Director Yeon tapped his finger against the tablet screen. He had no intention of stopping here.
Bzzz—
Right then, his phone vibrated. It was a call from Kang Seoui.
Director Yeon first checked Jung Heeyeon’s face. The omega was deeply asleep, he probably wouldn’t wake up easily.
“Executive Director Kang Seoui.”
His voice was quiet. Rather than waste time trading messages, a quick conversation to finish the matter would be better. That way, he could return his full attention to Jung Heeyeon sooner.
– Director Yeon. I’ll buy you a liquor to celebrate sometime soon.
“If you’re just going to say nonsense, I’ll hang up.”
– Ah, you must be with Jung Heeyeon right now?
“Kang Seoui.”
The moment he growled the name, the atmosphere dropped several degrees.
– I apologize.
Kang Seoui’s voice stiffened instantly. He sounded thoroughly intimidated by the sharp tone.
“Get to the point.”
Normally, Director Yeon might’ve thrown in a dry joke to lighten the mood, but he had no room for that now. He buried his nose in Jung Heeyeon’s hair, trying to quell the fury rising inside him.
– My eldest brother is completely finished. Our father is absolutely furious. When the sex scandal came up, he looked like he was willing to overlook it as just a personal matter, but when the firearms trafficking issue broke, Chairman Kang blew up. You know that guy stepped down as President, right?
“I just saw the article.”
Jung Heeyeon might wake up, so Director Yeon kept his voice as quiet as possible. Every time that warm body exhaled, the scent of gardenia reached his nose.
– This incident is just too big, it’s practically impossible for him to recover. Well, I suppose if Chairman Kang really wanted, he could still call that guy back in… but before that happens, I need to secure my position. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for keeping your word about getting Kang Seohyo out of the picture.
“So it looks like you think he’s really gone now, huh.”
– Yes?
The man’s smooth lips curled with bitter mockery. Jung Heeyeon could have fallen into the hands of that alpha with his filthy habits. The thought that someone had tried to claim what was his gnawed at Director Yeon’s nerves. Technically speaking, the other party had learned of Jung Heeyeon’s existence first, so the sequence of events was reversed—but that didn’t matter in the slightest.
The moment that very presence started to grate on him, Director Yeon had already decided that it needed to be removed.
“I’ll make sure he will never be able to recover.”
– …How, exactly?
“Even if he steps down from his position, he’ll just get reassigned to an overseas branch.”
– I guess, so?
“The thing Chairman Kang is so obsessed with, it’s the alpha trait.”
The body nestled in his arms twitched slightly, and Director Yeon paused. He felt the faintest pressure around his waist, where small arms still clung tightly to him. The breathing was still slow and peaceful.
“Then it will be the end if that trait gets destroyed, isn’t it…”
He was thinking of ensuring the guy could never again so much as touch an omega.
– Haha. Director… That would be a present more than I deserve. Is it really okay for you to go that far?
“I’ve gone this far for you, so don’t get any funny ideas about climbing your way up to me again.”
Kang Seoui fell silent for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
– I understand. I’ll come see you again next time.
The man hung up without hesitation, unimpressed by Kang Seoui’s submissive tone. Controlling someone like that was easy. Director Yeon doubted the man would ever dream of betraying him, but just in case, he’d already gathered all of Kang Seoui’s weaknesses in his hands.
He lowered his phone and instinctively pressed a kiss to the forehead of the sleeping omega, gentle and careful.
***
Director Yeon furrowed his brows as he skimmed through the examination results.
“What’s going on with his pheromone levels?”
“Compared to the first day, they’ve stabilized quite a bit. Is there something wrong…?”
“They’re swinging way too much.”
Kim Jiwon paused, gathering his thoughts before he responded.
“You’ve seen it up close yourself, Director. Heeyeon’s pheromone levels weren’t exactly stable to begin with.”
The infertility injections were intense drugs. And Jung Heeyeon wasn’t even an infertile omega, he was a dominant omega. Taking them for years had undoubtedly made his pheromone system unstable. Simply put, his condition was like a dam about to overflow.
Thanks to constantly being around Director Yeon, a dominant alpha, the numbers had finally settled into a stable pattern. But recently, they had started fluctuating again. The cause was obviously due to the incident from two weeks ago. Still, considering he had almost gone into pheromone shock, his current level was relatively stable.
“He was doing well for the past two months, but then there’s the fact that Chairman Jung is his blood relative… Pheromone shock can occur between people with the same trait, but the odds are slightly higher when the two are different. Thankfully, he didn’t go all the way into shock, and for how dangerous it was, his levels are looking surprisingly quite alright.”
“But that doesn’t mean there’s no problem at all.”
“Even if someone goes right to the brink of pheromone shock, it’s usually reversible with proper management. The bigger concern is that Jung Heeyeon was on infertility shots for too long.”
Director Yeon looked straight at Kim Jiwon, silently telling the doctor to keep talking. His expression was cold enough to suggest he was seconds away from tearing someone apart.
“It’s fortunate he’s still young. If you keep managing his pheromones like you are doing now, things should improve over time. Our staff might suffer a bit from being constantly exposed to your pheromones, but I guess that’s their problem to deal with.”
“Kim Jiwon.”
When his name was uttered in a low, quiet voice, Kim Jiwon reflexively adjusted his glasses, a little startled.
“Yes, Director?”
“A way. You know it, don’t you?”
The alpha’s threatening fingers tapped against the table with a sharp thunk.
“I’m sorry?”
“A faster method to stabilize him. It seems like you know it, but you’re choosing not to say.”
This was why a perceptive employer was difficult to deal with. Kim Jiwon rubbed at the corner of his mouth with a troubled expression. He couldn’t at all predict how the man in front of him would respond once the words floating in his head were finally spoken aloud.
“Director, by any chance…”
Kim Jiwon hesitated for a moment, then spoke up.
“About Heeyeon-ssi…”
“About the baby?”
“Have you ever considered imprinting on Heeyeon-ssi?”
***
Imprinting.
The dark liquid inside the glass tilted along with its slow, languid movement, disappearing between the man’s lips shortly after. It was a movement as slow as if drifting underwater.
Director Yeon slowly set the half-emptied crystal glass down onto the table, then idly ran his fingers over its surface. It was the deep and quiet time of night when his young lover was fast asleep.
‘Have you ever considered imprinting on Heeyeon-ssi?’
Kim Jiwon’s cautious question wouldn’t leave his mind.
Imprinting. The man rolled that short word around several times on his tongue.
It wasn’t that he had never thought about imprinting. There were hardly any alphas who couldn’t feel the desire to imprint. It was just that he had never considered right now to be the right timing. Attempting to imprint someone when their pheromone flow wasn’t stable could pose a serious risk.
Jung Heeyeon’s pheromones had always been unstable, and Director Yeon had postponed imprinting every time.
‘Doctor Kim Jiwon, you’re the one who said it’s dangerous to imprint when pheromones are unstable.’
‘Well, it being dangerous is a relative concept.’
Kim Jiwon replied, his expression a little conflicted.
‘Let me explain the reason why imprinting is so rare in the first place. Imprinting is the act of binding each other’s pheromones. To mix your own pheromones with someone else’s, you need to be skilled enough to handle them precisely. Most people don’t have that kind of control, but they still try to imprint anyway—and that’s when the other party ends up getting seriously hurt by the backlash.’
‘And your point is?’
’Director, you are exceptionally skilled at controlling your pheromones. From what I see, you’d be able to do it without putting Heeyeon-ssi’s body under strain.’
‘And I’m supposed to believe having with sex with the baby who’s still recovering won’t be hard on him physically?’
He narrowed his eyes with faint sarcasm, and Kim Jiwon patted his chest in exasperation, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
’Do you not trust me as a doctor? Pheromone therapy exists for a reason, you know.’
’I have no intention of doing anything that could strain the baby’s body.’
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