“Food!”
“It’s all ready. Come out.”
“…Oh, sausage stir-fry today.”
A full week had already passed since I’d possessed this body. What had felt awkward at first had become familiar by now. Each day was much the same as the first.
I fixed Jung Hwangyu’s breakfast, ate alongside him, then sent Jung Hwangyeong off to kindergarten. After that, doing the housework made the time fly by. The youngest, Jung Hwangyeong, was seven, but he was so undemanding it was hard to believe his age—convenient to a fault. The third, Jung Hwangyu, had been noisy at first, but now that he’d grown used to me, he was fairly docile as long as his meals were on time. His tone was still rough, though.
I watched Jung Hwangyu shovel food into his mouth at a terrifying speed, then glanced up toward the upper floor.
‘Jung Hwangseo’s quiet too.’
Since that day, I thankfully hadn’t run into Jung Hwangseo. Whenever I sensed his presence, I simply avoided the area. It wasn’t hard. If I smelled his scent, I just moved elsewhere.
It was only possible because Jung Hwangseo didn’t bother concealing his pheromones at home, letting them waft freely. He didn’t seem interested in the housekeeper either—he never came looking. It seemed he really did believe what happened during his rut cycle had been a dream.
‘Then my plan worked.’
Even if it hadn’t, there was no way he’d ever suspect it was me.
There was no chance he’d imagine that the housekeeper he barely noticed had sneaked into his room during his rut and beaten him like a dog.
“Thanks for the meal! Your cooking keeps getting better. It’s fucking good.”
“Glad you liked it. Need anything else?”
“Make kimchi fried rice next time. Load it up with meat.”
“Sure.”
Jung Hwangyu cleaned his plate spotless as usual and got up. After seeing him off, I washed the dishes and headed for Jung Hwangyeong’s room. Once I took care of him, my morning duties would be over.
I knocked and went in. Jung Hwangyeong was silent as ever. He glared at me briefly, then wordlessly got up.
“Young master, would you like breakfast?”
As usual, he kept his mouth tightly shut and shook his head.
I looked at Jung Hwangyeong. A body slightly smaller than his peers, cheeks growing thinner. He never ate at home—was he eating properly at kindergarten?
I’d figured he’d ask for food if he got hungry, so I hadn’t pushed it, but no matter how long I waited, he never spoke up.
‘He won’t collapse from malnutrition or something, will he?’
That would be a problem.
After watching the car carrying Jung Hwangyeong drive off, I returned to the house. I distinctly remembered that the female lead, early on, took care of Jung Hwangyeong’s meals to gain the other brothers’ attention….
‘Ah, right. Sweet pumpkin porridge!’
That had been the only thing Jung Hwangyeong ate. I hurried to the kitchen. There was plenty of everything else, but no sweet pumpkin. Looks like I’d have to go shopping….
The person who managed the kitchen supplies came at dawn—once every three days—to restock only what was missing. They’d already come three days ago, which meant it’d be another three days before the next visit.
‘Should I just step out for a bit now?’
It struck me that I hadn’t really gone out even once since entering this book. Sure, I’d stepped outside briefly to take Jung Hwangyeong places, but those hardly counted.
It wouldn’t be bad to go out properly this time. Decision made, I went to my room, grabbed my wallet and a jacket, and headed straight for the front door.
‘First outing….’
A little exciting….
The house was so big it never felt stuffy, but thinking about going out made my heart flutter. I opened the front door and stepped outside. The sunlight beating down felt good. I walked along the neatly maintained road in front of the gate.
The warm spring sunshine put me in a good mood. I briefly regretted not coming out sooner. That was when I heard loud voices. I turned my head—and froze.
“Baby, try this. Aaah~!”
“Mmm, it’s good.”
“Right? Give me a bite of your ice cream too. Aaah~.”
Flirtatious voices from a couple. The problem was—it was a male–male couple.
Now that I looked around, it wasn’t just them. There were female–female couples here and there as well.
I’d read that in the omegaverse world, gender didn’t matter—alphas and omegas paired up regardless. But seeing it in person was still jarring. No, more than jarring.
This is going to take a while to get used to….
I passed them while deliberately not looking. Even for a fictional world, the author really had no prejudice.
‘Right—where’s the market again?’
Ah, found it.
As soon as I left the residential area, a large market and a bustling district came into view.
While browsing the streets, I spotted an elderly woman selling sweet pumpkins and bought one from her. It looked fresh—just my kind of thing. Street vendors always had the tastiest stuff anyway. No need to go all the way to the market now.
Thinking I might need other things, I wandered around a bit more. Every time I saw something that looked like a good snack, I bought one. Before I knew it, both my hands were full.
‘Alright, shopping’s done. Time to head back.’
I couldn’t carry any more, so I turned to leave—when I heard a commotion from somewhere.
“You bastard! Done talking?”
“What, I said something wrong? Feeling guilty?”
“You piece of shit!”
Men with menacing faces wearing flashy shirts. All of them stood with puffed-up chests, clearly proud of their size. One look at their eyes and the atmosphere told me everything. Those guys weren’t civilians. Gangsters. You can recognize your own.
I didn’t feel any need to get involved and was about to leave, but my feet wouldn’t move. The voice shouting while surrounded by about five gangsters sounded familiar.
‘No way….’
A bad feeling crept in.
“Come with us, you little shit! Cocky bastard! I’ll teach you a lesson!”
“Hah. Like I’d be scared of that.”
‘Ah, figures….’
Among the bulky men, a head of bright yellow hair stood out. Jung Hwangyu. Why was he surrounded by gangsters here?
Watching him shout back boldly and follow them without a shred of fear, even though they were much bigger than him, left me speechless.
‘He looks confident enough—do I really need to help?’
Even if he wasn’t the main lead, Jung Hwangyu was still one of the male leads. And an alpha. There was no way he’d lose to some random gangsters… right?
Still, having eaten from the same pot, I couldn’t help worrying. Then I noticed a woman standing where they’d been, trembling in fear. She seemed to be the root of the problem. Pretty, and fragile-looking.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-yes…. I’m okay. But… because of me, that man….”
A passerby approached the shaking woman. She explained, trembling, that she was an omega, and because of an urgent matter she’d gone out during her heat cycle after taking suppressants—only to get caught by alpha gangsters. Jung Hwangyu had stepped in to help.
The passerby tried to calm her and said they’d call the police. How fast would the police really come? I let out a sigh and started walking in the direction Jung Hwangyu had been taken.
‘…I was going to just leave, but the kid did something more decent than I expected.’
I’d thought he was a lost cause, but maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. It probably wasn’t too dangerous, but…
Just in case, I’d keep an eye on things. Thinking my outing was going to take longer than planned, I quietly followed after Jung Hwangyu and the gangsters.
* * *
“Ha, those cheap bastards….”
Jung Hwangyu had skipped college that day because he wanted to go to a PC café for once and had come to the busy district. That was when he sensed a strange scent on the street. A strange scent coming from a woman. As an alpha, he knew instinctively.
‘She’s in heat.’
Walking around during a heat cycle—was she out of her mind?
He kept an eye on her, uneasy, and sure enough, the gangsters smoking outside a club noticed her. With leering smiles, they started following her.
His eldest brother had warned him not to cause trouble, but if he stayed out of it, those guys would disgrace every man alive. In the end, he stepped in.
‘Why are there so many of them?’
They took him to a wide, junkyard-like lot. It was clearly their hideout—more than ten gangsters were sitting around smoking. A few exchanged glances, clearly recognizing each other. That made fifteen in total.
‘Damn it. I should’ve ended it back there….’
No matter how much he’d fought like it was nothing since childhood, this was too much. His damn overconfidence had screwed him over.
“So? Feeling scared now, you cocky bastard?”
One particularly ugly gangster sneered at him.
‘…Even if I can’t kill all of you, I’ll definitely kill you.’
“Hah. Who’s scared? You are. Afraid to fight one-on-one, so you brought your whole pack. You’re the scared one.”
“You little shit!”
The moment he provoked him, the dumb gangster lunged. Jung Hwangyu punched him in the solar plexus, then kicked his ugly face aside.
“You little punk!”
As if waiting for it, the others rushed him. Jung Hwangyu bared his teeth like a mad dog and shouted,
“Yeah. Fuck it. Let’s see if I die or you do! I’ll take at least one of you with me, you bastards!”