Chapter 1: Stench of Family

“f*ck, look at the state of this building.

It even looks just like him.”

The man spat out his displeasure as he looked up at the gallery’s exterior looming before him.

Even beneath the dark night sky, long after the sun had set, the white building gleamed ostentatiously on its own, as if it were calling someone specific to mind.

He flicked the cigarette butt he had barely smoked with his fingers.

After tossing the still-sparking stub toward the building, he pushed himself off the car hood he’d been leaning against.

The glass automatic doors slid open smoothly, without a sound.

It was 9 p.m.

With everyone gone, the gallery was even more hushed than usual.

The exhibition halls were secured with multiple layers of security and inaccessible, but he had no business there to begin with.

Whistling, the man walked as if he were dancing.

The car key ring looped around his index finger jingled in time with his steps.

A security guard on patrol spotted the suspicious visitor and started toward him, only to stop short.

Recognizing the man, he removed his cap and bowed deeply.

The man returned the greeting with a casual wave, then passed down the long corridor and climbed the stairs.

His flippant footsteps headed toward the director’s office on the third floor, where a faint light leaked out.

Knock, knock.

A halfhearted knock followed.

There was no answer, but he opened the door anyway.

What met his eyes was an office with a strikingly strong impression.

The epoxy floor, coated in deep navy, resembled ocean depths with no visible bottom.

Above it, pristine white walls stretched on endlessly, bordering on obsessive cleanliness.

The ceiling was finished with transparent tempered glass, fully revealing the pitch-black night sky above.

The workspace, saturated with someone’s personal taste, looked like yet another artwork on display in the gallery.

The young gallery owner, who had stayed late working alone, openly frowned when he saw the man.

With an irritated sigh, Woo Seon-kyung pressed his thumb into his creased brow.

Moments later, as if nothing had happened, he erased the displeasure from his face and immersed himself back in his work.

He ignored the presence in front of him as though dealing with an invisible man.

“So I hear you’re in heat, Director Han.

Is it really okay for you to be hanging around here?”

The uninvited guest plopped down on the sofa and immediately started needling him.

Despite the words sounding like concern, the way he looked at his cousin sitting across from him gleamed like a snake’s eyes.

Right now, Koo Do-gyeong was waiting for the most entertaining spectacle in the world.

Anticipating the sharp reaction that would come any moment, he moistened his dry lips.

“…..”

Contrary to his expectations, Woo Seon-kyung did not even glance his way.

For him, reviewing the catalogue for the exhibition coming up in a day or two was far more important than responding to a cheap provocation that held no value whatsoever.

Long, slender fingers turned the coated pages.

He carefully checked the paper quality and even the viscosity of the ink.

Whether the thickness was appropriate, whether the colors of the scaled-down artworks were reproduced accurately, whether there were any typos in the printed information.

Every image and line of text had already been approved by him before printing, yet he examined each page meticulously.

Only then did he offer a measured response to the blatantly intentional remark.

“I knew you were overly interested in our married life, hyung,
but keeping track of other people’s heat cycles is a bit much.

Most people call that stalking.”

“If you put it like that, it hurts my feelings.

I’m saying this for your own good.

If rumors start spreading that our esteemed Director Woo had his husband stolen by a twenty-year-old omega, what do you think people will say?”

Seon-kyung’s hand, which had been turning the pages, suddenly froze.

With the thick, glossy paper caught between his fingers, he slowly lifted only his gaze.

The pupils in his long, wide eyes glared mercilessly at Koo Do-gyeong.

“What are you talking about right now.”

“Seon-kyung.

This isn’t the time for you to be sitting here comfortably reading books.

Your alpha’s in rut, and I hear he’s meeting some green kid whose ID ink hasn’t even dried yet.

Haah…
Hyung’s heart really aches.

Our Seon-kyung doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.

How did it come to this?”

Koo Do-gyeong let out an exaggerated sigh, his tone like an actor on stage.

He slapped his left chest with his palm as if frustrated.

With his eyebrows drooping dramatically, anyone watching might think he was genuinely worried.

But he soon dropped the nauseating act and spread a smile across his face.

It was time to get to the point.

“An omega boy just went into the room Han Ji-seok checked into.

The hotel front desk mentioned it, so it’s solid information.”

“And why are you telling me this.”

“What else?

I’m worried about my one and only cousin.”

As if.

At the blatantly insincere words, Seon-kyung let out a derisive snort.

Koo Do-gyeong had originally been a distant relative, no different from a stranger.

After presenting as an alpha, however, he’d been adopted by Seon-kyung’s aunt.

There was barely any shared blood between them, yet strangely enough, his greedy disposition was a perfect match for hers.

Seon-kyung knew all too well the inner workings of that hyena-like bastard, never satisfied with what he had and always eyeing someone else’s share.

This was clearly another attempt to provoke him.

“…..”

And yet, even knowing this was one of Koo Do-gyeong’s transparent ploys, Woo Seon-kyung found it hard to maintain his composure.

He was a master of expression control and showed little outward reaction, but the page pinched between his fingers had long since been crumpled beyond saving.

After hesitating for a while, he finally closed the thick cover.

He dropped the catalogue onto the table almost as if throwing it, and upon seeing this, Koo Do-gyeong clapped his hands together and laughed crudely.

“You should hurry.

You need to stop them before they stick together.

You don’t have much time.”

“…..”

He didn’t want to react to such words, but his body refused to cooperate.

In the end, he rose from the sofa despite himself.

Woo Seon-kyung headed straight for the desk and grabbed his car keys first.

Without even having time to organize the papers scattered messily across the surface, he rushed to prepare to leave.

Seeing him act more urgently than usual, Koo Do-gyeong also sprang up and approached him quickly.

Blocking Seon-kyung as he picked up his coat, he offered a veneer of courtesy.

“Want me to drive you to the hotel?”

“Move.”

“If you get into an accident driving in this state, what then.

Our precious young master.”

Koo Do-gyeong’s leisurely gaze swept over Woo Seon-kyung from face to toe.

Born with a diamond spoon in his mouth, the young heir of a conglomerate family truly carried himself differently.

Even dressed in the same luxury, eating the same food, receiving the same care, only Woo Seon-kyung exuded such innate elegance.

f*cking enviable.

And on top of that, a dominant omega.

Even the cold expression he wore as he glared at Do-gyeong looked like a carefully crafted work of art.

“Don’t touch me.”

“So touchy.”

“If you’re done with whatever you came for, leave.

Wasn’t your goal just to stir me up anyway?”

When Do-gyeong reached out to brush back the hair that had fallen over his forehead, Seon-kyung noticed and jerked his head back.

As if swatting away something filthy, he sharply knocked the approaching hand aside.

“Well, that’s true.”

Unbothered, Koo Do-gyeong shoved his rejected hand into his pocket and shrugged.

He was already used to the hostility and rejection.

As though graciously making way for a busy man, he even stepped back leisurely.

Seon-kyung clutched his thin coat and walked past him.

His rough, irritated footsteps made the epoxy floor squeak with sharp, sensitive noises.

Just as he was about to open the door and leave, he paused, then turned back.

Leaving like this felt unfair.

Looking at Koo Do-gyeong, dressed to the nines, he added one last remark.

“Oh, and by the way.”

“At your age, is your pheromone control really that bad?”

“What?”

“If it’s hard to manage, maybe go see a doctor.

What exactly are you trying to pull in front of me?”

“…..”

“No matter how little blood we share, we’re still family in name.

Show some restraint, will you?

Smelling my hyung’s scent is disgusting.”

He deliberately scratched at Koo Do-gyeong’s sore spot.

As expected, the face that had been grinning triumphantly collapsed in an instant.

Together with his mother, the aunt, Koo Do-gyeong was one of those who flaunted the backing of a chaebol family.

Yet the stigma of having been adopted always followed him like a tag.

A household with perfectly capable children adopting a fifteen-year-old boy was bound to invite gossip.

The only reason Koo Do-gyeong had even been adopted was because he was an alpha, a fact he never tried to hide.

Rather, wherever he went, he had the habit of deliberately flaunting his pheromones, asserting his alpha status to the fullest.

Normally, family members could not perceive each other’s pheromones.

But Koo Do-gyeong, with barely any shared blood, was an exception.

Perhaps that was why he felt humiliated every time this mistake was pointed out.

No matter how tightly controlled, pheromones could still leak out little by little.

They often lingered like traces on clothes or in places someone had stayed.

But what was he supposed to do about it.

It really was disgusting.

Leaving Koo Do-gyeong behind, his neck and face flushed red, Woo Seon-kyung opened the door.