The Day He Slammed the Door on Them

“Yeah. I did call you that, you bastard. Who do you think you are, barging into someone else’s house like a thug and throwing manners out the window? Are you insane?”

There was no one who could step forward in front of Chanyeong, who was practically screaming I’m furious with his entire body.

Just as he said, they had dug into his affairs and tracked him down, so they had nothing to say.

“I told you, didn’t I? I said I was sorry. I apologized. I said let’s not run into each other anymore, so why did you go this far to find me?”

With blazing eyes, Chanyeong burned with the will to beat at least one of them senseless.

Gulp. Whoever it was, someone swallowed nervously.

In front of a Beta (as they believed), five Alphas shrank back.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

General came running to Chanyeong’s side, baring his teeth and growling along with him.

“Grrr…”

Even if a small, cute dog like a snowball showed its teeth, it wasn’t scary at all, but to Chanyeong, it was an incredibly moving moment.

‘Dogs really are amazing! Better than people!’

Praising his baby inwardly, Chanyeong decided he would give General a special meal if he managed to drive the male leads away.

There was boiled chicken the housekeeper had stubbornly left in the fridge, so he resolved to shred it up and give it to him.

“Woof! Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”

General was angry.

He had caught the strong scent of strange males invading the cozy home he shared with his dad, only to find four large humans ganging up to intimidate him.

Filled with determination to protect his dad—even if it meant biting—General growled fiercely, and Chanyeong scooped him up to calm him down.

Oh my baby, my precious little one.

“Woof! Woof woof!”

“General. Those guys are dirty. Don’t bite them. You’ll get hurt.”

“Why are we ‘dirty’—”

“Shut up. You stalkers.”

Even though they wanted to protest, the Alphas stayed silent like mute fools.

They were stalkers right now.

Coming to someone’s house uninvited was undeniably unpleasant behavior.

“I’m not one of them, right?”

“Mr. Seo Eunsu is fine. I invited him first.”

At Seo Eunsu’s quiet question, Chanyeong answered immediately that he was excluded.

The Alphas’ shoulders drooped by about a centimeter.

Meanwhile, brave little General kept sticking his soft, squishy head forward toward the men, maintaining his threatening stance.

“Woof! Woof woof! Grrr…”

Watching the dog bark with all his might to protect his owner, the Alphas felt something strange.

‘That dog is barking to protect Seong Chanyeong?’

‘He must’ve treated it really well. For some reason, that pisses me off.’

‘…You can tell he dotes on it. Its fur is so clean and glossy. He should take care of himself like that instead.’

‘I wonder if he’s good at taming people too. I kind of want to find out.’

From Baek Dojun to Yoo Iseo, each of them stared at General in disbelief.

As they searched for Seong Chanyeong, they had all imagined what it would be like when they finally met him.

Most of them had assumed that Chanyeong would show signs of happiness the moment he saw them.

Especially Cha Yoonchan and Yoo Iseo, who had only received a unilateral no-contact notice via text.

Even Yoo Iseo, who had been informed that Chanyeong had changed, thought so.

Joo Taegang seemed too shocked to speak.

That was probably the wisest choice.

If he had kept talking, Chanyeong would have swung the broom of justice and chased them off like flies.

The one who barely regained composure was Baek Dojun, who cautiously asked,

“Do you really hate that we came that much?”

“Yeah.”

“……”

The atmosphere turned even colder.

Taking his owner’s firm rejection as permission, General barked even louder.

“Woof! Woof! Grrr!”

“To be honest, Baek Dojun, you do realize how ridiculous that question is, right? That’s the exact thing I used to say all the time, isn’t it?”

Though the Chanyeong here wasn’t the real one, he had read the original and knew how often Seong Chanyeong had asked that same question to the Alphas he chased after.

“…I’m sorry.”

Baek Dojun muttered reluctantly, barely audible.

Knowing what he knew, it wasn’t hard to understand how awful they must look to Chanyeong now.

But instead of softening, Chanyeong’s expression twisted further at the apology.

“If you know that, then get out. All of you, get out. I’m not dying, I’m perfectly happy here like this is paradise, so don’t show your faces again.”

At some point, the household staff had gathered beside Chanyeong.

Like their employer, each of them held a rake, broom, or shovel, glaring fiercely at the Alphas.

Of course, Seo Eunsu, the part-timer, also stepped beside Chanyeong.

“You heard him.”

“……”

There was no way to win.

Baek Dojun, Cha Yoonchan, Joo Taegang, and Yoo Iseo eventually retreated, unable to withstand Chanyeong’s furious group.

The door slammed shut with a loud bang.

“Don’t ever come back!”

It was their first time being chased away like this, practically with salt thrown after them.

For Alphas who had always lived receiving admiration and favor wherever they went, it was shocking.

“…This is really unexpected.”

Resting at the nearest hotel, Yoo Iseo muttered while smoking.

His brows were faintly furrowed, and several cigarette butts were already crushed in the ashtray beside him.

“They said he was dying, but he looked pretty lively to me.”

Perhaps his health was still holding up, because Seong Chanyeong seemed perfectly fine.

His fiery attitude wasn’t a bad thing.

“What do you think, Taegang?”

Yoo Iseo, smoking on the balcony, looked over at Joo Taegang.

Since it was a small countryside hotel, the Alphas had split into two rooms.

Yoo Iseo was sharing a room with Joo Taegang.

Joo Taegang lay on the bed with his arm over his eyes.

He hadn’t even changed clothes and was still in his disheveled suit.

He had been like that the entire time since arriving.

At Yoo Iseo’s question, Joo Taegang turned his body as if annoyed and replied,

“I don’t know. As long as he’s not dead, that’s enough.”

“Hm. That makes it sound like you actually wanted Seong Chanyeong to live. You even said earlier we should take him to the hospital right away.”

“When did I say that?”

“Already losing your memory? Want me to recommend a neurologist? I know someone excellent in that field.”

‘This bastard…’

Narrowing his eyes, Yoo Iseo looked like a snake.

Whenever there was information he didn’t know, he became like that.

He liked controlling things within predictable bounds.

‘As if I wasn’t already in a foul mood. Makes me want to gouge his eyes out.’

If Yoo Iseo weren’t a top-tier Alpha, Joo Taegang would have already punched him in the stomach.

But since Yoo Iseo had the superior trait, Taegang didn’t want to take a pointless risk.

‘And it’s a hassle.’

More than that, all his attention was tied up with Seong Chanyeong, leaving him no energy to fight Yoo Iseo.
He was exhausted.

Perhaps sensing that, Yoo Iseo didn’t provoke him further.

“Are we sure Seong Chanyeong is sick? You said he is, Taegang, but he seemed way too spirited for me to believe it.”

“Doesn’t the fact that Chairman Seong of Seong Group searched the entire country for him like we did make it credible?”

“But Chairman Seong’s pursuit stopped. As if he gave up or resigned himself. Maybe some kind of deal happened between him and Seong Chanyeong.”

Though Yoo Iseo was getting close to the truth, the lack of evidence led him to a slightly off conclusion.

There had been no deal—just a grandfather crying in guilt and a grandson awkwardly trying to comfort him.

“What value does Seong Chanyeong even have to strike a deal with someone like Chairman Seong? And if the search stopped, there’s only one conclusion. They gave up because he’s about to die.”

A dying patient couldn’t become the successor of a corporation.

It was unfortunate if he was the only son, but his three older sisters were all Alphas and elite talents, so it wouldn’t be hard to give up.

A world that ran purely on calculation and profit was like a jungle.

Survival of the fittest was common in chaebol families.

Moreover, Seong Chanyeong had a notorious track record of chasing Alphas and harassing Seo Eunsu.

From a corporate perspective that valued image, he was a thorn in their side.

‘Children of chaebol families are basically treated like celebrities.’

There were no articles about Seong Chanyeong online, in the news, or in newspapers.

They had likely been buried with money.

Still, everyone in business circles knew he was treated like an outcast within Seong Group.

At parties where corporate heirs gathered, some foolish, low-tier brats had mocked him to boost their own sense of superiority.

All of them were crushed under Seong Group’s iron hand and never dared act up again.

That was all the Seong Group’s backing had done for him.

And now, even that seemed to be gone.

“If they hadn’t given up on him, they would’ve tried to drag him to the hospital somehow. But they didn’t. So there’s only one answer.”

They left him to die from a terminal illness.

“……”

“A sick chicken can’t lay eggs. And Seong Chanyeong wasn’t even a golden goose, so it’s not surprising.”

Listening quietly, Yoo Iseo’s face subtly—just barely—tightened.

‘Huh?’

Did I see that wrong?