Chapter 83
A chill ran down my spine. There were marks deeply gouged by fingernails. I recognized these wounds. They were identical to the scars I had seen on Tae-geon hyung’s arms when we were young.
I was confused, not understanding why these marks were on Jaesu-taeng, when the front door opened and Tae-geon walked in. Discovering the collapsed Hyeon-woo, Tae-geon rushed over without even taking off his shoes and knelt down beside him on one knee.
Seeing Tae-geon’s face turn so pale for the first time, Ju-on instinctively moved away from the two.
Tae-geon’s hand, stretched out towards Hyeon-woo, hesitated in the air for a long time, unsure what to do. As soon as Tae-geon’s touch finally reached Hyeon-woo, he went into violent convulsions. Hyeon-woo’s limbs began to tremble, and choking sounds escaped from his throat as if he was about to suffocate.
Hyeon-woo’s entire body was having an extreme adverse reaction to Tae-geon. Ju-on’s mouth gaped open as he watched Tae-geon withdraw from Hyeon-woo with a hardened expression.
Despite this, Hyeon-woo’s hyperventilation showed no signs of improvement. Unable to stand by any longer, Ju-on pushed Tae-geon aside and hurriedly turned Hyeon-woo onto his back, facing the ceiling. Then he tilted Hyeon-woo’s head back to clear his airway and make breathing easier.
After holding Hyeon-woo’s head in that position for a while, the violent gasping that had made him seem on the brink of death gradually subsided. Only after Hyeon-woo’s breathing returned to normal did Ju-on remove his hands.
“…Could you move him to the bed,” Tae-geon said to Ju-on in a tired voice. His face was full of fatigue as he rubbed his dry cheeks.
Ju-on, with a disgruntled expression, reluctantly poked Hyeon-woo’s shoulder repeatedly.
“Hey, get up.”
But there was no response.
Hoo. Ju-on let out a deep sigh. Although he didn’t want to, he picked up the unconscious Hyeon-woo in his arms, thinking he was doing a special favor. The situation was a bit unsettling, with Hyeon-woo having a seizure right after all that talk about pregnancy or whatever. In fact, it wasn’t just a bit unsettling, but very much so.
With each step towards the bedroom, Ju-on felt goosebumps as Hyeon-woo’s hair tickled his neck. As he shuddered briefly, Ju-on’s nose caught a sudden whiff of a sweet scent that rushed in like a tide and then vanished without a trace.
‘…What was that?’
Perplexed by the unfamiliar sensation, Ju-on sniffed the air like a dog, but the fragrance had already disappeared like a bubble.
Tae-geon furrowed his brow as he looked around the living room filled with a burnt smell. He could guess roughly what had happened. Clearly, the gas stove had been left on while someone had lost focus again.
Hyeon-woo’s eyes, which would sometimes burn with hatred towards him, would at other times stare into space with a lifelessness like that of a dead person. Not knowing what Hyeon-woo was seeing beyond that gaze, Tae-geon felt his heart sink several times a day.
When Tae-geon would unconsciously reach out to embrace Hyeon-woo, who seemed like he might vanish like smoke, Hyeon-woo would have seizures, showing extreme rejection as before.
Tae-geon’s heart bled crimson at the sight of Hyeon-woo rejecting him with his entire being.
Hyeon-woo knew very well how to hurt Tae-geon. Although he was now treated like garbage, there was a time when he was cherished by Tae-geon.
The absolute value of the time they had spent together through Tae-geon’s youth, which had been as dark as the abyss and as barren as a wasteland. Tae-geon’s fanatical and religious obsession towards the savior who had liberated him from pain.
Hyeon-woo wanted to engrave firmly in Tae-geon’s mind:
You were not saved.
Knowing all too well what redemptive meaning those tender nights of sharing warmth and facing despair together held for Tae-geon, Hyeon-woo sought to pronounce the death of this faith-like existence in the cruelest way possible.
He wanted to clearly imprint in Tae-geon’s eyes the miserable end of his savior, caused by none other than Tae-geon himself.
The habit of scratching his body unconsciously had resurfaced, but there was no longer any need to try to hide this part of himself. It was even quite amusing to see Tae-geon freeze up, unable to do anything.
‘Stop it.’
When Tae-geon, unable to bear it any longer, would reach out to restrain him, Hyeon-woo’s body would revolt before his mind could, rejecting the touch.
‘Aaaargh…!’
Even the slightest touch of Tae-geon’s fingertips sent unbearable pain coursing through every nerve, as if being seared by fire. The agony of that day, helplessly burning in a pit of fire, took over his entire body. His whole being violently rejected contact with the person who had driven him to this state. He gasped, unable to breathe properly, clawing at the floor.
Look closely. See what has reduced me to this state.
Every time Tae-geon’s face crumbled, Hyeon-woo’s eyes, now filled only with venom, would sparkle with a strange light.
Are you in pain? Are you afraid?
This is not enough yet.
You’re the one who made me like this.
I despise you to the point of revulsion.
I hate you so much that even your slightest touch makes me want to die. I loathe you. I curse you!
Hyeon-woo’s eyes seemed to be screaming such things at Tae-geon.
Watching Hyeon-woo deteriorate day by day, Tae-geon questioned himself several times a day whether it was right to keep him close like this. The answer was always the same.
I still can’t let him go.
He knew that his own misguided possessiveness had broken Hyeon-woo. Yet he couldn’t let go. Even if it led to an even worse rock bottom, he had no intention of letting go. He comforted himself by saying that it was enough as long as Hyeon-woo remained within his reach. He didn’t want to repeat the terrible mistake of losing Hyeon-woo from his embrace.
He had never forced Hyeon-woo to stay by his side. It was Hyeon-woo’s choice.
Tae-geon justified his selfishness with this cowardly excuse.
As Ju-on came out after laying the unconscious Hyeon-woo on the bed, he saw Tae-geon’s back as he cleaned up the messy kitchen counter. Ju-on narrowed his eyes.
Something was off about their relationship.
No matter how he thought about it, it was a rejection. Han Hyeon-woo was pushing Tae-geon hyung away. There was a strange tension between them that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, making it impossible for him to intervene.
Tae-geon turned to look at Ju-on, who was frowning as he tried to grasp the situation.
“When did you come back to Korea?”
“…Not long ago. I was going to contact you, but Dad said you were busy and told me not to.”
“How’s your studies going?”
“Not good at all. I took a leave of absence after finishing the fall semester. The weather there is always gloomy, and the food is terribly tasteless. It really doesn’t suit me.”
Ju-on pouted as he voiced his complaints.
“I’m thinking of transferring to a decent place in Korea. I just want to set up a studio quickly and write songs to my heart’s content. Is it vacation time in Korea now? How have you been, hyung?”
“…As you can see.”
It was a vague answer, but enough to understand. From the tired face and the suit, Ju-on realized that Tae-geon had officially begun the succession process.
“You must be busy.”
“About that…”
Ju-on felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding at Tae-geon’s uncharacteristically trailing voice. He kept his mouth shut, anxiously waiting for Tae-geon’s next words.
“Could you look after Hyeon-woo for a while?”
“What?!”
Ju-on jumped up as if having a seizure and grimaced.
“Ah, no way! Why should I!”
“I’m asking for a favor, just until I finish up with the busy work.”
…A favor…? A favor?!
Ju-on couldn’t believe his ears. Was this someone who knew how to ask for favors? This Tae-geon hyung, who seemed like he’d never have to ask anyone for anything in his entire life, was actually asking for a favor.
“Haa. This is really driving me crazy.”
Ju-on put his hands on his hips and sighed deeply enough to sink the ground.
After Se-jin’s death, Tae-geon had a mountain of issues to deal with. Moreover, there was a task that needed to be completed before the end of the year. That was the launch of the side-effect-free suppressant.
In the early stages of the investigation, the police had succeeded in finding a suspect using semen detected at Se-jin’s workplace, and they expected the case to be concluded quickly. However, when it was revealed that the suspect was mentally incompetent, the investigation hit a snag again. It began to gain momentum when the autopsy of Se-jin’s blood revealed that he had been taking narcotic suppressants for a long time.
The police found the distribution channel for the illegal suppressants Se-jin had been taking, and there they caught a group that had been profiting in various ways by exploiting the pheromones of dominant alphas. The dominant alpha affiliated with that establishment was Kim Jun-hyeok, the owner of the semen detected at Se-jin’s workplace.
The appearance of the deceased omega’s muscles and blood vessels bursting through rigor mortis clearly indicated death during intercourse, which was consistent with the circumstances of the case.
They concluded that an omega who frequented the establishment had developed a tolerance to dominant alpha pheromones and turned to narcotic suppressants, and when even that wasn’t enough, they met separately with the dominant alpha who provided pheromones to the establishment and died during their encounter.
The media, which had been on high alert about the death of a government official’s son in a VVIP room of a Taeryeong Group hotel, dropped their coverage with disappointed faces at the investigation results.
Although they had secretly hoped for the existence of a massive conspiracy behind the omega’s death, no other circumstances related to the cause of death were ever detected. Even this was reported with strict anonymity regarding the individuals involved, perhaps due to intervention from Se-jin’s family, and the case was relegated to a tiny corner of the newspaper, given less space than even the daily horoscope.
