Pheromone Off Chapter 7

“Chairman, no matter what, right now our Yeonwoo and Team Leader Kwon are dating with good feelings. And for several years at that. Naturally, we understood the promise between our two families to become in-laws as being about our Yeonwoo and Team Leader Kwon—.”

“Why are you deciding as you please? That promise between the two families was made between me and your father.”

“…No matter how much it was a promise between the adults, shouldn’t the children’s intentions be taken into account to some degree?”

“If you don’t like it, you can just refuse.”

“Excuse me…?”

“Sayoung, you. If you don’t like this marriage proposal, refuse it. Refuse it and just marry the second child of the Seong family over there, what is the problem?”

Chairman Kwon continued in a dignified voice. It wasn’t wrong. Even if he had changed the will, there was no coercion; if they didn’t like it, they could reject it and give up the conditions Chairman Kwon had set. Chairman Seong’s mouth, which had been continuing to speak as if it were unfair, shut tight. His wrinkled lips twitched for a moment, as if he was quite resentful.

“I seriously have no idea what on earth everyone is talking about.”

Kwon Sabin muttered with a bored face, his chin propped in his hand, as if he couldn’t understand the conversation going back and forth.

“As I said, from now on, unless you are the parties involved, do not add anything more to this topic. Don’t let any strange noise be heard either, and also don’t even think about messing with Hajin for no reason. Do I have to keep watching that child’s face get ruined every time I see him?”

Hajin silently covered the wound near his mouth that had been caused by trouble not long ago.

At Chairman Kwon’s rebuke, not only Chairman Seong but also the shoulders of Seong Suhyun, who was sitting crookedly, flinched. Seong Suhyun, flinching as if a guilty conscience needs no accuser, glared at Hajin out of the corner of his eye and silently ground his teeth. Chairman Kwon moistened his mouth with water once more, and then continued speaking as if wrapping things up.

“Dear. Proceed with Sayoung and Hajin’s marriage.”

“…Yes, I understand. Father.”

Pffft—!!

At that moment, water sprayed out amidst the heavy atmosphere. Everyone turned their eyes toward the person showing the unexpected reaction.

“W-what did you say?”

Kwon Sabin, who happened to be gulping down water, sprayed out the water he had put in his mouth in surprise and asked back with a face full of horror. At the frivolous behavior, Kwon Sayoung, who was next to him, frowned and wiped his own cheek where the water had splattered with a handkerchief.

“Crazy. Who is marrying whom?”

“Sabin. Quietly…”

“With Seong Hajin, and hyung? So he’s marrying hyung??”

Kwon Sabin lightly ignored his mother’s words trying to calm him down and looked back and forth between Kwon Sayoung sitting next to him and Hajin sitting opposite him. At the behavior of making such a fuss, Hajin slightly covered his face out of embarrassment and bit his lower lip hard.

He really is a guy who doesn’t read the room even a tiny bit.

“No, does that make sense? Hyung, aren’t you dating Yeonwoo hyung? Why are you suddenly marrying him? With him? Seong Hajin?? With that unremarkable guy?”

Did he really have to speak so loudly in a place where everyone was present about something everyone already knew? Hajin stared at Kwon Sabin with a pouty face. However, as if the other party was quite shocked, he continued urgently once more.

“Isn’t he a Beta? While that Seong Yeonwoo is right here, with Seong Hajin? There’s a dominant Omega, but with a Beta who can’t even have children? This—do Mom and Dad approve of this too?”

“Kwon Sabin.”

Kwon Sayoung, who hadn’t said a word during the fuss of Kwon Sabin talking indiscreetly, cut him off with a heavy voice.

“Stop right there.”

“What?”

“Didn’t you hear? That person is my marriage partner now.”

At the sudden heavy voice, everyone who was there was astonished. Except for Chairman Kwon, who was enjoying the hot tea that came out for dessert.

“What…?”

“What?”

The two people who showed the exact same reaction were Seong Yeonwoo, who had been stiff throughout the entire meal, and Kwon Sabin, who still hadn’t understood this situation. And Hajin, the party involved, couldn’t even bring himself to open his mouth.

While the air sank a layer further at Kwon Sayoung’s response that no one had expected, Kwon Sayoung began to open his mouth in earnest.

“I heard Grandfather’s words well, and I understand Grandfather’s heart well. But you know well that Grandfather’s proposal-that-isn’t-a-proposal is sudden.”

Chairman Kwon, who had set down his teacup, stared at Kwon Sayoung as if agreeing.

“No matter how much marriage is a business, it is also hard for me to blindly start with marriage without any feelings. As you know, I am currently seeing Yeonwoo. Therefore, I would also like to make a proposal.”

“…Speak.”

“I need time to sort things out with Yeonwoo.”

“Team Leader Kwon, what on earth are you—! Are you saying you’re going to break up with our Yeonwoo?”

Unable to listen any longer, Madame Jo Hwayeong, that is, Seong Yeonwoo’s mother, raised her voice abruptly.

“I will talk about that separately with Yeonwoo.”

He replied flatly toward her, who was astonished. And his quietly shifted gaze landed on the palely frozen Seong Yeonwoo.

“Chairman, don’t you think this is really too much? No matter how much you cherish that child, do you really want to tear apart children who are seeing each other well?”

Madame Jo Hwayeong, who looked more resentful than Seong Yeonwoo, bit her red lips tightly and poured out her grievance toward Chairman Kwon at the head table. As her breathing gradually became rougher, the one who stopped her from the side was Chairman Seong, who was holding back and swallowing his anger somewhat rationally. As he grabbed Jo Hwayeong’s hand and gave her a look, Chairman Kwon, who had been listening, raised his wrinkled eyes.

“One way or another, it will be the same that Sayoung over there becomes your son-in-law, so what is so much of a problem?”

“No, why break up children who are seeing each other well—!”

“Just as you said, Yeonwoo, that child can sufficiently meet a better partner even if it isn’t Sayoung. I will find a better marriage path for him.”

“Chairman.”

“Either way, I am marrying him off to your child, so why are you making such a fuss? Is Hajin over there not your child? What is so displeasing.”

Chairman Kwon distorted his expression a layer further toward Chairman Seong and his wife, who kept adding words. Because the appearance of discriminating between the two sons was so obvious, Chairman Seong and his wife finally shrunk back somewhat after Chairman Kwon said a word. As the momentum of opposition vanished and it became quiet, Chairman Kwon continued toward Kwon Sayoung, whose talk didn’t seem finished yet.

“Keep speaking.”

At Chairman Kwon’s invitation, which had refined the brief disturbance, Kwon Sayoung continued his words quite resolutely.

“…Since it seems hard to start with marriage right away, I will start with an engagement. Even if it wasn’t intended, either way, I was dating the older brother of the person I am to marry soon, so wouldn’t we need time to get to know each other and adapt?”

Chairman Kwon stared at his grandson, who was seeking his own scheme, and let out an inaudible sneer. It meant he would accept the proposal, but he wouldn’t follow it so meekly and obediently.

“…Humph.”

Chairman Kwon let out a faint groaning sound as if contemplating his grandson’s proposal for a moment. At the sign of contemplation, Kwon Sayoung added words as if to nudge him.

“Shouldn’t you accept this much so that I can accept it as well?”

Although he felt a sense of insolence at the sight of his grandson not readily accepting the proposal, it was a logical point. Whatever the reason, he knew that Chairman Kwon’s own proposal was sudden to the parties involved.

“…Fine, I will accept that much.”

“And the executive promotion you mentioned among the conditions Grandfather set. I would like you to implement it immediately after the engagement.”

dishonesty “That is unreasonable. Not even a marriage, but with an engagement?”

“Wouldn’t I also need a collateral?”

At Kwon Sayoung’s proposal, Chairman Kwon let out a light sneer that seemed to say, ‘look at this guy’. And after tapping the table for a moment as if contemplating, he opened his mouth further.

“Then let’s do this. Before the engagement, have Hajin move into our main house in advance.”

“…Yes?”

This time, Hajin couldn’t close his mouth with a bewildered face.

“Shouldn’t I at least see the two of you living together so I can feel relieved and hand over the collateral or whatever?”

Chairman Seong groaned, and Madame Jo Hwayeong held her temples, hiding her sunken face. And the one who became paler than anyone else was Seong Yeonwoo. It was a full-fledged proposal. Hajin couldn’t say a single word this way or that way in a conversation where his own opinion was completely left out.

“Dear. Decorate the annex building as the children’s newlyweds’ home.”

Chairman Kwon proceeded with the work smoothly and rapidly. Chairman Kwon’s daughter-in-law, Shim Mira, knew that she couldn’t stop this situation and just substituted her answer with an obedient nod of her head.

“Will you accept it?”

Chairman Kwon stared straight at his grandson, Kwon Sayoung, and asked back provocatively. At Chairman Kwon’s proposal, which used his own proposal against him, he silently clenched his molars for a moment as if resentful, maintained a brief silence, and soon opened his mouth reluctantly.

“…I understand.”

“…”

“Let’s do that.”

A deep stubbornness was contained in the eyes of Kwon Sayoung, who continued his reply calmly. At the eyes that accepted but were not just meek, Hajin could not understand this situation right now. At Kwon Sayoung’s opinion, which had changed his mind, and this flow that ultimately went exactly as Chairman Kwon wanted, Hajin was dumbfounded. And because of Seong Yeonwoo, who was watching only Kwon Sayoung with a stark white face, even guilt arose, making him feel simply miserable.

Hajin wiped down his troubled face and inadvertently turned his head. In Hajin’s view, which was already overwhelmed just by his grandfather, Kwon Sayoung, and Seong Yeonwoo, Kwon Sabin’s face suddenly entered. At his face seen in an instant, the tips of Hajin’s eyebrows twitched in wonder. It was a face he was seeing for the first time. A bizarre gaze distorted with shock and horror was staring at him.