As though the heavens themselves had heard his resolve that staying uninvolved was best, the next few days passed quietly without him running into any of them again.
But today, after finishing dinner, bathing Euni, and even getting through reading her a storybook without incident, Seojin opened a drawer to put away the laundry and found a bankbook.
“What’s this?”
He checked the balance out of mild curiosity, only for his mouth to fall open.
“What the…… How many zeros are there after the 2?”
Starting from the end, he carefully counted them one by one. When he confirmed there were nine zeros, he blinked several times in disbelief.
“Two billion won?”
For Seojin, whose bank balance in his previous life had never even reached the tens of millions, it was an utterly unfamiliar number.
“Seriously, Noona too…….”
A house of his own, an adorable daughter, a job with guaranteed working hours. And now, finally, even a bank account containing two billion won.
They had not shared a single drop of blood. All they had done was spend several years together in the hospital.
The unexpected gift she had left behind warmed his heart, yet at the same time left a painful sting somewhere inside it.
Seojin tucked the bankbook deep inside the drawer and carefully covered it with folded clothes.
‘I should keep this safe and use it for Euni.’
It wasn’t money he needed right away anyway, and it was a precious gift from his noona.
By the time he finished putting away the laundry and cleaning up the kitchen and living room, it was already well past eleven.
Seojin pressed at the back of his neck as he went into the bathroom, took a quick shower, and lay down in bed.
When he closed his eyes, for some reason he remembered the way Yoon Haegang had stared intently at him.
‘Please, pay attention to Shin Seyoung instead of me.’
Things were quiet now, but they had already met twice before the original story had even properly begun.
So he sincerely hoped Haegang would pay more attention to Shin Seyoung than to some secretary who barely had any role in the story.
‘Wait. What happened in the original story after Yoon Haegang started taking an interest in Shin Seyoung?’
The first incident involved a location-tracking app.
Yoon Haegang had not personally ordered it. Manager Kim had let something slip, and the secretary had acted on his own.
‘The secretary used it to make sure Yoon Haegang could run into Shin Seyoung more often.’
But later, when the main top learned about it, he went to confront Yoon Haegang, and the two ended up having a huge shouting match.
The second incident involved debt.
Loan sharks had barged into Shin Seyoung’s home, and they happened to belong to the organization Yoon Haegang had once been part of.
Haegang had visited under the excuse of bringing a gift and ran into them there. Then the main top arrived late, misunderstood what was happening, and his conflict with Yoon Haegang deepened even further.
‘At this point, it honestly feels like Yoon Haegang just got screwed over for the sake of those two’s romance.’
Seojin folded his arms neatly over the blanket and sighed.
‘No. Get a grip. Yoon Haegang isn’t just some sub top. He’s the infamous sub yandere top.’
Later, he was the person who used pheromones to kidnap and confine Shin Seyoung.
It was also the decisive scene that had earned the most fury from readers.
‘And meanwhile, the secretary harasses Shin Seyoung out of jealousy, and all of that ends up being blamed on Yoon Haegang too. Yeah, it really is better if I stay out of it.’
That way, at least one piece of karma destined for Yoon Haegang would disappear.
All Seojin had to do was watch for the right moment and resign.
Wasn’t that the safest possible way to part ways?
Thinking so much while lying in bed drove away whatever sleepiness he had.
No matter how much he tossed and turned, he only became more awake. While wondering what to do, he suddenly thought of the sharp fizz of carbonation mixed with alcohol.
‘Should I have some?’
Beer.
Something he had completely stopped drinking after falling ill.
Surely it would be fine now.
Seojin grabbed only his phone and stepped outside.
Having a convenience store right below the villa really was convenient.
He returned home carrying a six-pack of beer. Worried that the sound of the front door might wake Euni, he closed it carefully and turned around.
“Dad, what’s that?”
Euni, who should have already been deep in dreamland, was standing there rubbing her eyes.
“Uh, well, this is just Dad’s drink.”
For some reason, Seojin felt embarrassed to admit he had bought alcohol, so he gave a vague answer and headed toward the kitchen.
“Why are you awake, Euni?”
He tried to casually redirect the child’s attention, only to land himself in an even more troublesome situation.
“Mmm…. I was thirsty. Euni wants a drink too!”
How could he keep lying when his daughter was innocently looking up at him with her hand held out?
“This isn’t something Euni can drink.”
“Why?”
“Well, this drink is called alcohol, and only adults are allowed to drink it.”
“Why?”
This was bad.
The why attack had begun.
Worse, her eyes were sparkling now that her curiosity had been piqued. At this rate, Euni would lose all traces of sleepiness too.
Seojin hurriedly spoke.
“Hmm. Your daycare teacher said you have to eat properly to grow tall and strong, right?”
“Mm-hm!”
“If you drink this, your head hurts and your tummy hurts, so the little growing fairy inside your body gets scared and runs away.”
“Gasp!”
Euni’s eyes widened as she quickly covered her stomach with both hands.
Grinning at the sight, Seojin continued with even more enthusiasm.
“But grown-ups like Dad have already finished growing, so their growing fairies are all grown up too. That’s why Dad can drink it. Euni should have a warm glass of milk and go back to sleep, okay?”
Euni nodded firmly.
Seojin had just relaxed and handed her the warmed milk when—
“Dad! This is bad for your health, right?”
“Uh, y-yeah.”
“Then Dad can only drink one a day too! Euni will give you one every day!”
The sight of her clutching her glass of milk and declaring it so confidently was so unbearably cute and lovable that Seojin nodded vigorously.
* * *
The next day, after seeing Euni off on the daycare bus, the person Seojin unexpectedly encountered when he arrived at work was Yoon Haegang.
“Uh… Good morning, Boss.”
Yoon Haegang merely glanced at him before lowering his gaze back to his phone.
After that, he did not pay Seojin any attention at all.
‘I guess that’s a good thing, but…….’
The problem was that Manager Kim was out on business until lunchtime today, leaving only the two of them in the office.
“Let’s go.”
“Pardon?”
Seojin, who had been sipping coffee while reviewing the client information Manager Kim had left behind, looked up in confusion.
Yoon Haegang was already on his feet.
“Let’s go eat.”
“Uh…….”
Seojin hesitated at the completely unexpected suggestion.
Yoon Haegang raised an eyebrow as though urging him to hurry.
In the end, Seojin shut down his computer and stood up.
After leaving the office, the two headed to the sundae soup restaurant Seojin had visited once before.
It wasn’t even noon yet, but the place was already packed.
Seojin thought they might go somewhere else, but Yoon Haegang waited in front of the door for their turn as though he were used to this.
What else could Seojin do?
He simply waited too.
“Come in!”
After ten minutes of uncomfortable silence, a table finally opened up.
Yoon Haegang sat down first, and Seojin awkwardly pulled out the chair across from him.
“One regular, one spicy, right?”
The restaurant owner suddenly appeared and placed an earthenware bowl in front of each of them.
“Can we get a small plate too?”
Yoon Haegang stopped her just as she was about to walk away.
When she gave him a questioning look, he jerked his chin toward Seojin sitting across from him.
“He’s a kid, so he can’t eat it while it’s hot.”
“Ahh…!”
He was obviously looking out for him, so why did it still annoy him?
He could have just asked for a plate. Did he really have to say Seojin couldn’t eat hot food like some little kid?!
Still, thanks to that, Seojin was able to portion some into the small plate and finish eating at roughly the same pace as Yoon Haegang.
“Finished?”
“Yes.”
After checking Seojin’s empty bowl, Yoon Haegang stood up.
Seeing him pay the restaurant owner in cash, Seojin could not suppress his curiosity and asked,
“Wouldn’t it be better to use a card if you want to claim it as a business expense?”
“Why bother over pocket change like this?”
I thought maybe he was paying cash to help the business.
Apparently not.
Seojin accepted the answer and followed Yoon Haegang outside.
Then, suddenly, he spotted Shin Seyoung walking toward them from across the street.
‘What the hell. Why again?’
Sure, Shin Seyoung did live not far from here.
But even so, there was no reason they should be running into him this often!
Without realizing it, Seojin glanced sideways at Yoon Haegang.
Haegang, however, did not even look at Shin Seyoung.
Seojin alone gave him an awkward nod in greeting and was about to walk past.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Seojin stopped and turned around.
“What is it?”
“Ah, well…….”
Seojin stared at Shin Seyoung, who was already some distance away.
‘Was I imagining it?’
Tilting his head, he then noticed the red roses blooming beautifully along the wall.
“Ahh. It must’ve been because of those.”
Right.
As far as Seojin remembered, it was not yet time for Shin Seyoung to start showing the preliminary signs of his heat cycle.
‘There’s no way a dominant omega like him would unconsciously leak pheromones either.’
Just look.
For a second, Seojin had thought the sweet scent he smelled as Shin Seyoung passed by was his pheromones, but when he turned around, there were roses in bloom.
Embarrassed by his mistake, Seojin rubbed beneath his nose with his index finger and turned back around.
Only to find himself staring directly into Yoon Haegang’s eyes.
Haegang was already watching him intently.