Flower Fiancé Chapter 54

Choi Moohyuk swiped through the photos on the phone screen with his thumb. Ji Yeonwoo, trapped within the screen, was mostly focused on his work inside Flower Fiancé, and interspersed throughout, he wore a consistent expression in consistent situations.

A face smiling happily while on the phone with someone, or while looking at someone.

That someone was none other than Choi Moohyuk.

Choi Moohyuk’s expression, as he lightly touched the screen with his thumb and swiped through the photos, contorted. He felt something boiling up inside him.

The fact that Ji Yeonwoo smiled only for him was more joyful than anything, but on the other hand, the fact that Lee Hyunjoon harbored ill intentions and had his sights set on this Ji Yeonwoo stoked Choi Moohyuk’s anger.

Choi Moohyuk handed the phone to Park Jincheol and stood before the man who had lost consciousness and was slumped over in the chair.

It had been Choi Moohyuk who had ordered Jung Doowon to be captured. While he had felt something suspicious around the shop the other day when he dropped Ji Yeonwoo off, the suspicious movement he had witnessed before they set out for their walk had driven the nail into that suspicion.

In truth, he had known for a while, but the reason he’d had them continue to watch was to figure out exactly what their intentions were. However, both Lee Hyunjoon and the actions of the people moving under Lee Hyunjoon’s orders seemed to be growing bolder, so he could no longer stand by and watch.

Choi Moohyuk took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, his eyes flashing open.

“What did you find out.”

Park Jincheol quickly approached and lit the end of the cigarette in his mouth.

“I apologize. He refused to open his mouth, no matter what.”

Pressing one eye with his finger as if tired, Choi Moohyuk sucked in until his cheeks hollowed, then exhaled the smoke—hoo—and spoke.

“Wake him.”

At his single word, the man standing next to Park Jincheol threw the water he was holding onto the unconscious Jung Doowon. Jung Doowon, doused with cold water in the still-chilly night air, gasped in shock—eup!—and jerked his head up.

Jung Doowon, blinking his eyes open blearily, flinched upon discovering Choi Moohyuk standing right in front of him. Overwhelmed by the sight of Choi Moohyuk—his tall 191cm frame, his large build hardened with muscle, and even his black suit—Jung Doowon began to tremble.

Jung Doowon, who had already completed his background research, knew well what kind of world Choi Moohyuk had been involved in and what kind of work he had done.

“Ma-, Managing Director Choi Moohyuk, I-I am….”

“No need for introductions. I already know perfectly well who you are and who you work for.”

Overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Jung Doowon trembled violently and stammered, but Choi Moohyuk cut him off as if he didn’t want to hear it.

“I know you won’t answer even if I ask why you were taking photos, anyway. Besides, a small fry like you, moving on Lee Hyunjoon’s orders, couldn’t possibly know the details of that lecherous plan either.”

“I truly, truly know nothing. I merely fol-, followed orders as given. I swear.”

Choi Moohyuk pressed his right eye with the fingers holding the cigarette and frowned as if irritated.

“I don’t want to hear that crap. I don’t know just how much nerve you had, to ignore the warning and keep doing that rat-like shit.”

Choi Moohyuk, eyes wide, glared at Jung Doowon, who was trembling and making grotesque sounds. His gaze, sharp as an awl, pierced into Jung Doowon.

“After going that far, you must have been prepared to offer up at least a finger when you got caught. Isn’t that right?”

The moment Choi Moohyuk’s voice echoed through the warehouse, Jung Doowon’s wide eyes filled with terror.

“N-, no, wait a moment. A fi-, a finger….”

“Untie him.”

At the command delivered in a low voice, the men standing guard behind him swarmed in, untied Jung Doowon from the chair, and seized him from both sides.

“Bring the axe.”

At the command that followed, everyone except Choi Moohyuk flinched and glanced around nervously.

“Didn’t you hear me?”

When no one moved and only looked around, Choi Moohyuk turned back and raised his voice. Only then did Park Jincheol signal to the subordinate standing next to him with a look. The man shuffled over hesitantly and handed the hatchet that had been at the back to Choi Moohyuk.

“Ugh, u-ugh, hng….”

Realizing that the situation unfolding was absolutely no joke, Jung Doowon, seized with extreme terror, made grotesque sounds.

One of the men holding Jung Doowon from both sides grabbed his arm and forcibly stretched it out. As Jung Doowon’s hand, clenched in a fist and struggling desperately, was pressed to the floor, Choi Moohyuk crushed Jung Doowon’s wrist down with one knee.

“This time, it ends with a single finger. But the day you appear before my eyes again, it’ll be hard for you to walk out alive. The same applies to Mr. Lee Hyunjoon, so go and relay this clearly. Do you understand?”

“Ah, uh, ugh….”

“Put your hand down properly. Unless you want to lose the whole wrist.”

Jung Doowon, drenched in cold sweat, looked up at Choi Moohyuk. There was not a trace of hesitation in Choi Moohyuk’s eyes or expression. It was the moment Choi Moohyuk, having finished speaking, raised the axe in his hand.

“Aaagh! W-, wai-, wait, wait!”

Jung Doowon screamed out as if shrieking and thrashed wildly. Choi Moohyuk, the hatchet still raised, moved only his eyes to look at Jung Doowon.

“W-, wa-, wait a moment. I-, I’ll tell you everything I know. I swear. I’ll t-, tell you everything.”

Taking advantage of the moment when the stance loosened slightly, Jung Doowon pulled his hand out from under Choi Moohyuk’s knee and prostrated himself on the floor, begging.

“I don’t know why the client is looking for Mr. Ji Yeonwoo. He just told me to keep an eye on Mr. Ji Yeonwoo’s surroundings without any further instructions, and I was merely following orders.”

“Then what are you proposing to tell me?”

Choi Moohyuk rubbed the inside of his cheek with the tip of his tongue and raised one eye. Jung Doowon, still glancing nervously at the hatchet in Choi Moohyuk’s hand, gulped down dryly.

“Ar-, aren’t you perhaps curious about what happened with Mr. Ji Yeonwoo?”

And as Choi Moohyuk listened to the words that followed from Jung Doowon, his eyes narrowed.

“I kn-, know how Mr. Ji Yeonwoo came to suffer from ph-, pheromone deficiency.”

“How would a nobody like you know that?”

“I-, I was the one who delivered the medicine that Mr. Ji Yeonwoo took at the time.”

Jung Doowon, his face covered in wounds, trembled violently yet desperately begged for his life.

Standing before him, Choi Moohyuk looked down, his cold gaze fixed on Jung Doowon.

∞ ∞ ∞

Choi Moohyuk, leaning against the elevator as it rose, braced his arms wide against the handrail and leaned back. His face was set in an expressionless mask, lost in thought.

‘The client had an intense fixation on Mr. Ji Yeonwoo’s pheromones from early on. However, right after they got married, it was only a slight obsession, but after he was introduced to pheromone amplifiers, he started turning sadistic.’

The grip of Choi Moohyuk’s hands on the elevator railing tightened until they turned white.

‘As you know, pheromone amplifiers were used as treatment for pheromone deficiency in Alphas or Omegas, but even knowing that excessive doses caused side effects, the CEO used it on Mr. Ji Yeonwoo, who had shown no abnormalities. Every time Mr. Ji Yeonwoo took that pheromone amplifier, they’d have relations in a state equivalent to a full-blown heat cycle, and after being controlled by the artificial pheromones, Mr. Ji Yeonwoo began showing abnormal symptoms about a year after starting the drug.’

The elevator stopped at the 25th floor, and the doors opened to either side. Choi Moohyuk walked down the corridor, both hands tucked into the pockets of his suit pants.

‘By the time they realized that the pheromone reaction no longer occurred even when taking the pheromone amplifiers, the pheromone deficiency had already progressed significantly, and I heard that ultimately, he received an incurable diagnosis.’

Half of it had been expected, and half was an answer that deviated from what he’d expected. He didn’t believe that Jung Doowon had truthfully confessed everything, but he thought that at least there were no lies in what he had said. The terror-filled look in his eyes had suggested as much.

Choi Moohyuk pressed the key code on the locked house and opened the door. The house was brightly lit, but there was no sign of anyone.

Sensing something strange, Choi Moohyuk first checked the front entrance. Only after confirming that Ji Yeonwoo’s shoes, which he had worn coming in, were still at the entrance as they had been, did he step inside.

He took off his jacket and threw it roughly onto the sofa, then looked around. He was just about to head to the bedroom, thinking Ji Yeonwoo might be sleeping.

That was when it happened.

From behind him, he heard the trickling sound of water running.