* * *

Madam Jang responded with a face that showed complete disinterest, prompting Jungseo, who had been silent, to finally raise his voice.

“Mother!”

“Don’t raise your voice. Didn’t I teach you better?”

Standing behind Jungjin, Jungwoo and Jungseo tensed as Madam Jang’s lips twisted into a crooked smile.

She had already been informed by Secretary Choi about what the three brothers had been up to while she was away.

That child, Lee Jungin, was cared for obsessively, wasn’t he?

Jungjin even personally stepped in at school to settle disturbances.

Despite assigning a homeroom teacher who could handle it turned out to be far more incompetent than expected.

Though the situation had been neatly resolved, she still felt some lingering dissatisfaction.

Clicking her tongue, Madam Jang looked at her sons.

“Why do you insist on caring for that child, making me look like the villain?”

Her voice, laced with anger, cast a shadow over the brothers’ eyes, including Jungjin’s.

“This has happened repeatedly, and I’m not sure how to act this time,” she said coldly.

The reason Jungjin, Jungwoo, and Jungseo had to distance themselves from Jungin was all because of Madam Jang.

From the moment young Jungin entered the household, if anyone showed even a hint of concern for him, trouble would follow.

Minor punishments, intense educational regimens, extreme dietary restrictions—many wealthy families held Omega children to stricter standards than Alpha or Beta ones, but Jungin, frail from a young age, always broke under the pressure.

They had managed to go abroad by striking a deal with their mother: if they left the country, she would stop tormenting the child.

From their occasional reports, the child seemed to be doing fine.

But when they reunited after several years, Jungin was a wreck.

More precisely, he had tried to end his own life.

Since then, the brothers trusted no one, especially not their mother.

They also realized they needed power to protect Jungin.

But fully taking over Hyun Group would take more time.

If things continued like this, Jungin…

Unclenching his fists, Jungjin fixed his icy gaze on his mother.

“I’ll take Jungin and live independently.”

“Independently?”

“I will as well,” said Jungwoo.

“I agree,” added Jungseo.

Madam Jang’s eyes shifted from Jungjin to Jungwoo and Jungseo, who stood resolute behind him.

Smirking at their declaration of independence, she stepped closer, and Jungjin’s eyes locked on her sneering lips.

“It seems my sons have gotten some strange ideas in their heads.”

Her mocking laugh grew, her shoulders trembling slightly.

Was she crying or laughing?

No one could tell as she lifted her head and turned toward Chairman Lee behind her.

“Chairman, you haven’t forgotten the promise you made to me, have you?”

Promise?

Frowning, the three brothers looked at each other in confusion.

What promise could she be talking about?

It was as if Jungjin had been expecting this, or perhaps even waiting for it.

He sensed the danger in his mother’s gaze as she focused on their father.

“Curious about what promise?”

Madam Jang reached out to touch Jungjin’s cheek, and with a cruel smile, she finally spoke.

“I’m sending that child, Jungin, to live with relatives in America.”

“Mother!” Jungjin raised his voice for the first time.

America?

Sending Jungin to America?

“That’s unreasonable. He’s a senior in high school. You can’t just send him abroad.”

“He’s not doing well in school anyway.”

“He can transfer or even take a GED.”

Jungjin’s tone left no room for compromise.

As his mother’s expression shifted subtly, his fists clenched tighter.

“Oh, really? But what if I told you that if he doesn’t go abroad, he’ll be sent to a psychiatric hospital instead?”

Their worst fear was becoming reality.

“With the psychiatric records he’s had for quite some time, it wouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Mother.”

“As long as your father and I are his legal guardians, we can arrange it whenever we please.”

“Is that what you’ve been planning from the start?”

Jungjin asked in disbelief.

After Jungin’s first breakdown, their mother had personally arranged for him to receive treatment.

Had all of this been prepared for a moment like this?

Jungjin closed his eyes tightly, feeling powerless.

This was why he wanted to wait until he was stronger, until he could protect Jungin properly.

But how could he stay silent when he saw the once bright child, who had called him “Hyung,” grow quieter and more troubled?

He couldn’t ignore Jungin’s pain any longer.

The frustration of his helplessness was almost unbearable.

Madam Jang, looking down at her defeated son with feigned pity, spoke.

“Don’t want him to go to America?”

“……”

“Then I have a proposal for you.”

Madam Jang brushed his disheveled hair and met his gaze.

“Get engaged to the eldest daughter of Seonah Pharmaceuticals.”

Smiling as if she had trapped him, Madam Jang knew how much Jungjin cared for that child as a brother.

How pitiful. How utterly useless.

“Fine,” Jungjin said.

Madam Jang hid her triumphant grin, already thinking of Jungin, the child who would forever be a burden to her son.

---

“Mmm…”

Jungin rubbed his sleepy eyes, finally awake.

He hadn’t eaten well for days, and the aroma of something delicious filled the air.

“So hungry…”

Groping for his phone on the bed, he paused.

“Oh right, I got myself kidnapped. At my own request, too.”

The fact that he was lying on a bed and in warmth meant he wasn’t locked in a warehouse or anything.

It was too dark to see much, but as he got up and felt along the wall for a light, he almost had a heart attack when he tripped over someone lying on the floor.

“Ah!”

Startled, Jungin’s eyes darted around.

The moon emerged from behind the clouds, illuminating the room, and he realized the person sleeping on the floor was Ki Beomhyeon.

“Jeez, you scared me! My heart almost stopped. Why is he sleeping here?”

Surely it wasn’t because of a lack of space. Was he worried about me?

Jungin hadn’t expressed it, but he was grateful to Beomhyeon.

For helping at school and even for yesterday.

Though he had once seemed intimidating, Jungin now knew him as someone warm and caring.

“It must be so uncomfortable…”

Jungin felt bad seeing Beomhyeon on the hard floor after giving up the bed for him.

With a grimace, Jungin bent down, slipping his hands between Beomhyeon’s knees like his older brothers often did to lift him.

“Ugh…”

Wait. Why… why is he so heavy?

Jungin nearly broke his back trying to lift him, only to snap back to reality as he realized he almost needed a hospital himself.

Rotating his body to check for any sprains, Jungin breathed a sigh of relief.

“So hungry,” he mumbled, catching another whiff of the tempting aroma.

As his stomach let out a small, timely growl, he swallowed hard while clutching his belly.

Funny, isn’t it?

The one who made such a fuss about not eating all this time was now desperately hungry once the appetite hit.

Jungin, who had been quietly watching Ki Beomhyeon lying on the floor, grabbed a pillow and blanket from the bed and gently covered him, whispering.

“I’ll be right back.”

If he found out he had disappeared, he might misunderstand and think he’d run away.

Considering how he’d suddenly gotten angry earlier at the mention of visiting another friend’s house, it seemed Ki Beomhyeon liked him a lot.

‘But… am I really his first friend?’

* * *