“Okay.”
Hanging up the phone, Wookyung set his phone down on the desk. Even to himself, what he was doing right now seemed ridiculous, and he swallowed the hollow laugh that escaped.
Why was he going this far for a man whose face he didn’t even know?
The adorable existence named Dokyung had already occupied quite a large share in Wookyung’s heart. However, if the baby’s father had decided to leave, it would be unfortunate but unavoidable. He would have no choice but to live with the strange experience of finding someone else’s baby unusually precious kept in his heart.
But if that wasn’t the case.
The baby’s father was the only guardian related to Dokyung. If Dokyung’s father… had gone missing or something.
‘…Let’s stop with the useless thoughts.’
Telling himself to stop with the unlucky speculation, he was about to turn his eyes back to the documents to review his work while waiting for the photo to arrive.
His phone screen flashed. He quickly reached out and lit up the screen. There was a message from Yoonkyung that said ‘Photo.’ Without realizing it, his urgent fingers clicked on the photo, and as he drew the password pattern that appeared next, Wookyung waited for the screen to load without much thought.
If he didn’t know the real name, it would take a bit longer, but if there was a photo, it would probably be a bit easier.
That’s what he was thinking the moment he checked the photo on his phone that filled the screen.
“……”
Wookyung’s hand holding the phone froze in place.
“…Am I…”
Was he seeing things? He squeezed his eyes shut hard enough for stars to pop, then opened them again. Thinking he might have been overworking recently, he rubbed his eyelids hard.
“…This doesn’t… make sense.”
A lifeless voice flowed from his throat.
To dismiss it as a hallucination he had experienced frequently in the past, it was too much like an acute symptom. The three years that had passed had been long enough to slowly take away even the image of that child shown in hallucinations. To consider it a dream, the emotions he was feeling now, frighteningly vivid, were too real. To regard it as someone’s prank, it was too poor in taste.
In short, this situation right now was an impossible situation. However, the face clearly floating on the screen, even when checked twice and three times, was unmistakably that face.
A face that couldn’t be confused or mistaken. A face engraved deep into his bones that he hadn’t forgotten for a single moment. An existence that had burned Wookyung’s heart like a flame, turning it into black ashes, and hidden deep in his chest.
It was Ido’s face. The person sitting with Dokyung and Yoonkyung was.
“This… this… fuck, what the… hell.”
The thick fingers calling the secretary’s office trembled like tree branches swaying on a windy day. The fingers that missed several times finally managed to press the button. He barely managed to give a summons order to Kim Minho, who answered the phone unusually, and hung up.
Did this situation really make sense?
He immediately tried calling Yoonkyung, but she didn’t answer. Even as his heart boiled over, Wookyung sent a message asking for ‘Lee Jeong’s’ contact information and threw down his phone as he bolted up from his seat.
Lightning was striking inside his head. The confusion that shook the entire world with thundering sounds was rapidly pulling up Wookyung’s emotions that had been buried deep in the abyss. Heat returned to his body that had been like an empty shell. Fire ignited in his eyes that had been dry like a dead person’s. His chest, like a rock, rose and fell rapidly, caught in swift currents swirling with indescribable emotions.
Clearly… on that day three years ago, Lim Moojin and Kim Minho said that Ido had died. As proof, they had even presented the ring Wookyung had given him as a relic.
At that time, he had demanded to know exactly how and why that child had died. He had thrown fits in front of President Lim several times, collapsing like a dog, asking why they couldn’t protect even one person while carrying out the promised task. Each time, President Lim would lower his gaze and say he had nothing to say but sorry. That his subordinates had made a mistake while dealing with the remaining omegas of President Park and ended up killing them all.
He couldn’t believe his words obediently. Like a madman, he had chased Ido’s traces, but what repeatedly came back was only records that Ido had ended his life full of hardship at a young age. He couldn’t find any trace of Ido who had been processed as dead. All that remained was the cruel and indifferent teaching that he should now forget the dead and the living should continue living their remaining lives.
But what was the photo he just saw?
It wasn’t even a photo taken from far away. In the clear and distinct photo, three people were smiling brightly. The photo that the three of them had probably taken with a selfie camera was clearly Dokyung, Yoonkyung, and Ido.
Then, then, the ‘pitiful omega who works at night’ that Yoonkyung had been talking about all this time was…
And Dokyung was…
The corners of his mouth twitched like a convulsion patient’s. Tears flowed down his hardened cheeks, wetting his chin. His clenched fist trembled endlessly. The sound of grinding teeth ran chillingly across his skin.
“Aaaaaaaah!”
Wookyung roared like a beast. He wailed in anguish as if meeting the last day of the world. Spitting out the hot heat rising from his throat, he threw and swung everything within reach.
The documents on the desk fluttered in the air like feathers. He glared with bloodshot eyes at the desk where he had processed shitty work all this time, listening only to Lim Moojin’s words without even knowing Ido was alive. With angry movements, he pushed the desk with all his weight. The massive body of the desk slowly tipped backward like a lie. Bang! A noise erupted as if the entire office was being shaken. Screams could be heard from outside the corridor.
He saw Kim Minho, who was just opening the door and entering. Standing frozen in place, he stood in the doorway with a completely shocked expression, as if frozen.
“…Executive Director?! Wh-what is this…!”
“Explain.”
Thud, thud, in an instant reaching Minho’s front, Wookyung held out his phone with bloodshot eyes. Minho, looking at the screen with startled eyes, covered his mouth with a shocked face.
“I said explain, you son of a bitch.”
Minho’s lips began to tremble. There was no answer coming back, but Wookyung read all the facts in those terrified eyes. The past three years he had spent with Minho became a huge and heavy hammer that struck the back of Wookyung’s head hard. Hard enough to completely knock a person down.
“…Hyung…”
The first word that came out from his bloody lips was that.
“I’m… I’m sorry. I’ll… I’ll explain everything…”
Before he could continue speaking, Minho collapsed to the floor. Bright red blood spurted out, scattering in drops on the floor. The documents Minho was holding scattered and fluttered in the air.
Even while bleeding profusely from his nose after being hit by Wookyung, Minho didn’t dare raise his face. Wookyung grabbed the hair of Minho, who was sitting up halfway, head bowed like a sinner, and pulled his hair up in one motion, forcing Kim Minho to his feet. Minho’s body, eyes tightly shut, showed no will to resist whatsoever.
“I’m sorry… hyung. Hit me… as much as you want. I… I… deceived you, hyung. I wanted to live…”
Speaking in a slurred tone because of the pouring nosebleed, Minho gazed at Wookyung with trembling eyelids. The content he spoke with a determined look was outrageous. Wookyung grabbed his collar instead of his hair and pulled Minho’s body toward himself with all his strength.
The downward gaze was compressed to the point of being anger itself. The pheromones raging like a fire demon seemed ready to devour Minho at any moment. His pheromones scattering in all directions like flames carried only murderous intent. The source of the fury was resentment toward the years that had passed, deep-rooted guilt toward the lover he had failed to protect, and the dirty and ugly aspects of those close to him that he had only now discovered.
Unable to bear the pouring contempt, Minho lowered his gaze. It seemed like words condemning him would pour out at any moment from Wookyung’s clenched teeth. You trash, you traitor bastard, the years together were a waste. However, the words that came from Wookyung’s mouth were completely different.
“Right now, what needs to come out of your mouth is Yoon Ido’s location. Not your pathetic sympathy play.”
The words spat out in a voice dripping with frost didn’t contain a single word of reproach toward Minho. To Wookyung right now, Kim Minho wasn’t even worth that. The pheromones frozen viciously like the bottom of a winter lake lashed at his skin as if reprimanding Minho.
Just then, Wookyung’s phone rang loudly. Ido’s number had just arrived from Yoonkyung. Wookyung opened a drawer with rough movements. Sweeping up his jackknife and car keys and putting them in his pocket, Wookyung tried to rush out of the office like a madman without even putting on his coat.
If he left him like that, he would definitely go to Yeodanhwa and start searching from there. Thinking that far, Minho rushed out and grabbed Wookyung’s arm. Veins stood out on Wookyung’s forehead as his arm was grabbed.
“Let go before I kill you.”
Wookyung’s voice with clenched teeth was low and murky.
“Hyung, just a moment. Just a moment…! I’ll find that omega. Please don’t go to Yeodanhwa. You going there in this state is picking a fight. I’ll find him and bring him within today, no, within two hours. Please don’t do this…”
Before he could finish speaking, the office door was blocked. President Lim Moojin, who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, was standing in front of Wookyung’s office. His breathing was rough as if he had run quickly.
“Executive Director Choi, just a moment. I’ll explain. Just a moment…”
Instantly, Wookyung’s jacket fluttered and the accessory at the end of his sleeve flashed. The fist he swung with large movements cleanly cut through the air. President Lim, struck hard on the jaw, was thrown out of the executive director’s office and rolled across the corridor. The employees standing behind covered their mouths in unison with screams.
“President!”
“President, are you alright!”
However, Wookyung’s punches didn’t end there. Strong hands grabbed President Lim’s collar and pulled him up in one motion. Despite being an alpha himself, President Lim was dragged up without any resistance in Wookyung’s hands. Thwack, thwack, with consecutively bursting sounds, small droplets of blood flew into the air, and President Lim collapsed on the corridor floor. Screams erupted again among President Lim’s secretaries and employees.
