When the Hunters Come Knocking

The phone’s ringtone rang loudly.

I pulled out the whining phone from my pocket and checked the caller, and as expected, it was Chairman Seong.

“Just a moment. I’ll take this call. Hello?”

[It’s your grandfather. Chanyeong. Have you been well?]

Chairman Seong’s voice carried a chilling edge, as if he were somewhat angry.

I trembled inwardly, wondering if I had done something wrong.

“I’ve been well. How about you, Grandfather?”

[I have not been well.]

“Uh… is it because of me?”

[No. Because of the Alphas chasing you. Those brats don’t seem to have any intention of giving up.]

‘Did something happen between Chairman Seong and the male leads without me knowing?’

From the last phone call, what I learned was that, unexpectedly, Chairman Seong treated me more favorably than I had thought.

Whether that was due to guilt or genuine affection for his grandson, I didn’t know, but it was advantageous for me.

‘Even though I said I wouldn’t return to the main house, it’s unexpected that he’s trying to protect me.’

Secretary Choi probably didn’t tell the chairman, but since I had completely cut off my ties with the male leads and come down here, it seemed Chairman Seong had noticed that I felt uncomfortable with them.

He didn’t interfere, but just giving me information like this and letting me have options was a great help.

As someone who had the strongest backing in this world, I felt relieved that I could be a bit more at ease.

“Do you happen to know why the Alphas are looking for me?”

[I haven’t fully grasped that either. It seems each of them has something they want to ask you… but I truly can’t understand why they’re so obsessed.]

Obsessed.

Wow, that was really the most ill-fitting emotion for the male leads to have toward Seong Chanyeong.

Goosebumps rose along my arms.

“I must have done something really wrong….”

The real Seong Chanyeong was trash beyond my expectations.

Why was it that he caused all the trouble, yet an innocent person had to clean up the aftermath?

[Still, from what I heard by having someone eavesdrop on that group of Alphas, I can roughly guess something.]

“What is it?”

[They wanted to know why you suddenly left. And you…]

“Me?”

[…No. This old man must be getting forgetful. It’s nothing, so forget it.]

It sounded like something important, but judging by how he glossed over it, maybe it wasn’t.

[Right. I almost forgot something important. Those brats will soon come to where you live.]

This grandfather had been ‘letting me be.’

Even though he had already found out where my house was, he hadn’t dragged me back, and I felt grateful for that.

It was a good thing I had taken a firm stance over the phone.

“May I ask when?”

[Right away. They will probably arrive in a few minutes.]

“Pardon?”

Following the news that the original work’s main omega had become an Alpha, big news kept exploding one after another.

I knew they would come, but I didn’t expect them to barge in this suddenly.

As soon as Chairman Seong finished speaking, loud banging sounds came from the front gate.

“Hey! Seong Chanyeong! You’re in there, right?”

‘This is a voice I haven’t heard before.’

If it was a male lead I hadn’t met yet, then it would be Cha Yoonchan or Yoo Iseo.

If it followed the original description, that boyish voice was definitely Cha Yoonchan.

In the end, I got up from my seat without even taking a single bite of the delicious soy-marinated crab prepared by the housekeeper.

“Mr. Seo Eunsu, we should go out to the gate together.”

The peculiar part-time period had come to an end.

It was time to send Cinderella back to the princes.

Chanyeong held a hoe that could smash the male leads’ heads and a broom that could slap their faces, one in each hand.

With a serious expression like a general heading into battle, Seo Eunsu found Chanyeong quite fascinating.

‘Even though I’m an Alpha, he’s not trying to make me do anything separately.’

Even when he was an Omega, Seo Eunsu possessed somewhat abnormal brute strength.

With that manifesting as an Alpha, it had become even stronger.

If an Alpha directly approached Chanyeong, he was strong enough to throw them away.

So, inwardly, Eunsu thought that Chanyeong would ask him to chase away the Alphas who had tracked down his address.

–“We should resolve it through conversation. It would be good if Mr. Seo Eunsu could help with that.”

However, Seong Chanyeong did not want Seo Eunsu’s physical help.

He simply asked him to indirectly let the male leads know that they liked him and to cooperate so that they would leave quietly.

‘Why do something so troublesome?’

From Seo Eunsu’s perspective, it was a countermeasure he could not understand well.

Seong Chanyeong had a lot of money.

Enough that he could live his entire life without worrying about money.

He stood at the peak of wealth that could not be compared to Seo Eunsu.

Wealth could attract many things.

People’s favor, human relationships, even the empty shell of love, even if it was false.

However, the previous Chanyeong was wretched.

Despite having so much money, his family neglected him, the Alphas he liked hated him, and he envied Seo Eunsu, who had almost nothing, simply because his traits were superior.

The Seong Chanyeong of that time was truly unsightly.

In order to obtain love he could not have, he tried to ruin Seo Eunsu’s life.

He was swimming in a grand delusion that if he did so, he could receive the love of the Alphas who liked Seo Eunsu.

–“How can you have so easily what I couldn’t get!”

Cha Yoonchan? Yoo Iseo? Joo Taegang?

It was some day when no one knew how many confessions he had made.

Seong Chanyeong dragged Baek Dojun along and came in front of Seo Eunsu’s house, shedding unsightly tears.

–“I hate you. I hate you for not knowing how to be grateful even though you easily grasped love.

What does it feel like? Having such amazing men cling to you? Does it feel like you’re stepping on clouds out of happiness?”

Seong Chanyeong crying and pouring out complaints in front of Seo Eunsu was unpleasant to watch.

It was also ridiculous how he cried like the most pitiful victim in the world.

‘When in fact, who is the one who has everything?’

Just as Seong Chanyeong envied Seo Eunsu and burned with inferiority, Seo Eunsu also often hated Seong Chanyeong.

His parents were alive, and when he went home, he had family.

A strong grandfather and the tremendous background of a chaebol family.

And although he hated to admit it, even a beautiful face.

It proved that he was born with a life that lacked nothing.

Yes, Seo Eunsu hated Seong Chanyeong.

He had hated him.

He had declared that he would never view him favorably for the rest of his life.

In reality, it almost turned out that way.

That was, until Seong Chanyeong, who had been in seclusion, suddenly came with a large flower basket, an enormous sum of compensation, and a written pledge promising no contact.

“…Why are you acting like someone who died and came back to life?”

He couldn’t understand it.

Seo Eunsu accepted the check and carefully hid it deep inside the house.

The desire to deposit it in the bank rose up, but he endured it to protect his pride.

‘If I deposit this money, he might later demand it back with interest added.’

Seong Chanyeong was vicious.

He seemed like someone who was used to tormenting Seo Eunsu without discrimination, from childish acts to dirty and petty behavior.

He wasn’t even human.

Just a beast with money who only knew how to throw tantrums.

‘This must also be an attempt to insult and mock me. I won’t be fooled.’

After Seong Chanyeong’s sudden and suspicious visit, Seo Eunsu heightened his guard.

In case there might be an attempt to kidnap him, he even prepared a baseball bat to knock out whoever was sent.

…But nothing happened.

Even as the dates on the calendar flipped quickly, Seong Chanyeong did not show himself in front of Seo Eunsu.

It also seemed that he did not approach the four Alphas he had a crush on, whom he used to encounter ‘coincidentally’ with strange frequency.

What was even more curious was that as soon as Seong Chanyeong, who had been like an aching tooth, disappeared, the Alphas began to waver.

Seo Eunsu quietly observed the four Alphas who approached him under the pretense of being friends, sponsors, or regular customers.

Unlike usual, their presence had dulled.

They often seemed absent-minded, or even while talking to Seo Eunsu, their eyes appeared unfocused somewhere.

‘Did their interest shift?’

Seo Eunsu keenly picked up on such changes.

As a dominant Omega, he was sharp in sensing atmospheres, yet there was one reason he pretended not to notice the Alphas’ affection.

‘I don’t welcome an Alpha’s interest.’

An era of equality.

A modern society where the human rights of Omegas were guaranteed just as much as those of Alphas and Betas.

On the surface, it appeared very peaceful.

But if one looked into it in detail, discrimination based on traits remained, just as in the past humans discriminated against each other by race and treated them like zoo animals.

For example, compared to dominant traits, recessive ones were considered inferior, and compared to Alphas, the image of Omegas was that of fragile and weak beings, like protected animals that needed to be guarded.

Humans born as Omegas inevitably became sensitive to the emotions others directed at them.

Because they constantly had to suffer from affection they did not want.

Seo Eunsu was the same.

Poor, having lost his parents early, and an Omega with only a pretty face, there were many who coveted him since he was young.

After going through threats from perverts whose faces he couldn’t even remember, Seo Eunsu became hardened.

His heart became rigid.

Even as he tried to think positively and live kindly, striving to survive his impoverished reality, his insides were rotting.

‘When we met for the last apology, Seong Chanyeong’s eyes were clear, unlike usual.’

A transparent and upright gaze that seemed to show everything inside.

It was completely different from the past when it had been twisted and murky.

What had changed?

He couldn’t know, but he was curious.

He felt regretful thinking they would never meet again.

Just when he thought they would live without ever crossing paths again, someone claiming to be Chanyeong’s secretary contacted him.

[The young master wishes to hire you.]