The One Who Ran From His Own Name

Drip, drip, drip.

The darkness kindly concealed the nature of the liquid pooling across the floor.

There was no way to tell whether it was rainwater, blood, tears, or something coughed up by someone dying.

The tip of a black shoe nudged the face of a collapsed man, careless and light.

“Stay conscious, yeah?”

Woo Jaeyoung’s cold mockery poured down over the sprawled bodies.

“Didn’t you hear? Neither Woo Jaeyoung nor his men allow anyone to die before their debts are settled.”

“U-ugh… uuugh… ah, ngh…”

Clicking his tongue, the man tapped the object in his hand against the cement floor.

A dull sound rang from the blunt end of an aluminum bat.

“Who pulled out our guest’s tongue without permission? I don’t remember ordering that.”

The men waiting nearby hurried to respond.

“No, hyungnim. Aside from roughing them up a bit, we didn’t cut or pull anything out.”

“Yes, sir. We held back well.”

“Then why the hell can’t this bastard talk?”

“That’s… probably because he’s scared stiff.”

“Ah, really?”

Letting out a short laugh, Woo Jaeyoung crouched down.

Even folded in half, his nearly 190 cm frame still radiated a feral intensity.

With rough hands, he undid a few buttons of his shirt and tilted his head lazily, the scar along his jaw catching faint light and giving off an unsettling presence.

“We haven’t even started yet, so what’s there to be scared of? It’s kids who get dragged in without knowing anything who should be afraid.

Not pieces of shit like you who got caught after pulling dirty tricks—dragged here like dogs on Boknal.”

“Hmm, let’s see.”

With a faintly amused voice, he tapped the bat lightly against a few of the fallen men in turn.

“Which one should I break first to save some time…?”

The man closest to him forced his mouth open, stammering.

His jaw, already half-crushed from the beating, barely moved.

“P-please… ugh… spare me…”

“Hmm?”

The smile vanished from Woo Jaeyoung’s sharply carved face.

“Spare you?”

It was a desperate plea.

His trembling voice even carried a pitiful edge.

But he had chosen the wrong person.

“Did he say that too?”

Jaeyoung’s voice cut in like a honed blade.

“That little kid you kidnapped—did he beg for his life too?

Did he grab your ankles and beg you to at least spare the child in his stomach?”

It wasn’t really a question. He already knew the answer.

Yoo Sowon wouldn’t have even managed such a simple plea.

He would have just curled in on himself, praying for that horrifying time—like an uninvited guest—to pass.

Without even understanding what he had done wrong.

The silence that followed was unpleasant.

Jaeyoung turned his neck slightly and muttered darkly.

“…Yeah. Hearing it out loud makes it even more f*cking disgusting.”

“Then you should shut up together.”

“…”

“No—if you’re going to beg, don’t beg to live. Beg to die.”

Beg to die peacefully.

At the very least, beg to die quickly.

Beg for even a sliver of this hell to be shortened.

Of course, even if they begged until their hands and feet gave out, he had no intention of granting it.

Woo Jaeyoung slowly rose to his feet.

A pitch-black shadow swallowed its prey whole.

It was unpleasant.

Everything within his perception filled him with irritation.

The suit soaked through with rain and blood.

The damp early-summer night seeping into his loosened shirt.

The faint exhaustion after exertion.

The remnants of fading adrenaline.

And above all, the sticky truth of that dark void he had finally uncovered.

‘At first, we just thought he was a pretty omega the northern branch head kept around. That’s all.

We figured since you’re not the type to drag people into bed, maybe it was just a whim, so we tested the waters a bit.

And that little thing started crying, saying he meant nothing to you.’

It hadn’t even taken a few hours after he stepped in for them to spill everything through tears and snot.

He didn’t like any of it, but that had been the point.

So he listened in silence.

‘They said he was just another worthless omega lying at your feet, not even useful as bait.

And once we checked, he was an inferior omega, in poor condition, didn’t know anything about Taehan… Sure, his face was pretty, but there was nothing useful about him. So we even talked about “disposing” of him.’

Dispose.

At that word, his mind had snapped for a moment.

It took nearly an hour—and three subordinates physically restraining him, shouting that he couldn’t kill them yet—for his vision to clear and his thoughts to return.

The Gong family, former power holders of Taehan Capital, had thrown themselves into the underworld back when things were far more vile and brutal.

Even the fact that Gong Chanhyuk’s father had taken in, as his wife, a madam who controlled the Seoul area said enough.

“Disposal” was one of their old methods.

They would capture omegas, force their pheromones into overdrive, and use them in twisted ways.

Whether the omega’s body broke down or their mind shattered was of no concern to them.

‘But even after waiting a month, his heat cycle didn’t come.’

Of course it wouldn’t.

An omega carrying a fetus doesn’t go into heat.

And as an inferior omega, pheromone-related drugs wouldn’t work well either.

Frustrated after hitting a wall, they vented their anger on Yoo Sowon’s body.

Testing drugs on him.

Tossing him around.

Treating his suffering as entertainment.

“Keep the junkie’s hands. Didn’t Gong Chanhyuk say he’s opening a new club next month? Perfect opening gift.”

A full-scale war with Gong Chanhyuk was now only a matter of time.

The men he had just dealt with were proof enough, being from an organization under the Gong family.

For a moment, someone’s face came to mind someone who would welcome this fight more than anyone.

Along with the memory of that same person casually piling work onto him while he was busy searching for Sowon.

The one who ordered it. The one who used others. The ones who carried it out.

All of them were enemies.

Let’s think slowly.

Taking a deep breath with a cigarette between his lips, Woo Jaeyoung inhaled deeply.

The harsh smoke filled his lungs, easing the tightness in his chest just a little.

“Killing them all comes later… for today, I’m heading back.”

The night was still deep. Moving quickly had paid off.

“You handle the rest.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll package the hands nicely.”

Whether they added ribbons or glitter was up to them.

Jaeyoung flicked his fingers dismissively and held out his palm.

He wanted his phone from the table in the corner.

Up until the moment he turned it on, his expression remained bored and irritated.

But—

A burst of white light swallowed his face as an alert appeared.

[Front Door Unlocked Notification]
01:04 AM

His dark eyes widened as he checked the time again.
2:30 AM.

“…f*ck.”

Grinding his teeth, Woo Jaeyoung called out sharply.

“Send every fast bastard we’ve got. Sweep my entire house area.”

“Sir? Suddenly—”

“Yoo Sowon.”

His grip tightened around the phone.

“Find Yoo Sowon.”

It was dark all around.

Without even thinking to bring an umbrella, I had come out blindly.

The road sloped steeply downward, dim and uneven.

With the wealthy neighborhood at my back, I staggered down like someone drunk.

As the rain soaked me through, my mind gradually cleared, and the faint haze clinging to my senses seemed to wash away.

“…”

I dreamed of ‘Yoo Sowon.’

Along with the unpleasant sensation of lingering memories seeping into me.

The first time I entered this house, it had been midday.

‘Yoo Sowon’ had smiled brightly, asking Woo Jaeyoung to show him around.

Where the sunlight hit best, whether he could put plants on the balcony, where the bedroom was, whether delivery services came this far—he had chattered endlessly, his face full of excitement.

‘I guess I wanted to live somewhere like this with you, hyung.’

‘Woo Jaeyoung’ had smoked quietly the whole time before replying flatly,

‘It is a dream house, isn’t it? This is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country.’

‘I’m not talking about money.’

‘What in this world runs without money?’

‘Ugh. You really don’t get romance, do you? You’re seriously no fun sometimes.’

‘Yoo Sowon’ had truly wanted to live with him.
The moment he turned away with a feigned cheerful voice, a lump of hot disappointment rose in his throat.

He didn’t mean he wanted to build a grand house on the most expensive land in the country.

He didn’t mean he wanted to live in a massive mansion with more rooms than he could count.

He just wanted to live under one roof with someone he loved—two toothbrushes, two cups—and dream about the future together.

In that sense…‘Yoo Sowon’ had never actually lived with ‘Woo Jaeyoung’ at all.

“…That’s rough.”

Holding my throbbing head, I let out a small laugh.

This was the first time I felt this guilty about replacing someone.

If the real Yoo Sowon had been here, he would have embraced the clinging Woo Jaeyoung and been happy.

He would have forgiven him, agreed to go back together, said they could resolve misunderstandings, that they just shouldn’t repeat the same mistakes, that they could have another child—he would have comforted him gently.

Those were things I couldn’t do.

Only after thinking that far did it become painfully clear—

I was not ‘Yoo Sowon.’

And because of that, it felt like I shouldn’t stay here.

For the first time,

I understood the choice of the Yoo Sowon who had run away from his own wish.