By Zephyria 
“You should have pushed your way in with force. Instead of just staring up at the building from the hospital parking lot, you should have just had people push you in. Do you hate it when things get noisy? Are you afraid of bringing shame to the family name?”
“……It’s just that I miss him, but I’m not sure if I actually want to meet him.”
“Then meet him. Once you see him, you’ll know how you feel. I was planning to drag you there one way or another regardless. I just settled it peacefully because everyone seems to hate a scene.”
I poked and dug holes into the grass with my toes, muttering my excuses in a small voice.
“I want you to do what you want, too.”
Kwon Yi-kang looked down at me in silence. His face looked the same as usual, but his eyes betrayed a swirl of emotions. I pretended not to notice his confusion as I stole glances at the fragments of feelings that deepened, faded, emerged, and vanished.
“It’s okay. ……Like you always say, it’s okay.”
The grip of our intertwined hands tightened. He still didn’t say a word, but for some reason, I felt the words he was holding back reaching me.
“It’s okay.”
“Yeah. It’s okay.”
After letting those few words drift away like a sigh, Kwon Yi-kang carefully pulled me into his arms. I wrapped my arms around his firm waist and leaned my head against his broad chest.
“It’s okay. I’m by your side, too.”
∞ ∞ ∞
The investigation was conducted simply and politely.
When I had been dragged to the police station for pickpocketing as Min Jae-hee, I had faced shouting, verbal abuse, and several instances of violence. This time, however, they were so gentlemanly that it felt as if such things were an absolute impossibility.
Kwon Yi-kang sat to my right, and the lawyer he had summoned sat to my left, standing guard like a knight. The police officer sitting opposite us, asking the questions, looked intimidated, as if he were the criminal brought in for a crime.
Hyung called me, so I went. I don’t know whose house it was. He seemed drunk even before I arrived. He said he wanted to congratulate me on my marriage and that we should get along well from now on. I had a few more drinks with him to celebrate. He asked to talk privately, so we went out to the balcony. We exchanged a few more words about family matters, and Hyung, who was completely intoxicated, momentarily lost his balance, wobbled, and fell.
There was no need to go into detail about what Cha Baek-joo and I had discussed or who the woman there was. Instead, the police officer simply nodded and listened attentively, as if grateful that I was recounting the story so calmly.
“Thank you for coming all this way. The investigation will proceed smoothly.”
“If you need anything further, please contact me through this number.”
As the lawyer stood up and handed over his business card, the officer received it with both hands, looking almost honored.
I didn’t know if the pressure came from hosan or from Hwang Seong, but I suspected the matter wouldn’t get any more complicated than this.
A family with just one measly hospital couldn’t exactly manipulate the police, so it must have been Hwang Seong who exerted his influence. If I’d known, I would have asked for a few more favors.
“You’ve worked hard. The contact will come to me, so please get some rest,” the lawyer said with a polite smile in front of the police station.
“The Chairman was absolutely livid. Do you feel confident about sending out wedding invitations?”
Since I’d caused such a stir, the news must have reached Kwon Yi-kang’s father. By now, there was a high probability he had heard that I was the youngest son of hosan hospital.
Though it was only a slightly larger hospital than the ones any random person could open, the scale didn’t matter in this situation. He was probably wondering how to crush me, his eyes turning red at the mention of the name ‘hosan.’
“I’ll send them out eventually. I might not send one to the Chairman, but I’ll invite you if you’d like, Counselor.”
When I replied nonchalantly instead of Kwon Yi-kang, the lawyer turned his gaze toward me and let out a faint smile.
“Yes. I shall look forward to it. Please go inside and rest now. I have some remaining business to attend to, so I will head out first.”
I stared blankly at the lawyer’s retreating figure as he left abruptly, seemingly a very busy man.
“Let’s go, too.”
“Okay.”
As I tugged on Kwon Yi-kang’s sleeve, he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and headed toward the car. Chief Bae stepped out of another car parked near Kwon Yi-kang’s and approached us.
“Did the questioning go well?”
“Yes. Tell my father that I’ll be stopping by the hospital soon, so he should be ready to talk. Looking at how things are playing out, it feels like he’s getting everything he wants without lifting a finger, so I feel a bit cheated. But a promise is a promise. I’ll be going now.”
“Please stop by the house one more time soon.”
“Why? Does my father have more to say? I’ll be attending my eldest brother’s funeral, so I can see him then. Is there any need to go all the way to the house? Just clean things up well and I’ll see you then.”
I climbed into the passenger seat, urging him to leave, and Kwon Yi-kang followed. I gazed at him as he started the engine and gripped the steering wheel.
“Let’s call a driver for today.”
“Why?”
“Just… I want to hold you.”
“I prefer our secret dates. I’ll hold you once we get home, so bear with it.”
“Anyone listening would think I’m begging for it.”
“You do beg a lot. Especially in bed.”
Wait, is it okay to sexually harass me like this? It’s not exactly a lie, but it still feels unfair. Who is the one who clings relentlessly in bed, contrary to his usual gentlemanly demeanor? The guy who pumps out pheromones to make me react even while I’m crying, until I’m so exhausted I throw up my hands in surrender.
“You’re the one who makes me beg.”
“If you didn’t like it, you could have just resisted.”
“How can anyone resist that? That’s not something for you to say, since you pump out pheromones specifically targeting that.”
He only laughed even when I hit his arm out of annoyance. I quietly watched Kwon Yi-kang’s profile as he drove leisurely with soft music playing.
“What? Do I suddenly look handsome to you?”
“Suddenly? You’re always handsome. I don’t know how your face is made, but I never get tired of looking at it.”
“That’s a compliment that makes me feel my efforts are paying off.”
Kwon Yi-kang looked relaxed as he shrugged his shoulders. The dust floating in the sunlight streaming through the window felt unnervingly peaceful. While the world surrounding me was as chaotic as the scenery flashing by outside.
“Suddenly… so many things have happened that it feels like time is moving too fast. It’s overwhelming. Just looking at you like this… is also, as you said, a new feeling.”
“Is it time for a hug?”
Watching Kwon Yi-kang joke about calling a driver even now, I tilted my body and leaned the back of my head against the window. Kwon Yi-kang came into full view.
“Four months? Maybe five months have passed since I entered Cha Soo-kyung’s body. I don’t know if I have a talent for attracting incidents, but it’s been non-stop noise.”
“…….”
“You don’t believe me, do you? What I’m saying. You’re probably just trying to move past it by understanding that I have a few strange quirks.”
Since I had spoken as if it were a confession last night, Kwon Yi-kang hadn’t brought it up again. He didn’t deny it, but he didn’t try to dig into it by pretending to know. Just as if nothing had happened. As if he only needed to avoid this moment.
“Shall I be honest?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a hard thing to believe, but… honestly, I don’t think it matters which side it is. Whether you are Cha Soo-kyung or not. I just feel happy as long as you are by my side. Even if you were someone other than Cha Soo-kyung, nothing would change for me. Because what I wanted from the start was simply you.”
An outstretched hand appeared before me. I carefully took the hand that flickered slightly as if asking me to hold it, and he rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb.
“What was your name?”
“Huh?”
“The name I don’t know.”
“……Min Jae-hee.”
“Jae-hee. Min Jae-hee. It was a pretty name. Should I call you by that name?”
I bit my lip at the question he asked so casually, as if it truly didn’t matter who I was.
In truth, it probably wouldn’t have mattered to me whether Kwon Yi-kang believed me or not. It wasn’t that I desperately wanted him to believe me; it was more like a confession of sins.
My original body was gone anyway, and I have to live as Cha Soo-kyung for the rest of my life, so nothing would change here.
“No.”
“Why?”
“No matter who I am… in the end, I have to live as Cha Soo-kyung. My name is Cha Soo-kyung, my face is Cha Soo-kyung, and my body is Cha Soo-kyung.”
“No matter what name you are called, you are you. That’s what matters.”
“Yeah. And that name was a bit unlucky. I think the fate attached to it was miserable.”
The fate was incredibly filthy. I feel sorry for my deceased parents who gave me the name, but I might have to blame half of my misfortune on my name. Otherwise, a person’s life couldn’t be this twisted.
Kwon Yi-kang only laughed at my grumpy complaint.
∞ ∞ ∞
I’d felt it since the second son’s funeral, but a chaebol funeral was more of a social gathering than a funeral. People I didn’t even know flocked in to burn incense, bow, and offer words of condolence, and then they would gather among themselves to chat or exchange business cards.
On one side stood my sister-in-law, suppressing tears that wouldn’t come, and my Alpha father, maintaining a stiff expression. And my Omega father, who, as always, I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
Still, the atmosphere was heavier than it had been at the second son’s funeral, making it feel a bit more like an actual funeral home.
The people who had flocked to the funerals of children who died one after another within a month—some by choice, some by obligation—were curious about what would happen next.
Since there were no remaining Alpha children, who would take over the hospital and the foundation? That was the primary interest. The Chairman was too old to have new children, and the only remaining child was born to a second wife and was an Omega. The Chairman had vowed not to leave the inheritance to that side, but how would he act in this situation?
People whispered endlessly, glancing alternately between the portrait of my dead eldest brother, my Alpha father, and me. Another family’s misfortune was nothing more than a topic of conversation to them.
Is the house cursed? There’s a calamity in the family. To have two die within a month, and with no Alphas left, it’s a predicament. I know bad things happen in streaks, but how could this happen?
There was no actual worry or consolation in the words they uttered as they called it “pitiful.” Receiving gazes fueled by pure curiosity, I turned my eyes toward my eldest brother’s portrait.
Surprisingly, my heart was more peaceful than when the youngest died. I didn’t have any particular distracting thoughts.
Back then, my mind had been complicated by the thought that I hadn’t killed the man who deserved to die with my own hands; it must have been due to lingering attachment or regret. Now, I felt as if everything had been sublimated by the thought that I had done what I needed to do.
A bit dazed, relieved, and empty. Should I say I’d settled a grudge, or that I had no more regrets?
“People are noisy,” the Omega father whispered quietly, casting his eyes down.
“When is Grandfather coming? Will he come tomorrow?”
“I got a call a moment ago saying he’d departed, so he should arrive soon.”
“He must be concerned because you’re the eldest grandson.”
When the youngest died, he sluggishly showed his face only on the evening of the second day, but now that the eldest is dead, he’s coming on the first day. Perhaps it’s because the youngest was such a degenerate that he had no lingering attachment.
“And that person?”
“Who?”
“……The candidate for a son-in-law.”
“He’s the sole candidate, so just call him the prospective son-in-law.”
“Shouldn’t your father’s stubbornness be broken first?”
It’s not something that can be broken by stubbornness. Moreover, it’s not just Father who is the problem; the Grandfather behind him is a bigger problem. Since the Omega father doesn’t know that, he just calls it stubbornness.
“I told him not to come.”
“Yes, it could have become noisy, so you did well.”
Rather than that, I told him not to come in case he happened to run into Grandfather. We aren’t on speaking terms, but if Grandfather knows Kwon Yi-kang’s face, he’ll develop a wariness that wasn’t there. I have to visit Kwon Yi-kang’s mother, who is said to be hidden in a VIP room, soon, so there’s no need to raise his guard.
But why is my aunt, whom I’ve never met, in the hospital? Is she sick? If she were perfectly healthy, that would be unpleasant in its own way, but I hope it’s not a terminal illness.
No matter how much Grandfather forcibly separated them, I don’t want to see her living perfectly well after losing a child. On the other hand, if she is sick, Kwon Yi-kang might be upset, so I don’t like that either.
As I ruffled my hair in my complicated state of mind, Father grabbed my hand and pulled it down. Under his steady gaze, I tidied my messy hair, and only then did his gaze drift away.
“Are you going home today too?”
“I don’t know. Seeing as your father hasn’t said anything, I’ll probably stay here.”
“During the second brother’s funeral, you went home on the first day. The discrimination against the eldest is intense.”
“There’s a family room, so I’ll have to sleep there.”
There was a family room during the second son’s funeral too. There was even a massive bedroom. I mean, it’s the same funeral home to begin with.
“I’ll leave in a bit. I’ll sleep and come back tomorrow afternoon.”
“You stayed for all three days during the second funeral, so why now?”
“Back then, no one else was keeping the spot. Today, there are plenty of people who will stay, so I’ll just rest.”
During the youngest’s funeral, I had the stubbornness to see it through to the end because of my lingering grudges, but this time, not even that stubbornness remained. I feel like I understand why people who have achieved everything reach a state of nirvana. I have no more regrets.
“The Chairman has arrived.”
The buzzing of the people standing far away grew louder, while the area around Grandfather as he passed was silent. Grandfather, cutting through the crowd, had his jaw clenched as if suppressing something. Even that was a different face from the one he wore at the youngest’s funeral.
Entering the mourning hall, Grandfather looked at the portrait. No one dared to speak to him first. The one who died was the eldest, but it was as if the family members had committed a crime; no one could lift their head.
“Father.”
The Alpha father approached cautiously and called out to Grandfather.
“Useless brat.”
“I am sorry.”
He did raise his children poorly. In the first place, it was the fault of the eldest brother who committed the crimes, and it was also my fault for killing that brother. Actually, I wondered if there was anyone in this family who wasn’t at fault.
Turning his head to look at the sister-in-law, Grandfather then shifted his gaze to the Omega father and me. As I stared back at the gaze that revealed his dissatisfaction, a clicking sound of a tongue echoed.
“This is why you shouldn’t let the wrong people into the family.”
The sparks flew toward the Omega father. If I hadn’t killed him, it would have been truly unfair. Regardless of the fact that I killed him, it still felt unfair.
“Shall I say something?”
“Stay still.”
The Omega father gently grabbed my wrist, saying his head already hurt enough. I held my breath at the plea not to make a mess, but honestly, it wouldn’t have mattered to me if I did.
If you can’t do anything because you’re afraid of how people see you, you might as well be dead. I’m a discarded child anyway, and I have nothing to do with or gain from the people gossiping over there. They aren’t people who can help me, so why bother managing my image?
“Make sure no baseless rumors spread.”
“I wonder how many sins were committed that he cares more about rumors than the fact that someone died.”
The words slipped out, and Grandfather turned his head. I expected he would hear it since he was only a few steps away. In fact, I said it so he would hear.
“What did you say?”
Grandfather strode forward, stood before me, and looked down as he asked.
“Didn’t you hear? I wonder how many sins were committed that you care more about rumors…—”
With a sharp slap, my head snapped to the side. Father hurriedly blocked the view, but the mourners had already seen the confrontation between Grandfather and me. The whispering grew louder.
“Now another baseless rumor will spread. Everyone knows Grandfather doesn’t like me, so I suppose it’s not exactly a new rumor.”
“I should never have let you and your father in. This house is truly plagued by misfortune.”
“I agree. If I’d known it was this kind of household, I would have declined. But I was in the womb, so I didn’t have a right of refusal.”
As I smirked while rubbing my slapped cheek, Grandfather raised his hand again. Father hurriedly grabbed that hand and shook his head.
“There are many eyes watching, Father.”
“That’s right. The kind of rumors Grandfather fears will spread.”
“Cha Soo-kyung. Just for today, be quiet. No matter how thoughtless you are with your words, you must consider the time and place!”
He considers the time and place for his words, but not for his fists? Is it okay to just raise a hand because someone is his own blood?
I could feel the heat in the palm of my hand covering my cheek. It would either turn red or swell; there would be a mark of the hit regardless. There was no way Kwon Yi-kang would overlook that.
“I sometimes wonder. Who is more of a bastard: an Alpha who hits an Omega, or an Omega who hits an Alpha old man?”
“……What?”
“Grandfather must have it great. He can just beat me up and call it ‘home education’ to brush it off. If I hit him, I’d just be called a bastard who beats up his own grandfather.”
What the hell is a ‘bastard’ anyway? I’m sure I’d hear every kind of insult imaginable. From a brat who doesn’t know how to respect his elders, to someone worse than a beast, a monster who beats his own blood, a coward who hits a powerless old man. Powerless? What’s powerless about him? This old man looks like he’ll outlive me.
Even so, strangers would probably throw all sorts of curses at me. It’s not a crime to be young, and it’s not like I asked to be born as this old man’s grandson. I’m wronged in every possible way.
“Look at the way this brat talks. This is why we need to bring in a proper person…”
“The children born from the ‘proper people’ you brought in were all sons of bitches, one and all. I grew up better than them. Why don’t you tell me right here what the grandsons of this grandfather—born from a ‘noble bloodline’ and a ‘properly chosen’ daughter-in-law—actually did?”
“Soo-kyung, you!”
My Alpha father hurriedly reached out and covered my mouth. His hand was so large it covered up to my nose, making it hard to breathe.
“Lock this brat up. Don’t let him spout nonsense here; drag him away right now!”
I twisted my body and struggled, then stomped hard on my father’s instep as if trying to crush it. Even a strong Alpha’s body isn’t made of steel, so my father hopped on one foot and let go of me.
“I’m leaving even if you don’t tell me to. I’m leaving even if you hold onto me. But, if you raise your hand again next time, I won’t just take it, okay? If you really don’t want a filthy rumor to spread, Grandfather, you should fix that nasty habit of hitting people.”
“What, you brat?”
“Let’s have a real dogfight then. I’ll be the legendary son of a bitch who attacks an old man and beats his own kin, and Grandfather can finally get that family disgrace he hates so much. If you hit me again, I’m really bringing out a weapon.”
I decided to admit it openly. It was unfair, but the power difference between an Alpha and an Omega wasn’t something that would become fair just because I felt wronged. So, trading punches would only be my loss; if it ever came to that, I’d reach for a tool first.
I probably wouldn’t be beaten to death just by grabbing something nearby and hitting him; I was literally suggesting a dogfight.
“Be quiet and behave yourself, Grandfather. I can’t believe you’re causing such a scene at a funeral home.”
I yanked his tie upward and gave a smirk. Grandfather trembled, perhaps unable to bring himself to throw chrysanthemums or kick the incense burner in his eldest grandson’s wake.
He really acts like a thug. Hitting, kicking, breaking things. It’s a miracle other people don’t know this old man’s true nature.