“Jongyeol hyung.”
The corners of Yeo Mujin’s eyes curved into a gentle arc. His head was screaming at him to shove this pathetic wreck off — but the sheer force of a dominant alpha’s presence seemed to be bearing down on his body, pinning him in place.
Why can’t I push him off?
Could it be that I can’t push him away because I’ve become an omega?
Gu Jongyeol’s face went pale.
“Hyung.”
Yeo Mujin, with no way of knowing the storm raging through Gu Jongyeol’s mind, exhaled that sweet breath of his one more time and slowly lowered his head.
“I really hope you’re an omega, hyung. Because then……”
He buried his face in Gu Jongyeol’s neck with a soft smile, and Gu Jongyeol couldn’t stop him. At the same moment, something warm and wet made contact with his nape, and Gu Jongyeol let out a breath without meaning to.
Huh——
As Gu Jongyeol froze, rigid with shock, Yeo Mujin opened his mouth and murmured.
“I could mark you.”
“……”
“Hyung.”
“……”
“Jongyeol hyung. Jongyeol……”
THWACK——!!!
In thirty-five years of living, Gu Jongyeol had never kicked anything with every ounce of force he had the way he did today. The thing that had been pressing him down was sent flying — then hit the floor with a tremendous crash and went still. Gu Jongyeol shot upright, his face drained white.
“Hah, hah, hah. Hah……”
The color of Gu Jongyeol’s face as he gulped down ragged breaths was dark.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!
Tremble, tremble — his hands were shaking.
What the hell was that.
What the hell was that. Gu Jongyeol pressed his still-trembling hands against his pounding heart for a long moment, then reached up to touch the back of his neck.
[I could mark you.]
For an omega, there exists a pheromone gland that must never be surrendered to an alpha without consent. Yeo Mujin’s tongue had not touched that spot.
It didn’t reach, right? It didn’t reach.
Gu Jongyeol rubbed and rubbed at the perfectly smooth skin of his nape, then finally got himself off the bed. When you thought about it, he was still in the middle of transitioning — so it was possible that critical function hadn’t even developed yet. Right. Thinking about it that way, there was no reason to panic.
“……”
Yeo Mujin, who was clearly still drunk, had been booted off the bed by Gu Jongyeol’s fierce kick and was now lying on the floor. Having barely managed to suppress his hammering heartbeat, Gu Jongyeol cautiously approached him. He had his eyes clamped shut — so he wasn’t dead. Passed out, probably. Gu Jongyeol confirmed he was still alive, then grimaced.
“Um…… hey, sorry about that.”
I couldn’t help it.
“D-don’t forgive me.”
Feeling the sweat on the soles of his feet, Gu Jongyeol grabbed the blanket off the bed and tossed it over Yeo Mujin’s body on the floor, then fled the scene as fast as he could.
That took ten years off my life.
I almost got devoured by an alpha.
“Sir! The Young Master is asking you to pick up the phone!”
The next day.
Having escaped the horrifying near-disaster of the night before, Gu Jongyeol was leisurely looking at his tablet.
“Phone?”
Park Gangsu — one of his subordinates in KK Corporation’s Construction Division Secretary B Team — held out a phone directly toward him, flashing a set of white teeth. Gu Jongyeol clicked his tongue and gave a small wave of his hand. Park Gangsu promptly placed the phone into Gu Jongyeol’s palm. Gu Jongyeol gripped it and brought it to his ear.
“Yes, Young Master. This is Team Leader Gu.”
— What the fuck, Jongyeol hyung! What the hell did you do to Mujin last night!
Gu Jongyeol was momentarily startled.
The instant the name “Mujin” reached his ears, his heart dropped — that was probably no coincidence. But Gu Jongyeol, who had endured years in a den of alphas, had built himself quite a shameless face. He was more than used to being tested like this.
“What are you talking about, Young Master. What exactly did I do. I’m feeling quite wronged here.”
As Gu Jongyeol pushed back with irritation, Kang Yeonkyu, who had been spewing curses, shouted again.
— Mujin, that bastard, is in the hospital! Word is his arm and leg are broken — hyung, you didn’t actually do anything to him when you were dropping him off last night, right?
“……What?”
— Never mind. Our Jongyeol hyung would never lie, so it’s got nothing to do with you.
Gu Jongyeol couldn’t respond.
— Anyway, I’m busy today — can you go visit Mujin for me? I feel a bit bad about rushing through his birthday party yesterday. Hyung, do you know Hwangseo Hospital? He’s in VIP Room 2, apparently. Hello? Hey? Are you there? Jongyeol hyung! Are you listening? Jongyeol hyung?
2.
Ha, fu——
Gu Jongyeol’s fine face twisted.
I really ended up coming back here again.
He’d lost count of how many times it had been just this week alone. There was the first time when he’d gotten that awful news, a second when he’d given in to Kim Juwon’s desperate pleading and come in for a visit, and now today.
VIP Room 2 — Yeo ○jin
It’s real.
Among all the names Gu Jongyeol knew, the only one with “Yeo” as a surname and ending in “jin” was Yeo Mujin. He’d already been warned by Kang Yeonkyu before even arriving at this hospital room, so he knew full well that the patient inside was Yeo Mujin.
[— Anyway, Mujin is honestly so pitiful. Getting hit with something like that the day after his birthday. How does something like this even happen? Hyung. When you see Mujin, make sure, ngh, make sure to, hah, pass along my, hoo, regards. I’ll come to see him soo——]
[Young Master. Are you in the middle of having sex.]
[— Hm? Hnngh, mmm, ha. Oh, this bastard hasn’t let go of me all morning. Hahaha. Anyway, please! Jongyeol hyung, I love you!]
How did I end up raising a sex addict.
Gu Jongyeol felt mildly concerned for Kang Yeonkyu’s future — a young man who, even in broad daylight, couldn’t be bothered to go to school and was busy pumping away instead. But well, Kang Yeonkyu would eat well and live well regardless, so there was no need for him to worry too much. The problem was this.
Gu Jongyeol stood there with an awkward expression, uncertain how to deliver the premium fruit basket and red rose bouquet he was holding.
“Young Master, I can’t take this anymore. No matter how much you care about that guy——!”
Just then.
The hospital room door in front of where Gu Jongyeol was standing swung open, and a broad-faced man appeared. At the familiar face, Gu Jongyeol instinctively went still.
“Well, well. Isn’t this our Team Leader Gu from the Construction Division?”
KK Corporation — the conglomerate founded by Ganghopa and Jinjupa after their merger — has construction and apparel as its main lines of business.
The Construction Division was mostly staffed by former Ganghopa members who had settled in as employees, gradually bringing in new recruits to build it out. Jinjupa, which had been importing and exporting apparel from overseas for some time, took over the Apparel Division entirely.
Whether it was the synergy of a genuinely absurd combination like construction and apparel, or whether someone had pulled strings behind the scenes — KK Corporation, which had been a ragtag mess of a conglomerate, had grown into a company that had made quite a name for itself among mid-sized enterprises and had remained there to this day.
Within KK Corporation, Gu Jongyeol belongs to the Secretary Team under the Construction Division. The Secretary Team was divided into two.
