I couldn’t bring myself to answer. The warnings Chae Eunwoo had given me flashed quickly before my eyes. So did the rumors about Haseon Group that I’d looked up.
As I froze up, the Chairwoman lifted her teacup to wet her throat, then continued.
“I know you must be confused. You’ve wanted to be an alpha your whole life, so how could you not be?”
The moment I raised my head in surprise, a faint laugh fell.
“It does seem like Heejae-gun has been in a difficult situation lately. Someone who’d been conducting himself well without getting a single tail stepped on has been getting his trait discovered here and there. Thanks to that, Chairman Nam is also having a headache. That man who acted like he’d never hand over management rights unless it was to his son… calling his eldest daughter instead of Heejae-gun to this shareholders’ meeting says it all.”
It was probably because I’d come to live borrowing Nam Heejae’s body. That’s why secrets were being discovered by all sorts of people. Since there was no way to make excuses in this situation, I only felt increasingly sorry toward Nam Heejae.
Of all things, a birdbrain like me had to be the one to possess him, and Nam Heejae’s life was endlessly getting screwed up. If he ended up unable to inherit the company at this rate, it was obvious I’d have no face to show.
It wasn’t like I seemed to have the ability to overcome these mountain ranges of obstacles either, so I was feeling even more self-loathing when something happened.
An unexpected savior reached out a hand toward me.
“I’ll help you.”
“……”
“I can secure Heejae-gun as Intol’s successor. It’s not a difficult task. I just need to transfer a certain amount of Haseon shares to Heejae-gun to give you power. To the person who’ll become the mother of my grandchild… surely I can do that much.”
Gulp, I swallowed reflexively. The Chairwoman’s hand warmly wrapped around my hand that had been awkwardly placed on the table.
“The reports Sahyun submits to me lately have been nothing but talk about Heejae-gun. In his own way, he probably intended to give me a headache by writing useless things, but thanks to that I could notice.”
“……”
“That my son has Heejae-gun—no, Woohyun-gun—in his heart.”
At my real name suddenly being heard, my eyes couldn’t help but widen. Unable to overcome my confusion, I ended up shaking off the Chairwoman’s hand. At the same time, I pushed my chair back and stood up.
“…I-I’ll see you again next time. Today I’m too…”
As I was rambling, bodyguards who had been waiting nearby approached and sat me back down on the chair.
“What…!”
“I’m not interested in what circumstances led to Woohyun-gun taking over the body of Chairman Nam’s youngest son. Sahyun seemed like he wanted to find out the reason, if only to prevent the body’s owner from returning. Well, that’s something he’ll settle on his own.”
Black eyes with a chilling light fixed on me. The middle-aged woman with features exactly like Baek Sahyun’s recited in an elegant tone.
“What’s important to me is just the goal that Woohyun-gun must bear an heir first before my son brings home a child from some improper place. This is also a contract condition with no loss for either side. Woohyun-gun will become Intol’s head, and in the distant future will also become the mother who bore Haseon’s successor. You’ll have a position in South Korea that no one can covet.”
On top of that, it was even a golden opportunity to keep Baek Sahyun far away. Damn it. I had a brain too, so I understood that much.
“…You cannot make this body into an omega.”
But Nam Heejae was someone who had been obsessed with the alpha trait and had despised omegas. To make such a person into an omega… Even to make them bear a child, was that even reasonable?
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear today’s proposal, Chairwoman. No matter how tempting the head position is and how scary Baek Sahyun is, I can’t do that. As you know, this isn’t even my body. There’s no way I have the right to decide…”
“40 billion.”
“……”
“That’s the shares I’ll transfer to Woohyun-gun.”
“……”
“Would the body’s owner have refused? Think carefully, Woohyun-gun. How shockingly this proposal empowers that body.”
My heart beat intensely. Though it was hard to be certain, my intuition was telling me. If it had been the real Nam Heejae, he definitely would have accepted this proposal. The reason Nam Heejae wanted to become an alpha in the first place was because of everything he could gain through that trait. Intol, honor, wealth, and love…
Even so, the agonizing continued. Was this really right? Was it okay to do this? Even if it was in line with what the real Nam Heejae desired, was it okay for me to arbitrarily decide his life?
My wavering heart gradually began to firm up its resolve in one direction. Honestly, Baek Sahyun wasn’t just uncomfortably awkward and terrifying like before… but perhaps because we’d had that big fight, my desire to live a comfortable life without him had intensified.
I asked with difficulty.
“…Once you become an omega, is there no way to return to being a beta?”
“Nope.”
“……”
“I won’t lie in front of the person who’ll become my daughter-in-law.”
The Chairwoman seemed to have already concluded that I would accept her proposal. When she snapped her fingers crisply, a woman in a suit walked over and opened a document case. Inside, as even a blockhead like me could predict, were two contracts and red ink paste.
“Miss Choi, who’ll be the notary.”
When the Chairwoman smiled at the woman, the woman returned the smile. I opened my mouth with the feeling of walking a thorny path.
“Can you promise me that it will end once I just bear a child?”
“Wouldn’t it? You’ll feel it when you read the contract. How much I’ve accommodated Woohyun-gun’s convenience.”
I slowly picked up the contract. Though my mind was in such chaos that the letters didn’t read well, it was as the Chairwoman guaranteed. Having been tricked by contracts many times back in my day laborer days, I could sufficiently distinguish who the clauses were set up favorably for.
“Just one child is correct, right?”
“Of course.”
“…Fine. Instead, I’d like you to add one more condition.”
The Chairwoman raised her eyebrows as if telling me to speak. I said in a cracked voice.
“Please make sure the child won’t be unhappy, that they can grow up in a harmonious family.”
“……”
“I hope you’ll raise them with love and affection, so they don’t lose their humanity by being buried in the status of successor.”
It was something I had to say because I knew about Baek Sahyun’s childhood. As soon as I finished speaking, the Chairwoman answered with a sad-looking face.
“Though I couldn’t be a good mother to Sahyun… I promise. I’ll be a good grandmother. That child will grow up in love.”
But what followed immediately after I stamped my seal on the contract was nothing short of a bolt from the blue.
“So, persuade my son well too.”
“P-persuade, you say?”
“How can I drag a kid who’s making a fuss about not wanting to play stud to Woohyun-gun’s bed? You’ll have to handle that yourself.”
Once again snapping her fingers crisply to organize the contracts, the Chairwoman this time gestured to the bodyguards. Then the bodyguards went outside briefly and appeared carrying a huge load of shopping bags.
“Omega manifestation agents and rut inducers. The method of manifesting as an omega isn’t that different from the method of manifesting as an alpha. You just need to receive pheromone showers and mix bodies whenever the alpha’s rut comes. What’s important is that you must receive his seed. Read the instruction manual carefully, and if you run out of medicine, contact Miss Choi…”
“I don’t want to go this far.”
When I held out the shopping bag I’d received back and insisted, the Chairwoman spoke as if troubled.
“If the inducer bothers you, well, Woohyun-gun will have to sweet-talk him yourself, what else can you do.”
“Excuse me for saying so, but your son isn’t someone who can be sweet-talked…”
“You’re saying that because you don’t know my son well. Do you know what his dream was until middle school?”
With eyes that seemed tinged with grief, the Chairwoman added while gazing at the restaurant’s front window.
“To become a good father.”
“……”
“Back then I was also too busy protecting my position to think about embracing Sahyun. All I could do was attach renowned teachers and fill his room to the brim with things others would envy. Love? Affection? In those days they were nothing but luxuries. So I really regret it.”
She didn’t seem to be showing falsehood. Unlike earlier, the Chairwoman’s collapsed expression seemed to prove that fact.
“Look at me. Keeping a busy person here while talking about all sorts of things.”
“…If you force him to have a child, he might become more unhappy.”
Perhaps because I’d been swept up in the atmosphere, I ended up blurting it out. Though I didn’t state the subject, the Chairwoman seemed to notice it was about Baek Sahyun and returned to her usual stern face to answer.
“The reason I couldn’t be a good mother was because before that, I had to become a powerful head. Power runs away if you don’t hold onto it.”
“……”
“And that’s still the case now. Only when Sahyun creates an heir can I feel at ease and prepare to become a good mother… and a good grandmother.”
It was a way of thinking I couldn’t accept, but I figured it must be the chaebol ecosystem.
With those words, the Chairwoman sent me out of the restaurant. Even as I received the storage copy of the contract and obediently headed outside, I couldn’t withdraw my gaze directed at her. If I felt she’d chased me out to hold back rising tears, I found myself wondering if that was purely my misunderstanding.
