TIN 72

What haven’t I done? No matter how much I racked my brain, nothing suitable came to mind. Having already had sex, there couldn’t be anything more significant than that.

“…What do you want me to do?”

“Well, that’s for the desperate one to figure out.”

When I asked with a half-muffled pronunciation due to his finger pressing down on my lower teeth, he replied nonchalantly. In essence, he was telling me, the more desperate one, to make a proposal.

Usually, what clients wanted was mostly similar, but with Joo Do-hwa, I couldn’t gauge it at all. His actions suggested he wanted to put it in my mouth, yet he reacted coldly when I offered to suck him off.

He had long since taken my body as he pleased, and he didn’t seem to have any perverted tastes that desired service. No, even if he did, there was no reason he couldn’t force me with his strength. But surely he wouldn’t want something like my heart, so I probably had nothing to offer him.

“I’m sorry.”

As soon as I reached this conclusion, I honestly admitted my mistake. It was better to take back what I could rather than engage in a futile negotiation. As I turned my head to the side, his finger naturally fell away from my lips.

“Just pretend you didn’t hear it.”

“…”

Joo Do-hwa’s eyes narrowed. He stared at me for a long time with his hand still raised in the air. As if he had expected this all along, or as if asking if this was really the best I could do.

And without changing his expression, he said, “How cowardly.”

“…”

“How can you only ask questions without telling me anything?”

Cowardly? It seemed like an excessive exaggeration, but I didn’t argue. I just asked him back as submissively as possible.

“What do I need to tell you?”

“What’s your relationship with Yoon Ji-soo?”

“…”

I shut my mouth tight. The abrupt question was sharp, striking right at the core. I didn’t expect him to get straight to the point like this.

As I furrowed my brow without saying another word, he put both hands in his pockets.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? A male prostitute from the bottom knowing someone like Yoon Ji-soo.”

My heart beat irregularly. I had thought he might have already figured it out, but having it confirmed by someone else’s mouth felt different. Even if I tried to maintain a nonchalant expression, I couldn’t help the chill running up and down my neck.

“Yoon Ji-soo has been out of sight for over 20 years, but no matter how I look at it, you have no connection.”

My earliest memories started on the island, so Yoon Ji-soo’s disappearance must have been at least 25 years ago. It was before Joo Do-hwa was even born, and too far in the past to find any connection with me.

“There’s no way she would have gone to Oceans…”

Joo Do-hwa firmly ruled out the possibility of Yoon Ji-soo being an Oceans’ client, saying we would have heard something if that were the case. After taking away even this plausible excuse for a connection, he slowly continued, raising one finger at a time.

“If we assume you knew each other when you were young…she’s either an enemy or a benefactor.”

It was an overly simplistic way of thinking, but I didn’t bother to point it out. Honestly, I partly hoped he would misunderstand it that way.

Of course, Joo Do-hwa wasn’t so easy to fool.

“Seeing how she persuaded them not to kill you, even scaring them, she’s probably not an enemy. Unless it was to keep you alive for personal revenge, there’s no reason for such leniency.”

‘You should have tried to find Yoon Ji-soo and persuade her. To hurt your father.’

I shouldn’t have said those words.

The things I had blurted out in haste were now catching up to me one by one. With each word he spoke, I felt my breath slowly being squeezed out.

“But to my eyes, you don’t seem like the type to go looking for a benefactor. You were probably too busy just trying to survive, so how could you repay any kindness? Right?”

He saw me as a completely ungrateful person, and the problem was that he wasn’t wrong. Looking for benefactors, what a joke. Joo Do-hwa himself was closer to a childhood benefactor, yet I didn’t even dare to think of seeking him out. Although that was for a different reason.

“Then what’s left is…family?”

“…”

His casually tossed out words that struck my ears. Not stopping there, Joo Do-hwa curled his lips and narrowed down the possibilities one by one.

“Yoon Ji-soo is over forty, so she can’t be your sister, and knowing your family circumstances, she can’t be your aunt either.”

My throat was parched, but amidst that, the phrase ‘family circumstances’ caught my attention. There was something else I didn’t know about. As I thought this, he blurted out,”Could she be your mother?”

The deduction was easy, and the conclusion was ruthlessly indifferent. A word I had never dared to utter aloud flowed so casually from his mouth. And even more callous words followed.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter. She’d be a beta anyway.”

Special traits are only inherited from special traits. The more dominant the parents, the higher the chance of differentiation, and if one parent was a beta, the possibility was close to zero.

So if Yoon Ji-soo had met a beta, her child would most likely be a beta too.

“I just need you not to be an omega.”

Saying this, Joo Do-hwa suddenly released his pheromones. The sweet scent enveloped my entire body in the blink of an eye. It was as sudden as a gust of wind, and it was obvious what this action was trying to test.

Creepy bastard. He could just ask, but he had to act like this.

The pheromones were strong enough to make my legs weak, but it wasn’t difficult to hold onto my reason. Besides, since entering this house, I had already been excessively exposed to his pheromones.

Slowly, very slowly, I raised my eyes to look at him. I didn’t clench my fists, swallow hard, or hold my breath. I just blinked naturally and maintained an expressionless face.

“Hmm…”

Seeing that I showed no reaction, Joo Do-hwa hummed long with his lips curled up. His eyes, glinting like a beast’s, seemed to pierce right through to my innermost thoughts.

How long did this go on? He finally reined in the pheromones he had been recklessly releasing and shrugged his shoulders.

“Besides, this kind of story is outdated.”

It was a glib remark. Anyone else watching wouldn’t have been able to guess what had just happened. The sweet smell like bubble gum still lingered in my nostrils, but his attitude was as bland as could be.

“Don’t look so serious. It’s just a joke. How could Yoon Ji-soo have a child?”

I remembered his passing remark about her being abandoned for not being able to have children. There was much I wanted to ask about, but all I could do was quietly listen to his words.

He spoke in a light tone as if trying to change the mood in the room.

“Yoon Ji-soo’s family was in trade.”

“…Trade?”

My lips moved involuntarily. Seeing my unexpected reaction, Joo Do-hwa finally wore a satisfied smile. From his mouth flowed the story about Yoon Ji-soo that I had asked about earlier.

“The sea route that Father opened for Gold Road Liquors, and the distribution rights in Germany that Yuna received as a birthday gift. Those originally belonged to Yoon Ji-soo’s family.”

But why did Sae have them?

Although his willingness to talk was suspicious, it was information that couldn’t hurt to know. So I nodded my head silently, watching him closely the whole time.

“Yoon Ji-soo was the youngest daughter of that family…In the midst of marriage talks, it was revealed that she couldn’t have children, so she was driven out of the family.”

Even hearing it again, I couldn’t understand. I could accept the marriage talks falling through, but to be driven out of the family for just that?

“The more dominant the special trait, the more valuable it is, like an expensive stud. If they can’t reproduce, it’s meaningless.”

Did my thoughts show on my face? Joo Do-hwa kindly provided an additional explanation. The dry and impassive evaluation that flowed from his mouth was scathing for an extremely dominant alpha.

Alpha and omega. These traits, inherently possessed by only a very small minority, were by nature greatly limited in heredity, and in modern times, their numbers were gradually decreasing.

I had heard that at one point, incest was rampant under the pretext of preserving these traits. Although it was soon prohibited by law, the actual disappearance of this culture wasn’t because it was illegal. It was simply because only children with deformed pheromone glands were born between those with mixed bloodlines.

“Well, whether she was driven out or ran away, only she would know…”

Joo Do-hwa trailed off, lightly furrowing his brows. His attitude suggested it wasn’t any of his concern. Just as I felt a surge of inexplicable anger, he tilted his head to one side, looking up at me.

“Now, here’s a question.”

His bright red lips curved into a gentle arc. With an incredibly kind face, he asked softly,”Who do you think was the person Yoon Ji-soo was in marriage talks with?”