By Zephyria 
Why on earth am I so anxious? My body is utterly exhausted, yet I can’t seem to get a wink of sleep.
He still hasn’t returned. Even as the dawn rises red in the window.
…Is he with that woman, after all?
A woman’s voice pierced through Eun-myeong’s ears.
—It’s me.
A voice as erotic and smooth as silk. That voice had clearly called the Boss “you.” Moreover, she said she had the man’s belt.
Eun-myeong’s cheeks flushed red. His lush eyelashes drooped like water-soaked fans, trembling slightly.
Did they eat at a restaurant together and then get a separate room because it was too late…? As his thoughts reached this point, the conversation between the aunties flashed through his mind.
‘Right? At first, he got out of a car so nice it made my eyes pop, and then, believe it or not, he opened the car door for that woman himself.’
The subject of the gossip secretly exchanged at the sashimi restaurant. It might be that woman. He had practically thrown me into the car like a piece of luggage, but for her, he even opened the door.
Well, it’s only natural. Since she’s the sashimi restaurant owner and originally from Seoul, she must be incredibly wealthy. She is a noble person on a completely different level than a mere employee like me.
“…….”
Eun-myeong looked at the blanket shoved in the corner of the room, filthy. White, dirty, and abandoned. It felt strangely similar to his own situation.
What if the man returns and loses interest in me after seeing that?
It wouldn’t have been strange to just collapse and fall asleep right then, but Eun-myeong stood up awkwardly. Dragging the thick blanket, he entered the bathroom.
“Ugh, water.”
Grunting with effort, he shoved the entire blanket into the bathtub. As he turned the faucet, water poured out in a torrent.
He rolled up the hems of his pants. His slender thighs were revealed in a pale glow, and he perched the pants over his prominently red knee bones.
He slowly scrubbed the blanket with laundry soap bought from the market. Bubbles formed in abundance.
I really didn’t intend to make a mistake on the blanket.
He had already fixed the bad habit of wetting the bed after being severely scolded as a child. If the man hadn’t kept giving him only water in between, if he had only sent him to the bathroom on time, he would never have soiled it like that.
Eun-myeong continued to mutter excuses to himself, though no one was listening.
Scrub, scrub, scrub. He rubbed the laundry while crouching in the bathroom. His entire body was covered in the man’s traces. Red marks reached all the way down to his calves.
Washing the blanket in the bathroom like this felt somehow miserable.
How could he go out to do it again after doing it with me for so long? He’s a real pervert. He’s nothing but a beast. My body is aching all over.
Are my eyes stinging? His eyelids felt hot and swollen. Not wanting to cry for no reason, Eun-myeong pressed down hard on his eyelids with the back of his hand.
Instead, as if suppressing his emotions, he stepped on the blanket with his feet, pressing down hard, hard.
Where on earth should I hang this? Laundry is best when dried in the sun. Eun-myeong hugged the blanket tightly in his arms and stepped out onto the veranda.
He draped the damp blanket over the window frame. He hoped it would dry well in the sun without a single speck of dirt. As he looked at the blanket with a sense of pride, he noticed the area around his stomach was completely soaked.
Next, Eun-myeong buried his face deep into his arm. He sniffed, smelling it. It seemed like there was no scent, but perhaps he couldn’t smell it because it was his own pheromone.
“…Phew.”
Eun-myeong dragged his heavy body along with small, quick steps. The hotel door closed with a timid thud.
The place Eun-myeong went to was none other than the market. He moved slowly through the crowd that looked like a swarm of ants. Turning his head here and there as if searching for something, he stopped in front of a cosmetics shop.
The deep pink sign vibrated with the words “Mugunghwa Beauty.” The owner, wearing loose-fitting trousers, asked:
“What are you looking for?”
Eun-myeong scanned the front of the shop. Small boxes were filled with items. Since they were sold on display stands, the prices were cheap.
[Cucumber Soap 1,000 won]
[Foam Cleanser 2,000 won]
[Italian Scrubbing Mitt 1,000 won]
[High-class Gucca Perfume 10,000 won]
Eun-myeong’s eyes landed on the perfume. A pale pink liquid sloshed in a plastic bottle. Something was written on the surface. Eun-myeong read the alphabet one by one.
GUCCA. He didn’t know what it was even if he looked at it, but he had seen people pronounce something similar to “Gucca” a few times. Is it a famous brand?
“One Gucca perfume, please.”
He handed over a green bill and bought the perfume.
“Don’t you need anything else?”
Eun-myeong blinked. Actually, he wanted to ask if there was a cream that removed freckles, but feeling shy, he simply shook his head.
“Goodbye.”
Jingle, jingle. With a bundle hanging from his wrist, he made his way back from the market. This time, he lingered in front of a pharmacy before cautiously opening the door and stepping inside.
“Excuse me.”
An elderly grandfather wearing a white robe asked:
“Yes, what can I get for you?”
Eun-myeong bit his lower lip and spoke softly.
“I’d like to buy some Omega suppressants.”
“23,000 won for a month’s supply.”
As the pharmacist turned around to find the medicine, Eun-myeong muttered to his bent back.
“And… someone got poked by something, something sharp.”
There was a first-aid kit in the hotel, but it wasn’t just a small cut from a knife. It would be good to go to a hospital, but the wound was suspicious, and it would be a disaster if someone reported it.
“I work at a sashimi restaurant, and a fellow part-timer got hurt. Is there any medicine for that?”
He added a rambling excuse. He had come up with a pretext fearing he would be suspected if he said it was a knife wound, but the thought crossed his mind that it actually sounded more suspicious.
“Then you should disinfect it and apply red medicine. Put a bandage on it too.”
He listened carefully to everything the pharmacist said. He left the pharmacy, muttering to himself. Disinfectant, red medicine, Medi-X….
Clutching the pharmacy bundle tightly, he quickened his pace. His bottom was swollen and hurting so much it felt like he was dying, but his memory was poor. He had to go back and write it down quickly.
Muttering “disinfectant, red medicine, Medi-X” to himself, Eun-myeong was passing through the hotel lobby when—
“…….”
He came to a dead stop at something he saw out of the corner of his eye. If he hadn’t just seen wrong… Eun-myeong slowly turned his head, like in a horror movie.
Sure enough, some guy was clinging to the front desk.
“This guy and I have been total ball-friends since we were kids. You know what a ball-friend is, right?”
The slouching posture, the beanie pulled down low, the boasting tone, and even the smell that hit his nose strongly. While he was horrified by the pheromones that felt far more intense than before—
“Oh, Jock-myeong!”
Having spotted him, Jjangja waved his arms wildly with a broad grin. Eun-myeong almost let out a scream.
“Hy-Hyung, why are you here?”
He tried to turn back hesitantly, but Jjangja strode over and quickly threw an arm around Eun-myeong’s shoulder.
“Smile, you little shit. Smile!”
At the same time, something poked hard into Eun-myeong’s thin side. Startled, Eun-myeong’s eyes dropped downward.
And in that moment, he thought his heart would stop. Something thin and long was wrapped in newspaper.
“Just smile and walk straight. Walk straight, you brat.”
A chill ran through his chest. Eun-myeong grinned like a broken machine. However, fear remained etched in his eyes. If he possibly could, he felt like wailing his heart out.
As soon as they stepped into the elevator, Jjangja slammed his fist against the buttons. It was the button for the top floor. Eun-myeong squeezed his eyes shut. He already knew where he was staying.
“Hey, I saw something fucking funny earlier.”
Jjangja shoved his face close. Eun-myeong asked, trembling.
“…What.”
“I was waiting in front of the hotel to find you, and a fucking familiar face appeared at the window. Some idiot was hanging a blanket out of a hotel window.”
Eun-myeong bit his lower lip hard.
“I told the staff I came to see Lee Eun-myeong who lives on the top floor, and they let me right into the lobby.”
His knees shook with tension. He stole glances at the rising floor number. If the man happened to return now….
“Hey, you piece of shit, do you live here?”
Eun-myeong quickly shook his head, saying no. He shook his head desperately, fearing he might cause trouble for the man.
“No, I’m just someone who works here.”
“Because of you, I live like a fucking beggar, but you’re playing the Emperor here?”
Eun-myeong trembled violently from fear. He shrank down small, like the fish maws in a spicy stew that had been boiled down for hours.
“Hyung, President Kang might come.”
As soon as he mentioned President Kang, Jjangja’s eyes gleamed, and he pressed closer to Eun-myeong.
“Hey, about that guy, isn’t he a fucking psycho? His eyes flipped, and he grabbed that blue head….”
Jjangja was about to continue when he suddenly frowned deeply. His piercing seemed to sink into his wrinkled skin.
“But what the fuck is this smell since a moment ago?”
“What…?”
Sniff, sniff. Jjangja smelled the air. His nostrils flared wildly. Eun-myeong instinctively took two steps back. Keeping his gaze lowered, he pressed the tip of his tongue against his front teeth. His heart hammered in fear of being caught.
“Wow, no, fuck, wait a minute….”
Jjangja tilted his head, then suddenly clamped his hand over his mouth.
“Crazy, did you become an Omega?”
Thump. Eun-myeong felt as if his heart had collapsed. He never dreamed he would be noticed so instantly. Eun-myeong clamped his mouth shut like a clam.
Silence is often an affirmation. Even though he didn’t answer, Jjangja reached a near-certain conclusion.
“Chairman Go, that old geezer is going to be drooling like crazy, isn’t he?”
Jjangja punched the air as if catching a fly.
“Wow, fuck, they say there’s always a way to survive!”
He cheered, punching the wall and kicking, making a scene. Then, the object he was holding dropped to the floor.
What popped out from the roughly wrapped newspaper was none other than a shoehorn. The thing Eun-myeong had thought was a knife.
“You were fooled by just that….”
As he looked down in disbelief, the words that followed sliced through Eun-myeong’s ears like a blade.
“Found you, my cash cow.”