Trying not to glance toward Executive Director Kim, who was already enjoying himself in earnest with the prostitute, Wookyung poured alcohol into his own glass while still holding the bottle. Min, who had missed his timing while receiving the drink Wookyung gave him, hurriedly reached toward Wookyung’s glass.
“It’s fine. Drink comfortably.”
“Ah… thank you.”
About an hour passed in the languid atmosphere. During that time, exchanging conversation with Executive Director Kim intermittently, Wookyung slowly drank his alcohol. Since Min now understood well that Wookyung didn’t welcome this atmosphere itself, he also no longer bothered Wookyung with conversation. Since it wasn’t a meeting with Executive Director Kim where they had much to discuss anyway, the prostitute’s cloying nasal sounds were mixed here and there into their occasional trivial conversation.
“Mmm, sir…”
“Haa… Executive Director Choi.”
It was when Wookyung, who had discreetly glanced at his watch, was letting out a small sigh while inwardly gauging when to leave. Executive Director Kim, his face flushed red, leaned his body slyly toward Wookyung with a shameless smile.
“Yes, Executive Director Kim.”
“We’ve finally seen our dear Executive Director Choi’s face after such a long time… what should I do, feeling so regretful about this?”
The touch pulling forcefully at the waist of the prostitute he’d been keeping at his side while grinning shamelessly was full of filthy desire. Wookyung desperately tried not to furrow his brow and pulled up the corners of his mouth dryly.
“This one seems to be quite heated up. She’s gripping my thing so tightly and won’t let go…”
“Then let’s end it here for today, and let’s meet again next time.”
Not wanting to hear more vulgar sexual talk, Wookyung cut off his words with a bright smile. In any case, Wookyung also preferred not to continue watching that spectacle. Executive Director Kim laughed loudly, exhaling breath reeking of alcohol.
“Hahaha! Thank you. Next time, I’ll buy you a drink at an even better place, separately.”
“That’s fine with me.”
At the joy of finally being able to leave this place, Wookyung willingly rose from his seat. Executive Director Kim also stood up with a flushed face. His arm was still wrapped around the prostitute’s waist.
“Then, Executive Director Choi! I’ll see you next time. Get home safely.”
“Yes, have a pleasant time.”
Since he was a frequent visitor to Yeodanhwa, Executive Director Kim naturally went up to the second floor with the prostitute. It seemed Minho had even made a reservation. After seeing him off outside the room and sending him up, Wookyung came back into the room, put on his jacket, and grabbed his coat. It was the moment he was about to turn around after nodding in greeting to Min, who bowed his head in farewell.
The figure standing next to him seemed to stagger, then fell with a thud, grabbing the table.
“Ow…!”
The sharp scream was full of pain. Surprised, Wookyung approached Min, who was crouched on the floor.
“What is it?”
“Ah… sir… haa.”
Min made groaning sounds while clutching his ankle. His forlorn eyes looking up at Wookyung’s face were even brimming with moisture.
“Aah… I accidentally stepped wrong… I think I twisted it.”
“…Oh no.”
Clicking his tongue, Wookyung extended his hand. His thick fingers carefully touched his ankle. Seeing how he made dying sounds of “aah, aah” even with just a light press, it seemed the ligament was strained.
“The ligament seems to be strained.”
“Aah, sir…”
Looking up at Wookyung with tearful eyes, Min carefully grabbed Wookyung’s forearm.
“I’m really sorry, but… just once… could you please carry me up to the second floor? There’s a staff break room there, and all the first aid supplies are there.”
Wookyung let out a small sigh with a troubled expression. But soon he nodded and put his hand under his legs, threading his forearm under Min’s shoulder to have him wrap his arm around his neck.
“Hold on tight. You’ll get hurt.”
“Really… thank you so much… sir. At this hour, the only person who can help me is the manager, but she’s a woman…”
This was his first time going up to the second floor. He roughly knew what kind of place it was, as it was where people naturally went for a second round after receiving entertainment. For Wookyung, who detested such things, it was a place he was reluctant even to set foot in. But when an injured person begged so earnestly, he couldn’t say no and leave him abandoned in the room.
Lightly lifting him in his arms, Wookyung silently climbed the stairs heading to the second floor. Each time he stepped on the marble stairs with his dress shoes, they made thudding sounds. Min stared blankly up at Wookyung, who showed no sign of difficulty climbing the stairs despite carrying him, a Beta male of average build.
The scar drawn across his handsome mouth and his seemingly indifferent gaze. He’d heard from other omega prostitutes that he was a dominant alpha—it was the moment he became curious what this man’s scent would be like.
“Where is it, the break room?”
The thick, low voice asked bluntly. Min, snapping back to his senses, exclaimed “Ah!” and pointed with his finger toward the room at the very end of the corridor.
“It’s over there. Thank you, sir.”
Following the direction Min pointed, Wookyung’s steps moved again. Standing in front of the small room at the very end of the corridor, Wookyung reached out and turned the doorknob.
“Ah, from here I can…”
“Stay still. I’ll lay you down on the bed.”
Stopping Min, who was clumsily trying to get down at the door, Wookyung spoke curtly. Upon entering the room, just as he’d said it was a staff break room, there were two or three beds placed at intervals, and one entire wall was made up of lockers. The room even had a small bathroom attached.
After carefully setting Min down on one of the beds, Wookyung asked.
“Where’s the first aid kit?”
“Ah, over there… thank you.”
Min pointed awkwardly toward the very end of the lockers. Wookyung, who had searched inside the cabinet and found the first aid kit without difficulty, held out the box to Min. Min bowed his head and accepted the first aid kit.
“Thank you so much, sir. Take care.”
Wookyung nodded and left the room. Having walked all the way to the end of the corridor where the stairs he’d climbed connected, Wookyung stopped in his tracks for a moment. His pupils reflexively dilated as the alpha’s animal senses explosively sharpened.
It was definitely that scent.
Very faint, but definitely that omega… Dokyung’s father’s scent was in the air.
Wookyung instinctively surveyed his surroundings. But no one was visible. The pheromones remaining faintly in the air were certainly telling him that he had been here, but there was no one in the corridor. As Wookyung looked around, surveying the area, he soon let out a self-deprecating laugh.
What would I do if I found him? Say hello?
Exchanging greetings wouldn’t be particularly bad. After all, he and I are connected to each other through the link of Yoonkyung and Dokyung.
But the location wasn’t appropriate. If he ran into him working here, it would inevitably be awkward for both of them. And right now, Wookyung was on the second floor. Although Wookyung hadn’t come up here to do ‘this and that’ with the prostitutes, he couldn’t explain those circumstances in detail to someone whose face he’d never even known until now.
It would be more comfortable not to run into him here. Even if they did run into each other, it would be better to avoid him.
Thinking that, Wookyung hurriedly stepped down the stairs to the floor below. Completely unaware of the fact that someone nearby, inside a room, had already seen him coming up to the second floor with Min and was in shock.
*
Lee Jeong covered his mouth with both hands and crouched down by the door. His hands trembled like a candle before the wind.
Did I… did I… really just see that?
Really, was that person right?
At first, he thought he was seeing things. But to be a phantom, the gestures of carrying Min up and the expression on his face as he looked down at him and said something were far too vivid.
The person clearly existing before his eyes was Wookyung. There was no way not to recognize him. Even though it was a face he hadn’t seen in years, they were people whose bodies and hearts had been imprinted on each other. The moment he saw his face coming up to the second floor with an indifferent expression, he really almost stopped breathing. He barely managed to raise both hands to cover his mouth, afraid a scream would leak out.
His heart was racing madly. Each time the painfully beating pulse of his chest intensified, pain spread through his entire body as if poison were spreading. The pain from that old time when he realized Wookyung had abandoned him was vividly recalled to a chilling degree.
The pain engraved like a tattoo on his heart remained the same even as time passed. He had just been forgetting it, exhausted by his busy life—when he dug it up again, his heart’s wounds hadn’t healed at all.
The indifferent gaze that had briefly turned this way and the scar at the corner of his mouth. He was definitely that person he’d loved to death. That realization became a sharp skewer that poked at the festering wound. The foul-smelling secretions that had been rotting inside came pouring out.
After shedding tears tediously for years, the tear ducts that seemed to have stopped functioning began to work again. Not the tears he showed before men from physiological pain, but hot tears laboriously expelled from his heart streamed down from Lee Jeong’s eyes.
“Haa…”
His chest was really, truly so tight and painful. Gasping for breath, feeling like he would suffocate and die at this rate, Lee Jeong pounded his chest with small fists. But no matter how much he pounded, only pus burst from the viciously festering wound in his heart, and his breathing didn’t become any easier.
