By Zephyria 
“Another Mr. Park.”
In-ho muttered lowly as he stared at his phone screen. He was sitting in the backseat of a black sedan. Whenever he called a driver, he used a sedan rather than a sports car.
Because he had a drink before leaving the house, he had no choice but to call a driver. Instead of driving, In-ho sat in the back, reading additional materials provided by his secretary.
What the secretary had sent was a lengthy personal profile. As he scrolled down, an image file of a company ID card appeared. In the photo, a man with a pleasant impression was smiling brightly.
Park Gun-wook. Age 36. He was the Alpha who had dragged Haon away at the mart.
A man who worked at the same company as his wife and even had a five-year-old child.
Reading through the data, In-ho let out a short smirk. Sensing that faint sound of laughter, the driver focused a bit more on the road.
After skimming through the information on his phone, In-ho returned to the home screen and tapped an app.
A video feed showing the interior of In-ho’s bedroom began to play.
Haon was fast asleep on the bed. When he tapped the living room view, he saw Tae-hwi and Ho-yeong watching TV.
He had installed home cameras in his bedroom, living room, and the entrance hallway. He had set them up just in case Haon decided to leave the house again without a word.
Returning to the bedroom feed, he watched Haon, who was sleeping as if dead. Even seeing him with his own eyes, he couldn’t put his mind at ease.
In-ho was anxious. About everything surrounding Haon.
The black sedan arrived in front of a six-story motel. In-ho’s secretary was standing at the entrance.
“It’s Room 403.”
Stepping out of the car alone, In-ho jerked his chin, signaling the secretary to lead the way. In-ho’s expression darkened further as he looked at the exterior of the building.
As soon as he entered, the smell of cheap air freshener permeated the air.
In-ho shifted his gaze as he rode the elevator, which was as narrow as the building itself. While watching the numbers on the panel slowly climb, a thought occurred to him, and he made a request to the secretary.
“Secretary, lend me your ring.”
“My ring, sir?”
“Yes.”
Without further questioning, the secretary took off the old wedding band from his ring finger and handed it over. He had a bad feeling about this, but if he didn’t get it back, he planned to charge for a more expensive one. The design was outdated anyway.
“Stay in front of the door. I’ll be out shortly.”
In-ho, stepping out of the elevator first, spoke as he slid the ring onto his middle finger. As expected, the secretary simply replied that he understood without a word of complaint. He only hoped that things wouldn’t escalate.
When he opened the door to Room 403, tacky wallpaper and blackout curtains were the first things to catch his eye. Whether by its exterior or interior, it was a space where he absolutely did not want to linger.
At the sound of the door opening, a man who had arrived in the room beforehand flinched and turned around. He was a man with fairly broad shoulders and a tall stature. His handsome appearance was roughly similar to the photo, but he looked far more haggard.
“Park Gun-wook, right?”
In-ho addressed the man while briefly scanning the cramped motel room. He never imagined he would set foot in a place like this in his life.
“Yes, that’s correct….”
The man stood awkwardly, rubbing the corner of his mouth while looking at In-ho. He hadn’t been able to shave, leaving a dark stubble around his mouth. Looking at the hollows under his eyes, it seemed he hadn’t slept properly for several days. Still, he had probably slept more than In-ho.
“Phone first.”
Plumping down on the bed, In-ho beckoned with his hand. The man, his chapped lips twitching, pulled a phone from his trouser pocket and handed it to In-ho. It was Haon’s phone.
“The battery ran out and it turned off. I didn’t turn it off on purpose.”
The man spoke words that weren’t asked, trying his best to sound calm. However, he couldn’t hide the trembling of his pupils.
“Sit.”
In-ho said, putting Haon’s phone in his pocket. The hesitating man tried to move toward a chair leaning against the wall. Before he could, In-ho spoke again.
“No, not the chair.”
His pitch-black eyes pointed toward the floor.
Thick veins popped on the man’s reddened neck. Swallowing a sigh, he knelt on the floor.
“Closer.”
In-ho flicked his finger.
The man moved toward In-ho on his knees across the rug, which was full of dust and stains. In-ho indifferently watched the man’s flushed face. Then, once they were within arm’s reach, he raised his arm high.
Smack—!
The man’s head whipped to the side as In-ho’s fist connected. Simultaneously, red droplets of blood splattered onto the rug.
The man’s cheek, scraped by the ring, tore open, and blood streamed down. Clutching his cheek and staggering, the man collapsed right there.
“You come here often.”
In-ho grabbed the man by the collar and hauled him up into a sitting position.
At that low voice, the terrified man’s pupils began to shake even more violently. In the man’s card statements, the name of the same motel appeared once every two or three months.
“Did you do it with Haon-ssi here too?”
In-ho asked, wiping the blood from the back of his hand onto the man’s shoulder. The bedsheets, which creaked even though he was just sitting, looked as if they might collapse at any moment. Not to mention the eye-straining interior; judging by the yellowish bedding, it was a place where basic hygiene wasn’t even managed.
I guess he felt it was a waste of money to spend on someone he only intended to use for lust and discard. All while taking his wife and child to luxury hotels.
“Ju-just once… we did.”
The man, who had already knelt on his own, now prostrated himself completely. He pressed his head to the floor, begging In-ho to please not let the company know.
All the materials had already been delivered to his wife. Because he had been caught with the card statements and the conversation logs from the random chat, he couldn’t even deny it. Among his chat partners, there were people who had only just become adults.
“I, I absolutely didn’t do it because I wanted to!”
In-ho looked down silently at the piece of trash mimicking human speech.
“He—he came to me first asking to sleep with him! He was panting as if he were dying from his heat, so I had no choice but to let him!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the man’s head slammed back down to the floor.
“Gah! Ack!”
In-ho pushed his shoulder with his foot and struck his abdomen with the toe of his shoe. Still not satisfied, he grabbed the man by the collar, pulled him up, and rained down a series of punches.
The man’s cheek, already torn, turned a deep red as he was struck. He let out a pained groan and gagged. However, all that came out of his mouth was gastric juice and two intact teeth. Soon after, a dangling front tooth fell out and became buried in the rug.
“Honestly, I’m grateful.”
In-ho said with a smile. He crushed the fallen tooth under the sole of his shoe while locking eyes with the man.
“I really wanted to catch at least one guy… but there was no way.”
He kept saying thank you as he grabbed the back of the sobbing man’s neck and slammed him into the floor.
Since he showed up on his own like this, there was no way In-ho wouldn’t be grateful.
* * *
Before arriving home, In-ho texted Tae-hwi, telling him he could leave now. Along with a thank you, he sent a reward in an amount that would likely shock Tae-hwi. He ignored Tae-hwi’s reply declining the money.
His pace was quick as he passed through the silent entrance and walked up the long stairs. In-ho wanted to see Haon as soon as possible.
Just as in the video, Haon was asleep, lying on his side. He was sleeping so deeply that not even the sound of his breathing could be heard.
Approaching the bed slowly, In-ho leaned his upper body toward Haon. He placed his ear near the tip of Haon’s nose to check if he was breathing well.
Fortunately, after a moment, the sound of steady, rhythmic breathing reached him. Suppressing the urge to kiss him, In-ho carefully checked Haon’s face before heading to the bathroom.
He stuffed his shirt into the trash can instead of the laundry basket and stepped straight into the shower.
He washed his body with water so hot it steamed. It was to erase the scent of cheap soap. Wiping away the blood trapped under his fingernails, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes intermittently. The dizziness added to his insomnia had been worsening lately. It was a natural reaction to the lack of sleep.
Even after In-ho finished showering, Haon did not wake up. He was naturally a heavy sleeper, but perhaps due to fatigue and a touch of a cold, he showed no sign of waking.
Carefully, so as not to disturb Haon’s sleep, he climbed into bed. In-ho pressed his body tightly against Haon’s back and wrapped his large arm around the slender shoulder.
As he pressed his nose against the hot nape of the neck, a subtle scent of skin seeped in. It was a cozy scent that calmed his insides.
In-ho intentionally inhaled deeper, filling his lungs with Haon’s scent. Even then, unsatisfied, he continued to bury his nose in the soft skin.
He didn’t want to be apart from Haon. He wanted to become one with Haon just like this. Then there would be nothing to be anxious about, and Haon would never be hurt again.
But that was impossible.
Instead, In-ho smeared his pheromones all over Haon. He applied his mark thoroughly, inside and out, to warn other Alphas. That if they so much as touched a fingertip, he would kill them.
“Cough….”
Waking from the ticklish sensation on the back of his neck, Haon blinked. Something moist was touching his neck.
“In-ho… ssie…?”
Feeling the familiar arm covering his body, he felt relieved, but his eyes widened in surprise at the sensation of a soft tongue touching his neck. He wondered if In-ho had been drinking, but there was no smell of alcohol.
“Sorry for waking you.”
Even as he apologized, In-ho continued to lick the nape of Haon’s neck. When Haon let out a small laugh because it tickled, In-ho pulled him even closer and began to suck on the back of his neck.
At this, Haon’s laughter became a bit ambiguous.
“It tickles….”
Slightly pressing his thighs together, Haon whispered with a flushed face. His nape felt sensitively heated, as if his chest had been touched. Perhaps it was because of the fever from the cold.
To hide his neck, Haon squirmed and turned around to face In-ho. Unfortunately, because the room was dark, he couldn’t see In-ho’s face clearly. Instead, he could feel his body scent even more strongly.
“Did you shower?”
In-ho smelled exceptionally good. The subtle scent of skin cream mixed with body wash made Haon feel pleasant.
“Yes, just now.”
In-ho followed Haon under the covers and opened his arms. As if he had been waiting, Haon burrowed into In-ho’s chest and embraced him.
The slow beat of In-ho’s heart put Haon’s mind at ease. Haon closed his eyes for a moment, his lips twitching. He had a lot to say to In-ho.
“Where did you go?”
He looked up at him, asking the question he was most curious about first.
Answering first with a gentle smile, In-ho touched Haon’s forehead. Fortunately, the fever had gone down a bit.
“I’m not sick anymore.”
Haon lightly held In-ho’s hand, meaning he didn’t need to worry. Sensing Haon’s sincerity, In-ho’s smile widened slightly.
He brought Haon’s hand to his lips, kissing each finger one by one as he answered.
“I went to get your phone back.”
At that moment, Haon’s expression froze.
After confirming that expression, In-ho pressed his lips to the palm of his bandaged hand and asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”