TIN 169

The man was smarter than I thought, and as someone who had crawled his way up from the bottom, he was quick-witted. He knew how to walk the line exquisitely in situations where one more word would be dangerous. He seemed to be afraid of me, but sometimes he treated me comfortably, and that gap was truly subtle.

To put it nicely, he didn’t bother me; to put it badly, he lacked sincerity. Everyone who came to this house was desperate to get into my good graces, but the man tried to avoid being noticed as much as possible. If I didn’t call him, he wouldn’t bother to find me, and when guests visited, he would lock himself in his room and hide.

Perhaps that’s why, when I saw the man, I often thought of him as a house cat. One with neatly groomed fur, who hated strangers, and only ate expensive food. At first, he would bristle as much as possible, but once he got used to being handled, he would become much more docile.

I won’t deny that I deliberately acted more affectionate. I didn’t like his subtly sharp appearance, so I showed him only the best of myself as much as I could. He seemed to have been shocked by the blood on the first day, so I thought I should soothe him a little now.

I deliberately had meals with him and filled the room with books and toys. I even personally dressed him in gifts that I would normally just throw down and leave.

‘Just try on the clothes. I didn’t know your size, so I told them to buy them roughly.’

Honestly, it was fun. Was it because it was the first time I had bought something damaged, or was it because the man was truly beautiful like a doll? The feeling of fixing and filling him with my own hands was very rewarding.

‘Your feet are smaller than I thought.’

Why is everything so small and light? I didn’t think he was such a small person, but when I held him in my hands, he seemed so fragile that he would break. Especially his wrists and ankles, which were exposed outside his clothes.

It would be nice to feed him well and let him sleep well so he could gain some weight. He’s not bad now, but if he stays like this, it won’t look like I put in any effort.

‘Don’t you like it?’

Unfortunately, the man showed no interest in anything I gave him. Clothes, jewelry, shoes, car keys, even perfume. He seemed to be beyond indifferent, even uncomfortable.

At first, I thought he didn’t know the value of the items, but he wouldn’t let me throw them away, so that didn’t seem to be the case. Was he putting on airs, or was it just stirring up my competitive spirit? I wanted to draw a smile on that expressionless face, even just once.

‘I’ll buy you everything here.’

I took him to a department store that I rarely went to and showed him a lot of expensive things. At first, he seemed a little curious, but later he openly closed his mouth with a tired face. I don’t know if he didn’t like the unfamiliar place or the unfamiliar people. Or maybe it was both.

In the end, what I bought there was a swimsuit that I hadn’t even considered in the first place. My mansion had a swimming pool, but I didn’t enjoy getting into the water. Besides, I didn’t think someone who sold his body in such a place would know how to swim.

In the case of the poor people living across the street, it was common for them not to even have been in deep water, let alone learn how to swim. The only opportunity they had to access a swimming pool was when they visited resorts for entertainment.

‘Then shall we put that on and go swimming?’

But he knows how to swim.

Disgusting. Who taught him that, some pervert? Unless he lived in the sea like his name, it was obvious where and how he learned it. Considering his origins, I knew what he might have done in the process.

But the assumption that briefly came to mind changed in a different direction the moment I saw the man’s upper body in the swimming pool attached to the mansion. He was about to go into the water wearing a T-shirt, so I told him to take it off.

‘…….’

His bare body, exposed under the sunlight, looked as smooth as if it were made of plaster. His shoulders and collarbones were prominent, but he wasn’t so skinny that he looked unsightly. His nipples, as pale as his white skin, were pink, which perverted people with strange tastes would like.

Well, that wasn’t the important thing. The important thing was that no matter how carefully I looked, there was no trace of the things that should have been there.

‘You don’t have any scars.’

He was beaten so badly in Oceans, but there was no trace of abuse on his body. Even if he was treated preciously because he was an expensive product, it was strange that he was so clean. It would be different if he was older, but he would have lived on the streets when he was young.

I’m glad I told him to take off his clothes to check his bare body. The things I thought were strange began to fit together one by one. The fact that he knew how to subtract, that he could distinguish left from right, that he had read fairy tales, and that his eating habits were gentle.

‘Okay, now let’s go in and swim.’

An Omega. Sent by Father, or perhaps by another company.

I pondered for a moment while watching the man swimming leisurely. Should I deal with him now, or should I leave him alone for a while? What a waste. It was a pity that I had to send away someone I liked so much after buying him.

The man, who had no idea what I was thinking, roamed around in the water like a mermaid. The way he flexibly cut through the water looked so free that even I, who didn’t like swimming, was fascinated. It wasn’t a skill that could be learned by selling his body, and that became an opportunity to turn my guess into a conviction.

The problem was after he had been floating around for a while, he disappeared into the water with a gurgle. At first, I thought he was having fun, but he didn’t come to the surface even after a long time. Under the rippling waves, a faint figure that didn’t move was etched into my mind.

‘…….’

It was like the image of Hyung I saw in my dreams at night. The very image of him sinking into the water and never appearing again, not even struggling to escape. The last moment when he faced death alone, leaving me here.

‘……!’

My body moved before I thought, and when I came to my senses, I had pulled the man out of the water. I was so anxious that my pheromones almost burst, but the moment I felt his body temperature at my fingertips, I felt relieved. My heart was beating so hard that it felt like my stomach was boiling hot.

‘…Hah.’

I was angry. That I mistook this kind of person, this fake, for Hyung. That this man had bothered to recreate the nightmare that I hadn’t had in recent times in reality.

‘Why are you angry?’

When the man asked, I finally realized that I had lost my composure too much. His dark and calm eyes calmed my swirling heart.

‘…….’

I should have let him drown. Since I was already thinking about it, I should have dealt with him without having to dirty my hands.

‘Let go of me and talk.’

I was afraid that I would act violently, so I very slowly moved my body away from him. Even in the midst of the murderous intent I felt towards him, I couldn’t forget the relief I had felt a moment ago. The one in front of me was not Hyung, but a fake, and I didn’t want to see him fall into the water again.

I kept thinking that something was wrong. While looking at the man’s nonchalant face, while listening to his calm voice towards me, and then finally after noticing my mood, he added one word.

‘I didn’t… intend to do that before either.’

Ah, there’s a limit to how much you can drive a person crazy.

‘That important thing to you, someone else must have stolen it.’

The more perfectly he imitated Hyung, the more I felt like my stomach was being stabbed. He casually brought up a past that I didn’t even remember, a past that I couldn’t even dare to bring up. As if he were the real Hyung, but he would never be the real Hyung.

‘I never thought that I would really be that Hyung… Keuk!’

I admit it. It wasn’t something to be so angry about. There was no need to grab that slender neck and pour out my fierce anger.

‘There’s no way someone like you could be Hyung.’

But at that moment, I couldn’t control the rage that was bursting out uncontrollably. If he was the real Hyung, why couldn’t I still remember Hyung’s face? If you were really that child, why didn’t you come to find me and were just rolling around in that kind of bottom?

No matter what I assumed, it was the worst. I would rather think that he was sent by Father and knew everything and was acting. But at the same time, I secretly hoped that it wasn’t the case.

‘You son of a bitch…’

It wasn’t just me who had lost my mind. He, who had been on the verge of death, struggled wildly with a different kind of strength than usual. The viciously chewed curse words were not surprising, but the tears he shed physiologically made me unconsciously loosen my grip.

‘…….’

I couldn’t kill him. Even though I was clearly out of my mind, my whole body suddenly stiffened. My head was filled with white as if someone had hit me in the back of the head.

The man did not miss the opportunity and roughly pushed me away. He kicked me in the solar plexus with his knee and punched me in the face with a fierce fist. I should have been overwhelmed by that, but as soon as I saw the man struggling in the water again, I reflexively reached out my hand.

‘Puhah…!’

While the man who had been pulled out of the water was coughing, I just blankly held onto him. His face, full of pain, remained strongly etched in my mind even in the midst of my blurred reason. The body temperature I had been holding onto until just now, the pulse that had touched my palm, all of those things were too vivid.

‘Ah…’

What is this feeling?