DHG Ch 1

The reason I keep seeing dead things is probably because I’m always looking down.

Heewoo, who had just witnessed his third unidentifiable insect carcass of the day, averted his gaze with a bruised face. His swollen eyes scanned the wrecked interior of “Benny,” his workplace.

Blood splattered the floor and walls as if someone had been crushed like a bug. The interior, perfectly fine just an hour ago, was now a scene of carnage. Heewoo was being dragged into the center of this hellish landscape.

“Walk properly. Before I break your legs.”

The hulking figure gripping the back of his neck threatened. Heewoo’s body swayed like a piece of paper in the man’s large hand.

He was continually dragged upwards into the darkness. Someone had turned off the lights on the staff staircase. He stumbled up the steps and past the broken door.

The president’s office, which they finally reached, was already in a frenzy.

“Wooo!”

Men crowded together like spectators, their cheers echoing, the air thick with heat and the stench of confinement. It resembled a fighting arena Heewoo had glimpsed on TV once.

The difference was that instead of a ring, a blood-soaked table stood in the center of the crowd.

The men were completely focused on it, oblivious to the hulking figure and Heewoo who had just entered. Thwack! Along with the sound of tearing leather, something heavy and soaked in blood tumbled onto the table. A wave of laughter and cheers erupted.

“The rules are simple. Endure one punch from our Managing Director, and you’re free to go.”

Heewoo flinched despite his dazed state at the brute’s announcement. Managing Director? Endure one punch? Judging by the punch he’d just witnessed, the thing whose face had been caved in wasn’t a bug, but a person.

As he was being dragged, Heewoo suddenly realized there were Alphas mixed in with the frenzied crowd. The air, thick with the excitement of violence, was overflowing with Alpha pheromones.

“Here’s the runaway bird.”

The brute shoved Heewoo into the middle of the fray. A dull pain spread through his stomach and chest. Heewoo realized he had been thrown onto the blood-soaked table. He scrambled back in terror, and a chorus of laughter, “Wahaha,” exploded around him.

Then a presence invaded his vision.

Black shoes, a black suit, two relaxed fists, a watch clasped around a strong wrist.

Heewoo involuntarily looked up at the giant figure leaning against the desk. Perhaps it was the dim lighting, but at first, he could only see half of the man’s face. This man was likely the one responsible for this horrific scene.

“A new face.”

A voice laced with amusement.

A few strands of his perfectly styled hair had fallen onto his forehead. Droplets of blood speckled the visible contours of his face. Heewoo’s gaze, tracing the bloodstains, locked with the man’s downward gaze.

Suddenly, the man opened his mouth wide in an exaggerated expression and strode towards Heewoo, his long limbs swinging. As he straightened his hunched posture, the oppressive presence of his large frame became even more pronounced.

“….!”

Was it his unusual appearance, or the violent scene as a backdrop? Heewoo felt crushed by the intangible pressure emanating from the man. He lowered his gaze, overwhelmed by fear. He struggled to breathe, his lungs constricted. The man spoke in a laughing voice.

“This is the next contestant?”

Really? At the mocking question, Heewoo scrambled to sit up. He fumbled, oblivious to the pain in his swollen face. Another burst of raucous laughter, “Wahaha,” erupted.

“Such a weakling. He’ll probably pass out from a single blow.”

The man jeered. Whistles of agreement echoed around the room.

“Or maybe, I should hit him with something else?”

The man suggestively gestured towards his groin. The room erupted in the loudest laughter yet.

“He’s, he’s Kim Jinhwan’s lover!”

A voice, different in tone from the others, cut through the noise. Kim Jinhwan. The name of the establishment’s owner, who had fled earlier. The boisterous atmosphere, fueled by the captured remnants of his crew, quieted down.

“…….”

Heewoo, forgetting his fear, felt a surge of resentment. He recognized the voice of the informant.

But he didn’t have time to react. The tall man standing before him let out a surprised exclamation. Heewoo’s attention was instinctively drawn to him.

“This is the Beta body Kim Jinhwan was so crazy about?”

The man’s previously indifferent gaze sharpened.

His eyes, strikingly bright even under the dim lighting, fixed on Heewoo. Heewoo felt his resentment soften. Body. The word was right. He was never Kim Jinhwan’s lover.

“The little shit’s ignoring the boss! Open your legs! Do you want your life to be over?”

Impatience flared as the silence stretched.

Hands reached out from behind, shoving him roughly. Heewoo instinctively covered his head. His shoulders and neck were grabbed fiercely, and he was thrown backwards.

Stop, stop. The man laughed and waved his hand. With that single gesture, Heewoo was free. As he hurriedly straightened himself, the man scrutinized him.

“Looking closely, he does kind of look like an Omega.”

Heewoo’s heart plummeted at those words. As he tried to maintain a neutral expression, a large, polished shoe approached. The toe of the shoe, shiny black and smeared with blood, came closer. The stench of blood, Alpha pheromones, and all sorts of primal, savage scents intensified.

The suffocating moment was brief. In the next instant, Heewoo struggled. The man’s hand reached inside his clothes.

“….!”

A large hand, big enough to cover his entire face, roughly forced its way into the stretched neckline of his shirt. He struggled against the hand that was callously exploring his collarbone and upper chest, but then gasped as the man’s other hand grabbed the back of his head. The grip was excruciating. The man easily rummaged inside his stretched shirt.

“You seem to be mistaken about something.”

As Heewoo gave up resisting and went limp, the grip loosened. The man continued in an appraising tone, addressing Heewoo who hung like captured prey.

“Whether you’re a Beta or an Omega, I don’t get a boner for other guys.”

Heewoo’s gaze involuntarily lifted at those words. The bored, disinterested tone momentarily lowered his guard.

The man’s gaze met his instantly. As if he had been watching him all along, his eyes seemed to pierce through him.

His eyes were striking. A light brown, or perhaps the color of fallen leaves? They gleamed brightly even under the dim fluorescent lights.

“And I don’t have a hobby of using other people’s leftovers.”

A scornful look swept down from Heewoo’s trembling cheeks and chin, across his captured neck. When the gaze fell on his worn-out sweatshirt and jeans with protruding knees, Heewoo snapped back to reality. He quickly dropped his head again.

The man moved his hand as if it didn’t matter either way. His long fingers wrapped around the necklace Heewoo was wearing.

“Ugh-!”

A sharp pain shot through him as the necklace snapped. The hand retreated instantly. It seemed its only purpose, after rummaging so roughly inside his shirt, had been to take the necklace.

“This is collateral.”

He said something absurd about the necklace with its ambiguous leaf-or-feather pendant. The necklace was his mother’s memento, but… He didn’t have a chance to speak. The broken memento was handed to another man who had been waiting like a shadow behind the first.

Take him away. At the command from above, Heewoo was grabbed by the brute again. He was pulled away from the man, away from the space thick with the smell of blood and pheromones. Heewoo suddenly realized he hadn’t been hit even once.

Another victim was placed in the spot he had vacated. Cheers erupted again, triggered by the man’s fist. Bang, the door slammed shut. Heewoo squeezed his eyes shut, feeling dizzy.

✮⋆˙

Benny was a discreet entertainment establishment tucked deep in an alley of a district known for its high foot traffic in Seoul.

Within the maze-like, bustling streets, kept impeccably clean as befitting a wealthy area, the building became easier to find at night than during the bright, sunny day.

Unlike the surrounding buildings that eagerly switched on their neon signs as darkness fell, this building, with its carefully crafted exterior, was illuminated only by soft lighting. At first glance, it resembled a well-built luxury villa. Beyond the high walls, the front of the building, facing the road with its three stories, was made of glass, but the interior was completely invisible. Giant, spotless double-paned windows thoroughly concealed what lay within.

Benny’s ability to maintain such a quiet operating policy was due to a specific reason. Unlike other establishments that catered to wealthy clients and used them as sponsors, Benny had a powerful backer from the start.

Geumsan.

A nationwide criminal organization founded and painstakingly brought into the semi-legitimate world by Jang Chun-bae.

Chairman Jang originally had only one biological son, Jang Joo-shin, who, having already passed forty, was naturally designated as his successor. That was until last year, when Chairman Jang brought in a young thug as his new confidant and enforcer.

Jang Seungyung. He was Chairman Jang’s new right-hand man, the subject of rumors about being an illegitimate son, and the man who had taken over Benny at the end of August.