By Zephyria 
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. My baby, it’s okay. Don’t cry.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Kwon Yi-kang pulled my arm and drew my body into an embrace as he sat in the chair where I had been. I perched on his lap, burying my face in his broad shoulders. My tears soaked into his shoulder.
“The police will be coming. I’ll call a lawyer, so don’t speak out of turn. If anyone asks, tell them Cha Baek-joo was drunk and fell on his own. Tell them exactly that. That’s all you have to do.”
“…….”
“Soo-kyung, look at me.”
Kwon Yi-kang gently pulled me away from his shoulder and held my face up to meet his eyes. His face, whispering tenderly that it was okay, was still kind. That made me feel even more sorry and sorrowful.
“If you’re truly sorry, do as I say. ……Please. Okay?”
“…….”
“Soo-kyung. You’ll do that for me, right?”
Please. Please.
Anxiety clung to Kwon Yi-kang’s whisper. He pleaded with me desperately. Please, Soo-kyung. Please. I was the one who had killed a person, yet Kwon Yi-kang was the one who was anxious. With a face that looked terrified I might disappear at any moment, he hugged me tightly.
“Soo-kyung. You’ll do that, right?”
“……Yes.”
“Good boy. My Omega. I love you. Truly…… I love you.”
∞ ∞ ∞
“The eldest brother is dead.”
―…….
The other party remained silent for a moment after my abrupt statement.
―……What?
“The eldest brother…… is dead. He fell. He was drunk and on drugs…… and he fell to his death.”
―Where are you.
Unlike me, who was stammering even while following Kwon Yi-kang’s instructions, the Omega father asked in a calm tone. When I recited the address the eldest brother had given me before I came here, my father let out a low sigh.
―I will contact Chief Bae. I’ll send a lawyer as well. Until they arrive, do not open your mouth to anyone who comes.
“Aren’t you going to ask what happened?”
―I don’t have time, I’m hanging up.
I put down the phone after the call was coldly disconnected and moved back into Kwon Yi-kang’s arms. Across the sofa, a woman lay asleep, oblivious to what had happened and completely out of it. In a way, I felt it was a relief.
“Think of me.”
Kwon Yi-kang, who was holding me, spoke up suddenly.
“If I’m not enough, think of the child in your womb.”
“There is no such thing.”
“There is. It’s right here, healthy. I don’t want my Omega spending time in prison, and I don’t want my child growing up in a cold cell. If that ever happens, I’ll blow up the prison to get you out. So…… don’t say anything else. Just do as I told you…….”
“……Aren’t you going to ask why I did it?”
“I can hear that when it’s just the two of us. I’m ready to hear everything—what you were thinking, why you had to do it. Let’s just get out of here first. I’ll handle the rest. Just this once, lie for me.”
Kwon Yi-kang whispered close to my ear, as if he were afraid someone might overhear. The person in front of us was fast asleep, unaware of what had occurred, yet Kwon Yi-kang whispered so that not a single sound would leak out.
The first to arrive was Chief Bae. He truly deserved to be called the cleaner of hosan. His complexion was grim, as if he had assessed the situation from below before coming up.
“The police will be up shortly. Before that, let’s quickly discuss the situation. What happened?”
Kwon Yi-kang was the one to answer the voice that sounded like an interrogation. He pulled me tight against him, not giving me a chance to speak.
“We received a call on our way out after dinner. He sent an address telling us to come here. When we arrived, he said he approved of our marriage. He said that once I become the hospital director, he wanted to grow together as business partners. Something like that. He was completely drunk and rambling, and as someone who handles that family’s messes, you probably already know, but he was on drugs. That will come out in the autopsy. He was completely gone, floating on a high, and while messing around on the railing, he just fell.”
As Kwon Yi-kang spoke in a flat, calm tone, Chief Bae’s gaze shifted to me. His eyes were questioning, urging me to confirm if that was the truth.
“Did you just watch?”
“It’s not like he announced he was falling; how is anyone supposed to catch someone who loses their balance and falls? Are you joking? Do I look easy to you because I’m answering politely? Do I seem ridiculous because I’m helping you clean this up?”
Like a beast baring its teeth and growling, Kwon Yi-kang threatened him with power in his low voice. When I stared at him, unfamiliar with his harshly hardened face, he pulled my head into his chest as if he didn’t want me to see it.
“Want to make this a bigger deal? Should I hand over that drug-addicted girl lying right there to the police as evidence? Then you’ll have to deal with a problem far more headache-inducing than your precious young master’s accidental fall.”
“……I apologize if I offended you. I was merely anxious to find out the truth as quickly as possible due to the lack of time.”
Chief Bae apologized in the face of Kwon Yi-kang’s aggressive stance.
“Kwon Yi-kang wasn’t there.”
“Soo-kyung!”
“The eldest brother asked to talk privately, so the two of us went out to the veranda. Kwon Yi-kang was inside the house. Once we were out, Hyung smoked marijuana. There are butts left on the table, so you’ll see that. From then on, he felt great and told me various things.”
Kwon Yi-kang couldn’t bring himself to interrupt my outburst; he only tightened his grip on me. I suppressed my bitter feelings against the strength of his clingy hold, as if he could never let me go.
“He said he was the one who first gave drugs to the second brother. The person he killed fourteen years ago. He said it was him. He said he switched drivers. He didn’t want a speck of dust on his career. He laughed, saying the second brother ruined his life over a feeling of guilt for something that was no big deal. ……Chief Bae, didn’t you know?”
“Pardon?”
“That the one who killed someone in the car accident was the eldest brother. Is it true that neither you nor Father knew?”
“……This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“He bragged that it was the perfect crime. He enjoyed it. He said they were all just ants. That he just killed a few ants. That it was nothing. ……He fell while laughing like that. I didn’t think to catch him.”
The arms that had been hugging me so tight that my blood barely flowed finally loosened. The top of my head felt hot, as if a low sigh were pouring over me.
“That’s…… everything. Even when the police come, there’s nothing more to add or subtract from this.”
I meant that I would tell the police exactly what I had just said. That the eldest brother did drugs, that he had been doing it since long ago, that the dead younger one was also a junkie, and that he had killed someone in the past. Then, from my words, they would realize that someone had covered up that accident.
At my words, Chief Bae frowned as if he had a massive headache. Since Kwon Yi-kang wasn’t the only one sighing, the air quickly grew heavy.
“You must not say a word until the lawyer arrives. Even if the police ask, do not answer for now.”
“Shouldn’t we clean up the house first? We have nothing to do with drugs, but that woman is a problem. I can guess what kind of drugs will turn up in this house without even searching. We’ll need to clear away what he smoked on the veranda. Ah, but that’ll come out in the autopsy anyway, so maybe it doesn’t matter.”
Kwon Yi-kang leaned back leisurely on the sofa, patting my back. The feeling of sweat-soaked clothes touching and pulling away wasn’t pleasant, but because I felt stability in Kwon Yi-kang’s touch, I remained still and held my breath.
“And is the request to keep my mouth shut a favor? I am not a member of that family. If I stay silent in a situation like this, I’ll only be suspected unnecessarily, so I intend to speak honestly. Oh, and I’ve already called my own lawyer, so you don’t need to worry about me.”
Chief Bae, who had been making a call, stopped moving at Kwon Yi-kang’s words. A look of dismay deepened on his face.
“You made the first move, but I wonder who will arrive second—your lawyer or mine? Or perhaps the police.”
No sooner had Kwon Yi-kang finished speaking than the doorbell rang. Ding-dong, ding-dong. Bang, bang, bang. Since there was no answer from inside, someone began pounding on the door with their fist.
“Aren’t you going to go out? They look like they’re about to break the door down.”
“I, uh…….”
Chief Bae’s eyes darted rapidly as he looked at Kwon Yi-kang. I could see ten thousand thoughts racing through his head, wondering where and how to start cleaning up this mess.
“Open the door,” Kwon Yi-kang said again with a tilt of his head.
“I beg you.”
The words he managed to squeeze out were unexpected, but Kwon Yi-kang only smirked, as if it were well within his expectations.
“Why should I?”
“Even for the sake of the young master…….”
“Soo-kyung what? Don’t think about dragging my person into this. Not if you don’t want everything from the past dug up. I’ve warned you.”
“I beg you.”
“So, what do I get out of this?”
“I beg…….”
“Go ask your master and contact me by this evening. Tell me what you can give me. Don’t think about just washing your hands of this. Not if you don’t want to see the articles exploding.”
Kwon Yi-kang tapped Chief Bae’s shoulder and stood up, supporting me in his arms. I wasn’t in a state where I needed help moving, yet Kwon Yi-kang stubbornly walked while practically clutching me to his chest.
“You’d better clean this up quickly. We won’t be involved anyway, but it’s going to get quite tiring for you.”