This was The World of Omega. A place where the human rights of omegas—the rarest secondary gender, unlike the elite alphas and the far more numerous betas—might as well have been thrown to the dogs.
A world where an omega’s position was determined by the status of his alpha, and omegas had no option but marriage. Even those marriages were not entered into by choice. The moment an omega presented, his family arbitrarily decided his marriage as a means of securing economic and political gain.
“You always said that.”
“What?”
Yi Kyung stared directly at Dong Hoo and continued.
“I believed you.”
Like a fool.
His father had never once offered “Seo Yi Kyung” a kind word. Even so, Yi Kyung had trusted him implicitly, convincing himself that his father only appeared cold on the surface, that he felt differently inside and simply didn’t know how to express it.
Foolishly.
“Go kneel before him and beg in person. Who knows? Maybe he’ll give you money out of pity for those worthless knees.”
With that, Yi Kyung turned away. He no longer wanted to share the same space with Dong Hoo. Even after hearing that they were brothers who shared the same blood, Yi Kyung felt no sympathy for him whatsoever.
“Ha—fuck.”
Every trace of amusement vanished from Dong Hoo’s face. He reached out and twisted his hand around Yi Kyung’s bandaged wrist.
“Ah!”
Yi Kyung gave a short scream and collapsed forward. Butler Do rushed toward him with both arms outstretched.
“…We currently own eighty vessels, which transport grain, fertilizer, and steel products.”
Sitting in the seat of honor on the sofa, Han Seung Jae examined the financial report. The president of Gawon Shipping followed his gestures as he explained.
But Seung Jae’s fingers had stopped turning the pages. When he showed no sign of moving again, the president hesitantly called to him.
“Director Han?”
Are you listening to me?
He did not dare voice the rest of the question.
“……”
As if in response, Seung Jae turned the page he had been reading. An orchid received as a gift sat on the side table to his right.
“I’m listening. Continue.”
Seung Jae’s bored gaze shifted to the flowering orchid, and the president of Gawon Shipping followed his eyes.
“I heard that you recently married.”
“And?”
Seung Jae looked at him. As if determined to hold on to the attention he had struggled to gain, the president rose from his seat.
“Would you like to see the gift I prepared?”
At his words, Secretary Park opened the door. The two men who had been waiting outside entered and carefully removed the paper wrapping.
It revealed a large framed abstract painting rendered in ink.
“I’ve heard that you possess a profound appreciation for art. This is an abstract work by the artist Shin Eui Jin. Its meticulous rendering of light, shadow, and sheen is so lifelike that the meaning within its lines is exceptionally clear.”
Unlike his earlier expression of boredom, Seung Jae watched the framed painting as it was carried closer. The president of Gawon Shipping delivered what he clearly considered his masterstroke.
“Meeting Again.”
Just then, Secretary Park’s phone vibrated. He slipped a hand into his inner pocket and looked at the screen. After checking the caller, he headed toward the door and raised the phone to his ear. Then he abruptly turned back.
“It is the only one of its kind in the country. Do you like my gift?”
Secretary Park lowered the phone and whispered something into Seung Jae’s ear, covering his mouth with one hand so the president of Gawon Shipping could not hear.
The view was expansive, and the dim light of the evening sunset filled the sky beyond the windows.
The spacious office was deathly silent. Documents prepared throughout the morning and afternoon lay on the desk. The president of Gawon Shipping’s seal was clearly stamped on the small corner protruding from the bottom of the stack.
Knock, knock.
A knock broke the silence. The door opened, and Secretary Park entered.
“Vice President Seo has arrived.”
Secretary Park opened the door wide, revealing Seo Dong Hoo standing behind him in a gray suit.
“You must be busy. You didn’t have to call me all the way here. We could have talked over the phone. You’re coming to the next gathering, right? Everyone keeps asking me whether you’ll be there. Ah! This is a gift. Given our relationship, I could hardly come empty-handed.”
Dong Hoo, his face taut with nerves, berated the driver who had followed him inside.
“Put it down and get out! How can anyone be that damn slow?”
“I apologize.”
The driver set a bottle of wine on the table.
“I sent some of Yi Kyung’s favorite fruit and a wedding gift to the house.”
Dong Hoo’s ceaseless monologue filled the silent office.
“Our father must be getting old. If I don’t take care of things like this, no one does.”
Until then, Seung Jae had been studying the abstract painting hanging on the wall. He turned his head, shadows falling across his dark waistcoat. He spoke without emotion.
“Sit.”
“Huh? Oh.”
Dong Hoo’s Adam’s apple bobbed sharply. Out of habit, he took in Seung Jae’s suit, the classic cuff links at his sleeves, and even the platinum watch with a blue patterned dial set with diamonds.
Dong Hoo had been following his father around and meeting Han Seung Jae since childhood, yet he had never been able to tell what the bastard was thinking.
“How gaudy. What’s this supposed to be?”
After following his father into the exotic mansion, Dong Hoo had been unable to sit still for even a moment in the center of the living room. Butler Choi glanced at him as he passed, but Dong Hoo paid him no attention. He handled the objects displayed throughout the room as though they belonged to him. His father, Seo Young Hwan, had gone upstairs to meet President Han Ye Chan.
“How did this happen?”
Butler Choi’s distressed voice drew Dong Hoo’s attention. Han Seung Jae was descending the stairs. Although dressed in a school uniform, he could not conceal his natural superiority. The very air surrounding him felt different.
Butler Choi left to retrieve a first-aid kit, and Dong Hoo’s eyes settled on Seung Jae’s hand. Red blood flowed from his torn palm, leaving a trail all the way down the stairs.
“Are you hurt? You’re bleeding badly.”
Dong Hoo carelessly tossed aside the ornament he had been handling and approached him.
“I heard you’re an only child. You can think of me as your brother. If anything is troubling you, tell me.”
Red stains had spread across the sleeve of Seung Jae’s school uniform as well. Dong Hoo frowned sharply at the blood dripping relentlessly onto the floor, but Seung Jae regarded him with a merciless expression.
“Why would I tell a stranger about my troubles?”
“People run into trouble sometimes, and maybe you’re too young to understand, but school life is fucking miserable! Besides, we’re not strangers. We’re going to be family…”
“If you’re trying to discover my weaknesses, you’ll have to work harder than that.”
“……”
Dong Hoo fell utterly silent. In the meantime, Butler Choi returned with the first-aid kit and examined Seung Jae’s palm. Shards of broken glass were embedded in it.
“I believe you will need to go to the hospital. Have the car brought around.”
“Don’t make a commotion…”
Seung Jae wrenched his hand free. The movement sent droplets of blood spattering across Dong Hoo’s expensive sweater. Anyone else would have erupted in anger, but Dong Hoo could not bring himself to speak. Alphas established their hierarchy in an instant. Instinctively, he recognized that Seung Jae would be difficult to challenge.
With no change in expression, Seung Jae walked past Dong Hoo and continued on his way. Drops of blood fell steadily from his fingertips.
Dong Hoo turned sideways. Only belatedly did he tug at his sweater and mutter a curse. He had tried to treat Han Seung Jae like a younger brother, just as he treated Seo Yi Kyung, but things never went the way he intended.
Still, once Seung Jae married Yi Kyung, they would become family. That meant Dong Hoo could secure Myungjun Group as the power supporting Woorim Construction.
They encountered each other several more times afterward, but unlike Dong Hoo, who revealed every thought without restraint, Seung Jae grew increasingly cold. He never initiated a conversation.
Even at social gatherings restricted to alphas, Seung Jae consistently ignored Dong Hoo, who swallowed his pride and forced himself to offer a greeting. Dong Hoo nevertheless tried not to let it bother him.
Once Seo Yi Kyung married, Han Seung Jae’s money would inevitably become Dong Hoo’s, an inexhaustible spring he could draw from whenever he pleased. The physically and emotionally fragile Yi Kyung surrendered his paintings, art supplies, and anything else he treasured whenever Dong Hoo merely grabbed him and shook him.
Over the years, Dong Hoo had forcibly taken things he did not even need, then used the promise of returning them as leverage to manipulate Yi Kyung however he wished.
“…Should I sit here?”
Dong Hoo tore his gaze from Seung Jae’s refined features and glanced toward the seat of honor on the sofa. His fingers, however, pointed toward the long sofa instead.
When they were younger, Dong Hoo had at least been able to lord his age over Seung Jae. Now Seung Jae’s eyes were colder and even more inscrutable than before. Following his father’s teachings, Dong Hoo therefore refrained from behaving rashly in front of him.
The door clicked shut. Secretary Park took his place in front of it. The call he had received that morning had come from the driver. The man was required to report whenever they traveled, and he had mentioned that he was taking Seo Yi Kyung to the hospital. Butler Do’s urgent voice had then become mixed into the call, making the situation sound serious.
Seung Jae stepped forward. His measured footsteps echoed against the floor, followed by the click of his watch being unfastened.
“Father said he sent over some kind of construction contract or agreement, but apparently the payment isn’t going through. If you give me the money, I’ll pass it along to him.”
Seung Jae placed the watch in his hand on the desk. Then he turned, picked up the orchid from the side table beside the sofa, and smashed it over Dong Hoo’s head.
“We’re both busy people, so there’s no point wasting time going back and for—”
Crash!
Dong Hoo’s eyes flew wide. Fragments of shattered ceramic and the green orchid tumbled over his head.
“Uh…”
The incessant monologue abruptly ceased.
When Dong Hoo raised his head, soil scattered from his hair and the shoulders of his suit. He lifted a hand and felt his forehead. Something had been trickling down it for several moments.
Dong Hoo looked at his hand. It was smeared with vivid red blood. Only after seeing his condition with his own eyes did he scream.
“Fuck, Director Han! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Seung Jae extended one large hand and dug it into the crown of Dong Hoo’s head, where soil and blood were tangled together. Dong Hoo tried to rise, but the force drove him back down, his knees buckling unsteadily.
“First—let go of me, and we’ll talk.”
Half-crouched on the sofa, Dong Hoo grabbed Seung Jae’s wrist and strained desperately to pry his arm away, his brow furrowed. Blood streamed down Dong Hoo’s face, which twisted savagely. But the more he struggled, the deeper Seung Jae’s fingers dug into his head, intensifying the pain. It felt as though his scalp were being crushed.
“All right! I said I understand!”
Perhaps this was the result of the discipline his father had instilled in him while providing him with everything he wanted. Seemingly ready to confess everything, Dong Hoo reached out with his other hand and motioned for Seung Jae to calm down.
“I know why you’re doing this. I know exactly what this is about! Fuck, just listen to me first. Whatever you heard, it’s a misunderstanding.”
“Which hand did you use?”
Their contrasting voices crossed and mingled. Seung Jae’s cold voice was low enough to send a chill down Dong Hoo’s spine. His blood ran cold. Only then did Dong Hoo grasp the severity of the situation and swallow dryly. Blood from his split forehead covered one eye and streamed down his face, but Seung Jae watched him with utter composure.
“This hand?”
Seung Jae caught the wrist flailing through the air. As his grip gradually tightened, Dong Hoo’s fingertips began to tremble.
“No. Fuck, no! I can explain everything.”
Dong Hoo shook his head wildly. Flying droplets of blood stained the collar of Seung Jae’s dress shirt and his waistcoat. As the situation grew more dangerous, Dong Hoo blurted out anything that came to mind.
“Seung Jae, everything Yi Kyung said is bullshit! What would a mere omega know? Fuck, just listen to me first.”
Seung Jae’s eyes narrowed, his gaze blazing. As though his patience had reached its limit, he wrenched Dong Hoo’s fingers backward with a vicious crunch. The snap of breaking bone disappeared beneath Dong Hoo’s grotesque scream.