Dirty Switch

Without realizing it, Baekhan’s brows furrowed tight, then slowly relaxed.
What did he just say?

Divorce?
Did Joo Taehyun really just ask me for a divorce?
“You want to stop?”

“……”
“Taehyun-ah. Did I hear you right just now?”
Even when Baekhan gently called his name as if coaxing him, Taehyun simply kept his eyes fixed stubbornly on the condensation on the surface of his teacup.

Divorce. Divorce, he said.
Ha…
Baekhan stared off into the distance, trying to steady his breath.

It was rare—this feeling of not knowing how to respond immediately. His mind felt like it had stalled, gone blank. Nothing came to him. His tongue kept trying to repeat Taehyun’s name without knowing what it even wanted to say, and that annoyed him.
“Joo Taehyun. How do you think that statement is going to be interpreted by me?”
That, too, was rare—rebuking Taehyun like this, not as a directive or suggestion, but almost like a senseless outburst.

What infuriated him even more was that despite everything, he could still feel Taehyun’s pheromones gently brushing the space between them.
Fuck. He’d tried hard not to even curse in his thoughts, but this was impossible. There wasn’t a single part of this that he could stomach.
“If this is how you’re acting, then all I can take from it is that everything in this article is true.”

But once he opened his mouth, his emotions burst forth, uncontrollably. He didn’t ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) even know exactly what it was that he was feeling—
“And then what? You want to quit? Say we should get divorced? That kind of spineless nonsense is all you’ve got?”
The veins in Baekhan’s neck popped as his voice rose. His tone, usually so measured, was now visibly unraveling.

It felt like molten metal was racing through his veins. The fact that Taehyun was doing this, the fact that he couldn’t keep himself in check—it was unbearable. He was on the verge of completely losing it.
“This is what taking responsibility looks like to you? If you divorce me, does that magically erase all of this?”
“……”
“You didn’t even think about what people would say after that? That it would confirm everything as true? Are you really that stupid?”

He could counter it. Say it was fabricated, that they’d jumbled together some circumstantial evidence into a misleading timeline. They could go public with their rebuttal immediately.
The Taehyun he knew should’ve taken that route. That’s the kind of person he was—sharp, poised, perfect at navigating scandals. That’s why Baekhan had kept a man like him at his side for four years.
“Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything so that neither you nor your father—no, Assemblyman Seo—gets hurt—”

“And that’s your plan? Your big solution? So you’re saying all of it is true?!”
When his shout exploded louder than anything so far, Taehyun finally lifted his head and met his eyes.
His tightly drawn mouth, his dull expression like he couldn’t care less—everything was exactly the same as usual. He’d just brought up fucking divorce, and yet here he was, looking exactly the same. It was fucking unbearable.

“I know it’s not what you want to hear, but please, trust the contract we signed before we got married—not me, but the DH Group. If nothing else, that’ll keep people from blaming you. Or Hyung.”
“Hey, Joo Taehyun.”
“And with that in mind, these articles... well.”

Taehyun paused and swallowed hard.
“Just let them be.”
“What?”

“If I prove my innocence when the public furor hits its peak, the impact will be greater.”
Taehyun was so composed, it was eerie—he could’ve been just another piece of decor in the office. Calmly asking Baekhan to cooperate with media strategy—he looked like the same Taehyun Baekhan had always known, and yet like a complete stranger too.
“Then I’ll get in touch tomorrow.”

As if nothing had happened, he stood up, mumbling about how his brother Gukwon was coming to Pyongyang to see him. Just like when they’d talk about schedules in the living room before quietly retreating to their bedrooms—no different at all.
“Ugh, hyung!”
But before he could take a step toward the door, Baekhan grabbed his forearm hard. It wasn’t logical. It wasn’t calculated. It was raw impulse, pure emotion.

“You said you’d prove your innocence.”
“Hyung, your hand—! That hurts!”
“Then it’s not true? All of it?”

“Baekhan hyung!”
“Answer me! Did you really use Dirty Switch? Did you have a lover or a sex partner? And fuck—Cheon Seungpil?!”
“……”

“Is it true or not? Start there.”
Baekhan had assumed Taehyun was inexperienced, sexually. That suspicion was what led him to have someone look into him through Choi Yeonjun. He figured he hadn’t even slept with another Alpha before—so the Dirty Switch allegations might’ve been false too...
Fine. All of that could be handled. The photos of the drugs, the app order screenshots—they were irritating, but fixable. That stuff could be dealt with later. It didn’t even bother him anymore.

What mattered was Cheon Seungpil.
Was he involved with him? Did that bastard get him pregnant?
If that wasn’t true—if he’d misunderstood—

“If that’s not the case, then we don’t need to go this far. No need for something so drastic like divorce.”
“……”
“If you’re right—if we turn this into a dramatic comeback—it’ll silence everyone. Even Kim Seungjun. Even those lunatics always looking to weaponize trait legislation won’t be able to say a thing.”

Baekhan forced himself to calm his voice, to soothe him as gently as he could despite the rising heat in his chest.
“...I don’t get it. I don’t understand why you’re against staying married.”
“You really—”

“If the label of divorce is all that bothers you, then you wouldn’t have married me in the first place, right?”
“Joo Taehyun.”
“Yes. I’m Joo Taehyun. The same one you never cared about. No, the one you hated—because I’m an Alpha like you. A man.”

They hadn’t gotten married out of love, not because they were so desperately in love they couldn’t live without each other. So what was the problem with ending it now?
“And those articles... does it matter if they’re true or not? As long as people believe I’m innocent, isn’t that enough?”
“…What?”

“So don’t worry.”
Taehyun gently pried Baekhan’s fingers off his arm.
“If you don’t trust me, I’ll send a lawyer immediately. We’ll need legal teams to handle the divorce prep anyway.”

Does it matter if it’s true or not?
As long as people believe I’m innocent?
“Ah!”

Baekhan spun him around, gripping him with twice the force as before. Taehyun’s shoulder slammed hard into the doorframe.
“You might be able to shut the public up—but how are you going to silence everything connected to the Yunra Foundation? Fine, do what you want. But, Taehyun—”
He grabbed Taehyun’s jaw, forcing his face forward. When Taehyun kept averting his gaze, Baekhan squeezed both cheeks until his whole face was held in place.

He spoke slowly, pressing each word like a blade against skin.
“You still haven’t fixed your broken body. What are you going to do about that?”
A strange emotion flickered in Taehyun’s dark eyes. Despair? Anger? Sadness? Baekhan didn’t care to find out.

“You’re the one who clung to a piece of fabric because you couldn’t survive without my pheromones. The one who begged when I spit into you because you were too dry. And now you want a divorce?”
“……”
“Ah, I guess you don’t remember. That first time in Yeonhwagung, when you were so dry I said I’d spit to help, and you said yes. Told me to do it.”

He let go, jerking his chin toward the door with a wicked grin.
He knew how monstrous he looked—and yet, he couldn’t stop himself.
“If you stop having sex with me, you’re the one who’ll suffer, Taehyun.”

And only then did he realize his pheromones were surging—far beyond what he could even control.
…And even now, Taehyun was still holding himself together. Still composed.
“Fine. Do what you want. But keep this in mind.”

Even if we get divorced, you still have to sleep with me.
He leaned close, whispering so near that their breath mingled, too close to read each other’s eyes.
Then Baekhan turned away—deliberately ignoring the faint moisture in Taehyun’s breath.

Even if this marriage ends someday, today is not that day.
And it won’t end on Taehyun’s terms.
So… he wasn’t going to give Taehyun the divorce.

***
“Taehyun-ah, let’s head to Seoul first.”
Everyone—his family, the corporate PR team—was waiting for Joo Gukwon’s word. Their mother had collapsed from the shock, and their father was busy tending to her. Or at least, that’s what he said. Realistically, he was probably just holding back so he wouldn’t blow up and curse out reporters in a rage.

And Seo Baekhan, that bastard, was nowhere to be found. Ugh… right, he was still hospitalized. But still, this happened to his own spouse—not even a phone call?
“For now, just rest and stabilize. Hyung will take care of everything—”
“Gukwon hyung. I want to hold a press conference tonight.”

“…Huh? What did you just say?”
“I can’t think of a proper location right now… can you help me figure it out?”