“Oh no, the time…”
Haejin, who had risen blankly and was trying to gather the strength to get through another day, glanced at the clock and stiffened. He had overslept. He’d been dragged to bed last night without even eating dinner, and hunger gnawed sharply at him now. Realizing he had missed the meal hour, anxiety crept in.
He hurried into his slippers and stepped toward the door.
That was when he heard voices outside—thick with irritation.
“Fuck. What time is it and he’s still sleeping?”
“Must be nice.”
“Well, that’s what a kept fucktoy does.”
Haejin’s hand, just inches from the doorknob, froze in midair. The men’s voices drifted in unfiltered through the door. They didn’t even bother lowering them in case he might hear.
“Should we wake him?”
“Leave it. Why go that far?”
“Yeah. If he’s hungry, he’ll crawl out.”
Where had it gone wrong? At first, the servants had at least maintained a certain distance. Gradually, their attitude had shifted.
Whether it was because Haejin had entered the estate the moment he became an adult and always carried himself meekly—or because his desperation showed without him ever needing to explain—it was impossible to tell.
At some point, however, word of the enormous amount he received under the contract must have spread among them. After that, they treated him as nothing more than a body earning money. For Haejin, whose life depended on this arrangement, there was no room to protest.
Above all, Lyle’s attitude shaped everything. He had no interest whatsoever in what the Omega did outside of fulfilling his function.
“What should we do with this?”
“Why ask? Let’s take it. That bastard’ll figure something out.”
He heard the tray of food being carried away.
Even hearing that, Haejin stood unmoving in front of the door, like a statue.
In the five years he had been here, he had never once gone to the kitchen to request food. He had never asked for a late meal to be brought to his room. It was doubtful they would grant such a request even if he did.
Perhaps because he feared running into Lyle in the estate, all his meals had long since been reduced to trays left in front of his door. If he did not retrieve them on time, they would quickly disappear.
They knew that. They knew that if they didn’t leave it there, Haejin would simply go hungry that day.
“……”
Only after the sounds faded completely did he swallow a breath. As a last resort, he poured himself some water from the bottle in his room and drank to quiet the hunger. It was rare for them to remove the food so quickly. If this continued, it would become a real problem.
Unlike most Alphas and Omegas who manifested during adolescence, Haejin had manifested at the unusually late age of nineteen. He was recessive, which fit the abnormal timing. Still, in his situation—paying his parents’ hospital bills with his phenotype—it had been a stroke of fortune.
Draining the last of the water in one swallow, Haejin repeated the thought to himself. Becoming a recessive Omega, even belatedly, had been lucky. Otherwise, he would never have been able to hold on to his parents’ lifeline this long.
“…It’s fortunate.”
The words, murmured like a vow, were so small and pitiful they didn’t even linger in his cramped room before vanishing.
***
Their sex was usually conducted in silence.
But today, Lyle, who had been gripping Haejin’s arm roughly, spoke through clenched teeth.
“…Are you managing your body properly? You’re too thin.”
“Ugh.”
As if to emphasize the point, he drove his hips harder. Haejin, half burying his face in the mattress in that humiliating, dog-like position, bit down on his lip. Lyle was right—bone struck bone, and it hurt.
He knew it wasn’t a question inviting explanation. When something displeased him, Lyle pointed it out without mercy. A man who had lived his entire life above others.
So Haejin did what he always did—bit his lip and endured the thrusting, swallowing even the groans forced from him by pain.
If he made the wrong sound now, Lyle might gag him as well. He still remembered clearly what Lyle had said the first time they’d slept together, when Haejin had cried out in pain.
“If you don’t want your mouth torn open, shut up. I don’t want to hear it.”
After that, Lyle had continued to pound into him at his own pace for a long time. It was rough, entirely indifferent to the one receiving it. Haejin wanted to grow numb to it. He couldn’t. Every time, he suffered.
“…Hah.”
To Lyle, this was no different from paperwork that needed daily approval. If it weren’t necessary for an Alpha, he wouldn’t bother with the tedious act of mixing bodies with an Omega at all.
Yet regardless of his detached thoughts, his cock drove sharply into Haejin’s hole. He didn’t touch Haejin more than necessary, but occasionally, his gaze slid over the shoulder blades that jutted out without Haejin even realizing.
After moving for some time, Lyle irritably pushed his hair back. Haejin’s thin body brushing against his thighs had been bothering him.
“Tch.”
As though dissatisfied, he began thrusting even harder, movements that suggested he intended to finish quickly.
Even with Lyle’s monstrous stamina, the act eventually came to an end. His movements slowed, then ended with a few careless thrusts into Haejin as he came—an announcement that the pain was finally over.
The fact that he had learned Lyle’s habits with his own body was repulsive, but Haejin simply closed his eyes. Blindfolded, it made no difference whether they were open or shut.
After finishing, Lyle flung Haejin aside as usual and rose from the bed. This time, Haejin had braced himself and managed not to let out an undignified sound.
His face hung half off the cold marble floor in an awkward position, but at least it was over. Though he had suppressed every groan, a faint sigh escaped him before he could stop it.
“…?”
Lyle, who had been striding toward the bathroom as always, stopped abruptly.
Haejin stiffened at once, too tense to even think about rising.
This was the week he needed to pay the hospital bill again. He couldn’t afford to irritate him now.
“What is it.”
But contrary to Haejin’s fear, Lyle had simply frowned. For the first time in five years of using this room, he turned back.
The sigh had grated on his ears. When he looked, Haejin was crumpled awkwardly against the corner of the bed, a complete mess.
Even Lyle, indifferent as he was, clicked his tongue at the sight. Why was he like that? He stared for a moment, but Haejin didn’t move. Only then did Lyle notice the wrists still bound behind his back.
Ah. That’s why.
On a small whim, Lyle changed direction and walked back toward him. Unaware that this unusual attention had made Haejin tense rigidly.
Before even taking two steps, Lyle regretted it. What a nuisance. Though he had ordered it at the beginning, binding the Omega’s hands and blindfolding him was handled by the butler. He had never once concerned himself with Haejin’s condition afterward. All he required was the pheromone discharge achieved through intercourse.
Irritated, he closed the remaining distance.
Haejin’s pale face, tilted upward blindly as if bracing for something, met Lyle’s directly.
Sweat-darkened black hair was scattered around the blindfold. His small face, damp with sweat, trembled in a pitiful way. It had been a long time since Lyle had properly looked at him.
Are his eyes black, like his hair?
On impulse, Lyle reached toward the blindfold. Haejin flinched violently, shrinking his neck as if expecting to be struck.
Lyle’s hand stopped midair.
What am I doing?
Clicking his tongue, he shifted and roughly untied Haejin’s wrists instead. Lately, his already unpleasant temper had been feeling even more sensitive.
Even as Lyle brushed his hair back and headed again toward the bathroom, Haejin didn’t move. His body trembled faintly, as if he were cold, yet he remained there.
“Jin. I’ve done enough. Get out.”
“……”
At Lyle’s cold voice, Haejin struggled to move. But his legs wouldn’t cooperate—handled roughly again today, and unfed yesterday as well. To make matters worse, his left leg, injured in the accident years ago, throbbed in the heavy air that promised more rain.
Lyle had renamed him on a whim.
It wasn’t a term of endearment.
When they first met over the contract, Lyle had found Haejin’s foreign name irritating.
“Annoying name. I’ll just call you Jin.”
There had been no intention of learning to pronounce something unfamiliar. At that first meeting, something inside Haejin had broken. The name his adoptive parents had chosen so carefully had shattered within this estate.
Regardless, he had to move quickly. For some reason, today his employer seemed unwilling even to tolerate the sight of him lingering.
But his body betrayed him. Though his arms were free, his knees buckled as he hurried to stand.
Lyle watched with irritation. The Omega had always been obedient and useful. Why was he so sluggish today? If he used this as an excuse to demand something, that would be troublesome.
Then he noticed Haejin’s legs trembling uncontrollably.
Only then did he realize the weakness was from sex. His interest vanished instantly. Without another word, he resumed his path and entered the shower room.
For Lyle, it had been an unusually long indulgence of whim.