Beyond this contract, the same held true.
With Kwon Haeil’s help, he would be able to meet deeply with the countless VVIPs affiliated with his club. If he could forge links with new figures in politics and business, wouldn’t that be the best profit imaginable?
To Baek Kanghyeon, the Kwon Haeil before his eyes was a condensed lump of opportunity itself.
So if there was anything he wanted…
What are you thinking, Baek Kanghyeon.
He clamped his teeth at the thought that drove, sudden and hard, through his head.
Rotten to the core.
Did he need proof that he had accomplished something “on his own,” even like that?
Even then, this too would be Father’s ploy—creating a setting for private contact with Kwon Haeil.
He needed to refuse this suggestion firmly. Like he had refused the date.
A date…?
Come to think of it, why had Kwon Haeil suggested a date to him?
Now that the stray word had registered, other things began to snag his attention.
Caged in the circle of Kwon Haeil’s arms, Kanghyeon questioned this fixed posture.
“More than that… release this pose first. I can’t move.”
“I’m doing it on purpose.”
Haeil’s eyes went sly.
“This way you can’t run.”
“Run?”
“You’re always running home. You barely answer me. See? Even now you’re changing the subject.”
Just as he said, Kanghyeon—who had almost come around to “let’s eat together next time”—was quietly steering the talk away and slipping out.
He was about to object to the word run, but it wasn’t wrong. Meeting on his way in had simply made it look like running away.
“So from now on, if I’ve got something to talk about with you, I’m thinking I’ll start by locking you in. So you can’t run.”
Kanghyeon pressed a hand against his chest to push him back, firmly. The distance between them didn’t open even a hair.
“Whatever the reason, this is a bad habit.”
He spoke as a sincere warning.
“Same for saying ‘date.’ If you play around like this, the other person might misunderstand.”
Baek Kanghyeon differed from Kwon Haeil in his manner of speech, tone, atmosphere, outward style, and even his actions.
But he too had often been misunderstood in moments like this.
Especially thanks to his brothers’ influence, the misunderstandings he’d incurred from habitually looking out for Omegas were beyond counting.
So he couldn’t help but feel purely concerned about behavior like this from Haeil.
“What sort of misunderstanding?”
Haeil asked, feigning innocence.
Kanghyeon looked at him as if to ask if he truly didn’t know, then filtered his words once in his mouth before speaking.
“That Mr. Kwon Haeil is personally interested.”
Kwon Haeil was an Alpha, and so was he.
“It wouldn’t be a misunderstanding. Because it’s correct.”
But Kwon Haeil was telling him he was wrong.
“…It isn’t a misunderstanding?”
“Right.”
Haeil’s voice sounded as solid and firm as his two arms.
“I’m crazy interested in you. Personally.”
His statement kept Kanghyeon silent for a while.
“What for?”
His head tipped slightly to the side. Even with a blank face, his puzzlement bled through, plain as day.
“Because of the sweet note? Or because of my background?”
“Does it look that way?”
“If not that, then are you messing with me?”
“As if.”
“Then what is it? Normally, people don’t get interested in another Alpha.”
Still holding the hand that was pushing at his chest, Haeil pressed it down even harder against himself, not letting it slip away.
“Then I must not be normal.”
Contrary to the easy composure on his face, his heart was thudding rather fast.
Kwon Haeil’s interest in Baek Kanghyeon had run on, unbroken, from the first time he met him until now.
At first, it was merely curiosity.
He was clearly a Dominant Alpha, so why did he have a sweet note?
That contradictory presence prodded at Haeil without rest.
It had already been proven at the club that he alone could perceive Baek Kanghyeon’s sweet note.
Maybe that was when he truly started getting pulled under.
The fact that there was a singularity only he could distinguish stole his entire attention.
He was soaked to the skin in a storm of sweetness through the pheromone shower, addicted beyond any remedy.
The sweet note that had come crashing in along with the pain of the pheromone shower shimmered every time he breathed. The instinctive, full-body electric tingle felt damn good.
After that, no Omega’s sweet note could stimulate him like Baek Kanghyeon’s.
No—more accurate to say no one dared outsize the presence of Baek Kanghyeon.
How did I end up like this.
He was thirsty.
Like a parched beast.
Would it have been better never to have tasted that faint scent?
If so, he wouldn’t be at the mercy of this thirst and this strange desire.
No, it was better then. When it was only the sweet note.
To be honest, up until yesterday he thought he only needed Kanghyeon’s scent. That the sweet, intense note was just over-tickling his nerves.
He had assumed his interest in Baek Kanghyeon began with the sweet note and would end with the sweet note. Even the moments he’d fallen for him—he’d chalked them up to that secret scent.
More than the sweet note, his interest in the person named Baek Kanghyeon had grown far larger.
It was because today’s meeting had properly lit a match to the interest that had been piling up, knowingly or not, until now.
He had long since heard the rumor that the new Division Head at BC Holdings was actually the youngest son of the Baekcheong Group’s chairman. Also the credible rumor that he would become the formal successor over his three older brothers.
So he couldn’t help developing a bias against the new Division Head who would be bringing the proposal.
A sudden replacement of a Division Head right before a major project—anyone could see it was the higher-ups’ doing. It was obviously to heap the credit on the successor and use it as a springboard to cement his position.
Naturally, he assumed the staff and the former Division Head had poured their souls into the project structure and the proposal. The new Division Head, he figured, would merely march into the meeting carrying a finished proposal.
It didn’t take long to realize that was a massive misjudgment.
The problem was he was disgustingly capable.
The proposal went past perfect into the territory of involuntary awe.
Precision forecast metrics so tight you couldn’t guess how many simulations had been run; judgements with a clarity that looked to see years ahead; and from them, cleanly linked revenue pathways.
There wasn’t a single thing from one to ten he hadn’t fussed over, and his fine-grained consideration showed even in the smallest of parts. The consistency convinced you that there was only one person who had constructed the proposal in perfection.
Every time the nervous Head of Strategic Planning made small mistakes, Baek Kanghyeon corrected them on the spot. He remembered the proposal in its entirety without even opening it, and answered all other unexpected questions without a hitch. You couldn’t do that unless you had the whole project wired into your head.
That was why his interest had only deepened.
Baek Kanghyeon, who had insisted on lining up to personally experience the club.
Baek Kanghyeon, who buried himself in work every day, going home late and leaving at dawn.
Baek Kanghyeon, whose serious bearing made it seem like he’d put his whole heart into everything.
Overlaying what he’d seen of him until now with the new Division Head, he found himself newly intrigued.
If he sat still, all the credit would become Baek Kanghyeon’s anyway, so why did he have to go that far?
Why did he feel an unceasing thirst from someone who should lack nothing?
What kind of person was Baek Kanghyeon, really?
The interest, risen thick and heavy, pounded hard at Haeil’s heart.
As badly as he’d been dying to smell the sweet note, now he felt like he’d go mad wanting to know Baek Kanghyeon himself.
Facing a slightly flustered Baek Kanghyeon right in front of him, Kwon Haeil’s head was starting to ache from the racket of his racing heart. The trouble was, even that felt delightful.
Bad habit, this.
Since he was young, once he fell into something that interested him, he couldn’t get free.
It was the same with clubs: he had no interest, then suddenly fell in. He fell so hard he ended up opening a club and pinning on the title of representative.
So he ought to be careful—but his gaze was already chasing Baek Kanghyeon.
He freshly realized that his reason amounted to a mere handful at best.
When he came to, he was pinning Baek Kanghyeon within his arms, unable to take his eyes off him.
He had no intention of refusing this strange liking that had risen out of interest.
From the start, the human named Kwon Haeil lived impulsively while faithful to his instincts. Just because the other party wasn’t an Omega but an Alpha didn’t mean he’d suddenly become a principled rationalist.
Impatient like a man in a hurry, Haeil pressed him.
“So? When are you going to give me an answer?”
“What…”
A beat late, Kanghyeon recalled Haeil’s suggestion. He still hadn’t answered the bit about at least sharing a meal when time allowed.