Whoooosh, the wind blew. The bushes rustled. The sunlight pouring down from overhead was hot.
Woonghee diligently scooped up water from the valley stream. Scrub, scrub, he rubbed his skin with his palms. His white skin kneaded and turned faintly red.
‘I feel like slapping your cheek when you do that, Woonghee-ssi.’
Why was that man’s voice echoing in his head right now of all times? This was the bath time he’d been waiting for so long. Suddenly, the satisfaction had completely dropped.
“Seriously, what a fucking crazy person…”
Someone once said that crazy bastards have more strength. Those words were exactly right. Managing Director Gi was so powerful that there was absolutely no way to resist. Standing in front of that man, he felt as powerless as a fly larva.
He was just a man with such garbage-like character. To think he’d felt guilty about him. He really was a complete fucking sucker.
‘You’ve taken care of your little sister that much, you’ve lived busily, without carelessly playing around with your body like a slut.’
To be swayed by just those words…
All of Managing Director Gi’s words must be lies. Let’s not feel any guilt, I need to get out of this place. If I get out of here, I can become a normal Beta again and see Woongju again too.
“……”
Woonghee parted his shirt hem. He poured water over his thighs that looked like he’d just taken out smooth soft tofu.
…This fucking Omega blood. From his armpits, from the back of his knees, from his sides—the sweet Omega scent clung damply everywhere.
“What…?”
Then he whipped his eyes around. Whoooosh, the green grass blades around him swayed.
What was that just now? He definitely felt a gaze watching from somewhere.
“…Come out.”
Hesitantly, Woonghee moved sideways. There was a machete on the rock. He’d deliberately placed it close by so he could grab it anytime.
“Come out, you son of a bitch!”
Swish, swish, he swung the machete in all directions. Thunk, thunk! The blade stabbed into tree branches. He sliced through the grass with crunching sounds.
Then, between the green bushes, a jet-black head rose up. As expected, it was a human. Woonghee went more berserk and mercilessly brought down the machete.
“…You crazy bastard, what are you doing swinging a knife around? Are you insane?”
Swoosh, the machete cut through the bushes once more in a long sweep. Behind it, a bright red face was revealed. Both eyeballs were wide open, as big as lanterns.
“I told you not to come close, you fucking bastard!”
Thwack, the blade lodged into a tree next to him.
“You fucking bastard, are you really trying to slice my arm off?”
Quickly ducking his head with his two eyes rolled up in terror was none other than—
“Hey, fuck, are you doing this properly?”
It was Director Hwang. Woonghee panted for breath.
“Wh-what are you doing here?”
“What do you mean what!”
Director Hwang thrust his forearm deep into a rotten tree nearby. Then he hurriedly pulled out a coconut fruit from inside. He quickly opened the lid covering the top.
“Hey, fuck, is this all?”
As he said this, he showed Woonghee the inside of the coconut. Sap that didn’t even fill half of it sloshed around. He was going on about how he’d been bustling around so much just to collect that.
“Why does it take so long to extract sap like this!”
“No matter how much I squeeze, only this much comes out, so what can I do?”
If a shower came, it would be a disaster. He couldn’t collect any sap at all. When rain mixed in, the viscosity became sludgy and he had to withdraw immediately. It looked like he’d have to keep doing this shit work for at least five more days…
“Managing Director Gi, that bastard’s behavior is fucking weird.”
Woonghee frowned. He’d been thinking about that bastard anyway. Director Hwang, why are you also suspecting Managing Director Gi?
“I think that bastard’s lackey is tailing me.”
Director Hwang muttered, “I barely escaped by saying I was taking a shit.” Looking anxious, he rolled his eyes in all directions. Bright red veins stood out on his thick nape.
“Fuck, what a creepy bastard.”
But you’re the one being suspected by Paeng Hana, aren’t you? You said you were the first to discover the dead captain.
Here, every single person is suspicious, so I don’t know who to suspect. I don’t know who to point my knife at.
“Hey, you idiot bastard.”
Now Director Hwang’s criticism turned toward him. Tap, tap, he tapped the tie pin stuck in Woonghee’s hair. Woonghee slowly pulled back. They were on the same boat, but they were still enemies.
“Throwing your whole life into a drum. Of all people, did you have to hook up with Managing Director Gi, that bastard?”
Isn’t that not something Director Hwang should be saying? He’s the very person who led the way in throwing his life into a shit bucket more than anyone.
“You don’t know how scary that bastard is.”
‘…What do you mean I don’t know.’
Just yesterday, he heard him say he wanted to slap his cheek.
“Do you think that ship is just a ship?”
But the words that suddenly popped out had a completely unexpected tone.
What does this mean now? What about that luxury cruise that was so extravagant it made your eyes roll back?
“It must be a fucking eye-poppingly expensive ship.”
When he said that, Director Hwang let out a bitter laugh, “Huh.”
“What a clueless, naive bastard.”
It was a face saying he was dumbfounded and suffocated by the stupidity. But regardless, Woonghee didn’t blink an eye. He just watched him with large light brown pupils.
“Hey, how much was our movie production budget?”
“…20 billion.”
To be exact, it was 25.3 billion. They received that kind of money but didn’t even give him 5 million won. The reason was obvious.
“Right, it was a fucking money party. So if you’d just acted cute back then, fuck, would things have ended up like this?”
Right, this was it in the end. If I’d just quietly crawled under you and fawned pathetically, it would’ve been fine. Why did I stand firm and suffer like this?
Arrogant and haughty, he was truly Alpha-like.
Omegas were almost extinct these days. Even those few mostly fell to becoming seconds or whores for rich Alphas. There were almost no Alphas who wanted to have children with Omegas.
Even while looking down on them like that, his crotch was heating up wanting to sleep with an Omega somehow. Wasn’t that the perfect image of an Alpha?
“Originally actors take everything, but in our movie, what else came out besides third-rate nobodies at best?”
“……”
“Managing Director Gi threw 13 billion into the money barrel and rolled it around, a whole 13 billion.”
Woonghee muttered in his mouth. 13 billion. He’d rarely even held 130 won in his palm, so he couldn’t even fathom how much money that was.
“So what?”
But that would only be the case for him.
Wasn’t Managing Director Gi a tycoon among tycoons with wealth flowing from head to toe? He’s a man who could easily pull out hundreds from his wallet. So what about that 13 billion?
“Hey, you fucking idiot.”
Then Director Hwang pounded his chest as if he was suffocating to death.
“Does he have time to spare? Even if he’s a concubine’s son, it’s KJ, KJ! Even as a movie production company president, would he personally travel all the way to this Philippines?”
Then is there some other reason? Woonghee slightly frowned. His soft-looking cheeks hardened as if solidified.
“Mermaid’s Tears.”
Mermaid’s Tears…? He blinked, wondering if that was the title of some cheap third-rate novel.
“He came to buy some necklace. And a necklace with fucking huge pearls!”
Director Hwang shook his clenched fist up and down. He said he actually saw it once and it really was the size of his own balls, even pressing it against his crotch to show.
“He was going to give it to his mother.”
“So…?”
He understood that this Mermaid’s Tears or goldfish shit necklace was incredibly expensive. But why is this story coming out now?
“But the Filipino captain stole it. Fuck, a 13 billion won one… His guts were fucking swollen.”
Director Hwang shook his head as if he’d seen everything.
“No matter how fucking rich you are, if someone steals 13 billion won worth, it’s really murder-worthy.”
Woonghee gathered the fragmented pieces of information together. If the captain really stole Managing Director Gi’s necklace, would that man—whose possessiveness overflowed so much he seemed made of possessiveness itself—have left it alone?
“……”
He didn’t know. Paeng Hana suspects Director Hwang, Director Hwang suspects Managing Director Gi.
An ouroboros biting its own tail.
Was it really Managing Director Gi? Was it… was it really Managing Director Gi who killed the captain?
The man’s face floated up before his eyes. Even the voice that whispered secretly as if confiding a secret.
‘And if it happened to be me…’
He wouldn’t have left evidence trailing everywhere like this.
Even if he couldn’t trust Managing Director Gi’s pretense of innocence, at least those words seemed sincere.
“So you bastard, pull yourself together and fix the tube. We need to get out of here, don’t we?”
Under that sea, people were clinging together making rafts. With the sole determination to somehow get out of here.
“How much attention would the movie attract?”
But wasn’t Director Hwang harboring completely different thoughts? Trying to save only himself, even trying to exploit this misfortune. It clung to his nape and swayed. As if greed itself had stuck there in clumps.
“The 13 billion won necklace missing, actors and director all missing while filming…!”
The whites of his eyes were deeply bloodshot. Bright red capillaries were tangled like spider webs in a crazed way.
“It’s fucking realistic, isn’t it?!”
It seemed like the pressure would burst with a pop any moment. Madness could be felt from the fully swollen capillaries.
“Don’t even think about anything else. Don’t think about snitching to Managing Director Gi. If you get caught, I’ll turn it all around and blame it on you.”
Director Hwang’s focus was directed precisely at him. But those pupils were empty.
Who really was the murderer?
Director Hwang? Managing Director Gi?
Or someone new who wasn’t either of them?
Who on earth was it? His temples throbbed and pulled. Sharp axes of suspicion stabbed at his head from here and there.
