Episode 20

“If what the director desires is… my body. I will give it to you.”

‘…You want to sleep with me?’

‘You like me. I’ve decided to just do what I want to do now. It’s not like I’m going to die from sleeping with you, and it’s okay to do this much, right? I think you’d be better than someone else…’

That’s what he had said. It was a bit embarrassing so I deliberately tried to forget about it. Seung-hyun lightly touched his forehead.

“I was a bit taken aback… but if it’s what the director desires, how could I refuse to offer my body for the director’s sake.”

“……”

For some reason, it seemed like he smelled nice, as if he had just taken a shower. As a beta, there’s no way Seok-hyung could have sensed pheromones in the first place.

‘It’s true that I made that suggestion… but I don’t feel like doing that right now.’

Remembering the silence that followed when he said those words, Seung-hyun felt a bit awkward and pressed his lips together tightly.

“Looking at me now, do you still feel like doing such a thing?”

“Not that I’ll… do it now. Whenever the director desires it.”

Does this mean he’s willing to give his body if desired? It was an amazing display of loyalty. As Seung-hyun tapped the heat pack with his finger, Seok-hyung silently went to find a towel, wrapped the heat pack, and held it up to Seung-hyun’s cheek.

“I know you don’t necessarily need me. You could find someone else if it’s not me. But wouldn’t I be better than someone else?”

That other person he found and slept with even before propositioning himself… better not mention that. Seung-hyun took the heat pack that was emanating a cool sensation into his own hand and sat on the sofa. 

“From the moment the director picked me up, I swore that I’d be happy to become the director’s dog. No, I will become your dog.”

“……”

“Things like what to do when the leash comes off, how to live on… I’ve never learned or even thought about it.”

“By this time next year, anyway…”

As Seung-hyun spoke unconsciously, he saw Seok-hyung’s face looking like his heart had sunk and shut his mouth again. He had already accepted this reality to some extent, but it seemed Seok-hyung had not.

“…This is unlike the director.”

After staring at Seung-hyun for a moment, Seok-hyung said, biting his lip. Of course it’s because it’s someone else. Without giving the obvious answer, Seung-hyun said,

“They say people change when it’s time for them to die, I think it’s just something like that.”

“You were never one to give up so easily. It’s not like there have only been good things up until now, but you never gave up even once. Haven’t you always told me…”

“……”

“That there are always opportunities until you let go, that even if your hand tears, as long as there is even a bit of strength left in your grip, you’ll never be the first to let go.”  

Seok-hyung strongly clenched his fist as he said those words. Those were the words Seung-hyun had said to him when he first picked up the cowering Seok-hyung.

Seok-hyung was a young man living with and caring for his sick single mother. Although born a beta, he worked harder than anyone else to enter a good university and naturally joined HJ after receiving their support program growing up. 

Unfortunately, the position assigned to Seok-hyung was as the lowest ranking secretary in Chairman Han’s secretarial office. The position itself wasn’t bad, but the problem was that it meant becoming a close aide to ‘Chairman Han’.

‘That damn old man is an extreme type discriminator…’

In this world, anyone from a chaebol or political family had somewhat discriminatory thinking, but Chairman Han was particularly biased. 

Just look at how he refused to pass on the company to his own child for being an alpha and tried to adopt a distant relative as his successor instead. 

But Seok-hyung was a capable new employee, and even in the secretarial office, how often would the lowest ranking employee come face to face with the chairman?

With that in mind, he was assigned to the secretarial office, but not long after Seok-hyung joined, an incident occurred where the secretarial office made a mistake that greatly angered Chairman Han.

“‘How are you handling work?!'”

In fact, Seok-hyung wasn’t very involved in that incident. At most, he was the lowest ranking employee. He was in a position where he didn’t even have the authority to open such important documents. Seok-hyung had simply delivered those documents to another department without being able to check them.

But in the eyes of the furious Chairman Han, Seok-hyung, the only non-alpha in the secretarial office, seemed to be quite an eyesore. 

“‘This is what happens when you put someone who can’t even meet the standard in an ill-fitting position! To think you put someone like this in my secretarial office. Transfer him immediately. We need to fill the position with proper personnel. Tsk.'”

For the chairman himself to single out a new employee in a loud voice in the company hallway bustling with people coming and going. It was the kind of incident that would become gossip fodder for the company employees in less than a day.

Which department would take in a new employee who had been properly targeted by the chairman? Of course, everyone knew it was an absurd nitpick and the problem could be solved by changing companies.

But Seok-hyung didn’t have that luxury. The issue was his mother’s hospital bills. After getting a job at the company, he had a bit of financial leeway and was barely able to start expensive treatment by devoting most of his salary to it. 

To receive the treatment, his body’s condition had been artificially adjusted, so he couldn’t stop the treatment for at least six months. He didn’t have the leeway to job hunt in order to change companies.

“‘I apologize. Chairman, I will rectify this.'”

Without thinking long, Seok-hyung kneeled in the hallway and begged Chairman Han for forgiveness. But even that effort had no effect on Chairman Han’s decision. 

“‘Tsk.'”

Chairman Han lightly clicked his tongue and brushed past Seok-hyung. But Seok-hyung couldn’t get up and sat there for a long time.

He knew Chairman Han would pass by that way when leaving work. Knowing that going into the chairman’s office would only further incite his anger, he chose to do the best he could.

He couldn’t hear other people’s gazes or dissuasion. What was immediately important to him was his livelihood and his position. If there was even a slight possibility, he could kneel as much as needed. 

And that sight caught Seung-hyun’s eye. The two’s meeting wasn’t elaborated on much in the novel, so the details were unclear, but when reading, Seung-hyun thought it might have stemmed from a sense of kinship and similar feelings.

“There are always opportunities until you let go. Even if your hand tears, as long as there is even a bit of strength left in your grip, there will be something you can do.

‘……’

‘You seem like someone who can do that, so I like you.'”

Seok-hyung’s mother passed away before completing the treatment, but the hand Seung-hyun held out to Seok-hyung didn’t become meaningless.

Some people called him Director Han’s dog due to his abnormally high loyalty, but the two didn’t particularly dislike that title.

“‘He’s a loyal dog, so even if I drop the leash, he won’t bite me. I don’t know about you though.'”

Did he say that to someone who called Seok-hyung Seung-hyun’s dog to his face? Seung-hyun, recalling the original work, let out a small sigh.

The two were a very good match… but to the current Seung-hyun, there was a slightly burdensome aspect to Seok-hyung.

‘Still… there’s no one as good as him. Not as much as Ju Jae-young, but he’s handsome, has a nice body. Doesn’t seem like he’d be annoying… There is one thing that bothers me though.’

The fact that Seung-hyun was special to Seok-hyung. It wasn’t something he made happen, it was like that from the beginning, but somehow he felt like he was toying with Seok-hyung and then throwing him away.

‘Of course, he’d be happy to be toyed with and discarded, but I’d feel unnecessarily sorry.’

“You could only say such things when you don’t know what it’s like for your hand to actually tear.”

“Director.”

“How can you hold onto a meaningless string when you don’t have the strength to grip it? You’ll only hurt your poor hand more.”

Seung-hyun spoke firmly and got up from his seat. It seemed he would have to think a bit more and make a decision about his relationship with Seok-hyung.

For now, he was in no condition to do anything more today anyway.

“So don’t cling to something that’s already over and start anew. You have the skills, so there will be places that will take you. Jeong Hyeokjae was secretly eyeing you too…”

“My only master, forever, is you, Director.”

“Are you going to starve to death? You’re not that stupid.”

It may be a bit sad to be born a beta in a world where alphas and omegas exist, but he’s fundamentally a capable person who has lasted over 2 years under Han Seung-hyun. The past should be somewhat forgotten by now.

If it really doesn’t work out, there’s the option of going to Jeong Hyeokjae, who was… not quite Seung-hyun’s friend, but at least his colleague.

“I’ll rethink the proposal. But not today. You can see I look a bit ridiculous too, right?”

Seung-hyun put away the heat pack and showed his face to Seok-hyung. Without even looking in the mirror, it was clear that a bruise must have fully formed by now.

“…At least allow me to treat it.”

Seok-hyung moved his feet to familiarly find the first-aid kit in the mansion. It was a night when the scratched wound on his cheek stung sharply.