VDN Ch 163

“Argh!”  

Nam-woon’s neck jerked sharply as he was pulled in the direction Seo-oh was running. Hearing the strange strangled cry, Seo-oh hurriedly turned his attention from the manager and caught Nam-woon in his arms. 

“Hyung! Are you okay?” 

Meanwhile, the manager pushed Seo-oh aside and ran out of the supply room. He had sensed something was off. Nam-woon quickly got back up and chased after the fleeing man. Fortunately, this time, Seo-oh matched his pace, preventing him from falling. 

“Fuck!”  

As they chased after him, the frightened man threw down boxes from the warehouse and blocked their path. The perfumes fell to the floor with a loud noise. The space became a mess in an instant. Broken glass shards scattered everywhere, and a strong smell filled the space that gave him a headache.

Hearing the loud sound of bottles breaking, Mr. Park hurriedly ran to the warehouse with his upper body naked. Seeing the warehouse in shambles and the glass shards on the floor, he screamed as if he were about to lose his mind. 

“Aahh! My babies!”

In the midst of the chaos, a large man unexpectedly burst into the storage room. 

“What’s going on in there?” 

A familiar voice… It was Detective Jang! 

Nam-woon shouted, quickly assessing the situation, 

“Catch that guy! He’s a perfume thief!” 

At those words, Detective Jang pounced on the man like a bear on its prey. The man, trying to evade him, stumbled under Jang’s merciless kicks and had his body slammed against the wall. Although he quickly regained his footing, he found Nam-woon and Seo-oh behind him, with Detective Jang standing in front of him. There was no way to escape.

Stumbling and hesitating, the man finally threw himself under Detective Jang’s arm in a desperate attempt to escape, only to find his neck quickly grabbed. 

“Ugh! Let go! I didn’t steal anything! Damn it!”

“Then what the hell is this, you brat!”

Detective Jang pulled the perfume out of the man’s bulging pocket and held the glass bottle up in front of him, shouting. Seeing the perfume, Nam-woon shouted back, 

“Detective, that’s it! That’s the one!” 

Recognizing the excitement on Nam-woon’s face, Detective Jang also realized that this perfume could be the drug he had been tracking for a long time. 

“You have the right to remain silent…”  

Detective Jang put the perfume away and immediately recited the Miranda Rights. Then he tied the man’s hand and dragged out of the warehouse. As he approached the car parked in front of the store, his colleague sitting in the driver’s seat opened the car door in surprise.

“What’s going on, sir? You said you had some business..” 

“A thief. This might not be just simple theft, so take him straight to the station.” 

Even as he was being put into the car, the man twisted and shouted, insisting that he hadn’t done anything wrong. Detective Jang coldly glanced at him before stepping back into the perfume shop. He approached Mr. Park, who was sitting on the floor of the storage room, crying helplessly, and held out the perfume. 

“Do you know anything about this perfume?” 

“Huh, uh… What?” 

Mr. Park looked up with unfocused eyes and then shook his head. 

“I… I’ve never seen this perfume before. Was something like this in our store…?” 

“You’ll need to come with us as a witness.” 

Mr. Park finally raised his head at the large hand that was holding his arm. He let out a small exclamation of “Oh my,” after seeing the man’s face. The strong male he had only dreamed of was standing right before his eyes.

Mr. Park pretended to burst into tears again and leaned against Detective Jang’s solid frame. Detective Jang looked taken aback but couldn’t bring himself to push him away as they headed toward the car. Nam-woon and Seo-oh followed behind, making clanking sounds with their metal chains. 

Nam-woon was breathing heavily, excited at the thought that he might have finally secured evidence to arrest Chairman Seok. Seo-oh, who didn’t know how to interpret this, placed a hand on his stomach as if to soothe him.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Take it slow. Move carefully. Don’t get hurt.”

“……”

Nam-woon, feeling the excessive support from Seo-oh, hesitantly moved his foot a beat late. Detective Jang, who was observing the situation for a moment, spoke up after seeing the scene.

“What are you guys doing?”

Looking back and forth between Nam-woon’s neck and Seo-oh’s wrist, Detective Jang then lowered his gaze. After confirming Park’s wrist still held in his arms and his partially undressed upper body, he frowned.

“Your preferences…Ugh.”

He clicked his tongue and turned around to head to the car. Nam-woon made an excuse, saying, “Oh, no, that’s not it…” before tightly closing his eyes and lowering his head. This hasn’t happened not once or twice. Why does this always happen to me… While he was at a loss, the annoying ‘Ding!’ notification sounds rang out one after another.

[Congratulations! You have successfully made contact through saliva (kiss) and used the mystical potion. Kwon Seo-oh, the target of contact, will have his pheromone disease alleviated.]

[Congratulations! By using an SM device and engaging in sensual kiss play, you have achieved a 20% promiscuous gauge. The heat penalty is lifted.]

[Congratulations! You have gained +24 experience points for indirectly experiencing pregnancy]

…Although he didn’t know exactly what it meant, receiving congratulations three times made him feel like things were going well. Nam-woon’s legs momentarily gave out in surprise. Seo-oh, startled, strengthened his supporting hand. They then moved towards the car with even more caution.

***

Upon arriving at the police station, they shared everything they had seen and heard at the store with the detective. Mr. Park also began to describe the events that had occurred.

“Gasp… Ah, no? There was a manager working here before, but we let him go and hired a new one. Why did we let him go? Well, Mr. Seok suddenly insisted on replacing the manager…. The new manager was recommended from above. By a man named Director Yoon…. By the way, does that detective have a significant other?”

In one corner, Mr. Park was constantly glancing over at Detective Jang, who was interrogating the new perfume shop manager alone.

“The most recent person who called was actor Hwang Yoo-heon.”

“……”

“He’s a recessive omega. Thirty years old. This guy was in the news recently for meeting someone from Yonggang, but from what I’ve heard, they don’t treat recessives as humans in Yonggang.”

“…I, I don’t know what you’re talking about. He was a customer who stopped by our perfume shop two days ago. He called me because he was asking about perfume. He asked, How many hours between sprays should he use.”

“I see. But why are your stories different? When I asked the boss of the shop he said the man called because they wanted to buy a new perfume.

The manager who had tried to steal the perfume claimed his innocence as expected. He protested that he had no idea what the detective was talking about and that he was just working hard as a manager, so why were they arresting an innocent person? However, Detective Jang didn’t bat an eye.

Under continued pressure during the interrogation, the manager eventually admitted to stealing the perfume. But his shameless attitude remained. He demanded to be punished only for that one theft, claiming it was his only mistake. However, his confession only served as evidence of additional crimes.

Detective Jang, who had been investigating for a while, sighed and stepped outside for a moment when the man completely fell silent. Nam-woon, who had finished his testimony as a witness earlier and was observing the surroundings, quietly followed him. The two of them needed time to talk privately anyway.

Nam-woon, standing next to Detective Jang, who was taking cigarettes money from his pocket, asked softly.

“Chairman Seok, do you think you can arrest him?”

“Well… considering how long he’s been getting away with it so far and seeing how the prosecutors won’t even grant a simple warrant… Well, it’s not something I should be talking about with you.”

“Prosecutor?”

Suddenly, a figure passed through Nam-woon’s mind. Come to think of it, that prosecutor had said to contact her if he needed help… Thinking of the woman he had met at the wedding with Jin Hae-geon, Nam-woon fidgeted with the phone in his hand. Fortunately, he had just received his original phone back from Seo-oh, and the number was still saved.

“Um… Detective. There’s a prosecutor, I know.”

Detective Jang, inhaling a cigarette, gave him a puzzled look.

“You? I can’t believe it… Is that person also Chairman Seok’s lackey?”

“I don’t think so. Their family seems very wealthy and knows many conglomerates. And their personality is very unique…”

Seo-oh, who had been listening to Nam-woon’s conversation, suddenly interrupted with a question.

“How do you know each other?”

“Oh, well… we happened to meet while I was working.”

“A man?”

The questioning tone was very sharp.

“No, a woman.”

“A woman?”

Seo-oh, who had been silent since entering the room, suddenly raised his voice. When Nam-woon met his gaze, his eyes were burning like a volcano. This guy gets angry whether it’s a man or a woman. What do you expect me to do? Seeing the tension between Nam-woon and Seo-oh, Detective Jang intervened, raising his hand as if he were tired.

“You guys are having a lover’s quarrel in front of the police station. Keep your cool and go home.”

Then, with a tired expression, Detective Jang blew out a long puff of cigarette smoke and glanced briefly at Nam-woon before adding,

“…Thanks for today.”

Nam-woon opened his eyes wide at the heartfelt thank-you and gave a soft smile. “You worked hard too,” he replied playfully. At his words, one corner of Detective Jang’s mouth lifted slightly. Then, as if displeased by the warm atmosphere between them, Seo-oh abruptly slung an arm around Nam-woon’s shoulder and pulled him closer, his gaze razor-sharp.

“Put out the cigarette. The smoke is drifting towards Hyung.”

Detective Jang looked puzzled at the barbed comment. Seo-oh, without backing down, covered Nam-woon’s nose and mouth with his hand, speaking in a gentle voice.

“Secondhand smoke isn’t good for your health. Cover your mouth, Hyung.”

“Mmphh.”

Nam-woon struggled and resisted with his whole body as Seo-oh covered his mouth, but he couldn’t break free from the other’s firm grip. Meanwhile, Detective Jang tossed his cigarette into the trash can and cursed under his breath, his expression twisted in disgust as if he’d witnessed something repulsive.

“Why the hell have you been so protective on that damn guy so much? And why do you keep touching that potbelly of his? It’s disgusting.”

Looking at Seo-oh’s hand gently enveloping Nam-woon’s belly, Detective Jang spat on the ground. Seo-oh responded with an icy gaze.

“Watch your mouth. It’s because Hope is here, of course…”

“Huh? What’s here?”

Nam-woon hurriedly covered his mouth and parted ways with him. He didn’t know what crazy things he’d say if he waited any longer.

“Well then, we’ll be going. If you find anything, let me know.”

He hurriedly led Seo-oh out onto the main road, fearing someone might chase them. Seo-oh had a disgruntled expression on his face, but he stuck close to Nam-woon like a duckling, following him closely.