FF Chapter 38

Choi Muhyeok didn’t know what method Lee Hyunjun was using to find him, but if he was determined to hide, it wouldn’t be easy for him to come out on his own.

‘I wish there was a more certain way to catch him…!’

The thought abruptly cut off as if it had been severed by scissors. Ji Yeonwoo’s pupils dilated, and he took a small breath.

It was because a memory he’d forgotten had just flashed through his mind.

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Choi Muhyeok tore a piece of braised beef from one of the side dishes and placed it on top of Ji Yeonwoo’s rice bowl. Ji Yeonwoo, who had jerked his head up, met Choi Muhyeok’s gaze. Choi gave a look, urging him to eat.

Ji Yeonwoo’s chopstick handling was clumsy. From earlier, he had been picking at the rice and side dishes, glancing at Choi Muhyeok, who sat across from him. He looked like someone with something to say.

Choi Muhyeok didn’t rush him and waited quietly. After hesitating for a long while, Ji Yeonwoo finally put down his chopsticks.

“Muhyeok, I have something to tell you.”

Choi Muhyeok’s face tensed at Ji Yeonwoo’s unusual demeanor.

“I know you’ll handle it well, but I want to help, even if it’s just a little.”

Choi Muhyeok, who had been quietly listening, raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard that Lee Hyunjun has disappeared.”

Choi Muhyeok nodded in agreement.

“Yes. Ever since he ran off that day, he’s vanished without a trace and hasn’t appeared.”

“You’re not thinking of reporting it to the police, are you?”

“That would be a last resort. There isn’t enough evidence anyway, and this time, I want to handle it myself.”

“Then what if… there’s evidence that he stalked me and used violence? Couldn’t that help later on?”

Choi Muhyeok, who had been silently listening, tensed up.

“But there isn’t any, right? That day, only you and Lee Hyunjun were at your place. I arrived late and didn’t see what happened before. So I don’t know if we can call anything proof….”

“Muhyeok, it wasn’t just me and Lee Hyunjun in my house that day.”

As they continued their conversation, Choi Muhyeok squinted his eyes, sensing something strange.

“What do you mean by that?”

Ji Yeonwoo spoke with a determined expression.

“Actually, there’s a home cam I installed when I moved in.”

“A home cam?”

Choi Muhyeok asked, surprised.

“Yes. The technician who installed my internet recommended it, saying it’s a must-have for people living alone these days. I installed it, but I’ve never looked at it.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s installed in a corner of the ceiling. Since it’s for home use, it’s not that big, so it doesn’t stand out much. If it’s working properly, it should’ve recorded everything from that day. It was dark since the lights weren’t on, but my place gets enough natural light that it won’t be too hard to make things out.”

After hearing all this, Choi Muhyeok remained silent for a while. He didn’t think it was useless information, but seeing the serious expression on his face made Ji Yeonwoo feel uneasy.

Choi Muhyeok was usually good at picking up on his thoughts and expressing them, but no matter how many times it happened, Ji Yeonwoo still couldn’t read anyone’s mind.

“Alright. I’ll check the footage, so…”

Choi Muhyeok trailed off as he placed more side dishes on top of Ji Yeonwoo’s barely touched rice bowl.

“Don’t worry about it, Yeonwoo. Just eat.”

They were all dishes Ji Yeonwoo liked—beef bulgogi and stir-fried potatoes.

“Your rice hasn’t gone down at all.”

“Oh…”

Seeing Ji Yeonwoo holding his chopsticks but not eating, Choi Muhyeok spoke again.

“Don’t leave anything behind. Finish it all so you can get your check-up and treatment soon.”

As Ji Yeonwoo quietly watched, he let out a small sigh. The tension melted away, and his stiff body relaxed.

Finally, he scooped up some rice and the side dishes that Choi Muhyeok had placed on top, putting them in his mouth. As their eyes met, the corners of his previously tense lips lifted ever so slightly.

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Choi Muhyeok sat in his study, lost in thought, with his laptop open on the desk. In front of him was a small silver USB drive, barely the size of a fingertip.

The USB contained the footage from that day. Park Jincheol, who had backed it up, had mentioned that it had nearly been lost if he hadn’t gotten there in time.

Contrary to their concerns, the home cam installed in Ji Yeonwoo’s house had been working well. However, because it was a consumer-grade CCTV with limited storage, it could only hold footage for seven days before older recordings were overwritten. Fortunately, Park Jincheol had backed up the footage just before the sixth day turned into the seventh, narrowly saving it.

So far, so good. But even though Choi Muhyeok had the video in his hands, he couldn’t bring himself to watch it. To be honest, he was afraid of what he would see.

Even now, though the bruises on Ji Yeonwoo’s face had faded slightly, they were still visible. His lips, which had been split and caked with blood, were surely recorded in the footage.

Ji Yeonwoo probably didn’t want anyone to see him being beaten or mistreated. Choi had tried to lighten the mood when he noticed how hesitant Yeonwoo was to bring it up, but the events of that day had left scars on him too, just as they had on Yeonwoo.

It had happened while he was away, after all.

Holding the USB in his hand, Choi Muhyeok took several deep breaths before finally inserting it into his laptop. Moving the mouse, he opened the folder containing the backed-up files. The sound of double-clicking echoed as the Pandora’s box was opened.

Since the lights hadn’t been turned on, the screen was dark, but it wasn’t completely black. The faint light from electronic devices and the glow that seeped in from outside through the windows made it possible to distinguish shapes.

The footage went back to about an hour before Choi Muhyeok had arrived. As he watched the screen, his eyes narrowed, deep wrinkles forming between his brows.

The sound was quiet, so he turned the volume to its maximum.

“Does Choi Muhyeok treat you well? How well? Does he keep you up all night, holding you? I bet all your holes are loose by now. You’ve been living at that bastard’s place, haven’t you?”

The sound of things breaking and crashing echoed from the laptop. Among it were Lee Hyunjun’s crude words. The longer the footage played, the darker Choi Muhyeok’s expression became.

Up until that point, he had been holding it together…

“I mean, does this make any sense? Just because he was drugged, he gets pheromone deficiency? How can a dominant omega be so weak? Did you fake the genetic test to marry me? Were you never a dominant omega to begin with?”

At the end of Lee Hyunjun’s wild accusations, a faint sobbing sound followed. Hearing that, Choi Muhyeok’s patience snapped.

“That bastard…”

Choi Muhyeok clenched his fist resting on the desk, his knuckles turning white with the force. Now he understood, at least a little, why Ji Yeonwoo was so desperate to get tested and wanted to recover his pheromones.

‘I’m really a dominant omega. I didn’t manipulate any genetic data; I really was one. If I just recover my pheromones, then….’

It had always seemed strange. He found it odd that there were no pheromones, but he never doubted Ji Yeonwoo’s claim of being a dominant omega. Even so, Ji Yeonwoo’s sudden collapse and his insistence that he hadn’t tampered with his genes now made sense.

Unable to finish watching the video, Choi Muhyeok closed the window and leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair.

Anger surged within him. He wanted to track down and tear apart that bastard Lee Hyunjun, but it seemed that Hyunjun knew he wouldn’t get away unharmed if caught, which was why he’d completely disappeared.

But there’s no way he could stay hidden forever. Choi Muhyeok had already started discreetly probing the people around Hyunjun—his assistants and others who frequently interacted with him. It was only a matter of time before someone slipped up.

Choi Muhyeok shut the laptop with a loud snap and leaned back in his chair, his face tense. He opened a drawer, took out a cigarette and a Zippo lighter. Ever since letting Ji Yeonwoo stay with him, he rarely smoked inside, but today, it felt impossible to hold back.

Just as he placed the cigarette in his mouth and flipped open the lighter, his phone vibrated on the desk. It was a call from Park Jincheol.

He put down the cigarette and lighter, picked up the phone instead.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

As soon as he answered, Park Jincheol’s urgent voice came through.

“We’ve found him.”

Choi Muhyeok’s expression instantly turned icy.

It wasn’t anger—it was the face of a predator with its prey in sight.

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“Damn it. Thought my head was going to explode.”

Lee Hyunjun cursed under his breath, rubbing the spot where Ji Yeonwoo had smashed him with a flowerpot. A scar remained from the stitches.

“They’re a perfect match for each other. One’s a thug, and the other’s the thug’s lover.”

He clicked his tongue in irritation. When he heard a small laugh from beside him, he turned to see an omega sitting close by, lifting their shirt a little, inviting him to come closer. Showing little interest, Lee Hyunjun pulled the omega’s shirt up further and buried his face in their chest.

Two alphas sitting on the opposite couch watched the scene, quietly smoking their cigarettes.

“So, have you given up yet?” one of them asked.

Lee Hyunjun, who had been leaving marks on the omega’s chest, stopped briefly. His swollen, unattractive face twisted into a scowl.

“Give up? What do you mean, give up?”

Feigning ignorance, he heard the alphas chuckle. Unbothered, Hyunjun focused back on the omega.

“This guy still hasn’t come to his senses.”

“You sure it’s okay to be out here like this? I heard Choi Muhyeok’s been asking around about you.”

Hyunjun only reacted when he heard Choi Muhyeok’s name. As if struck, he flinched and lost all interest in what he had been doing, roughly pushing the omega off him.

“So, what? What do you want to know? How badly I got beat up? You can’t tell just by looking? Or do you need to see my bruises to believe it?”

Irritated, Hyunjun yelled at the alphas, making one of them, who had been sitting with crossed legs, scowl as he responded.

“Why are you getting so worked up? I wasn’t even that curious. But because you’ve been in hiding, people won’t stop calling me about you. What kind of grudge do you have against Choi Muhyeok, anyway?”

“Why the hell is that any of your business? If you called me out for drinks, just pay up and shut up. Stop stirring things up.”

“What an attitude. Then why don’t you go meet Choi Muhyeok yourself and settle things?”

Another alpha added, “I heard Muhyeok’s guys have been visiting people you’re associated with.”

Lee Hyunjun’s face stiffened at those words. Gritting his teeth, he glared intensely at the wall, his jaw clenched tightly.

“I know, damn it.”

Muttering curses under his breath, Hyunjun slumped into a chair and ran a hand roughly through his hair. He’d already heard the warnings from Jung Doowon and a few of his remaining assistants. They’d mentioned that Muhyeok’s men had started following them, saying the atmosphere was getting dangerous. Hyunjun hadn’t even dared to step outside to a nearby convenience store.

What finally brought him out after seven days of hiding was a call from these alphas, promising drinks at a VIP club—somewhere Choi Muhyeok supposedly couldn’t reach. If they hadn’t mentioned the exclusivity, he never would have shown up.

Damn, I should’ve stayed hidden. Just one more day and I could’ve been fine. I should’ve ignored the invite.

Under normal circumstances, the alphas would have brought omegas to join in on the fun. But tonight, for some reason, only Hyunjun had an omega at his side, while the others simply smoked and drank. It felt off, unsettling even. Pretending to sip from his glass, he eyed them warily.

One of the alphas finally spoke up, “By the way, is Choi Muhyeok really that scary? Why’s everyone so scared of him?”

The other answered, “He’s got a reputation, man. People say if you cross him, you won’t even be able to collect your bones. He’s known for leaving no trace—clean, efficient work.”

As he listened, he was reminded of Secretary Jung Doowon, who had twisted his ankle and was still limping around. The thought that Doowon might have to live as a cripple for the rest of his life sent a shiver down his spine.

“Honestly, I find Choi Muhyeok scarier than Chairman Choi. At least Chairman Choi used to settle things with his fists back in the day, so there’s some simplicity to him. But Choi Muhyeok? He’s not only smart but also sharp. He’s quick-witted, quick to think on his feet, and he has the wealth to back it all up. He’s a real headache as an enemy, but when he’s on your side, he’s the type to go all in, so a lot of people follow him.”

“Really? Is he that intense?”

“Is that all? He’s also a dominant alpha. At this point, who cares that he’s the son of a mistress from the entertainment scene? Being a dominant alpha alone is a game-changer.”

The gazes of the alphas exchanging words turned toward Lee Hyunjun, who was sitting across from them.

“His specs are incomparable to a certain someone who kicked a high-class omega out the door.”

Lee Hyunjun frowned as he overheard the alphas’ conversation. He picked up his glass, his hands trembling so much that the ice inside clinked.

It was becoming clear to him that Choi Muhyeok wasn’t just all talk. The memory of that day, when he had no choice but to take a punch to the face while being grabbed by the collar, still haunted his dreams.

“What are you going to do now?” one of the alphas asked.

Lost in thought, Lee Hyunjun raised his head with the glass at his lips. The two alphas sitting across from him were now staring directly at him.

After moving his eyes toward them without a word, Lee Hyunjun rolled the bitterness on his tongue and finally spoke.

“Whether that bastard looks for me or not, tomorrow’s my last day.”

“Last day?”

“Oh, right. It’s today now. Only four hours left.”

Lee Hyunjun glanced at his wristwatch as he spoke.

“Once I leave Korea, how’s he going to find me? It’s not like he’ll chase me overseas.”

“You’re really leaving Korea?”

A sly smile crept across Lee Hyunjun’s face.

“Yeah. I plan to live abroad for a few years. Maybe I’ll settle there, depending on how it goes.”

“…Where are you going?”

“Are you out of your mind? Why would I tell you? What if Choi Muhyeok threatens you, and you spill everything?”

He took a sip from his glass, tilting it to let the liquor flow into his mouth. Beyond his lowered gaze, he saw the alphas exchange uneasy glances.

“Let them break their backs trying to find me. Good luck finding someone who’s not even in Korea.”

With a loud clink, Lee Hyunjun set his glass down on the table and got to his feet.

“I’m heading out. Thanks for the drinks.”

“Hey, wait a minute…”

One of the alphas, who had been the most vocal in praising Choi Muhyeok, grabbed Lee Hyunjun’s arm as he tried to pass by. Hyunjun shook him off and walked toward the door. Just as he reached for the handle, there was a knock.

Knock knock.

The two crisp knocks echoed chillingly through the room.

“What the hell? Who is it?”

Lee Hyunjun quickly withdrew his hand from the doorknob, backing away with a halted breath as he stared at the closed door.

“Who’s there?”

He shouted toward the door, his voice tense. The silence from the other side only heightened the unbearable tension that filled the room.

After glaring at the door for a while with a scowl on his face, Lee Hyunjun slowly approached and turned the knob.

The door creaked open.

“…!”

Lee Hyunjun’s eyes widened in shock as he gasped, staggering backward with uneven breaths.

Standing in the doorway, tightening the fingerless leather gloves on his hands, was Choi Muhyeok, dressed in a black leather jacket.

“H-how… how did you…?”

Lee Hyunjun stammered in disbelief at the sight in front of him.

Choi Muhyeok’s lips seemed to curl into a faint smirk, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. In the blink of an eye, he was back to his expressionless self, his gaze as sharp as a knife piercing through Lee Hyunjun.

Seeing his cold, unyielding face, Lee Hyunjun knew instantly—he was screwed.

“…Shit!”

His mind seemed to freeze, his thoughts paralyzed. In a panic, Lee Hyunjun turned back toward the room, desperate to escape. But before he could take more than a few steps, a loud thud echoed as he was sent flying to the ground.

“Ugh, cough—!”

Choi Muhyeok’s kick knocked the wind out of him, and Hyunjun gasped for breath, choking on the pain that felt like it was splitting his body in half.