The Sleepwalker’s Mansion Chapter 42

“Mr. Lawyer, I have no intention of attending there….”

“Today is a place to make friends. Who knows? You might change your mind after hearing the story. Living alone in a mansion with no one around, you might even get depression. People need to live in a community. Go to university and make friends too.”

Cutting off his words abruptly, Yubin gestured to the man standing next to him to sit in the seat beside him. From the man who sat next to him, whoosh, a pheromone scent that stung sharply like pepper wafted thickly. Seeing that it was not a soft scent like an omega’s, it must be an alpha. It was not a particularly likable scent, making his eyes sting.

“Please tell our Young Master Doeon lots of good stories, Mr. Junseo.”

“Yes. Don’t worry, Mr. Lawyer Jeong.”

“Um, excuse me…!”

Before he could even attach any words, Yubin left the spot, leaving him alone with the man. Soon, an awkward air floated between the two of them. The corners of his mouth kept stiffening, and he had nowhere to look. He was just fiddling with his fingers when an unexpected question was spat out.

“Omega? Beta?”

“…Pardon?”

As Doeon asked back, he dragged out the end of his words as if annoyed.

“Omega or beta? You can’t be alpha.”

“Beta….”

“Ah, you were a beta? I thought you were an omega because you look like one. No wonder I couldn’t smell your pheromone.”

“…….”

Asking about his trait right to his face out of the blue felt rude. What do you mean I look like an omega. He wanted to ask back in turn but swallowed it down. The whites of his eyes ached dryly. His head throbbed, perhaps because his brain was overloaded from seeing and familiarizing himself with so many people today. Even more so because the back of his head stung from the gazes peeking at him.

“Shall we move seats?”

“……?”

“You seem bothered by it.”

The man gestured toward behind him. The man seemed to have noticed that the stinging gazes were stuck to the back of his head and would not leave. Doeon let out a small sigh. He wanted to catch his breath even for a moment. He nodded his head reluctantly.

“Yes….”

“You can speak comfortably too. We’re the same age, right.”

“Huh? Uh….”

He preferred formal speech with someone he was not close to, but he did not refuse, thinking that if he rejected more, one more gaze that would dig into the back of his head would be added.

The man looked around once and then called over a server, picking up two champagne glasses from the round tray he was holding. Then, he began to go up to the second floor where there were fewer people.

Doeon consciously looked around. He could see people glancing at his dad and Yubin while whispering in each other’s ears. Just like when they looked at him, when they looked at Yubin, their eyes were mixed with curiosity and envy, peeking at him.

The title of Seo Taeoh’s fiancée was tasty fodder that gossips liked to bring up, and Yubin’s existence, acting like the lady of the house in a place like today, could not help but draw even more attention. Yubin was enjoying that attention to the fullest.

Doeon gripped the railing going up to the second floor, applying force so that his hand would not slip. As they reached the second floor, the man handed one of the champagne glasses he was holding in both hands to Doeon.

“Here, drink.”

“I’m fine….”

“Drink. Your throat must be dry.”

Come to think of it, his throat did feel a bit parched. He had been tense and on guard for so long that he was exhausted. Had this man read his state from his expression. Swallowing his dry saliva into his cracking throat, he took the glass. As he took one sip, pop, the carbonation burst, and a sweet aroma wet the tip of his tongue. The taste was not bad, so he sipped it steadily.

“Tasty, right?”

“Huh? Uh….”

“Where would you feel comfortable? Somewhere quiet would be good.”

“Somewhere quiet?”

“Yeah. Where’s your room? Want to show me around?”

He felt uneasy about letting a stranger into his room, but he was someone Yubin had introduced. Though he did not feel like it, thinking he did not want to cause a commotion, he pondered for a moment and decided to let the man into the room.

“…Okay.”

As he opened the door and went inside, the man click, closed the door. At the sound of the door closing, he turned around once to look behind. Doeon, about to say it would be better to leave the door open, had no choice but to swallow his words in surprise because of the man who crossed the room right away and plopped down on the bed without permission.

“You sit too?”

The man patted his own side with his palm, pat pat.

“Ah… I’m fine. I’ll stand.”

“Your legs will hurt.”

“Really, I’m fine.”

His throat burned even more for no reason. The champagne glass he was holding was almost empty now. Only after sweeping up every last bubble of the yellow liquid left at the bottom did he realize that the back of his neck was heating up hotly. He had gulped down sparkling wine with alcohol content in a hurry, so it was no wonder the heat was rising.

“Hot?”

“Ah, no….”

“You look hot.”

The man said while looking at his flushed red face. Doeon shook his head and placed the empty glass on the bedside table, pulling out a question he was not at all curious about. It was to turn away the gaze fixed on his face.

“How… is university?”

“I want honesty. I want the MSG version.”

The man, with his arms crossed, crossed his legs and dangled the raised leg up and down. That appearance looked just like imitating a delinquent, so it was not pleasant to see. Honesty would be better anyway. Doeon opened his mouth while standing by the door, staring at the shaking leg.

“The honest one….”

“Mr. Lawyer Jeong told me to only say good things….”

Kukuku, a scratching laugh came from his throat, and then the man lowered his voice as if sharing a secret story.

“You seem to have fallen out of favor with Mr. Lawyer Jeong, so I’ll tell you honestly. Our university is a place where rich families exile their kids so they don’t cause trouble in Korea, but you don’t seem like a problem child.”

“…….”

“You can think of it as almost monastic life. It’s in the middle of nowhere in America, so even the Korean mart requires driving over an hour, and around it, there’s nothing but cornfields.”

Exile place. It was no different from a real place of exile. He plans to send me to study abroad at such a university? Does his dad know about Jeong Yubin’s ambition to push me aside and take over the master bedroom of the mansion. What if he already knows and is just watching?

In that instant, beee—a tinnitus pierced his ear canal like it would drill through. Ah, no. If he collapsed here. The legs supporting him on the floor trembled, and his head spun round and round. It felt like the floor and ceiling were flipping over each other. The ground he was standing on felt like it was about to collapse.

“Ah….”

As Doeon lost his balance and staggered, the man jumped up and supported his shoulder. The man’s pheromone rushed into his nasal cavity. It felt nauseating, like he would vomit.

“What’s wrong? Dizzy?”

Gulping down the champagne in a hurry had been the cause. He had been tense the whole time greeting the guests, and with alcohol and the nauseating pheromone mixed in, his stomach churned. The pheromone, whether the man was deliberately exhaling it or not, seemed to seep into the area where it touched. At the creepy sensation, Doeon twisted his shoulder where the man’s hand touched, expressing his refusal.

“Just… leave me for a moment and I’ll be fine…. Could you step back a bit….”

“You don’t look fine at all? Come here.”

But the man ignored Doeon’s words and pulled the hand grabbing his shoulder, leading him toward the bed. With the dizziness making his head spin round and round, his vision blurred, and he had no choice but to be dragged along as the man led.

The man who forcibly sat Doeon on the bed sat close beside him and stared piercingly at Doeon’s side profile. The man’s hot breath touched his earlobe. It was hot breath that made his ear burn.

“I’ve come to Korea for the first time in a while, so I have to have some fun.”

“……!”

The man’s hand unhesitatingly groped his thigh. At the sensation like a snake coiling around his body, his whole body stiffened rigidly. It was horrifying. Before his voice could lock up, he barely opened his stiff lips.

“D-Don’t….”

“I’m just saying let’s have some fun together, why?”

“Wa-Wait a moment….”

“You followed me because you don’t hate it either.”

“Th-That was because you’re Mr. Lawyer’s guest….”

“You don’t want to be friends with me?”

Nod nod. Like a rabbit caught in a noose, he could barely nod his head. The man, quietly looking at his tear-clouded pupils, murmured as if entranced.

“You… are really pretty.”

After finishing the brief admiration, the man pressed his fleshy face against Doeon’s cheek flushed full of blush and stuck out his purple lips, smooch. Heuk, startled, Doeon pulled his upper body back, but the greedy hand seized his shoulder and bound him so he could not move an inch.

“You smell good. But you’re a beta, that’s weird.”

“Th-This, let go…!”

“Wa-Wait, just once….”

The man pulled Doeon, who was shaking his head wildly, into an embrace and tried to force their lips together. His vision distorted, and he felt like he would lose his mind. A dangerous tinnitus kept ringing in his ears, and his body felt wrapped tight in something, unable to twitch.

“No, mmph, nooo….”

“Just stay still for a bit.”

Tears fell from his widely opened eyes, flowing down his cheek. The man’s urgent hand deeply stroked his thigh and then slipped up to his groin. His legs trembled. The glistening eyes came close as if they would touch.

Someone, please.

Help me.

Bang—

“You fucking bastard—!”

At that moment, the door burst open, and Doha, charging in like an arrow, spat out curses and snatched the man’s nape, slamming him straight to the floor. The cold gray pupils, as if holding ice, glanced at Doeon once. His whole body froze as if encased in ice, unable to move.

The man, dumbstruck, knelt on the floor with his knees and lifted only his head like a bug trampled while holding his nape.

“Wh-What! Fuck, who the hell are you…!”

“I’m Seo Doe’s brother, you fucking bastard.”

“What? Br-Brother? Gasp…!”

Before the man could say anything, Doha pulled his elbow back fully and struck the man’s face with his fist. Immediately grabbing the man’s collar and punching continuously as if the man’s face were a sandbag, thunk, thunk, the sound of flesh bursting rang out chillingly in succession.

The man could not resist even once and merely dangled his face limply like a doll set up on a car dashboard under Doha’s punches. Before he knew it, Doha’s fist was stained with bright red blood.

“……!”

The man only let out gurgling moans. Thinking he could not leave it like this, he bit his lip to awaken his frozen body. He had to stop it. Otherwise, something big would happen. Doeon tightly grabbed the sleek arm that was raising its fist vertically like someone about to deliver the final blow with both hands.

“St-Stop…!”

“Where did this bastard touch you.”