Chapter 4: Prey

Bae the butler returned after barely thirty minutes had passed.

At Woo Seon-kyung’s request that he wanted a drink, he took him to the lounge on the first floor of the same hotel.

By special request, he secured a seat tucked away from prying eyes.

He let Seon-kyung have some time alone there.

Outwardly, he seemed fairly composed.

Now and then he lowered his head with a face that looked like it might burst into tears, but after some time passed, he appeared to be pulling himself together.

‘It’s fine now. Let’s go.’

‘Please stay here for a moment. I’ll bring the car around.’

It didn’t take long to drive the parked car up to the hotel entrance.

After arriving on the first floor, Bae the butler called Woo Seon-kyung several times.

When the calls didn’t connect, he eventually came to fetch him in person—only to find a glass of whiskey that hadn’t been touched at all, and Seon-kyung’s phone left vibrating forlornly on the table.

The moment he saw the empty seat, Bae’s heart sank heavily.

He rushed over to the lounge manager and asked urgently,

“President Woo—when did he leave?”

“What? Uh… it’s been a while since he stepped away. Maybe he went to the restroom?”

“Please check for me. And let’s look at the CCTV.”

At Bae’s insistence, hotel staff searched every corner of the premises for the missing man.

They combed not only the lounge but also the lobby restrooms and lounges outside, yet Woo Seon-kyung was nowhere to be found.

In the end, they even had to call the police and trace his movements through the CCTV footage.

***

At that very moment, the person everyone was searching for was wandering the cold streets.

After leaving the hotel, Woo Seon-kyung walked aimlessly, without a car, with nothing but his body.

The weather was chilly enough to freeze the rims of his ears.

It seemed it had rained earlier—damp air and the smell of wet earth rose from the ground.

It was past 2 a.m., so there were few people out on the streets.

The occasional passersby were mostly drunk on their way home, swaying unsteadily—no different from Seon-kyung himself.

He walked without purpose.

He crossed crosswalks even when the light was red, and wandered through alley after alley like someone who had lost all sense of direction.

Walking like that, he eventually came upon a wide river.

It was his first time crossing the large bridge on foot—a bridge he usually only ever drove across.

The railings of the long bridge were covered in writing, as if someone had scribbled endlessly upon them.

They were probably messages meant to stop people who had decided on an extreme choice.

As he read slogans like How was your day today? with his eyes, Seon-kyung muttered softly,

“It was horrible.”

When he let out a suffocating sigh, pure white breath spilled out into the air.

No matter how overwhelming the situation felt, it wasn’t enough to make him consider suicide.

Woo Seon-kyung still had many things he needed to do.

There were many things he couldn’t give up.

Just for today, he decided, I’ll let myself go completely off track. Starting tomorrow, I’ll go back to who I’m supposed to be.

After crossing the long bridge, the neighborhood changed, and so did the atmosphere around him.

Instead of bright, bustling streets, a quiet residential area appeared.

I’ve come too far. Should I head back?

He reached for his phone to call Bae the butler, but his pocket felt empty.

Only then did he realize he had left his phone in the lounge.

Thankfully, he still had his wallet—he figured he could at least catch a taxi.

He searched for the nearest bus stop.

It was already past the time of the last bus, and the electronic board displaying arrival times was dark and lifeless.

He sat on a dark, silent bench and waited for a taxi to come by.

Each time a car passed on the road, he stretched out his hand, but most of them drove past him with passengers already inside.

As time passed, his body—clad only in a thin coat—grew stiff with cold.

Before he realized it, even the passing cars had grown scarce, leaving the road eerily quiet.

“Been out here since dawn, and that bastard stole my job!”

“Why was it your job? Did someone promise it to you or what?”

Drunk men, reeking of alcohol, were approaching while shouting loudly.

They looked like day laborers from nearby.

It was the sound of human voices he hadn’t heard in a while on that silent street—but it wasn’t welcome at all.

Seon-kyung subtly shrank back, keeping an eye on the drunk men.

“Huh? You’re a young guy. Looks like you’ve had a drink too, yeah?”

One of the drunks glanced at Seon-kyung and struck up a conversation.

“Got a cigarette on you?”

“I don’t smoke.”

“Then how about buying me a pack?”

“…..”

“You look loaded. Just buy a pack for these poor old men, huh? Would be even better if you got us some soju too.”

“Mr. Kim, there you go again, spouting bullshit.”

Though someone nearby rebuked him for what was practically a threat, the drunk man didn’t care.

It was just cigarette money, he argued loudly.

“You deaf or what? You fucker—do I look pathetic to you? You think you can just look down on people ’cause they’re broke?!”

“Take this and go on your way.”

The man advancing threateningly reeked of stale tobacco and harsh alcohol.

Thinking it was better to give him a few bills than get tangled up, Seon-kyung pulled out a fifty-thousand-won note from his wallet and handed it over.

“…..”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected large bill.

He’d thought this well-dressed guy probably had some money, but he hadn’t expected it to be this easy.

Naturally, his gaze drifted to the wallet still in Seon-kyung’s hand.

He couldn’t help wondering just how much was inside that thick brown leather wallet.

He went back to his group and muttered something to them.

They kept glancing over at Seon-kyung, and an uneasy feeling crept over him.

He couldn’t stay there any longer.

Seon-kyung quietly stood up from the bench.

As if he had somewhere to be, he pulled his coat tighter and left the bus stop.

The taxis that still hadn’t shown their faces felt cruelly absent.

Public payphones had long since vanished from the modern world.

As Seon-kyung looked around, his eyes landed on a brightly lit 24-hour convenience store.

Right. I’ll go in there and ask the clerk to borrow a phone.

His stiff expression relaxed slightly.

Clang!

At that moment, the sound of a bottle shattering rang out from somewhere.

In the quiet night street, the sound felt unbearably loud.

Maybe because laughter followed right after, it strongly felt like someone had broken it on purpose.

Uneasy, Seon-kyung walked quickly without looking back.

His steps grew faster and faster.

Fixing his eyes on the convenience store—the only source of light in the dark street—he was almost running when someone grabbed the back of his collar from behind.

Before he could resist, he was dragged into a narrow alley.

“Mm—ngh!”

“An omega wandering around alone at night like this. Aren’t you scared at all?”

The leather glove clamped over his mouth smelled of metal.

Rough force pressed down on both his mouth and nose at once.

Seon-kyung thrashed violently, like a seizure.

He couldn’t breathe.

When he clawed at the glove, the man lifted the thumb blocking his nose—but pressed down even harder on his lips instead.

It felt like his jaw was about to shatter.

“Shh. Stay still, Woo Seon-kyung.”

The man pressed close behind him and whispered into his ear.

At the unfamiliar voice calling his name, a chill ran down his spine.

The unidentified man smiled and lightly tapped Seon-kyung’s stiff cheek with the flat of his knife.

“You get the picture, right? If you scream, I’ll shred that pretty face of yours. So be smart. Let’s behave nicely.”

***

The surroundings were filled with dust and grit.

Cement bags and steel rebar were piled everywhere, and old work gloves and helmets with snapped straps lay scattered around, as if abandoned by construction workers.

The unfinished outer walls were riddled with holes, letting icy wind pass freely through.

The halted apartment construction site had been deliberately chosen as the place to deal with Woo Seon-kyung.

Originally, the plan had been to stage it as a suicide—but things went awry midway through.

The man with the cap pulled low rummaged through the clothes scattered on the ground.

He deliberately tore at the shirt until buttons popped off, and kicked one shoe off and tossed it into a corner.

He pulled the wallet from the inside pocket of the coat and opened it.

Judging by his lukewarm reaction, he didn’t seem particularly interested in its contents.

“What about his belongings? Take everything?”

“Just pick the stuff that’s worth something. Toss the cards and checks—take only the cash. Oh, and grab the watch too.”

“What about the ring? Looks like a wedding band.”

“Take that too—and f*ck! That’s why I told you not to hit his face! He could’ve gone quietly, but you dumbass made it complicated!”

“Hey, I said sorry how many times? Can’t you see he’s way more cooperative than usual now?”

The pampered young master’s resistance had been fiercer than expected.

Even with a blade aimed at the side of his face, Woo Seon-kyung struggled violently and screamed until his throat felt like it would burst.

If even a little pressure had been released from the hand covering his mouth, the entire neighborhood would have been alerted.

In a panic, they struck him to knock him out—but unfortunately, the blow left a clear mark on his face.

Anyone could see it was evidence of assault.

Thanks to that, staging it as a suicide became difficult.

The hired men changed plans and opted for strangulation instead.

If they took some valuables and added signs of resistance, it would look like a robbery gone wrong.

The man in the cap grumbled as he grabbed Seon-kyung’s left arm.

From the limp wrist, he unfastened the thin brown watch strap.

While he was at it, he grabbed the ring on his ring finger too.

As he twisted it gently and was about halfway to pulling it off, the previously motionless fingers twitched—

and curled into a fist.

Woo Seon-kyung was lifting his torn eyelids.