How to Have a Baby Secretly - C6

“The ongoing Turkmenistan new port construction project is currently in the basic data investigation stage…”

Bzzt.

Kang Jinwook’s gaze shifted from the meeting presenter to his vibrating phone. Two messages arrived in succession. His brow furrowed as he checked the second message.

“Just a moment.”

Jinwook grabbed his phone and abruptly stood up. The overseas business department manager looked at him in confusion at the sudden interruption.

Ignoring the other employees around the table exchanging puzzled glances, Jinwook immediately left the conference room. He strode down the hallway with long legs and made a call.

“Yes, Director!”

The other party answered immediately, as if waiting for the call.

“Secretary Jo, is the text message true?”

“Yes! He just submitted it and left work.”

Jinwook frowned and stopped walking.

“You’re saying Choi Sunwoo is quitting? Are you sure?”

“Yes. He gave me his resignation letter before leaving. And… Director.”

Secretary Jo hesitated before adding:

“It seems there might be something wrong with Secretary Choi’s health. Otherwise, he wouldn’t say he’s quitting…”

“I see. Hang up.”

Jinwook cut off Secretary Jo and ended the call.

He turned his head towards the window. Whether it was his imagination or not, he thought he saw the back of Choi Sunwoo’s head just leaving the company building.

Suddenly, Jinwook turned his head, feeling an intense gaze from somewhere.

He spotted someone standing at the end of the hallway. The fresh aura and captivating beauty clearly marked them as an Omega. Jinwook immediately recognized who it was.

It was Lim Haewon, the new employee in the overseas business department.

“Employee Lim Haewon, what’s the matter?”

Haewon’s shoulders flinched at Jinwook’s icy question. Nevertheless, she steadily spoke her piece.

“The manager asked me to check when you’ll be back.”

“We’ll reschedule the meeting after confirming with the local project team. Tell them that and end the meeting.”

As Jinwook was about to turn away, he stopped again. He remembered they were supposed to have a team dinner with the overseas business department after the meeting.

Jinwook took out a card from his wallet and tossed it to Haewon.

“Use that to pay for the team dinner.”

Haewon clumsily caught Jinwook’s card with a surprised expression.

“Ah… Director…!”

Having said his piece, Jinwook ignored the call from behind and walked away quickly. Secretary Kwak followed closely behind.

“Secretary Kwak, call the hospital where Choi Sunwoo was admitted immediately and check again. Find out exactly what his condition is.”

Jinwook ordered without looking back at Secretary Kwak.

“You mean Choi Sunwoo? The hospital said last time it was fainting due to overwork…”

“No. There must be another reason. Otherwise, Choi Sunwoo wouldn’t agree to resign so easily, would he?”

Secretary Kwak looked surprised.

“Choi Sunwoo said he’s quitting?”

“Yes. Secretary Jo just contacted me. He submitted his resignation letter.”

Secretary Kwak couldn’t hide his disbelief.

“Could it be that he’s changed his approach because you don’t trust him? Honestly, I’m suspicious that even his collapse might have been intentional.”

“That’s why. Find out what his real intentions are.”

“Understood.”

Secretary Kwak replied promptly without further comment. Yet he still couldn’t shake his suspicions about Choi Sunwoo.

For the past three years, Secretary Kwak and the other secretarial staff had thoroughly treated Choi Sunwoo as an outsider.

They excluded him from important tasks, gave him only trivial chores, and never included him in meals or team dinners. They made him work overtime even when there was no work, and told him to come in on weekends and holidays.

Yet Choi Sunwoo remained steadfast.

Sometimes it seemed like he was oblivious, going about his days as if nothing was wrong. No, it was as if he didn’t care how others treated him.

As if to say, “No matter what you do, the only person I care about is Director Kang Jinwook.” That in itself could be considered an impressive mental fortitude.

Who was Kang Jinwook?

He immediately removed anyone who bothered him, pushed away cars that picked fights with him, and shut down companies that kept making excuses and delaying work.

Why would someone cling to such a madman for three years?

‘But now he’s saying he’s quitting?’

That’s really hard to believe… Secretary Kwak tilted his head. Jinwook felt the same way.

“I’m sick. Because of you, Director! So take responsibility.”

For a moment, the image of Choi Sunwoo glaring at him and speaking accusingly flashed in his mind.

“If you don’t, you’ll regret it.”

He said I’d regret it. Was that about him quitting? It seems like I should be able to stop worrying about it, but strangely, that wasn’t the case. There must be some other reason. After all that persistence for years, he wouldn’t just disappear quietly.

Such suspicions kept arising.

Kang Jinwook knew Choi Sunwoo better than anyone. He wasn’t the type to back down so easily. Especially not after making such a declaration.

‘Take responsibility for me?’

Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll do it. Jinwook thought this as he looked at Sunwoo collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

It should have been like this from the start. This was bound to happen from the moment you stood before me again.

But things had been strange since Sunwoo woke up in the hospital.

When Jinwook first asked about the reason for Sunwoo’s collapse, the doctor wore an odd expression and said the patient’s health wasn’t good, but refused to elaborate due to patient privacy.

Sunwoo was acting strangely too. Even when Jinwook deliberately gave him trivial tasks and kept calling him, he only did exactly what he was told without even making eye contact.

It was so different from before when he was desperate to be noticed and observed Jinwook with piercing gazes.

On top of that, he went to the cafeteria he never showed interest in before. He ran to the bathroom and retched as if he was really sick. His complexion was deathly pale too.

“It’s definitely strange.”

He keeps doing things he never did before. If he had acted like usual, Jinwook wouldn’t have paid any attention.

But in just one day, after fainting and waking up, Sunwoo was behaving so differently that Jinwook kept finding himself preoccupied with it.

And strangely, Jinwook frowned at the fact that Sunwoo wasn’t acting according to his usual personality.

‘This isn’t the time to be focusing on this.’

The problem was that once Jinwook fixated on something, his persistent nature wouldn’t let him drop it until it was resolved.

* * *

As Sunwoo was absent-mindedly looking out of the taxi window, he spotted a brightly lit supermarket. Suddenly, he thought he should buy something for dinner.

“Driver! Please stop here!”

After getting out of the taxi, Sunwoo went straight into the supermarket.

“Let’s see. What should I buy?”

Sunwoo looked around, pondering, then took out his phone. He typed “foods good for morning sickness” into the search bar.

A flood of images and text filled the screen. After opening various pages and reading the content, Sunwoo scratched his cheek.

“It seems the symptoms are different for everyone.”

Some couldn’t eat rice, some found meat and fish repulsive, some only ate noodles, and others struggled because they could only tolerate drinks.

“Oh my, are you expecting?”

“Pardon?”

Startled by the sudden voice beside him, Sunwoo quickly turned his head. A middle-aged woman was standing there with sparkling eyes.

“Your wife must be having severe morning sickness. Then buy some fruits. Most people can eat fruits well. Or cold noodles are good too, and milk should be fine!”

The woman rapidly spoke, apparently not considering that Sunwoo might be the pregnant one.

“Ah, yes…”

It’s not my wife, it’s me… Though it’s a pregnancy I didn’t know about myself… But unable to say that, Sunwoo awkwardly nodded.

“It’s different for everyone. I couldn’t eat anything else, but I could really eat fish. Especially spicy red rockfish soup.”

The woman laughed, saying it was probably because she was from the coast. Sunwoo just stared blankly. Who is this person, where am I, and why am I listening to this story?

Such thoughts briefly crossed his mind.

“How far along is she?”

The woman asked another question.

“Pardon?”

“How many weeks pregnant is your wife?

“Ah… 6 weeks.”

Wondering how he ended up in this conversation, Sunwoo dutifully answered the question.

“Oh, it’s just the beginning then. Ah, you’ll both have a hard time. It can last up to 16 weeks, you know.”

“What! 16 weeks?”

Sunwoo’s jaw dropped at this unexpected information.

“Yes. Mine lasted 14 weeks. It was torturous, but in the end, I had a healthy alpha son!”

The woman subtly bragged about her son. But Sunwoo was too worried about his own situation to notice.

‘I have to endure this for several more months…’

With a gloomy expression, Sunwoo filled his cart with fruits, cold noodles, milk, and other items as the woman suggested. He firmly kept in mind the advice to eat well.

With bags full of groceries, Sunwoo left the supermarket and headed home.

Just as he was about to enter the officetel lobby…

“Choi Sunwoo!”

Sunwoo turned around at the voice calling his name.