Kang-woo didn't fight the needle when they slipped it in. His new body was too soft, too slow, and screaming "I'm not Han Seung-ho" for the third time had earned him nothing but polite smiles and another syringe. The drug hit like warm honey. His eyelids dropped.
He dreamed.
"What are you doing, Kang-woo hyung!" Gi-tae squeezed in next to him at the rickety desk, eyes glued to the laptop. The kid was the only one who knew Mad Dog liked men. Caught him once with his hand down his pants watching suited Alphas wreck pretty boys. Gi-tae never breathed a word. Loyal little shit.
"Ah, again with the weird stuff."
"This is food for the soul, punk." Kang-woo leaned back, already palming himself through his jeans while the video played—black suit, thick cock slamming in raw, no mercy.
Gi-tae grimaced but leaned closer anyway. "Your taste is so fucking consistent. All suits. You some kind of pervert?"
"Shut up and buy ramen. I'm starving."
Gi-tae laughed and left. Five minutes later the door exploded open. Gi-tae staggered in, blood pouring from his stomach, face gray as old concrete. Footsteps thundered up the stairs behind him.
"Hyung—run!"
Kang-woo dragged him inside, locked the door, held the knob with every muscle he had. One dull kitchen knife. That was it. Metal scraped outside like a pack of wolves sharpening their teeth.
Bang. Bang. The door shook like it wanted blood.
"Gi-tae! Wake the fuck up!"
Gi-tae vomited red and slumped sideways.
The knob rattled loose. The door burst inward. Knives flashed blue under the fluorescent light.
Kang-woo ran for the window. Third floor. Jump or die. He threw himself out just as a hand grabbed his collar and steel punched into his side. Pain like fire. He shook free, balanced on the sill, and leaped.
Instead of falling, he floated. Up. Up. The thugs screamed from the window, throwing knives that missed like slow-motion toys.
Kang-woo laughed out loud, arms spread like some idiot superhero. "Try and catch me, you bastards! I can fly! I'm Batman! I'm Superman! Hahaha—"
Creepy. Is he laughing? Yeah, he is. Maybe it's not amnesia. Maybe he's just insane now. You should do well, oppa. Don't lecture me. Shh, both of you shut up. Looks like he's waking up.
Voices. Real ones. Close.
Kang-woo cracked his eyes open. The dream dissolved. He was back in the golden cage.
Silk sheets. Crystal chandelier. His wrists were tied to the headboard again with soft restraints. Four strangers stared down at him like he was a broken vase they didn't want to throw away yet.
The older woman—Madam Kwon, the mother-in-law—looked at him with ice in her eyes. Next to her, the younger woman—Ji-woon's sister, probably—leaned in, curiosity sparkling like she was watching the best drama of the season.
"Did you really lose your memory, sister-in-law? You're not lying, right?"
Kang-woo blinked slowly. He remembered everything. The warehouse. The debtor pissing himself. The pier. The river. The wrong face in the mirror. The kiss that still burned on his new lips. But he kept his mouth shut. Street rule number one: when you're outnumbered, play dumb until you find the exit.
The doctor hovered nearby, chart in hand. "There's nothing abnormal physically. However, it will take time for memories to return. Days. Weeks. Maybe months."
"How long exactly?" Madam Kwon snapped.
The doctor scratched between his eyebrows, nervous. "I can't promise anything, Madam Kwon."
Kang-woo stayed quiet. He was certain now. This wasn't a hallucination. He wasn't Choi Kang-woo anymore. He was Han Seung-ho, Omega, married into the Kwon family—the ones who could buy and sell his old crew before breakfast. Daughter-in-law. The word still made him want to puke.
God. Buddha. You granted the wish, all right. Rich family? Check. Comfortable life? Check. But you made me the fucking daughter-in-law.
He scanned the room without moving his head. Everyone reeked of old money. Designer everything, perfect posture, the kind of quiet power that could bury a man and plant flowers on the grave before lunch. The sister-in-law kept grinning like this was the funniest thing she'd seen all year. Madam Kwon touched her temple like the whole situation gave her a migraine.
Right before some important event, too. He caught that much from the whispers.
Voices outside the door. Madam Kwon's face brightened a fraction. "Ji-woon must have arrived."
The door opened. Well-polished shoes first, then the rest of the man—black suit tailored like a weapon, expression carved from stone. Kwon Ji-woon strode in like the room belonged to him. Which it did.
He stopped at the foot of the bed and looked Kang-woo up and down, slow and unreadable. No shock. No pity. Just that same cold scan from the hospital.
"I'm here."
The doctor rattled off the amnesia story again. Ji-woon listened without blinking, like it was a quarterly earnings report. No sadness. No questions. Just calculation.
Kang-woo stared. Black suit. Broad shoulders. That jaw. The same face that had been pounding the guy in the porn video. His type. Exactly his fucking type.
Haa. This is insane. The husband is exactly my type?
Ji-woon's eyes flicked to him. Something sharp and dangerous moved behind them.
The mother-in-law sighed. "We'll handle it from here, Doctor."
Everyone filed out except Ji-woon, Madam Kwon, and the nosy sister-in-law. The door clicked shut.
Kang-woo tested the restraints. Soft but solid. He could slip them if he wanted—old tricks—but the way Ji-woon watched him made him stay still.
The Alpha stepped closer. That dark, expensive scent rolled over him again and Kang-woo's traitor body reacted—legs weak, heat low in his stomach. Not now, you useless sack of Omega hormones.
Ji-woon reached down and loosened the restraints with one hand. His fingers brushed Kang-woo's wrist. Deliberate.
"Welcome home, Seung-ho," he said, voice low enough that only Kang-woo heard. "We have a lot to talk about once your memory comes back."
Madam Kwon was already turning away, muttering about schedules and an upcoming gala. The sister-in-law winked at him like they shared a dirty secret.
Kang-woo swallowed hard. He was in the cage now. A golden one. Full of sharks.
And the biggest shark was standing right next to the bed, looking at him like he already knew every lie Kang-woo hadn't told yet.