Hero Hunter is on Parental Leave C51

Chapter 51

“I’m not planning to die first, though. If another bastard’s dick ever goes into your hole instead of mine, I’ll become a villain and destroy the world if I have to.”

Yeongung stared at him with eyes still sore and swollen from crying.

“Crazy bastard….”

They said even straw sandals came in pairs—so maybe it was only right that a lunatic got picked up by another lunatic. Having decided to accept the Alpha’s heart after all, Yeongung revealed a new truth.

“You said my first sex and first knotting were yours. I’ve only ever opened my body to you.”

The man, who’d been smiling brightly at the Omega’s confession, suddenly turned serious and warned him solemnly.

“Then until the very end—until death—it has to be only me.”

That murderous expression overlapped with the image of Jaehee stubbornly clutching his Tintinping plushie, and a small laugh slipped out. Yeongung didn’t dislike that intense possessiveness of his.

The man scooped Yeongung up and laid him on the bed. Easily lifting a body over 180 centimeters tall without breaking a sweat, he lay down as well, trapping the Omega in his arms.

“Why did you avoid me back then?”

“When I was washing you after you passed out at the hotel, I felt disgusted with myself. I’d pushed an unconscious person to the limit and forced a knotting.”

“You didn’t do it because you wanted to—it was a mission.”

At the Omega’s innocent words, Won Iheun slowly shook his head.

“It was entirely my own will.”

Having confessed, the man inhaled his Omega’s scent deeply.

“I was born an extreme dominant, but I swore I’d never knot an Omega in my lifetime. I didn’t want to pass this filthy blood on to a child. But that day, I genuinely wished you’d carry my seed. I was horrified by myself for thinking that.”

“You’re not the same as those people.”

Yeongung’s firm voice pulled the man out of his spiral of self-loathing. Won Iheun hugged his savior even tighter.

“The system understands every base desire an Awakener has. It’s a cunning bastard. It probably sensed feelings I hadn’t even realized myself and assigned the Spawning Quest.”

“Well… thanks to that, we got Jaehee.”

When Yeongung smiled and said, ‘Guess the system did something right for once,’ the man playfully bit his nose.

“There’s still time before the nullification ends. Tell me everything that hurt you before.”

“Rather than that, I want to hear about your deal with the system—”

“I want to know more about Hunter Yeongung. Once the time limit ends, I won’t be able to talk about what happened between us before the Apocalypse.”

Yeongung wanted to know what kind of deal Iheun had made with the system, and whether there was a way to completely break the gag—not just through temporary measures like this. But faced with those earnest eyes, he eventually surrendered.

Seizing the upper hand, the man brought his ear close to Yeongung’s lips.

“Tell me everything that hurt you. Right here.”

Red lips moved softly at the Alpha’s ear. As the stopwatch on Iheun’s status window ticked closer to zero, Yeongung honestly laid bare the emotions he’d felt in the past. It was embarrassing to enumerate his feelings one by one, but he didn’t want misunderstandings or misalignment between them anymore.

Iheun’s cold attitude after everything ended, the rude and boundary-crossing remarks he’d made despite being just sex partners, and then the complete 180—his sudden tenderness after waking from the coma. One by one, Yeongung unpacked the things that had hurt and confused him.

“Now that I’ve said it all, I feel relieved… and kind of embarrassed.”

When the long confession ended, Yeongung scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Trash that can’t even be recycled.”

That was the man’s self-assessment.

The coldness and rudeness Yeongung had felt were distorted expressions of Iheun’s feelings—like a kindergartener being extra mean to the friend they liked. Won Iheun didn’t make excuses for the things he’d done in his unknowing state. Even if he hadn’t been aware, he’d still hurt Yeongung.

“I thought I understood everything about the person called Yeongung. But I failed to truly consider the feelings you must have felt.”

Burying his face into Yeongung’s collarbone as if it were a refuge, the Alpha inhaled his pheromones deeply. That fresh scent that could send him into heat anywhere, anytime.

“I know I’m sorely lacking compared to you, Hunter Yeongung.”

“…What exactly are you lacking?”

“Still—don’t throw me away. Don’t give up on me.”

Yeongung looked at the man pleading with moist eyes. The bastard who didn’t even fear the system that created the Awakening Era was trembling at the thought of being abandoned by him.

“Are you insane? Why would I abandon Jaehee’s dad?”

It was an indirect answer, but it satisfied Iheun enough that his eyes curved into crescents again.

“It’ll be annoying and troublesome, but I’ll change. So teach me again—slowly, from the beginning. You, personally.”

Iheun slowly traced his lips with Yeongung’s slender, pale fingers. He was only touching the surface of his lips, yet it felt obscenely intimate—like guiding his hand around the Alpha’s cock during masturbation. Feeling his groin tense on its own, Yeongung tried to pull his hand away.

The Alpha grabbed it again and pointed to the horizontal line beneath Yeongung’s pinky on his palm.

“This is your marriage line. It’s long and straight.”

“…Is that good?”

“Hunter Yeongung is destined for a peaceful, love-filled marriage. That’s the fate you were born with.”

It was a sickeningly sweet interpretation—like flirting on a blind date to win someone’s heart. Since childhood, Iheun had been the only one to ever say such positive things to him.

“If that’s my fate, then my partner’s the same.”

“Just so you know in advance—don’t even dream of marrying some other bastard besides me.”

“Who’d even take in an extreme Omega with a kid?”

Snorting deliberately, Yeongung said something he didn’t mean just to provoke Iheun’s jealousy.

“This is serious.”

“What is?”

“I can’t live without anxiety because of your unknowing state. No—well, I still have to live. But if I die leaving you behind, some pathetic other dick might—”

Yeongung pinched his lips shut.

“Haah, please! Shut up already. Okay?”

Who would even like me? After years of unrequited love, Yeongung’s self-esteem in romance was low, so he couldn’t understand why Won Iheun worried about his chastity. The public’s attention and popularity he received as a Hunter were just bubbles—ones that would burst the moment he lost the title of Absolute.

“Won Iheun. I think we’ve both got mutual rose-colored glasses on.”

Hearing Yeongung talk about rose-colored glasses, Iheun genuinely began worrying about his future. Swallowing a sigh, the Alpha gnawed lightly at Yeongung’s marriage line, thinking he’d better tighten his grip on his mate.

“But there’s no return on my end.”

“What are you planning to say now?”

Yeongung felt uneasy, unsure what bomb Iheun was about to drop.

The man planted rapid kisses—smack, smack, smack—all over Yeongung’s plain, featureless fake face. He’d pressured Sayoung for two years, desperate to see Yeongung’s real face again, but now it didn’t matter. Whatever face he wore, the inside was his Omega.

The wandering red lips finally settled at his cheek dimple—the last remaining trace of the real Yeongung. Imagining stuffing his cock into that dimple, he whispered,

“I love you.”

At that, Yeongung realized what words the man wanted in return, and a small gasp escaped his lips. Just then, over the Alpha’s broad shoulder, he saw a flickering blue status window. The copied nullification was about to end.

Anxious, Won Iheun stared intently at Yeongung’s lips. Yeongung met that desperate gaze and silently counted down.

{Time remaining until gag activation: 10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds… 1 second.}

“Bastard. I love you.”

A long, futile unrequited love finally came to an end—simple words, but filled with aching affection.

As the Omega smiled brightly with his confession, digital noise rippled across his face. Yeongung’s real face returned.

Unaware of this, Yeongung slapped the frozen Alpha’s arm hard.

“…Won Iheun?”

The Alpha—who had waited for this moment for so long—lunged at his Omega.

Sensing that it wouldn’t end with just skinship, Yeongung raised his forearm to push the Alpha’s neck away—

“Waaah!”

As the nullification time ended and the gag reactivated, the child woke up. Yeong Jaehee had been holding Yeongung’s and Won Iheun’s hands side by side, enjoying a dreamlike time in Tintinping Land. But when he opened his eyes, the dark night greeted him—and the father who always smiled warmly at him was nowhere to be seen. Feeling wronged, the child’s crying grew louder and louder.