“I wonder what Jongyeol’s ass tastes like!”
“What do you mean, what does it taste like! It tastes like Jongyeol, obviously!”
……Wow.
Just thinking about it makes me want to fucking puke.
He’d only let his imagination wander for a moment, but the image came to him vividly — alphas, eyes gleaming, lunging at him ravenously. Gu Jongyeol, who had until now been spared from their relentless sexual harassment by virtue of being a beta, trembled all over.
Absolutely not.
This has to be cut off at Yeo Mujin.
“Mujin.”
Having emerged from Kim Juwon’s office, Gu Jongyeol had stood still for a while, lost in thought, before snapping his head around. Yeo Mujin, who had been quietly watching him as if waiting for Jongyeol to speak first, now met his gaze.
Gu Jongyeol studied Yeo Mujin with a sour expression, then opened his mouth.
“Let’s talk.”
* * *
Fss. Fsst.
Ha……
Gu Jongyeol wasn’t a smoker by nature, but today, of all days, the urge was overwhelming. He’d made his way up to the rooftop garden of Hwangseo Hospital, pulled out a cigarette he’d been carrying around as a prop, and lit it. He brought it to his lips.
“Cough, cough!”
But trying to do something he’d never done before, the coughing came out instead.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“I’m — I’m fine.”
Can’t even smoke properly.
Gu Jongyeol snuffed out the cigarette and tossed it into the trash can. Then he dropped heavily into a nearby chair and waved a hand at Yeo Mujin, who was hovering anxiously nearby, watching him.
“Stop standing there like an idiot and sit down.”
“Oh, okay.”
Yeo Mujin hesitated, then settled into the seat beside Gu Jongyeol.
“Ha, fuck……”
Feeling Yeo Mujin sit down next to him, Gu Jongyeol stared blankly up at the sky.
The sky’s so damn blue.
He smiled bitterly to himself, then turned his head, drawn by the intense gaze burning into him.
“Mujin.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“You remember what that doctor said earlier?”
“Ah…… yes.”
Yeo Mujin’s shoulders slumped as if he’d just received news of someone’s death. Gu Jongyeol felt laughter threatening to spill out of him.
“The fuck, why are you the one moping around. I’m the one who got that diagnosis.”
“Jongyeol hyung.”
“I know. It’s complete bullshit, isn’t it?”
To think I’d become an omega. That means I could end up being reduced to some alpha’s breeding toy.
Of course, omegas weren’t exactly low on the social ladder — but in the organization Gu Jongyeol belonged to, it was different.
And hadn’t Gu Jongyeol himself looked down on omegas and despised them? Thinking about that made his head throb.
Get it together.
But even in the tiger’s den, there were ways to survive — it was too soon to give up. Gu Jongyeol let his eyes slide shut and spoke again.
“Mujin. Right now, in this situation, the only person I can truly trust is you.”
Gu Jongyeol didn’t trust anyone by nature.
He’d never been one to trust others easily to begin with, but since joining Ganghopa, it had gotten worse. These people would smile to your face and stab you in the back without blinking — he’d been blindsided more times than he could count. The fierce memories of the past made his whole body tremble. He turned to Yeo Mujin, whose expression had shifted to one of surprise at his words.
“But if you — if you go and tell the Young Master anything about me……”
Gu Jongyeol’s eyes flashed with lethal intensity.
“I will follow you. Wherever you go. And I will kill you.”
It won’t be a clean death, either.
Gu Jongyeol smiled sweetly, and Yeo Mujin flinched. Gu Jongyeol was a beta — now an omega — but he was someone who had stubbornly survived among the powerhouses of Ganghopa. Even Chairman Kang Hojun and the other senior members acknowledged Gu Jongyeol’s relentlessness, so Mujin would understand.
Didn’t they say he graduated top of the Young Master’s university class.
After holding his lips firmly shut for a long moment in response to what was essentially a death threat, Yeo Mujin broke into a gentle smile. Gu Jongyeol was caught slightly off guard at the sight of those curling lips. Did you just smile?
“Jongyeol hyung.”
Gu Jongyeol frowned, and Yeo Mujin continued.
“If you truly chase me to the ends of the earth, that makes my heart flutter — it doesn’t sound like a threat.”
What the hell is this guy on about.
Gu Jongyeol stared at him in bewilderment. Yeo Mujin, unbothered by his reaction, murmured on.
“But don’t worry. I’m not so thoughtless. I won’t…… do anything that would benefit Yeonkyu.”
With that, Yeo Mujin smiled at him once more with a crinkle of his eyes, as if to say just trust me. Gu Jongyeol watched him in silence.
Could he actually be trustworthy?
Gu Jongyeol had been wary of everyone, having seen so much of Ganghopa’s members, but this one wasn’t Ganghopa — he was part of Jinjupa. Kang Hojun had always said that Jinjupa were tight-lipped and fairly reliable.
“But hyung. What are you going to do now?”
Just as Gu Jongyeol was wrestling with whether or not to trust Yeo Mujin, he cut straight to the heart of it.
“Staying on in the Construction Division like this — it could be really dangerous.”
Gu Jongyeol looked at him at those words. Yeo Mujin’s face was full of worry for Gu Jongyeol, and for some reason it felt genuine, which caught him off guard for a moment. Nearly swayed by Yeo Mujin’s earnest gaze, Gu Jongyeol nodded and muttered.
“I know. If I stay among those people…… the moment they find out I’m an omega, all hell will break loose.”
“More than just a little hell, I’d say.”
Fuck, you little shit. Who said I didn’t know that.
He had deliberately been leaving it unspoken, but Yeo Mujin was jabbing right at the wound. Gu Jongyeol’s face crumpled.
“Yeah. I figured. I’ve been holding on for now since the scent hasn’t started yet, but I think I’ll have to make a decision soon.”
“Are you thinking of resigning?”
“……Well, something like that.”
Gu Jongyeol scratched at his head roughly. Resignation was the only option. Right. That was the only path. Having followed Kang Hojun for over eighteen years, he’d likely face all manner of threats demanding an explanation for why he was leaving.
But what can I do.
Fuck, I have to survive.
Steeling himself with resolve, Gu Jongyeol turned to study Yeo Mujin.
Come to think of it, wasn’t this guy the one who kept saying he wished I were an omega, that he wanted to bite me?
The suspicion flickered briefly, but Gu Jongyeol quickly rationalized it away.
He was drunk at the time.
They say that sometimes a perfectly decent person turns into an animal when they’re drunk — maybe that was just yesterday’s Yeo Mujin. Gu Jongyeol decided not to dwell on it.
“But Mujin.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“Honestly — do I actually…… smell like an omega to you?”
