* * *
As time went by, the atmosphere surrounding CS Design was sinking into a colder and colder state.
After Yoonwoo left for Studio Yeon, the company was literally like a sinking ship.
His absence was much greater than expected.
Juwon realized with bitter clarity every day that Yoonwoo hadn’t just taken a few clients with him.
Yoonwoo’s original ideas, his meticulous finishing, and his insight that pierced through the entire project could not be replaced by anyone.
The designers hastily hired in his place couldn’t hold a candle to Yoonwoo, and Jiwoon… he still had too much to learn.
Initially, Juwon had entrusted Jiwoon with some of Yoonwoo’s previous tasks, but Jiwoon’s capability was far too lacking to handle the work properly.
Consequently, as the success story of ‘Studio Yeon’ spread rapidly through the industry, CS Design’s position became increasingly precarious.
Juwon desperately struggled to save the company.
His sleep was reduced to three or four hours a day, and even that was shallow.
He spent more nights napping on the office sofa than sleeping at home.
He constantly skipped meals, and what he did eat felt like grains of sand.
His visibly sunken cheeks and sharp jawline testified to his exhaustion.
Since that day at the officetel, he had plunged himself deeper into work, as if running away.
It was to forget Yoonwoo’s last image, that look of contempt.
But the more he tried to forget, the more vivid the memories became, and nightmares haunted him every night.
Yoonwoo’s eyes filling with scorn when he opened the officetel door and found Juwon, his cold hand pushing him away like a bug, his resolute voice telling him ‘never to come looking for me again,’ and the solid front door that never opened no matter how much he knocked.
He would wake up soaked in a cold sweat, his face pale, having repeated that moment over and over in his dreams.
Upon waking, deeper insomnia coupled with a terrible headache tormented him.
The less he could sleep, the more Juwon clung to his work.
But despite his efforts, the situation did not improve.
The conflict among the employees deepened, and complaints about frequent late nights and the unstable company situation were now openly voiced.
As he walked down the corridor, he could not fail to notice the cold stares and whispers directed at him from behind.
The accusations were along the lines of, ‘The CEO ruined the company because he was blinded by love,’ and ‘He abandoned his long-time lover for an Omega and is now driving the company into the ground.’
Rumors even circulated that several key personnel were already preparing to change jobs.
The company was crumbling, both internally and externally.
*
On that day, too, Juwon remained in the office late into the night, long after sunset.
Unprocessed invoices were piled up on his desk, and his face was shadowed by deep fatigue and despair.
At this rate, it would be difficult to even pay the employees’ salaries next month.
For the first time, he contemplated the extreme idea of ‘shutting down the company.’
Should he end the time he had devoted, day and night, to growing the company, so pointlessly?
It felt as if all the moments he had spent designing through the night with Yoonwoo and celebrating even small successes together were turning to ashes and disappearing.
As he was engulfed in despair, Jiwoon opened his office door and entered.
“Hyung! Still working? You’re not overdoing it, are you?”
His voice was full of innocence and cheerfulness.
Jiwoon smiled, approached Juwon, and lightly placed a hand on Juwon’s shoulder.
Juwon instinctively flinched his shoulder slightly, avoiding his touch.
In the past, Jiwoon’s bright, cheerful demeanor felt like a comforting escape from complicated reality.
But not anymore.
Instead, his cheerfulness only made him feel more miserable and suffocated.
Looking at the seemingly bright and innocent Jiwoon, not only did he feel no affection, which hadn’t been there in the first place, but only waves of guilt for involving him in his uncontrollable rut and regret and resentment toward himself for ruining everything.
Furthermore, every time he saw Jiwoon, he craved the stability and comfort Yoonwoo had given him even more, making him increasingly avoid Jiwoon.
That quiet, profound serenity he felt when Yoonwoo was nearby, that strong bond where they communicated without words.
He missed that terribly.
“…Don’t worry about it.”
Juwon replied roughly.
His voice was laced with deep exhaustion.
“How can I not worry! Your work is my work.”
Jiwoon held Juwon’s hand and said hesitantly.
“Hyung… If things are too hard, should we ask my father for help? If I talk to him nicely… I think we might be able to get an investment… He was interested in our company before, anyway.”
Juwon momentarily doubted his ears.
Jiwoon’s father, the chairman of a leading pharmaceutical company in the country.
A figure who had amassed enormous wealth, especially by dominating the expensive Alpha/Omega inhibitor market.
If he invested, the company could be instantly rescued from the crisis.
But Juwon’s pride would not allow it.
The thought of receiving help this way from his lover’s father, and even a young lover whom he didn’t fully love, wounded his self-respect just thinking about it.
“…It’s okay. I can handle it myself.”
“How can you handle it yourself! You just said it’s hard to even pay next month’s salaries!”
Jiwoon’s voice rose slightly.
“This isn’t the time to cling to your pride! If the company collapses, everything ends!”
Jiwoon was right.
He couldn’t let the company he had nurtured with affection for years, and its employees, fall into ruin because of his pride.
Moreover, the thought that this company, which he had built with Yoonwoo through blood, sweat, and tears, was his last link to Yoonwoo made him even more determined not to let it fail.
If even this company disappeared now that Yoonwoo was gone, he felt he would truly be left with nothing.
Juwon rubbed his face in despair, tormented. He had no choice.
“…Can you really… help?”
His voice cracked weakly.
A bright smile spread across Jiwoon’s face.
“Of course!”
He seemed to choose his words carefully before adding cautiously.
“However… as you know, my father is a bit conservative… to make a large investment, we need to show him that our relationship is stable. He would trust us even more if we became family, rather than just dating… Hyung, let’s… get married while we have this opportunity. Then my father will feel more secure and support us.”
Marriage.
He felt that the inevitable had arrived.
Juwon felt dizzy.
Although he maintained a ‘lover’ relationship with Jiwoon, their relationship was nothing but guilt and emptiness, aside from physical satisfaction.
His heart was still desperately set on Yoonwoo, and now marriage?
He shook his head.
“Marriage… is too soon, Jiwoon-ah.”
“Why? We love each other!”
Jiwoon’s voice was full of disappointment, but his eyes shone coldly.
“It’s just… I’m not mentally ready yet…”
At Juwon’s refusal, Jiwoon’s expression momentarily turned cold, but then it changed back to a gentle and pitiful look, as if nothing had happened.
“If marriage is too much pressure… let’s at least get engaged first. Please? We can’t let the company collapse like this.”
He pleaded, his eyes glistening with tears.
Juwon had to weigh his own feelings against the company’s crisis.
His mind told him to get engaged and save the company, but a deep part of his heart was strongly warning him not to continue the relationship with Jiwoon any further.
He felt trapped, like a hunted animal caught in a snare, unable to move.
In that very moment of self-loathing and torment, Jiwoon delivered the final blow, subtly releasing his pheromones.
A sweet but dizzying scent. Juwon’s will to resist blurred within the foggy pheromones.
It was not comfort; it was numbness.
“…Fine. I understand. Engagement… let’s make it an engagement.”
Juwon dropped his head, his answer laced with resignation.
He failed to see the faint mixture of deep obsession and satisfaction that flashed across Jiwoon’s face and then vanished.
*
Time passed to the appointed day of the family meeting. In front of the private room of an expensive hotel Korean restaurant, chosen by Jiwoon’s family.
Juwon stood there with his parents.
His parents were ordinary Betas who had lived diligent lives.
They were extremely tense, adjusting each other’s clothes and watching each other nervously.
The corridor, decorated with lavish ornaments and expensive screens, was a strange and uncomfortable space for them.
The fact that their son’s fiancée was the Omega youngest son of a famous pharmaceutical company still felt unreal.
His mother, anxious, silently held his father’s arm.
His father, too, swallowed dryly and tried to appear calm, but the slight tremor in his fingertips revealed his nervousness.
Juwon felt suffocated watching his parents.
He felt like he was being forcibly pushed into a place he should never enter, but he couldn’t back out now.
With a hardened face, he pushed their backs as if leading a prisoner to the execution ground, saying,
“Please go in, Father, Mother.”
The heavy door opened.
Inside, Jiwoon’s family was already waiting for them with relaxed smiles.
The chilling atmosphere hidden behind their seemingly gentle smiles made Juwon tense.
* * *
