By Zephyria 
“I hate you as a person, I hate that you are the blood of that old hosan geezer, and above all… above all, aren’t you and Yi-kang relatives! You share blood! How could you possibly…”
“How, indeed. It’s all thanks to the adults. Thanks to them wiping the slate clean and making it as if it never happened, my family registry is clean. So what if there’s a bit of shared blood? We aren’t biological brothers. Not biological, not half-brothers—at most, we’re relatives. So what?”
If you look at it that way, how many people in a small country like Korea don’t share some blood? If you trace it back far enough, everyone is connected somehow. Broadly speaking, aren’t we all one people?
“Regardless of past ill fates, it has nothing to do with us. If you want to settle a grudge, do it between the parties involved. Don’t try to use your children as pawns. If you hate the grudge so much that it’s etched into your bones and you don’t care what happens to your child, then I have nothing more to say.”
“I’m doing this because I do care! Because I care! For the sake of my son, I cannot tolerate a hosan bloodline lingering around him!”
“You just said it. You can’t tolerate it. Who? You, old man. Your son is begging me to linger, but you’re the one who hates it. For the sake of your son? Oh, please. If I said let’s break up, the one who would cling and beg is your son.”
Would he really cling to my legs? I can’t imagine Kwon Yi-kang begging. But remembering how he whispered sweetly in that honeyed voice because he likes me, he wouldn’t turn his back without regret. Probably? Well, he’d probably try to hold onto me at least once.
Though my faith was slightly lacking, I still shouted with a brazen face. Kwon Yi-kang is not the type to ever abandon me. He’s the type who would hold onto me even if I asked to break up. Since Kwon Yi-kang isn’t here anyway, what does it matter what I say?
“So you’re saying you can’t break up.”
“No, I’m saying I won’t break up.”
“Fine, if that’s how you want to play it, then I assume you aren’t thinking of returning home in one piece. Is that correct?”
Oh, he’s decided to show off his power at this timing. He stayed quiet when it was actually needed. He should save this kind of resolve for when his own Omega was stolen. I don’t know why he’s being so stubborn about ruining his son’s happiness.
“Whether Kwon Yi-kang is sad or miserable, in the end, you’re just satisfying your own greed. You’re no different from my grandfather. Was my grandfather that impressive to you? Did you want to be just like him?”
“I don’t even want to hear about that demon-like old geezer!”
“You’re doing the exact same thing as that demon-like old geezer. The way you’re trying to forcibly tear apart children who love each other is a spitting image.”
“You! You are of no help to my child! What more could you do by staying by his side other than remind him of bad memories from the past? That is all you are. Damned hosan blood!”
It’s just a broken record.
Even if my family’s bloodline is damned and of no help at all, what problem does that pose for Kwon Yi-kang and me getting married and being together? If our being together caused natural disasters or if one of us were to die young—if it were for reasons like that, I might have considered it.
“If you don’t want to see something gruesome, tell me right here and now that you will disappear from my child’s side. Say you will never appear before my child’s eyes again. Otherwise, you will not see the sun after today.”
Wow, damn. That’s a bold threat. He’s a nuisance similar to my grandfather, who threatened to put me in a mental hospital or lock me up at home, but perhaps because it’s not a blood relative, threatening my life felt a bit more intense.
“Is your child that precious to you? To the point where you’d threaten and forcibly tear away someone he loves? I don’t know if this is truly for Kwon Yi-kang’s sake, but since you say so, I’ll postpone my judgment. Anyway, your child is so precious that you’d go as far as this threat for his sake, right?”
“Yes, this is all for Yi-kang’s sake. So you stop being stubborn and…”
“Sigh, I really wanted to show this to Kwon Yi-kang first.”
Cutting off Kwon Yi-kang’s father, I fumbled in my pocket, pulled out a piece of paper, and placed it on the table. What looked like a photo that came out pitch black because it was taken wrong was actually the ultrasound photo I received from the hospital today.
“It’s the 8th week. I bet Kwon Yi-kang is running here with sweat on the soles of his feet after hearing this news. Since he sang songs about wanting a child, he’ll be thrilled, right?”
“A-A child? …How was a pregnancy… how did you two…”
How, you ask? We fucked enough to get pregnant, so I’m pregnant. With a lukewarm expression, I shrugged and leaned back into the sofa with much more composure.
“Lock me up wherever you want, or kill me, do as you please. But I wonder if your precious son will remain sane. He’s a man who was separated from his own mother and has lived with that heartache in his chest; imagine how devastated he’ll be if his own child has to go through the same thing. Especially because of the father he thought was family.”
Actually, I didn’t want to dig into Kwon Yi-kang’s painful spots like this, but I had no choice but to bring it up because Kwon Yi-kang’s father was so frustrating, trying to repeat the same mistake. And since the topic had come up, I decided to threaten him as much as I had been threatened.
“This… this is impossible. This must not happen. A child. A child between you and Yi-kang!”
“If you want to be at odds with your precious child, go ahead. Kwon Yi-kang will never let me go. Now that I’m pregnant, he won’t let me go even if he dies. Even if I disappear, even if I die, do you think he could forget me? If anything, he’ll miss me to the marrow of his bones. Especially since there’s a brat involved. The one he’ll resent is you, and the one who will never see a face for the rest of his life will be you.”
I believe in you, Kwon Yi-kang.
Since I’ve talked this much game, what would become of me if you forgot me and lived well on your own? Even if something happens to me, you must hold onto me until the end.
“Get rid of it immediately.”
“…?”
“I cannot tolerate this. I cannot just stand by and watch. That thing inside, get rid of it now!”
Up until now, I had been talking back brazenly, but the words I heard this time were a shock.
Get rid of it. How can he say to get rid of it so casually?
The doctor said it’s the stage where it takes a human shape and brain cells are forming. He said it’s the stage where it can properly be called a fetus.
My heart turned cold at the brazen face of a man who says his own child is precious while telling me to kill someone else’s child. I didn’t even want to exchange another word with him.
Still, since he was Kwon Yi-kang’s father, and even though neither of us seemed likely to bend our assertions, I had responded sincerely. I realized too late that he wasn’t even worth that.
“You’re trash.”
“What? What did you just say?”
“I don’t want to speak with you. Let’s just live as strangers from now on. I don’t want to be polite anymore, and I don’t want to care about you.”
Is only his own child important, and other people’s children aren’t? I can endure being mistreated, but I cannot endure someone deciding whether my child lives or dies. I’ve only just come to accept that a little peanut is growing in my belly, and who the hell is he to tell me to get rid of it or not?
It is a life living in my belly. The face that casually told me to get rid of it and kill it was enough to sever any affection. No, there was no affection to begin with.
“I cannot permit this. Even if dirt enters my eyes, I cannot tolerate seeing my bloodline in your belly!”
Bloodline, that damn bloodline. Bloodline here, bloodline there. Since coming back to life, I’ve heard it so much it’s practically engraved in my ears.
What the hell is with the bloodline, what the hell is with the family. What does any of it matter? It’s not like we have serial numbers written on us or divided ranks, so why are they so desperate, so concerned, and so stubbornly insistent?
As if to show my will to no longer speak, I kept my mouth shut. As I sat with my arms crossed defensively, staring straight ahead, Kwon Yi-kang’s father raised his voice to call someone.
“Prepare the operating room immediately. Get the car ready and drag this brat away.”
“Yes, sure. Let’s kill. Kill the 8-week-old brat, kill me, and watch your precious son die too. Then you can live for a thousand years alone, boasting about your great bloodline, background, and wealth.”
I really don’t even want to associate with someone this filthy. He only pushes his own claims and doesn’t give a damn about others. He should have used that stubbornness to protect his own Omega. He missed the most important thing, and now that he has some power, he’s trying to repeat exactly what happened in the past.
Though I was putting on a brave front, it wasn’t that I was entirely without anxiety. The atmosphere was becoming hostile, the situation was getting worse, and yet Kwon Yi-kang, who I thought would arrive soon, hadn’t shown his face. Did I trust him too much? Should I have scratched the old man’s temper a bit more gently?
Just as I was glancing toward the door, fearing I might be dragged out at any moment, I heard the sound of the front door opening, and someone approached with heavy footsteps.
“Why are you only coming now!”
Half out of relief and half out of anger, I shouted. Despite that, my body moved honestly, and I jumped into Kwon Yi-kang’s arms.
“I’m sorry. You were very scared, weren’t you?”
“I thought you’d be here sooner. You even set up location tracking, so why were you so late? You’re completely useless.”
Neither my family nor Kwon Yi-kang’s father were people to be trusted based on sheer guts alone. At Kwon Yi-kang’s coaxing, saying it was “just in case,” I had installed a location tracking app on my phone and put a separate tracker in my wallet.
The reason I had readily followed along to this place, leaving Lee Kyung-jin and Choi Jae-kyung behind, was because of my trust that Kwon Yi-kang would hurry to find me thanks to the tracking function. Contrary to my expectations, he was a bit late, but I was glad he came before I had to see something gruesome.
“Is your body okay?”
“My belly…”
“What about your belly? Does it hurt? Should we go to the hospital?”