I’m Not Your Affair Partner! - Chapter 3
‘What?’
It felt as though his thoughts had come to a complete stop.
Si-Ryeon’s eyes flew open.
Large black pupils glared sharply at him.
Like a predator assessing how much meat its captured prey might yield, the man slowly swept his gaze up and down Si-Ryeon’s face. Then he stuck out his tongue and licked his upper lip.
“Well, fine. You’re not bad-looking, at least.”
“What are you talking ab—!”
Si-Ryeon’s protest ended in a sharp gasp as a thick thigh pushed between his legs.
Why were bad feelings never wrong?
He bit the tip of his tongue to suppress a scream.
Even someone as oblivious to sexual signals as Si-Ryeon couldn’t possibly misunderstand the clear intention behind that suggestive movement.
“I just happen to be in my rut right now.”
Slowly pressing his knee against the inside of Si-Ryeon’s thigh, the man brought his lips close to Si-Ryeon’s ear. Every pore on Si-Ryeon’s body instantly tightened, and the fine hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Even if he didn’t want to understand what the man meant by “that time,” it was impossible not to.
Keeping his eyes fixed on Si-Ryeon like a wild beast staring at its prey, the man continued.
“I think you’d be perfect for playing the role of my omega.”
“……”
“What do you think?”
The man tilted his head after speaking in a deceptively gentle voice. Their faces moved so close that their lips could touch at any moment.
‘No. This is insane!’
Si-Ryeon’s vision went dark. Turning his head away, he pleaded in a voice mixed with panic.
“Wait! Listen to me! I—I’m a man. I’m neither a woman nor a variant!”
“If you say ‘variant’ one more time, I’ll kill you.”
The man’s face twisted violently.
Si-Ryeon hurriedly corrected himself.
“What I mean is, I can’t get pregnant…”
“What does that have to do with this?”
Still gripping Si-Ryeon’s shoulder with one hand, the man asked the question flatly.
Si-Ryeon fell silent.
How was he supposed to persuade someone who had no intention of understanding him?
Anyone who had received a compulsory education knew that variants could have sexual relationships regardless of gender and could impregnate their partners.
But that was nothing more than theoretical information taught about a race different from ordinary humans.
And even among ordinary people, Si-Ryeon was as ordinary as they came.
He had never once imagined himself becoming the partner of another man—much less a variant alpha. He had only ever been in a relationship once in his entire life.
And now he was supposed to sleep with a male alpha?
What did that even involve? How was it supposed to work?!
The man had accused Si-Ryeon of being “filled with prejudice against variants,” yet here he was casually treating another man as a sexual target.
Why had he gotten angry when Si-Ryeon mentioned the stereotype about variants being promiscuous after announcing that he was in his rut?!
The man didn’t care whether Si-Ryeon was panicking.
“Sorry, but things are a little urgent on my end.”
Muttering under his breath, the man lowered his head and buried his nose against the back of Si-Ryeon’s neck.
Startled, Si-Ryeon hurriedly shoved both hands against the man’s shoulders.
“Wh-What are you doing?!”
However, saying that he shoved the man only described Si-Ryeon’s intention, not what he actually accomplished.
The man’s body was as solid as a boulder and didn’t budge in the slightest against Si-Ryeon’s resistance.
When Si-Ryeon refused to give up and continued straining to push him away, the man clicked his tongue in annoyance and seized both of Si-Ryeon’s arms with one hand.
“Ugh!”
“Hold still before I tie you up.”
Si-Ryeon’s shoulders twisted as both his hands were pinned above his head. He squeezed his eyes shut as the man’s sinister warning stabbed into his ears.
His knees nearly buckled, and nervous tension caused a strange tingling sensation in his lower abdomen. Si-Ryeon bit his lip and held his breath.
“Do betas not have pheromones? Why don’t you smell like anything?”
The man rubbed his forehead around Si-Ryeon’s neck and sniffed like an animal searching for something.
Si-Ryeon squeezed his eyes shut, feeling as though his heart might burst from the pressure.
Of course there wasn’t even the slightest trace of pheromones on him. Si-Ryeon wasn’t a variant.
But the man’s touch remained persistent.
Trembling, Si-Ryeon glanced sideways at the man’s profile. At some point, the man’s free hand had begun feeling along his side.
As though he had done this many times before, the hand attempting to slip beneath Si-Ryeon’s shirt moved with practiced, almost graceful ease.
“I don’t know what happened, but if Chae Yoo-Jin is the same person I knew, I can help you find him. But I really wasn’t having an affair with him. What you’re doing right now is seriously wrong. If you let me go, I swear I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
His voice trembled with desperation. Si-Ryeon twisted his waist in an attempt to escape the man’s touch.
As if mocking his efforts, the man wrapped an arm firmly around Si-Ryeon’s waist.
Si-Ryeon swallowed a frantic breath as the man’s burning body heat pressed against his neck. Faced with a genuine threat to his safety—or rather, his chastity(?)—an unfamiliar terror surged through him.
‘What do I do?’
What am I supposed to—?
“—Pfft.”
At that moment, Si-Ryeon heard what sounded like stifled laughter beside his ear.
“Scared?”
The man’s voice was mixed with snickering.
His grip on Si-Ryeon’s wrists loosened, and the heat that had been trapping Si-Ryeon’s body soon moved away.
Si-Ryeon stared up at the man in stunned disbelief.
“You didn’t seriously think I’d lay a hand on a beta, did you?”
“Wh—”
Si-Ryeon’s face turned deathly pale.
Who was the one who had created that terrifying atmosphere in the first place?!
Having released Si-Ryeon without any lingering reluctance, the man stepped back and scratched beneath his chin. His clear black eyes swept over Si-Ryeon’s face.
“If something this minor makes you tremble in fear, you shouldn’t have acted so cocky.”
“……”
“Just tell me where Chae Yoo-Jin is. Confess willingly, and I’ll let you off this once.”
The man’s voice was dry and indifferent. He acted as though nothing in the world mattered to him except finding Chae Yoo-Jin.
Si-Ryeon tightly clenched his fists.
“How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t know before you understand?”
The sea of emotions he had suppressed for so long began to stir.
“Which one of us is refusing to listen and acting out of line?”
His insides felt as though they were boiling.
Si-Ryeon raised his eyes and glared fiercely at the man. The man stopped in the middle of scratching his chin and stared down at him.
“I don’t know! I have no idea where that bastard Chae Yoo-Jin ran off to!”
“……”
The man’s eyes widened.
Si-Ryeon refused to look away, meeting his gaze as he clenched his teeth.
Even when dealing with his unreasonable parents or communicating with overbearing clients, Si-Ryeon had never gotten this angry.
But someone who was both overbearing and incapable of listening was an entirely different matter!
“I’m already barely surviving each day, and now some gangster bastard has kidnapped me and threatened me over something I know nothing about! And what did you say? If I confess willingly, you’ll let me off this once?”
Simply thinking about the crushing debt he had no way to repay was already enough to suffocate him.
Now he was being forced to waste the little time he had on this ridiculous situation.
How could anyone possibly remain sane?
Si-Ryeon bent down and grabbed the first thing within reach.
A fairly heavy but soft pillow flew directly at the man.
Thump!
The man stood there blankly and took the pillow squarely in the face before catching it with one hand.
Breathing furiously, Si-Ryeon shouted at him.
“What was that nonsense about being in your rut? That’s your problem as a variant!”
“……”
“If you like sleeping with other men so much, go find someone else! Stop harassing a perfectly normal person!”
“Haa… Haa…”
After releasing the words like a raging waterfall, Si-Ryeon fell silent and panted for breath.
“Are you finished?”
The man had stood silently holding the pillow for a moment before asking in a low voice.
Si-Ryeon drew a startled breath and retreated half a step.
Running one hand through his short hair, the man let out an incredulous sigh.
“You really have a fucking unpleasant way of talking.”
The hint of laughter in his voice carried a strangely chilling edge.
Si-Ryeon swallowed dryly and glanced around. If necessary, he intended to protect himself by picking up the chair and throwing it.
He wasn’t sure whether he had enough strength left to do that, but…
Then, in the next instant—
Thump.
Contrary to Si-Ryeon’s expectations, the man sank down onto the floor.