Kwon Haeil’s breezy tone had Director Gwak on edge.
“Even if Baekcheong Group thinks they can fly and crawl, they’re utter amateurs when it comes to entertainment and clubs. Joining hands with a place like that won’t yield much of anything.”
Taewoon Group—where Director Gwak belonged—had started in entertainment. Sure, they had bulked up by branching into assorted businesses, but if you examined the affiliates one by one, none outshone their root: TWE (TaeWoon Entertainment).
That was why Director Gwak intended to grow TWE—the main pillar of Taewoon Group—into something even bigger.
To that end, he was planning an exclusive deal with club WAVE, the most famous club in Korea. When Kwon Haeil skimmed the provisional business outline, he’d looked genuinely interested.
He was preparing a concrete business proposal when a sudden rumor landed: Baekcheong Group had muscled in. Baekcheong stood among the top three conglomerates in Korea alongside Shinu and Muyeol, and Gwak could hardly sit on his hands.
And because of that other matter he was preparing in secret, doing nothing was not an option.
“Think this through, President Kwon. You’ll just be doing them a favor and getting used.”
Despite Gwak’s nervous voice, Haeil only tipped back his glass. The whiskey left in the tumbler had already dwindled to half, sloshing against cold ice.
Annoyed by Haeil’s nonresponse, Director Gwak hardened his face and tried a threat.
“Do you know how many entertainment contacts I’ve connected to your club? If you remembered that, you wouldn’t be reacting like this.”
Clack. The ice struck coldly as it rattled.
Haeil’s calm eyes took in Gwak’s rigid face.
“I must have misheard you. Right?”
His voice held a hint of laughter, but what lay beneath was as sharp as a rough-edged blade.
“If I didn’t mishear, then fuck. It sounds like our esteemed director is trying some dick-all intimidation on me.”
Haeil’s head tilted at a slant. Maybe that was why the smile hooking his mouth felt eerie and frightening.
“Say it straight, Director. How many of your kids landed sponsors through my club?”
Director Gwak’s shoulders gave a violent twitch at that.
“Want me to list, one by one, the ones who sucked our VVIPs’ cocks and spread their legs? I’ve got a hell of a memory. I don’t forget.”
“Ah, no, that’s—”
“At this point we’re way past mutual benefit—I ought to be charging a brokerage fee. Don’t you think?”
The smile finally slipped from Haeil’s lips, and the air turned a shade colder. Director Gwak lowered his eyes before he knew it.
“No need to fret like some needy mutt. If I read the proposal and it’s not it, I’ll shut it down on the spot.”
Haeil patted the words over him and calmly took in Gwak’s stiff face—the facial muscles trembling past tension into anxiety, and those eyes where the gears of calculation were plainly turning, impossible to hide.
Haeil set a hand on Gwak’s shoulder. Gwak flinched hard again, and only then met his gaze.
Meeting his eyes, Haeil deliberately softened his voice.
“Whatever else, when it comes to anything involving my club, I keep business and personal strictly separate. So if you’re confident in your proposal, don’t run yourself ragged sprinting over here like this.”
Dryly swallowing at Haeil’s prickly words, Gwak made himself nod. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Haeil’s blade-bright eyes smiled prettily.
“You’re making me want to be a real asshole to you, Director.”
At that, Gwak’s tense gaze skittered aside. He cleared his throat for the third time and backed toward the door.
“Ahem. I trust President Kwon will handle this properly.”
Leaving that behind, Director Gwak yanked the door open and hurried out without so much as a bow. He looked like prey fleeing a vicious predator.
Not long after Gwak left the representative’s office, a burly man in his thirties—broad enough to be mistaken for security—walked in. Complex tattoos peeked from the sleeves of his well-cut black suit.
Swirling his whiskey, Haeil spoke to General Manager Park Seong-gu as he entered the office.
“Dig into Director Gwak’s side. Judging by how frantic he is, there’s something besides the proposal.”
On top of that, he’d cleared his throat three times. The man always coughed unconsciously whenever something pricked his conscience; it grated on Haeil.
Taking the order, Manager Park asked lightly,
“You tossed that bait on purpose, right? To see how he’d react.”
By “bait,” Park meant the rumor that Baekcheong Group’s BC Holdings had proposed a collaboration to club WAVE. In truth, no formal proposals had been exchanged; only an insider would know anything.
Even so, Director Gwak had sniffed it out instantly and rushed over.
Park figured the source of the rumor was Kwon Haeil himself. It was a keen nose—proof he wasn’t “general manager” in name only.
Instead of answering, Haeil held out his glass.
“Doesn’t taste good. You drink it.”
“Thank you, boss!”
With his rough, big hands, Park accepted the glass and tossed back what remained. Maybe because it was a rare whiskey he seldom got to taste, it wasn’t just the flavor—the way it went down was superb.
As Park smacked his lips, Haeil clapped his shoulder and headed for the door.
“I’m in a crap mood today, so I’ll hang out on the floor before I go.”
“Got it. Want me to prep a room?”
“Nah. I’ll mess around a bit and see myself out. Don’t fuss.”
“Yes!”
Calling after him, Park gave a burly salute fit for a gangster. Following his lead, the guards at the entrance squared their shoulders and bowed from the waist.
On his way to the 1st-floor main hall, Kwon Haeil received greetings not just from the club’s MDs and guards but from a good many others.
That was how sketchy the public info on WAVE’s representative was. The three figurehead presidents were the ones who showed their faces outwardly.
For Haeil, it wasn’t a bad arrangement—spotlight fixed on the frontmen—because it let him enjoy his own club in peace like any other guest.
Entering the main hall, Haeil, as always, leaned on the bar and watched the dance floor.
The stage lights were as gaudy as the multicolored cocktail the bartender handed him. He rather liked the chaos.
Everyone packed onto the floor was too busy moving their bodies to the beat to think of anything else. Their heat flowed straight into Haeil as he watched the stage.
Plenty of decent ones tonight.
Savoring his cocktail and scanning the floor, Haeil paused. Just then, a faint sweetness brushed through the thick bitterness spreading in his mouth.
He didn’t know why he couldn’t ignore that sweet scent.
Maybe today’s string of irritations had left him too keyed up to tune anything out.
Setting the empty glass on the bar, Haeil headed for the dance floor. Striding between the dancers, he grabbed a man and spun him around.
“Uh—w-what are you doing?”
The man Haeil suddenly caught had a build with a bit of muscle and flesh. His face was utterly ordinary, with nothing especially eye-catching.
It was a look quite unlike the types Haeil usually took home for one-night stands.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Feigning fluster, the man raked his eyes over Haeil. A strange expectancy bloomed on his face as he made a point of lifting his gaze in a smolder.
Haeil looked at him quietly.
A little similar, maybe.
He didn’t mean the features resembled a certain Alpha in his head. Comparing such a plain Omega to that well-made Dominant Alpha—now that would be an insult.
What struck him as similar was the sweet scent the Omega in front of him was giving off.
With so many bodies grinding as they danced, pheromones were hard to sort. Hard, but not impossible.
Haeil drew in the man’s pheromones, deliberately and deep.
Yes—close to that faint sweetness.
Of course, the depth and weight of the scent couldn’t touch the neighbor Alpha’s.
Haeil gave the Omega a pretty smile. To a type he normally wouldn’t spare a glance, he whispered, ticklingly,
“Want to step out with me?”
A pheromone that mimicked that Alpha’s sweet undertone annoyed him. Enough that he wanted to crush it himself.