SRSYT C3

Chapter 3

They’ve dug this deep into Shin Seyeong?

Opening the files in the folder, Seojin’s mouth fell open. There was no way the outside world would know what kind of work Yoon Haegang’s information company actually did. He was only a secondary top.

Naturally, no one knew how much they had already gathered on the main bottom. And yet the materials Manager Kim handed over covered not only Shin Seyeong himself, but the people he met, the places he frequented, even his finances, all laid out in detail.

As expected of someone that obsessive.

The files even had photos attached. It was enough to make anyone click their tongue.

“Seojin-ssi, what now? I’ll have to eat lunch alone. A client asked to move the meeting up.”

Seojin had just opened the second file. He nodded without much thought.

“I can eat alone. Don’t worry, just go.”

“Alright. I’ll bring back a tasty snack instead!”

Manager Kim picked up his jacket and winked with his right eye.

“No. You don’t have to…”

The door burst open.

The refusal never made it out. Yoon Haegang walked in, wearing a black suit.

You said he wasn’t coming today, Manager Kim!

The stare locked on him at once. Seojin frowned, then quickly smoothed his face.

“Oh? President, you’re here! Perfect. I’ll step out for a bit to meet a new client.”

“Ah.”

Even at Haegang’s lazy answer, Manager Kim left with light steps, maybe just relieved he would not have to leave the new hire alone.

Now it was the two of them. Discomfort rose to Seojin’s throat. He spoke first.

“President, hello…”

He even scraped together a speck of courage. Haegang only flicked an eyebrow and sat on the sofa. Crossing his legs and putting a cigarette in his mouth, he looked like a painting.

Wow. Incredible.

What manners. Seojin smiled with all his strength so his face would not twist. Otherwise something ugly was going to come out of his mouth.

“Huu—”

Haegang exhaled smoke. At the same time, a thick, damp pheromone seeped out around him.

The scent filled the room and rolled all the way to Seojin’s desk.

Don’t tell me he’s still suspicious.

Yesterday, on Seojin’s first day, Haegang had already asked if he was an omega. So of course he was flooding the room with pheromones now.

Go ahead. Do it all you want.

Seojin was an omega, so he could smell it. But it did not stimulate his sensory cells.

Noh Seojin-ssi’s pheromone glands are immature. So there is no secretion, and no reaction to stimulation either.

The doctor had also said there would be no heat cycle, the thing that should come naturally to an omega. And that this had ended up causing abnormal reactions in his body.

Anyway, it had not been a big problem so far.

Is it really still not working.

The corner of Seojin’s eye twitched. He was not alone anymore. There was a child now.

I should go to the hospital soon and get everything checked.

He pretended not to notice the persistent stare and let his thoughts wander.

For the next thirty minutes, Seojin endured a gaze like an awl and the heavy press of alpha pheromones.

I can’t even do anything else!

What he needed right now was strong caffeine. He could not even get up for that. If he moved carelessly, it felt like his nape would get bitten.

It’s like I walked into a predator’s cage…

The constant tension made his chest tight.

Riiing.

A cheap, cheerful ringtone cut through.

“Yes, this is the Righteous Information Office, where we work with responsibility and sincerity!”

Seojin snatched up the receiver that had saved him. He even recited the line Manager Kim had drilled into him, the one he said you had to use every time.

He had once asked his noona why the office name had “Righteous” in it. Her answer had been ridiculous. Now that they had cleaned up their shady past and opened a proper office, didn’t righteousness suit them?

Where, exactly!

Look at that man tapping his ankle and smoking. What part of him suited righteousness? He looked more like someone watching a bloody, swearing match at an illegal fight pit.

• An information office? Then you don’t look for things or anything?

Just as his thoughts were drifting, a young voice came through the receiver. The slightly airy way of speaking made the caller sound about seven.

A missing front tooth, maybe?

Imagining it, the corner of his mouth lifted.

“What can we find for you? If there’s something you want, we can do anything!”

When Seojin answered kindly, the little client, who had sounded a bit nervous, spilled the reason for the call.

• Um. Our house’s Kkokko is gone. Please find our Kkokko.

“Kkokko…”

From the name, Kkokko sounded like a chicken. If they kept one at home, maybe the parents ran a poultry farm?

Do they even have poultry farms in Seoul or the capital area?

Or maybe people still sold chicks in front of schools these days. He had often seen that as a child, so some household must still be raising a chicken. Either way, a treasured pet had gone missing, and the child was scared.

“Since when has Kkokko been missing?”

• I came back from school and Kkokko wasn’t there. Hng, waah…!

The child had been trying to stay calm, but Seojin’s gentle question broke the dam. The crying burst out.

“There, don’t cry. Client-nim, you have to explain well so we can find Kkokko.”

• I opened the window a little because I thought Kkokko would be bored, and, hup, hng…

So the chicken had slipped out through the gap. Seojin clicked his tongue, at a loss. He was listening carefully, but he was not sure he should take a request like this.

It was even worse that Yoon Haegang was in the office instead of Manager Kim.

“Eek!”

While he was still thinking how to tell the child, a huge body appeared right beside him. He screamed without meaning to.

He was so startled he almost dropped the receiver. A robber he had not even noticed snatched the thing out of his hand in an instant.

• W-why, why, why?

The little client was just as startled. The thin voice broke in staccato. Haegang looked down as if to ask what this was.

“That’s a client… I think they want us to find a lost pet…”

Seojin had no choice but to explain. He assumed Haegang would snort and end the call.

“How much will you pay, client-nim?”

Hm? What? Did he hear that wrong? Seojin looked up at him, unable to believe it. Haegang noticed and bent his head.

“Twenty thousand won? Hmm… that’s a bit low.”

The mischief hanging on his slightly lifted mouth was strange. It should not have suited a secondary yandere top. The fact that it suited him so well was even stranger.

“You have a piggy bank, but you don’t know how much is in it?”

Haegang sat on the edge of the desk. That brought them even closer. His gaze left Seojin and went to the monitor.

Ah!

Following his eyes, Seojin felt goosebumps run down his spine. Shin Seyeong’s information was on the screen. Then he tilted his head.

Wait. Why am I flinching? Manager Kim told me to look at this.

Wasn’t this a chance to show he was doing his job well? He looked up at Haegang with hopeful eyes.

Haegang was just finishing the call.

“Alright, client-nim. We’ll find it soon, so wait. Yes, that’s right. I’ll find it today.”

Amazingly, Yoon Haegang accepted the little client’s request.

What is that. That face looks like he’s in a good mood.

He was even smiling. Seojin stared blankly without meaning to. Then the thought vanished the moment Haegang hung up and spoke to him.

“What are you doing? Get up.”

“Yes? Me? Why?”

He questioned the sudden order, but stood anyway. Haegang was planted right in front of him. He could not ignore that.

Haegang set the receiver down with a click and spoke lightly, as if the reason were obvious.

“Why else. A request came in, so we have to go find it.”

“Me too?”

His job was to sit quietly in the office, answer the phone, and organize files!

“Of course. Shouldn’t a secretary follow the president around?”

Excuse me? President? You were the one who found it annoying to have a secretary beside you!

Then why are you doing something you never did.

Unfortunately, Seojin could not protest hard enough. On only his second day of work, he ended up going out on a field job after Yoon Haegang.