Around the prominent bones, the skin was bruised black, and dried blood crusted over the scraped wounds. He disinfected my hand, applied ointment, and kept lecturing me the whole time.

“You’re not some puberty-ridden teenager, so why are you taking your anger out on an innocent wall? What, you think the wall will come down if you hit it? Only your hand gets hurt.”

I said nothing, just stared at the wound. My head was so full of thoughts that his nagging barely registered. He kept going until he had neatly wrapped the bandage and secured it with a clip.

At last, he pushed the first-aid kit to one side of the desk and took a medicine bag out of the drawer, setting it down.

“This is the cycle solution you asked for. In simple terms, it’s an arousal suppressant. Married couples take it to synchronize their cycles, but it’s only prescribed three times a year. That kind of restriction means it puts a burden on the body. Still, when an omega takes it, there are fewer side effects than when an alpha does.”

“……”

“Heat will come on within 12 hours after taking it, and you might get a little nausea and a mild headache. The alpha has to stop taking suppressants two days before the omega takes the suppressant. Hey, are you listening? Lee Shinjae?”

I just stared into space with a dazed expression. My entire attention was fixed on the feature phone weighing down my right pocket.

What Magnet had handed me was an old-fashioned cell phone. The second I got out of the car, I’d rushed into the lobby restroom and opened it. Inside, there was only one number in the recent call list, and a message saying location tracking was unavailable.

I wanted to press the call button and find out who it was, but then it suddenly occurred to me that the person who gave me the phone might have been Jung Inhyuk. The one who had handed it over had been a magnet planted by Jung Inhyuk. What if this was a test, to see how I’d react?

My thoughts tangled into knots. Several times I twitched a finger toward the call button, only to stop each time because I was afraid Jung Inhyuk would answer.

In the end, after a long while of agonizing over it, I turned the phone off and headed to Kang Jigyu’s office.

“Lee Shinjae.”

“…Ah, yeah.”

“Why are you so out of it?”

I wet my dry lips with my tongue and stared hard at Kang Jigyu’s face. I couldn’t take this phone home. No matter how well I hid it, there was a high chance Jung Inhyuk would find it.

“Hyung, I got into a minor collision on the way here, and my arm hurts a little. Could I get an X-ray?”

“What? Damn it, you should’ve said that right away. Does anything else hurt?”

“…No.”

Kang Jigyu picked up the extension phone and made a call, while I quickly scribbled something on the memo pad on his desk and shoved it into my pocket. I slipped out of his office and headed for radiology. On the way, I stopped Kang Jigyu and held out the memo.

“Please help me.”

Kang Jigyu read the note and looked at me, stunned. But then he nodded. I waited in the hallway for the X-ray. Soon it was my turn, and I went into the imaging room with Kang Jigyu.

“Take off all your accessories and put them here.”

I took off my ring, necklace, phone, and even my hat and put them in the basket, then handed it to Kang Jigyu. It was a precaution against any possible wiretapping. The phone Magnet had given me was still in my pocket. Kang Jigyu set the basket outside and came toward me.

“What’s this about?”

Kang Jigyu’s expression was grave as he held up the memo I’d given him. Instead of answering, I took the old feature phone out of my pocket.

“What’s that?”

“It was given to me by the magnet Jung Inhyuk planted on me. I don’t know who gave it to me or why. Maybe Jung Inhyuk gave it to me to test me, but the only thing I’m sure of is that whoever gave it to me knows my situation.”

“……”

“Could you keep it for me, hyung?”

Kang Jigyu scrubbed a hand over his face, then turned his back to me. He paced around for a moment before turning back and coming over. He grabbed my shoulders, bent slightly, and met my eyes.

“Just what kind of relationship do you have with Jung Inhyuk?”

“……”

“The reason Jung Inhyuk made me your attending physician, too. And everything from the day I first met you to now has been strange. I didn’t want to ask because it’s your private life, but now I need to know a little.”

“It’d take a long time to explain. For now, could you just not ask anything and hold onto this for me?”

With a desperate look, I placed the phone in Kang Jigyu’s hand. Whether it was a ticking time bomb or a lifeline, I had no idea how it would be used later, but for now, all I could think was that it had to get out of my hands. Kang Jigyu sighed deeply and fiddled with the phone. Then he tucked it into his pocket.

“Thanks, hyung.”

“Explain everything later. For now, you look like you’re in a rush, so I’ll let it slide.”

✿ • ✿ • ✿

I was so exhausted by everything that the moment I got home, I collapsed on the living room sofa and fell asleep without even showering. When I opened my eyes again, the sun had already set and darkness had long since settled over everything. Still half-asleep, I was blinking blankly when I caught movement by the front door and jolted upright.

Jung Inhyuk, just home from work, turned on the living room lights and loosened his tie with a languid face.

“You’re up.”

“You slept all day like a sick chick, aren’t you hungry?”

“…I’m not sure yet.”

He set his briefcase aside and reached out to touch my forehead. A faint pheromone scent drifted from his wrist. It wasn’t the aggressive scent that pressed me down, but a subtle one, and it left me feeling hazy.

“Go wash up, then come out so we can eat dinner outside.”

“…Okay.”

“Anything you’re craving?”

I scratched my head and looked up at Jung Inhyuk. He was strange today. He seemed to be in a good mood, or maybe he just didn’t feel like the Jung Inhyuk I knew. He lowered the hand touching my forehead and cupped my cheek, bending down.

His breath came closer, slowly. I held mine and squeezed my eyes shut. Then, with a short laugh, his lips brushed mine and pulled away. The soft, teasing sound made my face flare hot.

“Go wash up and come out.”

Embarrassed, I covered my burning face with both hands and hurried to the bathroom. Only after I shut the door did I finally let out a deep breath. I got annoyed at myself for looking like I’d been full of hope for something.

I raked my fingers through my hair and stood before the sink.

I stared blankly at my reflection, turned on the faucet, and washed my face. After brushing my teeth too, I went back out. He had gotten up from the sofa.

He wrapped an arm around my waist as if it were second nature and led me to the front door.

I knew I shouldn’t provoke his mood, but I hated feeling protected, so I pushed his hand away. Jung Inhyuk looked down at the hand that had frozen awkwardly in midair and gave a short laugh. Normally he would have exploded and scolded me, but for some reason he said nothing.

Swallowing dryly, I watched his face for any sign of what he was thinking. In those dull eyes staring ahead, I couldn’t read a single emotion. It felt like the calm before a storm.

I had naturally expected Park Suwon to be waiting with the car, but the car was parked in the garage. It seemed he had driven himself home from work. This didn’t happen often, but it did happen sometimes. As we entered the garage, sensors turned the lights on.

Jung Inhyuk personally opened the passenger door for me. I scratched the back of my head and got in. He walked around the car, got into the driver’s seat, entered the address into the navigation, and gripped the wheel. Only the outdated pop song playing on the radio softened the silence filling the uncomfortable space.

“Keep dealing with it that way from now on.”

At the voice breaking the quiet in the car, I lifted my head. The traffic light had just turned red. Jung Inhyuk gently pressed the brake and stopped the car. I looked at him blankly, not understanding for a moment.

“You can talk back to Jung Suhyuk.”

Only belatedly did I realize he meant the phone call with Jung Suhyuk, and my cheeks flushed. I’d only said I was one of Jung Inhyuk’s people to get through the situation, and I’d been worried that might upset him, but he seemed very satisfied with my answer. If I had to guess, that was probably why he had been so kind to me all evening.

“Jung Suhyuk invested a bit in Director Yoon’s film.”

“An investment?”

“So I’m saying, don’t put too much effort into the film. It’s a movie that could collapse at any time and nobody would be surprised.”

“Collapse? *A Villain* could collapse?”

I raised my voice without meaning to at the idea that the film might fall apart. *A Villain* was director Yoon Pansu’s new work, and he was a star director. But hearing that a film could be derailed over just one billion won in investment sounded absurd.

“It doesn’t make sense that a film could collapse over just one billion won.”

“Who said one billion won was the whole thing?”

“O Giju said his sponsor invested one billion. O Giju’s sponsor is Young Master Suhyuk, so…”

“The company handling *A Villain*’s investment and distribution is A Plus. But after looking into it, the company only lent its name. The actual investor was Jung Suhyuk. You could say Jung Suhyuk handled the overall investment himself.”

So Jung Suhyuk had invested far more than that one billion won in the film. Korean filmmaking had shifted from a producer-centered system to a capital-centered one. Because of that, if the investment distributor and the production company couldn’t agree on profits, directors or actors were often replaced.

In *A Villain*’s case, though, there was no separate writer, and director Yoon Pansu had taken on the screenplay as well, so there was a strong possibility that it wouldn’t just be a replacement, but the film itself would be scrapped.

“I’ll do what I can to prevent that kind of thing from happening.”

“…Really?”

“It could be your last film before retirement, so I should pay attention.”

Again, I stared at him blankly, not understanding what he meant. The word retirement felt so unfamiliar, so strange. I had never once even considered it, and it felt like my heart was sinking.

Jung Inhyuk watched my expression and gave a small snort.

“I thought once you paid off all your debts, you’d naturally leave this business. Guess not?”

“…Ah.”

It felt as if someone had hit me in the head with a blunt weapon. I hadn’t chosen this job of my own free will, but I did have some affection for it. I had survived this filthy reality by living a life that wasn’t mine. As for quitting, I hadn’t thought about it yet.