"So? What's going on?"
When Haeil asked with the same smiling face, Jaeyoung snapped back, sulky.
"I finally picked him and he ignored me! I came in person and he still played hard to get. I don’t know what kind of nerve a newbie punk thinks he has—ugh!"
"Hmm, so you got dumped."
At Haeil’s words, Jaeyoung exploded.
"I—I didn’t get dumped! I’m still talking to that bastard…!"
"If you got dumped, you leave quietly."
The icy voice chopped Jaeyoung’s words clean in half.
There was still a smile hanging at Kwon Haeil’s mouth, but a slicing chill pooled around him. Jaeyoung’s eyes went round, his face saying, Did I hear that wrong?
"W-what…?"
He still hadn’t grasped the situation—not even when the tender voice laced with frigid profanity tightened around his throat.
"What kind of nerve do you have, calling someone ‘punk, punk’ when it’s your first time meeting him, you fucking bastard."
The corners of Haeil’s eyes, meeting his, turned razor-sharp like a honed blade.
"Stop making a loud, trashy scene and get lost."
Haeil’s hand clamped on Jaeyoung’s shoulder tightened hard. Pain like the joint would shatter made Jaeyoung suck in air.
Just as Jaeyoung’s instincts readied a scream, Haeil gently covered his mouth. His kindly voice bored into Jaeyoung’s ear.
"The phrase ‘know your place’ exists for a reason. Right, Jaeyoung?"
"Mmff! Mff!"
Tears sprang in Jaeyoung’s eyes, unable even to scream.
It wasn’t only because the shoulder he’d grabbed hurt so much; it was also because it felt unfair that Haeil was treating him without an ounce of respect. He was a VIP of this club, after all, and he and Kwon Haeil had even spent an unforgettable night together.
But he couldn’t even protest with his eyes.
He felt like he would be crushed under Kwon Haeil’s powerful pheromones. He couldn’t bear how terrifying it was—those fearsome pheromones aimed solely at him.
Terrified out of his wits, Jaeyoung swallowed his groan and shook.
Only then did Kanghyeon, who had stood silent until now, move. Gripping the wrist covering Jaeyoung’s mouth, he spoke firmly.
"That’s enough."
Haeil’s cool eyes looked to Kanghyeon. It was a gaze sharp enough to make anyone flinch, but Kanghyeon met it with ease.
After a wordless stare, Haeil gave a small shrug and released his hand. The overwhelming pheromones pressing on Jaeyoung vanished at once.
Freed from Haeil, Jaeyoung scuttled back from him. Pale-faced, he coughed roughly again and again, tears showing.
"Hack, hack! Haeil, h-how could you do this to me…!"
"Oppa!"
A woman’s voice cut him off out of nowhere. The one calling him was a tall, long-haired woman like a model.
She wore a metal name tag that read "MD Sehee"—someone Kanghyeon had met before. She was the one who’d tried to take him to another table the moment he came in.
Kanghyeon had set foot in this club purely to gather information and grasp the overall atmosphere. He had no intention of getting chummy with strangers, so he flatly refused the MD’s offer. Then the Omega who’d requested a designated pickup came at him, and things turned into what they were now.
Jaeyoung’s MD, Sehee, promptly seized his arm.
"Oppa, you can’t do this here. Let’s hurry back to the table."
"No back talk—move! I’ll find you an Alpha that fits your tastes and pick him up for you!"
Sehee kept stealing glances at Haeil as she pulled Jaeyoung away. Unlike her usual friendly, lively self, she sounded tightly on edge.
Jaeyoung and his party had no choice but to follow Sehee and leave the spot.
Once the ones who’d made the scene were gone, only Kwon Haeil and Baek Kanghyeon were left.
In the blaring sound, the two looked only at each other.
***
Haeil had found Kanghyeon inside the club thanks to some chatty Omegas. They showed strong interest, saying a top-tier-faced Alpha had come in alone with "yellow banding."
It was rare to come to a club alone with no party at all. Even then, most came in as a guest through an MD, or they were club rats who treated the place like home.
Top-tier face, even?
If that guy had actually done the club rounds, there’s no way he’d stand in line forever with "yellow banding" to get in, not in that crowd. He wouldn’t even need to line up—just show the guard his face and leak some pheromones and he’d be waved right in.
On an ordinary day, he’d have just thought, Guess some club newbie drifted in. Top-tier face or not, if the other party was an Alpha, it wasn’t even worth talking about.
If he hadn’t sensed Baek Kanghyeon’s faint pheromones, he’d feel the same even now.
Surrounded by countless pheromones, Haeil caught Kanghyeon’s at once. By the time he came to, he was already following that trail.
He found Kanghyeon in an unexpected spot, surrounded by two Omegas and one Beta. The music was so loud he couldn’t tell what they were saying.
For some reason, it put him in a foul mood.
Those gathered around Baek Kanghyeon—and Baek Kanghyeon, calmly allowing them to cling.
He didn’t like any of it.
As he drew closer, a shrill voice cut through the music.
"If you come with me, you won’t have to stand around like a dork! I said I’d buy all your drinks! I told you I’m a VIP here! Are you listening?!"
A dork, huh.
It was a word that absolutely didn’t suit someone like Baek Kanghyeon.
Maybe that’s why Haeil let out a short, involuntary snort.
At first he thought Kanghyeon was the one picking up the Omegas.
Dominants were so sensitive to pheromones they could tell a person’s type at a glance. For an Alpha like that, ferreting out and picking up an Omega was nothing.
But the closer he got, the clearer it was that wasn’t the case. The other party was Kim Jaeyoung—the Omega infamous for being loose—and his entourage, and they were obviously pestering Kanghyeon one-sidedly.
Strange.
His bad mood eased a little.
With a faint smile still on his face, he took one more step. Even in the dizzying lasers, Baek Kanghyeon’s clear eyes drew the gaze, oddly deep.
One step, two, closer.
All the while, Baek Kanghyeon’s eyes held straight to him.
Something inside his body thrummed.
***
After Jaeyoung’s group was half-dragged away and gone.
"Can’t even say no properly to an Omega?"
Up to that line, his tone was gentle; the next came with barbs sharp enough to sting.
"You’ve got a real knack for picking who you’ll deal with."
It sounded like he was picking a fight. In contrast, the knife-cold gust he’d shown Jaeyoung was nowhere to be found.
To the inexplicably crooked Haeil, Kanghyeon said,
"I clearly refused, but he didn’t seem to understand."
Since the man had helped him regardless of the process, he didn’t bother sharpening his tone. Maybe that’s why Haeil’s voice also softened a little.
"You’re an Alpha—what are you saving your pheromones for? Not just an Alpha, a Dominant. You could’ve just pressed him down with pheromones and threatened him."
A subtle change crossed Kanghyeon’s face, quiet until now.
"Press him down…?"
A distinct crease formed between his brows, the corners of his eyes lifting a little.
From that small shift, Haeil could tell Kanghyeon’s mood had gone quite sour—more than when Jaeyoung and his bunch had been a nuisance.
"Are you in your right mind?"
Kanghyeon clenched his fist like he was holding something in.
"Using pheromones to threaten an Omega is no different from pheromone violence."
Baek Heeu’s face flashed through Kanghyeon’s mind.
He was now smiling brighter than anyone, but the wound rooted inside him would never fade easily. Because he was an Omega.
Grinding the words out as he pictured Baek Heeu’s face, swollen from crying, Kanghyeon said,
"It could become a trauma."
To Haeil, Kanghyeon’s statement made no sense at all.
Who was the one put in a bind by some Omega he didn’t even know.
"Trauma or not, you were the one taking the hit."
"That much is fine."
"Fine, my ass."
A curse flew out of Haeil’s mouth, sudden and hot.
"So it’s okay for Omegas, then? It’s fine for them to yank an Alpha around by the hair with pheromones to seduce him?"
Haeil spilled the words rough, like he’d slam into Kanghyeon any second.
Then he flinched, exhaled a deep breath, once. He even muttered quietly, This isn’t what I meant to do.
Kanghyeon also reflected on momentarily failing to control his own emotions.
Not like me.
He’d gotten needlessly worked up. Even the scuffle just now wasn’t like him. He should’ve let a stranger’s words roll off him.
In the brief stillness, Haeil was the first to open his mouth.