Muyoung let out a low sigh as he finished sizing up the situation. It seemed Eunwon had finally heard the news about the new drug for his mother’s treatment. In truth, he should have known two weeks ago. The hospital had called for a guardian to discuss it.
But Eunwon hadn’t been able to be there as guardian because of the sudden heat cycle that day, and his mother, who’d heard it alone, had ended up keeping it from her son.
It was obvious how happy Seo Eunwon must have been to finally learn the fact now that treatment was imminent. But then the staggering treatment fee must have made his vision go black.
For a twenty-five-year-old head of household—who’d had his father’s inheritance stolen by his uncle and was responsible for his sick mother and his younger brother studying abroad—it was surely an overwhelming sum.
Foolishly.
That was what Muyoung found unbearably hateful and provoking about Eunwon. Why worry pointlessly when he had someone right in front of him with more money than he could ever spend?
Just tell me.
Didn’t you say I was your third favorite in the world? After Mom and Dad, the person you should lean on is obviously me. Instead of that cheeky talk about doing it on your own, about keeping propriety, just come running and ask me to fix it. Isn’t that right?
You don’t like it because it’s someone else’s money?
Then just make it not someone else’s.
If he just casually brought up the sex and the knotting that day, Cha Muyoung would become Seo Eunwon’s alpha. From that moment, the two of them would be one. In fact, in Muyoung’s heart, everything he owned was already as good as Eunwon’s.
What had been the reason he’d abandoned his nature as a lazy third-generation chaebol who loved playing above all else, and instead studied and worked viciously to grow his money?
To have Seo Eunwon.
— Muyoung-ah, about bringing our whole family to America… that’s out of the question.
Why? It’d be nice.
— I know you think of our family fondly, but it’s not that simple, is it?
— No, Team Leader. It’s simple. We’d just live together over there the same way we do here, like family.
…The thing is, our family doesn’t have the means or the luxury to all move abroad together. To be cold about it, there’s no reason to, either.
…
— No matter how well the Chairman thinks of us, how could we accept that kind of debt?
— What’s debt about it? I was going to prepare a personal secretary to go with me anyway, and I don’t need any of those people, I just need you and Eunwon. While we’re at it, what’s the big deal about all of us going together? If Teacher and Yiwon came too…
— Muyoung-ah.
…
— You can do anything on your own now, Uncle knows that.
— …I can’t.
— Yes, you can. How long are you going to cling to that tiny little brother? I know you’re as close as real brothers, but Eunwon needs to practice standing on his own without leaning on you so much, too. For both your sakes.
— It’ll sting now, but later you’ll understand why Uncle said this.
No, Muyoung still didn’t understand. What he’d realized and resolved from that incident was the exact opposite of those words. To never again go through such a helpless parting, he needed overwhelming assets of his own that no one could touch.
While people called him money-crazy and worse for how hard he worked—even his foul-mouthed, irritating cousin—Muyoung had thought of his little chick, Seo Eunwon, who’d stood at the airport shedding fat tears like chicken droppings as he watched him leave alone.
And as if that weren’t enough, after returning to Korea he’d gladly put to use the silver spoon he’d been born with. He’d taken over a nondescript affiliate and grown it spectacularly in just a few years.
So, Seo Eunwon.
You just have to say one thing.
Tell me to take proper responsibility as the alpha who took all your firsts.
During those unforgettable two nights and three days, until the day he died, Muyoung had left his mark deep inside Eunwon’s belly without holding back. He’d come more than ten times, and knotted.
Watching that white, pure body get pickled in his fluids and pheromones, he’d gladly braced himself for the responsibility.
Believing absolutely in the saying that a dominant alpha’s knot meant unconditional pregnancy, Muyoung had spent the last two weeks sneaking glances at Eunwon’s lower belly with a fluttering heart.
And yet this boy still… hadn’t said a word to him. That wasn’t all. He was suffering alone over something Muyoung could perfectly well help with. What Muyoung hated most in the world was seeing that tiny boy pitifully struggling just because of money.
One word asking him to fix it—no, he didn’t even need that. If he’d just sweetly called him "hyung…" and tugged lightly at his sleeve and let go…
Like he’d done when, barely conscious in his heat cycle, he’d trembled and said he’d "waited for hyung"—if he’d just do one more clever thing like that, Muyoung would take care of everything…
But Eunwon never received the fervent telepathy Muyoung was sending.
"What’s wrong with your face. Is there something I can help with? Something we need to work out together…?"
Unable to wait any longer, Muyoung laid out the mat himself. He peeled the chocolate he’d bought for Eunwon, put it in his mouth, stroked his cheek, and asked kindly—his voice so sweet even to his own ears that honey seemed to drip from it.
Only after eating the chocolate did Eunwon come to his senses a little, blinking his reddened eyelids slowly. *I don’t know anything*, his face said outright, and Muyoung whispered again.
"You have something to tell hyung, Seo Eunwon."
Muyoung’s eyes gleamed with secret anticipation. Eunwon avoided his gaze, hesitated for a moment, then seemed to realize something and let out a small gasp.
"Ah…! I do have something to tell you. Just a moment, please."
He even asked for permission politely, then dashed outside in a hurry. In that brief moment, Muyoung’s heart began to pound. What was he going to get? Surely… had he taken a pregnancy test or something?
While his pounding excitement stretched from decorating the nursery for the baby soon to be born to worrying about kindergarten admissions and elementary school districts, the door opened and Eunwon returned, his face still pale.
Seeing what was in his hand, Muyoung’s beaming expression froze cold in an instant.
Right… that thing.
Those useless things his mother had left with Eunwon.
He heard the hallucination-like sound of his expectations shattering. But Eunwon, completely oblivious to Muyoung’s increasingly murderous aura, laid out what he had to say with cruel calm.
"The elders are very worried. The Director also talked for a long time about how you should hurry up and meet a good person and get married… These are the profiles of the people you’ll be meeting. She said to make sure you read them."
He’d expected Eunwon to mention it, given his mother’s involvement. But that didn’t mean he could stay calm. Displeasure, discomfort, and then a wave of hurt washed over him.
He’d waited like a dignified elder, considerate of Eunwon’s confusion for two weeks, and this trash was all he got in return.
Telling him to go on blind dates and hurry up and get married. This was practically… a declaration that he’d pretend that night together had never happened.
*Baby, you’re really pissing me off.*
He barely swallowed the words churning inside him. After two years of just smiling while the boy poked at him from the side, for the kid to finally chatter in front of him—and for it to be this kind of crap—Muyoung was losing his mind.
Seo Eunwon, did you used to do this? You strip naked with me in bed, do all sorts of things, and then try to push me off onto someone else? When did I ever teach you that?
You… you’re telling me you fucked me just once and now you’re throwing me away?
His vision went hazy. As he turned various thoughts over in his mind, Muyoung finally couldn’t control himself and spat out a sharp word.
"So you’re telling me to just marry anyone and get lost quickly?"
"…Yes?"
"What, am I that much in your way? I’m already clingy and disgusting, and it’ll only get worse, so you want to clear me out in advance?"
"What do you mean…?"
At the savage words that slipped out unfiltered, Eunwon’s eyes grew round as a rabbit’s. Even in the middle of this, his face was cute.
But appreciating cuteness required some peace of mind. And Cha Mu— no, Cha Muyoung—who’d been fucked once by the child he’d raised with such care and then discarded, rejected before he could even confess, had not a rabbit’s-tongue worth of such leisure left.
"I didn’t say it like that—"
"In the end that’s what you mean. You’re sick of thinking about me, I’m fucking disgusting, so you want to just grab anyone and get me out of your sight. What, you think then you’ll never be tangled up with me again?"
"I… I really never said anything like that…"
"You just said it. Cha Mu, you bastard, I’m sick of seeing your face, you’re such a bother, so just pick anyone and get lost already."
"Anyone, just anyone, that’s not what I meant… you shouldn’t do that… I just, the elders were worried, so I got worried too… and hyung isn’t some bastard… no. I really was just worried… it was just words of worry…"
As Eunwon rambled on in a flustered rush, pouring his feelings into it just as Muyoung had poured his into his grumbling, Muyoung narrowed his eyes further.
Did he not know that to Cha Muyoung, everyone besides Seo Eunwon was "anyone" and "just"? And Eunwon didn’t even bother to deny the other exaggerated accusations Muyoung had deliberately thrown in, which made Muyoung feel wretchedly spiteful.
He wanted to grab Eunwon right now and press him more viciously.
If you push me away like that, what are you going to do? Are you planning to run somewhere I don’t know? Then what about your family? Will you never see Teacher and Yiwon again? Could you even do that?
And… what about my child already growing in your belly from that day? Are you planning to secretly give birth and raise it alone in some shabby place after running away?
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