“Dad, please! Don’t say things like that! Every time you do, my heart drops through the floor!”
Choi Suho’s one and only weakness—yet also the mechanism that made him human—was his father.
Knowing that, Choi Suho still let Do Si-in’s father die.
[Just in case, I gave you one as insurance. I’ve already written my will. You’re undeniably my child. You have every right to receive it.]
At the words you’re my child too, tears welled up at the corners of Choi Suho’s eyes. As Suho bit down hard on his lips, Jang Yuguk let out a hearty laugh and added,
[You’re late for work today. Say you’re sick this morning, take half a day off, and go in during the afternoon.]
Choi Suho lowered his head deeply, covering his face as he spoke in a trembling, choked voice.
“I always love you, and I’m always grateful, Dad.”
[It’s nothing. Dad’s the one who’s sorry. I wanted to bring you home and raise you properly a long time ago, but I couldn’t.]
Then, hearing his secretary calling for him, Jang Yuguk said, “Let’s hang up now. Dad has to go,” and ended the call abruptly.
Choi Suho sat on the edge of the bed, covering his face as he sucked in ragged breaths.
“Fuck. Seriously.”
Wiping away the tears running down his cheeks, Choi Suho got to his feet as the doorbell continued to ring incessantly.
“Get out! Stop pressing it!”
True to Choi Suho’s nature—treating every human being other than his father as less than human—he shouted with a voice dripping with irritation. As he walked from the suite bedroom to the door, the bell rang on, utterly tactless.
What if Dad found out about Do Si-in’s pregnancy? Just like on the phone earlier……
–I’m disappointed in you, Suho!
And then even Dad would turn his back on me, right? The only family who loves me?
At that moment, Choi Suho felt as if lightning had struck straight through his body. Goosebumps erupted over his skin. He froze in place, his fingers trembling violently before clenching into tight fists.
Illegitimate Choi Suho without Jang Yuguk was nothing.
He wished his father would live a long life—but his siblings, excluding himself, wanted their father dead. And once Father died……
—Choi Suho, once Father dies, you’re the first one we’re going to fuck up.
Why did Jang Jihyeok’s words surface at a time like this? Fuck!
Among his half-blood siblings, the eldest—Jang Jihyeok, who stood at the very peak of power—was waiting for their father’s death, unlike Suho. Realizing that, Choi Suho clenched his fists and bit his lip.
Jang Jihyeok, who looked exactly like their father, cultivated a polished elite image. He dated a dominant Omega from a good family—handpicked by their father—for years, married her, and had three children, just like Father. Though Father didn’t love him, he gave his eldest son the Vice President position at Free Enterprise because he met his standards.
Still, since he was a son born when Father was twenty-eight, maybe there was some lingering attachment.
Then came Jang Jihun. Born when Father was thirty, he followed orders just like Jihyeok—entered a strategic marriage with a dominant Omega, had three children, and in return was appointed CEO of Free Heavy Industries.
Lastly, the youngest—Jang Jihae. Born when Father was thirty-four.
The son who committed the mistake Father loathed most: a premarital pregnancy. Because of that, he was given only a single convenience store—barely a business at all, even among the affiliates. It was Father’s way of telling him to crawl out of the house on his own. Eventually, after divorcing a recessive Omega and kneeling before Father, smashing his forehead into the floor, he was finally granted a position—Chairman of a distribution company, albeit one that managed the nation’s number one convenience store chain.
That being the case, no matter how loved he was, if Suho had committed a major mistake like Jihae—premarital pregnancy with a recessive Omega—Father wouldn’t have handed him a hotel as “insurance.” After that, Father had said he would gradually pass down casinos, large marts, department stores, one by one.
So Father absolutely must not find out that Do Si-in got pregnant, that he arranged an abortion, or that various things happened in the process.
—How could you do this?!
Just as he reached for the door, Choi Suho hesitated.
“Choi Suho! I loved you!”
Father would die someday anyway—but Si-in, you could’ve lived with me for a long time……
If I had just accepted my position and chosen you, then I—
I…… wouldn’t be this afraid, would I?
“Fuck, what the hell am I even saying?”
Choi Suho muttered with a hollow laugh.
“What is Do Si-in, anyway.”
Am I supposed to lose the casinos, the mega marts, the department stores, the cars—all because of some worthless recessive Omega? I should crush the faces of those fuckers—Jang Jihyeok, Jang Jihun, Jang Jihae.
I’m clearly a member of the Jang family too, just like Dad said.
Clack.
The moment he opened the door, Choi Suho leaned an arm against the frame and looked down.
But instead of a face, he saw shoes.
Realizing this wasn’t the first time—no, the second—his expression hardened as he slowly lifted his head.
Before his eyes flickered tonic with a strong, bitter scent, and peanut caramel candy.
“What the hell, you brought this just to—”
“Ah, h-hello, President.”
The tall, burly beauty holding the tonic was the same guy from yesterday. Even though the name tag was hidden by the tonic, his shy expression was so strikingly pretty that Suho remembered his name instantly.
“Jang Jisu?”
Jang Jisu looked flustered, then smiled in a way that matched his looks. A deep dimple formed in his left cheek.
Dimples too. In the bright morning light, Jang Jisu was unmistakably Choi Suho’s type.
“Yes. I’m the new hire, Jang Jisu—”
“Yeah. Bring the medicine up again tonight.”
Cutting him off bluntly and saying only what he wanted, Choi Suho downed the tonic in one go. The bitterness stabbed at his taste buds, making him wince sharply, but he swallowed it down, repeating to himself that it was tonic his father had bought for him.
After finishing, he placed the bowl back on the tray and exhaled—when suddenly, a familiar sweetness flooded his mouth. Even though his mind told him to push it away, his body—conditioned since childhood by his father—accepted the caramel candy bit by bit.
Just as he opened his mouth to say something after finishing, a hand as large as a professional basketball player’s reached out and brushed gently beneath his eye.
The utterly unexpected tenderness froze his body.
That kind of gentle touch……
“Were you crying?”
Other than his father, this was the first person who noticed he’d been holding back tears. Choi Suho stiffened in shock as Ji Haesu gently wiped the tears pooled at the corner of his eye again with a callused thumb—then his face flushed instantly. Shoving Ji Haesu’s chest away, he shouted,
“I’ve taken the damn medicine, so get the fuck out!”
Bang!
“I-I’m sorry, President!”
He could hear the man apologizing frantically outside, but Choi Suho barely registered it—his heart was pounding too hard. Remembering the hand that had touched his eye, he scrubbed his face roughly.
Then, as he was about to message that he’d be coming in during the afternoon after taking a half-day off in the morning—just as his father suggested—he happened to see his reflection in the minibar mirror.
“What the fuck.”
His face was completely flushed. Seeing that, Choi Suho screamed,
“AAAGH!”
Hearing the scream from outside, Ji Haesu—awkward but brimming with a sense of justice—used the emergency key to open the door and rushed in.
“President Choi, what’s going on?!”
Crash! Shatter!
Ji Haesu fell silent when he saw an expensive bottle of whiskey from the minibar and shards of mirror scattered across the floor. Then he frowned ever so slightly as he looked at Choi Suho, who was clutching his face and gasping for breath.
The one who caused all this didn’t even realize Ji Haesu had entered. His shoulders trembled in small spasms as he repeated the same words over and over.
“This can’t be happening. I—I’m not like that bastard……”
There was no way he could have the same face as Do Si-in.
—Suho! Choi Suho!
The image of Do Si-in smiling brightly as he called his name flashed through his mind, and Choi Suho screamed, clutching his face,
“AAAGH!”
“Fuuuuuck!”
True to Choi Suho’s nature—seeing everyone but his father as a lesser life-form, unable to control his rage—he grabbed another bottle of whiskey from the minibar. As he was about to hurl it somewhere in the suite, Ji Haesu grabbed his wrist and wrapped an arm around his waist, dragging him back against the wall.
“What the hell are you doing, you bastard! Let go—let go of me!”
“There’s broken glass on the floor! You’ll get hurt!”
“Let go!”
Until I fuck you, I won’t forgive that sturdy, pretty body getting hurt.
“President, please calm down. If the Chairman were to see you like this—ugh!”
Thud!
“Who the fuck are you to bring up my dad like that, you son of a bitch! Using my dad to try and teach me a lesson? Who the fuck do you think you are!”
Realizing Ji Haesu was trapped against the wall, Choi Suho drove his elbow viciously into his side. Even for someone as well-trained as Ji Haesu, the relentless blows to his ribs hurt badly enough to draw out a heavy groan. As Ji Haesu grimaced in pain and faltered for just a moment, Choi Suho forced his way free, turned sharply, and lifted the bottle again.
“Fuck, I’m going to kill you.”
That wasn’t a bluff.
Seeing Choi Suho swing the bottle toward his head, Ji Haesu instinctively spun aside.
Thud! Shatter!
The wall took the full impact, the whiskey bottle shattering from the sheer force. Ji Haesu swallowed dryly, braced himself against the wall, then sprang upright.
This time, Choi Suho was advancing with a broken bottle in hand, madness blazing in his eyes.
“How dare you try to lecture me while dragging my dad into it? This is your hotel. My house…… ugh!”
