Chapter Two #4
Hyunwoo rolls his eyes. “Oh come on. It’s just sex. Two adults doing a natural biological act for a specific practical purpose.”
“Yes. Sex with a man. Which is something I’ve never done and never planned on doing.”
“So?” He tilts his head. “It can’t be that different from being with women. The basic mechanics are the same.”
“Of course it’s different. It’s completely different.”
He looks genuinely curious now, which is somehow worse than the scheming. “How, exactly?”
“Well, I don’t know specifically, I’ve only ever been with women!”
“So have I, but it should be fine. It’s not like it hurts or anything.”
I stare at him with my mouth open. “What the fuck are you on about? Of course it hurts!”
Hyunwoo raises an eyebrow. “You just said you’ve only been with women. So how would you know if it hurts or not? Have you been secretly experimenting without telling me?”
“Because I’m not a fucking idiot, Hyunwoo. I don’t need to have personally experienced it to understand basic anatomy.” I lean forward and jab my finger at him. “And what about birth? How the hell do you think pushing a whole human baby out of your body isn’t supposed to hurt?”
He waves a hand at me dismissively again, the gesture so casual it makes me want to reach across the table and strangle him.
“Omegas give birth every single day. It’s literally what your body is designed for.
You’ll be fine. You’re practically built for it, that’s the whole biological point of being an omega, your body is optimized for—”
“Fuck you,” I cut him off. “You’re such a jackass. You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about because you’ll never have to do it yourself.”
His expression shifts, the cockiness draining away, replaced by a pleading look.
He leans forward with his elbows on the table, he speaks more quietly, more serious.
“Come on, Yuggie. My grandmother is cutting off all my cards. It’s getting desperate.
I mean, look at me.” He gestures down at himself.
“My clothes are practically in rags at this point.”
I give him the flattest look I can possibly muster, letting my eyes travel pointedly over his impeccably tailored designer suit, the gold watch glinting on his wrist, the gleaming cufflinks, the chain at his throat. “You’re literally an idiot if you think that line is going to work.”
He switches tactics without missing a beat, his voice dropping, sounding more serious and persuasive, and I can tell he’s pulling out the big guns now because he’s looking at me the way he looks at people when he actually wants something badly enough to try.
“The money you’ll get from this arrangement will be enough to completely transform your life, Yugyeom.
You could get your own apartment. Rent-free.
A car that actually starts on the first try.
Pay off all your student loans, every last won of them.
Anything you want.” He holds my gaze steadily.
“In fact, I’ll buy all of those things for you during the pregnancy if you ask.
I’ll take care of absolutely everything.
The best prenatal doctors, premium food, whatever you need or want.
All you have to do is…” He pauses, and I watch his mouth curve into that irritating smirk.
“Open your legs, get fat for nine months, and take my money. It’s the easiest job in the world. ”
I cringe so hard my shoulders come up to my ears. “You’re disgusting. The way you phrase things makes it sound like you’re ordering a service.”
He leans forward across the table, his cutting brown eyes gleaming with mischief, the smirk widening. “But that’s not a no, is it?” He tilts his head. “I can see you thinking about it. The wheels are turning. I can practically see the calculator running behind your eyes.”
I hate him. And that he’s right.
I chew on the inside of my cheek and stare down at the remains of my expensive dinner, the plate nearly cleaned because the food was too good to waste even during the most insane conversation of my life.
My rent is three months late. My student loans are a black hole eating my paychecks before I even get them.
My car makes a sound like a dying animal every time I turn the ignition, and I just lost two hundred thousand won to another internet scam last week.
I’m broke in a way that feels permanent, where you stop checking your bank balance because you already know what it’s going to say and you’d rather not confirm it.
And Hyunwoo is sitting across from me, offering to make all of that go away.
“And we’d keep it strictly professional?” I ask slowly. He knows he’s got me because his whole body perks up, his spine straightening. “Only penetration, and only until I get pregnant? No weird stuff. No claiming, no bonding, no … feelings?”
Hyunwoo nods so eagerly I’m surprised his head doesn’t come off his neck.
“I swear on everything. I’ll ask nothing more of you than what’s strictly necessary to conceive.
I’ll provide everything you need during the pregnancy—housing, food, medical care, spending money—and afterward, you’re free to do whatever you want.
Completely debt-free, with a fat deposit in your bank account.
” He holds up both hands, palms out. “No strings attached. Our friendship goes back to exactly the way it was before, like nothing happened.”
I take a breath and let it out through my nose. “I want it in writing. A contract that spells out every detail, every obligation, every boundary.”
Hyunwoo hesitates, his expression flickering. “I can’t put something like this in writing.”
“Why not?”
He launches into a rapid-fire explanation about legal implications—something about how a written agreement involving an omega pregnancy could be construed as a surrogacy contract which his family’s lawyers would flag, how there are clauses in inheritance law regarding the legitimacy of heirs that could be challenged if there’s documented evidence of a transactional arrangement, how it could be used against both of us if it ever surfaced.
He rattles off terms and legal terms that make my head spin, none of which I can follow because legal jargon has always sounded like a foreign language to me and I barely passed the one law elective I took in college.
But I trust him. We’ve been friends since before either of us could walk.
We grew up together, went to the military together, and despite all of Hyunwoo’s faults—his laziness, his arrogance, his inability to take anything seriously—he’s never screwed me over.
Not once in twenty-six years. And there’s no real risk here because this is my friend and we don’t see each other that way.
There’s no danger of catching feelings or things getting complicated. It’s just physical. Just one pregnancy.
I can do that.
I sigh deeply, pick up my wine glass, and drain the rest of it in one long swallow. The wine is warm going down and I set the empty glass on the table with a clink.
“Fine,” I say. “I’ll do it.”
Hyunwoo’s face breaks into a wide grin, his eyes lighting up with relief and triumph, and he looks so genuinely happy that for a second I almost feel good about my decision before the reality of what I’ve just agreed to settles back in.
I hold up a finger before he can start celebrating.
“But you better not skimp on the payment. And if I’m going to be carrying your heir around for nine months, you’re going to treat me well.
Good food. Good doctors. And I’m not quitting my job.
” I level him with a firm look. “I’ll work at the gym for as long as I physically can before the pregnancy makes it impossible.
And the second the baby is born and handed over to the Seo family’s nanny brigade, we never speak of this again. ”
Hyunwoo reaches across the table to shake my hand, gripping it firmly like we’ve just closed a business deal. He gives my hand two solid pumps before releasing it.
“You won’t regret this, Yuggie,” he says, and signals for the check.
I stare out at the Seoul skyline and wonder what the hell I’ve just agreed to.
But the thought of financial freedom, of not waking up every morning to overdue notices and a bank balance in the red, is too strong to resist. Besides, how hard can it be?
People get pregnant every day. I just have to endure some awkward sex with my best friend, grow a baby for nine months, hand it over, and walk away with enough money to change my life.
Simple. Straightforward.
What could possibly go wrong?