SPW 3

“Do you have a picture?”

As if he had been waiting, Bailey handed over a tablet; he was a competent secretary. Florian’s face hardened coldly as he checked the photo of Kim Sarang displayed on the tablet’s screen. Reading the change, Bailey opened his mouth with a concerned expression.

“Do you know him? Shall I remove him from the list?”

“…No.”

Florian, who had been staring at the screen for a while, shook his head. The boy he had seen in his dream filled the screen. Was it possible to perfectly replicate a person’s voice, scent, and even face in a dream when you didn’t even know they existed?

“Gather all the information on Kim Sarang and send it up.”

“Yes, Boss.”

The report was delivered immediately. With just a few taps on the tablet, Bailey revealed all of Kim Sarang’s personal information. He had already completed a thorough background check while searching for a heat cycle partner. Florian, who had reviewed a few profiles before the terrorist attack, looked down at the screen with an indifferent face.

Kim Sarang. Age 17. Korean nationality. Soccer player.

Active on the Rhinoceros FC Youth 1st team, skipped a grade to make his professional debut at age 17.

Dominant Alpha. Matching rate with Florian: 92%.

Looking at the matching rate alone, it would have been correct to immediately hire him as a partner without even putting him on the candidate list, but he was pushed to a lower rank because his parents were Betas. The boy’s race must have also played a part in the strict criteria. Disgusting bigots and d**n eugenics believers.

“Kaia? Is that the same Kaia I know?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Ha.”

The Kaia Corporation was a faction with which Wellington was filthily entangled over a third-world arms deal. Florian, convinced they were also behind the terrorist attack, made a quick decision.

“The evidence?”

“It has been secured.”

“The warrant won’t be denied.”

“Yes, the prosecution and police have formed a special team and are responding strongly.”

“Contact Prosecutor Gude. Tell him to request the warrant date for July 15th.”

“Yes, Boss.”

July 15th was the day of Matthew Kaia and Kim Sarang’s wedding. For the wedding of the head of the Kaia Corporation to be so quiet in the media, it had to be one of two things.

It was a position that, the moment it was revealed, would become a target for factions with numerous intertwined interests. Either he loved Sarang so much he didn’t want to take such a risk, or he was too embarrassed to show him off. Whatever the case, Matthew Kaia, who had a knack for making a fuss about everything, was likely hiding a Dominant Alpha, not for his own sake but for the latter reason.

Placing Kim Sarang, who had a marriage partner, at the bottom of the list was in the same context. The conviction that Florian Dietrich Wellington would never choose such a partner—the inner thoughts of his close aides, led by Bailey—could be read plainly from the partner list. Of course, under normal circumstances, Florian too would have chosen someone suitable from the list’s order. If it weren’t for that d**n dream.

Of all the people to marry.

Matthew Kaia. An old man whose face was still greasy with oil even at seventy. A Beta. This was his eleventh marriage to a person with a secondary gender. All his previous partners had died in accidents or gone missing within three years of their divorce.

Florian, retracing a few pieces of information that crossed his mind, frowned and said.

“Now, would you call the doctor?”

“Yes, Boss.”

Startled, Bailey quickly supported Florian to lie him down and called the physician.

☀️

The wedding hall was a large cathedral.

The vast cathedral was filled to bursting with the relatives and acquaintances of Matthew Kaia, who would become Kim Sarang’s spouse after the wedding. However, not a single one of Sarang’s guests, not even relatives, showed their faces. This was because the wedding, from its beginning until today, had been conducted in strict secrecy.

Naturally, this condition applied only to Sarang. The eleventh marriage of Matthew Kaia, the head of the Kaia Corporation, was news that had spread throughout high society, but not a single line was printed in the media. It was proof of the immense influence he wielded over the media ecosystem.

Furthermore, there was, in common parlance, not even an ant’s a** worth of interest in Matthew Kaia’s eleventh marriage partner. His previous ten partners had been so sensational they were almost excessive, ranging from world-class top stars to sports stars, artists who had performed at the Arts Center, the crown prince of a duchy, and the twenty-fifth prince of a Middle Eastern royal family.

But that was only for the first one or two times; the interest, which had slowly started to wane from the fifth, had now, by the eleventh, become not just faded but even elicited responses of boredom. Even without media control, the public’s interest did not extend to Matthew Kaia’s eleventh marriage partner.

It was to the point that the fact that this partner was an underage Asian boy was largely unknown to the public. In truth, they weren’t idle enough to care about a disposable item who would be thrown away in less than three years. They were more interested in how many puppies the imperial family’s mascot Shih Tzu had given birth to.

The groom’s waiting room, which seemed ten times larger than the shabby apartment Sarang had lived in with Colin, was deserted. Sarang, who was sitting alone, blinking blankly, looked at the clock on the wall. The ceremony was at 12 o’clock sharp. There were still about 30 minutes left.

Am I really going to enter the ceremony hall without even seeing his face once?

Of course, it wasn’t that Sarang didn’t know the face of the famous Matthew Kaia.

Chairman of the Kaia Group, 70 years old, Beta, and the owner of the rival football club he would be transferring to.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. Saman Debussy, who had acquired guardianship of Sarang before Colin’s funeral had even ended, looked down at Sarang, whose tear tracks hadn’t yet dried, and didn’t hide his annoyed expression.

‘You little brat, a Dominant Alpha, and you’re bawling like this. If you were an Omega, there’d be a line of guys wanting to buy you, but this is… Still, this is a good deal. That brat who was of no d**n help while he was alive is finally earning his keep after he died. The pervert.’

Everything had been settled under the direction of Saman, who had forcefully flipped his middle finger into the air, likely aimed at Colin. The transfer, the marriage. From his youth days to his professional debut, Rhinoceros FC had been like family to Sarang. As if transferring to their rival club, Pink Rabbit FC, wasn’t enough, his marriage to a 70-year-old man he had never even met was also proceeding smoothly.

‘Is it unfair? Then you go find 5.6 billion won right now.’

On the documents Saman presented to the lukewarmly reacting Sarang, there was indeed a debt of 5.6 billion won in Colin’s name.

‘Do you even know that debt is all from paying for your medicine? I knew it from the moment he brought home some kid of unknown origin, claiming he was a Dominant Alpha, and decided to raise him. Do you think Dominant Alpha suppressants are cheap? The fucking idiot doesn’t know his place. Hey, you don’t have to pretend to be innocent. You must have spread your legs for him at least once, right? F**k, an Alpha and an Omega who aren’t even related by blood lived in the same house for 17 years and nothing happened? Or did you also sell your body outside like that w**re Colin…!’

Even at the vulgar and insulting remarks that felt like they were dirtying his ears, Sarang just frowned with a hardened face. However, Saman, as if he had been greatly ignored, huffed and puffed before finally losing his temper and swinging a floor lamp. Sarang, with his excellent reflexes, could have easily dodged it, but he just took the hit. He felt that dodging would only provoke him further.

The force was stronger than he expected, and Sarang’s head was split open. Saman didn’t stop there; he kicked and stomped on Sarang, who was sprawled on the floor. Sarang, who had already reached 176 cm at the age of 15, was about the same height as Saman. But Sarang didn’t attack or resist; he just curled his body up tightly. While he was alive, Colin had always nagged him until his ears rang, telling him to always avoid fights and not even attempt anything that might get him injured. And Sarang had always been a good boy who listened well to Colin.

‘Spit! You filthy Alpha brat! How dare a stinking Asian crawl his way up!’

‘Ignorant human.’

Sarang’s memory of that day, as he quietly hurled an insult at Saman who was spewing a mix of gender and racial discrimination, ended with Saman’s crazed, dull brown eyes. Thanks to being unconscious for a full day, Sarang couldn’t even attend Colin’s funeral or the cremation. Saman did not even leave the ashes for Sarang, who was left alone after losing his guardian.

‘Stop crying and get up.’

On the way back from the crematorium, unable to hold it in any longer, Sarang had collapsed on the street and burst into tears. Someone nudged his back with their foot. It was three burly men in cheap suits and sunglasses. They were Matthew Kaia’s people.

‘The wedding is on July 15th, and you can join the team in the middle of the preseason. Until then, you are forbidden from leaving.’

A woman in her 50s, dressed in a semi-formal suit, who was with the three men, looked down at Sarang sitting on the sofa and let out a deep sigh.

‘Who did this to the kid’s face?’

‘He keeps trying to run away, what else could we do?’

‘Such sloppy work, tsk. It will heal within two weeks, right?’

Maria grabbed the chin of Sarang, who was tied hand and foot to the sofa, and turned his head this way and that to check his injuries, clicking her tongue again.