NAME 48

‘What is this…’

It was a relief that the President’s harassment had stopped, but the atmosphere was a mess. Seowon pushed his chair back bit by bit, maintaining nothing but an awkward smile. As a rule, escaping was the best policy when a situation turned like this. Things would probably be settled down a bit by the time he came back. Leaving behind a small remark that he was going to the restroom, he hurried toward the exit of the restaurant.

‘Haewang’s problem is the President. The employees were fine.’

He was shaking his head as he walked down the stairs when he felt a presence behind him. Seowon reflexively turned around and found Baek Kanghyun standing right behind his back.

“Team Leader…?”

“…”

He said nothing. He simply gave off a chilling aura.

“Why did you come out? Are you going to the restroom?”

There was no reply. As Baek Kanghyun stood there with a face even more heated than during the meal, keeping his mouth firmly shut, Seowon gradually began to feel scared.

“I’m just going to the restroom for a moment. If you go back in first, I’ll follow…”

“Is an old Alpha your type?”

Suddenly, he threw out a question. The content was so absurd that Seowon couldn’t even ask for clarification and just stood there with his mouth agape like an idiot.

“Do you want to change your fortune by getting on the good side of a rich President or something?”

“What… do you mean by that?”

“You always act so smart, don’t you? But when an old Alpha like that keeps hitting on you, why do you just stand there? And that, too, right in front of me, of all people!”

His face, as he screamed at the top of his lungs, was flushed a deep red. He was even huffing and puffing as if he couldn’t control his rage.

“I—I wasn’t just standing there. I was clearly trying to refuse, but earlier you, Team Leader…”

“You kept smiling.”

Seowon chewed over every word of the verbal abuse the man showered upon him. Thinking about it, there were more than one or two things that felt unfair. In particular, his words blaming him—the victim—were extremely unpleasant.

“Did it look to you like I was smiling because I liked it?”

Seowon barely calmed his racing emotions and spoke as calmly as possible. For someone like Baek Kanghyun, whose background was so superior that he entered a conglomerate like Samil through connections, it would be difficult to understand Seowon’s conduct at the drinking table.

“I was just conducting social life. Someone like you, Team Leader, would never understand. Honestly, this kind of thing hasn’t happened just once or twice. And if you had just…”

Seowon trailed off. Actually, the fact that Seowon was sexually harassed today was partly Baek Kanghyun’s fault as well. Because he had kept his mouth shut, Seowon had to deal with the President alone. However, since it was Seowon himself who insisted on coming to a dinner he didn’t have to attend, he didn’t want to point out the man’s uncooperative attitude.

“A—anyway. In my own way, I stayed quiet for the sake of the company.”

“If you were keeping the company’s face in mind, it would have been right to refuse from the start. I mean it would have been right not to come to this kind of dinner at all. And this kind of thing hasn’t happened once or twice… you say?”

Baek Kanghyun asked with his face heavily scowled. Seowon did not answer and avoided his gaze.

“…”

The uncomfortable silence stretched on. Seowon slowly lifted his lowered head to face him. Even though he was just looking into his eyes, his body trembled slightly.

He remembered the scene of Baek Kanghyun, with a terrifying face, pouring liquor into the President’s glass until it overflowed. Although the method was somewhat rough, it was clearly intended to help him. He wondered if he should say thank you now… but the words wouldn’t leave his mouth.

“Le—let’s go back now. It’s late.”

“…”

Seowon chose avoidance instead of expressing gratitude. However, the man’s lips remained firmly shut.

“I’ll go back in and get my things. I have to say goodbye as well.”

Baek Kanghyun blocked the way in front of Seowon, who was trying to climb back up the stairs. He tried to dodge him, but each time, Baek Kanghyun shifted his body this way and that to obstruct Seowon.

“I have to get my things. Please move.”

When Seowon raised his voice, Baek Kanghyun looked down at Seowon with a high-handed gaze.

“Don’t move and wait right here.”

He turned around and strode back into the restaurant. A short while later, Baek Kanghyun came out holding Seowon’s clothes and bag, along with his own belongings, all in one hand.

“Take it.”

Seowon instinctively hugged his belongings that the man handed over. After glancing toward the restaurant and clicking his tongue, Baek Kanghyun grabbed Seowon’s arm and moved quickly down the stairs toward his car.

“Team Leader, wait a moment. Are you going to drive? You drank!”

“I didn’t drink.”

“…Pardon?”

He was sure he saw the glass being emptied earlier… was that not liquor? Baek Kanghyun pushed Seowon into the passenger seat as if throwing him in and hurriedly got into the driver’s seat. Because he couldn’t believe the man hadn’t drunk, Seowon sniffed the air. Then, Baek Kanghyun pulled Seowon’s neck toward him forcefully and touched their foreheads together.

“Ack!”

“I told you I didn’t drink.”

“But earlier you clearly…”

“Check for yourself then.”

His lips were pressed against Seowon’s defenseless, parted lips. His tongue, which entered as if throwing a punch, roughly explored the inside of Seowon’s mouth. Not a hint of the unpleasant taste or scent characteristic of alcohol could be felt. It was simply sticky and sweet. His tongue, which had swept through every corner of Seowon’s mouth, finally licked all the way up his lips.

“How is it?”

The distance between him and Baek Kanghyun was too close. At a distance where their lips were almost touching, he asked lowly. Even though he must have been angry because Seowon acted as he pleased, there was a faint tenderness in his voice.

Baek Kanghyun being tender? That’s impossible…

Seowon concluded that he must have been mistaken because he was drunk.

“It’s true that you didn’t drink.”

Seowon didn’t even think to argue whether there was a need to check in such a manner. He simply cast his moist eyes down and murmured quietly.

His house, which he was visiting for the third time already, remained the same. It was too spacious for one person and perfectly organized like a model home.

Whether his tolerance had increased a bit since his drinking game with Baek Kanghyun last time, he had completely sobered up on the way here. Seeing the back of the man as he shed his jacket as soon as he entered the house made his head spin. He briefly regretted not drinking more earlier. If he had been more drunk then, there’s no telling what the Haewang President might have done to him.

“What are you doing?”

“Just, I’m not doing anything.”

He asked while pulling his tie off roughly. After unbuttoning his shirt sleeves and quickly undoing the middle buttons, he threw off his shirt as if shedding skin. Then, as if he intended to perform a strip show in the middle of the living room as bright as day, he shed his trousers as well.

Seowon hurriedly turned his body diagonally and lowered his head. However, the man, who was now in his underwear, paid no mind and strode toward Seowon.

“Wh—why?”

“The bathroom is over there.”

He pointed to a door in the wall. Seowon clutched his bag tightly and stared at the closed door.

“You know where my bedroom is, right?”

Leaving behind a significant remark that Seowon couldn’t possibly not know since he had slept there for two days, he went into the bedroom.

Seowon gazed blankly toward the bedroom he had entered. Sighs poured out of him like a rainstorm.

In the end… I’m going to do it with Baek Kanghyun. Still, since it’s late, he won’t do it for too long. He comforts himself by thinking that the man won’t be as vicious as he was during the heat cycle.

“Whew…”

His heart ached because it was beating so fast. Thump-thump, thump-thump. His eardrums felt like they would burst at the sound of the violent pounding.

Seowon stood dazed in the middle of the living room, then snapped to his senses upon hearing the faint sound of water from inside the bedroom.

What if I just run away like this?

But Seowon soon shook his head. Even if he avoided it today, tomorrow—and even if he avoided it tomorrow, he would end up doing it with him eventually.

Thud.

Seowon put his bag down on the floor. Then, he took off his jacket and draped it over the sofa before taking off his trousers. The sight of his trousers hanging at his ankles like a shed skin made Seowon recall events from a long time ago.

<Do I just have to lower my pants?>

<Yeah, don’t take them off, just stay like that.>

Seven years ago, the emotion he felt every time he lowered his own lower garments was anxiety. However, at that time, Seowon had overcome that vague anxiety with his affection for Baek Kanghyun. He had been so happy to see the man lusting after him—who was a Beta, not even an Omega—that he endured the sensation of his rear being forced open and his insides being pummeled.

Whenever he was being frantically plowed while hearing the man’s rough groans, a question would suddenly surge up. Is this kind of relationship actually normal? However, even those thoughts would vanish into thin air the moment Baek Kanghyun said a single word.

<I like it… so much.>

“…”

Seowon folded his discarded clothes neatly and placed them in a corner of the floor before entering the bathroom.

After staring blankly at his own pathetic face reflected in the mirror, he entered the shower booth and turned on the water. Hot water flowed down over the crown of his head. It wasn’t his first time, yet his body trembled like a bride on her wedding night. Good grief, wedding night. It was an absurd comparison.