Love Me More

Episode 4

I tried to escape from the man’s hand, but even when I twisted my shoulder or struggled to pull away, he didn’t budge an inch. It felt like I was shackled with thick iron chains. The man seemed to have no intention of letting me go until he was done with his business.

“Let go of this.”

Just as I was about to ask him to release me, he finally loosened his grip. I tried to bolt, but it was a failure. This time, his hand slipped into the pocket of my hoodie. After rummaging around and confirming there was nothing inside, he moved on to my pants pocket. Even though I froze in shock, he stubbornly continued to search before pulling his hand out.

I took a step back. If I threw myself into the crowd like this, I might be able to escape. I held onto that hope, but the man ruthlessly shoved his hand into my back pocket, shattering that possibility. I shuddered and widened my eyes.

“W-what are you doing…?”

Even though my pants were covering me, his hand felt hot as if it were gripping my bare skin. The man, indifferent to my trembling, pulled out my wallet from my back pocket.

He opened it, compared my ID with my face, and pulled out the bills and cards one by one. After flipping the frayed corners of the wallet and inspecting it thoroughly, he shoved it into the pocket of my hoodie. One item, my ID, was pinched between his fingers.

“Get this reissued.”

“Please give it back!”

“This is the price for lying. Didn’t you read ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ when you were little? You can’t lie to adults like that. If a bad guy catches you, you’ll really get hurt.”

The man scolded me in a mock-serious tone. If it had been someone else, I would have thought they were just barking like a dog, but in front of him, I couldn’t move an inch and curled my shoulders inward. I felt like a puppy with its tail tucked and ears pinned back.

With a sharp snap, the man flicked my forehead. In an instant, stars exploded in front of my eyes. It felt like a stone the size of a fist had struck me right in the center of my forehead. I gasped and staggered, clutching my forehead.

“This is my territory too, so try not to come here unless you have to. I’ll let it slide this time.”

He had claimed that club as his own last time, and now this one too. Rubbing my sore forehead, I looked up at him. He smirked mockingly and patted my shoulder.

“But if you get caught a third time, I’ll really give you a hard time.”

The low voice whispering next to my ear felt more ominous and frightening than the grim reaper telling me it was time to go. Pale with fear, I jerked my head to stare at the direction the man had disappeared. His large back had already melted into the darker shadows.

Even after the other bulky figure who had come with him completely vanished from sight, I remained frozen in place, still clutching my forehead. I could almost feel the man returning, ready to grab me by the nape of my neck and suggest I get into a drum barrel right then and there. My legs were paralyzed with fear, and it wasn’t until someone passing by lightly tapped my shoulder that I snapped out of it.

I almost collapsed right there. My body finally started to tremble. I rubbed my cold arms vigorously.

I’m lucky, I’m lucky!

Today’s fortune had lied to me. It felt like there was a curse on this place, and I hurriedly fled the club, leaving behind my beer and everything else.

—

At first, I had no interest in the drugs I was distributing. I just needed to drop them off at the place they mentioned. I had no intention of getting deeply involved. No matter how much of an orphan I was, I still wanted to live a proper life, working legally, and eventually have a clever wife and cute kids.

However, as my dealings increased, I learned what I was actually handling. It was drugs, but not marijuana or hallucinogens. It was something peculiar.

“They say if you take it, you’ll temporarily become an Omega.”

At Kwon Yu-won’s response, my eyes widened. I didn’t know much about Omegas or Alphas, but I understood that it wasn’t a property that could be transformed by drugs. It was something that manifested at a certain time and was determined accordingly.

“Is that possible?”

“To be precise, it makes you feel like an Omega. Like you’re in heat.”

Kwon Yu-won sneered. He shook a salt pack lazily, casting an annoyed glance.

“During heat, Alphas and Betas are invisible. They just want to get it on. In the past, GHB and stimulants were popular, but now this is all the rage. It’s like they’re obsessed with breeding.”

To Kwon Yu-won, who was an Omega and had to go through heat periodically, the world seemed to be going mad. It was both pitiful and infuriating to see people selling their lives for such crude synthetic drugs. Some people wanted to live a normal life but couldn’t, while others, like nobles sightseeing in slums, wanted to taste that life and turned to drugs.

“They’re advertising that if you take it continuously, you’ll become a full Omega. Both the users and sellers are crazy, desperately trying to ruin their lives.”

I sat cross-legged, listening to Kwon Yu-won’s flamboyant criticism, then lowered my head and scooped salt into a small teaspoon. We were sitting side by side in a cramped room, working on repackaging. When Kwon Yu-won brought a pack, I divided it into small bags according to the weight. It couldn’t exceed 1g, so I was very careful with the scale.

“There are indeed a lot of crazy people in this world.”

I hadn’t lived a long life, but it felt like I had met the most intense crazy person recently. I couldn’t definitively say he was crazy since I had barely spoken to him, but his unforgettable appearance and voice that felt like it pierced through my ears made me feel like his personality had done a complete turn and then some.

Even with just a few encounters, I could see that his temperament was as tangled as a ship’s rope. He talked about filling a stomach with concrete, scolding me, and warned me not to lie to adults.

He was someone I shouldn’t even brush against. The best course of action was to avoid entanglement altogether.

The memory of the hand that had patted my shoulder made me shudder. The hand holding the spoon trembled as well, causing some of the salt to spill onto the floor.

“Don’t.”

I gently scraped the powder that had fallen to the floor with my fingertips. I was only wearing a loose white tank top, exposing my pale chest and pink nipples. My nipples were small, and the areola was narrow, which seemed to provoke an impulse to touch.

Despite having a skin tone that was unusual for a Beta and nipples that drew unwanted attention, Kwon Yu-won didn’t even glance in that direction. He meticulously sealed the salt packs and gathered them in one place.

It was then that Kwon Yu-won’s phone rang. He checked the name on the screen, muttered a small curse, and answered the call. “Yes, hyung,” he said, his tone much warmer than when he was cursing.

“Today? Yes, I have time, but… Yes? You want Si-yul to come too?”

Kwon Yu-won glanced at me. Hearing my name unexpectedly, I looked up and stared back at him. I pointed at myself with my index finger and silently mouthed, “Me?”

“Why Si-yul? Oh, you want to see him once…?”

The mumbling from the other end of the line faded. Kwon Yu-won’s expression grew increasingly tense as he lowered the volume. I stopped what I was doing and perked up my ears, since my name had come up.

“No, hyung. That friend is busy today… Yes? You want to coordinate the time? Today is a bit… Ah, you really want to see him today?”

Kwon Yu-won’s face contorted at the words thrown by the other party, as he gripped the phone tightly, pressing his fingers against his temples. He looked like he was getting a headache.

“…Yes, yes. I understand. Then I’ll come at 10 PM tonight.”

After confirming that the other person had hung up, Kwon Yu-won cursed under his breath, “Ah, shit!” The loud shout made me hastily set down the salt pack I had just finished.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“This damn pig is so disgusting that I don’t want to show you, but he keeps insisting on bringing you along. He says he has to see the face of a business partner. Shit, he already took my ID, photos, and family relationship certificate at the beginning, and now he wants to see more!”

“I’m fine. If he really wants to see me, I should at least show my face once.”

“If we make a profit, we’re leaving this scene, so what are you talking about showing your face? The best option is not to see each other until we part ways. Ah, shit, should I just say you’re sick and cancel?”

“Aren’t you getting salt from that person?”

“That’s right.”

“Then just listen to him. What if you refuse and he stops giving it to you in the future?”

“Even so—”

Kwon Yu-won stopped mid-sentence, biting his nails. No matter how much he lowered the volume of the phone, the other person’s voice was still audible in this cramped motel room. It seemed like there would be consequences if I wasn’t brought along.

With my mind made up, I smiled brightly and patted Kwon Yu-won’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much. Nothing will happen. If anything does, I’ll run out immediately. You know my running skills.”