* * *

Yeo Jinwoo entered the house after punching in the door lock code.

Naturally, Yeo Woohee wasn’t at the entrance to greet him—he still thought Jinwoo was in America.

At the late hour of 2 a.m., the house was dark.

Jinwoo stepped into the elevator and rode up to Woohee’s room, where he assumed his brother was fast asleep.

Approaching the large lump under the blanket, he moved silently.

Climbing on top, he slipped his hand beneath the blanket.

He only needed to pull off Woohee’s pants and check if he was an Omega.

But something felt wrong.

Instead of slender, delicate legs like a white deer’s, his hand met thick, muscular ones.

Startled, Jinwoo yanked off the blanket.

Lying on Woohee’s bed was Chairman Yeo.

Completely unprepared for this turn of events, Jinwoo froze.

“Jinwoo, Woohee is your brother. You must never touch him.”

“Where is Woohee?”

“If you promise not to harm him, I’ll bring him back home.”

“Are you saying Woohee isn’t here? My Woohee?”

Disbelief darkened Jinwoo’s gaze, and in the shadows, his corrupted eyes sank into blackness.

He wrapped his hands around the chairman’s neck.

Accepting this as punishment for his failure as a father, the chairman didn’t resist.

Tears traced lines down his wrinkled face, filled with despair.

“I won’t kill you. Don’t worry.”

Jinwoo loosened his grip and stood from the bed.

The chairman had known this would happen for fourteen years but couldn’t abandon Woohee or fix Jinwoo’s broken mind.

Though he believed he’d done his best as a father, he realized he’d raised a monster.

The only way to stop Jinwoo was to put him in prison, but his hesitation had allowed this disaster to unfold.

Protecting his son’s sins had only enabled a snake to shed its skin and grow into a dragon.

Jinwoo sat at Woohee’s desk, running his hand over the bag hanging on the chair.

“I almost fell for it. What if I’d really killed you in a fit of excitement?”

Jinwoo hadn’t killed the chairman because he’d noticed Woohee’s bag.

Realizing Woohee was still in the house had saved the chairman’s life—not their familial bond.

“Father, sometimes I wonder. What if you hadn’t slept with that lowly Omega, and Woohee had never been born? My life would’ve been unbearable. So, thank you—for being trash and giving me my Woohee.”

Caressing Woohee’s bag affectionately, Jinwoo continued speaking.

Watching his insane son, desperate to assault his own brother, the chairman swallowed hard.

Was there truly no way to stop him?

No, he now had the leash Kang Dohee had sent—the video.

The chairman replayed the footage of Jinwoo smiling at the burning psychiatric hospital.

Jinwoo scoffed, “So what?”

“Kang Dohee knows you killed people and set the hospital on fire. He sent me this video with just one demand: Woohee’s safety. Break that, and you’ll go to prison.”

The chairman pleaded earnestly, trying to reason with him.

“Jinwoo, if you’re jailed, you’ll never see Woohee again. No calls, no visits. It’s not like a psychiatric hospital. You won’t get out whenever you want.”

Even though his Alpha son was flawed, the chairman loved him dearly, enough to give up his own organs if necessary.

If both sons were drowning, he wouldn’t hesitate to save Jinwoo first.

It wasn’t fair, but this painful truth bound his heart.

“So don’t harm Woohee. Not for him, but for your own sake.”

Returning home, Yeo Jinwoo, lost in thoughts of indulging in Yeo Woohee’s body, suddenly grimaced.

“Wow, no wonder I wanted to kill him as soon as I heard his name. Do I have some sort of newfound clairvoyance?”

Though Jinwoo spoke in a casual tone, his eyes burned with rage, heavy and unrelenting.

How had they found out where he was?

And why had they chosen that exact moment—when he was committing a crime?

Had he been under surveillance the whole time? Why?

Yeo Woohee had claimed in a letter that Kang Dohee didn’t recognize him.

But no matter how he looked at it, Dohee had clearly recognized Woohee and was trying to protect him.

Drumming his fingers on the desk, Jinwoo fell into deep thought.

Was Woohee lying to him?

Would he dare?

If Woohee were bold enough to lie to him, he would have rebelled at least once under Jinwoo’s punishments by now.

But Woohee was a pitiful little brother, too afraid of being thrown out of the house to defy Jinwoo or their parents.

Jinwoo remembered how his world had nearly crumbled when he learned Woohee had been sent to an orphanage as a child.

But that had ultimately worked out in his favor—Woohee had grown up obedient and submissive.

The likelihood that Woohee lied in his letter was slim.

Which meant Kang Dohee must have pretended not to recognize him—or genuinely hadn’t.

Either way, that wasn’t the main issue.

Even if Kang Dohee hadn’t recognized Woohee back then, he certainly knew now.

Moreover, he was aware that Jinwoo intended to claim Woohee.

The fact that Dohee had pieced this together despite never meeting Jinwoo face-to-face showed an unnervingly sharp intuition.

He wasn’t an ordinary bastard, not by a long shot.

“Stay put until Father gets his hands on that video, okay? Jinwoo, let’s promise.”

Chairman Yeo approached Jinwoo, holding out his pinky.

Jinwoo linked his pinky with the chairman’s, giving the appearance of compliance while his mind churned with plans on how to eliminate Kang Dohee.

“Father looked into him—Kang Dohee is the son of the boss of the Black Bear gang. If you mess with him recklessly, it’ll be dangerous. So don’t act rashly.”

It was as if the chairman could read Jinwoo’s thoughts.

The Black Bear gang was the most powerful criminal organization in South Korea, currently leveraging its political connections to break into legitimate business ventures, including a massive resort project.

They were pouring ₩1.4 trillion into building a fantasy resort in Jeju Island, a development projected to take eight years.

With casino licenses for both locals and foreigners, its completion would shift the hierarchy of Korea’s corporate landscape.

‘We’ve bitten off a formidable opponent, haven’t we, Woohee?’ Jinwoo thought bitterly.

Killing Kang Dohee in a fit of rage would only provoke his father, Kang Seonghee, into retaliation.

For now, Jinwoo had no choice but to bide his time until the incriminating video was dealt with.

“Jinwoo, you know your father trusts you.”

“Damn it, I know! I’ll endure, no matter how much it pisses me off.”

The idea of being unable to claim his Omega was absurd to Jinwoo.

Regret churned in his chest—why had he burned down the mental hospital?

How could he have known it would lead to this mess?

“Where’s Woohee?”

“He’s asleep in the master bedroom. Said he was happy to be sleeping with his mom after so long. Poor kid.”

The chairman showed no discomfort at the thought of his dominant Alpha son sharing a bed with his Omega sibling.

He dismissed it as a matter of family.

But Jinwoo knew better.

An imprinted Alpha would never tolerate another Alpha, even a family member, in the same bed as their Omega.

Woohee might be able to forge documents about his secondary gender, but he couldn’t override the instincts inherent in their biology.

Alpha was Alpha, and Omega was Omega.

“I’ll take Woohee to his room. You should rest with Mother, Father.”

“…Alright, if you say so.”

The chairman couldn’t hide his relief.

Jinwoo followed him to the elevator, descended to the first floor, and opened the door to the master bedroom.

* * *