Flower Fiancé Chapter 2

His mother had suggested going to the hospital to find the cause of his pheromone loss, but in truth, he already knew both the reason and the cause. And if she ever found out why it had come to this, knowing his mother’s temperament, she might just grab a knife and run off to kill Lee Hyunjoon immediately, so he planned to take the secret to his grave. It wasn’t about protecting that bastard Lee Hyunjoon; it was to protect his mother and the people around him. Besides, it was all water under the bridge and over with.

The misfortune began when he met Lee Hyunjoon, a senior two years above him in high school. Lee Hyunjoon had singled out Ji Yeonwoo, who had just entered high school, and declared war, telling everyone he was his Omega and not to be touched, and so for three years, Ji Yeonwoo had to endure school life branded as Lee Hyunjoon’s Omega. As if the words he always had on his lips—that he would take responsibility—weren’t empty, Lee Hyunjoon took Ji Yeonwoo away as soon as he graduated high school, as though he had been waiting.

The end of four years of marriage, which he had believed would be happy, was futile. Ji Yeonwoo, a dominant Omega, lost his pheromones and came to live a life no different from a Beta’s, lost a person, and had the label of a divorced dominant Omega follow him around. It was a marriage where he had lost more than he had gained.

“So, he’s finally coming to Korea.”

As soon as they divorced, Lee Hyunjoon had fled to America as if chased by something. Without a single word of apology for turning him into someone who was neither Omega nor Beta.

After learning that he had left, Ji Yeonwoo lived for a while consumed by feelings of hatred. The resentment and hatred gnawed at Ji Yeonwoo and broke him down, and in the end, he had to rely on a hospital once again.

After fully recovering and being discharged, he shut himself in his room without contacting anyone. During that time, Ji Yeonwoo was trapped in an infinite cycle, repeating resentment, hatred, and regret. After stumbling and picking himself up again and again within it, the resolution he finally reached was to bury everything related to Lee Hyunjoon, whom he couldn’t even forgive, deep in his heart. It was because he realized he couldn’t go on doing nothing, steeped only in feelings of hatred.

Drawing a breath so deep his chest swelled wide, then letting it out in a huff, Ji Yeonwoo cupped his cheeks with both hands with a clap.

‘So what if he’s coming to Korea? He remarried anyway, didn’t he? Then there’s even less reason to cross paths. I just need to live well in my own way, just like sunbae will in his. That’s all there is to it.’

Even simply breathing under the same sky as Lee Hyunjoon would be hell, but Ji Yeonwoo’s nights were no longer sad or miserable. Wasn’t it enough that now was far better and happier than the four years of marriage that had felt like falling into the fires of hell? He thought there was nothing as foolish as being steeped in an unfortunate past. A better future awaited him, and therefore, Ji Yeonwoo could no longer spend his time crying.

“Ah! I don’t have time to be doing this.”

Ji Yeonwoo suddenly came to his senses when he saw the clock on the wall. It was because he noticed that quite a lot of time had passed. It was a ten-minute walk from home to the shop. If he left now, it would be just the right time to tidy up a bit and receive the flower delivery.

Stuffing the remaining toast into his mouth, Ji Yeonwoo packed his tablet into his bag and hurriedly got up from his seat.

Quickly walking down the hallway toward the front door, he pressed the screen pad on the wall, and with a beep, all the lights in the house went out.

Click. Beep-beep.

With the sound of the door closing and then locking, a quiet stillness settled over Ji Yeonwoo’s home, where a small noise had briefly stirred.

∞ ∞ ∞

There is a company being called an emerging powerhouse in the domestic distribution and logistics industry.

It began as a distribution company called Seonwoo Industrial, but the person who grew that small company into the Seonwoo Group was its founder and first chairman, Choi Taebeom.

Chairman Choi Taebeom had two sons.

The eldest, Choi Moohyuk, was a dominant Alpha, and the second son, Choi Minhyeok, was also an Alpha of superior trait. Both sons of Chairman Choi Taebeom were born with towering heights close to 190cm and good physiques, but among them, Choi Moohyuk was especially rumored to be strikingly handsome. There were also rumors that Choi Moohyuk’s late biological mother had been from the entertainment and nightlife world, and that his good looks were because he took after her greatly.

Currently, Choi Moohyuk was serving as a Managing Director of Seonwoo Industrial Co., Ltd., the subsidiary that had been the starting point of the Seonwoo Group, but he was effectively no different from its President, while Choi Minhyeok was working as a Director of Seonwoo Logistics Co., Ltd., which mainly dealt with transportation and warehousing.

Judging only by this, the Seonwoo Group appeared to be a decent enterprise on the surface, but in fact, the founder of Seonwoo Industrial, the cornerstone of the Seonwoo Group, had been a gangster who controlled that region. Meaning, the Seonwoo Group was a corporate-style gangster organization with gangsters holding the management rights. It was said they had now somewhat shed their old appearance and taken on a corporate form, but remnants of the gangster past still remained everywhere.

The business world, knowing this fact, tacitly did not acknowledge the existence of the Seonwoo Group. In terms of scale alone, Seonwoo Group was a major corporation ranking within the top ten in the country, but the Seonwoo Group family was thoroughly excluded from representative business social circles, such as meetings of company heads or the Youngwoo Club, the gathering of the second generation.

Chairman Choi Taebeom was displeased with the high entry barriers of the business world, but there was nothing he could do. It was because, however underhanded and petty it might be, the difference in the quality of shared information between being inside their fence and outside it was beyond imagination.

If he could lobby with money, it would be easier, but there was no way that would work on people already overflowing with wealth. After bowing his head and groveling countless times, yet finding the door still wouldn’t open no matter how much he knocked, Chairman Choi finally decided, as the next best option, to use his eldest son Choi Moohyuk’s superior trait.

Because the probability of a dominant Alpha or dominant Omega being born between individuals of dominant trait is high, a dominant-trait person was overwhelmingly the first choice as a desired spouse in political and business circles. Using this point, Chairman Choi pushed ahead with a marriage of political and business convenience by putting forward the trait of his dominant Alpha son, Choi Moohyuk.

The result was a success.

The high-nosed figures of the political and business world finally began to react to the dominant Alpha card Chairman Choi presented.

His hair having turned as white as the years that had passed him by, yet with a face that was by no means gentle, Chairman Choi Taebeom sat in the seat of honor on the sofa.

Summoned, Choi Moohyuk sat with his back straight, his lips pressed firmly shut. As Chairman Choi, who had been looking at Choi Moohyuk with some displeasure, gestured with his chin, Secretary Kim, who followed him like a shadow, took out a photograph from within his jacket and held it out before Choi Moohyuk.

“The cherished only daughter of Assemblyman Park. I hear she is an Omega quite renowned in those circles for her intelligence.”

Only then did Choi Moohyuk raise his eyes to look at Chairman Choi before shifting his gaze to the photograph. Everything about the woman in the photo was the opposite image of Choi Moohyuk. While Choi Moohyuk, with his pomade-styled hair neatly swept back, straight brow bones and dark eyebrows, moderately sized eyes without double eyelids, a prominent nose, and lips stubbornly pressed in a straight line, gave off a curt impression despite being a standard handsome type, the woman in the photo was a classic beauty, dressed neatly and exuding a kind smile.

“The 16th, 6 PM, at the 00 Hotel restaurant. Meet her nicely.”

Rethinking the date, Choi Moohyuk looked back at Chairman Choi.

“If it’s the 16th, isn’t that today?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

Chairman Choi raised one eyebrow as if to ask what that mattered. His reaction was as if to say, what’s the issue since it’s after work anyway.

“….”

Meeting his eyes for a moment, Choi Moohyuk wordlessly turned his gaze back to the photo. Very briefly, an unpleasant expression flickered across Choi Moohyuk’s face, but it quickly changed back to a blank look.

“When my grown son can’t find his way and is wandering around, shouldn’t I, his father, step in?”

“….”

“Make a proper go of it this time.”

Tucking the photo carefully into his jacket, Choi Moohyuk rose from his seat and lightly tugged down his wrinkled jacket to straighten it. Uncharmingly pressing his lips in a straight line, he still silently bowed his head deeply and turned around.

Glancing at Choi Moohyuk, Chairman Choi clicked his tongue tzzt as if he found something lacking.