Chapter 63
After the hellish first rut ended, the first thing Tae-geon did was to publicize Hyeon-woo’s disappearance. Upon hearing the news that her only son, whom she had raised with great care, had vanished, Hyeon-woo’s mother broke down in tears. Emphasizing the part of the email Hyeon-woo had sent to his professors about taking a leave of absence for health reasons, Tae-geon shamelessly added,
“It seems he disappeared secretly, worried about his family and me.”
After various searches, they had to keep Hyeon-woo hidden for the time being. It wasn’t to achieve the purpose of dealing with Hyeon-woo’s situation; it was to protect his safety.
The family was suspicious of his imprint.
After sending out the second rut from Hyeon-woo’s room, Tae-geon sat on the living room sofa and felt dizzy at the sight of his father and the attending physician. The power of the family that Tae-geon had borrowed to retrieve the missing Hyeon-woo was not obtained through mere chance. It was clear that Mu-seok, who had come to demand a price for it, had witnessed his condition and called the doctor.
He glanced over the side table next to the sofa. Seven cigarette butts were carelessly stuffed into an ashtray. By his father’s usual pace, it meant he had been sitting here for at least three hours.
Of all times…
Tae-geon swallowed his curses inwardly.
Imprinting was by no means a common phenomenon. Most alphas and omegas die without ever experiencing it.
As is often the case with research on traits, there was a consensus in academia regarding the particularly unknown area of imprinting: the more superior the alpha’s traits, the harder it is to imprint.
Among the thousands of mammal species on Earth, many have a social structure where a single superior alpha male dominates the group and monopolizes the females. To go against such natural laws, an alpha who is subordinate to a single omega reveals itself as the most inferior individual in the group.
However, that mark does not last a lifetime. If the counterpart dies, the binding power of the imprint also disappears. Throughout human history, where even contract killings were not shied away from, scholars have interpreted that the cause of imprinting is unrelated to affection.
Unlike heat cycles, there were no rut suppressants for alphas anywhere on Earth, as the rarity of alpha imprinting made it unprofitable. Additionally, the physical body of an imprinted omega could be easily resolved, and since the rut cycle coincided with the heat cycle of the counterpart omega, even if the start was forced, the end was not.
The peak of pleasure felt during each other’s estrus was said to be indescribable, leaving omegas utterly defenseless against that sensation. The pharmaceutical companies must have been aware of the alphas’ intentions to exploit such omegas until they were fed up and then dispose of them.
This was the reason Tae-geon sent the attending physician away as soon as he recognized his own symptoms. He had vowed never to be discovered, yet his father had witnessed the second rut. If the identity of the imprinting partner was revealed, Hyeon-woo could be in danger.
Tae-geon clicked his tongue softly.
The silver lining was that he was the only one who knew Hyeon-woo was an omega, and Hyeon-woo’s disappearance had already been established as a fact long ago. For the time being, Hyeon-woo was exempt from being an imprinting partner.
Moreover, even after witnessing it with their own eyes, both the attending physician and Mu-seok seemed unable to acknowledge Tae-geon’s rut. When Mu-seok raised suspicions about the rut, Tae-geon exaggeratedly shuddered in response. He shamelessly laughed, claiming it was the most horrifying thing he had ever heard.
Having never asked for anything in his life, Tae-geon was now requesting material support from Mu-seok to find the missing Hyeon-woo, and in return, he officially stepped into the succession of the family business.
A board meeting was quickly convened, and after a shareholders’ meeting, Tae-geon stood formally before the company’s employees. He had finally dipped his toes into the company management he had so despised. As the possibility of group succession was mentioned, Tae-geon’s value skyrocketed. Seizing the opportunity, prominent families from various sectors sent omegas.
Tae-geon was the most beautiful and appetizing piece on the chessboard, a natural resource with boundless potential. His family wanted to discreetly showcase their impressive hand to the world. As part of this, they arranged for omegas who desired extreme alphas to share beds, but that was merely a surface reason.
Tae-geon nervously turned off the shower. The stream of water pouring over him stopped.
The fundamental reason for sending omegas like this day after day.
Those omegas were a kind of standard. To identify whether his symptoms were indeed rut or not.
They were closely observing his attitude towards the omegas they sent, wondering if he had even made eye contact with some random omega. The emergency management meeting scheduled for next week was suddenly changed to coincide with his rut date. He couldn’t skip it. It was a meeting discussing the management succession of Taeryeong Group, and he was the main character.
After finishing his shower, Tae-geon came out of the bathroom, shaking his wet hair.
To dispel the suspicions of imprinting, he had to comply with their demands. It was obvious that he couldn’t even get an erection, making penetrative sex impossible. Instead, Tae-geon made the omegas succumb to pleasure in other ways.
He lavished the omegas with affection just as K had done with Hyeon-woo. He fingered their wet holes while generously releasing pheromones. By the end, they were melting under his touch, nearly losing their sanity. A fierce competition arose beneath the surface as they all vied for Tae-geon. For no reason, the stock prices of the group companies soared consecutively.
After finishing the act, Tae-geon clutched the hotel bathroom toilet and vomited until his stomach felt like it was tearing apart. It felt as if everything inside him, from his intestines to his brain, was about to spill out. A violent disgust boiled in his veins, and the nerve bundles, expanded to their limits, felt like they were about to explode.
Han Hyeon-woo. Han Hyeon-woo…!
His whole body seemed to tear apart at the cellular level as he screamed Hyeon-woo’s name.
But such pain was finally over.
He had finally found him. He had finally obtained him.
Tae-geon, looking content as he gazed at Hyeon-woo, who was sleeping curled up in the corner of the bed, raised one eyebrow. Even in this situation, he was carefully cradling his belly.
A droplet of water that fell from Tae-geon’s wet hair pooled on Hyeon-woo’s cheek before trickling down in a round arc. Tae-geon buried his nose in the nape of the sleeping Hyeon-woo and inhaled deeply. Perhaps due to the pregnancy, the scent was faint. However, even the delicate pheromones brought Tae-geon an indescribable sense of fulfillment.
The emergency management meeting was in three weeks. Now that Hyeon-woo was in his hands, the rut was no longer a problem. There would be no more imprinting issues, so they would not be able to detect any symptoms from him.
Tae-geon planned to keep Hyeon-woo hidden here until the suspicions of his imprinting were dispelled. At least until next month’s scheduled rut.
And after that…
Tae-geon’s cold gaze swept over Hyeon-woo’s belly.
*
Hyeon-woo woke up groggily. He felt as if he had been cradled in a warm and cozy embrace, and he thought he might have had a pleasant dream, but he couldn’t remember any of it. As he lifted his swollen eyelids from a rare deep sleep, unfamiliar scenery came into view.
Confused, memories of the previous night flashed through Hyeon-woo’s mind like a panorama. The image of Tae-geon’s despicable face, which had mocked him, made Hyeon-woo’s expression crumple.
That vile bastard.
Instinctively, Hyeon-woo wrapped his arms around his belly and sat up. He glanced at the clock on the wall and nearly fainted in shock. It was already five in the afternoon. He had slept for a full twelve hours.
How could he have slept so soundly in such a situation?
As he scolded himself for his insensitivity, he also felt it was not unreasonable. In the early morning, after being captured by Tae-geon, he had only arrived here at dawn. Having stayed up all night and maintaining extreme tension in case he was taken to the hospital, he had completely worn himself out.
Recently, he had not had a peaceful sleep due to the anxiety gnawing at his nerves. With the accumulation of extreme fatigue, the sudden appearances of thugs, the lady who fainted every dawn, and the strange car targeting the children at the tutoring center, his nerves were on edge, and the paranoia of being watched added to his insomnia every night.
But after being captured by Tae-geon, it seemed that the tension he had been under had finally relaxed, allowing him to fall asleep. He had intended to rest his eyes until Tae-geon came out of the shower, but he ended up sleeping for half a day.
He looked around, but Tae-geon was nowhere to be found. He glanced at the open bathroom, but it was the same.
…He was alone.
Hyeon-woo’s gaze immediately fixed on the front door. His heart raced. With trembling eyes, he scanned the floor. His coat and Boston bag, which he had carelessly thrown aside before sleeping, were still lying on the floor. When he opened the bag, the envelopes of money he had saved, his notebook, clothes, and daily necessities were all in their places, showing no signs of having been touched by anyone.
“Idiot.”
That fool, Choi Tae-geon.
Hyeon-woo quickly picked up his coat and grabbed his bag. Despite the cold sweat running down his stiffened back from the tension, he couldn’t help but smile. He laughed inwardly at Tae-geon.
