‘They’ve investigated Shin Seyoung this thoroughly?’
Seojin’s mouth fell open as he went through the files saved in the folder. There was no way outsiders would know what kind of work Yoon Haegang’s information company actually did or how it operated when he was merely a sub top.
Naturally, no one knew just how much information this place had gathered on the main bottom either. And yet, surprisingly, the materials Manager Kim had handed him contained not only Shin Seyoung’s personal information, but also detailed records of the people he met, the places he frequently visited, his financial situation, and more.
‘Of course. As if anyone needed proof that he’s obsessive.’
The documents even had photographs attached. It was enough to leave him speechless.
“Seojin, what should we do? Looks like you’ll have to eat lunch alone. A client contacted me asking to move our appointment up.”
Seojin had just opened the second file when he casually nodded at those words.
“I’m fine eating alone. Don’t worry about me and go.”
“Mhm. Then I’ll bring back some tasty snacks on my way!”
Manager Kim grabbed his jacket and winked his right eye.
“No. You really don’t have to…….”
Bang.
His attempt to decline was cut off before it could leave his mouth by the door suddenly opening.
The person who walked in was Yoon Haegang, dressed in a black suit.
‘You said he wasn’t coming in today, Manager Kim!’
The instant that gaze landed on him, Seojin frowned before quickly smoothing his expression.
“Oh? Boss, you’re here! Perfect timing. I’m heading out for a bit to meet a new client.”
“Yeah.”
Despite Yoon Haegang’s halfhearted response, Manager Kim disappeared with light steps, apparently relieved that he would not have to leave the new employee alone.
The discomfort of being left alone with him rose all the way to Seojin’s throat, so he tried speaking first.
“Hello, Boss…….”
He had scraped together every last speck of courage just to say that, but Yoon Haegang merely twitched an eyebrow and sat down on the sofa. The sight of him crossing his legs with a cigarette between his lips looked like something straight out of a painting.
‘Wow, seriously…….’
What the hell are those manners?
Seojin forced himself to smile so his face would not twist up. Otherwise, he felt like something rude would come flying out of his mouth immediately.
“Hoo―.”
Yoon Haegang exhaled smoke.
At the same time, thick, damp pheromones began to slowly spread around him.
The scent soon filled the room and pushed all the way over to Seojin’s seat.
‘He’s not still suspicious, is he?’
On Seojin’s first day yesterday, Yoon Haegang had also asked whether he was an omega.
So the reason he was openly releasing pheromones was obvious.
‘Go ahead and try all you want.’
Seojin was still an omega, so he could smell them with his nose.
But they could not stimulate his sensory cells.
‘Mr. Noh Seojin’s pheromone glands are immature. That’s why you can’t secrete pheromones, and you also can’t respond to pheromone stimulation.’
He remembered what the doctor had said about him not even having the heat cycles that should naturally come to an omega.
The doctor had also said that this had ultimately caused abnormal reactions in his body.
Still, it had never become a serious problem up until now.
‘It really doesn’t work, right?’
The corner of Seojin’s eye twitched faintly.
He was not living alone anymore.
He had a child now too.
‘I should go to the hospital soon and get everything checked.’
Pretending not to notice the gaze fixed insistently on him, Seojin sank into various thoughts.
* * *
For the next thirty minutes, Seojin endured the sharp gaze that felt as though needles were repeatedly stabbing into him, along with the heavy assault of alpha pheromones.
‘I can’t do anything else like this!’
What he urgently needed right now was a heavy dose of caffeine.
But even that was not easy to act on.
The tension in the room was so thick that if he moved carelessly, it felt as though the back of his neck might get bitten off.
‘It feels like I’m trapped inside a predator’s cage…….’
Maybe because the tension had gone on for so long, his chest began to feel tight.
Riiing.
At that moment, a frivolous ringtone sounded.
“Yes, this is Righteous Information Office, where we take full responsibility and serve you with sincerity!”
Seojin quickly picked up the receiver that had rescued him from his crisis.
He did not forget the line Manager Kim had drilled into him, insisting that he absolutely had to say it whenever he answered the phone.
He had once asked his sister how the word ‘Righteous’ had ever gotten attached to the business name.
Her answer had been ridiculous.
They had put their delinquent past behind them and opened a respectable office now, so didn’t ‘Righteous’ suit them?
‘What part of this is righteous?!’
How did that man over there, flicking his ankle while smoking, suit the word ‘righteous’ in any way?
If anything, he looked like someone who would be sitting at some illegal gambling den watching a match where blood and curses flew everywhere.
-Is this the information office? Then do you also find things and stuff?
Just as Seojin was about to drift further into his thoughts, a young voice came through the receiver.
The slightly lisping way the child spoke made them sound no older than around seven.
‘Sounds like they’re missing a front tooth.’
The thought made the corners of his mouth rise on their own.
“What would you like us to find? If there’s something you want, we can do anything!”
When Seojin spoke pleasantly, the young client, who had sounded a little nervous, finally explained why they had called.
-You know, our Kkokko is gone. Please find our Kkokko.
“Kkokko…….”
Judging from the name, Kkokko seemed to be a chicken.
If they were raising one at home, did the child’s parents run a poultry farm?
‘But are there even poultry farms in Seoul or the metropolitan area?’
Or maybe chicks were still sold in front of schools even these days.
He remembered seeing that fairly often when he was young, so perhaps there were still households that raised chickens that way.
Whatever the case, the child seemed frightened because a beloved pet had disappeared.
“When did you notice Kkokko was gone?”
-I came back from school and Kkokko was gone. Hngh, waah…!
The child had clearly been trying hard to speak calmly, but Seojin’s gentle question seemed to make all that pent-up grief burst out, and they finally started crying.
“Okay, don’t cry. You have to explain it properly so we can find Kkokko for you.”
-I thought Kkokko might get bored, so I left the window open just a liiittle bit, hic, hngh….
It seemed the chicken had escaped through the opening.
Seojin awkwardly rolled his tongue in his mouth.
He was listening carefully, but he had no idea whether they were even supposed to accept a request like this.
And of all people, the one in the office was Yoon Haegang instead of Manager Kim, which made it even more difficult.
“Ah!”
While Seojin was wondering how he should explain things to the child, he suddenly screamed when a huge figure appeared right beside him.
He was so startled that he nearly dropped the receiver he was holding.
The extortionist who had somehow appeared without him noticing snatched the object out of Seojin’s hand in an instant.
-W-What, why, why why?
Apparently the young client was just as startled, because the faint voice coming through the receiver broke apart like staccato notes.
Yoon Haegang looked down as if asking, What is this?
“That’s a client… um, I think they’re asking us to find a lost pet…….”
Seojin had no choice but to explain the situation.
Even as he did, he naturally assumed Yoon Haegang would snort and end the call.
“How much are you going to pay, client?”
Huh?
What?
Did I hear that wrong?
Seojin looked up at Yoon Haegang in disbelief.
Perhaps noticing his stare, Yoon Haegang lowered his head.
“Twenty thousand won? Hmm… That’s way too little.”
The playful curve at the corner of his lips was fascinating.
Something like that should not have suited a sub yandere top at all.
What was even stranger was how perfectly it did suit him.
“You have a piggy bank, but you don’t know how much is inside?”
Yoon Haegang perched on the edge of the desk.
That brought the two of them even closer together.
His gaze was no longer on Seojin, but on the monitor.
‘Ah!’
When Seojin followed his gaze, goosebumps ran down his spine.
It was because Shin Seyoung’s information was still open on the screen.
Then Seojin soon tilted his head.
‘Wait, no. Why am I feeling guilty? Manager Kim gave me this information to look at.’
If anything, wasn’t this a chance to show that he was working properly?
Seojin looked up at Yoon Haegang again with expectant eyes.
He happened to be just about to finish the call.
“All right, client. We’ll find Kkokko soon, so wait there. Yeah, okay. We’ll find Kkokko today.”
To Seojin’s surprise, Yoon Haegang accepted the little client’s request.
‘What is this? Why does he look so pleased?’
Yoon Haegang was even smiling.
Seojin stared at him blankly without realizing it.
But his wandering thoughts vanished completely when Yoon Haegang hung up and looked at him.
“What are you doing? Get up.”
“What? Me? Why?”
Seojin questioned the sudden order, but stood up anyway.
He could not exactly ignore Yoon Haegang when the man was planted directly in front of him.
Yoon Haegang set the receiver down with a thud and spoke lightly, as though asking why Seojin was even questioning it.
“What do you mean, why? We got a request, so we have to go find it.”
“Me too?”
His role was supposed to be an office secretary who sat quietly in the office, answered calls, and organized documents!
“Of course. Isn’t a secretary supposed to follow the boss around?”
Excuse me? Boss?
Didn’t you supposedly find it annoying when a secretary stayed by your side?!
‘Then why are you suddenly doing something you never used to do?’
Unfortunately, Seojin could not strongly protest.
And so, only two days after starting work, he ended up leaving the office on a field assignment with Yoon Haegang.