VDN Ch 82

He nearly went all the way. It was already the second time, and he couldn’t use the same excuse as before. When Kwon Seo-oh handed him the condom earlier, he didn’t show it, but he was surprised.

That thorough bastard…

He clearly remembered pushing him away because there were no condoms. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have decided to buy them right away. Thankfully, Kwon Sang-moon was waiting for Seo-oh. If it hadn’t been for that, they might still be rolling around the front door.

While he was lost in these thoughts, Nam-woon’s cell phone rang.

[Jin-sang]

It was a call from Jin Hae-geon. Hesitating for a moment, he glanced at the air. There was no response from the system.

When Nam-woon didn’t answer the call, a message arrived. 

[Nam-woon.] 

[You’re not an Omega, right?]

[Are you an Alpha?]

I’m Beta…

Nam-woon tossed his phone onto the couch. The notification sounds kept coming, one after another, but he ignored them. He knew it was just nothing more than sexual harassment.

Maybe it was because it wasn’t a face-to-face situation or because the level had been raised to 2, but thankfully no warnings from the system appeared. Feeling relieved, Nam-woon made his way to the bathroom.

***

“Kwon Sang-moon has…escaped. I apologize.” 

A man reported with his head deeply bowed. Chairman Seok slowly rose from his seat and looked around. Not finding what he wanted, he picked up a black nameplate that was on the desk. Then he walked steadily towards the man. 

Bang!

Chairman Seok, holding the nameplate, began to mercilessly beat the man’s head. In an instant, the man’s head and face were soaked in blood. However, the merciless hand did not show any sign of stopping. Only after the man lost consciousness and fell to the floor did Chairman Seok throw the nameplate down.

“……” 

Taking a long breath, Chairman Seok reached out his hand to the side, and a subordinate who was waiting handed him a clean handkerchief. After wiping his bloodied hand, he asked, 

“Where is he?” 

“We are in the process of locating him. There was a report that he was seen last night at the Gangnam club, Pera. He couldn’t have gone far.” 

“A club… Still playing the game of cat and mouse, I see.” 

Ridiculous. Chairman Seok twisted his lips. 

“And Kwon Seo-oh?” 

“As usual. He returned home from school, finished his part-time job, and went home. He was in no contact with anyone.”

“He will definitely try to contact his son somehow. Keep monitoring Kwon Seo-oh until you find him.”

Chairman Seok looked down at the fallen man with cold, emotionless eyes and continued

“I’m not in a position to get a dominant alpha pheromone. I’ve lost a valued subordinate.”

“…Chairman, how about we just capture Kwon Seo-oh?” 

Chairman Seok, who had thrown the bloodied handkerchief on the floor, looked straight at the man. 

“Director Yoon. Pheromones, you see, are quite mysterious. They reflect everything about a person. Do you know when Kwon Seo-oh developed pheromone insensitivity?”

Chairman Seok continued speaking as if he wasn’t expecting an answer. 

“The day I heard he had manifested as a dominant alpha, I called him in to praise him. I gave him some pocket money and patted his head… But then, starting the very next day, his pheromones sensitivity started to fade. 

The satisfied laughter drowned out the groans of the man lying on the ground.

“It’s different from someone who would come running like a dog wagging its tail at a single compliment, he instinctively knows. Of all the people I’ve met, there was not a single one of his age like him. Isn’t he a truly promising talent? Besides, whose pheromones would I use if not Kwon Seo-oh’s?” 

His fierce gaze pierced through to his subordinate. 

“Are you planning to kidnap someone from the Mooyoung or Seonghu family? If I leave it to Director Yoon, even those scoundrels can be caught. But if they break like the others, will Director Yoon take responsibility for the aftermath?” 

“…I apologize.” 

With that, Director Yoon shut his mouth firmly. Obtaining the pheromones of a dominant alpha or omega was like picking stars from the sky. Dominant traits were extremely rare, and most of those who had them were out of Chairman Seok’s reach. Unless there was a dominant gene that defied the odds, it was not easy to see because the probability of it appearing was close to zero.

In that sense, Kwon Seo-oh, a dominant alpha born into a poor family, was in a good position to be coveted by Chairman Seok.

“Cattle, chickens, pigs… they all need to be in a clean mental state to produce good quality meat. Do you think humans are any different? If anything, humans are more sensitive and delicate in that regard. If we extract pheromones haphazardly like we did with Kwon Sang-moon, Kwon Seo-oh’s pheromone insensitivity will never be cured. Or rather, it won’t.” 

Unless a suitable replacement for Kwon Seo-oh appeared, Chairman Seok couldn’t give up on him. The pheromones of a dominant alpha could be the breakthrough for the trait-changing drug that had been failing repeatedly. It was also a key to changing his own traits. 

Chairman Seok kicked the fallen man with his foot and turned his gaze to Director Yoon. 

“His trait?” 

“A beta.” 

“Tsk, useless betas. I can’t even extract from them. Take him to the workshop.” 

The man, who had been lying with his eyes closed, seemed to have heard Chairman Seok’s words as he trembled and muttered, “Ah, uh… sorry…” but couldn’t finish his sentence. Chairman Seok’s foot brutally crushed the hand that was trying to grasp at his trouser leg. At the same time, a voice filled with rage fell. 

“Kwon Sang-moon, catch him and bring him to me.” 

***

Kwon Sang-moon clasped his hands together and picked at the skin around his thumbnail. His anxious gaze was directed at the man sitting in front of him. The man he hadn’t seen in a long time was maintaining his usual delinquent attitude. which was exactly how he had seen at the club.

Kwon Sang-moon cautiously observed the man. He seemed to have lost more weight than before. Perhaps that’s why he felt even sharper than before. The man’s eyes, which exuded a precarious atmosphere, looked more indifferent than ever.

But Kwon Sang-moon knew better than anyone. Inside that plausible exterior was a nature as dark as a demon. He was the son of Chairman Seok, after all.

Those damn Seok bastards…

Even though he cursed them inwardly for all the things he had suffered, Kwon Sang-moon couldn’t bring himself to openly criticize them out loud. Moreover, the man had been staring at him for some reason. It was truly unsettling.

The man watched Kwon Sang-moon, who was trembling with anxiety, then crossed his legs and said.

“Please enjoy.”

At his word, Kwon Sang-moon immediately picked up the spoon on the table. But he couldn’t bring himself to reach for the bowl. He couldn’t eat comfortably under the man’s stubborn gaze. Eventually, Kwon Sang-moon opened his trembling lips to ask.

“Young master… Why do you keep looking at me?” 

Then the man uttered a word he didn’t understand

“It’s the same.”

When Kwon Sang-moon looked puzzled, the man raised his hand to point near his own eye corner. 

“Right here.”

After a moment of thought, he added, 

“Here, the eyebrows. It’s just like Se-han’s.” 

“……” 

“Se-han’s eyebrows go up when he’s angry, it’s cute.”

Kwon Sang-moon gaped at Nam-woon. When had that devilish man gone to see Se-han? Our baby angel, Se-han, must be protected from the trash Seok family at all costs…! 

While Kwon Sang-moon was stunned by the information, Nam-woon spoke again. 

“Eat quickly.” 

Kwon Sang-moon flinched at the man’s words and picked up the spoon. It was weird to see him acting like he wasn’t as nasty before, but even weirder to see him show subtle kindness and gentleness as if he were a different person. It was unclear what he was thinking.

Kwon Sang-moon thought he should eat quickly so the young master would get up too. He scooped up the still-hot porridge and put it in his mouth. Then, with a short gasp, he dropped the spoon. The porridge was so hot that it burned his tongue. Nam-woon clicked his tongue softly at the sight and picked up the spoon from the floor. Kwon Sang-moon, startled by the loud noise he made, apologized. 

“I’m sorry…” 

“Is it too hot?” 

Nam-woon took the bowl of porridge to check the temperature. Then he said, “It’s still hot,” and got up from his seat to head to the kitchen. Nam-woon came back with a new spoon, he gently swept the surface of the porridge with it. Then he turned the handle of the spoon and handed it to Kwon Sang-moon. 

“It’s hot, so eat from the top.” 

Without realizing it, Kwon Sang-moon took it and looked at Nam-woon’s face with a dazed expression. His heart pounded with anxiety. It was strange. Has the young master ever spoken like that? Although he looked exactly the same on the outside, the atmosphere felt different.

In his memory, Seok Nam-woon’s tone was always full of yelling and dirty curses. But since coming out of the club, that attitude had not been seen at all. Moreover, today, he made people tense by staring intently at places like their eyes, lips, and earlobes without saying a word.

Then his cell phone rang. It was from the temporary phone Kwon Sang-moon had received through the detective. Checking the caller, Kwon Sang-moon’s face brightened instantly, and he lifted the phone up to his face. 

“Seo-oh!” 

– Dad. How are you feeling? 

“I’m fine. Seo-oh, nothing happened, right?” 

– Yeah. Don’t worry. 

“But my son, why are you so handsome? Even through the phone, you look so good.” 

– What… 

Kwon Sang-moon stared at his son’s face, which was glued to the phone screen as if he were being sucked in. His eyes moistened as he watched the embarrassed Seo-oh.