By Zephyria 
A sleek car, as well-proportioned as a black panther, came to a halt in front of a high-end traditional Korean restaurant in Cheongdam-dong.
The driver’s side door swung open. A man, clad in a deep blue suit that clung to his entire frame, stepped out. He walked around the aggressively protruding nose of the car to the passenger side and opened the door. Soon, a glamorous woman wearing sunglasses stepped out.
“You’re as slow as ever.”
She snapped sharply, like the sting of wasabi. Click-clack, she entered the restaurant, her sharp heels piercing the floor.
Thud. Kang Pyeong-won pushed the door open with leisure. The car rocked as if it might collapse right then and there.
“I will show you to your seats.”
The woman lowered her sunglasses to the tip of her nose and winked at the employee with a smile.
“Yes, please do.”
“This way, please.”
They were guided to the most luxurious VIP room in the restaurant, a place where the waiting list was said to be at least three months long.
“I will prepare the pre-meal porridge first—”
“Perverts always have such thick skin.”
The employee, who had been responding with a soft smile framed on his lips as usual, flinched, his hand trembling.
“Just like you.”
The woman’s bright red lips curled into a wide grin. Her deep-set eyes curved suggestively.
“Haha, like me?”
The man laughed. Then, wondering who else could possess such an elegant hobby, he stroked his snakeskin belt with his large hand. The smooth surface wound around his fingertips. The sensation of it sliding away was sinister.
“Wearing something cheap like snakeskin, how vulgar.”
The woman crossed her legs. A leopard-print heel thumped against the table.
“I thought something was off.”
The man raised an eyebrow at the sudden remark. This kind of roundabout way of speaking was his specialty, but seeing his opponent do the same and watch the time tick away made him feel a surge of irritation.
“Leave us.”
Since the employee was merely gauging the mood, unsure of what to do, the man showed the back of his hand. Relieved, the employee closed the door with a clatter and quietly disappeared.
“Does it make any sense that you couldn’t find a few of those druggie bastards in the boonies?”
Why was the introduction taking so long today? The man stared at his half-blood relative, with whom he exchanged no more than three sentences a year. His observing eyes narrowed.
“And to think you were playing around with a brat like that.”
Sigh. The woman let out a breath.
“Father looked like he was about to collapse, clutching the back of his neck from stress.”
She even clicked her tongue, as if feeling sorry.
Around this time, their father had intended to gain a son from the Prosecutor General’s family as a son-in-law. However, with impeccable timing, a drug scandal broke out at a nightclub under President Kang.
The in-laws played it safe, suggesting they postpone the wedding. They were a noble family of high standing for generations. Their intentions were transparent. It was wounding enough to have the scandalous Kangsung as in-laws, but an Omega estrus inducer? It was an utter disgrace.
Regardless, the goal on that end was the Honorable Member of the National Assembly. Even if they weren’t noble, they needed a substantial source of funding. There was no place with a thicker purse than Kangsung, so the marriage would eventually happen.
Something like an estrus inducer could be hushed up and covered, but the problem was the old man himself—the embodiment of a stubborn traditionalist. Despite manipulating all sorts of vulgar and filthy deeds with his own hands, he was exceptionally strict about drugs.
It was because the last concubine he cherished had passed away, wasting away like a silkie chicken due to drugs. That was the cold assessment the man had of his own mother.
“They say blood is thicker than water. Even in his frail state, he worries for a half-wit relative.”
A crack appeared on Kang Chang-hui’s face. The beautiful appearance, boasting like a peacock, distorted strangely.
“…Frail state? What is that supposed to mean….”
The man frowned as if feeling pity. Then, he lowered his voice as if sharing a secret.
“I heard you still can’t sleep at night without some milk-high.”
“…….”
Kang Chang-hui lifted the dark sunglasses covering her eyes and perched them atop her head. Her long hair swept back, revealing both ears.
“Are you digging into my background?”
The woman snapped sharply, as if appalled. Haha, the man laughed, the tension leaving his eyes.
“Digging? It’s just profound interest.”
He leaned his upper body forward. His massive upper arms, as wide as the table, cast a heavy shadow.
“I wondered if your affection for me had piled up since you suggested we have a meal together for the first time in a while. You’ve brought me a funny story.”
The man tapped one of the woman’s ears with the back of his hand. It was the one that was strangely darker.
“Be careful with the ear that always listens. You have to protect the other one.”
It was crafted so precisely that it wasn’t very noticeable at first glance, but in reality, it was an ear made of silicone. It was so excessively soft and squishy that it felt eerie.
That man of a father had touched the bodies of the two treasures he cherished most in the world. The man’s hand, and the woman’s ear.
“You’ve really lost a screw in your head. Who do you think you’re threatening right now?”
Kang Chang-hui’s bright red lips twitched side to side as if malfunctioning. Looking at the face that resembled his father so intensely, the man wore a wide, splitting smile.
“Ah, I bought a bag, so take it.”
As the man hooked his hand on the doorknob and opened it with a clatter, Bear was standing outside. He took the bag from him and tossed it to Kang Chang-hui.
The one who caught the flying object looked down at it, wondering what it was, and then screamed.
“Kang Pyeong-won, you son of a bitch!”
It was a snakeskin bag.
Before the pre-meal porridge could even cool, the man strode out of the restaurant. The employees bowed their waists one by one to greet him.
“Goodbye, sir.”
Meanwhile, a red sports car was parked in front of the shop. The wheels were adorned with gold rims that were just as flashy.
He wondered who was sitting in the driver’s seat, and it turned out to be the brat Kang Chang-hui had been keeping around lately. His face was pale, and the corners of his eyes drooped gently. Looking at a face that reminded him of someone, the man licked a curse—fuck—inside his mind.
No matter if they were born from different wombs, since they received sperm from the same cock, weren’t their tastes dog-like in their similarity? The man gave a mocking kick of a laugh, lightly biting his lower lip with his molars before letting go.
Step, step. He approached the driver’s seat. When he tapped the window with his fist, the window slid down. Large pupils looked up at the man. The characteristic scent of an Omega wafted out in waves.
“Yes?”
The way he tilted his shoulder toward the man was coquettish, and his voice was suggestive. The man wondered what he was wearing, and it was a leopard-print fur.
What a pathetic idiot, the man sneered internally. The fact that he was dressed from head to toe in Kang Chang-hui’s taste grated on the man’s nerves.
“You’re Kang Chang-hui’s lover?”
When the man asked with a smile, he received an affirmative answer.
“I’m Chang-hui’s family, so I should give you some pocket money.”
The man slid his hand inside his jacket and pulled out his wallet. Then, he rolled up a one-million-won check and handed it over with his business card.
“Contact me if you need more pocket money.”
The man gave a short laugh and turned away. The moment he turned, the expression vanished from his face like an ebbing tide.
That fucking Omega brat’s smell. He felt like shit, thinking it had clung to his jacket.
As he walked away, the man’s face was reflected in the side mirror. Resemble? My ass. Picking up something like that—who the hell is he calling vulgar in their taste? Has his nose finally fallen off?
Crash. The man smashed the car’s side mirror. Beep-beep, the car’s warning alarm rang frantically. Inside the car, the Omega watched the man with wide, startled rabbit eyes.
Kang Chang-hui came running out of the restaurant, saw the car, and let out a scream of rage—Aaaagh!
“Use this to help with the repair costs.”
The man grinned, pulled the snakeskin belt from his waist, and draped it carelessly over the side mirror. Then, he strolled back toward his own car.
“Please get in.”
Bear opened the rear door. The man climbed into the seat with elegance.
“Where shall I take you?”
The man looked out the window. Today, the dark clouds were particularly brooding. Naturally, he thought of surging waves, and his thoughts reached Gyeryong Bay, tucked away in that rural corner.
“Gyeryong Bay.”
He leaned his back deep into the seat. With his eyes closed and legs crossed, he placed his fingers on his thigh, and his thick middle finger twitched. Before it rained, his middle finger always throbbed. However, as if it were a common occurrence, he leisurely recalled the time it was cut off.
He told Eun-myeong that it was cut off because he dabbled in business, but the reality was different.
What he dabbled in wasn’t business, but his father’s taxidermied wild boar carcass. It was when he was a minor. He found it so irritating, the way it hung in the living room with its neck severed and dead eyes staring.
He didn’t know why seeing those dead eyes reminded him of his biological mother. His father’s beautiful puppet doll, who spent her whole life chasing one man.
The man burned the boar carcass to nothing in the early dawn.
And that day, the father, discovering the boar in the living room had vanished, leaving only a shadow-like scorch mark on the wall, called the man over and cut off his finger. He claimed the purpose was discipline.
The man pulled his middle finger back and released it, stretching nonchalantly.
Today, his intuition was sharp and stiff; the thought that poking a hole with this would feel absolutely fantastic slowly drifted through the man’s filthy brain.