Dominant Married Life

#07

“Haa.”

Idam climbed the uphill road with difficulty. Even though it was spring now, the nights in March still hadn’t completely lost the chill of winter. Feeling the coldness, Idam zipped up his jumper all the way.

As the uphill road ended and leveled out, he saw a child toddling along, holding hands with their mother and father. Their cheeks were plump, seemingly full of love. Idam passed by, looking at the child with envious eyes.

Soon, a red western-style house came into view. Idam opened the gate, went in, and climbed the stairs to the rooftop. A narrow bench and clotheslines with hanging towels were visible. In the middle stood a rooftop room with an old-fashioned front door. He unlocked the door and went in.

Past the small kitchen with a sink, he opened the inner door to reveal a room with yellow linoleum flooring.

It was a humble room with only a small wardrobe, a chest of drawers, and a floor desk. But it was his only refuge. Idam sat down on the floor, his tired body feeling the cold.

“The boiler is broken…”

Last winter, the old boiler had frozen in the sub-zero weather. Even after the weather warmed up, the boiler didn’t work. He called a technician, who just said it would be better to replace it. But for Idam, who needed every penny, he gave up on repairs and spent the winter with an electric pad that Youngchun had given him, saying he didn’t use it.

Idam raised his knees and rested his face against them. He felt the chain around his neck move and jingle. Idam unfastened the chain with both hands. At the end of the chain hung a gold ring.

“Mom…”

Idam’s eyes moistened as he looked at the ring.

“Should I accept the CEO’s offer… or not…”

Idam was always hungry for money. And hungry for love.

Idam was left at an orphanage as a newborn. According to the director, when he was found, he was tightly wrapped in a blanket with the name ‘Yeo Idam’ and his birth date embroidered on it.

Idam got along well with the other children. But there was no one he could share deep emotions with or rely on. So there was always an empty loneliness in his heart.

When he started school, he learned that there were first and second genders in this world.

Idam didn’t particularly want to be an alpha or an omega. Rather, he thought a beta’s life would be smoother and easier. But perhaps the heavens weren’t on Idam’s side. The year he turned fifteen, Idam manifested as an extremely recessive omega and became alone.

At first, the beta children didn’t mind Idam because they couldn’t sense his pheromones. But as omegas and alphas who disliked Idam started to sow discord, relationships began to drift apart. As a result, Idam became a target of bullying, and the days of harassment increased.

Amidst this loneliness, there was one friend who stayed by his side. That was Jang Hayun. Hayun, who had manifested as a dominant omega at that time, also experienced dizziness and nausea due to Idam’s pheromones. Of course, Idam, feeling sorry, tried to push Hayun away.

But Hayun was different.

‘What’s the big deal between friends. They say there’s cheese pork cutlet for lunch today. Let’s eat together, okay?’

At that time, Idam was so grateful to Hayun for staying by his side and felt like he had found a true friend.

‘Actually, you know. My brother was an extremely recessive omega like you.’

‘Really?’

‘He had abnormal pheromone glands like you and struggled a lot. Then he passed away in an accident. Because we didn’t have parents, I ended up at the orphanage.’

‘Ah…’

‘Back then, I avoided my brother because I disliked his pheromones. Now, as time has passed, I regret it so much. So… I couldn’t just leave you alone.’

Hayun’s eyes were filled with sadness as he opened up.

After this day, Idam learned to control his pheromones to avoid causing trouble for Hayun. After about half a year, he became able to control them. As a result, the bullying and ostracism from other children stopped, and he could be with Hayun without issues.

In the winter before entering high school, Idam’s mother came to find him. At first, he felt resentful and hurt that she had left him at the orphanage. But his mother was a very affectionate and kind person. He felt the sensation of his loneliness, which he had always felt was empty, being filled.

As it turned out, when his mother left Idam at the orphanage, she was struggling with extreme poverty. His father’s business had faltered, everything had collapsed, and with the house and car being seized, she couldn’t handle taking care of Idam as well. After that, his father rebuilt the business, and just as things were starting to stabilize, he passed away in a traffic accident.

His mother, now alone, had been contemplating whether to meet Idam again, and unable to overcome her loneliness, she came to find him. Idam, understanding that loneliness well, decided to live with his mother. His mother was a beta, and while Idam revealed his phenotype to her, he didn’t mention his pheromone disability. He didn’t want to cause her unnecessary worry.

About a year after leaving the orphanage, his mother collapsed. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. Idam was eighteen at the time.

It felt like the sky was falling. Idam, wanting to be with his mother, dropped out of high school and worked various part-time jobs to cover the hospital bills. During this time, he was getting job introductions from Hayun. Hayun was naturally not inclined towards studying and wanted to earn money early, so he had jumped into the job market right away instead of going to high school.

But his mother’s condition worsened.

Earlier this year, his mother expressed her wish to stop treatment and be discharged. She said she felt suffocated and disliked the hospital, but it was clear she felt guilty about Idam giving up his studies to earn money.

Just before she passed away, his mother gave Idam a ring. It was a faded gold ring with scratches here and there. She said it was given to her by her mother, Idam’s grandmother.

‘Idam. My mother said that if you keep this ring, happy things will happen. So I always kept it with me. You should always keep it too.’

Considering his mother’s life experiences, it didn’t seem like having this ring had brought much happiness. But his mother believed it, and thinking it was her last wish, he agreed.

‘And no matter how painful and hard it gets, don’t follow me too quickly.’

‘…’

‘Live long, enjoy as much as you can, be happy, and let’s meet much, much later. That’s my wish.’

With these words, spoken with a desperate voice, his mother closed her eyes for the last time.

Alone again, Idam was overwhelmed with sadness. Along with this grief, only a sense of duty to always keep his mother’s ring with him remained in his heart. He also decided that no matter how painful and hard things got, he would never choose to end his life by his own hands.

Zing.

The phone in his pocket started ringing. Having received a text from Taemin on the bus earlier, he thought it might be another message from him.

Barun Capital Executive Director – Heo Jitae

But unfortunately, it was a call from someone he desperately wanted to avoid. Idam answered the phone with frightened eyes.

[Yeo Idam.]

A voice like scraping metal grated his ears. Idam moved his lips with difficulty.

“I… I deposited the interest last week.”

[Did you forget you’re supposed to pay interest twice a month now?]

“That… please wait a little longer.”

[Fuck. You’re asking me to wait again? Are you so desperate to have your guts ripped out? Huh?]

Idam felt his heart shrink at Heo Jitae’s shout.

[Fuck. I need to go score some meth but I can’t because of you, fuck. This is bullshit.]

His cursing continued. But Idam couldn’t hang up. If he did, it was clear that Heo Jitae would become even more enraged.

[Deposit the second interest payment within this week!]

After thoroughly frightening Idam for a few minutes, Heo Jitae ended the call with this order. Idam felt his eardrums throbbing and touched his ears.

In truth, although Idam worked hard at his part-time jobs, there was a limit to how much he could raise for his mother’s hospitalization, surgery, and treatment costs. Being young and not meeting the conditions, bank loans were impossible, and he had no acquaintances he could borrow large sums from, so he ended up turning to private loans. The principal itself wasn’t much, but the interest was insanely high, leading to his current predicament.

Although it was called Barun Capital, it was essentially run by gangsters and handled matters brutally. Abusive phone calls and texts like this were common, and they had even come to Idam’s house to cause trouble. After suffering like this for a year, Idam had grown weary and terrified of gangsters in general.

That’s why Idam felt burdened when he heard that Taemin was a gangster. But…

‘Don’t worry. You just need to be married to me for a week.’

‘I will compensate you sufficiently.’

Until last year, he was able to pay interest once a month, but now it had increased to twice. At this point, when it seemed hopeless to ever repay the principal, Taemin’s offer was extremely tempting.

Moreover, unlike Heo Jitae, Taemin had a very clean impression and every movement was filled with gentlemanly manners. If Hayun hadn’t mentioned that he was a gangster, Idam would have just seen him as an elite businessman. He would have thought the large spider tattoo on his chest was just a personal preference bordering on deviation.

It was a moment of realization that there were various types of gangsters in the world. Suddenly, Idam became curious about Baekwol Corporation, which Taemin was said to run. He was also curious about how much compensation Taemin could afford to give.

Idam opened the internet app on his phone and went to the company’s homepage.

The company slogan was displayed grandly.

Baekwol Corporation specialized in traditional Korean house construction and related businesses. They were operating traditional Korean hotels, restaurants, cafes, and even gyms. They were even in the traditional wedding business. For hotels, they had 12 branches overseas. It was a much larger company than he thought, and it didn’t feel like a gangster company at all.

“That’s interesting.”

Suddenly, he remembered something he had heard from Youngchun before. Long before Idam was born, there were many gangsters in Korea. They could be easily seen on the streets, and at night, they would commit all sorts of violence and illegal acts with weapons, causing a commotion in society.

So the government created a group accompanied by police and soldiers. They cracked down on gangsters, and many disappeared. However, remnants still remained, and now they had adapted to the times, taking on the form of legitimate businesses. Physical confrontations had decreased compared to the past, but they still existed, committing all sorts of illegal acts behind the scenes. Baekwol Corporation was expected to be the same.

Above all, Taemin was a chaebol beyond imagination. In other words, the compensation he mentioned could be larger than expected.

But…

Idam released his pheromones. The strong scent stung his nose. It would be dizzying if Taemin were to smell this scent while they were together. He needed the money, but what should he do? No matter how much he racked his brain, an easy answer wouldn’t come.