PUCKD Ch 25

After the flight, he arrived home at 8 a.m. Feeling a fever coming on, Junghyun lay down on the bed as soon as he had washed up.

It was the seasonal cold he always got whenever the seasons changed. Seeing that it was a little more severe than usual, it seemed like it would last a little longer this time.

It was probably the aftereffect of doing something as ill-suited as being the CEO of a sports team. Did he have any medicine at home? He thought he might have run out of everything.

He wondered if he should get up to check, but he had no motivation. It was just a bout of aches and pains that came and went, so it would probably be fine to just leave it.

It seemed he had dozed off after that. His heavy eyes barely opened at the sound of a continuous vibration. Fumbling for his phone, he saw it was a call from his mother.

He was instantly wide awake. He cleared his throat a couple of times so his voice wouldn’t sound too hoarse, and only then did he press the call button.

“Yes, Mother.”

—Junghyun. It’s your shot day today, right?

Was that already today? His sense of time had dulled due to the jet lag and fever. When he gave an affirmative answer, a bright voice was heard.

—Right, it’s at 11, isn’t it? I should go offer my prayers at that time too.

“Ah… That temple you’ve been going to lately?”

—Yes. This temple is really great, Junghyun. Do you know what the head monk said yesterday? He said that thanks to me, even the Buddha would be smiling broadly. I should have prayed here in the old days. Then my son would have manifested long ago.

Junghyun paused for a moment before replying, “I suppose so.”

His mother had attended a Catholic church for a very long time. It was her birth religion. The point at which she started going to a temple was right after Junghyun was sent to study abroad in America, practically kicked out.

The son she had devoted her whole life to had failed to meet expectations, and her heart had grown so sick that she had abandoned her faith. At that time, his mother needed something to lean on.

So Junghyun was truly grateful that, whether it was a temple, a church, or a cult, it brought even a moment of peace to his mother’s heart.

—When you suddenly said you were going to start a sports team, your father and everyone around you were very worried, weren’t they?

His mother spoke as if humming a song, seeming to be in a good mood for once.

—Do you know why I didn’t object then?

“No.”

—The head monk here said so. He said you absolutely had to take that CEO position, that only then would what you want, Junghyun, and what I want, be achieved. You remember, don’t you? The head monk here told us in advance about Kihyuk’s investigation last time?

“Ah, ah…”

—And look at this. As if the Buddha himself arranged it, there’s a dominant alpha player on your team, isn’t there? And he readily agreed to pheromone collection too. He’ll be truly blessed. Be sure to tell him I’m very grateful.

Junghyun gave a bitter smile.

The fact that there was a dominant alpha on that team was not due to the Buddha’s arrangement but to his own sordid obsession and dirty desires, and he couldn’t possibly tell his mother, who lived only for her son, that the pheromone collection had been flatly refused.

“I will.”

—Okay, Junghyun. Well then, get your shot today. And you too, thank the Buddha whenever you have a moment.

“Yes.”

With those words, his mother hung up. Junghyun slowly exhaled a hot breath from the fever and forced his reluctant body up.

Kwon Junghyun’s cycle for visiting the pheromone clinic was once a week.

The sole reason Junghyun, a beta, visited this place was to receive alpha pheromone injections.

Upon arriving at the clinic, Junghyun exchanged a nod with the familiar employee at the reception desk.

“Hello. I have an 11 a.m. appointment.”

“Ah… you’re here.”

The face of the employee, who always greeted him with a smiling face, was somehow dark. When there were no instructions even after he approached the reception desk, a puzzled Junghyun asked.

“Is there a problem?”

“…Madam is inside right now.”

“My mother?”

The employee’s expression as she nodded was not good. She had definitely said she was going to the temple. Why was she here? A bad feeling crept over him. Junghyun headed in the direction the employee indicated with her eyes.

At that moment, a hysterical voice echoed down the corridor.

“Where does this woman get the nerve to talk back to me so uncivilly!? Do you have any idea how much I pay this hospital?”

“I was only answering because you asked…”

“This lowly woman, really…!”

As soon as he turned the corner, he saw his mother’s back. Junghyun quickly called out to her.

“Mother.”

Her face as she turned around looked just like a yaksha.

Junghyun glanced at the nurse with a dark impression standing in front of his mother and then turned his gaze back to his mother. The first priority was to separate his mother from that employee.

“Didn’t you say you were going to the temple today?”

“The head monk wasn’t in today, so I came here. To see you.”

“Good. Shall we go outside and talk?”

Junghyun gently wrapped his arm around his mother’s shoulder and led her outside. After seating his mother in a quiet space, Junghyun offered her the warm tea prepared for guests.

His mother, though still breathing heavily as her anger hadn’t subsided, took a sip of the black tea Junghyun offered.

After waiting for her to calm down at least a little, Junghyun slowly opened his mouth.

“What were you talking about?”

“No, Junghyun. I was just trying to check the pheromones my son is getting, and that wench kept insisting I couldn’t.”

“Mother. You shouldn’t speak like that.”

“Am I the type of person to do that to just anyone? It’s because that woman deserved it. Another nurse confirmed it for me, and she said what my son is getting isn’t dominant pheromones!”

Junghyun let out a small groan.

“…There must have been some kind of mistake.”

“Right. Of course. But that woman is shamelessly insisting that no dominant pheromones have come in! After all my son has done to start a sports team!”

Junghyun silently opened the lid of the container holding sugar cubes, following his mother’s gesture. The sharp edges of the sugar cube that fell into the black tea crumbled little by little each time the teaspoon made a circle.

His mother took another sip of the black tea, in which the sugar had completely dissolved, and then let out a much more stable breath.

“Junghyun, now that you’re being called CEO, you should know this well. When your subordinates make a mistake, you must set a clear example. Otherwise, they’ll look down on you and walk all over you without end. That’s the nature of the uneducated and lowly.”

“……Yes. You’ve said so often. Even when my brother caused that assault incident on the plane.”

“Right. Then too. Kihyuk was just so unlucky. He got caught up with some crazy person and even had to be investigated by the local police, didn’t he? It’s ridiculous, really. Whose money do they think their salary comes from? Uneducated bastards.”

“……”

“My poor Junghyun. If it weren’t for that incident…”

His mother stroked Junghyun’s face with her small hand, looking pitiful. Junghyun habitually pulled the corners of his mouth up.

“I need to contact Director Kim before I go. How can Director Kim be so bad at judging people? He should fire an employee like that immediately.”

“I’ll talk to him. Mother, don’t worry about it anymore and go home and rest.”

“Really, will you? No. Still, it’s better if I talk to him.”

“I’m just worried you’ll collapse like last time, Mother.”

“…My good son. Alright, then Mom will go first. You take care of things.”

“Yes.”

Junghyun called the driver and escorted his mother out of the building. His mother, her benevolent and beautiful face restored, smiled as Junghyun saw her off.

“Hoo.”

Only after the car was completely out of sight did Junghyun return to the hospital building. He asked the receptionist and found the location of the employee from before.

“You must have been very startled because of my mother.”

The woman looked a little surprised to see Junghyun.

“I should have apologized right away, but I was too flustered earlier. I’m sorry.”

The woman glanced up at Junghyun and then carefully spoke again.

“But um… earlier, you were talking about telling the director…”

“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. I’ll make sure nothing is said.”

“…Yes. Then, should I prepare the usual for you today?”

“Please do.”

She nodded silently and began to set up the alpha pheromones for injection.

“……”

Junghyun watched her for a moment and then let out a light sigh.

He felt sorry for the employee, but he first thought it was a relief that his mother had left smiling in the end.

His mother had changed at some point.

She wanted to be treated as the perfect mistress of Myeongjeong, and she wanted that to be proven by looking down on and trampling on people who had less than her.

But paradoxically, that side of his mother was probably revealed because she herself didn’t think she was the real mistress of Myeongjeong.

Because the social status she so desired could only be achieved through her alpha son.

Therefore, the reason his mother had changed was all because he had ultimately failed to manifest as an alpha.

“Please confirm the pheromone label.”

At the employee’s words, Junghyun, pulled from his thoughts, smiled with just the corners of his mouth, his eyes habitually unsmiling.

This useless act will also be over in a year.

Perhaps because it was something he had done his whole life, the feeling of bitterness still outweighed the feeling of relief.

“Yes.”

“Beginning the injection.”

The needle pierced his skin with a sharp sting. Junghyun slowly closed his eyes.