Chapter 26

The two of them sank down onto the wooden floor. Yoon Mujin covered his face with both hands, while Kwon Heeseong simply hurled the phone he was holding onto the floor. The screen shattered, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

The one person who had been the only sanctuary in their respective worlds was gone.

“Kang Taeon, that fucking bastard!”

For once, Yoon Mujin agreed with Kwon Heeseong.

“Can you find him?”

At Mujin’s question, Heeseong swallowed a sigh.

Kang Taeon had deliberately spirited Jeong Iwon away. Could he really find him? They had both come from chaebol families, but their circumstances were worlds apart. Taeon was steadily climbing the ladder as the heir to Taekyung Group, while Heeseong, regarded as nothing more than a reckless playboy, had been cast out with a single entertainment business to his name.

He knew what Mujin was expecting of him, but this was hardly a situation where he could rashly promise that he could do it.

Still.

He had to.

He had to do something, somehow, and find Jeong Iwon. Who knew what that lunatic Kang Taeon might have done to him? Just thinking about how he had ruined everyone around him whenever it concerned Baek Hamin was enough. Taeon knew exactly how much power he possessed, and within that sphere, he had never hesitated to do whatever he pleased.

“I’ll try contacting Kang Taeon. You—”

Kwon Heeseong poked Yoon Mujin in the chest with a finger.

“Contact Baek Hamin. That crazy bastard at least listens to him.”

Heeseong went out into the yard and picked up his half-destroyed phone. He supposed getting a new one was the first thing he needed to do.

Fortunately, Kwon Heeseong had Kang Taeon’s number. It wasn’t a number he had obtained because he particularly wanted it; he had happened to get it years ago at a gathering of chaebol families. Heeseong went into town, replaced his phone, and immediately called Taeon.

But there was no answer.

He kept calling persistently, until at some point, he was blocked.

“Fuck!”

The curse escaped him automatically.

Still, it wasn’t as though he had no options at all. Even if he wasn’t considered an important figure within the group, Kwon Heeseong had plenty of friends.

He came from a chaebol family, spent money freely, and ran an entertainment business. Naturally, his friends who occupied decent positions had no reason to distance themselves from him.

With the help of one such friend, Heeseong attended a gathering where people of a similar background had gathered. When they had been in their early twenties, there had been plenty of guys who did nothing but drink and brag about themselves. Things were different now. Most of them were either heirs to chaebol families or people hovering somewhere around that level.

“Huh? Kwon Heeseong? Long time no see!”

Several people greeted him.

“I heard you’re running an entertainment company now. So, are idols really that pretty in person?”

“Hey, hey. Give it a rest.”

Lee Cheolmin, the friend who had brought Heeseong here, clicked his tongue.

“You’re getting married soon. What are you going to do if the idols really are pretty?”

“You know exactly what.”

Disgusting.

Heeseong wasn’t exactly any better than them, but he found himself thinking it nonetheless. Still, there was no reason to show his thoughts here. How many guys like that were there, anyway?

More importantly, he needed to meet Kang Taeon.

“More importantly, where’s Kang Taeon?”

The guy who had been going on about idols shrugged.

“He’s inside. Doesn’t even bother with guys like me anymore.”

It wasn’t as though Taeon had ever paid him much attention in the first place. Maybe part of it was because he came from a small-to-medium-sized business family, but mostly, the guy was simply too immature.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. If you really want to thank me, you know what you can do.”

He winked.

Heeseong felt like punching him.

And so, after considerable difficulty, Kwon Heeseong finally came face-to-face with Kang Taeon.

Taeon had been leisurely sipping his drink while surrounded by people. When he spotted Heeseong, he accepted Lee Cheolmin’s greeting as Cheolmin approached him, then gave Heeseong a slight nod.

Heeseong walked over.

“I’d like to speak with you for a moment.”

Kang Taeon leisurely glanced at his wristwatch.

“Five minutes. I suppose I can spare that much.”

What an irritating bastard.

Heeseong swallowed the curse that once again threatened to spill from his mouth.

The two of them briefly left the gathering and entered an empty lounge. Taeon didn’t even bother sitting on the sofa provided for people to rest. Heeseong had no time to waste sitting down either.

Kang Taeon stared out at the nightscape beyond the window, then checked his watch once more.

That arrogant attitude gnawed away at Heeseong’s patience. At last, he threw away the last scraps of courtesy he had been desperately maintaining.

“Jeong Iwon. You took him, didn’t you?”

At Kwon Heeseong’s low question, Kang Taeon slowly turned his head.

There was not a trace of emotion in his eyes. Nothing but the detached indifference of someone looking at a stone rolling along the side of the road.

“Why are you asking me? What does the disappearance of one unpleasant omega have to do with me?”

“Don’t play dumb. I already know you sent people to that house!”

Heeseong strode forward, reaching out as though he might seize Taeon by the collar, but Kang Taeon didn’t even blink.

Instead, he let out a derisive laugh and stared straight at him.

“…Yes. I did.”

The easy admission left Heeseong momentarily breathless.

Kang Taeon continued as though it were nothing worth mentioning.

“Hamin gets sick just hearing that man’s name. Shouldn’t I remove anything detrimental to my wife before it becomes a problem? As it happened, he was willing to leave of his own accord.”

There was no way.

If Jeong Iwon had truly left willingly, it would only have been because he was afraid of Kang Taeon.

Jeong Iwon loved that man.

And hated him.

“Fucking bastard!”

Kwon Heeseong ground his teeth.

“If you so much as lay a finger on Iwon, I’ll never let you off!”

Heeseong shouted, venom dripping from every word, but Kang Taeon’s response was cold. He seemed to regard Heeseong’s threat as nothing more than a joke.

The corner of his mouth lifted as he stepped closer.

The pheromones of an overwhelming dominant alpha pressed down on Heeseong.

But Heeseong wasn’t about to simply submit.

After all, weren’t they both dominant alphas?

“Kwon Heeseong. Don’t misunderstand.”

Kang Taeon’s voice descended like a sheet of ice.

“You’re the weakling I could crush to death whenever I felt like it. You’ve been kicked out of Ilseong and reduced to running an entertainment business. What exactly do you think you can do against me? There is nothing you can do for that man.”

“……!”

“Never waste my time with something this trivial and troublesome again. If you appear in front of me once more and utter his name, then it won’t be him I destroy. I’ll tear that pathetic little company of yours apart instead.”

With that, Kang Taeon gave Heeseong a light pat on the shoulder and left the lounge without another thought.

Left alone, Kwon Heeseong trembled with his fists clenched tight.

His pride had been carved to pieces.

And there wasn’t a single thing Taeon had said that was wrong.

Right now, Kwon Heeseong was a weakling—a man who couldn’t even protect himself, let alone take Jeong Iwon back.

Meanwhile, Yoon Mujin sat on a bench by the roadside, clutching his smartphone.

While Heeseong had gone to meet Kang Taeon, Mujin had tried contacting Baek Hamin.

But Hamin didn’t answer.

He hadn’t turned off his phone, nor had he blocked the calls. With things like this, anxiety gnawed relentlessly at Mujin.

Eventually, Yoon Mujin headed toward Baek Hamin’s house.

There was only one thing he could do: confront the situation head-on.

But even after he pressed the doorbell, Baek Hamin gave no response.

Maybe he’s out.

If that was the case, then all Mujin had to do was wait.

The possibility of running into Kang Taeon worried him, but right now, Jeong Iwon mattered more.

So he stood there and waited.

After quite some time, the front gate finally opened.

“Mu-jin.”

It was Baek Hamin.

“Hamin.”

“…What are you doing here?”

“Jeong Iwon is gone. I think…”

Yoon Mujin tried to continue, but Baek Hamin cut him off.

“Stop! Stop, Mujin.”

Hamin worried his lower lip between his teeth and looked at Mujin with tearful eyes.

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this. That man is a bad person! Is this really the time for you to waste your time looking for someone like him? What about your dream? Why did you quit boxing?”

“That’s not what matters right now.”

“No. What matters right now is your dream. Not Jeong Iwon!”

“Just listen to me for a moment. I think Mr. Kang Taeon sent him somewhere. Could you ask him about it? Please!”

Yoon Mujin’s voice rose along with his desperation.

At his pleading, Baek Hamin’s expression changed subtly.

The angelic smile he normally wore was nowhere to be seen. Instead, his face was filled with a mixture of distress and resentment.

“Mujin, I don’t know anything about this. There’s no way my brother would do something like that. And even if he did, is it really any business of yours? Haven’t you listened to everything I’ve been telling you?”

“……What?”

“You know how much that man tormented me. Isn’t it actually for the best that he’s gone? My brother must have done it for all of us. For you, too.”

The words coming from Baek Hamin’s mouth were nothing like what Yoon Mujin had expected.

He had always been so kind.

So why was he saying something like this?

“For me? Iwon saved me.”

“That man? Mujin. You’re being deceived. That bastard never does anything unless he has an ulterior motive. He only approached you because he was probably planning to use you to get revenge on us…”

“Stop.”

Yoon Mujin’s voice dropped low.

But Baek Hamin didn’t stop.