Chapter 57

“Have you completely lost your fucking mind?!”

Jo Yeon-oh effortlessly tilted his head, dodging the massive, solid jade ashtray that came hurtling toward his face. The heavy object violently slammed into the floor, violently gouging the delicate, multi-layered Hanji paper flooring. Glancing over his shoulder, Yeon-oh noted that the absurdly expensive emerald-colored jade had shattered cleanly in two. He let out a breathless, mocking scoff.

“Planning on quitting smoking, Grandfather? Throwing away the entire ashtray like that. I thought that was your absolute favorite?”

“Will you shut your fucking mouth?!”

The patriarch’s furious roar violently rattled the walls of the study. The sheer volume physically hurt his ears, so Yeon-oh dug his pinky into his ear canal, aggressively wiggling it before throwing a lazy glance at his watch. If the old man’s heart rate spiked past 140 BPM, the elite medical team from Haeseong Hospital stationed outside would undoubtedly come bursting through the doors. He wondered exactly how many minutes he had left to push the man’s buttons.

“…I heard you were parading around with some cheap male whore! If you cherished the thing that much, you should have kept it locked up in your house! Why the hell did you drag it to a high-society dinner and cause such a catastrophic disaster?! You turned a Vice Minister’s face into absolute minced meat! Have you lost your goddamn mind?!”

“He’s not a male whore. He is my lover.”

—Was my lover. The correction choked in his throat, causing a microsecond of hesitation. At his insolent reply, his grandfather, Jo Gyu-deok, contorted his face into a mask of pure, murderous rage.

“You’re still playing around with that pathetic insect?!”

Yeon-oh was mere seconds away from screaming that he had been unceremoniously dumped, but violently bit his tongue. The agonizing truth was that 90% of the suffocating, raging fury consuming his life lately was entirely So Gi-hyeon’s fault.

Yes, he was the one who had initiated the breakup. It was an undeniable fact. Continuing their relationship under those suffocating conditions had been entirely impossible. But So Gi-hyeon was the one who had immediately, ruthlessly severed every single tie between them as if they had never existed.

Jo Yeon-oh felt the agonizing symptoms of an anger disorder he hadn’t experienced in years violently resurfacing.

The infuriating image of Gi-hyeon turning his back on him with that utterly deadpan, emotionless expression burned behind his eyes. It was always the same goddamn story. Jo Yeon-oh had never, not once, been able to comprehend the twisted, pathetic thing So Gi-hyeon called love. What kind of completely fucked-up love consisted of standing perpetually one step away, constantly coiled and ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble? He knew Gi-hyeon had acted like that for years, but the sheer reality of it felt like swallowing a mouthful of burning coals.

So Gi-hyeon probably assumed Jo Yeon-oh was completely oblivious to his pathetic little escape plans. For seven agonizing years, So Gi-hyeon had constantly acted like a desperate prisoner frantically searching for an exit.

Yeon-oh was absolutely sick and tired of it.

“Calling him an insect is a bit rich. He received a formal education and is a perfectly functioning member of society. Unlike me, he doesn’t have a completely fucked-up personality, either. When exactly are you going to admit that your precious grandson is a severely defective product?”

Visibly disgusted by the topic, Yeon-oh fired back with pure venom, prompting his grandfather to hurl yet another heavy object at his head. Effortlessly sidestepping the projectile, Yeon-oh clicked his tongue in mock disappointment.

“You really need to start exercising, Grandfather. Stop wasting all your energy calling in young things to play with your lower half. Seeing your throwing arm get so pathetic is truly breaking your grandson’s heart.”

“You wretched, godforsaken bastard…”

Apparently exhausted from his violent outburst, Gyu-deok finally collapsed back into his massive armchair. Calculating he could probably endure another five minutes before walking out, Yeon-oh graciously kept his mouth shut.

Jo Gyu-deok was still practically hyperventilating, his fury refusing to subside. The incredibly robust old man had suffered a catastrophic stroke a few years prior when his eldest son—the absolute apple of his eye—was involved in a horrific accident that left him in a permanent vegetative state. The tragedy was the result of a drunk driver violently swerving into the son’s lane on the highway, sending his car plummeting over the guardrail.

Jo Yeon-oh’s staggering physical presence and incredibly rare dominant Alpha genetics were a direct inheritance from Jo Gyu-deok; the patriarch had maintained a terrifyingly imposing physique well into his twilight years. But the sheer trauma of the last few years had drastically accelerated his aging, turning him into a hollow shell of his former glory.

His uncles and cousins had grown incredibly arrogant following the accident. They genuinely believed that Gyu-deok, who had spent his entire life obsessively doting on his eldest son, would finally push the comatose man aside and carve up the corporate empire for them to devour.

Instead, Jo Gyu-deok had ruthlessly installed Jo Yeon-oh as the Director of the Naban Gallery, before aggressively funneling all the prime subsidiary shares and standing board positions directly to him. It was a brutal, undeniable declaration: he was aggressively cementing Jo Yeon-oh’s position as the sole, uncontested heir.

“What kind of pathetic idiot wastes his time rolling around with another man? And a Beta, of all things—! If your tastes run toward things with dicks between their legs, at least bring in a male Omega!”

It was the exact same, exhausting repertoire he had been subjected to for years.

If anyone actually cared about his specific sexual preferences, Jo Yeon-oh genuinely despised being with people who possessed the same anatomy as him. With the sole, glaring exception of So Gi-hyeon, every single person he had ever been intimately involved with had been a female Omega.

With the sole exception of So Gi-hyeon. 

Yes… that was exactly the catastrophic problem.

“Let’s wrap this up. If you wanted me to violently silence the bastards running their mouths, you should have just given the order instead of dragging a busy man all the way out here to listen to your endless bitching… You’re only getting more senile with age, so maybe try putting in some effort to fix it. This creeping dementia is deeply unsettling—”

“Will you shut up?!”

With an arrogant shrug, Yeon-oh gracefully obliged. He had endured enough of the old man’s shrieking for one day; it was time to leave. He spun on his heel, fully intending to march out of the study. An icy, venomous command struck him directly in the back.

“Clean up that mess immediately. I have absolutely zero intention of tolerating this embarrassment any longer, so handle your own pathetic business.”

There’s nothing left to clean up. He dumped me. He was milliseconds away from hurling the truth back, but ultimately swallowed the words, storming out of the room without so much as a bow. He was in a staggeringly foul mood.

The moment he ripped the study doors open, he found Yeong-won pacing frantically, her face painted with sheer panic. Throwing a cold, dismissive glance at his mother, he attempted to stalk right past her, but she desperately called out to him.

“What did your grandfather say? I heard a massive crash. Tell me he didn’t throw something at you again?”

Even if the old man had tried to beat him to death, Yeong-won possessed absolutely zero power to protect Jo Yeon-oh. She and Jo Seong-heon had been equally at fault for the catastrophic implosion of their marriage; both had brazenly carried on torrid affairs with Beta men. The horrifying climax of their mutual infidelity was that their only son had personally walked in and witnessed both of their disgusting indiscretions.

“Why are you even in this house, Mother? Do you not understand the concept of divorce? What could possibly possess you to want to see the Chairman’s face every single day?”

His tone dripped with such profound, unmasked contempt that a fine network of wrinkles instantly fractured Yeong-won’s perfectly botoxed forehead. She let out a small, trembling sigh before asking the real question.

“…Are you heading straight to Gi-hyeon’s apartment?”

His relationship with So Gi-hyeon was a violently guarded secret; only the Chairman, who acted like a psychotic stalker regarding his grandson’s life, knew the truth. His utterly clueless mother, armed only with the vague knowledge that her terrifying son harbored a distinct soft spot for Gi-hyeon, frequently attempted to use the man as a human shield. It was a pathetic, cowardly form of affection.

“I got kicked out. He told me to never show my face again.”

“Oh, dear… What on earth did you do? You must have deliberately provoked his temper again. Why else would such a sweet, gentle boy ever do something like that?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

He completely agreed with her. The staggering irony that he was the only person on earth who truly understood exactly how vicious and ruthless that “sweet, gentle boy” could be, yet had still wildly underestimated him, was a bitter pill to swallow. The terrifying light in Yeon-oh’s eyes completely extinguished, leaving behind a dead, hollow stare as he practically spat his reply.

“Regardless, stop coming here. Even if you don’t grovel pathetically at the Chairman’s feet, everything in this godforsaken house, down to the very last Go stone, already belongs to me.”

Watching the violent flush of profound humiliation slowly consume Yeong-won’s face, Yeon-oh turned his back on her with absolute apathy. In the past, he might have felt a fleeting impulse to offer a crumb of comfort, but the agonizing insomnia that had violently tortured him lately had completely drained his patience. Fundamentally, he couldn’t comprehend why a woman who hadn’t even bothered to act like a mother during his senior year of high school was suddenly desperate to play the part now.

But foolish, desperate affection rarely realizes that its time has violently expired, mindlessly exhausting itself in pathetic attempts to claw its way back. That was undeniably the exact reason she continued to shamelessly crawl back into her violently divorced husband’s house.

Regardless, Yeong-won was no longer desperately trailing behind him. Crushing the expensive granite stepping stones that connected the grand foyer to the manicured gardens, Yeon-oh stormed out of his grandfather’s palatial estate and immediately spotted Manager Yoo waiting obediently by the main gates. Waiting until Yeon-oh approached, the manager, his head still respectfully bowed, delivered his report in a low, even murmur.

“He has officially moved to a villa located in downtown Ilsan. It appears he has not yet secured new employment.”

Yeon-oh let out a low, vibrating hum. Now that he thought about it, he vaguely remembered hearing that Gi-hyeon’s aunt—meaning his mother’s side of the family—owned a property in Ilsan. The fact that Gi-hyeon hadn’t immediately thrown himself into a new job was a massive shock. So Gi-hyeon simply did not possess the psychological makeup to endure prolonged periods of idleness. Clearly reading the exact trajectory of Yeon-oh’s thoughts, Manager Yoo cautiously asked the question.

“Shall I investigate further to see if he is pursuing other ventures?”

“Drop it.”

Digging any deeper into the man’s life would definitively cross the line from corporate surveillance into psychotic stalking. Knowing he was already terrifyingly close to obliterating that boundary, Yeon-oh firmly shook his head.

The agonizing insomnia that had ruthlessly assaulted him over the past few days felt like a twisted, inevitable punishment, yet Jo Yeon-oh fiercely refused to seek Gi-hyeon out. He was absolutely convinced he could endure the torture a little longer.

“Are you managing to get any sleep?”

Yeon-oh merely shook his head, completely ignoring the question. Knowing full well he wouldn’t receive a genuine answer, Manager Yoo wisely kept his mouth shut. Throwing a sharp glance at the man, Yeon-oh aggressively rummaged through his jacket pocket for his cigarette case.

“I take it you haven’t reported this to the Chairman. That is highly unexpected.”

He had been absolutely certain Manager Yoo would immediately sprint to the old man with the glorious news that So Gi-hyeon had finally abandoned Jo Yeon-oh. Manager Yoo’s expression clouded slightly as he delivered his answer.

“He explicitly commanded me to remain hyper-vigilant of threats in your immediate vicinity, but he issued no directives regarding threats that have removed themselves.”

At that, a sharp, genuinely amused chuckle erupted from Yeon-oh. Snapping his cigarette case open, he clamped a stick between his teeth. When Manager Yoo immediately produced a lighter and leaned in, Yeon-oh violently jerked his head back in pure irritation. Intimately familiar with Yeon-oh’s absolute revulsion for clingy behavior, Manager Yoo didn’t push the issue; he simply lit the cigarette and posed his next question.

“How do you intend to proceed now?”

“…”

Offering absolutely no response, Yeon-oh finally sparked his own lighter. The tip of the cigarette ignited, glowing a furious, violently bright red. He dragged so aggressively on the nicotine that his cheeks hollowed out completely.

Biting down violently on the filter with his front teeth, he whipped out his phone and tapped open the mobile game app. Checking the activity log, he confirmed there had been absolutely zero logins since his last session.

His thumb hovered over the screen for a microsecond before aggressively smashing the ‘Participate’ button to clear a daily quest. Because the sun had completely set, the frantic, flashing lights of the mobile game violently illuminated Yeon-oh’s rigid features. The two men stood in absolute, suffocating silence, surrounded only by the cheerful, completely inappropriate 8-bit sound effects.

Who knows. I have absolutely no fucking idea. 

He had no concept of how much longer he could actually endure this agonizing torture. Yeon-oh’s lips parted slightly, a breath ghosting past them.

“If it becomes truly unbearable…”

Manager Yoo clearly waited for the rest of the sentence, but Yeon-oh simply swallowed the words.

If it becomes truly unbearable, I’ll just fucking die. Who gives a shit. 

He possessed absolutely zero desire to desperately cling to life. Smashing his thumb down aggressively, he intentionally wiped out half of his digital character’s health bar. Knowing full well that leaving it like that guaranteed an imminent game over, the sheer exhaustion of caring about anything forced him to hit the lock button.

The fragile, digital light violently died, plunging his face back into the shadows. Gripping the phone like a weapon, he aggressively dug the sharp corner into his temple, dragging it back and forth as he ran his tongue over his bottom lip.

“Where exactly in Ilsan did you say it was?”

“…I strongly advise against going there. It does not seem like a wise decision.”

Yeon-oh let out a short, breathy scoff and aggressively thrust his hand out. It was a silent, violent demand for the car keys.

“Why are you wasting your breath playing the advisor? You know perfectly well my patience is absolute fucking garbage.”

“…”

Letting out a defeated sigh, Manager Yoo practically surrendered the keys. Catching them mid-air, Yeon-oh violently yanked the driver’s side door open and barked his final order.

“You said there was a vacant unit in the building next to his. Don’t buy the damn thing, sign a month-to-month lease. What a spectacular fucking joke, me living in a goddamn rental.”

With that, he practically threw himself into the driver’s seat.

As the sleek sedan tore out of the estate with the furious, deafening roar of a wounded beast, Manager Yoo was left standing entirely alone, letting out one final, incredibly heavy sigh.

***