Ch 58

A place where anyone could come and go freely, yet not one to be entered carelessly. It couldn’t be called perfectly safe, but at this moment, there was no place safer. Leaving Ji-an there, Ideun found himself overwhelmed by the flood of reports.

Since there was no one he could trust completely anymore, Ideun had driven himself to this place and chose not to step out of the car immediately. The Pandora’s box had been opened. Even while dealing with the most precious and significant matter that had emerged first, the box remained ajar.

He carefully went through the emails and messages sent by those who had witnessed its opening alongside him.

Less than five minutes after notifying the caretaker that he was on his way and would arrive at the villa within an hour, Secretary Baek contacted Ji-an. True to his words that, at least for today, Ji-an should be allowed to do as he pleased, Ji-an soon left for the city in a car driven by his chauffeur.

After getting off in front of a bustling subway station, Ji-an soon transferred to a black sedan. The car carrying him then headed straight for Ideun’s villa.

There was a time gap of about 30 to 40 minutes between them.

By the time Ideun arrived, stepped inside, washed up, and got himself sorted, Ji-an had already arrived as well. And then… about 30 minutes later, Ji-an entered his room, looking like that.

That was the entirety of the report on Ji-an’s movements. Moving on to the next, the report detailed the four individuals being held in the basement.

Dr. Kang, Secretary Baek, and two of Baek’s subordinates.

If even Dr. Kang had gotten involved, then that insane old womman must already know. Feeling a bitter taste rise, Ideun rolled down the car window.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, he closed his eyes. The frigid January night wind rushed in, cooling the heat surging within him and clearing his head.

Was it not enough that they had driven his parents to their deaths? Well, someone capable of coldly discarding and even killing their own child wouldn’t hesitate to trample over a frail, twenty-year-old. And yet… and yet… Ideun had wished that, at the very least, this incIdeunt had nothing to do with that old woman. But in the end, it had come to this.

Slowly opening his eyes, Ideun took his time. He stepped out of the car unhurriedly and walked toward the gate, which had been opened upon his arrival. The house, with its heating turned off, was chilly. Noticing someone approach, Ideun extended his hand.

A heavy flashlight was placed on his palm. As he examined it and switched it on, the bright beam caused him to squint, despite the first floor already being well-lit.

This should be good enough.

As Ideun made his way downstairs, those following behind illuminated his path with ordinary flashlights. The first person Ideun sought was Dr. Kang.

Though the electricity and heating had been cut, the basement was more comfortable than he had expected.

I should have stripped him naked and left him on the rooftop.

Tied to a chair in the center of the room, a cloth draped over his head, Dr. Kang trembled visibly. Ideun sat before him, his gaze settling on the doctor’s quivering legs.

“Are you scared?”

“…C-CEO Choi?”

The moment Ideun spoke, Dr. Kang recognized his voice and stammered in response. A small smile played on Ideun’s lips.

“Just being tied to a chair with a cloth over your head is terrifying? A medical doctor should know better than anyone that there’s nothing to fear from that. So, why don’t you tell me? Whether it’s an excuse or an attempt at persuasion, say something.”

“Wh-why are you doing this? Just take this off first…”

His voice trembled, but there was no trace of desperation.

“You want light? Explain things properly, and I’ll give you all the light you want. Tell me everything you know. If I find the information useful, I’ll remove the cloth one piece at a time. Shall we start with the drugs I was given? I understand why a sleep aid would be given to an Alpha suffering from pheromone instability—I wanted that myself. But why was a rut stimulant included?”

“A sleep aid alone wasn’t sufficient for treatment.”

Though he had been shaking at first, Dr. Kang’s voice grew steadier as he spoke. It was fortunate for him that he couldn’t see Ideun’s expression. Had he seen the contempt, disgust, agony, and rage contorting his face, he might have lost his nerve entirely.

His already unstable pheromones had gone wild under the influence of the rut stimulant, and he had taken it out on an Omega. With each cycle of excessive pheromone secretion and subsequent depletion, his levels eventually stabilized. He had slept for extended periods, but he hadn’t dreamed—not because he had been in a deep slumber, but because his brain had erased the moments when he had been reduced to nothing but raw instinct.

And Ji-an—Ji-an had been chosen as his partner because Ideun’s assumption had been correct. A scentless Omega. A recessive one, with no lingering effects, no family to protect him, no one to turn to. Completely alone, with a sick family member to care for—the perfect candidate.

Even if Ji-an had died during the so-called treatment, he would have been quietly marked as a missing person, and that would have been the end of it. There wasn’t a single person who would have pursued the matter. While Ideun was being “cured,” Ji-an had been dying. Depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, terror, fear, anxiety… His mind had suffered just as much as his body, both utterly destroyed.

“You’re a doctor.”

When Dr. Kang finished speaking, Ideun uttered just one sentence. A doctor was supposed to save people. A doctor was supposed to heal the sick. Wasn’t there some oath—a Hippocratic Oath or whatever—that spoke of ethics?

Forcing birth control injections. Administering heat inducers. Blindfolding and gagging someone, stripping them bare, and throwing them into a cage with a beast crazed by pheromones—was that something a human being could do?

“…….”

Ideun had not threatened him, had not tortured him, had not inflicted any pain.

And yet, just leaving him in a slightly cold place had been enough for this weak man to spill everything of his own accord. Ideun couldn’t even think of how to deal with him. He wanted to kill him on the spot, but that would be too merciful.

Ji-an… That child… had suffered for years.

A quick and clean death would be a luxury.

“You knew that if he kept using those drugs, the Omega’s body would deteriorate.”

“Th-that’s why no drugs were used today…”

The scraping sound of the chair being pushed back echoed in the room. Whether it was triggered by the noise or out of sheer desperation, Dr. Kang hurriedly spoke before he could even finish his own sentence. Ideun’s fist swung through the air in an instant. A dull thud rang out, followed by a sharp pain in his right hand, but the only thing Ideun focused on was keeping his seething fury in check.

Today… if the drugs had been used again today?

“Fuck, speak properly!”

Ideun grabbed him by the collar and growled lowly. The choked, sputtering coughs and groans didn’t make him loosen his grip. Even as Dr. Kang struggled for breath, Ideun demanded a clear answer.

“Chairman.”

A voice called to him from the side, accompanied by a hand gripping his arm and a slight shake of the head. Ideun clicked his tongue in frustration and released his hold, practically throwing Dr. Kang away. His eyes, which had been burning fiercely, glinted dangerously as he watched the man gasp and wheeze.

“N-no drugs were administered today since he had already been classified as a Beta.”

The same man who had mixed informal speech and honorifics earlier had switched to a formal tone the moment he took a hit. A wry chuckle escaped Ideun. He had bought himself a few days of life.

He hadn’t even laid a hand on him, yet just hearing what had been done was enough to make Ideun feel sick. Was this the result of his ignorance and complacency? He couldn’t even claim it wasn’t his responsibility simply because he hadn’t known.

As Ideun staggered out of the room, his eyes brimmed with unshed tears. The price of opening Pandora’s box was brutal. But had he left it closed, the outcome would have been far worse. Ji-an would have carried the weight of this secret alone, burying it in his heart, offering Ideun only a sorrowful smile.

And seeing Ji-an like that, he asked why he wasn’t smiling brighter, why he wasn’t loving and cherishing him more. And yet, all he did was shove material wealth at him. On top of that, his petty and vicious possessiveness must have only tightened the chains around Ji-an.

The light from the flashlight, shining only at his feet, hid Ideun’s tears. Leaning against the wall, covering his eyes with one hand, the tender flesh inside his mouth had been completely torn. The taste of blood, the sharp pain in his chest, and the sensation of his brain being wrung dry—all of it was his burden to bear.

After staying like that for a while, Ideun pulled out his phone at the short notification sound from his pocket.

[Ahjussi, can I drink coffee?]

At Ji-an’s message, Ideun tilted his head back. The back of his head hit the wall hard.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang, bang, bang.

Each time he moved his head, the back of it struck the wall, the dull sound echoing through the basement hallway.

[Alright]

[I can just not drink it]

It was the next message that made Ideun stop banging his head against the wall. It was just a message, yet he could easily picture Ji-an pouting with his lips sticking out in a sulky manner.

[It’s nighttime]

[(A playful emoji sticking out its tongue)]

As soon as he sent his reply, Ji-an’s response came in instantly. Ideun let out a sigh and straightened his posture.

[Drink it if you want]

[But it’ll make it harder to sleep]

[(An angry little bear emoji trembling in frustration)]

Is it really okay for him to exchange messages so casually like this? Unlike himself, who hesitated several times before sending a message, Ji-an always responded right away.

[When are you coming?]

Up until now, even if there was a bit of a delay, he had always replied. But when Ji-an’s messages came one after another, he couldn’t bring himself to answer easily. Ideun’s hand hovered in midair, and a single droplet of water fell onto the glowing screen.

[Late]

[When you’re already asleep]

Even though it wasn’t a particularly long reply, it took him quite a while to send it.

He had no right to be by Ji-an’s side, but at this point, they couldn’t be without each other. If only he had known about all of this a little earlier, would things have been different? Now that they had formed a mutual imprint, they had become essential to each other.

No matter what emotions were involved, an Alpha and an Omega under the influence of pheromones were bound this way. Ironically, since Ji-an was carrying his child, Ideun’s pheromones were even more necessary for him. Without each other’s pheromones, they could no longer live properly.

[I’m going to drink a ton of coffee]

That was Ji-an’s last message, and after that, no more replies came no matter how long Ideun waited.

Wiping a hand down his face, Ideun slowly lifted his head and moved forward. But there was no useful information to extract from the subordinates of Secretary Baek, whom he encountered along the way. Initially, Ji-an had gone along with it unknowingly, but from the second time onward, he had desperately tried to escape and avoid them.

All he heard was how they had tracked him down, captured him, and thrown him into the room where Ideun was. After repeated incIdeunts like that, Ji-an had gradually given up. Eventually, he simply showed up at the agreed-upon time without resistance.

Even the caretaker of the villa knew nothing. His role was merely to inform Secretary Baek whenever Ideun contacted him about visiting the villa during his rut. Then, before Secretary Baek arrived, he would provide Ideun with pills like today, dismiss all the staff, and stay in the servants’ quarters at the back of the villa until Secretary Baek summoned him again.

“The preparations.”

Stopping in front of the door where the person waiting for him was, Ideun carefully examined the items laid out on the tray before him.

As expected, in the center of the room, seated on a chair, was a person bound and wearing a hood. Standing before Secretary Baek, Ideun said nothing. He merely moved his fingers.

The hood was removed, but he couldn’t fully see Secretary Baek’s face. His eyes were covered with thick cloth, and his mouth was stuffed with rough fabric.

Then, with another flick of Ideun’s hand, an earbud was inserted into Secretary Baek’s left ear.

Without a word, Ideun issued a command via message to the person standing beside him. The flashlight he had been tossing and catching in his hand was fixed into place, shining directly into Secretary Baek’s eyes.

The moment Ideun turned away, an eerie sound erupted into the air. If the man hadn’t been gagged, the noise would have formed into a scream or a string of curses. But with the gag in place, all that escaped from Secretary Baek’s throat was an animalistic wail.

The harsh light, capable of causing blindness after prolonged exposure, burned into Secretary Baek’s vision, now accustomed to darkness. Even from a distance, Ideun could hear the sound flowing into Secretary Baek’s left ear—the screams of people.

Shrieks of terror from multiple individuals rang out at once, mixed with the howls of beasts, the grating screech of nails against a chalkboard, and every sound that made people recoil.

Prolonged exposure to this would undoubtedly cause permanent damage to his hearing, but that wasn’t Ideun’s concern.

“Mmff, mmph!”

Secretary Baek’s entire body twisted in agony, his grotesquely contorted face struggling against the restraints. The muffled noises he emitted weren’t quite moans, nor were they words—they were nothing more than grotesque sounds.

“Leave everything as it is until I return.”