The guard arrived at the room at the end of the corridor, knocked, and opened the door.
What was visible were four men. Two were drinking separately, but the other two were closely stuck together. More precisely, one man was pressing himself against another man, and that was Seongho.
Seongho, who was infatuated with someone who wasn’t even looking at him properly and whose body was heating up, scowled at the suddenly opening door and lashed out.
“Ah, what is it?!”
“I’ve brought your guest, sir.”
Giving good tips and having a terrible temper were two separate things. Knowing that Seongho became even more dog-like when his body was heated up from being crazy about a man, the guard said only what he needed to say and backed away. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to look at Yeonwoo, who had pulled his cap down low. No matter how he looked at it, Yeonwoo seemed too good to be left here. The guard, who smacked his lips in regret, left, but Yeonwoo still stood behind the open door.
Only then did Seongho realize Yeonwoo’s presence and frowned.
“If you’re here, come in! Why are you standing there like that?! You’ve completely ruined the mood!!”
At those words, the men who were drinking while fiddling with their phones snickered.
“Was there a mood to be ruined? I was dozing off while playing a game.”
“I just made another appointment, want to come along later?”
Hearing the exchange between the two reasonably good-looking men, a flustered Seongho shifted his bottom.
“D-don’t do that. You promised to hang out with me today. Did you forget our promise?”
“I did, but it’s just too boring. It’s been a while since I’ve yawned while drinking. Don’t you think so, Minwoo?”
The one called Minwoo was the man Seongho was sitting next to.
He was an alpha, though a recessive one, whom Seongho had recently been ardently pursuing. Although he was the type who would do anything for money, he didn’t like someone clinging to him persistently like Seongho. As the things Seongho could extract from him were gradually running out, even the face he had somewhat favorably looked at until now seemed disgusting.
Minwoo was already planning to leave, annoyed by the guys who had been snickering and mocking what Seongho had been doing to him. The appearance of a guest was welcomed by Minwoo, who pushed away Seongho who had been hanging on his arm.
“What’s this, you called someone else? Then is it okay for us to leave now?”
At Minwoo’s words, Seongho fidgeted in his seat, saying what nonsense was he talking about.
“L-leave? Where would you go? You promised to stay with me today…!”
“…”
At Seongho’s nasal attack, Minwoo bit his lower lip to suppress the rising nausea. Minwoo, who glared at the other two guys who turned their heads and desperately tried to suppress their sneers with their lips tightly closed, nervously brushed his hair back.
Until now, Seongho had stuffed quite a lot of money into his pocket. Seeing that he had called him and two other guys today, it seemed like money had come in from somewhere again…
Should he bear with it today too, thinking only about the money? But this ugly beta wanted him to release pheromones every time. As if a beta could manifest as a special trait with a recessive alpha’s pheromones.
Minwoo, who was getting fed up with Seongho’s constant advances today, looked at Yeonwoo who had been standing outside the door all this time.
The clothes he wore were shabby, but he was slender with a small face. Though he wore his cap low, the ridge of his nose and lips visible beneath were quite handsome.
Minwoo’s expression, which had been indifferent all along, changed.
“Aren’t your legs tired? Don’t just stand there, come in.”
Following Minwoo’s words, the other two men also gestured for Yeonwoo to come in. It was the kind of friendliness that would make anyone believe they had known each other for a long time rather than having just met.
Regardless, Yeonwoo didn’t move a step, and when Minwoo showed interest in Yeonwoo instead of him, Seongho, whose insides twisted, lashed out again.
“Hey! I said come in! Aren’t you coming in?!!”
“…Ah, my ears hurt.”
When Minwoo, who frowned, turned his head while covering his ears with his hands, Seongho was shocked.
Floundering, he tried to touch Minwoo’s ears asking if they hurt, but Minwoo brushed his hand away and moved far to the side. Seongho, who could only watch this scene, glared at Yeonwoo again.
Regardless, Yeonwoo’s heart had turned cold at the situation in the room that came into view as soon as the door opened.
There were certain things that were automatically expected from the moment he checked the place where he’d been called, but this was the worst among them. Should he be thankful that they weren’t doing strange drugs? Still, he didn’t want to enter a space with recessive alphas and unfamiliar betas.
Yeonwoo got straight to the point.
“Anyway, we can talk here too, so I’ll state my business first. The check you stole from my house, if you return it, I won’t do anything more.”
“…What?”
Seongho’s mouth opened wide at Yeonwoo’s unexpected response. Then the recessive alpha, widening the distance from Seongho, made a harsh expression.
“What’s this? You’re stealing money now? Your father isn’t giving you an allowance?”
“N-no, baby, it’s not like that!”
Despite Seongho desperately denying it by shaking his hands and head, no one seemed to believe him. Having seen and heard things about him, they knew Seongho was the type of person who could easily steal a check and do even worse.
Seongho’s face burned hot from the strange looks he was getting, and he found a target to vent his anger on.
“You!! Do you think it’s okay to act like this in front of me? I checked the name written on that check, you know? Would it be okay if I told your father?!”
“Go ahead.”
“…”
“You tell my father, and I’ll go to the police station and report the theft of the check.”
This was a situation Seongho had never anticipated.
For that Yeonwoo, of all people, to talk back to him. Come to think of it, even when he tried to extort money, Yeonwoo hadn’t been entirely compliant. No, that’s not it—Yeonwoo shouldn’t act like this here. Seongho, who hadn’t thought about what to do in this situation, was at a loss for words.
At that moment, a man sitting opposite looked back and forth between Yeonwoo and Seongho and said:
“What’s going on, what’s your relationship? You don’t look alike at all to be brothers, and the atmosphere doesn’t seem like you’re friends…”
Then another man clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Hey, what friends does Seongho have? I can see exactly what’s going on. Seongho must have crawled into this friend’s house to call our Minwoo and stole the check. Seongho, no matter how much you like Minwoo, you shouldn’t steal. It’s not like Minwoo will recognize your feelings for doing that.”
“Right, right. That bastard is only after your money, Seongho. Otherwise, who would be with someone like you…”
“Hey, hey. Stop it.”
Seongho’s face instantly flushed as the men laughed and mocked him. On the other hand, he looked at the man sitting next to him, wondering if it could be true, and clearly saw a face that had lost interest. Seongho, whose pride was hurt by this, spoke with clenched teeth.
“…Everyone get out.”
At those words, as if they had been waiting for it, Minwoo stood up, and Seongho was startled.
“A-are you really leaving?”
“You said to get out.”
Of course, he had said that, but he didn’t mean it.
Seeing Seongho fidgeting nervously, Minwoo exhaled a long breath filled with irritation.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but if you’re thinking of hanging out with me using stolen money, forget it. And don’t call me if you don’t have money.”
And tilting his head to the side, Minwoo raised the corner of his mouth crookedly.
“I’ve been thinking this for a while, but you’re really ugly. With that face, you wouldn’t sell even if you were an omega. So come to your senses now, Seongho.”
“…”
Having spilled all the words he had been holding back, Minwoo felt relieved.
As Minwoo moved, the other two men also rose from their seats. They laughed, saying wasn’t this too much for the last time, wouldn’t it be a waste to just leave like this when Seongho’s family had so much money.
Seongho’s body trembled at the mockery directed at him. Feeling the heat rising to the top of his head, Seongho glared at the bottle of alcohol in front of him. Just as he was about to reach for it, an “Oh” of surprised admiration was heard.
“This one is really beautiful.”
“Yeah, want to come out and hang with us? If it’s you, I’ll pay.”
Seongho’s head moved quickly as he flinched. Then he saw that those who hadn’t even given him a glance were now surrounding Yeonwoo. Among the guys urging him to come along was Minwoo too. The alpha whom Seongho had put so much effort into—not love, but at least at the level where he could say he liked him.
Yeonwoo looked straight at that Minwoo and said:
“I’m not interested in alphas who have been with Seongho.”
“…”
The men who had been snickering and trying to seduce Yeonwoo closed their mouths.
Seizing the opportunity, Yeonwoo entered the room and quickly closed the door. It seemed like curses could be heard from beyond the closed door, but ignoring them, he looked at Seongho.
Seongho’s face, which had been as red as a tomato, was now pale white with anger. It would be good if he vented that anger on the one who had given him the humiliation, but looking at the current situation, it seemed like he would take it out on Yeonwoo. No sooner had he thought this than Seongho got up and rushed at Yeonwoo.
It was always the same pattern. Seongho would exercise one-sided violence as if venting his anger, and Yeonwoo would just have to endure it. But this time, watching Seongho approaching him, Yeonwoo forcefully kicked him below the knee.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
