Pink Flavor Omega

#9

***

“Vacation?”

Lee Jaeha smiled brightly while rolling up his shirt sleeves.

“Why? Afraid I’ll catch someone like last time? You should have just thrown me in jail then. It would have been safe for a few years.”

The man sitting across from Jaeha took out a syringe without answering. Jaeha watched with an impassive expression as the thin needle pierced his skin. His eyebrows twitched slightly at the cold sensation of the drug seeping into his bloodstream.

As the needle was removed and he clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly, the veins in his forearm rose and fell in unison. The blue veins showed through his pale skin like a net. The man who had been carefully observing Jaeha’s complexion spoke up.

“The Chairman also regrets what happened then. He feels deeply that it was his fault…”

“If he knows that, please tell him to leave me alone. The old man’s virility is impressive. Isn’t he tired from worrying about everything?”

As he was responding in a low voice, a cough erupted. The strong drug administered intravenously was quickly circulating through his blood vessels. The hand pressing on his irregularly beating heart turned white.

Jaeha took deep breaths as he loosened his tie. As he sank deep into the chair, the man who was cleaning up the syringe and empty ampoule stared intently at Jaeha.

“May I speak frankly? I think you should try to understand the Chairman. If things continue like this, it’s clear what will happen to his only grandson’s future.”

“Professor Choi.”

Despite Jaeha’s low voice trying to stop him, Professor Choi continued speaking.

“You should put your feelings for that person behind you now and look for a normal 2-star trait partner. If they find out you’ve been suppressing your ruts like this, they’ll be hurt too.”

“……”

“You’re not children anymore… You know it’s impossible to have a relationship that transcends traits. That person can’t give you what you need, CEO Lee.”

“……”

“Even within the group, people are just waiting for you to return…”

“That’s enough.”

Cutting off Professor Choi’s words, Jaeha leaned back on the sofa, half-lying down. His hand covering his eyes was a strong expression that he didn’t want to hear any more. Professor Choi quietly waited for the next words.

“Just leave plenty of medicine and go. Don’t worry… I’ll be holed up at home throughout this rut too.”

“…I understand.”

“As long as I don’t do anything crazy like last time, I can still endure. Tell the Chairman that this time it won’t end with just attempted murder.”

Professor Choi answered with a silent bow and left the CEO’s office. As he passed through the corridor lined with shiny black marble and entered the open-plan office, Han Sejin, recognizing Professor Choi, stood up abruptly to greet him.

Professor Choi looked around the office and unconsciously clicked his tongue. As an alpha, he could easily notice that Jaeha had stubbornly staffed the entire company with only alphas and betas. If someone noticed this strange point and raised the issue of omega trait discrimination law, there would be no defense.

The aging Chairman was impatient. Worrying that his grandson, the only 4th generation heir, was pathologically fussy and kept everyone at arm’s length perhaps because of his deceased mother, the old man would occasionally do something seemingly insane, his characteristic lack of consideration suddenly surfacing.

Last winter’s rut was one such instance. He had sent two omegas into his grandson’s house while Jaeha was barely enduring with medication. Jaeha, losing his mind, had grabbed and swung anything within reach, severely injuring one of the omegas.

It still gave him a headache to think about how busy the entire inner circle had been sealing off the news that could have blown up into a grand scandal about a third-generation chaebol’s drug scandal, sexual violence, dating violence, trait rape, and so on.

Considering the old man’s growing impatience, it was a huge relief that Jaeha’s drug-induced rut cycle was only about once a year.

Even though the strong drugs abnormally lengthened his cycle compared to other extremely dominant alphas and had fatal effects on his body, what could be done about his nature? Professor Choi clicked his tongue, thinking of Lee Shinje, the Chairman of Han Jung Group and his old friend. For a man who lacked nothing in the world, his youngest grandson was his only weakness.

After Professor Choi left, having stirred up his thoughts, Jaeha was lost in contemplation.

His trait, envied by others. To him, it was nothing short of a curse, oppressing him by revealing its presence even as he tried to ignore it.

Through the office’s floor-to-ceiling windows, the quiet winter daytime streets were visible at a glance. Jaeha blankly watched Professor Choi leaving the building with quick steps.

His phone had been vibrating in his hand for a while. He had been holding it because his persistent cough showed no signs of subsiding. Only after 2 missed calls had accumulated did the phone quiet down, and it took another 10 minutes or so for Jaeha’s cough to finally subside.

Despite the sunlight layered on the glass, it was cold due to the winter air. With his forehead pressed against the cold glass, Jaeha turned on his phone and made a call. Pressing the missed call list in red letters, a pretty name appeared. Before the second ring could finish, a happy voice flowed from the other end of the phone.

“Mmm. I was in a meeting… Bunhong, have you eaten?”

Jaeha’s shoulders shook slightly with laughter as he engaged in this mundane conversation.

To Jaeha, Eunhong was a kind of habit.

A presence that made his tense, upright shoulders slump. When his body, unknowingly tense, became painful from stiffness, Jaeha would seek out Eunhong.

As Professor Choi said, he should find a suitable partner, but he couldn’t. Like an addict accustomed to narcotic painkillers, Jaeha, conditioned to Eunhong, saw no other path.

The annual rut was eating away at Jaeha. When he took the drug, his mind would become dull as if foggy, and his limbs would go limp. The pheromones trapped inside his body would rage like a madman, driving Jaeha to his limits.

As Eunhong, who had been on the phone, mentioned Woohyun’s name and hung up, Jaeha’s nerves snapped. He roughly massaged his stiff neck.

“Huu…”

Jaeha’s expression hardened. This Woohyun or whatever, he was too irritating. The violence of an alpha approaching rut briefly flashed in his shiny eyes.

“CEO, I’m coming in.”

The door opened silently, and Han Sejin entered with approval documents. Jaeha, who hadn’t heard the knock because he was glaring at the phone, slowly got up.

“I knocked twice but there was no answer…”

Sejin, who was putting the documents on the table, stiffened at Jaeha’s expression. Although Sejin, being a beta, couldn’t sense the pheromones Jaeha was emitting, he wasn’t insensitive enough to miss the atmosphere. Sejin stroked his chilled nape, recalling last winter.

“You’ll just handle these and then take a 2-week vacation, right? There’s no problem with the company, so take care of yourself and get some good rest.”

“No unnecessary comments, Team Leader Han. Have you confirmed the schedule with the contracted companies?”

Is two weeks really enough? Sejin glanced worriedly at Jaeha, who was deeply buried in his chair.

“I’ve been informed that the company schedules will proceed smoothly without changes until the first half of next year. I understand your concerns, but we’ll handle everything without mistakes at the working level. So don’t worry and enjoy your time off.”

“It sounds like you’d prefer if I were gone until next spring.”

“No, no, CEO, that’s a misunderstanding.”

Jaeha, who had hastily signed the documents, looked at Sejin with a raised corner of his mouth.

“How about it, Team Leader Han, want a promotion?”

Huh? Why does this promotion sound like a dismissal? Sejin suddenly felt sweat on the back of his neck and discreetly wiped it off. Jaeha even started to grin.

“We should create some positions while we’re at it. Distribute some shares too.”

“…CEO.”

“Run things well while I’m gone. It’s only right to give you a position. How long are we going to pretend to be a venture?”

Don’t feel burdened. Jaeha, who had risen from his seat, patted Sejin’s shoulder and whispered kindly. When Sejin flinched at the touch, the hand patting his shoulder applied more force and weight.

“I really want to grow the company a bit. I feel like the old man might take it back if I’m too lackadaisical.”

“……”

“So, Director Han will have to help me from now on.”

“Di-Director? CEO?”

Sejin knew that the “old man” Jaeha was referring to was the Chairman of Han Jung Group. There were times when employees would talk among themselves, saying that a company run by a CEO with strong backing and lots of money was an iron rice bowl even if small in scale.

Sejin took the file Jaeha handed him. Looking at Jaeha’s expression as he looked at him, it didn’t seem like a joke. He felt grateful yet annoyed, burdened yet envious, scared and overall complicated about Jaeha readily offering a promotion and bonus. As he let out a small sigh, Jaeha smiled kindly.

“I’m counting on you while I’m gone, Director Han.”

Swallowing dryly, Sejin bowed deeply to Jaeha’s back as he left the office.