“D-Don’t touch him! He’s my friend!”
“……Lee Yeongwoo?”
For a moment, I doubted my eyes.
“Who the hell are you to just barge in…… Huh?”
“What? Isn’t that Lee Yeongwoo?”
“Lee Yeongwoo came here?”
Light brown, curly hair.
Similarly pale brown eyes.
A small stature that didn’t even reach my chest, and a delicate body.
A boy who suddenly appeared.
The appearance of my old classmate……
“That’s right. I’m Lee Yeongwoo.”
Even after we parted ways in elementary school, not a single thing about him had changed.
“He’s my friend.”
Lee Yeongwoo, who had rushed to my side in an instant, whispered quietly.
“You’re Gunho, right?”
His voice was so small that others couldn’t hear it.
Caught off guard by the sudden situation, I nodded reflexively, and Yeongwoo continued with a hardened expression.
“Go along with what I say.”
Without even waiting for my answer, Lee Yeongwoo first glared at Yu Gojun and spoke.
“I’m taking him with me. That okay?”
“Wait a minute. Before that.”
Yu Gojun asked Lee Yeongwoo with an expression that couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“What business does that illustrious dominant omega young master of LK have at a party……?”
At those words, my mind went blank for a moment.
LK?
Lee Yeongwoo, LK Group……?
The friend who played soccer with me, went to PC rooms to play games and shared cup ramen with me…… was part of a chaebol family?
Looking back at our memories, he did have an elegant appearance, and he took many private tutoring sessions, so I did think he came from a well-off family. But I never dreamed he’d be a chaebol. After all, the school we attended was a public elementary school in the neighborhood made up entirely of ordinary local residents.
So in a way, we’d both become friends while hiding our backgrounds.
Does Lee Yeongwoo know what position I’m in right now……
Is that why he jumped in here?
I didn’t know his true intentions, but one thing was certain.
“A party? I just came to have fun. Is that not allowed?”
He was trying to help me.
“It’s not that it’s not allowed, but…… it’s curious when someone who disliked, even hated this kind of thing suddenly shows up. And is that really your friend? That side looks pretty surprised too.”
Meanwhile, Yu Gojun had somehow regained his composure and looked toward me with a smirk. What an unnecessarily observant bastard.
But Lee Yeongwoo’s personality was no pushover either.
“Or what are you going to do about it?”
“……Such a temper. When you were younger, you acted cute, calling me hyung, hyung.”
“Fuck off. You’re all equally disgusting. Just like Baek Jeongwoo.”
……Baek Jeongwoo?
The name that came out of Lee Yeongwoo’s mouth—could it be the same person I know?
Now wasn’t the time to find answers to my questions; the situation was too urgent.
“Hey, hey! Yeongwoo-ya. I’m glad to see you after so long, but the alpha hyungs are having a serious talk here. What good does it do for an omega to suddenly butt in!”
The man who had let go of my collar in surprise at Lee Yeongwoo’s appearance now reached out his hand toward Lee Yeongwoo.
“We’ll return your friend safely later, so you go out and wait…….”
“Don’t you understand the situation?”
Lee Yeongwoo roughly swatted the hand away.
Due to the difference in physique, it was barely enough to block it, but his voice was firm and strong.
“Did you forget that my noona and hyung are hosting this?”
Lee Yeongwoo pointed to the hundreds of people visible beyond the balcony, and the employees in black uniforms busily moving among them.
“With one gesture from me, I can kick you all out right now. Not by the elevator or stairs, but there.”
His fingertip moved to the rooftop railing, to the Seoul night view.
“Right from there.”
Threatening to throw them off the 50th-floor hotel rooftop railing—at such a violent remark, Yu Gojun’s group flinched with their jaws dropped.
And I also went “Huk.”
‘That temper that used to kick Kim Jaewook around for fun hasn’t gone anywhere.’
My surprise was brief; it was about time for me to make my entrance.
“……Yu Gojun-ssi. I told you.”
I grabbed Lee Yeongwoo’s shoulder as if embracing it.
I felt bad because his small shoulder flinched in surprise, but at times like this, you can’t lose your nerve—you have to push forward with momentum.
“That you’d regret it.”
With dignity!
I gave him a faint smile.
How about that? This is the true power of friendship!
Even though we were only friends for less than a year, and it’s been exactly 12 years since we reunited!
“……You really had connections with that Lee Yeongwoo?”
“Should’ve said so earlier, fuck…….”
Thanks to riding well on the atmosphere Lee Yeongwoo created, Yu Gojun and his friends broke out in cold sweat.
Actually, I was sweating too. On the outside, I was acting like an infinitely calm, composed, and relaxed person, but the palm hidden in my pocket was drenched in sweat.
Yu Gojun glared at me, then spoke to Lee Yeongwoo.
“Ha…… So, do your elders know? That the omega they raised like precious gold and jade has been playing around with some alpha ‘friend’ and even rejected that marriage proposal with Baekil Group?”
“Say whatever you want. You think I don’t know about the shady things you’ve done?”
Lee Yeongwoo shrugged his shoulders and lifted his chin.
“I’m the youngest son of LK. If you’re going to pick a fight, choose your opponent wisely.”
……So, so cool!
Without realizing it, I stared at Lee Yeongwoo in a daze.
* * *
Unlike the bustling outdoors, the interior of the private building was sparsely populated.
No, it was more accurate to say that wherever Lee Yeongwoo went, it became sparsely populated. His steps were unhesitating, as if he knew the path perfectly.
Then we arrived in front of a door.
When he opened the firmly closed iron door, surprisingly, there was an elevator. It was even a master elevator that could move not only to the private building but to all floors of the hotel.
“There are a lot of hidden elevators here.”
“We’re going down?”
“For now.”
That was welcome to me. The headache from the mixed pheromones was getting severe.
Lee Yeongwoo, who got on the elevator, pressed the button for the 30th floor. About twenty floors below the top floor.
And so, finally leaving the rooftop level and stepping foot into a normal hotel corridor.
“Haaaaah. Thank gooodness-!”
Lee Yeongwoo suddenly let out a long breath and slumped down.
“Oh right! Pheromones!”
Then, in a flash, he distanced himself about twenty steps away from me and urgently shouted.
“Gu, Gunho! You! Are you okay?!”
“……?”
“What about safety glasses? A mask? Are you okay without them?!”
“Calm down.”
Only then did I remember.
The embarrassing past when I threw up the moment I came in contact with Lee Yeongwoo’s pheromones.
“I’m much better than before. New medication is being developed, and my constitution is also…… gradually improving.”
“Re, really?”
“I’m standing here perfectly fine right now, aren’t I? Of course, a space filled with pheromones like the rooftop earlier is difficult, but…….”
I walked forward.
The sound of my dress shoes echoed through the quiet corridor.
“If it’s someone who’s earnestly suppressing their pheromones, this distance is nothing.”
And so the distance between Lee Yeongwoo and me gradually narrowed,
When twenty steps became about three steps, I reached out my hand.
“Yeongwoo, like you.”
“…….”
“Nice to see you. And thank you for helping me earlier.”
And so I gave a bright smile to the friend I’d met after so long.
Instead of grasping my hand, Lee Yeongwoo covered his face with the back of his hand.
“……Ah, shit. Wait a minute. I think some dust got in.”
Lee Yeongwoo vigorously rubbed his reddened eyes and even blew his nose into his sleeve with a sniffle.
“I’m so glad, really. I was really worried you’d have to wear a mask your whole life…….”
“Haha. Back then…… I did.”
The proper thing to do would be to pretend not to see a man’s tears, but I couldn’t suddenly turn my head away, so I just faced him and smiled.
‘By the way, Yeongwoo’s frame is incredibly small.’
I know this expression is rude, but it’s only half an exaggeration to say that if I grabbed his waist with both hands, my fingertips would touch. He was that small and thin.
It was a more delicate body than even the average female idol. When we were young, everyone had similar builds, so the difference felt even greater now.
It was a reminder, though not new, that Lee Yeongwoo was a dominant omega.
The amount of pheromones leaking from his body wasn’t as little as Lee Haram’s, but considering the pheromone output of a dominant, he was definitely working very hard to control it.
‘You’re still kind, Lee Yeongwoo.’
Even if his words and actions were rough, his gentle nature that knew how to care for others remained the same.
Both Lee Haram and Lee Yeongwoo. Even if my luck with health wasn’t great, I was truly born with good fortune in people.
“Gunho-ya. By any chance…….”
That same Lee Yeongwoo suddenly asked me.
“You’re not being manipulated by Baek Jeongwoo, are you?”
……There it is again.
That name, Baek Jeongwoo, from Lee Yeongwoo’s mouth.
“I…… personally don’t like events like this, so I don’t come often, but because it’s the LK, the Lee family, I end up knowing who attends each time whether I like it or not. This is your first time coming today, right? Did Baek Jeongwoo call you here?”
Lee Yeongwoo wasn’t interrogating me.
He was worried.
“If Baek Jeongwoo is forcing you to do something against your will…… you absolutely can’t let him. You need to cut ties completely. I came to tell you that. Because he’s a really terrible guy.”
I also know he’s a really terrible guy. And that he’s stupid, too.
However, I was curious about why Lee Yeongwoo was thinking of Baek Jeongwoo and me together.
“How did you know Baek Jeongwoo called me?”
“Huh?”
“Did you hear it from Baek Jeongwoo?”
“I, I just heard that you were coming to the party today. With Baek Jeongwoo, we’ve had…… bad blood since way back…….”
Baek Jeongwoo, this bastard. Just how many people is he planning to manipulate?
Given that Lee Yeongwoo was a rare dominant omega, he seemed to hold a fairly respected position within LK Group.
Dominant omegas statistically have a high probability of producing excellent offspring, so their value is set quite high in the marriage market—that’s what it said in the novel. It’s a setting I don’t like.
Since Baek Jeongwoo is currently looking for people to be on his side, was he planning to put Lee Yeongwoo in that net as well?
If he was planning to manipulate us by just holding an elementary school reunion, I can only say he’s truly stupid. It’s not like the two of us are siblings separated at birth or lovers.
“You shouldn’t even associate with a guy like that. Really.”
Every time Lee Yeongwoo mentioned that particular name, his voice was clearly filled with blatant hostility. I decided to take that as a positive and continued questioning.
“Lee Yeongwoo. How much do you know?”
“Huh?”
“About what position I’m in.”
At my question, Lee Yeongwoo answered with a somewhat tense air.
“Th, that you’re…… a Baekil Group person, but other than that I don’t really…….”
“That’s all?”
“Actually, I was curious about how you were living, so I tried to look into it. But news related to you was…… really hard to find……. That’s really all.”
Lee Yeongwoo kept reading the room, then continued cautiously.
“Is there…… something more? If it’s a difficult situation, I’ll help you.”
I’d only spent less than a year with Lee Yeongwoo, at most about half a year.
No matter how kind a friend, it wasn’t realistic to completely confide everything based on that brief connection—that I was from an orphanage, that my younger brother Baek Seolheon was being held as leverage, and so on.
“……I have a reason for meeting with Baek Jeongwoo. But I don’t plan on hanging around with him for long.”
So I chose my words carefully.
“So don’t worry. I came here today planning to draw a line with Baek Jeongwoo.”
“If, if that’s the case, that’s good. As expected of Gunho-ya. You’re smart, so I knew you’d handle things well on your own.”
“Thank you. And I’m sorry for making you clash with those people because of me earlier.”
“N, no! We were already on bad terms. Don’t worry about it!”
Lee Yeongwoo waved his hands exaggeratedly, then stretched.
“Ah! What a relief! I said everything I wanted to say today! Seeing you, it seems like I don’t need to worry, so I really feel at ease.”
Whether he really had lifted a weight off his mind, he asked me in a much brighter voice.
“I’m going to head back now. What about you, Gunho? If it’s okay, before we part, could we at least exchange numbers…….”
“I’m going to stay.”
Lee Yeongwoo seemed to say something more, but I was distracted by the vibration of my phone and didn’t hear it properly.
[Baek Jeongwoo: Be there soon]
Be there soon, my ass. It’s already been an hour, you bastard.
My insides were boiling over, but because Lee Yeongwoo was next to me, I barely managed to hold back the curses.
“I need to see Baek Jeongwoo’s face at least once.”
“I, I see! Right, of course……!”
Lee Yeongwoo fanned his reddened face with his hand, then asked me.
“It seems like he’ll be really late, will you be okay? He’s never kept a promise on time.”
“I have to wait.”
“You said the rooftop is hard because of pheromones…… Where will you wait?”
I’d headed to the rooftop first thinking Baek Jeongwoo would be there already, but I never expected this kind of trouble.
There’s no business for me on a rooftop without Baek Jeongwoo. It’s best to just hide somewhere else until that bastard arrives.
“It’s quiet here, so it’s fine. I’ll just sit anywhere.”
“There aren’t any chairs or anything in the corridor…….”
“There’s the emergency stairwell.”
“Yo, you’re going to sit on the stairs?!”
In my previous life, it was routine to sit on the stairs during work breaks and rest while using my phone, so there was nothing to be hesitant about.
But Lee Yeongwoo seemed really bothered by it, as he hesitated and sent me a worried look before opening his mouth.
“Actually, here…… rooms 3001 to 3005 are always empty. I have the master key registered on my phone, so I can use them freely. So…….”
Lee Yeongwoo pointed to room 3001 behind him with a trembling hand.
“Do you want to wait here…… with me?”
