He gripped the trolley handle with both hands and pushed forward. Singing, laughter, and crude profanity rang out all around him. Yi-won wheeled it down the corridor toward Room 3.
On his way there, the bathroom door to the side swung open lightly. His gaze turned on instinct — and he met eyes with someone.
“Hey, enough. What’s the point of making a fuss when he doesn’t even know anything. Just drop it.”
It was the same person from before. Deliberately, the other person slammed hard into Yi-won’s shoulder as they passed.
“Ugh——!”
His balance faltered, and an unsteady clatter rang out from the trolley. He barely managed to right a tipping glass and reached out to straighten the scattered items.
“……”
Yi-won stood there for a moment in a daze — and almost immediately, moisture welled up at the corners of his eyes. He bit down hard on his lower lip, stung by hatred he’d done nothing to deserve. The tip of his nose was already flushed red and aching. Swallowing the miserable sound threatening to spill out of him, Yi-won forced down the emotions surging to the surface.
He couldn’t afford to linger any longer. He hurried the trolley along and finally reached Room 3. Before opening the door, Yi-won straightened his disheveled uniform as best he could.
The shirt sleeves hung down like the hem of a traditional jacket, and the vest was loose even with every button done up — anyone could tell at a glance it belonged to someone else. Even so, Yi-won lightly smoothed down the vest buttons in a small attempt to look at least somewhat presentable.
“Jeong Yi-won! Yi-won!”
He turned at the sound of his name being called. It was the floor manager. And beside him, walking over with a sullen expression, was the very same person who had just knocked into Yi-won moments ago.
“Yes?”
“Can you leave this room to him and head up to Room 12 on the second floor?”
“Right now?”
“The guests just cleared out so it’s empty. Go clean it up and take a breather while you’re at it. It’s not like you’re the only one working here — why are you suffering through everything alone.”
The floor manager stepped right up to Yi-won, who stood there with a puzzled look. His two hands pushed Yi-won’s aside and took hold of the trolley handle.
“Listen to the floor manager hyung. I got an earful for making only you work yourself to the bone, so don’t leave me embarrassed.”
“But……”
“Yi-won, take it easy too. If you work as hard as us with that slight frame of yours, you’ll wear out fast. Then it’ll be harder on all of us. You’ve got to think about your body.”
In cahoots, the floor manager lied with a brazen face. Room 12 was deep in the middle of a hallucinogenic party.
“So you take Room 3, and Yi-won takes Room 12? Alright? Get to it.”
The floor manager stepped back, leaving the two of them alone in front of Room 3.
“Go on then. I’ll handle this.”
The other person put on a downcast expression. Yi-won, with no ability to see through the lie, could only bite his lip and stand there at a loss. When Yi-won didn’t react in any meaningful way, the other person grew anxious.
“And, uh. Don’t take what he said earlier to heart. He was just venting — he didn’t mean it. He’s not a bad guy, he just has a sharp mouth. You know how it is, right — if you don’t toughen up, how do you survive in a place like this.”
The words came spilling out faster now, trying to reel Yi-won in. The awkward, crafted expression was slowly falling away. An uneasy gaze settled over the cynical face, the corner of his mouth trembling. Keeping a careful eye on Yi-won’s reaction, the other person strained to drive the nail in.
“We were just on edge earlier. It’s not like the crap we deal with started yesterday, there’s been nothing but things to set us off, and we took it out on you. Guess you seemed like an easy target. Anyway, that’s how it went. I’m older than you — not exactly an adult, but I should’ve at least acted like it. Forget what happened earlier.”
Just a little more. Pull him in just a little more and he’ll come around.
“Go on, then.”
“This isn’t right——”
Yi-won rushed to speak, but the other person was faster.
“I said go.”
“That’s not — I was told I’m the one assigned to serve this room, Seok-ju hyung said earlier that——”
“What do you mean assigned. Seok-ju hyung was probably just saying that. How long have you even worked here — you think they’d memorize your face and assign you specifically.”
The other person’s gaze shifted for just a split second. The moment he decided this wasn’t going to be easy, he changed his approach. The easiest way to get to Yi-won, with his soft heart, was after all——
“Both me and the floor manager hyung are doing this because we’re thinking of you, and you just have to make people feel……. Ha, you’re really making me feel like shit.”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant. That’s not it at all——”
It was guilt-tripping — and in the end, Yi-won gave him exactly the reaction he wanted.
“……I’m sorry. Thank you for thinking of me. I’ll take a little rest then. I’ll go clean up quickly and be right back.”
Yi-won turned away in the end. Without the tiniest shred of suspicion. What expression and what eyes the other person was watching him with from behind — he never got to know.
He made his way around the full length of the corridor and rushed up the stairs to the second floor. He grabbed the empty trolley left at the end of the hallway and headed toward Room 12.
As if to confirm the room was empty, not a single sound could be heard from outside the door of Room 12. Without hesitation he gripped the cold metal handle and twisted it. But Yi-won immediately stopped breathing at the sight before him. He froze, as if turned to stone.
“……!”
Alphas were tangled and writhing together with the entertainers, and several were sprawled out limp as corpses under the influence of drugs. The eyes of those who looked up at Yi-won as he opened the door had no focus in them. He couldn’t even tell if they were truly seeing him at all — the room was, in a word, absolute chaos.
The claim that it was an empty room had been a lie. Drinks and snacks scattered haphazardly everywhere, shards of glass covering every inch of the floor with no space to step. And on the table — unidentified ziplock bags, syringes, and small bottles with dried residue of some substance. The grotesque scene made up of the wreckage of indulgence swam before Yi-won’s eyes.
“Ah……”
“Hey. By the way. Are you still just going to do serving?”
“The guests just cleared out so it’s an empty room.”
“Take your time and rest a little.”
“I’m doing this because I’m thinking of you.”
“Yi-won, take it easy too. If you work as hard as us with that slight frame of yours, you’ll wear out fast.”
The floor manager too — it was all lies. I need to get out fast.
“I’m so sorry. I must have looked at the wrong room number. I’m truly sorry——”
The moment a terrified Yi-won stumbled back——
“Well, well. Where do you think you’re running off to?”
Someone who had come up behind him into the room and now clamped a firm arm around his shoulder. A foul smell hit his nose — nothing like cigarettes, sharp and nauseating.
“I told them to send in a new one and they kept acting like they couldn’t hear me, I swear I was about to burn this place down — and now they go and send one in like this.”
“Oh ho. Come on in, come on in.”
“D-don’t——!”
“Yeah, yeah. ‘Please don’t do this’ — if you leave, we’d be hurt. Right. Next thing out of your mouth should be, ‘just this once, please.’ Let’s see. Option 1: I’m sorry. Option 2: Please let me go. Option 3: I’ll call an entertainer for you. Something like that.”
Everyone in the room burst out laughing at once. As Yi-won shrank back in refusal, the man’s hand quickly moved downward. It slid around his waist, pulling the loose vest in tight.
“Damn, look at that waist. Did you wear something this oversized on purpose? Effortless charm? Huh? A body with not an ounce of extra flesh — once you strip that off, it’s something else entirely.”
Hey. Don’t look away, let me see your face. One of the man’s hands cupped Yi-won’s cheek. Every time those damp fingers dragged across his skin, his body wouldn’t stop trembling.
“I’m sorry, I made a mis——”
“Just as I thought. Option 1. Face, body — smooth all over, textbook omega. Pretty enough face to get a rise out of anyone. Let me get a read on those pheromones. I’m sensitive about that kind of thing.”
“Ugh, stop.”
“I said let those pheromones out. The hell are you not listening for.”
The more Yi-won twisted and turned trying to break free, the more he seemed to end up pressed further into the man’s hold.
“Hng——!”
The man’s lips brushed against the nape of Yi-won’s neck, above the collar of his shirt. A pheromone like rain-soaked earth flooded his senses in an instant. As alpha pheromones went, it was close to the worst imaginable.
It was an act meant to provoke an omega’s response — but Yi-won’s pheromones wouldn’t release the way the man wanted. Nothing but a faint sweet body scent mixed with cheap soap, not the slightest pheromone reaction at all.
