“Ow!”
Kang Yeonkyu, struck on the head in an instant, tumbled off the sofa and onto the floor.
“What——”
Gu Jongyeol had appeared out of nowhere, delivered a blow to the back of Kang Yeonkyu’s head, and was now standing tall. The man who had been wailing looked up at him with dazed eyes. Gu Jongyeol let out a slow, long breath, smoothed down his slightly disheveled suit jacket, and smiled. The omega male — the one Kang Yeonkyu had apparently gotten into trouble with — flinched at that, then rushed toward Kang Yeonkyu, who was clutching his head and rolling around shouting “Fuck!”
“Yeonkyu. Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Get the fuck off me!”
Kang Yeonkyu grabbed his head and shot to his feet.
“Which piece of shit just hit my head…… Oh, Jongyeol hyung?”
Kang Yeonkyu, who had been grinding his teeth and hurling curses at whoever had struck him, went wide-eyed. Gu Jongyeol smiled — this time a deeper one, directed at Kang Yeonkyu. Then he slipped off his black gloves and tucked them into his pocket, cracking his fingers as he spoke.
“Young Master. Let’s keep things quiet, shall we. Hmm?”
* * *
“How much would it take? A thousand?”
“Sorry?”
“Two thousand?”
“Ugh!”
“Five thousand? Don’t get greedy. Five thousand is more than generous. Up to that, the Chairman will probably allow it too — as compensation for taking the hit and keeping your mouth shut. So think about it.”
Gu Jongyeol watched the omega whose face had gone white as a sheet. What, you’re ready to wave the white flag at a mere five thousand? He felt a little underwhelmed, but watching Seo Igyeong’s face light up noticeably, Gu Jongyeol curved up the corners of his mouth.
“Seems five thousand is enough.”
At Gu Jongyeol’s words, laced with cold mockery, Seo Igyeong startled and then twisted his face.
“D-don’t make me laugh. How could I trade my child for a mere five thousand! That’s absurd! Maybe if you offered more!”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Gu Jongyeol said flatly to Seo Igyeong, who was glaring at him like he wanted him dead.
“Then have it.”
Seo Igyeong’s eyes went round. Gu Jongyeol smiled at that reaction.
“By the way — what did you say your name was? My memory’s not great; I’ve already forgotten what I just heard.”
“Seo Igyeong……”
Gu Jongyeol nodded, watching Seo Igyeong murmur.
“Right, Seo Igyeong. Right now you have exactly two choices. Regardless of whether it’s true — either take the money and disappear, or actually have it.”
“……!”
“So drop any ideas of wasting your energy clinging to our Young Master. Even if you hang on by his coattails, anything beyond five thousand is going to be a stretch.”
“B-but I’m different——!”
“Ah. You want to tell me you’re special to the Young Master.”
Gu Jongyeol let out a low chuckle.
“Right, right. They all say that. That the Young Master thinks of them as special. And that’s why they ended up pregnant with his child. Jo Yeongchae said the same thing not long ago, and so did Yi Huisu. Gangsu, who else was there?”
“Yes. There was An Huichan, Im Suhyeok, and Do Minyeong.”
“Wow, that’s a lot. Did any of them actually have the baby?”
“Not a single one. It was all lies.”
“Wow, fuck — lies? So they were trying to con us?”
“Yes.”
“What happened to all of them?”
“They got thoroughly ‘educated’ by our staff. They walked away with a tidy sum in compensation, thanks to that.”
“How much?”
“At minimum around a thousand, at most about five thousand.”
“Alright, stop there. Any more and it’s too much information. Our Igyeong might get so scared he pisses himself.”
“Yes.”
Park Gangsu stepped back. Gu Jongyeol turned to look at Seo Igyeong, who had by now turned completely ashen, and continued.
“There you have it. There are plenty of people claiming to be pregnant with the Young Master’s child while he goes around swinging his cock — but not one of them has actually given birth. We don’t even know yet if any of those babies were actually the Young Master’s. Because none of them were born.”
Seo Igyeong trembled. Gu Jongyeol sighed.
“That’s why sometimes I find it genuinely baffling. Our Young Master throws his cock around carelessly, but when he does finish, he doesn’t exactly leave obvious traces — so why do people who claim to be carrying his child keep showing up in front of me? That’s what I want to know.”
Seo Igyeong’s face drained of color. Gu Jongyeol grabbed him by the chin and breathed out slowly.
“Igyeong. I genuinely feel so sorry for you that I want to give you a piece of advice. If you have any sense, don’t entertain ideas about our Young Master.”
“……”
“I serve him, so I know him well — our Young Master is a complete piece of trash. Trying to turn someone like that into a decent human being is just a waste of your life, Igyeong.”
Seo Igyeong could be seen clenching his jaw hard. Gu Jongyeol went on.
“And if you really are pregnant, I’ll apologize for speaking out of turn. We’ll support you through the pregnancy and birth as you wish, and if you actually do have the child, we’ll make sure it becomes the Young Master’s heir without any complications. But Igyeong — the moment that child is born, know that you will not be allowed anywhere near it.”
“What…… does that mean?”
Gu Jongyeol smiled.
“What does it mean? That child may be the Young Master’s, but you are nothing to the Young Master.”
Seo Igyeong’s expression hardened. Gu Jongyeol murmured.
“It’s not as if the two of you are in some passionate, can’t-live-without-each-other relationship. So on our end, we have no choice but to keep the Young Master and Igyeong completely separate. Either way, we are people who follow the Young Master.”
“……!”
“Hm? Why do you look so surprised? Don’t tell me you didn’t expect to hear something like this? Ha ha, that can’t be. If a little thing like this was enough to make you shrink, you wouldn’t have wasted my precious time coming here. Right?”
Gu Jongyeol continued.
“Oh. And, Igyeong — before I came here, I went back and looked at the CCTV footage from Delight that night. You know how it is. Something like this has to be investigated thoroughly. And since Delight is a place we operate, I checked just to be safe. And there — I witnessed quite a suspicious scene. Aren’t you curious what it was?”
Gu Jongyeol exhaled softly and parted his lips slightly. He swept the tip of his tongue over his lips, and the sound of Seo Igyeong swallowing could be heard. Gu Jongyeol’s eyes curved.
“When the Young Master was completely drunk and passed out, you came in. You must have been quite drunk too. You were going absolutely frantic trying to wake up our Young Master’s dead cock.”
“I-I——!”
“Igyeong, honestly. If I were you, I’d just take the five thousand for keeping quiet and leave — and yet here you are, still holding on.”
“……!”
“Unless you have solid proof of pregnancy, all that comes out of your mouth is lies — so how are you to know if our Igyeong might suddenly get kidnapped on the way home and end up buried in some remote mountain……”
“I’ll do it!”
Seo Igyeong, who had been listening to Gu Jongyeol’s slow, measured sighs, shouted quickly.
“I’ll take the five thousand and go! No — actually, you don’t have to give me anything! Not a single cent! C-can I just go? I want to leave!”
The moment he heard that, Gu Jongyeol glanced over at Park Gangsu.
“You heard that? Just in case, bring the documents and take care of it.”
“Yes.”
He shot a sideways look at Seo Igyeong — pale-faced, lips pressed tightly together — and rose from his seat.
