DFLT 1

Have you ever seen a moth?

One of those moths that, on a summer night, flutters its brilliant wings and flies toward the single streak of light under an insect zapper. It mistakes the light for a lighthouse in a vast, dark sea and rushes toward it with all its might, never knowing it’s nothing but a trap designed to burn its limbs. Still, the moth is desperate to dive in, as if that were its very purpose.

“Ji Yeonoh.”

Ji Yeonoh was just like that moth.

“Yes, Director?”

“You’re going to burn a hole through my face.”

“…Ah.”

Only then did Yeonoh realize he had failed to complete the simple task of handing his boss a document, bowing, and turning away. Every second of Seo Heonyoung’s time was an asset, yet this damn one-sided love made him lose his senses just by looking at his face. It was so frustrating. Even the basic act of separating his personal and professional life felt as heavy as a lead weight pressing on his mind.

“What are you doing, not leaving?”

Yeonoh, who had almost confessed he was just spacing out while admiring his boss’s handsome face, instead placed a small pill bottle he’d been fiddling with in his pocket onto Heonyoung’s desk.

Heonyoung’s cool gaze landed on him, wordlessly asking, What is this?

“…They’re suppressants.”

“Did you think I was asking because I didn’t know these were the suppressants from my house?”

He was right. This was the bottle he had hesitated over before taking from Heonyoung’s house this morning.

Heonyoung, who was usually perfectly rational, had become sharp-tempered at times recently. The frequency of his feverish sighs had also increased over the past few days.

It could have been stress from work that was making him irritable, but Yeonoh had been Seo Heonyoung’s junior secretary for three years. As the saying goes, even a dog at a village school can recite a poem after three years. Ji Yeonoh, who observed every nano-unit of change in Seo Heonyoung’s face, could easily tell his boss’s expression wasn’t just due to simple stress.

After some online searching, he found a more plausible reason: rut. As an ordinary Beta, Yeonoh didn’t know the full details of an Alpha’s condition, but he knew that due to their secondary gender, they experienced a rut cycle.

“You’re crossing a line, Ji Yeonoh.”

Seo Heonyoung let out a dry laugh as he picked up the bottle and rolled it in his hand.

“Are you trying to say I’m in heat right now?”

“That wasn’t… I apologize.”

Perhaps his straightforward apology diffused any will to aim another arrow, because Heonyoung casually put the bottle down and swept his hair back.

“Come to think of it, you might be right. Even this fit I’m throwing right now is probably because of it.”

“…”

“I’ve been so focused on the MOU that if another half-day had passed like this, it would have been a disaster. You know me better than I know myself, Ji Yeonoh.”

He’d even had the crazy thought of pretending not to know, hiding the bottle, and throwing himself at Seo Heonyoung when he was overcome by his rut and unable to think straight. If he had, Seo Heonyoung probably would have slapped him with a severance pay envelope after the rut passed. He’d not only get fired but would also lose any chance he had with this half-hearted, one-way crush.

“I’ll be leaving now.”

So, I should know my place. One way or another, to Seo Heonyoung, the existence of Ji Yeonoh was nothing more than an extra, like “Passerby #1.” He was nothing more and nothing less than a subordinate who collected a regular paycheck.

A happy love story between an Alpha and a Beta was only possible in dramas. Reality was a bitter block of cacao mass without a single grain of sugar.

“Good work.”

That’s why he felt a strange kinship with the moth. Its reckless flight toward the light that was Seo Heonyoung was quite similar to his own.

Just then, the intercom on Heonyoung’s desk phone rang.

—Director, Vice President Do Sehyeon from JM Medio is here to see you.

Do Sehyeon. He was a son of the owner family of JM Group, the parent company of JM Medio. The time had come for Heonyoung, as the eldest grandson of the TG Group’s head family, to carry on the line, and his family was searching for an Omega who could bear the dominant Alpha’s child.

“I know.”

This might have been another reason why Heonyoung had been on edge. He was an Alpha on the verge of a rut, and he had just detected the pheromones of a dominant Omega, separated only by a mahogany door. Sensing the situation could get difficult, Yeonoh whispered, so quietly it wouldn’t be picked up by the receiver.

“Director, should I—”

“It’s fine.”

He cut Yeonoh off sharply. He nonchalantly swallowed a few pills and ended the call, telling the person to come in.

Knock, knock. As if a button had been pushed, someone knocked twice on his office door.

“Hyung!”

Sehyeon opened the door with a bright smile, but he stopped short when he came face-to-face with Yeonoh, who was just leaving.

“Oh, the secretary is here?”

“Hello, Vice President.”

He scanned Yeonoh’s appearance from top to bottom, glanced at his employee ID, then raised an eyebrow with a displeased look. Since he was shorter than Yeonoh, this two-faced expression was visible only to him.

“Ah, you’re Mr. Ji Yeonoh?”

Yeonoh, a large question mark popping up over his head, asked back.

“…Do you know me?”

How would a high-profile business figure know a rank-and-file employee from another company? Could Heonyoung have talked about him? He considered it for a moment, but that was impossible. It would be more realistic to believe someone had posted a hit piece about him on Rewind, the corporate employee community forum.

What did I do to have my name spread all over the place? Yeonoh reflected on his three-year career—short to some, long to others.

…I did make a lot of mistakes. I have nothing to say for myself.

“Heonyoung-ssi works you hard, doesn’t he? You must have it tough. You look so worn out.”

What’s with this passive-aggressive jab from someone I just met?

His pride wouldn’t let him get angry. But what wounded his pride even more was that when he looked at Do Sehyeon’s bright, almost gleaming face, he couldn’t help but agree.

And what was with calling him “Heonyoung-ssi”? He had just been calling him “Hyung” informally a moment ago. His tone was so sweet, despite his unwelcoming expression. This meant that Heonyoung, who couldn’t see Sehyeon’s face, would naturally think of him as a benevolent person genuinely concerned about Yeonoh’s well-being.

Right, what would you know about the lives and sorrows of us ants. Yeonoh simply pulled the corners of his mouth up into a wide, bright smile and replied.

“It’s because I drank too much yesterday.”

Pfft. He thought he heard a soft chuckle from behind him and reflexively turned his head, but Seo Heonyoung’s expression was, as expected, impassive. What was that? Did I mishear?