“Water….”
It was a disgustingly uncomfortable bed. Woonghee grabbed his throat in his sleep. His tongue was burning up, and his uvula was dry like cracked rock. Because he kept eating saltwater fish, his mouth was salty so he kept getting thirsty.
He needs to go to the valley to fetch water….
How troublesome the human body is. He has to drink water on time, eat meals, and sleep. On top of that, as an Omega, he has to go through heat cycles too.
“Ugh….”
He had no choice but to come out with his shoulders hunched up. Taking the roundly rising sun as his friend, he moved his feet.
Haaaam, yawning widely, he rubbed his sleepy eyes roughly. The valley water was emitting a brilliant light today as well.
“Ah, it’s bright….”
Dawn was breaking. The dawn light was dazzling so he frowned. His vision flew white then slowly returned to its place.
And something caught in that hazy vision. Because intense sunlight was pooling on a high tree branch.
“What… is that?”
His head moved sluggishly. Something was hanging there. Woonghee’s thin eyelids trembled with a flutter. Fear, eeriness, dread….
All sorts of negative emotions swirled toward Woonghee. The first thing that squeezed into his head was a question mark.
Why?
Why the hell is the dead bodyguard hanging there? Managing Director Gi, that person shouldered him saying he’d bury him….
No matter how much he wiped his eyes and looked again, both arms were hanging limply, and the legs were also dangling down like ropes.
Thump thump, his heart beat anxiously. Without realizing it, he stepped backward. From his toes, a splash, a sloshing sound rang out. It was terribly sticky so Woonghee ended up falling backward.
The raw smell of blood poured into his nose in chunks. When he lifted his trembling palm, something sticky was pooled all over it.
Bright red color, blood, it was blood.
“Huh, heok…!”
Quickly getting up, under his bottom a dead wild boar was tumbled over. The way it was panting seemed like the spark of life was going out. One thick leg was caught, snap, in a trap. Soon, snap, the wild boar opened its eyes.
Those eyes.
Even though they were a beast’s, eyes where fear and rage were tangled like sticky filth. Blood was pouring out from the wild boar.
“Uaaah…!”
He stumbled and stepped on dry fallen leaves with a crunch. In an instant, a startled bird flew up from a tree branch with a flutter.
“Ha, haa…!”
His breathing quickened. Woonghee went down the mountain like crazy. He was scraped, scratched, and his breath was blocked, but he couldn’t stop.
“I have to run away…!”
When he arrived at the cave, his whole body was already hanging down limply like a wet rag. He rolled up his body and curled up, but his eyelids wouldn’t quite close.
He was so shocked. He seemed to see hallucinations. Doesn’t it seem like something from the ceiling is looking down at him?
Even when he closed his eyes with difficulty, the corpse hanging from the tree and the wild boar’s pupils wavered before him. Who, the hell, hung, the corpse there? Who caught a wild boar in that way!
Like that, dawn was swallowed whole by fear.
It was cowardly. Really terribly cowardly. Still, no matter what, he shouldn’t leave a corpse in that state.
“…….”
He stayed up all night with open eyes. Woonghee slowly got up only after the sun rose. Thump thump. His heart trembled heavily.
Could he have been mistaken about something? It could just be my misunderstanding. Because he could only get light sleep in the cave.
…No, rather than this, let’s just check with my own two eyes.
Like that, taking heavy steps one by one, he climbed the mountain again. Half to gain certainty, half out of madness.
He desperately wanted to run away, but Woonghee took steps forward. It felt exactly like someone was following from behind. It felt like that dead bodyguard bastard was chasing him asking to resolve his resentment.
However.
However, at that place he returned to, there was no one. The corpse, the wild boar, the blood—everything had disappeared. Only pure sunlight was shining on the trees as if nothing had happened.
The wind blew refreshingly, and a yellow bird was chirping with its cute beak.
Did he really see an illusion? No, that blood, those pupils, that smell was clearly… real.
“Am I going crazy….”
Woonghee pressed his forehead. Like that, with a feeling of being possessed by a ghost, he trudged down the mountain.
Right, when Woongju was younger than now. Until about ten years old, she suffered from sleepwalking. How many times did he carry her and put her to sleep when she’d suddenly get up while sleeping and doze off nodding?
I just lost my mind and saw an illusion. I couldn’t sleep properly, couldn’t get paid, flailed around after falling in seawater and even fainted, didn’t I?
Isn’t it harder to endure with a sound mind in this situation?
As expected, it was nothing, he concluded like that. Only then did a faint smile cross Woonghee’s reddish lips. His feet gained more and more strength.
And the moment he took the next step forward. A familiar voice was heard.
“Wow, Managing Director-nim, how did you catch such a big one?”
The sound of applause, laughter, and the sound of fire burning could be faintly heard.
Woonghee paused. Without even catching his breath, he pushed through the grass and went forward. Then he saw it. People gathered in threes and fives around a large bonfire, grilling meat and laughing.
“I couldn’t even make eye contact with it. I thought my balls would shrivel up, really.”
The Assistant Director hyung was making a fuss while busy picking off the lean meat to eat. It smelled very savory, sweet, and pleasant. It was a greasy smell. It was so intense it felt like it would twist his internal organs.
“Hey, Lee Woonghee….”
In the midst of that, the Assistant Director hyung stealthily approached him. As if embarrassed, scratching the back of his head, he held out a piece of meat.
“This, Managing Director Gi caught it and said to give you some too.”
A savory flavor soaked in grease struck inside his nose with a whoosh. However, Woonghee instead stepped back with one foot. Sticky saliva pooled at the tip of his tongue, but his stomach felt nauseous in the opposite way.
“N-no, I won’t eat it….”
He waved his hands and shook his head side to side. Just in case, he should fill his stomach, but an uncomfortable smell churned in his stomach. The smell of blood he just smelled from the tip of his nose wouldn’t erase.
What kind of meat is it? For a moment such curiosity arose, but he didn’t bother asking.
Anyway, this place is surrounded by mountains everywhere. You can get meat from anywhere. It’s not that wild boar, right, it won’t be.
“You really have quite a temper. Well, whatever, do as you like…. It’s my first time eating it too, but it was delicious.”
The Assistant Director hyung sniffled as if embarrassed and left.
Woonghee fixed his gaze on a silhouette visible beyond his shoulder. He took in Managing Director Gi, who was occupying the seat of honor as if it were natural.
No, to be precise, the shirt he was wearing on his body.
“……!”
That man, since when has he been wearing a white shirt? When he first saw him, he was definitely wearing a black shirt. Where did that come from?
…Wait, wasn’t the dead gangster originally wearing a white shirt?
And from the huddled group, that word finally burst out.
“Managing Director-nim, how did you grill the meat so tender like this? I heard it originally has a really strong gamey smell and is tough, because of the wild boar muscles.”
Wild boar, they say wild boar. The identity of the meat Woonghee didn’t want to know.
‘…No way.’
A “no way” feeling bloomed inside like damp moss. Then it started spreading like mold at a crazy speed.
‘You, no way.’
No way, did you really use that corpse as bait? It wasn’t just my mistake? His jaw trembled violently. His pupils shook wildly.
And with good timing, that man turned his eyes this way.
He made eye contact with Woonghee.
Over the face of the man with extremely alluring features, blazing red flames undulated.
“Come here and try eating some.”
Managing Director Gi’s lips moved. It was as if a sleek devil’s tongue was coiled over his face. Whoosh, goosebumps bloomed behind Woonghee’s slender neck. As nausea surged up with a whoosh from inside and he bent at the waist, thin gastric fluid poured out like intestines.
“Urk…!”
He rubbed his lips roughly. A sour smell wafted up. No, actually, an even more disgusting peach scent vibrated.
Because he’s in Southeast Asia like this, it vibrated as if it had met water. A very thick and sweetish fragrance flowed down in streams, like grabbing large, well-ripened fruit flesh with his hand and squeezing it tightly.
What truly sinful pheromones, aren’t they? Woonghee stared with his bright red lips parted, heh.
‘…Psycho.’
The man slowly smiling as if smelling the fruit scent flowing from that breath.
Inside his head, a bright red warning sound rang like a curse, whiiing whiiing.
That man, he must absolutely avoid that man.
