Pig Government Official

-17-

Jeongyun’s mind went blank at the sudden private meeting with his employer.

Jeongyun was waiting in front of the elevator on the 28th floor, where his employer’s office was located, as usual. Suddenly, Secretary Oh, Director Won Junjae’s personal secretary, came out of the secretariat and called out, “Mr. Kim Jeongyun?”

Jeongyun responded with a puzzled look, wondering how he knew a mere junior member of the security team 2. Secretary Oh then delivered a message that the director wanted to see him in his room in 5 minutes, and left abruptly.

The senior colleague waiting with Jeongyun at the elevator looked at him with a face full of question marks. “What’s it about?” “I don’t know…”

All sorts of thoughts raced through Jeongyun’s mind. Was he going to be scolded for being late to check the first floor recently? But his employer doesn’t usually care about such small things… What could it be… Am I getting fired?

“Director, you called for me.”

Despite his inner turmoil, Jeongyun spoke with a steady voice.

His employer, Won Junjae, sitting at the desk, looked Jeongyun up and down, moving only his eyes. It felt like an interrogation, but Jeongyun maintained his attention stance, waiting for his employer to speak.

A slight hint of doubt crossed Won Junjae’s eyes as he examined Jeongyun, as if thinking, “Is it him…?” But soon his expression changed to one of dismissal, and he shifted his gaze to his computer screen. Then he asked in an indifferent voice:

“Kim Jeonggwan’s third older brother.”

“…!”

“That’s you, right?”

Contrary to his expectation of being reprimanded for his actions, hearing his precious youngest brother’s name from Won Junjae’s mouth startled Jeongyun so much that he looked at Won Junjae with wide eyes, his head shaking noticeably.

“What…? Yes, that’s correct.”

“…”

Even feeling Jeongyun’s surprised gaze, Won Junjae kept his eyes on the monitor, tapping the desk with his index finger in a consistent rhythm. The screen he was looking at displayed detailed information about Kim Jeonggwan’s school, friends, and even family members.

At the most unexpected part, ‘Trait: Dominant Omega’, Won Junjae’s tapping finger sped up.

“The documents say he’s a dominant omega.”

“…Ah, yes, that’s correct.”

“Were there any problems?”

What? In what aspect…? Jeongyun wasn’t sure about the exact point of Won Junjae’s question. Was he asking if there were any problems because Jeonggwan was a dominant omega?

“In terms of pheromones. Were there any issues?”

“…Are you referring to Jeonggwan?”

“Well… with surrounding alphas, for instance.”

Is he asking if Jeonggwan had difficulties because of his pheromones? Or if surrounding alphas had issues because of Jeonggwan’s pheromones? What kind of problems? Jeongyun still couldn’t grasp the situation and tried to think. Problems caused by Jeonggwan’s pheromones…

“Problems due to pheromones…”

Problems… Right. There was a problem. There was a time when Jeonggwan’s pheromones caused an issue with an alpha! Although Jeongyun was too young to remember it himself, his family occasionally mentioned it. A few days after Jeonggwan was born, there was a child who fainted at the hospital because of Jeonggwan’s pheromones.

Everyone was uncertain, but their father said it seemed to be definitely because of Jeonggwan’s pheromones. While riding the elevator to the hospital room where his wife was lying with baby Jeonggwan in his arms, a boy who looked like a rich young master, who was already in the elevator, suddenly grabbed his head and collapsed.

And he said he clearly heard it. Before the boy collapsed,

“- There’s a smell…”

The smell of Jeonggwan’s pheromones. Their father said he was startled and, fearing that the seemingly wealthy family might harm Jeonggwan, he tightly hugged Jeonggwan and quickly fled as soon as the elevator doors opened, while everyone was in a panic focusing on the collapsed boy.

“Was there?”

However, Jeongyun couldn’t answer hastily. He didn’t know why his employer was asking this. If he mentioned this, he feared his employer might pressure the cafe to fire Jeonggwan, saying something like, “When I went to the cafe where your brother works, it made me nauseous,” claiming their pheromones were incompatible.

His employer had enough power to do so and the personality to potentially do it. Jeonggwan could lose his job because of something unnecessary he might say. So he decided to keep quiet about this incident that no one except the family knew about.

“There haven’t been any issues so far.”

After all, apart from that one time, Jeonggwan had never had any problems with his pheromones while living as a dominant omega. In fact, many people said they liked Jeonggwan’s pheromones, and there were never any alphas who said they disliked them. And it was only their father who said that boy reacted that way because of Jeonggwan’s pheromones, so it wasn’t certain. There was no need to create problems where there were none.

“There were no issues, you say.”

“Yes.”

“Well… No cases of pheromone addiction or anything…”

“…Pardon?”

Before he could further strengthen his resolve to protect Jeonggwan, Jeongyun’s expression twisted at Won Junjae’s unexpected question.

What addiction? Pheromone addiction? To Jeonggwan? This was completely new to him. Our youngest might get addicted to handsome men, drooling every time he sees one, but pheromone addiction? He had heard many people say they liked Jeonggwan’s pheromones, but never anything about addiction.

And isn’t pheromone addiction something that happens between couples, affecting alphas?

As a beta, Jeongyun wasn’t sure exactly what it was. However, he remembered a drama his family was hooked on a few years ago, where an alpha dating an omega became addicted to their pheromones and couldn’t bear to be apart even for an hour. But Jeonggwan…

“Jeonggwan… hasn’t dated anyone yet.”

He had never seen Jeonggwan dating anyone. So no alpha could have become addicted to his pheromones.

“It doesn’t necessarily happen only when dating… Never mind. You can go now.”

Won Junjae started to say something but stopped, dismissing Jeongyun without hesitation.

“Ah, and one more thing.”

“…Yes?”

“This conversation is strictly confidential.”

He didn’t forget to seal Jeongyun’s lips in case he might tell Jeonggwan. When an employer declares something confidential, it can’t be shared even with family. Jeongyun quietly abandoned his plan to ask Jeonggwan about it as soon as he got home.

* * *

Jeonggwan’s confidence had just risen from 52% to 92%. The moment he smiled at his brother who was giving him a welcoming look, the curve of his graph surged with certainty.

As he was tidying up the cooking utensils, Jeonggwan moved a bit slower for the man who had been coming around 10:30 PM lately. Usually, with his impatient personality, he would have quickly cleaned up and rushed to help at his parents’ store. But ever since he saw Park Jihoon looking at him like he’d seen a ghost a few days ago, he had been deliberately delaying his departure.

‘Why is that guy looking for you?’

‘The director was looking for me?’

‘What’s going on between you two? What is it? Is he plotting to kill you?’

‘I told you, I think he’s interested in me.’

‘…Stop talking nonsense. What’s really going on? What’s his agenda?’

‘If you don’t want to believe me, just watch.’

It seemed Won Junjae had come looking for him after he left early on the second day of the cafe’s opening, not knowing Jeonggwan’s schedule. Jeonggwan started preparing for work, humming with an ‘I told you so’ look, while Jihoon kept pressing for the real reason, and Jeonggwan just told him to stand back and observe.

From that day on, Won Junjae would come an hour before Jeonggwan’s shift ended and sit in that designated spot where he could see Jeonggwan before leaving. The first day it was thirty minutes, but from then on, it was a whole hour! Jeonggwan was triumphant, while Jihoon was beyond shocked, even slapping his own cheek wondering if this was a nightmare.

However, Jeonggwan’s triumphant feeling gradually turned into embarrassment. He had thought Won Junjae would approach him aggressively, but he began to doubt if it was really interest. Won Junjae didn’t stare at Jeonggwan persistently from his seat; he just occasionally glanced over without making any attempt to talk or take any action.

Usually, if someone was interested, they would try to strike up a conversation, but with Won Junjae, it felt like he was just killing time. Even his glances seemed like he was just happening to look up. Jihoon also teased, “What am I supposed to be watching? You’re really drinking your own Kool-Aid, Kim Jeonggwan.”

Because of this, Jeonggwan’s confidence that it was interest and not some other motive, as Jihoon suggested, had plummeted from 72% to 52%.

But he was wrong.

Today, whether by good assignment, Jeongyun, who usually guarded outside the cafe door connected to the lobby, was inside the cafe, sending welcoming glances to Jeonggwan.

Because of this, when Jeonggwan smiled slightly at Jeongyun,

At that moment, Won Junjae, who seemed to be looking at his phone in front of Jeonggwan, sharply turned his head in that direction.

“…”

When he confirmed that the person Jeonggwan smiled at was Jeongyun, Won Junjae just slightly furrowed his brows and lowered his head back to his phone.

“…Oh ho.”

Jeonggwan had seen it. The flash of relief that crossed Won Junjae’s face.