The Sleepwalker’s Mansion Chapter 41

“…….”

“Don’t concern yourself with whatever I do.”

He shoved the large frame aside and opened the door. Thud, he closed the door and collapsed onto the floor as if falling. What had he just said. It was the first time he had rebelled against Doha. His vision turned deathly pale, and his breathing would not calm down.

He felt like Doha would open the door any moment and shove his cock into his mouth. As if he could not tolerate rebellion from a mere recessive omega brother like him. How much time had passed. Only when he heard the low, heavy footsteps fading away beyond the door did he finally exhale a deep sigh, whew.

As twilight fell, the garden lights outside the mansion illuminated a gentle atmosphere. Around the time when the white mansion’s scenery beautifully emitted light, at 7 p.m., the invited guests began to arrive one by one.

Doeon, who had been hiding alone in his room watching luxury sedans park one by one in front of the main gate, had no choice but to go out to the living room, unable to resist Yubin’s urging that he had to come out and greet the guests.

The invited guests looked at Seo Taeoh’s eldest son, Seo Doeon, whom he had met again after 19 years, with curiosity, as if viewing a monkey at the zoo. With a strange gaze mixed with curiosity and envy. Not wanting to pay attention, he did not even glance toward the furtive peeking stares, standing still like a fixture doll next to Yubin.

“Hello, Director Kim.”

“It’s been a while, Mr. Lawyer Jeong.”

Jeong Yubin greeted Director Kim warmly. Doeon, standing next to Yubin with a tense face, silently bowing his head in greeting to the incoming invited guests, quickly raised his head and looked at him upon hearing the words Director Kim.

“This is the representative’s eldest, Young Master Doeon.”

“I heard your mother passed away not long ago. My condolences to the deceased.”

“…Thank you.”

An elderly gentleman who seemed to have much grace extended his greetings. He bowed politely, and then a boy who appeared to be around his age approached beside him. He had large eyes and a cute impression with faint double eyelids.

“Hello, my name is Kim Yuyeong.”

“Ah… Hello.”

Yubin, standing next to him, kindly whispered in his ear, ‘Young Master Doha’s fiancée.’ Fiancée…. Heat rose to his earlobes. From the strange sense of debt, it felt like a stone was placed on his heart, making his solar plexus stuffy.

“Where is Young Master Doha. He’s here. I’ll bring him over!”

As Yubin left the spot, Kim Yuyeong blinked his large eyes and fixed his gaze on him. With nowhere to place his eyes from the bold stare, he lowered his gaze, and a clear voice came like the wind.

“You’re Doha hyung’s hyung, right. I didn’t know hyung had a brother. Doha hyung didn’t tell me.”

“Ah… Yes….”

“Let’s get along well from now on.”

A hand was extended in front of his lowered gaze. Did he have the qualification to take this hand. His tongue tip turned bitter from the feeling of having committed a sin against Kim Yuyeong.

As he clasped the extended hand, the sweet pheromone unique to omegas seeped into his hand. He could feel without being told that it was dominant. Unlike him, whose faint pheromone would not raise suspicion even if called a beta, the thick pheromone extended boldly like strong confidence. Even in the instant less than a second, the momentum made his shoulders shrink involuntarily.

“Huh? He’s coming over there.”

With that, the self-mutter full of delight ended, and the clasped hands soon parted. Yubin was bringing Doha over. The guy, with his hands shoved into his pockets as if annoyed, furrowed his thick eyebrows in embarrassment upon seeing Yuyeong.

“Come on, you two have a good time, and we’ll go greet more guests!”

“Doha hyung!”

As soon as Yubin’s words ended, Yuyeong called out to Doha and scurried over to him. Yuyeong, clinging to him like a cicada on an old tree trunk, tilted his chin up and looked up at Doha with a pretty smile. Anyone seeing it would think it was a sweet moment for a young couple, so lovable it was.

Doeon, who had been peeking at that scene, felt a stinging ache at the tip of his solar plexus. The sin of immorality swept over him like a large mass, as if it were solely his own, blocking the way behind his back. A massive mass that he could neither step aside from nor remove.

While he alone carried that mass, the young and fresh lover would forget about someone like him, stained with obscenity, and spend a lovable moment. The voices of the bustling people grew faint, and the loneliness from when he had been left alone at his mother’s funeral hall came crashing over him.

Doha was not even glancing his way. That was natural and proper, yet paradoxically, his heart plummeted downward.

“Um… I need to use the bathroom for a moment….”

“Come back quickly, young master. There are still many guests you need to make your face known to.”

“Yes… I’ll be right back.”

With no other choice, what he selected was escape. He went to the first-floor bathroom, locked the door, and turned on the faucet at the sink. Splashhhh—the water gushing out vigorously, he cupped it with both hands and splashed it on his face. But even after washing his face, his mind did not clear. Rather, like gray clouds that would not lift, the view ahead felt obstructed.

“Haa….”

Still, one hopeful thing was that once this party ended, his dad, Doha, and Yubin would all leave. The days of fretting and pacing with the stone-like sense of debt were not many left, and soon he would regain his peaceful daily life.

Thinking that way made his mood a little better. He wiped his face with a towel and was about to leave the bathroom when the hallway in front of the bathroom buzzed, and soon people began to gather in twos and threes.

Doeon, who had turned the doorknob to open it, hesitated for a moment. It would be fine to go out naturally, but he did not like drawing attention. If he ran into them, he would have to greet them, and even exchange unwanted introductions and handshakes, which made him tired just thinking about it. Let him wait until they passed by. It was pathetic that he had to hide his body inside his own house like a field mouse living on the roof; anyone seeing it would think his situation was pitiful.

“The representative is just arriving.”

“Mr. Representative—! It’s so hard to see your face. I know you’re busy with work, but it’s been a month. Didn’t you miss me at all during that time?”

Oh no. Jeong Taeseok and his dad were coming this way too. This makes it even harder to go out. Doeon cracked the bathroom door open just a fingernail’s width and observed the outside situation. The people who had been gathering in twos and threes swarmed around his dad like ants the moment he arrived.

“President Tae. You’ve come.”

His dad gave a short bow to President Tae.

“How about a round of golf together sometime, Mr. Representative. I’ll take you to a CC where you can enjoy the sea view while playing. If you go there, your shots will land even better. Haha.”

“Is that so. I’m looking forward to it.”

Unlike President Tae, who let out a frivolous laugh, his dad raised the glass in his hand to moisten his lips and smiled languidly.

“By the way, have you heard that news?”

As Taeoh raised his eyebrow as if asking what news it was, President Tae quickly opened his hasty lips.

“It seems the law might change to recognize property rights and inheritance rights for recessive omegas. Led by the Omega Human Rights Committee, they gathered human rights groups to request legislation from the National Assembly so that even recessive omegas can be recognized for property ownership.”

“Is that so? The chances of it passing seem very low though….”

A man standing next to President Tae added to the words. Curious gazes gathered, and Doeon also perked up his ears to their conversation.

“For recessive omegas, it’s hard to even form pairs, and they don’t have inheritance rights, so the children in those families settle it among themselves quietly, right. Well, it’s not something we can only see in a bad light.”

“Settle it among themselves?”

“You know, there’s that thing. Since ancient times, royalty continuing their sacred bloodline through incest….”

“Incest?”

“With recessives, they don’t even hire them for jobs even if they want to, so how desperate must they be to resort to finding a pair that way.”

He recalled what Aunt Seonhui had said at the funeral hall before. The story of his cousin Haseon from the house next door, who got divorced because she was a recessive omega, first and foremost. Discrimination openly acknowledged among trait holders was as natural as breathing.

The voices that had started in a concerned tone gradually lowered slyly.

“There are probably some who enjoy it.”

“A lot, I bet. The more taboo it is, the more humans want to do it. Heh heh.”

The level of the conversation was rising. At that moment, a firm voice cut off the conversation that was about to cross the line.

“Absolutely not. That’s impossible.”

Taeoh hardened his expression, handed the glass he was holding to Jeong Taeseok, and narrowed his brows as if there was no room for deep thought. His finely drawn eyes were completely rigid.

“Who has nothing better to do than fuck their own bloodline, like they’re some damn dogs.”

“…….”

“…….”

A brief silence flowed. The words of those who had been defending it died on their lips. His heart, which had been pressed to the door listening intently, plummeted like riding a roller coaster.

“Y-Yes, you’re right, Mr. Representative. Heaven’s principle isn’t called heaven’s principle for nothing. There are ethics that must be upheld properly.”

“Let’s support the Omega Human Rights Committee this time. Let’s do a fundraiser or something.”

“Good idea. I’ll make a donation!”

At his dad’s single word, the people raised their voices, spittle flying, as if they would go out to a recessive omega human rights protest right then. Doeon felt a sensation like his heart, having plummeted, was now crumbling finely at the bottom.

His dad hates it. The upper class committing incest between alphas and omegas to continue special traits. He hates it. Fucking their own bloodline. Then me and Doha too… Doeon felt like his insides were churning. He barely suppressed the roiling nausea and clenched his fist so hard that his nails dug into his palm.

He must never let his dad find out. He could not become an object of disgust to his dad. At least until he safely inherited this mansion, he had to keep his relationship with Doha strictly secret. The days of walking the tightrope were not many left. Just until then. As long as he did not get caught.

Under the lighting like countless fireflies floating around, with the invited guests watching, Yubin and Taeoh crossed their arms and took a love shot. The applause from the onlookers watching that scene burst out like beads spilling over a tray, clattering.

A beautiful handsome man and his fiancée. It had plenty of topicality and was a satisfying sight for the eyes.

Doeon, who had been watching them from afar and felt his ears burning, raised his hand and rubbed his earlobe once. He felt like the only uninvited guest at the party, dropped into another world all alone.

His dad and Yubin. Doha and Yuyeong. The more he thought of the four people nicely paired off, the more it compared to his own lamentable situation, making his breath short like his lungs were expanding. Whew, as he caught his breath and lifted a champagne glass he had no intention of drinking, endlessly watching the cream-like fine bubbles burst and disappear, that was when it happened.

“Young Master Doeon—!”

Yubin, who had been busily greeting the guests seated at the tables in rounds, scattering smiles all over his face, spotted Doeon sitting alone and came over waving his arm. Doeon felt an unnecessary wave of fatigue and pressed his temple.

“I happen to have a good gift—.”

“…A gift?”

He had no good memories of gifts. Recently, he had received a vibrating egg as a so-called gift from Doha and had his rear mercilessly thrust into.

As he responded half-heartedly recalling that time, Yubin swiftly took something out from the pocket of his suit top, swish, and held it out in front. It was a rectangular piece of paper. Hesitating, he took it and read the large letters that first caught his eye on the front.

「Shane Global University」

The rectangular paper was a brochure with the school’s explanation printed on it. Below the school name was a campus surrounded by woods, looking serene as if cut off from the outside world like a monastery. It was clearly an American university in some rural corner.

‘I’m going to exile you far away to a foreign country that takes 30 hours round trip. Like getting rid of an annoying thing.’

Doha’s dry voice brushed past his ear. As he turned to the next page of the brochure, a passage caught his eye: a university community for alphas, omegas, and betas that helps students’ holistic growth without trait discrimination and realizes education for a sustainable future. Why is he giving this to me. As he blinked in a flustered expression, Yubin explained excitedly.

“This university accepts betas too if they have a letter of recommendation. I’ll write one for you. I’m a lawyer at a fairly reputable law firm, after all.”

Yubin moved his mouth proudly, as if he had gone to great lengths to find it. The letters on the brochure blurred as if dancing. The thumping sound of his heartbeat came close in his ears.

Is this person really planning to send me to a university in America. To take over this mansion? He had clearly said his dad would help him inherit this mansion. The brochure that Yubin had suddenly handed over as a gift was more than enough to stir up fierce currents on a calm surface.

He tightly closed his eyes in his spinning vision and opened them, and beside Yubin, who was smiling neatly, stood a tall man who had arrived unnoticed.

“Junseo here attends this university. He’s the same age as Young Master Doeon. Junseo. Could you tell our Young Master Doeon about your study abroad life?”