TRIPLE 10

‘How did Beom Yisu know to come here?’

Siyeon’s body stiffened at the appearance of an unexpected figure. Instead of Chae Yoonoh, whom he had encountered through a ‘chance meeting’ before, someone else had shown up. How did the protagonist’s first meeting with the Alpha couple go again….

“You look familiar….”

Judging by the low mutterings, Siyeon wasn’t the only one who recognized the man. For a moment, a gleam flickered in Chief Kang’s eyes.

“Mister, aren’t you that… person? The Representative or whatever from Beom-young.”

As expected, it didn’t take long to recognize a face that graced the social columns. When Beom Yisu raised an eyebrow with an expressionless face, Chief Kang probed him again with a more confident voice.

“What brings such a noble person all the way to a place like this?”

“Beom-young manages all the land in the vicinity, including Nagwon-dong. It seems you are the one who crossed the line without permission.”

“Ah-ah, so the landowner came to look at his land. Then why not just finish what you came to do, instead of meddling in other people’s business?”

“My business today is with this person.”

Beom Yisu, who answered the sharp probe, let his gaze drift from Siyeon’s torn lips to his swollen ankle. Connecting the access logs from the VIP floor with the payment movements, the security team had reported that a hood matching what the Omega was wearing had been captured on the Nagwon-dong cameras. He had finally confronted his target after a long, fruitless search.

He just hadn’t known that such a pest would be tagging along.

“You have to follow the order. I’m currently in the middle of beating up the bastard who took my money and ran. Do you know how much this guy borrowed before you do this?”

Sure enough, Chief Kang, sensitive to the scent of money, began to test the waters to see if there was any profit to be made. Beom Yisu wrinkled his brow as if he had grasped Chief Kang’s intentions.

“How much is it?”

“Five hundred million in principal alone. Of course, interest is separate.”

Upon hearing the amount, Beom Yisu let out a short, snorting laugh, as if asking why they were making such a fuss over such pocket change.

“Hair-pulling over a mere five hundred million… I see what level you’re at.”

“That’s harsh. Our Representative might not have to worry about money, but the situation for Hong Siyeon here is different. The interest alone has already exceeded the principal.”

Chief Kang curled his long, narrow eyes and pulled up the handful of hair he was holding. It seemed that seeing Siyeon being treated roughly bothered him, as a crack appeared on Beom Yisu’s previously expressionless face.

“It would be better for you to take your hand off while I’m asking nicely.”

“Why do you keep interfering? Did the two of you hook up and develop some ‘bed-affection’ in the meantime, eh? You answer me, Hong Siyeon.”

Chief Kang tapped the cheek of Siyeon, whose head was bent back. It was a threatening action, but rather than being scared, Siyeon was debating whether he should react to the provocation or play it docile. Right now, Beom Yisu’s gaze, which was fixed on him, was more distracting than Chief Kang.

‘Is it because of the pheromone matching?’

After fleeing the hospital, the reason he had come looking for Siyeon was obvious. Just as the Beom Yisu of the original work was obsessed with the protagonist’s pheromones, the same matching rate must have drawn him to this spot.

‘In the end, I couldn’t avoid it.’

It was obvious that if things went on like this, he would end up following the bleak procedures of the original work…. If it was impossible to escape the original route due to some unknown plausibility, I had to calculate what options were available rather than blindly refusing and avoiding it.

As of now, the choices were to be dragged away by Chief Kang and suffer, or to follow Beom Yisu.

I had to choose the lesser of two evils.

“Fuck. Are you not going to answer?”

“…Whether we hooked up or not, what is it to you?”

Chief Kang’s lewd remarks were likely intended to test the relationship between the two, but Siyeon gave an ambiguous answer and kept his gaze on Beom Yisu. Even though he was in a threatening situation, Beom Yisu had a look of surprise at Siyeon’s calm attitude.

As a certain kind of eye contact was exchanged in a split second, Chief Kang, sensing that something was amiss, began to turn angry.

“Fuck, Hong Siyeon, did you really get your cherry popped!”

“Th, let go of this! Damn it….”

“You bastard, I should have sold you off earlier before your value dropped.”

The first experience of a Dominant Omega was worth whatever price you named. Chief Kang, who had intended to do business with that body alone, tried to pour his fury over the damage to his collateral into violence.

“This is why you shouldn’t show any mercy to these Omega bastards.”

“When have you ever shown me any mercy!”

“You trash-like thing, you talk back every chance you get.”

When Siyeon snapped back, Chief Kang, unable to suppress his rage, raised his hand. However, before that vicious violence could make contact, the large man was pushed back. Snatching Siyeon up with a strong grip in an instant, he was buried deep in a chest as hard as plaster.

A dry scent of wood grazed his nose.

“Ugh… ugh….”

Thwack! Chief Kang, who had taken a direct hit to the abdomen, rolled down several stairs. Beom Yisu hid Siyeon behind him and, with an expressionless face, kicked Chief Kang a few more times.

“It would have been better if you had listened when I was speaking nicely. So that we wouldn’t both have to see such a dirty sight.”

Beom Yisu’s low, cold voice echoed on the stairs. Chief Kang, as if suffocated by the Dominant Alpha’s physical strength, staggered and tumbled down to the bottom of the stairs. Siyeon watched his back and muttered to himself.

‘He’s not the type of guy to take a beating this quietly.’

Chief Kang in the original work was not a simple villain. He was a character who drove the protagonist into a corner by endlessly scraping at his weaknesses. Perhaps the excessive intimidation from moments ago was likely a provocation intended to draw a reaction from Beom Yisu.

He’s probably planning to gauge the value of his collateral and snatch a share, that mean bastard.

“Send the medical bill here.”

Beom Yisu threw a business card while brushing his hair back. A paper with the Beom-young logo clearly printed on it fell onto Chief Kang’s chest.

In the meantime, Siyeon calculated the timing to escape through his peripheral vision, but as a thick hand tightened around his wrist, he realized he would not be able to get away from him easily.

“Please spare me some time. I have a proposal for you, Mr. Hong Siyeon.”

“If I say I don’t want to, do I have a choice?”

Instead of answering, Beom Yisu turned his head to look at the sprawled-out Chief Kang. As expected, it meant there is no such thing as a free favor in this world.

“Let’s go to the car first.”

“Ugh, what… I can go on my own.”

“Aren’t you injured? If you go down like this, it will only get worse.”

Beom Yisu scooped Siyeon up in his arms with hands gloved in leather that didn’t match the weather. Even though there wasn’t any direct skin-to-skin contact thanks to the layers of clothes, he could feel his fingertips trembling briefly.

“I climbed up here by myself. Now of all times, why bother….”

He let out more lip-service resistance after that, but Siyeon eventually ended up being held quietly in his arms. Knowing that he never had a choice to begin with. The fact that he was being dragged away by the very person he had been trying to avoid with all his might made him bite his lips in frustration.

“But Mr. Hong Siyeon, you aren’t asking why I came looking for you.”

“Should I be curious?”

“If you’ve already figured it out, the negotiation will be much easier.”

Siyeon was at a loss for words at the piercing response. ‘Should I have at least pretended to be surprised?’—a belated regret lingered in his mouth. Perhaps because his heart was heavy, the view of Nagwon-dong he looked down on from Beom Yisu’s arms no longer looked peaceful.

‘In the original work, I would have been trembling without even being able to meet his eyes, but I am different.’

It wasn’t him who needed the deal anyway. So, for now… there was no reason to hesitate in facing him.

Siyeon, who had been deep in thought for a long time, let out a suppressed sigh and opened his mouth.

“…Isn’t it because of the pheromone matching at the hospital?”

“Seeing that you guessed it right away, it seems you’ve had a matching test done before.”

“No. It’s not like that, but… Dominant Omegas often get involved in these kinds of things. So I just assumed that was the case.”

To be precise, it was just that the dirty and exhausting events the protagonist had experienced in the original work had come to mind. In any case, now that he was in this body, the fact that these were unavoidable hardships didn’t change.

“As you expected, the matching rate came out strangely high. I needed to meet you and check for myself.”

“…So, what is it that you want from me.”

At the piercing question, Beom Yisu stopped walking. Taking that opportunity, Siyeon broke away from his arms and stood leaning against the wall. Beom Yisu’s expression remained unchanged, but in the brief silence, he could feel that he was contemplating how it would be best to treat him.

“I have a proposal. If you only accept it, I will provide compensation that you will find sufficiently convincing.”

Just then, a line of dialogue that was both the same as and different from what he remembered flowed into his ears.

「I have a proposal. It’s an amount that is more than enough for your price.」

Beom Yisu’s proposal felt strangely different in tone from that attitude he had shown in the original work, where he had spoken thoroughly from a position of power. But the essence is the same, so I must not be deceived. Even if he acts like he’s being soft, in the end, it will just be a threat where refusal is not permitted. As Siyeon narrowed his eyes, Beom Yisu continued his words.

“The actor Chae Yoonoh, whom you encountered earlier, is my spouse. Both my spouse and I are Alpha-types, so we cannot have children.”

Siyeon’s expression stiffened at the calmly flowing words.

Beom Yisu, as if he hadn’t missed that change, quickly brought up the main point.

“To be straightforward, I would like you, Mr. Hong Siyeon, to bear our couple’s child.”