After leaving Seo Jiwoo alone in the officetel under his name and welcoming the new year at the main family estate, Lee Hyeonseok—despite not having graduated from school yet—received treatment as an adult everywhere since the year had turned. In short, it meant he was being treated as the successor who would officially inherit the group.
In the original world, he had enjoyed only rights without obligations, but here that was impossible as he was called here and there to be educated, being treated as the successor. Lee Hyeonseok wanted dozens of times a day to hand over the successor position to his younger sibling—whom he had never properly talked to and didn’t even know well—and just live spending money extravagantly, but thinking of what was to come, he needed to have power.
“Lee Hyeonseok.”
“Yes.”
While sitting on the sofa exchanging messages to draw in doctors who would make great contributions to suppressants or the physical conditions of alphas and omegas in the future, Han Hyeonseok’s father, Han Jeongcheol, approached. He was now Lee Hyeonseok’s father, Lee Jeongcheol. When Han Jeongcheol’s surname changed to Lee Jeongcheol the day after talking with Seo Jiwoo, Lee Hyeonseok had flinched, and when his own surname also changed from Han Hyeonseok to Lee Hyeonseok, he gave up thinking deeply about it.
“I hear you still haven’t sent him away.”
“…Yes.”
Lee Jeongcheol expressed his displeasure to Lee Hyeonseok, furrowing his brow slightly as if quite dissatisfied. Lee Hyeonseok wanted to leave, telling him not to worry about it, but now was different from when he was an illegitimate child. He was still a successor who needed support, so he held back his temper and answered stiffly.
“After Lee Juwon, now it’s Seo Jiwoo?”
The family naturally knew that Han Hyeonseok had chased after Lee Juwon like a dog. They had wanted to remove him from sight immediately, displeased that a male was chasing after another male, but considered it a childish emotion and decided to wait and see for now. Fortunately, after Han Hyeonseok hit his head, they were relieved that he seemed to have come to his senses and stopped chasing Lee Juwon. However, that was only temporary—now he was showing signs of chasing after yet another male, which from Han Jeongcheol’s position was quite unsettling.
“I have my reasons for doing so.”
“……”
Even though he spoke looking at his son somewhat pathetically, Lee Hyeonseok replied lightly without much reaction. Han Jeongcheol—no, Lee Jeongcheol—who had reproached him several times when he was chasing Lee Juwon, looked at Lee Hyeonseok suspiciously.
About a month ago, Lee Hyeonseok had insisted to him that Seo Jiwoo had uses elsewhere and needed to be kept nearby. Lee Jeongcheol couldn’t tell whether this was putting Seo Jiwoo forward to hide Lee Juwon, whether he had actually turned his eyes to Seo Jiwoo, or whether he really had other uses for him.
Lee Hyeonseok’s eccentric behavior wasn’t just that. After hitting his head, Lee Hyeonseok, who had been suffering from amnesia, suddenly said they should invest in the medical field. Then, while there were some renowned doctors and scientists, he brought in several unknown, nameless doctors and scientists and insisted they must support these people—when he really considered seriously whether he should hand over the successor position to his second child.
But then, what do you know. Not long after investing in and supporting them due to Lee Hyeonseok’s stubbornness, a case of a man getting pregnant emerged, and soon after, hypotheses about a new gender began circulating in the industry through word of mouth. Among those who couldn’t grasp the situation, the ones who stood out were the people Lee Hyeonseok had brought in.
Moreover, when the research hit a wall, the opinions Lee Hyeonseok presented were of great help and things flowed smoothly. Lee Jeongcheol honestly wondered if his son had the brains to be a doctor or scientist, but as it turned out, that wasn’t the case. He was cunning, full of schemes, power-hungry and greedy—he had the brains to be a politician or businessman.
Lee Hyeonseok, who had been making satisfactory progress as a successor, then manifested and went into heat like a beast—a sight unsightly and disillusioning enough even though he was his own child. His child, apparently quite ashamed of showing that state to others, killed several people. Lee Jeongcheol thought it wouldn’t be strange at all if Lee Hyeonseok were stabbed here and now out of someone’s grudge.
Anyway, that situation was also helped by the experimental drug called a suppressant from the people Lee Hyeonseok had brought in, and by that point, it had reached a stage where it was difficult to ignore Lee Hyeonseok’s words. He even thought he might be talented enough to become a shaman.
“You’re not going to run your mouth about love or whatnot again, are you?”
Lee Jeongcheol narrowed his eyes and tested Lee Hyeonseok, still suspicious, but whether it touched a nerve, Lee Hyeonseok’s face, which had been silent, crumpled.
“Fuck, it’s so damn doglike, really.”
“You…! You, Lee Hyeonseok, what did you just say in front of your father!”
Words that should never come out in front of parents finally escaped from Lee Hyeonseok’s mouth. It was only natural that Lee Jeongcheol raised his voice. The gazes of people who had been pretending not to while secretly glancing at Lee Hyeonseok and Lee Jeongcheol now openly stared at the two.
“Listen, Father. I’m feeling really fucking disgusted because of that damn love or whatever toward Lee Juwon from those few months I can’t even remember. How disgusted? So disgusted that even having my head split open and almost being buried in the ground doesn’t compare.”
Lee Hyeonseok paid no attention to those gazes and spewed out his grievances. To put it cutely, they were grievances, but in reality, the low voice speaking while furrowing his brow and the intimidating presence that made one instinctively shrink back was practically the appearance of a predator threatening its prey.
“So it would be good for both of us if you believe me when I say it’s not like that.”
“…You, I’ll be watching you.”
Lee Jeongcheol wondered whether to say a few more words but thought it seemed like he wouldn’t listen even if he spoke now, and with many people around, he decided to just back down considering his dignity. It wasn’t that his pride wasn’t hurt, but it was because he knew how foul his son’s temperament that he had seen all along was. Lee Hyeonseok also remained silent, as if he didn’t want to twist the situation completely.
“Tsk. Every single one of them…”
When Lee Jeongcheol was out of sight, Lee Hyeonseok clicked his tongue and went up to his room. He couldn’t stand the gazes glancing at him like monkeys in a zoo—it was too irritating.
This place was truly no different from a world made for him. It was so contrived and artificial that if Lee Hyeonseok weren’t a materialistic person, he might have already gone to the mountains to become a man of nature.
The world rolled along smoothly with plausibility that made you go “Oh, really?” if you listened for one second, but “Wait, what?” if you thought about it for ten seconds. It was maddening.
How could there not be a single tabloid about three guys causing a love triangle drama at school? How could there be trust in the words of a kid who had nothing but his parents’ halo, enough to believe those words and invest in nameless doctors or researchers? No matter how much favorable views toward homosexuality had increased, how could society start making laws regarding homosexuality this quickly?
Truly contrived and artificial.
Only Seo Jiwoo among them was real. It was perhaps natural that Lee Hyeonseok would overlook even if Seo Jiwoo climbed up. Of course, that one real thing wasn’t in his right mind either. Lee Hyeonseok knew from Seo Jiwoo’s actions and personality that he wasn’t in his right mind, but how could someone grow up to talk about satisfaction in this contrived and artificial world without even thinking about returning to the original world?
Lee Hyeonseok didn’t feel the primal emotion of love toward his parents, but he knew the theory. If one were a normal human, they couldn’t talk about satisfaction after leaving their parents or friends in the original world. So Lee Hyeonseok speculated that Seo Jiwoo must have been abandoned by his parents in the original world, lived extremely poorly, or had a life tormented by loan sharks. It seemed plausible but was a completely wrong speculation.
“Young master.”
Lee Hyeonseok, who had been lying on his bed in his room recalling Seo Jiwoo’s crazy actions with a smile on his lips as if watching a comedy program, sat up at the sound of a knock.
“Come in.”
It was Secretary Cha Minjae, whom Lee Jeongcheol had attached to him, saying to use him as he pleased since he’d be doing this and that now. As a secretary attached by Lee Jeongcheol, Cha Minjae would report Lee Hyeonseok’s actions for now, but later would be someone loyal to Lee Hyeonseok. Though it was irritating, thinking of the future, he decided to pretend not to notice Cha Minjae’s behavior for now.
“I’ve delivered the blood of Seo Jiwoo-nim that you requested to the research lab.”
“When will the results come out?”
“They said it will take about two weeks.”
“Two weeks…”
“Even then, there could be various variables.”
“I suppose so.”
Lee Hyeonseok had ordered testing at the research lab he’d established with great expense this time to know for certain whether Seo Jiwoo would manifest as an omega or just remain a beta without manifesting. Since the research was starting from the ground up, he couldn’t expect accuracy, and Lee Hyeonseok knew that well enough. Nevertheless, he needed at least a guess to feel satisfied, even though nothing would change in the end whether Seo Jiwoo became a beta or not.
“Um… Still, wouldn’t it be better to at least roughly inform Jiwoo-nim?”
“Ha!”
While Lee Hyeonseok was pondering how to deal with Seo Jiwoo, Cha Minjae asked worriedly. It seemed Cha Minjae was somewhat bothered by Lee Hyeonseok testing him arbitrarily without telling Seo Jiwoo anything, but Lee Hyeonseok, apparently quite annoyed by such a Cha Minjae, raised one corner of his mouth and let out a scoff first.
“Dropping honorifics, even worrying about him. Since when have you two been so close?”
“No! It’s absolutely not like that. It’s just that I thought it might cause troublesome matters later…”
“Troublesome matters.”
Lee Hyeonseok approached Cha Minjae mockingly. His mocking voice was so low and cold that Cha Minjae unconsciously stepped back while making excuses. Lee Hyeonseok even stopped sneering at those excuses. Excuses aside, Seo Jiwoo’s future wasn’t something others should concern themselves with. Even if they worried about Seo Jiwoo’s future, he should be the one worrying about it.
“I’ll take care of that myself. Secretary Cha, you just quietly do what you’re told, and stop running your mouth and acting like a bat.”
“……!”
Lee Hyeonseok ultimately couldn’t hold back and warned Cha Minjae. Whether he didn’t expect that Lee Hyeonseok would know, or didn’t think he would threaten him this quickly, as soon as he heard the warning, Cha Minjae’s eyes widened and he was visibly shaken. Lee Hyeonseok looked at such a Cha Minjae coldly.
He considered pressuring him a bit more but decided to let it go, taking into account that Cha Minjae was both useful now and would be loyal to him later, and turned his back to head to his bed again.
“And even if something comes up, what are you going to do? I’ve wiped his ass so many times already, might as well squeeze him dry until there’s nothing left to come out.”
Then he lay on the bed and spoke cheerfully while smiling like a vile human plotting schemes. It was truly a philosophy befitting a villain or a loan shark.
