The bright face was the same as ever, and the chain piercing hanging from one ear drew the eye.
“Heading home now? I’m on my way in.”
Kwon Haeil’s eyes curved as he asked. His gaze ran up and down over Baek Kanghyeon’s comfortable clothes.
“Mm, judging by the look of you, I guess you’re not coming off work.”
His mouth hooked into a fresh little curve.
“Oh, or are you actually a rich bum?”
Kanghyeon forcibly pushed down the urge to land a punch on that sunny face.
He lightly knocked away the hand gripping his arm and stepped into the elevator without a word. Aside from the basement parking level and the first floor, there was only one button—the top floor—so he pressed it firmly. Before long, the voice announcement chimed, “Going up.”
Even then, Haeil was still inside the elevator. He was clearly dressed to go out and had come down from above, so he should have been getting off, but for some reason he didn’t move.
Only after the doors had fully closed did Kanghyeon ask:
“Aren’t you getting off?”
“Took you long enough to ask.”
Standing beside him, Haeil chuckled. Then instead of answering the question about getting off, he said something else entirely.
“Looks like your lover’s about due for heat. You should be careful.”
At the unexpected remark, Kanghyeon’s gaze turned to Haeil’s face on its own.
“The sweet scent is smeared all over the hallway and elevator.”
Inwardly, Kanghyeon was impressed by his sharp senses.
Heeu was a recessive Omega who had tremendous difficulty controlling his pheromones.
Most likely, the trace Haeil had picked up was the result of Heeu’s erratic pheromones.
Even for another Dominant Alpha like Kanghyeon, it wasn’t easy to notice. This man had picked it up with impressive agility.
But that was all.
It was nothing but pointless meddling.
Heeu wasn’t his lover, and it wasn’t that his pheromones were overflowing because he was on the verge of a heat cycle, either. So it was the sort of warning he could have simply ignored as if he hadn’t heard it.
If only it weren’t for what Baek Heeu had said.
– If you can, try to get along with the neighbor.
– If he can afford to live in a place like this like you, then he’s got to be exceptional in background or ability or something, right? There’s no need to end up on bad terms for nothing.
– At least answer if he talks to you, okay?
He didn’t have to follow every word Heeu said, but it was reasonable enough. There was nothing to gain from getting into a fight.
In the end, Kanghyeon forced himself to at least give some kind of reply.
“He’s not my lover, but thank you for the warning.”
“He’s not your lover?”
Haeil stuck his face in close to peer at him.
“You walk an Omega all the way down to Basement 4 when he’s not even your boyfriend?”
He had no intention of chattering on to this puzzled man that it had been his brother. He felt no need to explain himself in tedious detail to someone else.
“Is that a problem?”
Haeil smiled thinly. Just then, the elevator stopped and the doors slid open with a soft motion.
As Kanghyeon stepped out first, a flat voice came from behind him.
“Made me think you’re the type to be good to any Omega, that’s all.”
At that, Kanghyeon glanced back.
The elevator doors closed, swallowing the solitary Kwon Haeil, and began to descend again.
The elevator that had spit Baek Kanghyeon back out onto the top floor headed once more for Basement 4.
When Kwon Haeil stepped out into the deep underground level, his face wore an inexplicably disgruntled look.
Criticized me like that, but he’s out here doing everything he can, too.
He thought of Baek Kanghyeon the previous day, holding the Omega he’d brought, almost shielding him in his arms. He couldn’t forget that cold face looking at him with contempt.
He understood well enough that it was because they’d been all over each other in front of his door and because he’d mistaken it for one-sided pheromone violence. From Kanghyeon’s perspective, he must have been trying to rescue an Omega he thought was in unwanted danger.
Misunderstanding or not, he’d taken that sharpened gaze full-on. Being looked at with such hostility at your very first meeting wasn’t the sort of experience that faded easily.
And when the situation had been cleared up, how ruthlessly he’d gone inside his house. When he’d gone back again later, he’d all but been slammed in the face with the door. Granted, it was understandable.
Maybe that was why the fact that Kanghyeon had invited an Omega over and then personally seen him off so warmly rubbed him the wrong way. It made him feel as if the man was kind to everyone in the world except him.
Among the many cars parked in the garage, Haeil came to stand before a flashy red sports car. As he opened the driver’s-side door, he happened to lift his head.
A black sedan was parked a little ways off. Its clean, somewhat stiff impression suited Baek Kanghyeon quite well.
Scoffing in the sedan’s direction for no good reason, he got into his car.
A moment later, with a vigorous burst of exhaust, his car shot out of the garage.
It wasn’t long after he left the officetel and cruised through Gangnam’s packed streets that he arrived in front of a building with a crowd of people standing outside.
Club WAVE.
The throng in front was lined up to get into the club. From people who had clearly been standing there for quite a while, he could still feel the hot, uncooled anticipation.
Just then, a burly man, who must have run over the moment he saw him, bent at the waist toward the half-open passenger window.
“Boss, you’re here!”
“Too fucking loud, idiot.”
Squinting against the booming voice, Haeil swung the door open and stepped out before he’d even properly parked. The man naturally circled around to the driver’s side and got into the car in his place.
Passing the line of people waiting to get in, Haeil headed for the VIP entrance, where no one was standing.
The bouncers at the VIP entrance, big enough that you could tell they could handle themselves at a glance, recognized him as he approached. Like the man who’d run over for valet parking, they bent in deep bows.
“Boss, Director Gwak is waiting in the lounge.”
“Director Gwak?”
At the guard’s words, Haeil rolled his eyes and let out a short, knowing laugh.
“Bring him to my room.”
“Yes, sir.”
Receiving the guards’ polite greetings, Haeil walked into the club.
Boom, boom—the heavy bass under the pounding music thumped against his heart. The farther he went along the neon-lit corridor, the louder the music grew.
Basement 1 and the first floor were the frenzied main hall with the DJ booth and dance floor. The second floor was made up of the VIP lounge and rooms, and the third floor housed VVIP-only rooms and several offices for the club’s operations.
The place Kwon Haeil headed for was the office at the very back of the third floor.
It had no nameplate and no one bothered to call it anything in particular, but everyone who worked here knew it was club WAVE’s representative’s office. This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
Kwon Haeil walked in boldly to the representative’s office, which he referred to as his room.
The office was quite spacious, and unlike any ordinary office, the interior was showy.
On one side was a magic mirror with a view that took in Gangnam’s busy streets at a glance; on the opposite wall, a massive piece of graffiti covered it from end to end.
Set up in front of the graffiti, almost with its back to it, the mini bar was impressive as well. The high-end whiskies and various bottles lined up there were lit deliberately with neon lighting, drawing the eye.
A little ways off, under sleek lighting, a DJ console was set up, giving the space a faintly club-like atmosphere.
Haeil went to the mini bar and took out two clear whiskey glasses. By the time he was scooping ice from the built-in ice maker, the guard who’d been posted outside knocked.
The man who came in with the guard was a middle-aged man in a suit.
“President Kwon, is the rumor true?”
“What rumor?”
Though he’d already guessed, Haeil deliberately pretended not to know as he chose a bottle.
The visitor was a director at Taewoon Group. To show him some respect, he picked out a rare Scottish single malt, Bruichladdich Black Art. The deep golden whiskey filled the glasses with a clear chime.
Seeing Haeil’s unhurried movements, Director Gwak spoke in frustration.
“The rumor that Baekcheong Group made a collaboration proposal through BC Holdings!”
“And what if it is true?”
“What do you mean, ‘what if’!”
Director Gwak raised his voice, his face flushing.
We’re the ones who made the exclusive collaboration offer first!”
Smiling, Haeil turned with a whiskey glass in each hand and held one out to the fuming Director Gwak.
“You might have made the offer first, but I never said I’d take it.”
“President Kwon!”
Director Gwak barked.
“Shh.”
Still holding the glass out, Haeil lifted the corner of his eye. His mouth was certainly smiling, but his eyes were nothing short of fierce.
“My ears are fucking killing me right now, and you seem just fine with that, Director.”
At the icy murmur, more like talking to himself, Director Gwak flinched. All at once, completely unlike the man who’d just been shouting, he shut his mouth and sneaked a look at Haeil’s expression.
Only then did Haeil’s eyes soften. He gave the glass a little shake, as if to urge him to take it.
Accepting the glass, Director Gwak cleared his throat and straightened his voice. Then he tossed back two or three swallows of the sharp whiskey.
His eyes flashed for a moment at the unique flavor and aroma, something you wouldn’t easily find in an ordinary whiskey.
But only for a moment.
He cleared his throat again and asked:
“Ahem… You’re not really going to join hands with Baekcheong Group, are you, when you’ve got no prior ties with them?”
“Well, he said their new Division Head would put a proposal together and bring it over, so I’ll have to meet them.”
Swirling his whiskey and savoring the aroma, for once, Haeil’s voice held a note of expectation.
“If I’m going to meet them anyway, I hope they turn out to be a looker.”