That bastard Kim Jaewook, making me come all this way on my rare day off for nothing.
In the end, less than 20 minutes after arriving at the university district, I was heading back home.
Still, running into Lee Haram by chance was a pleasant surprise.
‘Haram looked really good in that Hanguk University department jacket.’
Maybe it was because his hair and skin color were naturally light, but the white zip-up jacket was a perfect match for Lee Haram’s characteristically bright and sparkling atmosphere.
A few years ago, when Lee Haram was a high school senior worried about his future, I was the one who recommended the Physical Education department at Hanguk University.
Haram’s father’s (the stylish one) company VivaPlay was the developer of ViTube, the video streaming platform that boasted the world’s highest AU among all existing online services.
Having such an incredible person as his father made Haram proud and satisfied on one hand, but suddenly created this sense of responsibility about inheriting the family business. The burden of thinking he should work for this company and carry on his father’s great achievements.
In a way, it was a side effect that occurred because I had rebuilt VivaPlay.
So I asked Haram.
‘Haram-ah. Did your father directly tell you he wanted you to work at his company?’
‘Not exactly… I just feel like I should. I’m an only child, you know.’
‘Do you watch ViTube a lot?’
‘Huh? Yeah. Mostly UFC or taekwondo matches, or Krav Maga tutorials, or kids’ channels and stuff like that.’
‘Haven’t thought about becoming an athlete?’
‘Nah. I just find exercising fun! I’m sick of competing in tournaments.’
‘Come to think of it, you’re teaching elementary school kids for your youth volunteer work, right?’
‘Yeah! The kids are super cute and sweet! They all call me Master, Master!’
The conclusion was already clear from his expression.
‘Then how about we start preparing your application for the Physical Education department?’
‘…!’
‘Headaches like jobs can wait until after you get into university. It won’t be too late.’
In today’s society, your major doesn’t matter that much. While the culture of valuing a university’s name value remains the same, it’s rare for companies to hire expecting immediate contribution from what you picked up in your major department.
So if you bring a degree from a top-tier university first, you’ll have more options. With Haram’s impressive award record, top domestic universities were definitely within reach, so I recommended several first-tier universities.
‘Then I want to go to Hanguk University! You went to Changgul, hyung! They’re super close, so let’s commute together!’
‘Haram-ah, in university, everyone has different class times.’
‘I can just match my schedule to yours, hyung!’
‘Say something that makes sense…’
Haram belatedly burned with academic passion, and promptly failed.
For someone from the athletics world who had neglected studying, it was indeed too much to meet the minimum grade requirements Hanguk University demanded by the summer of senior year.
However, Haram didn’t give up. Even though a small compromise would have gotten him into another university right away, his stubbornness was remarkable.
After finally completing one year of retaking the exam, Haram’s dream was realized in the form of a Hanguk University department jacket.
‘Is this really the same frail, delicate, easily swayed omega Lee Haram…?’
Now I feel bad even comparing him to the character in the novel. Looking at the dignified blond young man (191cm giant) who had grown strong and seized his dream, my chest suddenly tightened with emotion.
While briefly reminiscing about my memories with Haram, I had arrived at the parking lot before I knew it.
It was an underground parking lot in a shopping complex building located near the university district, and being a bit away from the university area that was lively even at night, it was quiet and secluded.
Finding my car wasn’t difficult. Since the body was so long, the hood part stuck out like a nose, so I could spot it at once.
A sleek black domestic mid-size sedan. It was the result of a compromise after I barely managed to talk my adoptive parents out of gifting me a foreign car to celebrate getting my license. Even that was a high-end model with full options, so it stood out wherever I went, which is why I avoided using the campus parking lot as much as possible.
‘Everything’s great, but it’s too big and hard to park.’
That’s when it happened.
Step, step…
I felt signs of someone in the parking lot I thought was empty.
I thought it might be another user, but the footsteps that should have been moving away toward the entrance were gradually getting closer.
‘Another Group person?’
I let out a sigh.
No matter how many times I told them I had no interest in the Group’s assets, these chaebol types didn’t seem to feel at ease unless I completely abandoned the Baek surname.
‘Even an alpha…’
An unpleasant sense of pressure gradually closed in, weighing down my entire body.
To release pheromones like an unbridled colt like this. Where did he sell his public etiquette…?
It was extremely rude not only to omegas but to alphas as well. It felt exactly 100 times more unpleasant than inhaling someone’s cigarette smoke on the street.
I deliberately pretended not to notice and walked to my car. It was to get within the dashcam’s recording range just in case.
After confirming the blue light blinking beyond the tinted car window, I turned around and said coldly.
“What is it.”
Looking back on past experiences, there was nothing good about taking a meek attitude. Rather, if they thought I was easy prey, there were countless cases of them hurling abuse.
I glared as coldly as possible, planning to wrap up the conversation as quickly as possible.
At times like this, I benefited greatly from ‘Baek Gunho’s’ face. My face with cat-like upturned eyes and a cold impression could be called cool beauty according to my classmates, but to put it negatively, it was a face befitting a villainous role full of venom in a morning drama.
Then the other party immediately reacted.
“Fuck, why are you glaring at me like that?”
But wait, his face looks somewhat familiar.
“Who’s gonna eat you? It’s me.”
“…Who are you?”
“Me! It’s me!”
Similar height to mine, wearing a flashy sky-blue shirt with casual suit attire, designer sunglasses and a watch worth hundreds of millions.
His impression was certainly not much different from Baekil Group people, but the difference was that face that seemed like I’d seen it somewhere before.
“You keep ignoring every single message I send and now you’re just going to completely ignore me?”
The other party roughly took off his sunglasses and swept back his bleached hair.
The moment I saw those sharply upturned eyes not inferior to mine and those brown pupils, the hazy memory came back.
“Baekil Hotel’s new director. Baek Jeongwoo.”
“Ah, the stalker.”
“Who’s a stalker?!”
“What else would you call the act of continuously contacting someone even after being blocked?”
“What’s the reason for blocking me!”
Baek Jeongwoo. He was the guy who arbitrarily shoved his number at me at a Baekil main house gathering 10 years ago. With unpleasant sexual harassment as a bonus.
So I pretended to take his number but consistently ignored him, and he finally tracked me down right to my doorstep.
“You left me on read, blocked me, and I thought you might show up at the main house gatherings so I attended faithfully but didn’t see a single hair of yours, and when I tried to visit your school or house, that bastard Driver Park appeared and turned me away at the door, and I thought you might meet me after I came back from studying abroad in America but what the hell, you enlisted in the military! What are you trying to do with me!”
We’re not even on that kind of terms, are we?
Anyway, so the reason it had been quiet for a while was because he had been overseas. The words “why didn’t you just live in America forever” I barely held back from spitting out, and I calmly opened my mouth.
“Baek Jeongwoo-ssi.”
“Hmph. I told you to call me hyung.”
“Baek Jeongwoo-ssi, there’s a lot I’d like to say to you…”
“I said you can call me hyung. Go ahead and say it.”
“I’m giving up because it’s too bothersome.”
“Why!”
Even if I told him, he’d just interpret it his own way anyway.
So I conveyed my intention as concisely as possible.
“You must have already heard plenty within the Group. I have no desire to be a member of Baekil Group, nor have I ever coveted Chairman Baek’s inheritance. I’ll live quietly, so please leave me alone.”
“Puhaha! Who’d believe such lies! You followed that old man around wiping his ass for 10 whole years. And a few days ago you went to Baekil Electronics and ran right into my mom, didn’t you? I heard all about it.”
Ha, that lady…
Even though I regret not going in a bit later, what’s done is done.
“The Chairman just casually picked me as someone to use lightly. There’s no reason for us to meet anymore.”
“I know, I know. You don’t need to act since you’re with your hyung. So how did you slowly melt down that old geezer? You can tell your hyung.”
See, he doesn’t listen.
Having lost the will to converse, when I opened the driver’s seat door and tried to get in the car, Baek Jeongwoo jumped in surprise and wedged himself into the door gap.
“Hey, man! Where are you going!”
“I have a policy of not wasting time on pointless matters.”
“Why is trying to get on my good side a pointless matter! You think it’ll be fun to ignore me thinking the old geezer is a fish already caught?”
Baek Jeongwoo shouted loudly and continued.
“Soon Baekil Hotel will be completely mine too, and the duty-free side will all be taken by my maternal family soon.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Now I’ve even completely taken control of Baekil F&B and W Food. You know?”
This is no different from an elementary schooler bragging “Our house has the latest computer and game consoles too!”
“All the profitable businesses will become mine. Then who do you think will take control of the Group after my uncle?”
It seemed like he deliberately lowered his voice to appear dignified…
At least it wasn’t dialogue to deliver in a ridiculous posture wedged in a doorway.
“Then find lots of good people instead of someone like me. Next-next Chairman.”
“Hey, hey! Don’t close it! It hurts!”
Then Baek Jeongwoo finally wedged himself into the car and crawled over my body, wriggling all the way to the passenger seat.
What the hell is he doing right now…
When his brutish pheromones hit me right in the face, dizziness struck and my head swam, but I firmly covered my mouth and nose with my palm and somehow endured it. It would be a headache if I collapsed here.
Baek Jeongwoo settled into the passenger seat like a creature that knows no shame. Then, as if he hadn’t just been wriggling like a slug, he swept his disheveled hair back handsomely and grinned.
“You’re aiming for Aunt’s Baekil Pharmaceutical, aren’t you?”
“Not at all.”
“You must be shitting your pants. No matter how much you grovel anyway, it’ll all go into that guy’s mouth.”
The car was filled with Baek Jeongwoo’s pheromones. I felt much dirtier than when Kim Jaewook had once spilled a whole bowl of cookie crumbs from the passenger seat, making the car filthy.
Just as I was about to kick open the car door and get out.
“Baek Seolheon. Aunt’s biological son.”
The moment a familiar name was mentioned from Baek Jeongwoo’s mouth, I took my hand off the door handle.
“…Why is my younger brother’s name coming out of your mouth.”
“Haha! This bastard, look at him getting serious. So wake up. What you need to desperately cling to right now isn’t the old man who’s about to hand over the throne and go down to the countryside, but me.”
“Is that all you have to say? Get out.”
I was gradually getting suffocated from the alpha pheromones.
If he dragged this out any longer, I was planning to kick Baek Jeongwoo out even if I had to use my feet.
“Really? Then I have no choice.”
But unexpectedly, Baek Jeongwoo opened the passenger door first and stepped outside.
“People lining up to become mine, so there’s no need to desperately beg for some orphan kid.”
“Yes. Let’s never see each other again.”
“Instead, I should go seduce your younger brother.”
“…”
“Ah, does that kid still think you’re his real older brother?”
I glared at Baek Jeongwoo.
With sincerity.
“Now you’re showing your true colors?”
