Mother Tape Chapter 10.1

Right before Wisoo sent the text, Jaekwon was listening to his test results.

“The knot has come undone. It’s not something that never happens, and in the case of alphas, it’s rare for them to undergo this procedure in the first place, so it’s hard to generalize, but compared to beta males, the cases of it coming undone are more frequent.”

“So… you’re saying it was the same as being in an alpha state.”

Jaekwon asked in a dry tone.

“That’s correct.”

“Since when?”

“I can’t give you a definitive answer on that….”

Understood, that’s enough.

Jaekwon wiped his face and then stood up from his seat.

It was long after outpatient clinic hours had ended, but he had come out because someone wanted to pay a large sum of money for an examination, and it was over in an instant. The urologist, who had rushed out in a daze after a call from the vice-director of the hospital, was bewildered.

“Well, if you are preparing for a pregnancy, you don’t need to worry. The sperm count is higher than others, and the motility is several times better….”

“Yes. I don’t need to hear that far.”

Jaekwon grabbed his jacket and turned away.

“It already happened.”

As he came out of the examination room, Hwang Gujo, who was frantically tapping on his phone, lifted his head.

“What did they say?”

“What else.”

Jaekwon was desperately craving a cigarette and headed straight for the smoking area. Hwang Gujo followed him and lit a cigarette for him. Only after chain-smoking three cigarettes did he speak.

“They said it came undone.”

“Aigoo, I’m going to be an uncle.”

“Are you happy? Are you?”

At Hwang Gujo’s fuss, Jaekwon let out a laugh for what felt like the first time.

“Of course, I’m happy. I love kids.”

“Then you should have had one.”

“My boss is such a workaholic…. And the plan should be seamless…. I was already having a hard time because he was hiding more meticulously than I thought, what should we do.”

“I’m the one who wants to do that the most. Shit, how did things turn out like this….”

He pressed his thumb firmly against his forehead. The worry about Seon Wisoo was making him unbearably anxious. His heart was beating so fast he thought he might throw up. As if waiting for the right moment to startle him, his phone, tucked in the pocket of a man whose senses were heightened like during a rut, began to vibrate.

“What, to here….”

Muttering with a cigarette in his mouth, Jaekwon took out his personal phone, a number very few people knew.

Wisoo’s phone and the cloned phone were with him, and he was talking to Hwang Gujo in person, so who could it be. His fingertips slipped as he unlocked the screen. Thump, thump, his heart pounded.

“Cheongsu Seongso bookshelf….”

“Yes?”

Jaekwon threw the cigarette butt into the trash can and immediately started running.

“Cheongsu Seongso! Look it up!”

“What is that place! Is that from the message you just got?”

There was no time to answer. Hwang Gujo hurriedly ran, chasing after Jaekwon. Jaekwon was in such a rush that he got into the driver’s seat himself.

“Who sent it!”

“Wisoo.”

Jaekwon muttered as he started the engine. His expression was aghast.

“Wisoo did.”

[Cheongsu Seongso bookshelf]

[I’m sorry]

I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry….

Seon Wisoo’s voice, like an echo, begins to fill his entire body, starting from his ears and his mind.

I’m sorry….

That’s something you should never have to say.

❖ ❖ ❖

Kwak Jaekyung was completely fooled by Wisoo, who hadn’t slept a wink, pretending to be asleep next to him. He seemed very satisfied, even taking a picture. Wisoo endured the unpleasantly itchy feeling all over his body and kept up the act of being asleep until the end.

“Oh. Are the tabloids still circulating?”

Then, he eavesdropped on Kwak Jaekyung’s phone call.

“They’re still going around? They won’t disappear right away. It’s fine. As long as it doesn’t become a news article. Don’t react to it. Just stay quiet. Reacting will make you look guilty. There are no traces of Hyegwang at the agency, right?”

Hyegwang…. From this, Wisoo guessed that the connection between Kwak Jaekyung and the teacher was older and more tenacious than he had thought.

“I don’t know. When it’ll be posted. It’s up to him, the old man.”

Kwak Jaekyung left Seon Wisoo and got up, tidying his clothes that reeked of alcohol.

“I’m heading over now, so be ready. I need to change my clothes, so get them ready. If you tell the store, they’ll send them over.”

Go quickly, go quickly.

Wisoo waited anxiously.

However, Kwak Jaekyung was a man without a speck of consideration, so as soon as the call ended, he insisted on waking Wisoo up.

“Wake up.”

There was no care in his gesture.

“Hey. I said wake up.”

Kwak Jaekyung acted haughtily towards Wisoo, who was pretending to have just woken up, disheveled.

“What do you want for breakfast. I’ll have someone bring it to you.”

“…French toast.”

“Look at you, eating only things like tofu has ruined your palate. French toast? Alright.”

Despite his words, Kwak Jaekyung grinned. Then, he shamelessly offered his own cheek. He tapped his cheek with his index finger, urging a kiss. It was a ridiculous demand.

“You have to say, please.”

Wisoo clenched his fists, feeling as if the unpleasant sensation lingering on his hands was vividly returning. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to approach.

But the now-sober Kwak Jaekyung found that displeasing.

“Hey. How do I know you won’t be thinking of someone else like a whore, so I can’t let you close your eyes. Open your eyes.”

“……”

It wasn’t as if he wouldn’t think of Kwak Jaekwon just because his eyes were open.

Wisoo opened his eyes and, with trembling lips, kissed Kwak Jaekyung’s cheek. Kwak Jaekyung, despite suffering from a hangover, cackled.

“You’d really spread your legs for anyone to survive, wouldn’t you?”

“……”

“This is why the teacher fed you birth control pills.”

“What?”

Wisoo didn’t even know what kind of medicine he was taking.

“You didn’t know? He gave you pheromone suppressants and birth control pills.”

“B-but I never slept with anyone….”

“The teacher doesn’t trust anyone. Did you naively think the teacher would trust only you?”

“But I, I really didn’t sleep with anyone….”

“You slept with Kwak Jaekwon, though.”

“……”

“I guess he didn’t expect you to listen to that bastard more than the teacher, or that the bastard would have sex with you without even giving you medicine.”

Wisoo’s eyes wavered with confusion.

Although he had grown up amidst abuse from a very young age, he had longed for affection, and it wasn’t only abuse. The teacher had been kind to him at times. He had taken him to an amusement park and they had gone on a picnic. Although there were many scary things and he had clung to him, crying to go back….

But now, even that shred of memory, which remained like a brainwashing, was shaken to its core.

“The teacher must feel pretty empty. To think he molded you to his liking, only to have some son of a bitch come and breed with you.”

Wisoo shot up from his seat. His spinning form looked like an animal trapped in a cage.

“The teacher would have wanted your second generation when the time came, but he would have chosen a different stud horse, so it’s futile. I understand.”

“Go. You, hurry up and go. Get lost.”

“Alright. I get it. I’m a gentleman, so I’ll give you time to think by yourself.”

“……”

“I’ll send the toast.”

Kwak Jaekyung smacked his lips, thinking of a hot hangover soup. It would be nice to have a cold soju with it as a hair of the dog.

He had no lingering feelings. He was only thinking about when to send the picture of Seon Wisoo to Kwak Jaekwon.

“Are you leaving, sir?”

As Kwak Jaekyung went up, the large men greeted him. They looked disheveled as if they had just woken up. No one was looking at the monitor. Right. What threat could a scrawny kid like that be. Besides, there was nothing inside that room. Nothing that could be a weapon, no means of contact.

“Yeah, yeah. Did you eat well?”

“Yes, sir. Thanks to you, we ate well. You seem to have a bad hangover.”

“Yeah. It’s no joke. I can’t even get behind the wheel.”

“Should I call a designated driver for you?”

“A designated driver?”

It was a hassle, but driving was even more of a hassle. Kwak Jaekyung flopped onto the stiff sofa and waved his hand.

“Yeah. Call one. Aigoo, I’m going to fall asleep again.”

He picked out the newest-looking business card from a random pile and called for a designated driver. It was a card he had never seen before. A short while later, the designated driver arrived and woke up the dozing Kwak Jaekyung. As he staggered down, he saw a man who, for a designated driver, was quite tall. He seemed familiar, but with a hat pulled down low, only the lower half of his face was visible, so he couldn’t be sure. Drunk on his hangover and a premature sense of victory, Kwak Jaekyung, out of annoyance, simply tossed his wallet over and asked.

“You from around here?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then to a good hangover soup place nearby first.”

Kwak Jaekyung, lying down in the back seat, tapped his foot.

“What are you doing? Not going?”

The designated driver, carefully holding Kwak Jaekyung’s wallet, headed to the driver’s seat.

The tune Kwak Jaekyung was humming lingered in the air even after he left. The sound was familiar. With nothing but time on his hands, Wisoo thought hard. What he remembered in the end was that the song was one Kwak Bonyoung used to sing often.

Moreover, it was behind that humming that he had first met Jaekwon. A man with a large body, curled up. He was wearing a school uniform, and in young Wisoo’s eyes, the uniform was an object of admiration. In this place visited only by older people, not even those his age, Kwak Jaekwon had caught Wisoo’s eye, and the puddle of water dripping from him as if his whole body would melt away also drew Wisoo in.

The only difference was that while the water from other people smelled foul and was sticky and black, the water from Kwak Jaekwon had no bad smell and, even if it was dark, it was transparent.

He liked Kwak Jaekwon. He was glad to see him. Even if he was a hyung whose name he didn’t know, he was just drawn to him. A person with a large body who smelled good and wasn’t a mess even when soaked in water. A person whose hand he felt he could take and leave with.

“Mr. Kwak Jaekwon….”

Wisoo curled up his body and sniffled.

Rapunzel was Kwak Jaekwon. He had been trapped in the tower of his memory. And the trapped him was his first love. Eternal and immortal.

❖ ❖ ❖

Contrary to Kwak Jaekyung’s expectation that he would stay down there for about ten days, Jung Taegyu came up early.

Since he was someone who never told Wisoo where he was going or what he was doing, Wisoo, of course, had to face Jung Taegyu without any mental preparation.

“Have you been well.”

Jung Taegyu, having taken off his fedora, had a markedly different expression than usual. Wisoo grew tense at his hardened face.

“Where have you been…?”

“I took a little rest. You’ve caused your teacher so much heartache.”

Even though it was clearly Wisoo who had suffered, Jung Taegyu spoke as if he had shouldered all the hardship himself.

Wisoo had many things he wanted to ask Jung Taegyu. Why did you make me take so many pills? Why were you nice to me? Was all of that also part of your calculation?

But asking questions was always Jung Taegyu’s role; it was not permitted for Wisoo.

“Wisoo-ya.”

Jung Taegyu approached Wisoo. Wisoo, in fear, backed away until his back was flat against the wall. But he suddenly changed direction and headed towards the blind spot Wisoo had found.

Could it be that Kwak Jaekyung tricked me? Does he know everything I did over there?

Wisoo’s heart pounded like crazy. But at that moment, Jung Taegyu put his hand into the gap in the corner wall cushion and walked straight forward. His aim was not just that one spot, but the entire area.

Pills cascaded down, following his fingertips. They were the ones he had been made to take since returning here.

“I trusted you and didn’t check.”

Jung Taegyu’s voice was filled with rage.

Wisoo’s face turned pale. But at the same time, he was greatly relieved by the fact that he hadn’t been caught for what he did in that corner. Getting caught for not taking the medicine was on a completely different level from what he had secretly done with Kwak Jaekyung’s phone.

Wisoo braced himself for what was to come. Jung Taegyu slapped Wisoo’s cheek. He struck the same spot three times, causing his lip to burst and swell up instantly. Fortunately, it seemed his eye area wouldn’t swell up this time.

“Why didn’t you take these.”

This was a good opportunity. It was something he wanted to ask as well.

“Why did you make me take these kinds of pills?”

“What? How did you know. Did Kwak Jaekyung tell you?”

“That’s not important. Why did you make me take them? I didn’t sleep with anyone. And I, I… I didn’t even know how I was changing in the first place. You never explained anything from the beginning, you were going to do whatever you wanted from the start, so what exactly couldn’t you trust?”

“So I should trust you?”

On the contrary, Jung Taegyu was brazen.

“What did you think I would do with all those old men?”

“Even if it wasn’t you, they could have done something.”

“Then you should have monitored them, why did you do this to me? What about my body? My health?”

“It was carefully calculated and measured out.”

Jung Taegyu looked as if he was annoyed to death by a whining child. Wisoo bit his lip.

“Am I just property?”

He doesn’t love the teacher. But he was his only guardian. That’s how he had grown up. All children need a guardian. And that adult becomes their entire world. That was a very sad, painful, and cruel thing. At least for Wisoo.

“You took me away from my parents, didn’t you?”

Now, his own memories and the facts about his parents became suspicious.

“Where are my parents?”

“I told you. They went abroad. To Australia, they went to Australia.”

“Last time, you said it was Hawaii.”

“Hmm. It seems the teacher got confused.”

“Were you deceiving me?”

Wisoo clutched his clothes and shed tears. It was a habit he had as a child. It was so painful that he just wanted to go back to being five years old, when he knew nothing.

“C-can’t you just tell me honestly?”

Wisoo pleaded.

“I have nowhere to go now anyway, and M-Mr. Kwak Jaekwon won’t take me back now, so please just tell me honestly.”

The reason Jung Taegyu had suddenly come up to Seoul was that he had heard some unsettling news. News that Kwak Jaekyung seemed to have started acting on his own. He had installed him as a figurehead president at the agency, only for him to not know his place and try to take the kids and go independent. Jung Taegyu didn’t know that this was because Kwak Jaekyung was trying to pull out early due to the tabloids Kwak Jaekwon had spread. He was just annoyed that his underlings these days didn’t know their place and were moving around as if they could think for themselves.

Moreover, he had heard that Kwak Jaekyung had been visiting Seon Wisoo often. He had forgotten to back up what happened the day before yesterday, so the video footage from the last two days was gone after 48 hours, but even just looking at what was backed up, it seemed clear that Kwak Jaekyung was seeking out Seon Wisoo more than necessary.

Did that bastard talk about the medicine? Did he talk about the parents too? It was clear he had stirred things up. A crack began to form between Jung Taegyu and Kwak Jaekyung. For a person inherently full of malice, distrust is closer and grows better than trust.

“What did Jaekyung say to you?”

Jung Taegyu placated the boy without any sincerity.

“You must have heard some strange things, but it’s okay. It’s all lies. The teacher will find out the proper news about your parents and tell you.”

“I don’t need it.”

Wisoo stared at Jung Taegyu, clutching his clothes tightly.

“Tell me now. And don’t buy time. It doesn’t have to be recent news. Just tell me what you know. I can’t believe the Hawaii or Australia stories. Where are my parents?”

Jung Taegyu was getting a little annoyed. The number of people not answering his calls had recently increased, and he kept getting the unpleasant feeling that something was going wrong somewhere, like a bug biting at his flesh every night. This was all because Seon Wisoo suddenly stopped listening to him.

Where are they? Where else. They’re in the afterlife.

The people to whom he had entrusted Wisoo had suddenly come to him around the time Wisoo turned eight, saying they would take the child and go abroad. They said he might get better if raised in a good environment, that they had received a lot of counseling themselves and were ready.

He bought time. He said that leaving suddenly would be a shock and would compromise the consistency of the treatment, and asked for just one week.

And three days later, they met their end in a traffic accident.

After that, he used actors with similar voices for phone calls. After saying they had gone abroad, he forged emails. He felt no guilt in doing any of these things.

“Teacher.”

Someone called out to Jung Taegyu, who was wondering how to placate the boy with a roundabout story. Jung Taegyu clicked his tongue with a tsk and went outside the door. Only then did Wisoo let out a gasp, heok.

It felt like a mild hyperventilation attack was coming on. A sense of dread washed over him.

In the meantime, Jung Taegyu heard the news that Kwak Jaekyung had ignored his summons. It wasn’t that he ignored it, he had replied that he had a schedule, but it was the same thing. Jung Taegyu had a fiery temper. He slammed the door open, returned to the room, and pointed a finger at Wisoo.

“Did you sleep with Kwak Jaekyung?!”

Wisoo was clutching his chest, panting. He, too, could no longer see reason.

“Where are my parents!”

“You’re even devouring your cousins. Why don’t you sleep with all the bastards from the Kwak family?!”

“My parents!”

“They’re dead!”

Jung Taegyu shouted out of annoyance.

“They croaked! When you were eight!”

Wisoo’s pupils widened in shock. His lips parted. He was so surprised it felt as if every opening in his body was blocked. Even his airway.

“…Did you do it, teacher?”

“So, what are you going to do with Kwak Jaekyung? Run away or something?”

“Teacher…. Heok, teacher… did you do it?”

“It seems Kwak Jaekyung is contacting my clients too, but it’s not even worth a damn. He doesn’t have the capacity for that. Do you think you can just get into a large corporation for no reason? You need roots. If you follow him, you’ll have to start all over again from the beginning.”

Wisoo’s ears could not hear anything. Only a ringing noise and echo.

Heok, heok, no matter how hard he gasped for breath, his throat was constricted, and no oxygen would enter. Wisoo clutched his chest and slowly bent his body forward.

Jung Taegyu, unable to overcome his own temper, paced around the room, pointing at the air and fuming by himself. His secretary, who had come in, was the one who noticed Wisoo’s condition.

“Teacher. Contact Kwak Jaekyung again…. Oh!”

The startled secretary pointed a finger at Wisoo and shouted urgently.

“Teacher, teacher! It’s Wisoo! Wisoo is…!”

Only then did Jung Taegyu turn to look at Wisoo.

Wisoo was clutching his chest, his body curling forward, almost collapsing.

But more problematic than that was the blood trickling down between his legs.

Wisoo-ya, Seon Wisoo!

He heard a voice calling him from far away. Wisoo wanted to sink into this state. He didn’t care if he became a vessel; he wished someone would take over this body so that he would never have to wake up again.

❖ ❖ ❖

Jung Taegyu had used both illegal and unconventional methods to change Wisoo’s constitution. And all the medicine he provided after that was also obtained through illegal and unconventional means.

Jung Taegyu knew a wide range of places, from large hospitals to small clinics and unaccredited illegal medical facilities, but this time, a large hospital was chosen. It was unavoidable. To run various tests, they had to come here. Above all, there was a great limitation in checking Wisoo’s current condition at an illegal medical facility.

“A brat, you say.”

Jung Taegyu let out a hollow laugh.

“How dare you… get pregnant without my permission.”

Wisoo’s body, with an IV line inserted, shivered uncontrollably. The inside of the hospital was clean and warm, so why was it so cold? Even under his mask, his breath came out cold.

“Wisoo-ya.”

Jung Taegyu, sitting side-by-side on chairs, tapped his knee with his fingers and then opened his mouth.

“It seems that’s why you were not visible. Because your vessel was already full.”

None of that matters. Wisoo let the words drift by him listlessly.

But he could not possibly do the same for the words that followed.

“You’d better hope that your child is as special as you are.”

“…What?”

“If your child is as special as you, I will set you free.”

“What… what does that mean?”

“The father must be Mr. Kwak Jaekwon, right? That’s good. From now on, let’s raise him well together. He has to come out healthy and whole to be a useful card, don’t you think? That rascal…. You should have told me beforehand.”

“Teacher. What do you mean by that.”

Wisoo asked back in a stunned voice. Hope that the child is special, too. Then he will set him free.

“Are you going to raise this child, teacher?”

It was a reality that still hadn’t sunk in for Wisoo. But his innate nature, Wisoo’s true talent of a strong will to live, was embracing the child as well. Unbeknownst to him, it already had.

However, Jung Taegyu’s wickedness was the same.

With a look that said it was only natural, he asked Wisoo in return.

“Well then, a grandfather should raise his grandchild, who else would?”

Wisoo shot up from his seat.

“I don’t want to. I will never let that happen.”

“Sit down. Do you want to attract people’s attention.”

“No.”

This was Wisoo’s first time speaking informally to Jung Taegyu and his first direct act of defiance. Not the secretly eaten sweet cake, the stimulating spices, or the sex with Kwak Jaekwon, but something thrown directly at him.

“I don’t want to. You’re not even my grandfather. And even if you were… I would never give him to trash like you.”

The corners of Wisoo’s lips trembled as they curled up. Wisoo learned for the first time that when you are furious enough, tears and laughter can come out at the same time.

“Me, and this child, to trash like you, I will never give them.”

“Seon Wisoo. I told you to sit down.”

“I will never listen to you again. I don’t believe you. You trash who ruined my life…. How, how….”

“Seon Wisoo!”

Jung Taegyu, whose physical age was still robust thanks to the money he poured into it, shouted thunderously. His question of whether he wanted to attract attention was rendered meaningless, as his own shout made people’s gazes turn sharply in their direction.

Wisoo bit his lip, gripping the IV pole tightly.

I want to run away. I have to run away. But how? There will be Hyegwang people at every entrance in the hospital, so how?

Jung Taegyu, who had been seething, rubbed his forehead and began to soothe Wisoo.

“Wisoo-ya, Wisoo-ya…. Do you think the teacher is doing this to you for no reason? It’s all for you. How much would the world covet a special child like you. Your child will surely be special too, so why can’t you understand my heart, that I want you to rely on the teacher as you have until now and live affectionately as we did before.”

It’s a lie. Now Wisoo knew. The world was not that dangerous. The world he had been controlled and blocked from with immense fear also had kindness and cheerfulness. There were drinks as unpalatable as alcohol, but there were also sweet snacks like cake, and most importantly, there were people out there with whom he could eat, drink, and laugh together. A place that was bitter yet sweet, a place where one could sometimes laugh and cry, Wisoo wanted to live in such a place.

Now he knows. Jung Taegyu is nothing more than a swindler. A swindler, a cheat, an abuser. He was a selfish and shameless bastard who did not want to lose him as a product and was afraid of him growing up, trying to trap him in a glass jar.

“Teacher.”

Wisoo, clenching his fists tightly, whispered.

“I am not the old Wisoo anymore. And you, teacher… you are no longer a teacher to me.”

Jung Taegyu’s eyes widened.

He was about to say something, but he knew how to control the intensity. He knew that if he pushed hard now while he was being this defiant, he would surely make a scene, crying that he would break. Jung Taegyu, taking a deep breath to suppress his anger, waved his hand.

“You, go ahead first.”

Soon, Jung Taegyu’s driver came up. Wisoo, being dragged away by his hand, kept looking back. Even though there was only Jung Taegyu, who was on the phone with someone, in that spot, he felt a strange palpitation as if he had left something else behind….

Jung Taegyu gasped for breath. The vice-director of the hospital, who said he answered the phone late because of a meeting, joked around, asking what he was doing there and telling him to come up to the vice-director’s office.

“Now every Tom, Dick, and Harry is ignoring me.”

Once his anger flared up, it did not subside easily. Seething, he headed towards the elevator. As was his habit of slightly lowering his head to reduce facial exposure, Jung Taegyu realized his path was blocked by the feet that came into his view.

“What the…?”

Someone is passing by, and they’re not moving.

Jung Taegyu, who lifted his head to say something, opened his eyes wide at the completely unexpected person.

“Mr. Kwak… Jaekwon?”

Jaekwon, who had been waiting for Jung Taegyu to recognize him, slowly lowered his gaze. Seeing him this close, he could feel that he was an even more diminutive and smaller man.

Because of this one bastard….

Kwak Jaekwon clenched his fist tightly. He forcefully suppressed the urge to strike him and managed a faint smile.

“I see you in an unexpected place. You must be sick somewhere.”

An unexpected place, a chance meeting. There is no such thing between Jung Taegyu and himself.

❖ ❖ ❖

Kwak Jaekwon chose his words very carefully. There could not be a single wasted move. Therefore, each of his pieces, each of his words, had to have multiple roles.

What was fortunate was that wicked people gather around other wicked people. Wicked people have no loyalty, their convictions are lighter than a feather, and their greed is heavier than lead.

He tenaciously tracked down one of Seon Wisoo’s medicine bags. It cost a considerable amount of money, but to him, it was pocket change. Thus, he found several hospitals. A small private clinic, an illegal medical facility, an illegal psychiatric hospital, and an accredited large hospital. And after finding out everything, Kwak Jaekwon extended his reach to all of those places.

He put particular effort into the large hospital. The vice-director of the hospital where Kwak Jaekwon’s bruises were treated and his semen was tested was the same person who had used all his connections to investigate the ring he gave, and at the same time, the same person who had maintained a long friendship with Jung Taegyu.

Wicked people do not hesitate to betray and feel no shame. Kwak Jaekwon gladly used that foul characteristic, and the vice-director agreed to inform him immediately if Jung Taegyu came to the hospital.

However, there was a slight variable this time.

First, Jung Taegyu had registered under a different name, not his own or Seon Wisoo’s. This was thanks to the connections he had built in every nook and cranny, not just with the vice-director. And the vice-director said he had received the news of Jung Taegyu’s visit late because he was coming out of a meeting.

As soon as Kwak Jaekwon received that call, he stepped on the accelerator and also contacted Hwang Gujo. If someone resembling Seon Wisoo got in or out of a car in this hospital’s parking lot, now that he was finally outside, they could follow him.

But that alone was not enough, and because he wanted to get him out today if he could actually see him even for a little while, Jaekwon was in so much pain his body felt numb.

“Aigoo, Mr. Kwak Jaekwon. Thank you for your concern. I’m just getting old, so here and there hurt a bit.”

Not even knowing that Kwak Jaekwon was currently contemplating how to break and dismantle him, Jung Taegyu, after a moment of a stiff expression, joked around. Then he shamelessly extended his hand.

“Yes, well. It seems you need to be concerned.”

Kwak Jaekwon did not even glance at that hand. He shoved his trembling hand, from anxiety and surging anger, into his pocket.

“Haha…. Thank you for your concern. How are you, Mr. Kwak Jaekwon?”

“I have not been well. Because I rolled down the stairs.”

Jaekwon took his hand out of his pocket and pointed to his forehead with his index finger.

“It’s quite a nuisance having to go to the hospital because of this.”

“I see. Ehei, you should have been careful. By the way, this must be fate. Meeting like this at the same hospital.”

“Is it fate? Even though you can count the number of large hospitals in Seoul on one hand.”

“The same day, the same hospital, the same floor, this much is a special fate.”

“I didn’t see you this way, but Mr. Jung Taegyu is quite a romantic person. To give meaning to every little thing like this.”

Jaekwon, with the hand that had been pointing at his forehead, pointed to the end of the hallway.

“I was just on my way to the restroom over there.”

“Aha, is that so…. And here I was thinking, perhaps you were here to see the vice-director or someone as a VIP.”

“Me? I don’t get sick often, so I have no reason to build a close relationship with a hospital.”

Shoving his hand back into his pocket, he straightened his back. His broad chest puffed up slightly. In front of Kwak Jaekwon, no matter how much Jung Taegyu took care of his body, he was nothing but a middle-aged old man.

Jung Taegyu narrowed his eyes and threw a vicious jab. It was the same tactic as Kwak Jaekyung. Trying to poke and prod Kwak Jaekwon to uplift their relatively lacking selves.

“By the way, you must be lonely now that our Wisoo is gone. If you need, I can arrange a meeting. Your mother, don’t you miss her?”

“Ah. I found out recently and paid my respects.”

Kwak Jaekwon clenched his fist in his pocket and managed a smile. Shit, at this rate, the wound on my forehead is going to burst. From anger.

“But I don’t think she’s someone for Mr. Jung Taegyu to mention.”

“Who. Your mother? Or Seon Wisoo?”

He was deliberately provoking him. His intentions were transparent and his methods were shallow, but that also meant he was showing his hand. This wouldn’t do. Wisoo was still in Jung Taegyu’s hands. He could not excessively expose that Seon Wisoo was his weakness.

“Haha. Mr. Jung Taegyu, you’re not as good a businessman as I thought. You should figure that much out on your own. Or do I look like a pushover to you? Let’s stop talking about the deceased. It’s not a pleasant topic.”

When Jaekwon retorted in a relaxed tone, Jung Taegyu laughed emptily.

“Haha…. That’s right. Mr. Kwak Jaekwon got one over on me.”

“Chairman Kwak.”

Jaekwon corrected him.

This kind of thing is childish, but it works well on materialistic and wicked people. Jaekwon smiled softly, yet intimidatingly.

“From now on, you’ll have to call me Chairman Kwak. Now that I have properly taken my father’s place.”

“Ha…. I seeee.”

Jung Taegyu dragged out his words, showing his twisted displeasure.

“Then, although you may not trust us now, isn’t it a connection where we might meet as a client again someday? If there’s anyone you want to see, or any lingering regrets, please feel free to seek us out. If you ask the other elders how well our Wisoo soothes people’s hearts, you will surely get a clear answer. And Chairman, it is not a business, it is salvation. Salvation.”

Salvation…. The kind that extricates you from exploitation and abuse? It’s not even an eternal or tangible salvation. It’s just a drug. The fantasy that he can really make you meet them, the delusion that you can still reconcile and reunite in our way of speaking and our manner, even though they have become completely different beings from us, the living.

The best business for Jung Taegyu himself, with no loss to him whatsoever.

“Yes. Well. I’ll seek you out if I need to.”

Before he uttered Seon Wisoo’s name, he had to slightly lower his head.

He had been running without rest, but as per Hwang Gujo’s advice, it was an incredibly painful process to get this far from zero, in a field that was not his own. The most painful and difficult thing was that Seon Wisoo was not by his side. That he was the one who had let go of his hand back then.

“I’ve also heard many rumors about Mr. Seon Wisoo.”

All those rumors were lies. Seon Wisoo was not an omega who warmed beds, nor was he a greedy young omega. He was certainly not a man-eating femme fatale.

Seon Wisoo was just someone who likes sweet things and can’t handle spicy food well but wants to try new foods, whose eyes sparkle when he experiences new things, and who likes me….

“They say he’s very special.”

He was a very ordinary person.

“…Then I’ll be on my way as well. My head is about to explode.”

Jaekwon, tapping his temple, brushed past Jung Taegyu.

As he walked down the hallway Jung Taegyu had come from, he could feel a very, very, very faint trace of Seon Wisoo’s pheromones.

He really was here. A little more, if only he had been a little bit faster.

Jaekwon painfully closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was very faint. Enough time had passed that he would have missed him even if he had come a little earlier. Still, his lingering attachment and regret did not fade.

As he turned to enter the restroom, a message arrived for him.

[He went towards Naeseon-dong, then got off at Olympic Bridge. Seems like he got on the highway. Are you sure he’s really in Seoul?]

Jaekwon called Hwang Gujo and spoke quickly.

“He’s in Seoul. The street name the big guy mentioned, swearing on his sister’s life, doesn’t exist outside of Seoul. They gave us the slip. Cheongsu Seongso, start digging there again.”

He dug a very deep pit. So that the old fox could not escape, no matter how much he wagged his tail.

❖ ❖ ❖

“Dr. Son, you really don’t know?”

Jung Taegyu had been in the vice-director’s office for several tens of minutes, pressing the vice-director. But the vice-director consistently feigned ignorance.

“How many times do I have to tell you. I’m telling you we really don’t know each other. I know Chairman Kwak, but I don’t know his son well. Want to pull up the hospital records? What, I hear he just came into the country not long ago? How am I supposed to know even a person who is only the subject of many rumors.”

The vice-director’s office was fragrant with the smell of coffee. Precious Geisha beans and an extraction machine that easily costs tens of millions of won, shiny new machines had taken their places since he last saw the room. Jung Taegyu looked around at them with venomous eyes.

“Struck it rich? When did you get all this stuff.”

“You know what my salary is. I’ve just been living frugally until now.”

The vice-director, who snorted, asked primly.

“Want me to brew you a cup? I got some good beans.”

“No thanks. You got any alcohol?”

“You come to a hospital and ask a doctor for alcohol?”

“You think I don’t know that doctors smoke and drink heavily?”

The vice-director sipped his coffee instead of answering.

Jung Taegyu was burning up inside because even though he found him suspicious, he had no way to press him.

“It’s not like the new chairman did anything to you, Teacher Jung, so why are you like this? It’s not like you, Teacher Jung. You’re the kind of person who can always find a way out no matter what you do.”

“That’s true, but….”

But he had a bad feeling. Jung Taegyu glanced towards the door. Right beyond the door was that way out. The thought of Seon Wisoo, pregnant with Kwak Jaekwon’s child, at least eased this unsettling feeling.

He thought he would get hit the moment they met, but Kwak Jaekwon, contrary to his expectation, seemed fine. He had a shitty way of talking, but he figured that’s just the kind of guy he is. The only thing that worried him was that calmness. Surely, he hasn’t already sorted out his feelings for Seon Wisoo, has he? Did I make him lose all affection back then?

He had done it hoping for that result back then, but now it had become a problem. There should still be some affection left for him to be happy about the news of the baby. He should have made it a dramatic relationship if he had known. Who would have thought he would come back pregnant with a baby from outside.

The more he thought about it, the more outrageous it felt. The number of things being hidden from him was increasing one by one, a very bad habit had formed. He shouldn’t have lent him out, dazzled by the few large bills Chairman Kwak had handed over. He should have kept him by his side. Why did that bastard have to suddenly drop dead.

“Kwak Bonyoung really died of a heart attack, right? There were no signs of drugs or anything like that?”

“What are you thinking now. That the son had a hand in it? Weren’t you the one who first investigated that the son was living as if estranged, treating his father like a stranger?”

“That’s true, but.”

Jung Taegyu, who had been nervously tapping the table, sank into the sofa.

“Give me a cup of coffee.”

“You should have just had it when I offered.”

The grumbling vice-director stood up from his seat. He went to the coffee machine, ground the beans, and stood in front of the extractor. A phone, placed as if casually tossed aside next to the extractor, faintly twinkled. The ongoing call timer was still running. The recipient was Kwak Jaekwon.

❖ ❖ ❖

“He’s really got his feet to the fire now.”

Hwang Gujo commented as he listened to Jung Taegyu’s voice from inside the car where Kwak Jaekwon’s second phone was connected. He contacted Kwak Jaekwon on his personal phone.

[Still in the vice-director’s office]

Jaekwon, who received that message, was circling the parking lot. There was no trace of Seon Wisoo. Even though the scent definitely remained.