The nanny reacted on pure reflex, wrapping herself around Choi Suho from behind, her face gentle and vacant as always. As a result, the knife pierced straight into the nanny’s back, and still holding onto Choi Suho, she collapsed forward with him in her arms. The shuttle bus driver and the teachers who had just arrived witnessed the scene and immediately called 112 and 119. The grandmother, screaming, “Because of you, my son died!” “Because of you, Juho died!” was restrained on the spot.
But Choi Suho had to see everything. Because of the shock of the accident, his memories became confused—he could no longer distinguish whether it was his mother or his maternal grandmother—and in the end, he erased that day from his own mind. For his own comfort.
Bang!
The light draining from the nanny’s eyes, like a fish slammed down on a cutting board.
The nanny’s face contorted in agony.
From the lips that always told him, “I love you, young master,” came a groaning, “Kkeu-euuk.”
And the warm, sticky liquid soaking into his body.
After that, a long “Beeeeeeep” swallowed his ears, and someone hurriedly covered his eyes and pulled him into an embrace.
—Forget it, Suho!
He heard his father’s voice.
—It’s not your fault!
—Dad?
—Absolutely not. None of this is your fault!
Forget it, Suho.
Words had astonishing power. After that, Choi Suho forgot every memory related to the nanny. It was a scene far too much for a ten-year-old to endure.
The problem was that he also forgot the love the nanny had given him, her warmth, her guidance, her consideration—and grew up into trash.
—If I’d known you’d turn into this kind of trash, I wouldn’t have died in your place. I should’ve just let you die……
Each and every word from the nanny hurt so badly that every breath felt like his chest was being torn into rags. When he was ten years old, the nanny was killed by his grandmother’s hand, and even the grandmother took her own life afterward.
Because my existence was the problem.
—That’s right. You’re the problem. You never should’ve been born in the first place. You should’ve died. You should’ve died and Juho should’ve lived!
—Then your father would’ve been happier too, wouldn’t he?
Waaah, waaah, waaah—out of a writhing mass of crying infants, an old, deeply wrinkled grandmother emerged. The moment he saw her, Choi Suho screamed, “Aaaah!” and bolted awake.
“Haak, huff……!”
When he opened his eyes, he was staring at the ceiling, drenched in sweat. His heart was pounding so violently that the sound rang in his ears. Still clutching his chest and gasping, Choi Suho pulled the fabric he was holding closer and buried his nose in it.
It’s a nightmare. That was a nightmare. Anyone else maybe, but there’s no way Dad would’ve thought something like that……
“Wait.”
But the clothes I’m smelling right now…… these aren’t mine.
Having had such a vicious nightmare, his consciousness didn’t return easily. As Choi Suho blinked blankly, trying to bring things into focus, his face turned pale when he realized the pile of clothes he was hugging belonged to Ji Haesu. That wasn’t the only strange thing. What he was lying on was Ji Haesu’s pants and underwear, and what was draped over him was Ji Haesu’s top. There was a blanket too, of course, but it carried a scent that wasn’t fabric softener.
The blanket reeked overwhelmingly of Ji Haesu’s pheromones, and he found himself feeling reassured by it.
This is like an Omega being buried in an Alpha’s pheromones.
The moment that realization struck, Choi Suho remembered how, whenever he came home late from school, Do Si-in would gather an armful of his clothes, make a nest, and sleep in it. Memories surfaced like creeping smoke—how he’d found Do Si-in adorable buried in his clothes, and had deliberately sprayed his pheromones all over them before leaving. Nausea surged up, and he clamped a hand over his mouth.
Am I… doing exactly what Do Si-in used to do right now? Feeling comforted by Ji Haesu’s pheromones?
No. No. That can’t be……
His chest began to tremble with anxiety again. It rose and fell so visibly it was obvious to the eye. With shaking hands, Choi Suho lifted Ji Haesu’s clothes and deliberately inhaled the pheromones.
And at that moment, he realized how completely calm he became.
When Omegas don’t have Alphas and get anxious, they make nests like this with clothes to stabilize themselves.
—A nest? You call this a nest? That’s cute.
When he saw himself smirk, Do Si-in had pouted and said it.
—Once you’re exposed to an Alpha’s pheromones like this, there’s no helping it. That’s why you have to keep me with you until I die.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Choi Suho’s eyes wavered with unease. His hand unconsciously touched his lower abdomen. As he pressed Ji Haesu’s clothes to his nose and kept breathing, his previously ragged breaths slowed, becoming peaceful. Choi Suho squeezed his twitching eyes shut and exhaled, then bit down hard on his trembling lips.
No. No. That can’t be. Between Alpha and Alpha, even a forced pheromone shower doesn’t work……
Choi Suho opened his eyes and looked down at his lower abdomen, which had been throbbing nonstop.
There, Ji Haesu had carefully drawn a heart. The moment he saw it, the tangled thoughts in his head snapped cleanly, like threads being cut.
Everything fell silent, and a deep calm descended. Choi Suho stared ahead with a blank expression.
You’re fucked, Suho.
At that moment, it was as if his mind had gone completely empty—no thoughts at all.
The wrongs Choi Suho had committed.
How he’d loved Do Si-in, yet committed vile acts just to be loved by his father.
Compared to what Ji Haesu had done to him, all of that became nothing more than someone else’s business. Now that it was his problem, the target became the object of his rage—his revenge, something he could no longer endure without acting on.
Ji Haesu! Ji Haesu! Ji Haesu!
Only one name floated vividly in his mind. As Choi Suho trembled violently, clutching the blanket until it crumpled, a soft, humming melody reached his ears.
“Ha, haha.”
Choi Suho let out a hollow, dutiful laugh and slowly blinked.
No. That’s not it.
This is an opportunity.
With a smile lingering on his lips—reason gone, only instinct remaining—Choi Suho groped beneath the pillow. Just as people said, humans didn’t change easily. He had expected Ji Haesu to come rape him again, and he himself had been waiting for that moment, hiding a knife here to kill Ji Haesu when it happened.
Even after raping him and turning him into an Omega, Ji Haesu hadn’t discovered the knife, because it remained unused—an ordinary kitchen knife lying quietly in place. Grabbing it without hesitation, Choi Suho held his breath and slowly climbed down, walking toward the door.
“Hm, hmm.”
From outside came a tune, its melody indistinct.
“While waiting for you who never came, I danced beneath the moonlight. With the song you loved as my partner. In the end, you were never going to come.”
Choi Suho’s eyes, gripping the knife, wavered slightly. At first glance, the song sounded almost like Chinese, but it was a famous Hong Kong singer’s song that Jang Yuguk always listened to whenever he came to this mansion.
—It’s a song your father, who gave birth to you, liked.
—What’s the song about?
—Hmm. It’s about waiting for someone who never comes—singing the song they love under the sunlight, and dancing under the moonlight.
—Why don’t they come?
Back then, his father had closed his mouth, looked down at young, innocent Choi Suho, and smiled sadly.
—Because they can’t.
I have to kill Ji Haesu…… then why do you know this song? If I kill Ji Haesu here, I’ll never learn about Dad’s stories, but……
However, when Choi Suho saw his own reflection in the gleaming blade for the first time, he flung the door open.
“Clutching the song you loved, I danced beneath the moonlight. There were two shadows. We became one—!”
Thud!
“……!”
The layout of the house was simple. The place Suho was using as a bedroom hadn’t originally been a bedroom. But because the kitchen was right in front of it and close by, he’d been using it as one. Thanks to that, the moment he opened the door, he was able to stab Ji Haesu straight in the back as he stood there, shirtless, wearing only an apron.
“Haah, what kind of prank is this?”
But that was Choi Suho’s mistake. Whether his instincts were just that sharp, or because he’d experienced being targeted from behind so many times, Ji Haesu sensed the incoming knife instantly. He opened his palm and caught the blade barehanded. The “thud” was nothing more than the knife piercing shallow skin on his back. No matter how panicked Choi Suho was as he tried to pull the knife out, Ji Haesu gripped it tightly and didn’t let go. Only the amount of blood increased.
“You little bastard—your antics were cute, so I let it slide!”
Thwack!
“Keugh!”
Smack!
“How dare you do something like this to ……?”
Beeeeeeep.
Still gripping the knife, Ji Haesu twisted his body and drove a knee into Choi Suho’s stomach. As Suho doubled over, Ji Haesu slammed his intact right fist into the area around his right ear with a sharp crack. His eardrum must have ruptured—the sound of Ji Haesu’s name reached him faintly before vanishing. Choi Suho’s body crashed into the wall, his head drooping limply, blood streaming from his right ear. Struck in the solar plexus by the knee, Choi Suho tried to retch, but nothing came out—only saliva trickling from the corner of his mouth.
“Haah, haah, ugh!”
In an instant, his hair was yanked and his body hauled upright. As he slumped on the floor, barely twitching his fingers in search of strength, Ji Haesu returned, having stripped off the apron Do Si-in used to wear often and wrapped it around his shredded palm. Grabbing Suho by the hair, he hauled him up and slammed him down onto the table.
Bang!
“Ah!”
