“Back.”
At the weak sound of the voice, Haejin turned his head. Lyle was there. Knowing his schedule whether he meant to or not, Haejin felt a faint trace of confusion. It was not an hour Lyle would normally be idling at the estate.
Not that they were close enough for him to ask why. As Lyle had publicly declared before the servants. So Haejin merely looked at him with a blank expression.
“……”
Having successfully concluded an important negotiation, Lyle returned to the estate with light steps. He would have to change clothes and head back to the company immediately. With the rut over, his mind felt clear for the first time in a long while.
As he entered the estate, he noticed Haejin. Only then did he remember that today was the day he would return after finishing the funeral. He suddenly realized that the room assigned to Haejin was situated in a particularly remote corner, even from the exterior of the estate.
It would be slightly awkward to pretend not to see him and continue on his way. After all, one of his servants had touched upon a rather sensitive issue.
After Haejin had rushed off to the hospital that day, Lyle had harshly interrogated the butler. Even by his own rather unconventional standards, the man’s actions had been incomprehensible.
The butler had offered his excuses. He said there had been several occasions, since Haejin came to this estate, when news arrived that his adoptive parents were in critical condition. Each time, they had pulled through. So he had judged, on his own, that this time would be the same. But Lyle saw through the psychology behind the butler’s hesitant tone.
It was a posture often seen in Alphas when dealing with him. Crushed beneath his oppressive pheromones, they failed to think clearly. The butler, being recessive, had been overwhelmed by Lyle’s pheromones during the rut and had acted as though the command not to disturb him was the most important matter in the world.
Of course, regardless of the reason, there was no denying that the Vermouth household had done something reprehensible to Haejin this time. Lyle assumed the discomfort lingering on the butler’s face stemmed from that. So he ordered that the funeral expenses and a condolence payment be delivered to Haejin. Even amid preparations to leave the country, he did not forget to send flowers to show courtesy.
Unexpectedly, however, Haejin—who must be struggling financially—had refused all of it. Lyle was even less aware that flowers too ornate might insult a cold, empty funeral hall.
“……”
“……”
He must have stopped him to settle the matter appropriately. He had even intended to tell him not to foolishly refuse money out of misplaced pride.
Yet when he met Haejin’s empty eyes, something felt off. As though loosening it earlier had not been enough, his tie suddenly felt tight around his throat.
Adjusting the knot at his neck, Lyle examined Haejin’s appearance again. He was wandering around completely soaked, clearly not in his right mind. Deciding this was not the appropriate moment, Lyle exercised a rare bit of patience.
Before turning to leave, he spoke in passing.
“Ah, we’ll revise the contract later.”
After saying it, he realized the matter truly required attention. The most important condition of the contract had changed. If Haejin were to remain at this estate, the clauses would need adjustment.
At that moment, Haejin—who had been staring at him intently—parted his lips. They were bluish from the rain.
“I will terminate the contract.”
The moment he heard Lyle’s words, something thin and fragile that had remained inside him gave a faint crack and crumbled. Haejin did not know what it had been.
He was simply too exhausted.
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden.”
Unexpectedly, Lyle showed resistance to Haejin’s statement. He could not even understand that faint emotion within himself. Why had he assumed Haejin would remain at this estate?
In truth, Haejin had not returned intending to quit. The car had simply driven here. But upon hearing Lyle’s words, he realized he had no reason to stay. Having nowhere to go did not mean he had to remain here.
Lyle frowned and strode toward him. Looking at Lyle’s feet—dry, untouched by rain—Haejin spoke evenly.
“The contract clearly states that it may be terminated at any time.”
“Ha.”
A sudden irritation wrapped around Lyle. For someone whose rut had just ended, it was an unusually sharp emotion.
The reason came easily. He looked as though he were negotiating just to hold on to a mere Omega. From the beginning, Haejin had become a contract partner because he was recessive, with faint pheromones, and because of his desperate financial circumstances. Now that the latter had disappeared, Haejin was simply a troublesome Omega without leverage.
Right. Come to think of it, the important reason is gone.
Having reached that conclusion, Lyle regained his cold rationality. In that case, Haejin was no longer a priority negotiation target. If he himself had declared his intent, there was no reason to keep him.
“Fine. Then get out of my estate.”
Adjusting his tie again, Lyle turned away. For a relationship that had shared bodies for five years, it was a remarkably dry ending. His reason found that quite satisfactory. The lingering unpleasant feeling was somewhat strange, but it too would fade.
Yet before he had taken more than a few steps, he heard the sound of Haejin’s door opening. The irritation intensified. Lyle yanked at his tie in open annoyance and headed toward his study. The sensation around his throat was intolerable; he could not leave the tie as it was.
Naturally, he did not look back.
***
The contract with Lyle was settled cleanly. Haejin immediately gathered his belongings and stepped outside.
Thick rain clouds obscured the sun, though it was already growing dark. Even so, Haejin felt no need to wait until tomorrow to leave the estate.
He felt like a small machine moving purely out of necessity. With a hollow sensation, as though something vital had been removed from him, he trudged toward the gate. He had never expected to be offered a ride.
Behind him, hurried footsteps approached. The butler.
“M-Mr. Bright. Are you leaving now?”
The face that had been so difficult to encounter when needed appeared so easily the moment he decided to leave.
“Yes.”
Already soaked, Haejin carried no umbrella. He was still wearing his black mourning clothes. The worn suitcase in his hand was the same one he had brought when he first entered the estate. The few clothes inside were all his own.
Had the butler stopped him in case he might steal something? With that faint suspicion, Haejin looked at him. The man’s heavy body flinched.
“Well, that is…”
Under Haejin’s sunken gaze—without even an umbrella—the butler startled and offered the umbrella he was holding.
His face carried an anxious expression similar to the driver’s. Guilt was most visible, but something else hid beneath it. Just as with the driver, Haejin understood exactly what he wanted.
But that, too, was none of Haejin’s concern.
“I’ll have a car prepared.”
Haejin stared at the fragile kindness for a moment, then met the butler’s eyes again. Without accepting any of it, he turned and continued on his way.
Everything was simply tiresome.
<Chapter 2>
“……”
He had not spoken for days. He only chewed and swallowed a biscuit when he felt he might die of hunger. Even that interval grew longer and longer.
Lying on a sofa that smelled of dust, Haejin blankly stared at the faint light filtering through the window. He spent most of his days like this.
More than half of his remaining money had gone to renting this small room temporarily. His legs had hurt from walking, so he had not gotten very far from Lyle’s estate. Physical distance hardly mattered anyway. He had simply collapsed here, at the limit of what he could endure.
Since then, his days had blurred into emptiness. No tears came, and he felt guilty for it. Had saving his parents been so exhausting? So draining that he could not shed even a single tear?
Each time he thought that, strength drained further from his body. When he rose to drink water, his head often spun. Still, he lacked the will to do anything beyond lying down and sitting up again.
He needed to live.
If his brother saw him like this, he would surely scold him harshly. Until high school, Haejin had been an excellent student. The university that had accepted him before the accident was a respectable one.
But the tuition he had paid in advance was consumed by hospital bills. And since he himself had been severely injured, by the time he recovered it was far too late to begin university on schedule.
In every direction, the road ahead was dark. Having lived comfortably under his adoptive parents’ care, Haejin had not learned the things he needed upon becoming an adult. He had even manifested shortly before the accident, leaving him ignorant about his phenotype. For the past five years, his entire existence had been confined to crouching within the Vermouth estate.
Neither child nor adult, in that ambiguous mental state, he had returned to the city with nothing he could truly do. He did not even realize that the landlord of this room was overcharging him. Nor did he possess any blueprint for how to survive from here on.
All he could do was try not to be swallowed by the vast emptiness.
Then came the sound of a knock at his door.