“You'd do well to remember that the more you carry on like this, the worse Deputy Director Baek's position becomes.”
If anything, it looked like he was straining to seize the upper hand.
“Ha, and when has my position ever been favorable?”
Yoongeon let out a low, self-mocking laugh.
“If you don't want to tie things off, then scrambling to win more support from the clan is the only way for Deputy Director Baek to survive.”
“I don't need that kind of support. They're the sort who'll turn their backs the moment the situation shifts. You expect me to trust that?”
As he finished speaking, Yoongeon shot a sidelong glance at the men seated before him. It was as if he were saying, That's exactly what you lot are, isn't it? The seated men bristled and started to spit out a retort, but he was faster.
“You're just dogs who'll linger at my side to catch whatever crumbs fall. And once you've squeezed out everything and I'm of no more use, you'll toss me aside. That's why you're prowling around in front of me, isn't it?”
Someone swallowed hard, as if struck in the softest spot, while another instinctively clenched a fist. Unable to bear the tension, one man hurriedly jumped in.
“That's exactly why we introduced you to a betrothed, isn't it? The security that comes from the fence of family, not a stranger, is a different thing entirely. Blood will never betray Deputy Director Baek.”
Before the words were even out, the color drained clean from the man's face. It was because he'd met the yellow pupils fixed on him.
The moment he realized that Yoongeon's expressionless face had gone bitingly cold, he seemed to grasp what he'd just said. Yoongeon murmured lowly.
“Family, is it.”
It was a short remark. And yet the silence that followed said a great deal. The man who'd spoken trembled all over.
And so did I. Pheromones utterly unlike his usual ones were pouring off of him. It wasn't simply anger. It was a scent that was thick and terrifying, yet somewhere deep within it lay an old wound. Even drawing breath became something to do carefully.
Yoongeon, expressing his fury while holding that fury deep in his chest, looked sorrowful. And so my own throat burned for no reason. Because I carry a similar pain.
“I didn't realize a man as old as you could be this naive. Or did you say something like that in front of me on purpose? Of all things, to stress the closeness of family.”
The instant that last word left him, the air chilled cold.
Yoongeon was angry, but he didn't raise his voice. And yet the pheromones settling over the room, that biting, frigid rage, seemed to close around the other man's throat.
I held my breath as tightly as I could too. I was afraid even the sound of my breathing might carry.
But the gazes of the men huddled together on the sofa suddenly turned toward me. Tilting my head in confusion, I understood why. Yoongeon's gaze had landed on me, and so their eyes had followed to me as well.
I looked up at Yoongeon with trembling eyes.
Why look at me now?
I couldn't make sense of it, so before I knew it I'd slipped down inside his suit jacket.
“...There's family, and then there's family. Deputy Director Baek must know that as well.”
A beastkin whose face was creased all over with wrinkles opened his mouth calmly. Yoongeon merely rolled his eyes over to stare at the man. When Yoongeon said nothing in particular, the man, somewhat reassured, carefully continued.
“Madam was a splendid person.”
Yoongeon's pheromones sharpened, ever so faintly.
“We hold Deputy Director Baek's achievements in high regard. That's why we introduced you to a betrothed, meaning to lend you strength. For the clan's revival, the clan's solidarity matters, and so does forming a household and raising an heir.”
Everyone watched him as if waiting for Yoongeon's mouth to open.
“I moved not for the clan's sake but to survive here. And yet the clan trails after everything I do. Everything you go on about is nothing but the clan's power.”
“We too, following Deputy Director Baek's will, only wish to survive in this society...”
“No.”
Yoongeon's voice cut the words off coldly.
“Enough of the worthless talk. Do you think I can't see how frantic you are to preserve your oh-so-precious pure blood? That's exactly why the fiancées you've shoved at me are the way they are.”
Yoongeon had merely stated the facts, plainly, yet a crack ran through the old man's face.
“And are you dragging my mother into this? The man who forced my mother in and stuck her at my father's side has an awful lot to say.”
The fact that no one denied his words meant that everything Yoongeon had said was true.
And my head, taking all of it in, grew tangled too. I'd heard bits and pieces over time, so I knew my master's circumstances were complicated. But I'd never imagined it went this far.
Just how badly had his family wounded him?
“You'd have far better odds persuading my brother than something like me. Or did he say he still wants to enjoy his youth and has no intention of siring offspring? Is that why you settled on me, the one with at least some possibility?”
Yoongeon's eyes turned frosty. Fixing his gaze on their sorry, wretched state as they failed to find words, he let a sneer slip.
“You introduced me to plenty of fiancées. If you'd just pair one of them off with my brother, you'd lose nothing. Besides, my brother doesn't turn away a woman who comes to him, so he'd give you plenty of offspring.”
Someone hastily denied it.
“No! We aren't doing this for the sake of pure blood...”
“Aren't you. You harp on and on about family bonds, but what you actually do is sort them into ranks, cast aside the flawed ones, and pick out only the sound children to raise, isn't it?”
When Yoongeon finished, one of the men on the sofa, a middle-aged man who at least looked the youngest, shot to his feet. He didn't hide his fury.
“Ha, I can't stand to hear any more of this. Deputy Director Baek seems to have no intention whatsoever of joining us. To brazenly declare you've no thought of serving the clan. We came all this way meaning to lend you our strength...!”
“Oh dear, you came to lend me your strength?”
When Yoongeon spoke without hiding his sneer, the man shouted at the top of his voice.
“We are a house that holds great power even within the clan! You know that perfectly well!”
At the booming voice my ears pricked up. At that, as if to say I needn't be startled, Yoongeon stroked my head. A moment later, words so low they slipped out like a breath reached my ear.
“That's exactly why they can't be trusted.”
Those words reached only me.
Something stirred in a corner of my chest. Just now, that man had all but bellowed at Yoongeon, a leading candidate for chieftain, that his own power was formidable. And Yoongeon had surely witnessed that man's kind of attitude countless times.
“In all the time it took me to climb to this position, have any of you ever once helped me? As I recall, not in the slightest.”
“It seems Deputy Director Baek has no need of our strength at all.”
The man snorted and shouted.
“I'm grateful you realize it, even now. Because I have no memory of receiving your help even once in building the company up this far.”
Yoongeon cut in coldly.
“So I'll have no need of it going forward either. Much less the words of men who sit at the bottom of a well, crying only for the clan's revival, oblivious even to the way the world is changing.”
Yoongeon said it with a small laugh. Of course, there wasn't a shred of warmth in that laugh. The faces of the men who, until now, had been so busy fuming and straining to persuade him, hardened stiff.
“We understand Deputy Director Baek's intent. That you've no thought of doing anything for the clan!”
“To be precise, I simply don't see why I should do anything that benefits you. As always, I only move as I please.”
Lounging languidly against his chair, Yoongeon swept his eyes over the assembly.
“But I'll give you a chance. If my values aren't to your liking, I'm willing to play along however you want. By the law of the jungle you're so fond of. After all, I'm not human, I'm a beastkin.”
Yoongeon's eyes flashed with menace. It was a killing intent thick and blatant enough that even those consumed by rage instinctively swallowed their breath.
“If you can take it, then take it.”
Yoongeon spoke boldly, yet no one raised a flag of defiance against him. More accurately, no one could. Try as they might to hide it, an unmistakable fear had settled into their eyes.
At some point my hands and feet had gone cold. Faced with Yoongeon's merciless, savage side, I couldn't help feeling afraid. The moment I realized that the Yoongeon I knew wasn't all there was to him, my own position, deceiving him, felt more precarious than ever.
What would he do if he found out I'd been deceiving him...?
“...Let's stop here. When has Deputy Director Baek ever taken a word of ours to heart?”
The old man rose from his seat. And as if to say, enough of this squabbling, he clapped the shoulder of the man who was still boiling over. The gesture looked almost like fleeing.
Biting his lip, the man burst out with a “Ha!” of laughter and clung to worrying at Yoongeon right to the end.
“Fine. Well, I knew it would be like this. That's exactly why you're still keeping that mutt tucked at your side.”
...Mutt?
