Reasonable Loss - 40

Like he’d sprayed Dokwon’s pheromones on like perfume.

Eunsu stepped back unsteadily.

“You… you’re not Seo Dokwon, are you?”

“……”

The fake Dokwon, the unknown assailant, gave no answer. The silence felt like agreement.

Shock rippled across Eunsu’s eyes.

Not Dokwon. Then who? Another alpha?

Who? What the hell was he thinking doing this…? No, obvious. He’d seen an omega flailing in heat and taken him, ended up in a hotel room—his goal was clear. And faking Dokwon’s pheromones meant his intentions were impure.

Eunsu grew afraid. Because he couldn’t know what this assailant would do to him.

He had to run.

But he couldn’t tell where the door was. If he couldn’t even see the assailant’s face, how could he spot the door? He couldn’t tell if the hazy glow was from a lamp or through a window.

Eunsu flailed his arms and headed for open space. A desperate attempt to flee anywhere. Then something angular slammed into his hip with a bang!

“Ahk!”

The unexpected pain made Eunsu pitch forward. From the spot and size, it seemed like the entry console.

Rolling on the floor shattered his sense of direction. All he felt was the cold marble floor.

Eunsu’s face, flushed red from the fever, went pale. He was scared. Terrified. He’d gone through countless heat cycles before, but never so defenseless, laid out like meat before a total stranger alpha. The fear was overwhelming.

The scariest part was that he might get aroused by this alpha’s touch.

Eunsu clawed through his blurred vision and crawled forward stubbornly, but his ankle got grabbed. Tears welled up in Eunsu’s eyes. He clenched his teeth and kicked wildly, but his heat-soaked muscles wouldn’t obey.

He was dragged along and his body lifted into the air. He landed on the bed. Panicked, Eunsu thrashed his limbs.

“No, no… don’t…”

But the assailant still said nothing. Like he couldn’t speak. Or like a robot given orders not to.

The assailant pinned Eunsu’s wriggling shoulders down. Eunsu shoved at him with loose fists. But it was no use.

Eunsu panted raggedly and bit his lip. Then he opened his mouth wide. He meant to scream. But the assailant sensed it like a ghost and clamped his mouth shut.

The large palm covered Eunsu’s nose too. His face, pale with fear, started turning red again. He couldn’t breathe. His lungs ached, and his heart pounded wildly, pumping bl00d furiously from terror.

“Uh… euk…”

Eunsu struck the assailant’s shoulder frantically with his twitching hand. His eyelids fluttered fast, showing how close he was to suffocating.

Seeing that, the assailant pulled his hand away. Eunsu gasped in a huge breath, chest heaving. Then he coughed harshly, dully.

Then the assailant gripped Eunsu’s jaw and lips tight with one hand and whispered.

“Shh…”

Eunsu streamed tears. Every sniffle through his nose made his small Adam’s apple bob weakly up and down.

For a moment, the two endured that horrific time in silence. When Eunsu’s breathing finally calmed, the assailant removed his hand. Then he moved to Eunsu’s half-unbuttoned dress shirt.

Eunsu’s body shook. His body, fully overtaken by heat cycle, could barely move a finger. His vision was damp, his breath short, and the assailant in front terrified him.

Eunsu was right on the edge of passing out. But he couldn’t. If he closed his eyes like this, some tragedy might swallow him whole.

If the assailant just wanted his body, that was better. But if he did something bad. Something unspeakable. Or if it would harm him later, or kill him. If those large hands choked his neck, death would take at most two minutes.

Just as the assailant undid one button of Eunsu’s shirt, Eunsu stared at something on the ceiling—chandelier or assailant’s face, he couldn’t tell—and stammered.

“I’m pregnant, pregnant.”

“……What?”

The assailant’s movement stopped.

“Pregnant… There’s a baby… in my belly… Hic, yes…”

“……”

“So please… don’t…”

Tears streamed down from the corners of Eunsu’s eyes. He’d never feared dying before. After his parents passed so pointlessly, he’d grown detached from death.

Before meeting Dokwon, his life was all alone anyway, no attachments. He’d even thought idly that since he was alone here, dying meant joining his parents, which might be better.

Right after they died, he’d taken pills or cut his wrists. At twenty-two, losing both parents wasn’t something you just got over.

But he met Dokwon. For the first time in ages, life felt enjoyable, happy. And Bomi grew in his belly. Morning sickness was rough lately, but still good. His own bl00d, his family, the most precious life he had to protect—cute and invaluable.

So he had to survive this horror.

It was then, as Eunsu twisted to escape the assailant’s rigid shadow. The assailant pressed down on his chest. Then he yanked up the shirt.

Terrified, Eunsu flailed his arms and legs. But an omega drunk on heat couldn’t beat a sturdy man. His belly lay bare.

Just entering the fourth month of pregnancy, it swelled faintly.

“……”

Eunsu felt the assailant exhale sharply, like retching. Eunsu quickly covered his belly with his hand. And curled up. To protect it.

The assailant stayed frozen for a long time. Even as Eunsu sensed a gap and crawled off the bed. Even as he fell to the floor in pain. Even as he awkwardly hid under the table or chair—he wasn’t sure which. The assailant said nothing, did nothing.

Eunsu hugged his knees. And made himself as small as possible.

Dizziness poured over him. The room spun. His stomach churned, and his already blurry vision whirled. His heart raced abnormally fast and hard. Tinnitus roared in his ears.

His body ached like it would shatter—from bumping the chair, crashing into the console, tumbling on the floor. It felt like his joints would pierce through his skin like bars.

Eunsu clenched his fist tight.

Can’t pass out. Have to endure. Don’t know what that alpha will do. Have to protect Bomi.

But his body wouldn’t follow his mind. His eyes drooped heavily. What fell on his nape wasn’t just fatigue—it was far heavier, like wet cement wrapping his whole body before it set.

Eunsu was confused. In heat cycle, his body should feel languid, not sleepy. You couldn’t fall asleep in the middle of s3x with an alpha.

But why? Was this pregnancy too? The heat cycle coming three days early, the nausea, the sleepiness like he’d binged on alcohol—all different from usual.

As Eunsu wondered how he’d ended up like this, why he was hiding under the table, how to escape this mess.

A dark shadow fell over his head.

“Ah…”

Eunsu lifted his trembling head toward the shadow.

The assailant stood there.

Tears surged over Eunsu’s eyes like waves. And in that moment, white cloth muffled his lips with a thud. It smelled musty and bitter.

Eunsu sank straight into deep darkness.

“Ah…”

Eunsu scrunched his face. His head felt like it would split. No, like it already had, bl00d drained, leaving only cold, dead brain.

And that made sense—his body was freezing. Like he’d slept on ice.

After gathering his wits for a bit, Eunsu slowly opened his eyes. Light blurred hazily on his foggy retinas. But just for a moment. Heaven and earth, objects, regained their outlines.

It had been a while since the world looked clear.

Eunsu glanced around slowly. He lay on the floor of an unfamiliar space. Not some dank abandoned building or factory basement—it was a hotel room.

Semi-suite size. No separate living and bedroom, but spacious enough with a sofa, table, bed.

From the rumpled bed and toppled console, Eunsu figured it was still that hotel room where the assailant had dragged him.

No sign of anyone else. The assailant seemed gone. Realizing late, Eunsu bolted upright. Then,

“Ah…”

He let out a deep groan and bowed his head. His shoulder hurt so much. His hip too. The wrist he’d braced on falling from the bed, the knee that hit the floor—everything ached.

Eunsu subtly lifted his pants to check his hip. A bruise, blue-black and huge like a lotus bloom. Staring at it, injustice and sorrow made tears well up.

But the sorrow didn’t last. A heavy nausea surged from his gut.

“Ugh…”

Eunsu clamped his mouth and scanned around. Spotting the bathroom, he crawled toward it like a baby not yet walking.

Eunsu emptied everything into the toilet. The sour stomach acid disgusted him. Even though it was from his own body, the revulsion made him vomit, then dry-heave over and over.

He clung to the toilet like that for a while, then slumped on the bathroom floor. He’d never felt this tired, this heavy since birth. Like he’d drunk all night for a week straight, worked like mad while the sun was up, then labored twelve hours nonstop at a construction site.

His body didn’t feel like his own.

Eunsu stared blankly at the ceiling. A sleek light fixture gazed down at him impassively. Like it was saying, I’ve seen all kinds here, but never one like you.

After wasting time meaninglessly like that, Eunsu suddenly thought of Dokwon.

What time was it? It had been 8 p.m. with Seongheon already. At least a few hours passed. He must be worried sick.

Eunsu forced himself up and left the bathroom. Then he paused. His phone… where? He wouldn’t have grabbed it coming in heat. Probably left at the restaurant. Maybe Seongheon took it.

Ah, Seongheon must be baffled. Him vanishing like that. Couldn’t even say thanks for dinner. Worried he’d be seen as rude.

As Eunsu headed to the door, sorting his tangled thoughts. He spotted familiar clothes crumpled under the sofa. His sleek fabric jacket, bought last fall when he tagged along to New York for Dokwon’s business trip.

“……”

Eunsu, leaning on the wall, stared at it quietly. Had he brought that? No way. Was he wearing it? Had he gotten ready to leave while waiting for Seongheon at the restaurant?

He couldn’t remember. Memories crushed by fear and heat cycle were a mess.

Whatever the reason, having the jacket was a relief.

Eunsu felt it over. A flat, rectangular shape. His phone.

Eunsu’s face brightened noticeably. He fumbled to turn it on. There’d surely be a pile of missed calls from Dokwon. Sure enough. The home screen overflowed with alerts. Messages, calls, emails.

Emails were work. Messages and calls… sadly, not from Dokwon.

[Director Seo: 8 missed calls]

[Director Seo: 6 messages]

It was Seongheon.