DOTH Volume 3 Chapter 9.6

“I thought you were going to lose your temper, sir.”

Director Yeon, lighting a cigarette, looked at Kim Chulwoo as if to ask what he meant.

“Didn’t he make you angry? I wanted to beat him to death on the spot.”

It was an unfiltered remark. And that’s when Director Yeon finally understood what Kim Chulwoo had been trying to say. He slowly parted his lips. A cigarette had found its way between his long fingers.

“Secretary Kim Chulwoo. Don’t waste your strength on pointless things.”

The white cigarette slipped between his parted lips.

“No one gets angry while stepping on a bug.”

“I’ll compose myself.”

Kim Chulwoo checked his messages and lowered his head.

“Jung Heeyeon-ssi arrived in the lobby a few minutes ago. He’s probably right outside the office now.”

“Let him in on your way out.”

Director Yeon, who had been about to light a cigarette, threw it straight into the trash without hesitation.

“Understood.”

Feeling like he’d just witnessed his superior’s patience in action, Kim Chulwoo immediately turned around. It hadn’t really registered before, but ever since Jung Heeyeon had come into the picture, Director Yeon seemed to be smoking less. As someone who had observed him closely for years as his secretary, Kim Chulwoo found it a welcome change. And right now, it was fortunate that someone who could lift the director’s foul mood was waiting outside.

As he opened the door, he saw the small omega approaching the office.

“Secretary Kim Chulwoo, hello.”

“Hello. The director says you can go in.”

“Oh, the guest left? Thank you for letting me know.”

Jung Heeyeon bowed politely to Kim Chulwoo before stepping into the office.

“Director, I’m back.”

As soon as he entered, Director Yeon came into view. He wore a warm smile, as if he hadn’t been scowling just moments earlier. Just as expected, Jung Heeyeon still held a takeaway cup in his left hand.

“Heeyeon, you still haven’t finished that?”

“No.”

The man reached for the cup naturally. It had some weight to it. Sure enough, when he popped the lid, more than half the coffee remained. It barely looked like he’d taken more than a few sips. Director Yeon gave him a teasing smile. Jung Heeyeon, fidgeting with his empty fingers, admitted in a small voice.

“It was too bitter, so I couldn’t finish it.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

Without hesitation, Director Yeon took a sip of the leftover coffee. His craving for a cigarette still simmered beneath the surface.

Jung Heeyeon looked up at him intently as he drank the coffee. His face was gentle, just like always—but there was something subtly giving off a soured mood. His brows were faintly drawn together, and the scar following the curve of his eye twitched slightly. He’d said he had a guest earlier. Maybe they had argued. Jung Heeyeon had just come back from a pleasant walk with Sulgi, but it seemed the director had only experienced unpleasant things today. For some reason, that made him feel a little guilty.

“Director.”

“Yeah, Heeyeon?”

“Should I give you a peck?”

Jung Heeyeon asked after a brief moment of hesitation. He thought a peck might cheer the director up. After all, having pecks with him always felt good. It seemed a bit too simple of a thought, and he worried about that for a moment—but he liked it, and he figured the director would too. Especially since the director was often the one to give a peck first anyway.

“Heeyeon, are you trying to adore this director?”

Director Yeon had been about to ask if the dog-walking had gone well, but he changed his words the moment he heard Jung Heeyeon’s suggestion. His expression as he asked the question was downright shameless.

“Pardon? Yes.”

When Director Yeon didn’t refuse, Jung Heeyeon reached up and gently placed his hands on either side of the man’s face. Then, with familiar ease, he pressed a soft kiss to those lips and pulled away. A faint trace of coffee lingered on the alpha’s lips. Even though the drink had tasted unbearably bitter, the flavor that lingered on Director Yeon’s lips felt strangely sweet.

“Did something upset you today?”

“You don’t need to worry about my mood. There’s no need to be wary around me.”

“I’m not being wary. You just didn’t look like you were in a good mood, and I wanted to cheer you up…”

“Are you going to do something sweet again?”

“…Do you want a hug? I always feel better when you hug me, Director, but you’re taller than me so I don’t think I can hug you properly.”

Without a word, Director Yeon bent down and pulled Jung Heeyeon into his arms. Ever since he’d faced Chairman Jung, he’d wished to do just that. Jung Heeyeon’s body leaned into him obediently. His skin was cool from the breeze outside.

“Heeyeon, do you really want to hug this director?”

“Yes, but I don’t think I can hug you like this. Director, you’re too big.”

“Then you can hug me when we sleep. Wrapping your arms around my waist still counts as a hug.”

He whispered the words with a bit of a chuckle, and Jung Heeyeon blinked like the thought had never even crossed his mind.

“Then, Director, I’ve been hugging you every night…? I’ll hug you again tonight, too.”

When he pressed his lips to the pale nape of the omega’s neck, the crisp air was mixed with the scent of those pheromones. Director Yeon slowly inhaled, as though he wanted to carve Jung Heeyeon into his very lungs—along with that scent.

***

The man gritted his teeth hard and lifted his head to face forward. The stench of pheromones swirling from all directions was so vile it made his head throb. Through the rusted diamond-shaped gaps in the iron bars, he spotted an alpha standing with his hands behind his back. Perhaps sensing the hostile glare directed at him, the middle-aged alpha’s gaze shifted toward the man. His lips curled upward into a sneer—like a dog vendor about to peddle off some mutts.

“Heuk…”

Thin, ragged moans spilled from near the hutches where the alphas were penned in. As he lowered his eyes, he caught sight of an omega curled up like a shrimp, panting for air. He’d bitten down so hard on his pale-colored lips that crimson blood pooled. The heat in his eyes—eyes lit with the blaze of a heat cycle—was not lust. It was fury, hatred, and helplessness. If he recalled correctly, the omega’s name was Lee Haejin.

The omega had been thrown in front of the alphas under the pretense of training them to resist going into rut at the scent of pheromones. It was a pitiful sight.

The training method was simple: throw a heat-crazed omega within sight and scent, but out of reach of the alphas. An alpha outside the hutch, a person called Jung, claimed that enduring the torment of unfulfilled sexual urges would eventually condition their bodies not to react to an omega’s pheromones.

That same person, standing outside the hutch, was also the one who’d spouted the bullshit that any alpha who couldn’t perfectly control their pheromones was nothing more than a mongrel.

It was laughable, really. Not content with treating people like dogs, he divided them into breeds and bloodlines, hawking them like prized fighting dogs or mutts. How absurd it was that, even when they were all the same alphas, that person considered himself human while calling others fighting dogs.

The man without a name, born without even a proper birth registration, lifted his half-lowered gaze.

If Lee Haejin knew he was looking at him with pity, he’d surely throw a fit. It was better to choke back his hatred as he stared at the lone person standing outside the cage, pretending to be above them all.

“Fuck. This is hell. Fucking pheromones.”

A voice behind him muttered curses under its breath. Nam Soohyun’s words weren’t wrong—this situation really was hell. Alphas, overwhelmed by the scent of an omega in heat, were scratching at their throats like wild animals. How could this not be hell?

Unlike the others, the man had grown somewhat accustomed to Jung’s so-called training. Even if his cock hardened, he didn’t lose his mind over some damn pheromones. But not all the alphas trapped in the cages were in the same state.

It was disgusting. The man wrinkled his nose as he sensed the thick cloud of pheromones, from a single omega in heat, tangled with those of the other frenzied alphas. He’d rather be put on the conveyor belt, walking his legs endlessly.

The alphas who were sold as collateral and passed through this hutch eventually ended up in physically demanding labor camps. With the gangs currently holding a stranglehold over South Korea, there was no shortage of places where brute force was needed.

Alphas, born with superior physical strength compared to betas, were rare and thus highly priced. If they were dominant, the price skyrocketed.

Jung, the only alpha standing outside the hutch, trained the ones he’d purchased to fetch higher prices upon resale. One such method involved forcing them to walk endlessly on a tilted conveyor belt. With their arms tied behind their backs and a collar chain hanging from the ceiling, any pause meant their throats would get choked. They had to keep walking on the never-ending conveyor belt until they collapsed from exhaustion. Still, it was better than being exposed to omega pheromones like this.

The pheromones of an omega in heat, the frantic scent of other alphas—it was all repulsive. Yet just because he didn’t succumb to the heat didn’t mean he’d forgotten his own nature.

Alphas and omega were animals. Animals who went into heat. Had he been born a beta, he wouldn’t have had to endure such horrific, nauseating sensations. Not that he’d ever have ended up in a place like this if he’d been born a beta.

The reason he didn’t deny his nature was simple. The urge to rip the person outside the hutch to pieces—the one pretending to be above them—was proof that his alpha instincts were alive. A human couldn’t possibly harbor such visceral, consuming hatred.

It was laughable, how this animal, who was no different from him, stood outside the hutch playing human, lording over the rest of them.

The nameless alpha quietly hid his fangs, waiting. An animal ought to live like an animal. Even the alpha outside the hutch was no exception.

The man knew how to establish dominance among animals. All he had to do was crush the alpha pretending to be master and rise above him.

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