DHG Ch 13

Kwon Heewoo, caught by the twins he’d been eyeing, was soaked again.

His pale, panting figure, dazed from water torture. The curves of his body, fully exposed through drenched clothes. That sleek, upright silhouette seemed to cling to Jang Seungyung’s retinas. Water droplets, as if mocking him, slid down the slender neck where a small Adam’s apple bobbed, seeping beneath the tattered, gauze-like fabric.

The moment their eyes met, with Heewoo’s wounds healed, Jang Seungyung nearly took a step forward without realizing it.

Those pleading, intangible eyes. As if begging.

Kwon Heewoo was looking at him with a gaze that felt impossible to refuse, no matter the request.

Had Heewoo not lowered his eyelashes right away, making it seem like a misunderstanding, who knows how things might have turned out. Regardless, Jang Seungyung wanted to see those eyes again, so he grabbed the small head.

‘Is it because he’s wet? He really looks like an omega.’

He chalked up the undeniable attraction to that. Because Heewoo looked like an omega. Though, even if you doused him in the most potent pheromones, not a trace of the kind that drives alphas wild could be felt.

His absurd behavior didn’t stop there. He toyed with the man’s body, drenched him again with his own pheromones, and even after letting Kwon Heewoo go, poured all his attention onto the retreating figure. Thanks to that, he didn’t miss the sound of movement outside the door.

Like a predator sensing a weakened prey, he rushed out and found Kwon Heewoo sprawled on the ground. Holding him close, confirming the unnaturally feverish body heat, he personally took him to the hospital.

Only after buying clothes for him to change into did Jang Seungyung realize he was acting like a fool and left the hospital. But that day kept replaying in his mind.

That face, that body, those eyes.

The dampness against his chest, the faint scent of cold water—the only trace of odor in the absence of body scent—and the searing body heat that couldn’t be masked by any of it.

He’d only seen him twice, but each time, Kwon Heewoo was always soaked. In sweat, water, pheromones. Jang Seungyung had encountered enough thrills in his life to grow numb. His tolerance was sky-high, yet he found a twenty-year-old guy provocative? Just because he was a little wet?

He couldn’t help but introspect.

In the end, he summoned Kwon Heewoo today. He wanted to see his face, to confirm. If possible, he wanted to see him dry and fluffy. What would he feel seeing a parched Heewoo?

As expected, the Kwon Heewoo called to the boss’s office was perfectly fluffy.

Beneath thick, fine black hair that swayed lightly, faint peach fuzz gleamed despite the lack of sunlight. Jang Seungyung wanted to see him up close, so he leaned in. Like toying with a fragile, innocent creature, he tossed out pointless remarks, trying to coax some reaction from him.

Then he realized, once again, how fixated he was on this beta boy. Absorbed in his responses, greedily savoring even the smallest reactions, and feeling satisfaction from it.

Even though today, Kwon Heewoo wasn’t soaked in anything…

“Is it just because he’s pretty?”

Secretary Hwang’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Yeah.”

Jang Seungyung answered readily. After tracing all his visible and invisible markers, he arrived at one conclusion and added:

“Lust, basically.”

A desire for something beautiful. Raw attraction.

Just wanting to sleep with a beta guy, and for days, that kid lingered in his skull, stirring beneath his thoughts.

‘Not like a lover or anything.’

Even his voice was nice.

It was the same today. Give it back. Recalling the face and eyes that matched that voice made his mind heat up.

Even if it was a fleeting impulse, it was clear and intensely intriguing.

No need to mock Kim Jinhwan. The irony of dismissing his tastes after hearing the rumors. Still, to actually lust after a beta guy, no matter how visually captivating? He’d really gone off the deep end.

“…Just physical desire?”

“Exactly.”

I admit I want to roll around in bed with him.

Jang Seungyung mentally threw up his hands in surrender. It was something he could’ve concluded earlier, but admitting his attraction to a man took time.

Once he accepted it, it was fun. For the first time, he craved a person, not wealth or status. He almost wanted to thank the vanished Kim Jinhwan for this novel desire.

“Kwon Heewoo’s about to solve two problems at once.”

Leaning deep into the car seat, Jang Seungyung continued in a satisfied tone.

“Sating my desire and getting the ledger.”

The ledger detailing the misdeeds of Taekang’s old guard.

That was why Kwon Heewoo’s movements were restricted from the start. He was meant to be bait to draw the ledger out of Kim Jinhwan when the time came.

Contrary to what he told Hwang, Jang Seungyung didn’t expect Kwon Heewoo to know the ledger’s whereabouts. Kim Jinhwan was a calculating criminal. He wouldn’t blab about the ledger’s location, not even to his closest confidants or partners. He’d keep it to himself.

Kwon Heewoo’s value lay in his existence.

Even when his life was on the line, Kim Jinhwan was driven to climb walls just to see him. That existence itself.

Using Kwon Heewoo as bait,

He’d hook Kim Jinhwan and get the ledger.

Feeling desire for that bait was unexpected, but since Kim Jinhwan was in hiding, he could indulge until then.

Thrilling. Jang Seungyung grinned at the rare emotion. The desire, absurd and reckless, would likely burn out quickly once he indulged. That’s how it always was. He recalled a moment at fourteen when he first felt a fierce craving.

A few days earlier, the fourteen-year-old Jang Seungyung, fixated on a slim, white cigarette, visited a derelict building he frequented. It was a hangout for local delinquent kids.

He holed up in a corner room, locking the door. In the windowless space, he smoked relentlessly for hours. One pack, two packs… After burning through two packs back-to-back, he stumbled out, nauseated, fleeing the badger’s den.

You crazy bastard! Ignoring the jeers of the kids playing cards, he gulped fresh air. After that, Jang Seungyung never touched cigarettes again.

Whenever he felt desire, the pattern repeated.

Feel the thrill, indulge fully, then forget cleanly.

The only difference this time was—

The target’s a person.

Jang Seungyung let out a wicked chuckle. Would forgiving a debt let him see that skin?

But he pushed that idea aside. Things should be won fair and square; easy gains taste bland. The debt card could wait.

Kwon Heewoo was a person. That brought two issues: first, he needed consent; second, he had to consider the aftermath once his interest faded.

Well, he seems clean with no loose ends.

Jang Seungyung recalled finding Kwon Heewoo collapsed outside a warehouse. A bloodied glass shard lay near his scarred palm.

What, gonna scratch with your nails? As he’d mocked that day. Kwon Heewoo, hiding a sharp weapon, couldn’t even use it properly. Clumsily wielding it, he only hurt himself.

Stupid? Timid? Or learned helplessness?

It didn’t matter. It worked in Jang Seungyung’s favor.

Have fun together, offer a fair reward. Even if sent back to Kim Jinhwan, Kwon Heewoo wouldn’t put up a fight. His temperament aligned with Jang Seungyung’s hope for a clean, hassle-free end.

Gazing at the dry autumn scenery passing by the car window, Jang Seungyung mulled over his exciting new object of desire.

Those eyes, captivating as if ensnaring others’ gazes, fitting for bait.

Even the flustered glance, trembling as if pierced by him.

Jang Seungyung’s eyes gleamed with vivid anticipation. The smile on his lips, imagining the pleasures ahead, was unmistakably gleeful.