Since each of them had arrived with their own driver anyway, moderate drinking was practically routine for them.
Only after a bottle of red wine costing over a million won was brought out, and the room became a completely sealed, private space with the door fully closed, did Jang Jihun loosen his tie and finally look ready to focus on the conversation. Jang Jihae did the same, but Jang Jihyeok alone did not loosen his tie. While Jihun and Jihae even unfastened their cufflinks and showed signs of settling in with their wine, Jihyeok maintained his refined posture, pouring wine into his own glass and then into his brothers’ glasses before speaking.
“Eating food in a bastard’s hotel makes me feel like I’m going to throw up. I need at least some wine to get through this.”
“Same here, hyung.”
Jang Jihun replied calmly, though his voice carried a deep sense of humiliation. After pouring an appropriate amount of wine into Jihae’s glass as well, Jihyeok skillfully wiped the drips from the bottle and asked him,
“But why did you choose a hotel run by a bastard as the meeting place?”
“Hyungs, don’t you want to completely fuck that bastard over?”
At the vulgar phrase fuck him over, Jang Jihyeok’s brow creased sharply. He looked at his younger brother with a stern, almost paternal glare. Jihae slowly swallowed his wine, then spoke.
“No, I mean… he’s already fucked, really—”
Clack.
Jang Jihyeok deliberately set down the fork prepared for cutting steak with an audible sound.
“I told you not to use low, bastard-like language in front of me. We are not cheap bastards. We are Father’s—”
“Damn it, hyung! That’s not what matters right now!”
Jihae snapped urgently, like someone being chased by a wild animal. Thrown out by his father for a premarital pregnancy, then crawling back on his knees for financial reasons and barely managing to secure an unglamorous convenience-store distribution business, Jang Jihae had to take whatever Choi Suho was meant to receive—no matter what.
“To ruin Choi Suho—”
“Why? So you think you’ll get the amusement park, the marts, and everything else Choi Suho’s supposed to receive?”
Jang Jihun sneered, chuckled under his breath, and took a sip of wine. Jihae’s face flushed red. Jihyeok, apparently thinking along the same lines, casually cut into his steak as he spoke.
“You don’t know this, but the amusement park has already been handed over to the bastard.”
“What? When? Wasn’t it just the hotel? I never heard anything like that—”
Jihyeok lifted his eyes indifferently and looked at the agitated Jihae.
“Seems you don’t even have the right to hear Father’s advance notice after disobeying him.”
“Hyung!”
When Jihae shouted, Jihyeok continued in a cold, flat voice.
“XX Land was created by Father for Choi Suho from the beginning, so there’s nothing strange about giving it to him.”
“But—!”
Jihae raised his voice in protest, but Jihun pressed down on his shoulder with force, making him sit back down.
“You knew too, hyung?”
When Jihae asked, Jihun merely nodded lightly and shrugged as if it were nothing.
“So what if it’s just an amusement park?”
“I only got convenience stores!”
“I told you how many times not to get someone pregnant before marriage. Father despises disobedience more than anything.”
“But he—!”
“He’s different.”
Jang Jihun gripped Jihae’s shoulder firmly, then looked straight at their older brother, who was cutting his steak with perfect etiquette, and spoke slowly and clearly.
“He’s the only son born from the Omega Father loved—the only son he truly loved, right?”
Clack.
“Fine. So why did you call us here, Jihae?”
Jihyeok set down his half-finished wineglass after giving it a light swirl. Jihae flinched under his brother’s gaze, swallowed dryly, then—unlike his refined, elegant brothers—drank his wine like a parched man.
“Maknae, if you called your hyungs over for nonsense—”
“Hyungs, listen carefully. Do you know what I saw when I went to Choi Suho’s place?”
Jihun let out a sigh. Jihyeok’s face remained expressionless, but his eyes were colder than they had been at any point since entering the room. When the look on his face made it painfully obvious that he thought this had been a waste of time, Jihae panicked.
“Hyung—hyungs—it’s not like that! Just listen!”
“Choi Suho was being forcibly fucked from behind by some guy—ugh!”
Splash!
Unable to listen any further, Jihyeok mercilessly flung the remaining wine in his glass straight at his younger brother. Soaked in wine, Jihae stood there blankly for a moment, then slammed his hand on the table as he saw Jihyeok gathering his things to leave.
“Choi Suho was being forcibly fucked from behind by some Alpha, hyungs! He was being punished—getting his revenge served!”
“So what? What does that have to do with us?”
Jihun, clearly having lost interest, stood up from his chair. As Jihae’s panic compounded, he stammered on.
“That Choi Suho—he was beaten to a bloody mess, and if we tell Father about this—!”
“Ugh! Hyung!”
Splash!
This time, Jihyeok didn’t just throw what was left in the glass—he grabbed the entire bottle and poured it over Jihae’s face.
When Jihae shouted, “You fucking assholes! I treated you like hyungs and this is what I get?!” Jihyeok calmly set down the now-empty bottle and replied,
“That’s my line. I treated you like a younger brother, and you repay me by talking about how that bastard was fucked from behind—using such low, vulgar language.”
“It’s true!”
“You want to tell Father that?”
“Yes! If he finds out that a dominant Alpha like him was violated so brutally—or no, that he actually enjoys it—then—!”
Jihun let out a hollow laugh, then suddenly burst into loud laughter.
“Ahahaha!”
Caught off guard by his brothers’ reactions, Jihae looked back and forth between them, his face flushing red instead of wine-soaked, muttering, “Fuck… fuck…” as he clutched his drenched jacket.
“You think Father would believe something without evidence?”
“I looked into it!”
Jihae blocked Jihyeok from leaving and rattled off the key points rapidly, like reciting rap lyrics.
“Do Si-in—that guy—hired someone named Ji Haesu, some kind of gangster or something! You know Do Si-in, right? That recessive Omega Father never liked because he lived with Choi Suho for three years! That bastard got pregnant with Choi Suho’s kid!”
At that, something subtly shifted in both Jihyeok’s and Jihun’s expressions.
Got pregnant?
Seeing that his brothers had taken the bait, Jihae lowered his voice and continued, making sure no one overheard.
“But Choi Suho knows Father’s personality, so it looks like he staged it as an accident and had Do Si-in beaten. Of course, he ended up in critical condition—and right then, Do Si-in’s father—”
“So where’s the evidence? Is there proof he was pregnant? Was he registered under the name Do Si-in when the accident happened?”
At Jihyeok’s sharp questions, Jihae slowly fell silent. Jihun let out a short laugh, lowered his head, then placed both hands on Jihae’s shoulders.
“Maknae, this is why you got less than Choi Suho.”
“Fuck, hyuung! Am I really supposed to be satisfied with just convenience stores? He’s got a hotel, an amusement park—and—!”
“And he’s set to get marts too. Poor, pathetic little brother. What are you going to do with an investigation this half-assed, huh?”
At Jihun’s shout—rare for someone who almost never lost his temper—Jihae hiccupped. Having already been cast aside by the family once, he shrank in on himself, trembling.
“I—I really… have nothing left now…”
Jihyeok snorted.
“You should be grateful Father even gave you convenience stores.”
“I’m Father’s son too!”
“There are fingers that hurt less than others, Jihae. Just like the child you abandoned so you could survive.”
Jihae lowered his head and couldn’t say a word. Jihyeok lifted his chin, his face and voice now identical to their father’s—cold and merciless.
“Of course it wasn’t registered under the name Do Si-in. That’s why you had to investigate in secret, right? You came late even though you know I’m obsessive about punctuality—that means your investigation finished late. It also means the bastard was desperately trying to cover up the maggot-infested mess he created, so Father wouldn’t find out. Do you know how much that bastard loves Father? How hard he must’ve tried not to be abandoned. Of course, if Father investigated, there wouldn’t be anything in this country he couldn’t uncover—but even if he did know, he would’ve pretended not to. A rootless recessive Omega couldn’t possibly have been carrying his son’s child, and since he’s already dead, that’s the end of it.”
Thinking his brother was finally taking his side, Jihae lifted his head, sweat-soaked and panting.
“That’s not all, hyung. Choi Suho had his stomach beaten so badly it went as far as removing the uterus—and he was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital too—!”
“So I’m asking if you have proof of that.”
Jihyeok asked coldly. As expected, there was none.
Terrified of even a single loose end, Choi Suho had ensured that nothing was ever registered under the distinctive name “Do Si-in.” He had even falsified the gender, registering him as a dominant Omega. Fake parents were provided as well. Just as Jihyeok said, Jihae had only been able to confirm the investigation results right before arriving at the meeting place.
That was how thoroughly Choi Suho had hidden Do Si-in’s existence. There wasn’t even 0.1 grams of evidence left behind.
“Most importantly, where is Do Si-in now?”
At Jihyeok’s question, Jihae hesitated. Jihun clicked his tongue, slipped both hands into his trouser pockets, and asked in a bored voice.
