“Tsk. So much for good fortune in old age.”
Each click of the old man’s tongue sent a subtle shiver through Jung Heeyeon’s small body.
“He’s casting me aside over a childish scheme?”
Though it sounded like he was muttering to himself, Jung Heeyeon quickly grasped what he meant. The sex scandal involving Kang Seohyo had exploded, and that was only the beginning. The firearms incident that followed in the heart of Seoul, and the questions surrounding the smuggling route of the weapon, were bound to lead back to Sunha Group.
Sunha had tried to expose the gun smuggling operation to bring down Yeon Woobeom, but now the tide of public opinion was turning against them in the same way. They had manipulated the narrative to drag an innocent person through the mud, and the blowback was inevitable.
The sexually abusive video and the firearms smuggling scandal were bound to send Sunha Group’s stock into freefall. Kang Seoui, likely aiming to seize his half-brother’s position, must’ve offered a deal under the pretense of cleaning up the mess.
Jung Heeyeon knew very well that one condition of that deal had been casting Chairman Jung aside. In short, the old man in front of him had become like a dog that chased a chicken and then had nothing to show for it.
“That damn foolish pup, Yeon Woobeom…”
Chairman Jung let out a shallow sigh as he rubbed his temple. Learning that the insolent brat was being released today was the only fortunate piece of news he had received. The moment he heard it, he had scraped together every last penny to arrange Yeon Woobeom’s kidnapping.
His greed-wrinkled eyes now turned to the omega before him. It was lucky that his grandson had fallen into his hands instead of Yeon Woobeom. Maybe he had no fortune left in old age, but he still had his grandson.
“The assets placed under your name, what have you done with them?”
Jung Heeyeon said nothing. More accurately, he couldn’t answer. He didn’t know the details himself. All he knew for certain was that Director Yeon had arranged for the assets to be placed under Jung Heeyeon’s control.
“Now that you’re no longer a minor, as your guardian, I can’t access them anymore.”
Still, Jung Heeyeon remained silent. He didn’t even want to exchange words with the old man in front of him.
“You need to hand over that funding stream so I can leave the country!”
Chairman Jung’s patience snapped as he shouted. If he had been the younger version of himself, he would’ve struck first without a second thought. But it had been over a decade since he’d been named the ‘Chairman’. Ironically, the old man now clung to the image of the dignified leader he’d once dreamed of being, someone who could command fear not through violence, but through sheer presence.
Just because he had sold people like livestock didn’t mean he saw himself as a dog dealer. Even if he had treated alphas and omegas as dogs, he didn’t believe he should be seen that way.
That paradoxical pride and revolting sense of self-awareness were what stopped him from laying a hand on the frail omega before him.
“…Are you leaving the country?”
For the first time since facing the old man, Jung Heeyeon spoke.
“Do you mean you’re running away?”
“Running away?”
Chairman Jung let out a scornful laugh. The sharp, dry sound grated like metal scraping against metal.
“What could I possibly be afraid of that I’d run?”
“You’re afraid of Director Yeon. That’s why you’re fleeing.”
Jung Heeyeon’s voice was loud and clear. He didn’t even have to try to meet the old man’s eyes anymore. The one who had once ruled over him like a tyrant was nothing more than a pitiful old man in front of Director Yeon.
“You think, this me, is afraid of that little pup?”
To Jung Heeyeon, it was Chairman Jung who seemed like the real pup. Barking at a tiger without knowing fear, only to tuck his tail and flee at the first growl.
“I raised that bastard.”
Perhaps feeling insulted, Chairman Jung’s face flushed red with anger. The last shred of human decency he wore to preserve the image of ‘Chairman’ began to peel away.
“If it weren’t for me, that bastard would’ve starved to death long ago!”
Jung Heeyeon couldn’t agree with him. The one who had raised Yeon Woobeom was Yeon Woobeom himself.
Just because the old man provided him with pitiful meals or a place to sleep didn’t mean he had raised him.
Jung Heeyeon didn’t know the full extent of Yeon Woobeom’s past, but he was certain that the kind, mature man he knew had been raised by Yeon Woobeom himself.
“Director Yeon is not a bastard.”
“To think that I took in this forsaken orphan!”
Chairman Jung shouted as he sprang to his feet.
Gratitude was one of the old man’s favorite lines. He always insisted others be thankful for being ‘taken in’. Back then, Jung Heeyeon had mistakenly believed it was a blessing to have been taken in by the chairman.
He used to believe it was natural for an omega to obey an alpha. That once he came of age, he’d be expected to bear the child of the alpha chosen by the chairman. It all made sense to him back then, because the only world he had known was the one built by that wretched old man.
“You didn’t raise me either, Chairman.”
To Jung Heeyeon, the one who raised him was Yeon Woobeom. People didn’t grow simply by eating, sleeping, and aging. They grew by stepping into the bigger world.
And the person who opened that world to him was Yeon Woobeom. The man never demanded obedience, never forced him to open his legs for the alpha. Whatever Jung Heeyeon was curious about, the man explained without a trace of annoyance. Whatever he wanted to try, the man let him. No matter how trivial or childish.
“Everything you ate, wore, and slept in—that was all because of me! You think you’d have had any of that if not for me?!”
The veins on the aging alpha’s forehead bulged with fury.
“Your father really slept with some mutt and produced another mutt!”
Jung Heeyeon bit his lip. His memories of his fathers were hazy, but he didn’t believe they were bad people who deserved to be insulted. Maybe when he lived behind those walls, he would’ve believed that kind of talk. But he wasn’t an omega trapped behind those walls anymore.
“That’s why you crawled into bed with a mongrel like Yeon Woobeom!”
The more Chairman Jung yelled, the more his uncontrolled alpha pheromones began to seep out. Jung Heeyeon let out a faint cough, instinctively repelled. Pheromones between blood relatives wouldn’t incite sexual arousal, but that didn’t mean the heavy, oppressive nature of those pheromones would disappear.
“Don’t tell me you’re pregnant with that mongrel’s kid?”
The vulgar choice of words made Jung Heeyeon’s brows furrow. He glared at the old alpha. The relationship between him and Director Yeon wasn’t something to be reduced to filth like that.
“Don’t insult Director Yeon.”
The omega slowly rose from the sofa, speaking in a firm tone. It was the first time Jung Heeyeon realized he could truly hate someone.
“He’s not someone who should ever have to hear those kinds of words from you.”
The thought that Director Yeon was being demeaned because of him made Jung Heeyeon so upset he felt tears welling up.
“So Yeon Woobeom spoiled you rotten, huh?”
Chairman Jung glared fiercely at his grandson, who had dared to talk back. He had raised him to never utter a word of defiance, and yet now the boy’s lack of discipline made him seem completely useless. If the boy had at least been pregnant, he might have used it to strike a deal with Yeon Woobeom, but it didn’t seem to be the case.
In any case, what mattered most to him right now was money. With Kang Seohyo in such a state, he had to seize the chaos at Sunha and make his escape. The only consolation was that Yeon Woobeom still didn’t know his grandson’s whereabouts.
“Let’s take care of the money first.”
At the threatening tone, Jung Heeyeon took a step back. Whatever Chairman Jung was planning, he had no intention of cooperating. And to deal with the money, they’d have to go outside. He didn’t want to move and risk confusing Director Yeon about his location. He just wanted to see the man as soon as possible.
“I have no intention of doing what you say.”
Jung Heeyeon thought about the surveillance cameras installed in the bedroom. Even if the house wasn’t well-maintained anymore, the automatically recording cameras should still be working. If, by any chance, Chairman Jung resorted to violence, there was a good chance he could leave behind solid evidence.
Jung Heeyeon calmly calculated the shortest route to reach the bedroom.
“So that bastard’s been pampering you that much, huh?”
“Don’t talk about the director. I don’t want to hear his name from your mouth.”
Chairman Jung twisted his lips into a sneer.
“You expect me to believe that bastard Yeon Woobeom actually cherishes a mutt who can’t even control pheromones like you? A man who recoils at the very idea of omega pheromones?”
At the word ‘mutt’, Jung Heeyeon bit the soft flesh inside his mouth. His inability to control his pheromones, at the end of the day, was because of Chairman Jung. During the time he should have been learning, he hadn’t even known that it was something to be learned. And the injections the old man had forced on him regularly only worsened his control over his pheromones.
“Don’t call me a mutt.”
“You insolent brat…!”
“‘Mutt’ is a word used by people like you, people who sell others for business.”
Chairman Jung’s face turned a livid red. His expression betrayed a mix of wounded pride and deep inferiority. Sensing violence, Jung Heeyeon started limping away.
“You impudent little bastard…! Stop right there!”
Thankfully, the living room was close to the bedroom. There were surveillance cameras in the living room too, but few places were as free of blind spots as his bedroom.
The heavy footsteps behind him clung to his ears like leeches.
“How dare you talk back to your grandfather, after all I’ve done to raise you!”
His hair was yanked before he had time to react. As his body was wrenched around, Jung Heeyeon clenched his teeth to hold back a groan.
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