Hero Hunter is on Parental Leave C38

Chapter 38

“I’ll take one signature latte and one warm milk to go.”

“Would you like the latte iced?”

“Yes. And I don’t need a cup holder or a straw.”

After placing his order, Yeongung took in the café’s interior. The décor was centered around the brand’s iconic purple bottle, arranged so stylishly that it was enjoyable just to look at. Drinking overpriced coffee in a global franchise café—what a luxury. On the island, such city conveniences had been out of reach.

After giving birth to Jaehee, even going to a café had felt extravagant, so he usually bought instant coffee mix in bulk or drank the ssanghwa tea the neighborhood tearoom lady brewed for him.

He used to think Chahyeon was making him run errands—but maybe it had been his way of being considerate.

“Getting out for a bit… not bad.”

Humming the Tintinping theme song, the tune Jaehee loved, he waited for his drinks.

Then someone bumped into him, spilling their drink all over him.

Unfortunately, he was wearing a white Oxford shirt—now stained like a spilled map across a blank canvas.

The man, who had tripped and fallen to the floor, snapped irritably at him.

“What unlucky timing.”

If anyone was unlucky, it was the one who’d been standing still and got drenched.

But instead, the man started making demands.

“What are you just standing there for? Can’t you see someone’s fallen? Hurry and help me up—hurry!”

He had forgotten that for a city with so many people, there were equally many people with terrible manners. Suppressing a sigh, Yeongung extended his hand. The man’s behavior was unpleasant, but his rounded belly told the story—he was pregnant. Having gone through pregnancy and childbirth himself in a male body, Yeongung knew well how hard it was.

Softening, he helped the pregnant person up—only to find a very recognizable face.

Won Iheun’s biological parent, Park Hyesu.

Of all places, to run into him here.

Yeongung took in his ageless, beautiful face and greeted him with a prickly tone.

“Still the same, I see.”

“…Who are you?”

He had forgotten he wasn’t wearing his real face—he was still in his disguise as Yeongjun. Caught off guard, he introduced himself under his fake identity.

“I’m a hunter from the Taco Guild. I work under Master Won Iheun.”

He didn’t say your son’s person. He knew too well the deep disgust Iheun held toward his parents.

“Someone of Iheun’s? What’s your name?”

“You don’t need to know that.”

At his curt reply, Park Hyesu’s expression twisted sharply.

Even in the face of hostility, Yeongung didn’t bother changing his tone.

Park Hyesu was trash among trash.

In his youth, possessing nothing but his beauty, Park Hyesu had married into a great family at a young age and given birth to Iheun. Then the young Omega became addicted to the power and pleasure he’d tasted for the first time—and spread his legs as lightly as breathing.

His belly was quite large; he must have been due soon.

Yeongung guessed the child inside was likely Iheun’s half-sibling.

Sure enough, a young Alpha came rushing over—an obvious extramarital partner.

“Babe! I leave for a few minutes to pay the hospital bill and you’re already wagging your tail at some other guy?”

He didn’t come running because he was worried—he was here to interrogate his cheating partner. The Alpha’s suspicion snowballed.

“Are you sure this kid is even mine?”

“What? You bastard!”

“I knew it. The three of us slept together that day—remember? It’s probably that other guy’s kid.”

With a contemptuous glare, the young Alpha stormed off.

Left alone, Park Hyesu unleashed a string of curses.

Just like always.

Disgustingly consistent.

Even more nauseating was the fact that Iheun’s Alpha parent was no better. The couple maintained their legal marriage while turning a blind eye to each other’s depravity.

With wealth so abundant their affairs didn’t matter, they acknowledged and took in most of their illegitimate offspring.

The young Alpha probably assumed Park Hyesu had settled down with him.

Watching this real-life trash drama unfold, Yeongung wanted to leave.

But of course, Park Hyesu wouldn’t let him go easily.

Seeing the timid-looking, plain-faced Yeongung, he pounced like a predator.

“Hey, you rude brat. Judging by the way you recognized me, you dug around a bit? With that half-finished, pathetic face—are you aiming for my son?”

Yeongung wanted to smash that beautiful face—the face that dared to call his precious person “son” so shamelessly.

What kind of parent throws orgies in a house where their young child sleeps?

No wonder Iheun recoiled from the concept of love like someone with a phobia—it was how he was raised.

Yeongung stepped closer.

“Yes. Is that a problem?”

“What!?”

“Why wouldn’t I be able to? Even someone like you has a fancy title as a ‘legitimate spouse.’”

Their verbal sparring was starting to draw an audience. Behind the small crowd, a nervous staff member stood holding the drinks he’d ordered long ago.

Realizing the attention, Park Hyesu clicked his tongue and gave a dismissive nod.

“Has the brat’s taste changed since I last saw him? Well, he’s an odd one. Never cared for parties either. But he’ll come back to us eventually. Blood will tell, after all. Those supreme Alpha types can never be satisfied with just one.”

Blood, blood, blood—

As if it excused anything.

If anything, it was that rotten bloodline that had stolen from Jaehee the chance to receive love from both parents from birth.

And worse—Park Hyesu was wrong.

Won Iheun was nothing like them.

“Take that back. Don’t you dare put Master’s name on your filthy lips.”

Breathing hard, Yeongung met his gaze and spoke slowly, clearly:

“He is nothing like you.”

At that moment, a tall figure shoved itself between them.

“Iheun, when did you—!”

Jaw tight with rage, Iheun grabbed Yeongung’s arm and dragged him into the restroom with brutal strength.

“Ow! Let go, you brute!”

SLAM—!

Yeongung’s back hit the stall wall.

“What the hell is this? What set you off this time?”

“Fuck.”

“If you’re upset because of how I treated your biological parent, if that’s why—”

Hot lips crashed down on his, swallowing the rest of his words.

A red tongue forced his lips apart, ravaging the soft inner flesh.

With the heat pouring from the man, breathing itself became difficult.

He felt like he was being devoured.

“Hhh—!”

Overwhelmed by Iheun’s pheromones, strength melted from his body.

When he nearly slid down the stall wall, Iheun wedged his firm thigh between Yeongung’s legs.

Unfortunately, the friction only stimulated him.

Feeling his sex rub against the man’s muscular thigh, Yeongung shuddered.

With a heated breath, he weakly pushed at the excited Alpha’s shoulder.

“S-stop…”

Their lips parted with a wet, stringing thread of saliva.

Iheun followed it, licking up the strands from Yeongung’s lips like a spider collecting silk.

His fingers brushed the peach fuzz on the Omega’s flushed cheek.

His watercolor-softened eyes, damp and pink-tinged, stoked the Alpha’s hunger.

He wanted to rip his pants off—push inside that tight heat he’d once tasted, mark him again, carve himself into him until that composed face came apart.

“…”

But then Iheun suddenly froze.

Yeongung stared, confused.

His innocent, bewildered look made Iheun slam his fist against the wall.

He couldn’t even remember the last time they’d touched.

With the restraint of a starving beast, he swallowed everything down.

“Say it again.”

“…Say what.”

“That I’m yours.”

‘Master Won Iheun’s person.’

Had he heard that?

Mortified, Yeongung wanted to crawl into a hole.

“You—! How long were you listening?”

“Since ‘Still the same, I see.’”

Meaning he’d witnessed the entire exchange.

In embarrassment, Yeongung covered his face with his arm.

“I told you not to hide.”

Iheun yanked his arm down so he had to look at him.

The blurred, substitute face gazed up at the man.

Pressing the faint dimple on his cheek—a shadow of his true face—Iheun murmured:

“Not yet…”

“What?”

As if stamping a seal, he pressed a gentle kiss to Yeongung’s swollen lips.

“It’s nothing.”

As Yeongung peeled off his coffee-soaked Oxford shirt, he gave him another look. Luckily, the T-shirt underneath was fine.

“What about your business at the guild building?”

“It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“How are the idiot duo? They’re loud but never boring. I kind of miss them.”

Iheun’s jaw tightened at the casual “I miss them.”

“You didn’t miss me?”

He obviously knew the answer—but demanded one anyway.

Irritated, Yeongung got contrary out of spite.

“You were gone only a few hours.”

“Being treated like a caught fish… quite painful.”

The roles had reversed.

For so long, he had been the one begging for scraps of affection.

Holding the ruined shirt, Iheun took off his own outer layer and draped it over Yeongung’s shoulders.

“Well done.”

“…Huh?”

“You did well. You should’ve gone even harder on him.”

“No matter how disgusting he is… he’s still technically Jaehee’s family.”

“Pretend that family doesn’t exist. I’ll make up for a hundred people.”

Outside the stall, Yeongung splashed cold water on his face to cool the flush. Iheun handed him paper towels.

“The doctor said the flight was delayed.”

“Yeah. Chahyeon’s watching Jaehee, but it’s taking longer than expected. Let’s go to the director’s office.”

Iheun resisted the urge to pounce on the damp-faced Omega and instead gently wiped away the remaining droplets, mindful of the man anxious about their child.

They stepped out and headed toward the elevator.

Just as the elevator arrived and the doors began to open—

KWAAANG—!

A violent tremor shook the ground.

A black hole ripped open on the elevator floor—

the maw of a Gate.

“H-haah?”

Patients inside stared in horror as the floor vanished beneath them.

A woman locked eyes with Yeongung as she was sucked in, screaming.

“Help me—! Please! Aaaah!”