I've Been Possessed, But What If I Get Pregnant First? - C105
#105
Thump. It felt like his heart had dropped to the floor. Anxiety exploded, tightly gripping Taebeom’s limbs.
“…What did you just say?”
Taebeom asked as rationally as he could. But grandmother was beside herself with worry about Yuwon.
“Our Yuwon, what should I do… what should I do about this…”
“Grandmother.”
Junseok shook his head slightly at Taebeom. Then he helped grandmother up and led her to the sofa. After covering her knees with a blanket and bringing her warm tea, Junseok asked in a calm voice.
“Grandmother, first you need to explain the situation so we can find a way. Can you tell us what happened?”
Then grandmother, with eyes welling up again, slowly began to explain the situation.
“I came home late because of the store, and I thought he was sleeping so I didn’t want to wake him… But when I looked in the morning, the child was gone.”
“Yes. And then?”
“So I thought he’d just gone out for a bit… So I waited for a long time, but he didn’t come back, and he left his phone at home.”
“When was this?”
Grandmother beat her chest hard as if frustrated and cried.
“It’s been about three days. I should die. I should die…”
“Grandmother, you need to find your grandson first. You can’t give up like this already.”
Taebeom’s face had turned deathly pale. Though they had been together for a long time, Junseok was frightened by the fiercer than ever atmosphere.
“Did you report it?”
A low voice flowed from Taebeom. Junseok looked up at Taebeom and unconsciously inhaled sharply.
The coldness felt in the emotionless gaze stung like being cut by a blade wherever it landed. It seemed this wasn’t felt only by grandmother, as the other men’s faces also turned pale.
“Boss.”
“I asked if you reported it.”
Junseok tried to calm Taebeom with an urgent voice, but it was useless. Neither Taebeom nor grandmother thought Yuwon had run away. But if Yuwon was having bad thoughts and thinking of doing something strange…
Taebeom roughly ran his hand through his hair, stopping the horrific thought at just the imagination.
“I did… I reported it right away in the evening.”
“And there’s been no contact yet? Even if they can’t track the location, if they just checked the nearby CCTVs, they should at least be able to determine his whereabouts-“
Taebeom gritted his teeth, thinking of the police who habitually did a terrible job. Swallowing his anger until his jaw muscles stood out, he made a phone call somewhere.
“Send the guys to Uneun-dong now, collect the surrounding CCTV footage, search through dashcams or whatever, and bring everything that might help find Cha Yuwon.”
“Yes, understood.”
After hanging up, Taebeom immediately gave instructions to Junseok and turned his head to look at grandmother.
“I’ve asked for cooperation from the police and prosecutors, and from now on, it will be switched to a special search operation. Besides this, I’ll mobilize as much private manpower as possible to find him no matter what, so don’t worry too much.”
“I shouldn’t be doing this to you if it were anyone else… Thank you. Really, thank you…”
Grandmother, wiping her tears with the end of her sleeve, held Taebeom’s hand and repeatedly expressed her gratitude. Taebeom felt bitter seeing grandmother’s face, which had aged considerably. He had tried to forcibly forget by turning a blind eye, vaguely thinking Yuwon would be doing well, but he never thought or imagined he would learn about Yuwon’s news like this.
“Has anything happened to Yuwon in the meantime?”
“Last October, Yuwon manifested as an omega…”
“An omega… you say?”
At these unexpected words, blue veins stood out prominently on the back of Taebeom’s hand. Suppressing the pheromones that were about to burst out as much as possible, he ran one hand over his face. Grandmother just nodded slightly at Taebeom’s words.
Taebeom knew well the meaning the word ‘omega’ held for Yuwon. The reason he was bullied at school, the reason he started exercising, it all stemmed from there.
“From then on, the child had a hard time… He didn’t go out much, and also…”
Grandmother’s eyes gazed at Taebeom and then lowered. Taebeom quietly closed his mouth, knowing the meaning felt in that gaze. Suddenly disappearing overnight, Yuwon must have waited for him who didn’t come.
He’s a kind child by nature with a lot of affection. Taebeom recalled Yuwon’s face, always smiling brightly and helping his grandmother despite difficult situations.
“Yuwon waited for you a lot… No, I shouldn’t say such things…”
However, contrary to her words, grandmother still looked at Taebeom with upset eyes. Junseok opened his mouth to say something, but was blocked by Taebeom’s hand and couldn’t say anything. Finding Yuwon was the priority for now.
“Was there nothing else besides that?”
“There wasn’t…”
“I understand. For now, please wait at home, I’ll contact you as soon as we find Yuwon.”
“Thank you so much…”
At the words that he would find Yuwon, grandmother finally wiped her tears with a face of relief. Even though she had reported to the police station, it had been determined as a simple runaway and no progress had been made. In her frustrating state of mind, grandmother had come to Taebeom without thinking, as if grasping at straws.
Grandmother, drained of energy and barely able to get up, returned home with Junseok’s support.
“I’ve escorted grandmother back to her home.”
“The video?”
Taebeom rubbed his face with a tired expression. Since learning that Yuwon had disappeared, nothing seemed to go right.
“Here’s the retrieved video file for now.”
Junseok played the video on a tablet. It was CCTV from the villa entrance. Fast-forwarding, they could see Yuwon leaving the house at similar times every day after grandmother left for work.
Taebeom’s gaze fell on the hastily thrown-on clothes and the thin body visible underneath.
At a glance, Yuwon had lost too much weight over the past few months. He was originally thin, but now his wrists, skinny to a serious degree, kept catching Taebeom’s attention.
Where is he going in such a hurry every day with a body like that? Taebeom asked Junseok with an anxious mind.
“Where is he going? If it’s the same time every day, there must be a destination, right?”
“Well…”
Junseok frowned with a troubled face. This was something Junseok hadn’t thought of at all. He was conflicted about whether telling Taebeom would be good for him or not.
“Park Junseok.”
“…It’s CCTV footage from the coffee shop on the first floor.”
“Where-, no way…”
At Taebeom’s urging, Junseok finally confessed the truth. Taebeom’s eyes wavered at the mention of the first-floor coffee shop. Taebeom couldn’t continue speaking with a pale face, but Junseok quietly played another video.
A small coffee shop across from the company building. Yuwon was there every day. What he was doing there was obvious without having to follow his gaze.
With a pale face, he sometimes shed tears. The eyes and expression filled with longing were enough to feel Yuwon’s sorrowful heart. Taebeom’s face, watching the video without blinking, had turned even paler than before.
In the end…
“Boss.”
Junseok carefully called out to Taebeom, but he was still looking down at Yuwon.
“……”
As expected, he shouldn’t have sent him away like that back then.
Taebeom recalled the image of Yuwon coming to him on January 1st, holding a crumpled paper he had scrawled “wish coupon” on with a shy face.
‘Hyung, I… I like you.’
He remembered Yuwon confessing to him with a shy face.
‘Hyung…! Hyung, d-don’t go, please…. Hic, hyung… I like you…. Taebeom hyung!’
And he remembered himself turning away mercilessly, ignoring such a Yuwon.
His chest felt blocked. His heart ached so much it was hard to breathe. Even he was confused by emotions he had never felt before.
Why did his heart ache at Yuwon’s tears when he had only thought of him as a young brother? Why couldn’t he shake it off when he was the child of the people who had done that to his mother?
As Taebeom was reminiscing about that day, he was brought back to reality by a ringtone. He quickly answered the phone, and an excited voice of his subordinate who had been tracing Yuwon’s trail came through the receiver.
-Boss, we found him!
“Where? No, what happened to Cha Yuwon?”
Taebeom let out a sigh of relief at the answer coming through the receiver. Fortunately, Yuwon hadn’t made an extreme choice himself.
But at the subsequent report, Taebeom gritted his teeth. Kidnapping, of all things.
Taebeom’s steps towards where Yuwon was showed not a moment’s hesitation.
***
“Ah… ugh, my head…”
A groan like a sob escaped through his teeth at the pain that felt like his head was being split in half. When he barely opened his eyes and looked around, he couldn’t see anything. All he could tell was that it was extremely cramped.
“Kim… Sangchul…”
The last thing he remembered was turning his body with the thought that he had to go to hyung no matter what. He lost consciousness with a dull noise and an enormous impact felt on the back of his head.