Chapter 11 - Third Time’s a Charm

It didn’t end there.

Heerak dyed his hair.

At first, he dyed it an ivory color. It lasted less than two weeks. His hair looked almost white under the light—this amused his father, but his mother had a problem with it. The terse message from his mom that said “Son, I like that you look awesome doing anything. But I think you would be more awesome if you knew some restraint,” sent shivers down Heerak’s spine and he quickly compromised.

While photos of his siblings in stiff suits appeared on economy magazines, Heerak’s shiny, bright brown hair swept away various media outlets. It wasn’t long until Heerak became the center of attention.

He was 188 cm tall and had well-maintained, fair, and clear skin. He had a bright impression and good looks, and could even be considered beautiful. Swathed in high-end designer clothes and accessories, Heerak looked ready for the runway and attracted everyone’s attention.

His unprecedented path stretched on.

Heerak used social media proactively. Every first day of the month, Heerak would have the first taste at his family restaurant’s salad bar, as its executive director. He posted the obvious “I like this month’s theme. Amazing,” but he also posted comments like “I think there will be a split in preferences for this month’s menu,” or “Not really to my tastes. People who like spicy food might agree with me.” That wasn’t all. Heerak also exposed his private life on social media. They included pictures of him drinking beer in his penthouse terrace past midnight, or him shaking in joy when the supercar that he was waiting for finally arrived.

The masses showed a very positive reaction to his side of Heerak.

Heerak’s lifestyle was on such a different dimension that people felt a sense of detachment. Instead of feeling inferior, people were more curious about Heerak’s lifestyle. The lives of the children of leading conglomerate families and famous businesspeople were always so secretive. The masses thought that they would continue to live in secrecy. Heerak shattered that perception.

Heerak wrote things like “I’m kind of hungry, so I came to the convenience store. What’s good? There are too many things that look good,” and people would comment with their favorite packaged meals and sandwich recommendations. Heerak listened to some of those recommendations and uploaded a photo of his purchase, along with his review of it.

He accepted all the interviews that came in for him. In exchange, he sent a letter to all the news outlets that he would accept interviews on the condition that they exclude all headlines and text that illustrated him as an “heir,” “third-generation chaebol¹South Korean “wealth cliques” or “rich family.” They have family-owned conglomerates with subsidiary companies across several industries.,” or “successor” as the last son of the chairman of HW Group. He did that for his siblings’ peace of mind and for his future going forward. The media faithfully obliged.

The economy and entertainment magazines attached keywords like “young legend,” “a new wave,” and “unrivaled presence” to Heerak. To take it further, he did not hesitate to make TV appearances. On cooking variety shows, he would say things like “I think pouring the sauce over tangsuyuk²This is a Korean-Chinese dish with deep-fried, crispy pork or beef. It comes with a sweet and sour sauce. There is a big debate over whether the “best” way to enjoy the sauce is pouring it over the dish completely, or by dipping the meat in the sauce as you eat. is inhuman,” or “I’m on team tteokbokki³A spicy, stir-fried rice cake dish, one of the most popular street foods.. Soondae⁴A blood sausage, stuffed with glass noodles and glutinous rice, sometimes with vegetables. This is also a popular street food. is always number two when there’s tteokbokki,” which made people laugh and marvel at him.

Everyone loved this easygoing and amicable “young and beautiful executive director.” Eventually, he was able to have his name on the top of most lists about favorite businesspeople, most influential figures, and so on.

As time slipped by, he reached the final destination of his blueprint.

Heerak was able to open his own shopping mall, his life goal, earlier than expected. He originally planned to open one in his mid-thirties, but he was able to achieve this dream in his early thirties.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony at the grand opening of his mall had a long queue of media outlets and onlookers who wanted a glimpse of the handsome director. Heerak expressed his gratitude to those people. From beginning to end, smile without falter, he was generous with his handshakes and hugs and accepted all requests to take photos as long as time allowed.

Everything ran smoothly. Of course, when he recalled the café, he swelled up in anger, but it was now to the point where he could ignore it. He simply thought this was one of the hardships he had no control over.

But this time.

This time, for once.

“I slept with a beta. Can you believe that?”

Heerak muttered, and Seokchan broke out into a smile and retorted, “How many more times are you going to say that before you’re satisfied?”

“I mean, I just can’t understand it at all.”

Like with most people, Heerak liked delicious things. To him, delicious things included “omegas.”

Due to his long-term plans, he had sex but never dated anyone. If he wanted to, he could easily sleep with anyone, but problems could crop up just as easily. Heerak made a few partners just so he could regularly have sex with no strings attached. All of them were dominant omegas with strong pheromones. They were fragrant and by embracing them, he could immerse himself in their sweet scent. In bed, these omegas released pheromones that were more delicious and enticing than anything else.

It was fine even if there was no exchange of emotions. With leisurely sex, Heerak and those omegas could always intoxicate themselves in each others’ dominant pheromones and spend a satisfying night.

Sharing a bed with a beta itself was not the problem. It was not as if he did not know any alphas who had sex with betas before. However, to those alphas, that was just another special delicacy and far from a sincere exchange.

Heerak did not have a special one-time fling with a sober mind—what shocked him was that he unexpectedly asked a beta to bed, in a drunken stupor.

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