CH 3

He clenched his fist so tightly that it left nail marks on his palm. Sweat beads ran down the side of his forehead. His face progressively goes red all the way to his scalp. His big palm concealing his scowl. He couldn’t cover his heated ears.

His dominant Alpha’s pheromone had become disordered and he was unable to endure it. He was often a model Alpha who was well educated at home, and even dominant Omega frequently mistook him for beta due to his ability to control his pheromones to the level of absolute cleanliness. The current rhyme was very unusual for Seung-joon.

Seung-joon was at a loss for words. Only his eyelids rolled around dizzily with embarrassment. And Ji-an correctly interpreted all of Seung-joon’s signals. Ji-an laughed until the corners of his eyes moistened and then muttered.

“Oh, I’m flattered. Such a high class man becomes an ordinary man in front of me.”

Ji-an’s cynicism had disappeared as he stared at Seung-joon, and his liveliness shone through. Ji-an appeared more happy than embarrassed.

Then something strange happens. For the first time in his life, Seung-joon felt like an ordinary man, as Ji-an said. Seung-joon was nothing more than an ordinary man at the time, desiring things he couldn’t afford even if he gathered all of his wealth. Obviously, honor could not be bought with money.

Seung-joon felt weirdly proud of himself for making Ji-an happy. His reward was Ji-an’s laughter. So Seung-joon set out to make this high-spirited superstar laugh. He’d feel like a medalist then.

“I’m really in trouble…”

That was the signal. Ji-an walked backward to his accommodation. Seung-joon wiped his lips at him as if possessed and followed him.

Ji-an’s lips were red and moist, and they were smooth and soft. In his breath, he could taste the muggy Malta air. The dominant Omega pheromone, which was pleasantly refreshing, surged all over the body. They said love at first sight was like a car accident because it was irresistible.

Seung-joon was Ji-an’s first time. Nonetheless, he was the only person who made him understand why God had made Seung-joon born as an Alpha.

That was the beginning of their relationship when Seung-joon felt like he was walking on clouds the whole time. 365 days with Ji-an was a hot Malta with the sun rising every day. It seemed that no matter what he gave, he would not give up. It was the same no matter what was stolen.

Seung-joon informed Chairman Woo exactly one year after the night he spent with Ji-an in Malta, ‘Now that all the people know that this is the case, even the chairman cannot hold on to this marriage.’ Chairman Woo had passed his sixtieth birthday, but his hands were more stingy than any other man’s.

Seung-joon didn’t give his father a tingling slap on the cheek for the marriage that would end after only two years. On Ji-an had to be a hundred years old to fulfill the budget for today’s shame.

***

People often say that marriage is difficult. It was an ignorant saying that he didn’t know for a long time. Anyone who knew how much Seung-joon had given up to have Ji-an as his wife would never say that another marriage would be difficult.

The process of Ji-an rising from ‘the nation’s first love’ to ‘the prince’s wife’ was too much.

Seung-joon has seen all of the devastating episodes that appear in content about the love between the chaebol and the common people.

After many twists and turns, Seung-joon’s prescription was to publicly announce his marriage to Ji-an. Chairman Woo’s authority to drop a statement to retaliate did not prevent an entertainment publication from reporting that a billionaire with a tall figure who had only appeared in a drama openly proposed to an idol-turned-actor who was on the rise.

While On Ji-an’s Cinderella story was consumed in the entertainment world, TK Group’s stock price plummeted. As Seung-joon’s political marriage fell apart, business plans worth hundreds of billions won crumbled one after the other.

The market was affected by the predicted liquidation of value assets as a result of the merging of both families. Criticism from the business and political worlds poured in. Even the board of directors, who had previously supported Seung-joon, turned their backs on him. Chairman Woo gave in to demands to rewrite the will. Seung-joon was demoted to representing the group’s country’s official inactive business division.

Still, he endured it because it was something he had to go through once. Seung-joon was as insane as that.

Even Ji-an, who didn’t know all about Seung-joon’s situation at the moment, thought the situation seemed to be quite serious. Shortly before the wedding, Ji-an approached Seung-joon, who was alone in the penthouse living room with no lights on, and asked,

‘What should I do if hyung goes bankrupt because of me?’

‘Are you going to throw me away?’

To match Seung-joon’s jokes, Ji-an pretended to be worried, saying, “Well.” A gentle smile was placed on his lips and his eyes looked up towards the ceiling. Seung-joon thought he was being cute like that, so he grabbed Ji-an’s hand and sat him on his lap. Ji-an soon turned worried and stroked Seung-joon’s hair.

Although Ji-an was clever, he was oblivious to the fundamentals of the world driven by capital. So Seung-joon didn’t want to tell Ji-an about his embarrassing situation. He intended to shield Ji-an from the harsh realities of life, and he wanted him to be immersed in sweet fantasies like the protagonist in a romance movie in which he appeared. As a result, Seung-joon laughed as if all of his problems were insignificant.

‘I just need to keep it simple.’

Seung-joon whispered in the space between Ji-an and his lips. Ji-an looked at Seung-joon with a mischievous expression as if he knew the definition of the word simple.

‘If it doesn’t work out, we’ll live a regular life. Like everyone else, let’s take collateral for building in Gangnam one by one, build a beach house in Malibu, and raise our children. It would be difficult to get three meals a day if we took a private airplane to a 10-star hotel, but you won’t go hungry if you leave about five housekeepers.’

Seung-joon’s answer made Ji-an laugh. That was the time when he felt like he had won a medal.

It took half a year for the stock price, which had been turned upside down by an unexpected marriage announcement, to stabilize. After then, it took Seung-joon a year and six months to reclaim his position as TK Group’s managing director. He had worked so hard that his soul felt separated from his body. As a result, there was little uproar when Chairman Woo reappointed Seung-joon as successor.

That was only a few months ago. Ji-an threw the divorce papers in front of Seung-joon just as he was going to announce his late glory due to marriage.

But it wasn’t only that Seung-joon had been drinking for a week after receiving a divorce agreement. The heavy drinking began approximately a week after Ji-an left the house with two 28-inch suitcases.

Seung-joon was also indifferent. While ignoring Ji-an’s request for divorce, he thought, ‘Let’s see how you do.’

There was no exaggeration to say that there was no divorce in the Woo family. The man who stamped the marriage registration with Ji-an was unable to get a refund due to a simple change of heart. If he thought that it was such an easy family, he would have been seriously mistaken.

However, Seung-joon was unaware that the drastic method he used for marriage might also be used for divorce.

It was the fourth day since Seung-joon’s wife ran away from home.

Seung-joon sat in his office, anxiously browsing the internet for articles that were summarized at a glance, ‘I knew it!’ Seung-joon said quietly to his secretary, Jang Ki-do.

“Ki-do hyung. How many shares do you own in our company?”

Secretary Jang raised his indifferent face and locked his stare on Seung-joon. Seung-joon also reacted bluntly and added.

“Sell everything.”

The articles that Seung-joon quickly scanned contained one thing.

The center of the idol group “Stryker,” which debuted 11 years ago and enjoyed unprecedented popularity both at home and abroad for about 7 years. After becoming an actor, he landed the lead role in Chungmuro’s comet, which attracted 10 million viewers. The nation’s first love, who mysteriously retired after falling in love with an unrivaled capitalist while rushing to the peak of his career.

Former superstar On Ji-an was preparing to file a divorce suit with Woo of T* group.

***

It took half a day to get the article about On Ji-an’s divorce case. However, it was three days later that Seung-joon invited him to the Sky Lounge of the TK Club luxury brand hotel.

It was an urgent matter to publish a correction article and deal with the situation. Above all, Seung-joon was so angry on that day that it seemed he would be unable to hold a discussion. He never gave up his schedule because Ji-an said he was ‘busy.’

Seung-joon opened his mouth before Ji-an, who had arrived at the Sky Lounge much later than expected and sat across from him.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“It’s out in advance.”

Ji-an put his sunglasses down on the table.

“I didn’t publish the article. It’s not true. It’s my right to be angry too.”

Seung-joon, who was speechless at Ji-an’s firm stance, opened his mouth. The answer came after a while.

“Even if it wasn’t intentional, it must have been your side that leaked.”

“Maybe.”

Ji-an had a soft expression on his face as he admitted his mistake. His posture was contorted as he sat cross-legged on the chair. That made even the most perfect Ji-an look a bit unpleasant. Ji-an squeezed his softly smiling lips and let out a small sigh as Seung-joon waved his hands and glared at him.

“Things like this, those things that happen when we live together. Weren’t we agreed to take care of it ourselves? We decided not to blame each other.”

Of course, it was. Seung-joon, on the other hand, was determined not to be attached to the numerous things he had to give up due to marriage. It didn’t mean he’d be patient with his wife’s fickleness in getting a divorce since life had become boring. Seung-joon closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“You should have been more careful. We’ve been living together for two years, and you still don’t grasp the position of the man you’re married to and how this incident has affected him?”

“… I don’t know that the person who couldn’t see my face asked me to see him so he could be angry. Are the documents ready?”

Seung-joon furrowed his brow. He wasn’t sure if his heart was pounding so rapidly that it hurt because he was angry or because he was hurt.

“How could you say something like that when you had no idea how much work I had done to get this marriage?”