Reasonable Loss - 35

Eunsu sipped the lukewarm, cooled water and replayed the conversation he had shared with Seongheon.

Among all the companies he had frequently visited until now, it was the quietest one. The thick darkness that had fallen heavily. The chaotic night road and, amid all that, Seongheon’s face that had been so welcome. And the executive office he had visited for the first time.

While they were exchanging greetings, a message had come from Dokwon. After the words saying he was sorry, it was a message suggesting they have a meal together over the weekend. Seeing that, Eunsu had smiled foolishly, his lips trembling slightly, and Seongheon had laughed along with him. His index finger tapping on the sofa armrest had been quite noisy.

“But the more I think about it, the more amazing it seems.”

“……Yes?”

“That you and Dokwon have gotten into such a deep relationship.”

“Uh…… Is that amazing?”

“Dokwon used to really hate omegas back then.”

“……Dokwon? Hated omegas?”

After that, Seongheon had gone on to say that Dokwon didn’t just hate omegas but loathed and despised them, but since it was old news and he loved Eunsu enough to risk his life for him, it seemed okay to tell him, flicking his tongue as he spoke.

“Even back in high school, Dokwon liked omegas. I guess you could say he seemed to cherish them. Well, being an alpha, liking omegas was instinctual and natural. You were like that too, right, Eunsu?”

“Uh, ah, yes. Yes, that’s right.”

Eunsu narrowed his eyes as he tried to recall his school days, which he barely remembered. First love. The first alpha he had met. The name and face were both blurry. It was just a youthful romance. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Dokwon was really popular. As a dominant alpha, with his handsome looks and being the son of a jaw-dropping chaebol family. It wouldn’t be wrong to say he was the ideal type for every omega.”

“Ah…… That makes sense.”

“But then one day, Dokwon started paying attention to one particular omega.”

Eunsu nodded without any special meaning behind it. First romance. That was fine. He himself wasn’t Dokwon’s first romance either. Besides, a romance from those uniform-wearing kid days could now, at thirty, be dismissed as childish play.

“Dokwon was pretty innocent back then, you know? Because the chairman is the chairman, he didn’t raise him spoiled like other rich kids.”

“Yes, his mother would have had every reason to do that.”

Eunsu chuckled softly. “He wasn’t raised spoiled, but he grew up spoiled anyway.” It was something Myunghee had said once. Now Dokwon was a full adult and free from Myunghee’s grip, but back in school, he must have faced quite a lot of interference.

“Dokwon had fantasies about omegas back then too. So he put a lot of effort into his first love. He talked a lot, followed her around without being burdensome, gave gifts, and all that.”

“……”

How cute. That was the first thought that came to mind. The image of Dokwon in his school uniform. The shy Dokwon. Up to that point, Eunsu had simply been happy to learn about a part of Dokwon’s past that he didn’t know.

“In the end, he started dating that omega. It was a youthful romance, but for Dokwon at the time, it must have been an important emotion anyway.”

“That makes sense.”

“Then one day, that omega went into heat……”

“Went into heat?”

“But she slept with some other alpha instead of Dokwon, it seems. It happened at school, so Dokwon saw it.”

“Ah……”

Eunsu let out a short sigh. Heat cycle. Another alpha. It was something that shouldn’t happen, but it did happen often. An omega in heat was less human and more like a beast. Of course, an alpha in rut was the same.

Heat dominated the body, desire for pleasure eroded the brain, and all they craved was the alpha’s pheromones and body. Like an obsession, like a fixation, or like a wanderer in the desert gone mad with thirst, scooping up sand to eat.

Especially in adolescence, when they didn’t yet know their own bodies well, such incidents were commonplace.

But witnessing it firsthand was rare. Somehow.

Sympathy creased Eunsu’s brow. But regardless of Eunsu’s expression, Seongheon continued speaking.

“And at the same time, Dokwon’s first romance ended. He was really hurt.”

“You know Dokwon well……”

“I was a third-year at the same school when Dokwon was in second year.”

“Ah……. So…… That’s why Dokwon hates omegas so much?”

“Oh, no. There were more incidents after that. Just one time. An alpha can’t avoid omegas just because of one such incident, right?”

Seongheon chuckled lowly as he shifted his posture. Then he stared blankly at the empty space beyond Eunsu. The focus in his eyes was oddly off. As if he were reminiscing about some distant past.

“But the omegas Dokwon dated were strangely easy with their bodies.”

“……Yes?”

“Whether all omegas are like that originally……”

“……”

Eunsu’s face stiffened rigidly. As an omega himself, he had lived with plenty of such misunderstandings and prejudices. But to face them from Seongheon. It couldn’t feel good.

Seeing Eunsu’s lips stiffen, Seongheon belatedly apologized with an awkward look on his face.

“Uh, uh, sorry. That wasn’t about you, Eunsu. As a beta, all I know about alphas and omegas is what I’ve read in books. Forgive me for being ignorant.”

“……”

“Anyway, even to me as a beta, the omegas Dokwon dated all seemed strange. They’d be fine normally, but as soon as heat hit, they’d sleep with another alpha, and it always got caught by Dokwon. There were too many omegas clinging to him for money, like they had a sugar daddy on the side, to even count.”

“……”

“Dokwon isn’t some immature kid. But since every one he dated turned out that way, you start wondering if the problem is with Dokwon.”

At those words, Eunsu furrowed his brow sharply. A problem with Dokwon? There was no way.

The Dokwon that Eunsu had been with had no problems at all; he was excessively good. He loved Eunsu completely, was always gentle, and Eunsu had never been unsatisfied during heat. He was a perfect person in bed too. No, more than perfect. Eunsu had been the one to collapse first more than once or twice.

So Seongheon’s words were wrong. It was just that Dokwon had been unusually unlucky.

Just as Eunsu was about to refute Seongheon’s words, Seongheon cut him off.

“From some point on, Dokwon started outright loathing omegas. All the omegas he’d met so far had become traumas, so it’s understandable. He couldn’t trust love, and omegas even less.”

“……”

“So the chairman pressured him a lot. In Korea, there’s the tradition of alphas inheriting companies. It was okay up to Dokwon, but if the line cut off at him, the chairman must have been worried sick.”

“……”

“No matter how much of a chairman he is, he can’t run the company however he wants, right? The board even brought it up. Ever since Dokwon joined the company, there hasn’t been a single scandal.”

“……”

“A dominant alpha. A dominant alpha who doesn’t meet omegas even during rut. A dominant alpha wasting such precious genes. It’s suspicious. There were even rumors that maybe he wasn’t a dominant alpha after all.”

“……”

“But Eunsu, it’s such a relief that you’ve been with Dokwon this long and well.”

With Seongheon’s pleasant eye smile, the long conversation ended.

From that conversation, Eunsu could understand why Dokwon had looked at him with such eyes right after waking from his coma, why he had treated him not as Yoo Eunsu but as an omega.

“I used to hate alphas back then too. But now I like Dokwon. A lot.”

“……”

“What’s past is past.”

Eunsu spoke as if it were a trivial matter and set down his glass. Then he looked at Dokwon and smiled brightly.

As Dokwon had said, it was all in the past. Eunsu was at a very stable age of thirty, his heat cycles were regular, and he always prepared sufficiently for them. He wasn’t so young that his mind would sway back and forth with pheromones.

“……Yeah. It’s in the past.”

Seongheon looked at such an Eunsu and tugged at the corner of his mouth.

The meal ended awkwardly. The food had clearly been delicious and plentiful, but no one left feeling full. Eunsu’s stomach even felt queasy, as if he had indigestion.

It was when the server finally brought in warm tea and simple refreshments to the room.

“Um…… I’m going to the bathroom for a bit.”

Unable to bear his churning stomach any longer, Eunsu stood up.

“Want me to come with you?”

Dokwon asked. He seemed worried about Eunsu, whose complexion wasn’t great. Eunsu shook his head firmly. Then he hurried out of the room like he was fleeing.

The restaurant bathroom was spacious and clean. There were small potted plants here and there, and it smelled nice. Even so, his stomach still felt off.