A passing child, or someone’s child they knew. There were various possibilities, but for that to be the case, the child’s appearances were extremely frequent. Additionally, the child was photographed multiple times grabbing Saehyeon’s clothes and leaving the house. That meant they lived together. There was no way anyone would readily entrust a child to Lee Saehyeon.
A nephew? Both Gil Taeseo and Lee Saehyeon came from broken families. There was no way that young half-sibling had already given birth to a nephew. Moreover, there was no way they would have entrusted their child to a half-brother with whom they had the worst relationship.
More than anything, the face looking down at the child with a slight smile had something odd about it, no matter who looked at it.
Gil Taeseo immediately came back out of the messenger chat window.
“Hey. Who’s the bastard who took these photos?”
[……It’s Yoon Changwook. He’s sincere, has a clean background, and said he studied photography, so I assigned him…… Is there some problem?]
Shin Seokwon, who answered the phone, quickly turned his brain. There weren’t many trustworthy people that either he or the boss had raised or shown kindness to.
Among them, there was someone who had majored in photography, so he had thought he was the perfect person. He had been relieved when the results he checked before sending the photos were quite decent. Could there have been a problem I failed to notice?
“That little shit. If you can’t even see his nose, then. Would there be no problem?”
[……Pardon?]
When Yoon Changwook received his orders, the target he was told about was one man named ‘Lee Saehyeon.’
“Huh? Why is there a kid?”
Yoon Changwook, who removed the camera from his eye with a flustered expression, hurriedly pulled out his phone.
But even when he checked with the hyungs and Team Leader Shin, nothing changed. He only received repeated confirmation of the directive to photograph the target well, as there was no need for people around him to appear.
So Yoon Changwook really did exactly that. Hadn’t he been praised before? They said his strength was diligently carrying out only the work assigned, without unnecessary thoughts or arbitrary interpretations.
Holding jet-black plastic in his hand remained unchanged. However, that object was always something like a knife handle, but holding a camera after a long time gave him a fresh feeling. Slightly excited, he poured his soul into artistically capturing the target. Precisely, only the target.
As a result, the appearance of the child stuck right next to him wasn’t properly captured. Either the focus was completely off so it looked like a smeared ghost, or only the back of the head with disheveled hair was captured in abundance.
[I’ll…… give the instructions again.]
Gil Taeseo’s face after hanging up was menacing. The fact that Lee Saehyeon might have manifested as an omega was something he already knew.
He had suspected it from the intense sensation he felt during a rut once, and that turned into certainty on the day they reunited. Unlike before, he couldn’t feel even a faint scent, but that body was definitely reacting to Gil Taeseo’s pheromones.
Several years had passed since he had abandoned him and left. It wasn’t impossible that he had met someone during that time. He knew without having to say how what was pretty in his eyes would look to other people. But, even so, his insides twisted.
Both the fact that Lee Saehyeon had a child with a man other than himself, and that he was living pitifully alone while raising it. Every single thing was shit.
“If you’re going to meet someone, you should at least meet a decent bastard. Where did you meet some fucking piece of shit—”
Was he shouldering the burden of being a single unmarried father alone?
Gil Taeseo, who muttered curses a few more times while stroking his face, eventually couldn’t hold back and spoke up.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Turn the car around.”
It felt like he couldn’t stand it if he didn’t run over right away, grab him, and interrogate him.
But when they actually faced each other, first at that starving waif appearance who couldn’t even get one meal. Then next at the sight of him severely indigested and completely drained. Finally at that face wary and rejecting of him. Gil Taeseo had no choice but to continuously drink bitter cups and retreat.
As he slightly lowered his head, he frowned at the smell rising from his not-quite-dry chest. Usually the man wielded his intimidating pheromones like a weapon. Sometimes he even used special perfume to erase it. If they had a commonality, it was that they were all heavy and bitter.
But what was coming from his body now was a sweet and sour scent that didn’t suit him at all. It seemed to be from the omija tea he’d been doused with earlier. It wasn’t spilled in one place but sprayed in all directions, so the scent wouldn’t dissipate easily.
A sweet and sour fruit scent.
“Fuck. It’s not even like I’m an omega.”
Gil Taeseo, who chuckled while covering his mouth, fixed his gaze on the omija tea sprayer.
There were countless irritating things. From trivial to important, they endlessly gnawed at his patience.
But not yet. Gil Taeseo’s instinct whispered so.
The human called Lee Saehyeon was simple and complex at the same time. He seemed solid but was endlessly soft, seemed to easily adapt to his environment but had an unbreakable stubbornness. It was an exquisite harmony of innate nature and acquired personality.
“Yeah. It’s me.”
It wasn’t simply a matter of pressing down with force and taking him. If he only wanted to hold his body, that would have been fine, but Gil Taeseo didn’t want only that. Previously, he had realized it too, too late. So he had to be patient. Until he walked into the trap without knowing it was one. He could endure that much.
“Do omegas originally, when they give birth, does their body get worse?”
The finger that had crawled all the way close yet hesitated for a moment, tap. Finally secretly bumped against the sleeping person’s.
***
The advantage and disadvantage of life was that tomorrow comes no matter what happens. Ah, though the condition of not dying has to be attached.
Even if Saehyeon had heard a meaningful word from Gil Taeseo. Whether he had enacted a scene like an overstuffed pelican and a keeper giving emergency treatment, borrowing that man’s hand, time had flowed and the next day had dawned.
Still no customers came, his head was complicated, and his wallet was empty. Saehyeon, who didn’t even feel tense anymore, stretched out lengthily over the counter.
What Saehyeon, who had been putting off studying these days, did was precisely determined.
One of them was reasoning. Coming up with why Gil Taeseo was approaching him, even mentioning a child.
“I must have run off with that bastard’s money.”
The possibility he carefully thought of was this. He must have stolen something precious to Gil Taeseo, like money. Or committed fraud.
Why, sometimes when you watch movies or dramas with gangsters, isn’t there a standard line?
‘I hear this house’s daughter is very pretty?’
‘Your child’s starting elementary school now? Oh my, what to do.’
Then the other party, that is, the debtor, says this.
‘H-how do you know that…… I’ll, I’ll pay. Please just give me some time!’
……Isn’t that quite plausible? If there was anything unusual here, it was only the point that the biological father of the child who becomes both the means of threat and hostage was Gil Taeseo.
“But for that to be the case, he didn’t even take payment for the meal.”
It was a situation where this side hadn’t paid for that tremendous restaurant either. It would be fair to say he couldn’t. Saehyeon’s face paled as he recalled Gil Taeseo covered in omija tea or the finger that had dug into his mouth.
‘Don’t tell me. Is this included in the debt too? Bait?’
Inside the account he hurriedly opened, there was still some cash remaining. It would be a bit tight after paying living expenses, but. If he combined it with the money he’d saved before, he thought he could pay for one meal no matter how expensive. …Probably.
Honestly, there had never been a time when working wasn’t shitty. His body was tired and difficult customers overflowed. But because of that money, Saehyeon could live with the child. Even the tiny bit of money he saved became hope for treating his body. And this time it would become the solution to the problem coming at him.
Looking at it this way, it gave him a fresh feeling. He thought he had done well to work, but his mouth also tasted bitter. It was because he thought it proved that 20-year-old Lee Saehyeon’s life plan had been correct.
A person’s life was indeed sustained by money. The more of that money, the better, and to earn money, one had to succeed. And to succeed, one had to steadily climb up by building good academic credentials and connections.
Saehyeon still couldn’t believe that without accomplishing any of that, he was barely continuing each day in a corner of this alley.
Saehyeon, who got off work feeling the preciousness of employment and the bitter taste of a twisted life in full, ended up losing sleep again. Nevertheless, morning came and an ordinary daily life was beginning.
Or so he thought.
“Papa, phone call!”
Just as he was about to pick up a shrimp from the fried rice the child had spilled with chopsticks, the phone rang. Saehyeon, whose body trembled with a start, slyly checked the screen. What appeared on the screen, full of scratches and with burn marks left in a specific shape, was a familiar name.
[Convenience Store Boss]
For a moment he had thought about calls from unknown numbers and the illegal collection by loan sharks that starts from there. Relieved, Saehyeon answered the phone.
“……What did you say?”
[Ah, I’m saying you don’t need to come in starting today.]
It was just a little while ago that he had thought he was lucky to have even this shitty job. But even that was melting away like cotton candy. What was disappearing futilely was enough with academic credentials and health and…… anyway, all those numerous things. Saehyeon, dumbfounded, dropped the shrimp.
Along with Saehyeon’s state of mind, the shrimp’s trajectory as it rolled and fell was followed by the child’s sparkling eyes. Bounce, bounce. It was a very cute and bouncy movement compared to the seriousness of the situation.
