fighting off the drowsiness was hard, but he managed to stay awake. And little by little, the heavy fatigue began to lift.
Within a few minutes, he felt almost completely back to normal.
Yeon Yiseo sat up, clenching and unclenching his fist to check his condition.
He was fine now. He didn’t need to stay here any longer.
Leaving the moment he felt better seemed a bit cold. But then he reminded himself: the only reason this meeting had happened in the first place was because Hugo threatened him.
With that in mind, he resolved to say a quick goodbye and leave.
“Mr. Cruz…?”
Yeon Yiseo called out to him, but there was no reply.
He doubted Hugo had gone out, and it didn’t feel like he was deliberately ignoring him.
Puzzled, he walked farther in.
“Mr. Cruz?”
This time, Hugo answered.
“You’re up?”
Yeon Yiseo heard movement.
He followed the sound, and the moment he turned the corner, he spotted Hugo rising from an armchair. With a smile, Hugo approached him slowly.
“Feeling better?”
“Yes, much better. …But are you alright, Mr. Cruz?”
He couldn’t ignore the flush still lingering high on Hugo’s cheekbones—like someone who’d just finished intense exercise. At his concern, Hugo smiled.
“I’m okay. That was my first time supplying pheromones, and it’s… tougher than I expected. Ah, but I’m fine. I work out regularly, and I am a dominant, so it’s no big deal.”
Laughing brightly, Hugo lifted both hands as if to show how fine he was.
Alexander came to Yeon Yiseo’s mind without effort. He had never said anything like that.
If dominant Hugo was struggling this much, then even for an extreme-dominant like Alexander, it couldn’t have been effortless.
Still, the one in front of him was Hugo. So Yeon Yiseo focused on him.
“Was it that hard?”
“No, not really. I told you, I’m fine.”
Hugo arched a brow, maybe feeling like Yeon Yiseo was treating him like he was frail.
“It’s just… your face doesn’t look fine. Should I get you something? …Ah, sorry, I’m acting like I live here. But if you tell me where it is, I’ll get it for you.”
Clearing his throat awkwardly, Yeon Yiseo tried to recover from the overfamiliar tone. But Hugo fixated on something else entirely.
“My face? What’s wrong with my face?”
He strode over to a nearby mirror. And the moment he saw himself, he practically shrieked.
“Oh my god. What is this? I was talking to you looking like this? No way. Oh my god.”
His reaction was so over the top that Yeon Yiseo could only stand there, stunned.
Hugo turned his head side to side, inspecting every angle of his face with disbelief. Then he looked at Yeon Yiseo. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, then covered his face with a hand.
“Mr. Cruz?”
“My face is a mess right now. And honestly, it’s all I’ve got going for me… this won’t do.”
“…What?”
Yeon Yiseo was taken aback.
He’d always seen Hugo as overflowing with confidence—this was unexpected. He thought the “SickVill” character setting didn’t apply here, but clearly, that wasn’t the case.
In Don’t Look for the Sickly Villain, Hugo’s backstory was this:
His mother died of hemorrhaging during a difficult childbirth. Hugo had been delivered via C-section. His father, devastated by the loss of his beloved wife, couldn’t bear to accept the child who had “taken her away.”
From childhood, his father’s constant gaslighting led Hugo to believe that aside from his mother’s face—which he inherited—he had no other worth.
He only began to rebuild his self-esteem after making it big as an actor, with his looks as the foundation of his confidence.
Yeon Yiseo had never come across this in his earlier research. Which made sense—no one would share something like that in an interview. Still, after hearing what Hugo had just said, Yeon Yiseo couldn’t just ignore it.
“‘Your face is all you have’…? That’s not true. Why would you even think that?”
He couldn’t just stay silent. Even if he couldn’t give Hugo a speech like Seo Eunwoo did in SickVill, he still wanted to offer a bit of comfort.
Though… he had to be careful. Too much kindness could entangle them further—something he wanted to avoid.
“Mr. Cruz, it’s not just your face. You’re in great shape. And I don’t mean that just physically. You’re… a good person. You didn’t have to, but you gave me your pheromones. Even now, when I was too weak to move, you didn’t take advantage of me.”
“That’s just the right thing to do.”
“There are plenty of people who don’t think that way. You know that. At the very least, you’re not like those assholes. And when you didn’t know what your face looked like—did I ever say it looked terrible?”
Yeon Yiseo’s question hung in the air for a beat.
Then Hugo finally answered.
“…No. You didn’t.”
“Right? So don’t get ahead of yourself. More importantly, saying stuff like that’s also kind of insulting to the people who genuinely like you.”
That last part came out a bit sharp, but it seemed to land. Hugo lowered his hand and slowly turned toward him.
“You really think that?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Not what other people think—what you think, Yeon.”
At Hugo’s request, Yeon Yiseo fell silent. He wasn’t sure whether he should say what Hugo wanted to hear.
Hugo’s vulnerability stirred something in him. But in the end, Yeon Yiseo chose not to offer more comfort.
The moment Hugo used Natalie to threaten him, any hope of becoming real friends had ended. And that choice… had been Hugo’s. Yeon Yiseo didn’t owe him anything.
