Kwon Minseong stretched his arms overhead as he walked toward the room at the far end of the eastern corridor.
"Yes."
"If you were leaving anyway, you could've gone home with the other staff earlier."
"I stayed behind to teach you how to operate the security system."
"Don't go. Come live with me."
"The security system is one of His Grace Visha's inventions. Under normal circumstances, anyone may enter regardless of birth, rank, or status. However, once the security system is activated, no one without Imperial blood can enter."
"It hurts when you ignore me so openly."
"The procedure is simple. Would you step into your room for a moment?"
Pouting, Kwon Minseong entered the room at the very end of the corridor.
"Please place your hand inside the fireplace."
"Hmm... Do I really have to?"
When he hesitated, Ian patiently explained in a calm, mechanical tone.
"As you know, the heating system in this mansion is somewhat unusual. Hot steam passes through pipes installed throughout the building, warming each room. The fireplace exists only as a backup in case the steam pipes malfunction. No actual fire is ever lit there. Therefore..."
"All right, all right. I'll do it."
He had only hesitated because he was worried about burning his hand, yet the lecture that followed was endless.
Quickly cutting Ian off, Kwon Minseong approached the fireplace and stuck his hand inside.
"You should feel something on the left wall."
Just as Ian said, a small switch protruded from the surface.
"Press it."
Click.
The switch activated easily.
"That's it?"
"That is all. To deactivate it, place your hand inside again and press the same switch."
"So Ian can disable it when he comes to work?"
"Yes, that's correct. Activate it after leaving through the main gate rather than the front entrance."
Ian stepped out of Kwon Minseong's room and gave a short bow.
"Please don't come out. I can find my own way."
"Okay. Get home safely."
Kwon Minseong waved his hand back and forth like an uncle seeing off a nephew returning to Seoul after the holidays.
After watching Ian close the front door and leave through the main gate from a second-floor window, Kwon Minseong activated the security system once more.
Then he stripped off his white coat and flung it onto the floor.
His linen shirt.
His belt.
His trousers.
Even his underwear.
One layer after another landed in a heap as he headed for the bathroom.
Rrrrip—
A mechanical arm hanging from the ceiling stretched like rubber, scooping up the clothes he had dropped and tossing them into a laundry basket in the corner.
The arm was much smaller than the ones in the Imperial Library.
Looking at it, Kwon Minseong recalled Adelgius proudly declaring,
"It's the home-use model."
"Still, I have to admit he's incredible."
He snorted.
"A complete pain in the ass, but incredible."
As he walked toward the bathroom, he pulled a series of cords attached to the wall.
Ding—
Ding—
Ding—
Cheerful bells rang out. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
A moment later, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.
When he opened the door, warm steam and a bathtub filled with hot water greeted him.
Without even checking the temperature, Kwon Minseong stepped inside.
Perfect.
No colder.
No hotter.
Exactly right.
He sank into the water up to his shoulders.
"One hundred patients today... eighty tomorrow..."
Was there another paradise like this in the world?
His body was exhausted, but whenever he thought about the money steadily piling up in the vault, he barely noticed the fatigue.
In just one week, Kwon Minseong had effectively monopolized every Male Omega patient in Ellun.
According to Ian, the city's population was around fifty thousand, and exceeded two hundred thousand if the surrounding areas were included.
Male Omegas might be rare, but there was no way only one hundred eighty existed among fifty thousand people.
More patients would continue coming.
Male Omegas.
Female Omegas.
Even Female Betas.
If he accepted all of them...
The clinic would never go bankrupt again.
Not in a million years.
"Long live Omegas! Long live male pregnancy!"
Spreading both arms wide, Kwon Minseong sank beneath the water with a blissful smile.
Thirty minutes later, wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe, Kwon Minseong emerged from the bathroom.
The household automated assistant had timed everything perfectly.
A bowl of warm cream soup and a basket of bread sat waiting on the table.
It would have been wonderful if the magical mechanical arm could actually cook, but even it had limits.
Tonight's dinner consisted of vegetable soup the cook had prepared earlier that morning and bread Ian had purchased on his way to work.
Taking a seat, Kwon Minseong tore off a piece of bread.
The loaf split neatly along its grain, releasing a rich buttery aroma.
He dipped the still-soft, steaming bread into the soup.
Carefully pushing aside the evenly diced carrots, peas, and potatoes, he pressed the bread into the thick liquid until it became satisfyingly heavy.
Then he lifted it and took a huge bite.
"Mmm...!"
The flavors of butter and cream flooded his mouth.
Unable to hide his delight, Kwon Minseong devoured the bread and soup with abandon.
For a man capable of eating three portions of tteokbokki, four portions of pork belly, five portions of premium beef, an entire cake, five rolls of gimbap, three hamburger sets, a large pizza, a whole fried chicken, and a bowl of ramen afterward if the meal felt too greasy...
One basket of bread was laughably insufficient.
After painstakingly wiping the bottom of the bowl clean with the last scraps of bread, he clapped his hands to summon the mechanical arm.
"Bring me more."
Creeeeak—
The automated assistant emitted only a grinding noise.
It didn't move.
"Are you pretending not to hear me? Or are you broken?"
Creeeeeeak—
A chilling metallic screech pierced his ears.
That sound hadn't come from the automated assistant.
A shadow had slipped into the mansion grounds under cover of darkness.
The figure opened the main gate and approached the mansion entrance.
Then the front door opened.
The very door that was supposedly impossible for anyone without Imperial blood to pass through admitted the intruder without resistance, like an automatic sliding door.
Kwon Minseong quickly surveyed his surroundings.
This mansion was a hospital.
There were plenty of things that could serve as weapons.
The problem was that all of them were on the first floor.
In desperation, he rummaged through the bread basket.
His hand closed around a long loaf so hard it had earned the terrifying nickname Tooth Crusher.
He had been saving it for last so he could soak it in soup.
Never had he imagined it would be used this way.
Sorry, Tooth Crusher.
Gripping the bread like a baseball bat, Kwon Minseong crept downstairs.
They said no one except royalty could bypass the security system.
Yet the intruder had already reached the lobby.
The only members of the Imperial Family Kwon Minseong knew were Adelgius, Adelgius's daughter, and the psychotic Emperor who had stabbed him in the stomach.
If it were Adelgius, he would have been shouting Kwon Minseong's name from outside the gate already.
No.
He would have sent an automated messenger pigeon thirty minutes before arriving to announce the exact time of his visit and demand appropriate preparations for receiving royalty.
The psychotic Emperor had no reason to come here.
And even if he somehow invented one, he wouldn't sneak around hiding his identity like a burglar.
He was the Emperor.
As annoying as that fact was, the Emperor was a man who never needed to justify his actions.
Then who the hell is it...?
The final suspect was Adelgius's newborn daughter.
But that was ridiculous too.
Sure, this was a world where men gave birth and giant mechanical arms understood human speech.
But a newborn becoming an adult in a single week?
No way.
"...Actually, could that happen?"
Kwon Minseong tilted his head for a moment before immediately shaking the absurd thought away.
Whatever it was, he would find out once he caught the midnight visitor.
Tightening his grip on Tooth Crusher, he advanced one careful step at a time.
The burglar might laugh at him for choosing bread as a weapon.
But that opinion would change after taking a hit from Tooth Crusher.
That very morning, Ian had delivered the loaf with a message from the baker.
"Make absolutely certain it never falls into the hands of someone who abuses their strength."
Just how destructive was this thing for the baker to issue such a serious warning?
Kwon Minseong hid around the corner where the staircase turned toward the second floor and watched the intruder.
Step.
Step.
The figure looked around.
Glancing left.
Glancing right.
Then—
Flinch!