SPW 29

“You’re saying you even took out a private loan?”

“…”

“As if hiding that fact all this time wasn’t enough, you’re now asking me to pay it off for you?”

“…”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too shameless, even for you, Sarang?”

Seventeen. Sarang’s face, still showing clear signs of his youth, was bright red.

“I will handle this matter myself. You just make sure not to let a word of this get out, Sarang.”

Ah, damn it.

Using the same tone on that young kid that I only use when I’m tearing into incompetent relatives.

That bastard really doesn’t miss a single opportunity to do something nasty.

“…”

Florian, waking from a light doze, sat up straight and tapped the desk with his fingertips. Tsk, tsk. It was a habit of his when he was lost in thought.

So Sarang has a private loan.

Having an idea of where it came from, Florian immediately summoned Bailey.

Mark Harding.

Twenty-five years old.

Member of the Latino gang, One Seven.

A low-level member in charge of drug and private loan collections.

He was the man who had been loitering around when Florian visited the apartment where Sarang lived with Colin. Florian, who had an uncanny ability to remember people’s appearances, recognized Mark in the photo without difficulty. He had thought he was just some neighborhood thug who hung around to create an intimidating atmosphere and bully strangers, but he was a gangster with a proper gang affiliation.

“This didn’t come up during Kim Sarang’s financial check?”

“No, sir. It appears it wasn’t a formal contract.”

That was how private loans tended to be. Still, it was unlikely they would lend money without a promissory note.

“How much did he borrow?”

“1.4 billion won at a monthly interest rate of 5%.”

“The kid is paying 6.25 million won every month by himself? What was the guardian doing?”

“It seems Colin Dubuissy was unaware of the debt.”

“Why would a kid borrow 1.4 billion won behind his parents’ back? Drugs? Drinking? Gambling? Pheromone addiction?”

Of course, it was none of the four. From what Florian had seen, Sarang was the type to completely steer clear of such things. Why did I believe that? What do I even know about Kim Sarang? The investigation report Bailey had brought up only had legal documents attached. Usually, when investigating a person, you don’t look into illegal materials from the start. Especially if the subject is a seventeen-year-old minor.

“I’m Sarang’s guardian, not his nanny, am I not?”

“There are rumors that he was in an inappropriate relationship with his adoptive father. Do you have anything to say to that?”

“Do I need to concern myself with such matters?”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit too shameless, even for you, Sarang?”

The bastard in the dream’s attitude toward Sarang clearly showed contempt and disgust. He was definitely a bad guy, but if that bastard was the same person as he was now, he wouldn’t treat a young kid like that for no reason.

Drugs, drinking, gambling, pheromone addiction. All were things Florian detested. If Sarang had issues with those, and if it wasn’t just once or twice, then the dream bastard’s attitude was… understandable.

Regardless of the generous evaluations from others, Florian wasn’t actually a very tolerant person. If the child he had one day taken under his wing turned out to be a troublemaker who caused nothing but problems, far from being a model child, he would have dealt with him more coldly than in the dream. Of course, that didn’t mean the bastard bore no responsibility for Kim Sarang’s death.

“It’s not a confirmed fact, but it is said that Colin Dubuissy had a pheromone problem around that time.”

If the reason for the debt was not an addiction, but Colin Dubuissy. As soon as that thought occurred to him, Florian felt an unwitting sense of relief and smiled bitterly to himself. Even if there had been an addiction problem, he wanted to, and had to, produce a different outcome than the one in the dream. Twenty-four was too young an age to take one’s own life.

“He’s a recessive, so it shouldn’t have been hard to get suppressants, right?”

“Due to his poor financial situation, it seems he resolved his ruts by sleeping with an alpha instead of using suppressants.”

“…Are you saying he sold his body?”

“There is no evidence of that. However, there is evidence of him spending his rut with a dominant alpha.”

When a recessive omega spends their rut with a dominant alpha, they are prone to falling into pheromone addiction. Alphas, absorbed only in their own pleasure, would wield their pheromones without any regard for the omega’s condition. A dominant alpha, needless to say, would be even worse.

“With acute addiction symptoms, in the E.R….”

“That’s enough. I’ll ask him the rest myself.”

It was difficult to get close to the truth just by piecing together flimsy documents and circulating rumors.

“Kim Sarang has the day off today, right?”

“Yes, sir. There is no training on the weekends.”

“Cancel my dinner appointment.”

“The ducal house will surely complain.”

“Then they can take the title of succession.”

Florian, smirking, put on his coat and left the office. He waved off Bailey who was automatically following him.

“I’ll go with Miller. Dig up some more information on Colin. There must be circumstances and problems the kid doesn’t know about. Entrust it to Mohun this time.”

Bailey’s brow furrowed at the mention of Mohun’s name, but he did not raise any objections to Florian. Mohun was a contractor for ‘Black Sun’, a PMC (Private Military Company) in which Florian held a 100% stake. He was also the one who had infiltrated Matthew Caia’s villa on the wedding day.

The church, which had collapsed in a bomb attack ten years ago, still occupied a corner of the neighborhood, an unsightly ruin. The northern part of Canton City, which had gradually declined due to the cancellation of a local business project, had been turning into a slum long before Sarang was born.

The church came into view after passing the apartment where he lived with Colin and crossing five blocks. The church, built on privately owned land, was abandoned by its owner after becoming a victim of terrorism. With the district office also effectively refusing to bear the demolition costs, the collapsed church became the center of the slum.

The church, where junkies, various addicts, and homeless people would wander in to spend a night, had been turned into a base for a Latino gang called ‘One Seven’ after they took it over. Mark was sitting on the chancel platform. Mark, sitting there striking all sorts of poses, had been a neighborhood friend of Sarang’s before he joined the gang.

He had been a troublemaker, but he used to scold the mean kids who teased Sarang for his father being a recessive omega and bullied the young Sarang for being Asian. Those good memories faded when Mark got the gang’s mark tattooed on his forearm.

“Did you bring the money?”

“My weekly pay hasn’t come in yet.”

“Our pretty boy here seems to think a gangster’s money is a joke, huh?”

“Why are you being a pervert?”

“Honestly, even if you emptied out your whole weekly pay, it’s a struggle to pay one month’s interest, isn’t it?”

“But I’ve never been late.”

“Not this time.”

“That’s because you told me so suddenly.”

“Right? There’s supposed to be business ethics even between a creditor and a debtor. I was a bit too much, wasn’t I?”

Sarang, who stared intently at Mark as he spoke in a coaxing manner with a placid smile, suddenly looked around with an anxious gaze.

Damn, this kid’s sharp as a tack.

“So I’ve found a way for you to make money fast.”

The way Sarang paid the interest was always the same. He would pay Mark in cash in the collapsed church’s nave. It wasn’t the first time he had met Mark alone in this eerie church, but Sarang suddenly felt scared.

“…I don’t need anything like that.”

“No, you do. You have to start paying back the principal now, too. How’s a guy making 1.5 million a week supposed to handle that?”

“…”

It was the moment Sarang, realizing Mark seemed to have called him here with a specific plan, took a step back. From behind him, he heard a rustle, the sound of someone stepping on trash.

“With this one job, you can pay back that 1.4 billion in one shot.”

Five large adult men were closing in on him. Two from Mark’s side, and three from behind Sarang. And they were all alphas. A mix of both recessive and dominant.

“Gag.”

Sarang gagged involuntarily. As the adult alphas’ pheromones were concentrated on him, Sarang, a young alpha, turned pale with instinctive revulsion and nausea. On top of that, perhaps because the effects of his medication were starting to wear off, the heat of his rut began to radiate from Sarang. One of the men, who couldn’t stand the smell of another alpha’s pheromones even if he was just a kid, scowled in displeasure.

“This bastard is in rut, isn’t he?”

Mark, who was a beta and couldn’t care less about ruts or pheromones, frowned.

“What does that matter right now?”

“It means we can sell this little kid for a higher price, you stupid bastard.”

“What? You son of a bitch, who do you think you’re talking to—!”

Not missing the brief moment they were arguing, Sarang immediately dashed to the side.

“Huh? Hey! Hey! Kim Sarang, you son of a bitch!”

“Get him! Get him! Shit, get that bastard!”

The five alphas started chasing Sarang with intent. However, they were no match for him. Sarang’s average speed was on the faster side even in the league, and his instantaneous speed was enough to rank first. Catching such a Sarang was a very difficult task for the men. That would have been true if Sarang hadn’t been in rut, and if the effects of his suppressants hadn’t worn off.

“Hah, hah.”

One of the men who noticed Sarang’s unusual reaction shouted.

“That bastard’s in rut! Pheromones! Douse him with pheromones!”

No sooner were the words spoken than the pheromones of the five men slammed into Sarang. Sarang pitched forward as he ran and threw up. Even in a healthy state, another alpha’s pheromones caused unbearable discomfort, but now that the effect of the suppressants had worn off, it felt like a physical blow. The men, who couldn’t have been unaware of this fact, began to spray their pheromones even more violently.