How to Have a Baby Secretly - C10

 

Sunwoo felt a stiffness in his neck and lifted his head. After concentrating on work for so long, his eyes hurt and his neck ached.

He blinked his dry eyes a few times, and his blurry vision seemed to clear a bit. Fortunately, he had almost finished processing the pile of receipts.

Sunwoo pushed aside the few remaining receipts and looked around, pressing his palm firmly against the back of his neck. He had been so focused that he hadn’t noticed the secretarial office was empty.

“Sunwoo, we’re going to tidy up the conference room.”

He belatedly remembered Secretary Jo saying that about 20 minutes ago, leaving with Assistant Manager Kim. On one wall of the secretarial office hung a large whiteboard.

The whiteboard showed an executive meeting scheduled for 11:30. The clock now pointed to 11:40.

‘Director Kang Jinwook will probably go straight to the conference room too, right?’

After the meeting would be lunchtime, and then the afternoon would fly by. Then it would be time to go home again.

Sunwoo looked at the receipts scattered on his desk, then turned his gaze back to the monitor. There was something he needed to take care of first while no one was around.

Sunwoo’s hand moved the mouse to open a document program. He had forgotten to save the resignation letter he had written last time and lost it.

He had originally planned to write it during lunch when the employees were out, but there was no need to wait – now was the perfect opportunity.

He typed “Resignation Letter” in large letters as the title and wrote the reason below. Last time he had only written about health reasons, but this time he added the new idea that had occurred to him earlier.

“I wish to resign as I believe I can no longer perform my duties as before due to memory loss. I hope you will understand with your generous consideration.”

Sunwoo put a period and pondered for a moment.

‘Should I add more content? This is about the same as what I told Director Kang Jinwook yesterday…’

Out of habit, Sunwoo scanned through the context and checked for typos, wondering if there was anything else to add. But he couldn’t think of anything else to include.

‘Ah, forget it. This is enough!’

If they still won’t let me quit with this, I’ll just run away!

It’s not like I’m going to work anymore anyway, and I’m moving to the countryside, so what does it matter.

Sunwoo made a firm decision and pressed the print button.

Whirr.

The printer, located a bit away from his desk, printed the paper. Sunwoo picked up the printed resignation letter and checked the contents again.

Out of habit, he looked for typos and grammatical errors once more, but found none. The sentences seemed clean and fine as they were.

He returned to his seat and closed the document program. He opened a drawer and took out an empty envelope, neatly writing “Resignation Letter” on the front with a pen.

“Wow… Really, it’s strange how this makes me feel.”

Sunwoo muttered to himself as he slipped the resignation letter into the envelope. Fortunately, no one appeared to startle him this time.

“Since I’ve written the resignation letter, should I pack up my things in advance?”

He planned to hand over the resignation letter to Director Kang Jinwook and leave without looking back. But feeling he should finish his work properly, he quickly entered the remaining receipts.

Finally done with work, Sunwoo opened his drawer wide to pack his belongings. Having worked here for three years, there were various odds and ends. But nothing really seemed worth taking. The packing ended anticlimactically in less than 20 minutes.

When no one had returned even after 12 o’clock, Sunwoo ate the lunch box he had prepared, filled with fruits and vegetables.

If someone saw, they might say it was an excellent diet meal, but there was no one around to say such things now.

Crunch. Crunch.

Chewing on cabbage, Sunwoo busily moved his thumb. The monitor screen displayed a list of real estate in a small city adequately far from Seoul.

‘I should check if there’s a hospital nearby too. At least within a 30-minute taxi ride.’

He was pregnant. And with a unique recessive omega trait at that.

‘A general hospital probably won’t do… Should I look for a specialized omega hospital?’

Sunwoo thought back to the original story. In the novel, there were specialized hospitals for omegas. Omegas were different from alphas and betas, requiring specialized medical departments.

Internal medicine, neurology, endocrinology, and obstetrics were such departments. Some specialized hospitals managed several departments at once.

‘A general hospital would be better, right?’

Considering the possibility of someone finding out later, a large hospital seemed better. Sunwoo closed the real estate page and started searching for general hospitals centered around small and medium-sized cities.

Trying to search on his phone proved unexpectedly difficult.

Sunwoo glanced around the office again. The meeting must be running long as no one had returned yet.

‘Whatever.’

If someone comes, I can just quickly close it. Sunwoo put down his phone and turned to the monitor. He opened the internet and was about to click on a search for omega-specific hospitals near small cities in the provinces.

At that moment, the sound of clicking heels approached. Sunwoo quickly turned his head, sensing something. As if on cue, someone appeared in the secretarial office.

Sunwoo’s gaze immediately met that of Director Kang Jinwook, who was walking in with a cold expression. At the same time, Kang Jinwook’s brow furrowed deeply.

‘What’s this? Why the frown as soon as you see me.’

Sunwoo wasn’t pleased to see him either. Still, as it was the person he had been waiting for, Sunwoo gave a slight smile. This time, Kang Jinwook’s face hardened completely.

First a frown and now a serious face?

Grumbling internally that he didn’t like Kang Jinwook either, Sunwoo opened his drawer.

The resignation letter he had prepared earlier was safely stored there. Under the desk, the bag he had packed in advance was also neatly placed.

But then.

“Secretary Choi, follow me.”

Director Kang Jinwook, whose mood seemed to have worsened even more for some reason while Sunwoo had briefly looked away, coldly ordered.

“Yes!”

This was what he had been waiting for. Sunwoo watched the back of Director Kang Jinwook’s head as he passed by and entered his office, then followed with the resignation letter in hand.

Kang Jinwook didn’t sit at his desk but stood with his back to the window. Seeing him glaring with his arms tightly crossed, Sunwoo felt nervous again for no reason.

“Tell me.”

“Pardon? Tell you what?”

Sunwoo stared blankly at Kang Jinwook, who had suddenly called him in and told him to speak.

“You don’t really have amnesia, do you?”

“I do, though.”

Sunwoo reflexively denied it at first.

“I checked with the hospital. They said you haven’t lost your memory?”

When did he check with the hospital? Well, being a 4th generation chaebol and a so-called ‘madman’, maybe he could manage that overnight.

But if that happened, why didn’t the doctor contact me? Why was there no word?

Thinking this to himself, Sunwoo replied, “That’s not something that shows up in tests. I really have lost my memory.”

Kang Jinwook narrowed his eyes and glared at Sunwoo.

“Didn’t I say I met your attending physician?”

“They wouldn’t know since I didn’t tell them… As you saw if you went to the hospital, it’s a family medicine department. How would they know if I’ve lost my memory or not if I don’t tell them? We’re not even close.”

Sunwoo tried to deny it once more.

“But you’re so calm about it?”

“Well, I guess I have a calm personality.”

As if that’s likely. Kang Jinwook looked at Sunwoo with eyes that conveyed exactly that meaning.

Then he paused, realizing that the current Sunwoo was definitely different from the Choi Sunwoo he had known.

His way of speaking, his expressions, his aura, even his actions.

Sunwoo shrugged at Kang Jinwook, who was looking at him quizzically, as if to say ‘what are you going to do if you don’t believe me?’

After all, it was true that he really didn’t have his memories.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t amnesia but a soul swap, but that was beside the point.

“Or maybe something happened to cause it.”

That statement really grated on Kang Jinwook’s nerves.

“What do you mean, something happened?”

“Well, you know…”

Sunwoo was surprised by his own hasty words and closed his mouth. It was truly something said unconsciously. But Kang Jinwook’s reaction was so intense that it startled him.

However, Kang Jinwook’s next question left Sunwoo truly shocked.

“Be honest. What’s this about two months?”

“What?”

When Sunwoo showed an excessive reaction, Kang Jinwook became certain that he hadn’t received incorrect information.

Before coming to work, Kang Jinwook had gone to the hospital where Sunwoo had been admitted, accompanied by Secretary Kwak.

The family medicine doctor who had been in charge of Sunwoo was waiting for Kang Jinwook, having come to work early despite the hour, probably having received advance notice.

But the doctor wasn’t easy to deal with. Despite Kang Jinwook’s various threats and persuasions, the doctor kept citing medical confidentiality and wouldn’t disclose anything.

It was the same even when Kang Jinwook released his extreme alpha pheromones to pressure him. The doctor was a beta anyway, so he only felt a slight threat and wasn’t greatly affected.

In the end, Kang Jinwook had no choice but to use the last resort he had heard about.

“Are you sure it’s two months?”

Kang Jinwook didn’t miss the moment when the doctor flinched with a surprised expression.

It was the same this time.

Sunwoo’s eyes widened at the mention of two months. Anyone could see it was a reaction of surprise at having his secret discovered.

“What? Are you really terminally ill?”

Kang Jinwook asked. At the same time, Sunwoo’s gaze wavered uncontrollably. No, Sunwoo thought to himself.

‘This is it! Now’s my chance!’

A way to resign safely without provoking the ‘madman’ shone brightly in Sunwoo’s mind.