What Happened at the Party
“You know Seolheon’s number, right?”
“…….”
“He says he’s sleeping over at a friend’s place, so if I don’t contact you by tomorrow, call Seolheon for me and check on him. I’m counting on you, Kim Jaewook.”
“Hey. How old is your brother?”
“Senior in high school, 18 years old.”
“That’s overprotective.”
Kim Jaewook let out a long breath, as if exhaling all the air from his lungs.
The longer his sigh grew, the more self-conscious I felt, so I rambled out excuses.
“But Seolheon is a direct descendant of the group and… he’s so pretty that I can’t help but worry. He’s sleeping somewhere far away, and if he gets kidnapped by some weirdos…!”
“You were the same pain in the ass ten years ago when you went to pick up your brother.”
Kim Jaewook, who’d been called out on a Saturday night out of nowhere, scratched his head roughly and looked me up and down.
“Where are you going that you’re even asking me? And what’s with that getup?”
The image of me reflected in Kim Jaewook’s eyes was in a perfect suit.
Since I couldn’t stop by the salon every time I went to meet Chairman Baek Ildo before, I started styling myself, and now I’d gotten quite used to dressing up.
“I’ve got something. Like that.”
“Are you going to seduce an omega?”
“Shut your mouth. It’s just an event or something.”
“What, a chaebol gathering? Another world-class thing that has no connection with us commoners.”
“I wish I had no connection with it either. I’m being forced to go.”
“I’ve felt this since before, but you really have zero ambition. Get yourself a position in the group and hook me up with one, will you?”
“Anyway, please take care of Seolheon. He’s such a capable kid, so there probably won’t be any problems, but…….”
“The problem is that you, the sickly one who collapses at the drop of a hat from pheromones, cause the most trouble. You be careful.”
“Mm.”
I consistently ignored Kim Jaewook’s nonsense, but then a pointed remark suddenly flew my way.
Inwardly I bristled, but there was no room for rebuttal.
“……Baek Gunho. Really be careful.”
Then Kim Jaewook, who had been taking out his cigarette pack, stopped and looked at me.
“If by any chance LK makes contact, avoid them.”
“LK Group? The one that does resorts and distribution?”
A strange term suddenly popped out of Kim Jaewook’s mouth.
“Public opinion about them is as bad as Baekil Food lately. Don’t get involved with them if you can help it.”
“Baekil or LK, I have no intention of being friendly with any of this country’s chaebols.”
“Says the chaebol himself. Anyway, come back safely.”
I waved my hand at Kim Jaewook and turned around, when Kim Jaewook’s voice came from behind me.
“……Hey. Your brother. Did he say anything special?”
“My brother?”
I turned around, but Kim Jaewook was only looking at the cigarette in his hand.
“What kind of talk?”
“……Just asking as a greeting. It’s been quite a while since I saw him.”
“Seolheon’s doing well. Why don’t we all meet up sometime? He’d be happy to see you too.”
“He’d be happy……? Forget it, go.”
Kim Jaewook clicked his tongue as if dumbfounded and looked my way.
I didn’t know what kind of look that was for what I’d said, but there wasn’t time to add another word.
Before getting into the waiting car, the words “greeting” that Kim Jaewook had said reminded me of a person I’d forgotten.
“Ah. How is your father? I haven’t greeted him since I was discharged from the military.”
“Well, he’s living well enough.”
“‘Living’……. What kind of way is that to talk about your father?”
“He’s as rough and chaotic as usual. Somehow business works even in a recession.”
Kim Jaewook casually pointed behind him.
The sign of an old beer hall was sparkling, and inside the glass windows it was full of customers.
“I should go pay my respects sometime.”
“He’s busy. Can’t you tell from the fact that I suggested meeting outside?”
“I’ll visit next time.”
“Whatever.”
The car glided onto the road.
Kim Jaewook, visible through the rearview mirror, lit his cigarette and stared blankly into space.
* * *
“Ha!”
The woman looking at the large monitor screen snorted and roughly swept her hair back.
Her platinum blonde hair swished and shook over her shoulders.
“Again, just a bunch of nothing…….”
Then she roughly ground out her cigarette in the ashtray.
“Useless bastard.”
The woman, Lee Hanna, raised her eyes.
At the end of her gaze was a young man with a small build.
“Yeongwoo-ya.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“If you screw up this time too, I can’t use you.”
Lee Hanna said with a calm face as if she’d never spat out curses.
“Our Yeongwoo knows well how much effort grandmother put in to get this opportunity, right?”
“…….”
“And yet. You little bastard.”
Lee Hanna’s eyes changed instantly.
“My effort, time, money, humiliation, contempt. It didn’t even take you one second to shove all that in the trash. Right?”
“B-but…… at least Baek Jeongwoo…….”
Something flew like lightning and grazed past Lee Yeongwoo’s face.
With a loud noise, something hit the wall and shattered into pieces.
“…….”
“Right. Much better now that you’re quiet.”
Lee Yeongwoo looked at the floor with trembling eyes.
A broken glass ashtray and a still-burning cigarette butt were rolling around.
Lee Hanna continued speaking, still in an elegant posture with her chin propped up.
“Consider yourself lucky that Baekil canceled your marriage talks first. If not for that, my reputation would have…….”
“……Actually!”
At that moment, Lee Yeongwoo clenched his fists tightly and barely parted his lips.
“The truth is…… I wanted to study abroad…….”
A precarious voice continued, as if being squeezed out.
“More than marriage, I wanted to learn more about…… art. I wanted to draw more, draw many different things, so much……!”
“Selfish bastard.”
Lee Hanna’s voice dropped even lower.
“Selfish, stupid, and oblivious. Pathetic. This grandmother’s heart is tearing apart.”
“…….”
“How long are you going to act selfishly like a wild colt? You should know how to compromise a little for our family. I raised you too permissively because you’re a dominant omega, Lee Junhak did.”
Lee Hanna, who had even brought up Lee Yeongwoo’s biological father’s name, rubbed her eyes as if she had a headache.
“It’s not too late even after you get married. I’ll set up a gallery or whatever for you later. For now, listen to your elders. Understand?”
“…….”
“If you really don’t like it, blame your birth as an omega.”
The more Lee Hanna’s brow furrowed, the more the wrinkles covered by powder gradually showed.
“Hoo. Yeongwoo-ya. How fortunate that you were at least born into our family? For a dominant omega, your looks are just so-so, and you have no talent at all. Just full of greed, really.”
“Talent…….”
At Lee Hanna’s words, Lee Yeongwoo lowered his head.
On the carpet embroidered with splendid patterns, someone’s face naturally came to mind.
‘Yeongwoo, you’re really good at drawing.’
At that voice he thought he’d forgotten,
At that gentle tone,
Lee Yeongwoo’s eyes grew moist.
‘I-I’ve been told I have talent. Many people like my drawings.’
How wonderful it would have been if he had the courage to say that so confidently.
“At least you’re a bit better for not being caught up in useless things like gambling or sex like the other kids. Though it would be nice if I could just sew that chattering mouth shut.”
“…….”
“Yeongwoo-ya, you need to know that I’m being very patient with you lot.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“Again? You have something to say, don’t you?”
Lee Yeongwoo bowed deeply and said.
“……Thank you sincerely for caring about inadequate us. Chairwoman.”
“Good. You may go. This time, don’t make any mistakes and behave obediently. Like an omega.”
“Yes.”
Lee Yeongwoo immediately turned and left the dark room. He wanted to escape from this acrid and heavy air as quickly as possible.
“It’s hard to suppress an omega’s temper too. Anyway, those things only know how to whine and cry.”
Even before he’d fully left the room, he heard muttering from behind. It was obvious it was meant for him to hear.
Thinking about how, even after this, she’d go outside and rub his cheeks while saying ‘our lovely grandchild’ or whatever made him want to retch.
Just as Lee Yeongwoo stepped into the corridor and was about to close the door, Lee Hanna’s voice was heard again.
“It’s me. So. Did you get in contact with Alejandro?”
It seemed she was on a call with someone.
Alejandro. At that familiar yet unfamiliar name, Lee Yeongwoo, curious, hesitated to close the door.
“Ungrateful bastard!”
Right after that, crash—the sound of something breaking was heard.
Startled, Lee Yeongwoo took his hand off the door.
“I thought he’d at least bow his head to me now! Of all the many places, it had to be with Baekil? With Baek Ildo, that bastard who deserves to die, so shamelessly……!”
At the shouting that followed, Lee Yeongwoo pressed down on his pounding chest and hurried away from the spot.
Only after getting on the elevator, breaking through the paranoidly positioned numerous guards, could he finally catch his breath.
“……Haah.”
The floor number displayed on the wall panel decreased rapidly.
Lee Yeongwoo, staring blankly at the numbers, muttered quietly.
“For the last time…….”
A blurry face rose in Lee Yeongwoo’s vision.
Black hair, bright grayish-white eyes……
That child who was mysterious, speaking warm words with a cold face.
“I’ll just see his face and then…….”
How he’s doing, if he’s well, if his health is okay.
After hearing just that, he’d give up everything and meet the person his grandmother mentioned.
So.
“I hope he remembers. My name…….”
In the small space with no one else, a faint voice echoed alone.
* * *
“W-we’ve arrived.”
At the taxi driver’s voice, it finally felt real.
‘I actually came.’
In front of the high-rise building shining golden, LK Hotel.
My heart shrank a little at the dazzlingly splendid architecture that naturally made me feel intimidated, but I pretended to be nonchalant as much as possible, putting one hand in my pocket to strike a pose while looking around.
Behind the deluxe taxi I’d ridden in, supercars that would make you gasp were coming in one after another like conveyor belt sushi.
‘Good thing I didn’t bring my car.’
My car wasn’t a cheap model by any means either, but normal stands out too much among abnormal.
At a place like today, I had to kill my presence somehow. That’s why I used a deluxe call taxi, something I wouldn’t have dared to use in my past life as a commoner.
Fortunately, there seemed to be other people who rarely used taxis like me, or maybe they thought I was a regular customer—there was no sign of anyone paying attention to me.
“Thank you for your service.”
“Y-yes!”
The taxi driver, perhaps afraid of scratching some other expensive car, escaped the hotel in an instant and disappeared far away.
The valet parking attendants are going to sweat a lot today too. With that idle thought, I stepped into the hotel lobby.
Perhaps they were accepting regular guests even though they’d rented out the penthouse and entire top floor, as several people were gawking at the outside with wide eyes.
“Are you a party attendee?”
A hotel employee, the doorman, approached me first with a friendly smile. He was slyly checking out my dress shoes and the wrist wearing a watch.
They were all luxury goods that my adoptive parents had prepared as gifts. Naturally expensive, and that employee knew it too.
“This way.”
Following the doorman’s guidance, we passed through the main hall and arrived at a tinted glass door. When I pulled open the door marked <Entry difficult for unauthorized personnel>, a space far more splendid than the main hall appeared.
A VIP-only route, I guess. Even the elevator connected directly to the penthouse was so excessively splendid it hurt my eyes.
“Urk.”
Pain was felt not just visually but also in my sense of smell. The pain intensified the closer I got to the elevator.
The mixed pheromone residue I’d been sensing since opening the car door was seeping out through the elevator door gap like poison.
……This isn’t even the entrance to a demon lord’s castle.
‘Get it together.’
I’d already taken more than the limit of medication.
At the Baekil main house gathering ten years ago, my adoptive mother was there, but now I’m alone. There’s no protection from Chairman Baek Ildo either.
If I collapse, that’s the end.
Then Baek Seolheon’s entrance exam is over too.
‘Be tense.’
I recalled again the plan I’d agonized over for days.
- Avoid crowds as much as possible.
- Just see Baek Jeongwoo’s face.
- Immediately leave the hotel.
A total of three steps. Easy and simple.
‘I can do this……!’
Just as I was steeling my resolve.
“Hey there, hyung. You’re here for the party, right? Insane physique. Alpha? You look fuckable.”
“First time seeing you, where are you from? What business do you do? Ah, are you an actor? Getting sponsored?”
“Look at those pheromones rippling. Are you nervous? Cute~”
“If you don’t have anyone to play with, want to hang with me? For reference, I’m really good, huhu.”
“…….”
A crisis arrived right on dungeon floor 1.
