I closed the laptop and stood up.
“Haram. Let’s talk outside. Keep this up and we’ll spawn even more fanfic.”
“Fanfic all of a sudden? Are we talking idols?”
It’s about us, genius.
Dragging the bewildered Lee Haram, I practically fled outside.
“Wow. This place is nicer than I thought. Small, but there’s even a park.”
In the quiet park, spring flowers were in full bloom and the air was thick with their scent.
Of course, my nose was already numbed by the heavy Alpha scent, so I was only guessing there were flowers at all.
Haram winked with a playful flourish.
“If Seolheon finds out I came to your school, he’ll be crazy jealous. Hahaha!”
“I figured you’d go to the international middle school next door.”
“You don’t like being in the same school as me? Because of the pheromones?”
“Pheromones are fine if we keep our distance and I take meds. I just thought you’d go somewhere with a Spanish focus.”
“…Forget it. International schools make you pay a bunch of pointless money.”
The longer he talked, the quieter Haram’s voice became.
“So I just hate it, okay!”
I studied his face.
He was smiling bright as usual, but he couldn’t hide the tremble in his eyes.
“What about you—why Sanok Middle? With your grades, you could’ve gone lots of places.”
“Same as you. Cheap tuition, close to home.”
“Come on, coming from Baekil Group, that’s rich. Besides, you’re crazy smart. Waste of a brain.”
“Haram.”
Carefully, I asked again.
“Are you doing okay lately?”
“…Of course I’m okay?”
He hesitated… then dropped his gaze.
“No. I’m not, actually. I can’t lie in front of you.”
“…”
“I became an Alpha because I wanted to help you, but all I’m doing is making it harder on you with my pheromones. And now I don’t even know how long we’ll be able to stay together…”
“Haram…”
“Judging by your reaction, you’ve heard already. About my family.”
He tried to smile brightly again.
“…It’s fine! It’ll work out somehow! I don’t know much about the company stuff, but my dads aren’t pushovers, you know?”
He was… trying.
“So it’s all going to be fine!”
I looked at him with a blank face and thought:
‘No. It won’t be fine for you…’
…And I can’t dump cold water on him here. On a human level.
But I know.
His future is pitch-black.
And it has nothing to do with whether he’s an Omega, or whether he gets fixated on by Uheon Baek, or anything like that.
Given his character’s backstory, it’s a set future.
First, Haram’s father’s company collapses for some reason.
Second, the dads roam from country to country paying off debt, then die in an accident.
Third, Haram shoulders a crushing debt at a young age and suffers like hell.
Thus, even as a Prime Alpha, the tragic male lead Lee Haram will still grope through the dark.
And the original source of all that darkness is—
[Back then, if only Baekil Group hadn’t cast my dad aside… maybe my family wouldn’t have had to go first!]
What more do you need to say.
Baekil Group.
‘Why does my memory only come back in fits when the fire’s already at the doorstep! This is pissing me off…!’
Grinding curses in my head, I clutched at my hair.
Of course, I had zero intention of sitting on my hands and sucking my fingers.
Haram opened a thousand possibilities for me.
That Seolheon Baek might not be Uheon Baek.
That Haram himself might not be an Omega.
That the world might not flow the way that novel said it would.
He’s the benefactor who showed me all of that.
‘And I spent nine years g—guiding Haram. I’m not letting all that effort go down the drain.’
If I’m going to save the male lead from tragedy,
I won’t be satisfied until I take it to the end.
But even if I want to save his family, I don’t have enough threads to pull.
Sometimes scenes from the novel pop up with the headaches, but I never saw the time or cause of the dads’ deaths.
Maybe the novel didn’t even cover it in the first place. It was the kind of smut where those scenes made up more than half…
So there’s only one option left.
Clutching the white card in my pocket, I opened my mouth again.
“Haram. It’s going to be okay.”
“…”
“It will be. For sure.”
“…Yeah! Thanks, Geonho Hyung!”
His green eyes shone clear. Tiny beads of tears glittered at the ends of his lashes like dew.
…To answer those tears, I steeled myself again.
“I’m heading out first. Get back inside.”
“Huh? You’re leaving early?”
“I’ve got an appointment.”
With Haram seeing me off, I slipped out of the school through the back gate.
A moment later, a large mid-size sedan that didn’t fit the street view glided into sight.
The black-tinted car slid to a stop in front of me as if it had been waiting.
The door opened, and a young man in sunglasses stepped out.
“You’re here, young master.”
“Driver Park. I keep saying this.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Don’t call me ‘young master.’”
“My apologies, Master Geonho.”
Mom’s attendant chauffeur—better known as Driver Park—nodded to me in the rearview mirror.
He was Mom’s dedicated driver and schedule manager, but sometimes he helped with my commute, too.
I wondered if it was okay for the CEO’s family to use him so personally, but if it was Mom’s order, Park carried everything out in silence without a word of complaint.
“Is the young master not accompanying us today?”
“He’s still little. Once he’s older, Mom said she’d talk to him separately.”
I turned my head to the window, away from the stare in the mirror, and looked out at the Han River.
Same as my last life—still big and gray.
“Besides, if he came to a place like this, it’s obvious he’d just hear a bunch of nonsense.”
“…The young master still doesn’t know, right? That you aren’t related by blood.”
Driver Park knew more than I expected.
As Mom’s most trusted right hand, he knew all the secrets—my constitution included.
“Once he’s a little older…”
I looked up at the white clouds.
“I’ll tell him myself then.”
My little brother, Seolheon Baek, still doesn’t know I’m adopted.
The only ones who know are my adoptive parents, Driver Park, and Kim Jaeuk.
The reason Seolheon hasn’t caught on is probably because our parents cherish me as their real son.
So when he learns the truth… I hope it’s later.
And I want him to hear it from me or our parents—not from the Baekil main house.
“We’ve arrived.”
The car slowed.
We stopped at the entrance of a high-end shopping mall.
“Driver Park. The gathering isn’t here…”
“The CEO said to get you prepared first.”
“Prepared?”
“So you won’t be underestimated, she wants you properly dressed.”
“Dressed how?”
Instead of answering, he opened the door.
“Welcome! You’re CEO Baek’s son, right?”
A man and a woman greeted me.
One looked like a neat-faced beauty shop staffer, the other like a hair designer with an apron stuffed full of tools.
“We’ve been waiting—your mother called ahead.”
“Oh my! You look so handsome, just like your mother! Your skin is flawless! You were born for this!”
Behind them I saw the signs for luxury boutiques and a makeup studio.
It rang a bell. Wasn’t this the place that shows up on TV? The one famous idols and celebrities frequent…
“Come on! We’re short on time—shall we start?”
“Sorry? Uh, Driver Park!”
He headed back toward the garage without mercy.
“Get properly ready, big young master.”
Don’t call me young master!
The chandeliers on the ceiling glittered in splendor.
On tables set all around, priceless luxury wines were lined up.
A hundred-odd relatives gathered in one place.
Smiles bloomed on every face and the air looked convivial to the extreme, and yet—
“Yeonhee Baek—she’s not coming again?”
“Hmph. She’s old enough, but still hasn’t grown up. Why doesn’t the chairman just throw her out already.”
“Works for us. Baekil Pharma would be a loss, but if she keeps her hands off the main house, all the better.”
The talk was nothing of the sort.
“What a farce.”
Watching the scene, Jeongu Baek let out a cold laugh.
Jeongu Baek. Third-year in high school. Eldest son of the chairman’s third son.
Suffering a hangover, he still lifted his wineglass by habit and had the server pour him a drink.
He was checking a backlog of messages on his phone when a middle-aged woman in a dress, lips painted red, came storming up.
“Jeongu Baek! How many times did I tell you not to be late! You know how that old man is about punctuality!”
“Grandpa’s not here yet. I’m not late.”
Texting replies to the three omegas he’d spent the night with, Jeongu tossed a half-hearted answer to his mother.
“He doesn’t care whether kids like us show up or not.”
“He does so care! Do you want to fall behind the others?! I won’t have my son being looked down on!”
“Ugh—! I’m not late, so drop it.”
Boring.
I’m bored.
I could die of boredom.
Yawning lazily, Jeongu swept a disinterested gaze around the hall.
‘Maybe I should sneak out.’
The moment he thought it,
a newcomer appeared in the banquet hall.
A face he’d never seen.
Not one of the Baek clan.
‘Who’s that?’
Sleek black hair combed back.
Strands that fell naturally above the brow, and under them, gray eyes hazy like river mist.
And a black suit that matched that color to a deadly degree.
At a glance, a young man so striking you couldn’t help but look back.
No—judging from the boyish face, closer to a boy than a young man…
“…!”
Jeongu Baek’s heart started to pound.