“Hey, hey… club tonight?”
“…Club?”
Half-asleep, Jung Hwangyu had been listening to the lecture in a daze when the break came. At his friend Kim Minsu’s words, he replied reflexively. Minsu’s red-dyed hair looked especially flashy today.
“Yeah, let’s go, let’s go. It’s Friday night, man. There’ll be tons of fresh girls.”
It was always the club—what could possibly be new about it? Jung Hwangyu yawned. Grinding and rubbing up against people wasn’t bad, but only for a while….
It was starting to get old. And the food you ate in places like that never tasted good either.
‘As much as I don’t want to admit it… the housekeeper’s cooking is the best.’
The moment food crossed his mind, the housekeeper naturally followed. At first, it hadn’t been anything special. Just average. He’d only forced himself to eat breakfast after workouts because it was a habit.
But recently, ever since the housekeeper’s tone of voice and behavior had completely changed, the food had suddenly gotten ridiculously good.
The problem was that it had gotten too good. It tasted better than anything sold outside. Normally, he’d always be out eating dinner somewhere, but these days, there were times when he actually wanted home-cooked food so badly that he’d even come home just to eat dinner.
That was how good the housekeeper’s food was.
‘And sitting face to face, eating and chatting… that’s not bad either.’
At first it had annoyed him, but lately, he’d been enjoying it quite a bit.
Maybe it was those indifferent eyes. More than anything else, the housekeeper was pretty good-looking.
‘No—at that level, isn’t he actually really good-looking?’
He hadn’t noticed before because the guy always kept his head lowered, trembling, but now that he really looked—he was seriously attractive.
A face so pale it was like milk had been poured over it, jet-black hair. Delicate features, and eyes that were huge.
When those pitch-black eyes, like inlaid obsidian, stared blankly and shimmered, Jung Hwangyu found himself grinning stupidly as he looked back. Beautiful enough that there was no comparison with the people you saw at clubs.
If only he were an omega….
It fit Jung Hwangyu’s tastes well enough that he’d considered making a move—but the problem was that he was a man.
He had his own rules. A male omega was fine, but a beta man was a no-go….
Come to think of it, his rut cycle should be hitting soon too.
“Hwangyu!”
Maybe he’d been thinking about the housekeeper too much—he could’ve sworn he heard the housekeeper calling his name urgently from somewhere.
‘Man, I’m really losing it.’
He hadn’t slept properly last night, so now he was hearing things.
He’d heard the housekeeper call him before, sure—but always in that spaced-out, flat tone. Never urgently. Not even once.
‘Well, it’s not unpleasant to hear. Would he sound like that in bed too?’
The thought slipped into his head.
The housekeeper on a bed….
Imagining the housekeeper desperately trying to stop him made him feel a little turned on.
Thinking he was really entertaining all kinds of thoughts, Jung Hwangyu let out a quiet snort—when the familiar voice rang out again, unmistakably real this time.
“Hwangyu, where are you?!”
“…Huh? Housekeeper?”
…That is the housekeeper, right?
Spotting him, the housekeeper came charging over at an insane speed. Jung Hwangyu flinched.
What the hell—what’s going on for him to come running like he’s about to kill someone?
“Call everyone you know. Now.”
“What? What are you even talking about all of a sudden? And how did you even know I was here? No—why are you here in the first place?”
Caught completely off guard, Jung Hwangyu couldn’t hide his confusion.
“Jung Hwangyeong’s been kidnapped.”
“…What?”
“Jung Hwangyeong was kidnapped, you bastard!”
The words took a second to register. Jung Hwangyu froze on the spot.
“I have to go look for your other brothers too. You—round up people nearby and search this area. If you find anything, call 010--. I’m going.”
With that, the housekeeper took off running again.
“…Who was that? Damn, he’s pretty. But more importantly—what the hell did he just say? Jung Hwangyeong? That’s your little brother, isn’t it?”
The news he’d seen that morning flashed through Jung Hwangyu’s mind.
And there was no way the housekeeper would come all the way to his university just to lie.
“…We have to find him.”
“What?”
“We have to find him right now! Call everyone you know! Right now!”
* * *
“Ahh, that was so good. Just one more time. Please?”
Jung Hwangseo looked down at the omega straddling his body. The omega, releasing pheromones as he begged for more, clung to him whining. It was the same omega he’d spent the night with.
The omega clinging to him like an animal, his body marked with red stains, looked pretty good—
But only up to that point.
‘This still isn’t it….’
The omega he’d seen that day had been different. He’d only caught a brief whiff of the pheromones, yet he’d gone into heat instantly and pounced like a beast. That was how intoxicating the scent had been.
It had felt like his omega.
That powerful certainty—he couldn’t feel it at all from the omega beneath him now.
‘…Was it just a rut-cycle hallucination?’
Like a mirage.
No matter how hard he searched, he couldn’t find it—something that had vanished without a trace.
He’d thought he’d find it quickly, but reality was the complete opposite. No witnesses. Nothing on CCTV. It was as if the person had evaporated—neither in the sky nor underground—leaving behind nothing but his memory.
Smack, smack, smack.
“Ahh, it’s so good. Your pheromones are amazing.”
Drunk on pheromones, the omega arched his waist and started moving.
Jung Hwangseo watched with half-lidded, languid eyes when—
Bang, bang, bang.
A rough pounding shook the door.
“…What the hell. I was just getting into it.”
The nameless omega pouted and tried to refocus on what they were doing, but the pounding came again, louder this time.
The door was being hit hard enough to sound like it might break. The omega, clearly scared, retreated and looked at Jung Hwangseo.
‘Boring.’
The omega from his memory had been bold.
Bold enough to beat the hell out of him while he was in heat, right?
Then again, an omega beating up an alpha—like that could ever happen.
…Does that omega really not exist?
Jung Hwangseo staggered off the bed and headed for the door. Room 1234—this hotel room was practically his personal space. He came here so often that all the staff knew him.
So it wasn’t likely to be hotel staff.
Had someone gotten the room wrong?
Still, the pounding sounded far too desperate for that.
Curious, Jung Hwangseo opened the door, completely naked.
The door swung open—and an unfamiliar face filled his vision.
‘Not bad….’
Pretty.
Did an omega wander into the wrong room?
A pale face and sharp black eyes shining like the night sky caught his interest.
Without realizing it, he licked his lips. Would the body underneath those clothes be as nice as that face?
“Master Jung Hwangseo.”
“…Hm? You know me? And damn, you’re really pretty. Got time? Want to hang out with me?”
He stepped closer, releasing pheromones in a seductive rush.
But the man didn’t even flinch. Jung Hwangseo tilted his head.
Looks like an omega, but maybe a beta?
“…Shut up and go put some clothes on. Your younger brother, Jung Hwangyeong, has been kidnapped. In kidnappings, time is everything. We need to find him right now.”
“What?”
At the man’s words, Jung Hwangseo’s face hardened.
“…What, that’s not a funny joke.”
His pheromones turned violent.
The man glared at him and spoke again, enunciating every word.
“Does this look like a joke to you? Mobilize everyone you know and flood this area. Right now. And keep your phone on—don’t turn it off, you fucking bastard!”
At first, he’d been fairly calm, but as his anger built, his voice rose step by step until he was outright shouting curses. Then he spun around and ran off.
Jung Hwangseo stood there blankly as the omega approached him again.
“What was that, honey…? Who was he?”
“Get lost.”
He shoved the omega away as he clung to his arm, then rushed back to the bed and dug through his pants where they’d been tossed.
His phone was inside—filled with missed calls. Jung Hwangyu. Jung Hwangyeong’s kindergarten. 112.
It was more than enough to prove this wasn’t some tasteless joke.
“…Fuck.”
The laziness that always clouded Jung Hwangseo’s eyes was swallowed by killing intent.
Whoever it is—
‘The bastard who touched our youngest. I’ll kill him.’