The Queen Bee's Secret
It was Changmin who looked rattled by what I said.
"Discharge? Hyung, what are you talking about? In this condition—how do you expect to leave the hospital?"
"Then what am I supposed to do? I can't stay here forever. This place… it's a company facility, isn't it?"
He must have caught the meaning under my words, because Changmin's face twisted as he answered.
"Ha… Hyomin-hyung. Everyone knows Grandfather doesn't think much of you, and that the two of you don't get along—but this is different. You need care here."
"I refuse. I'm not becoming a lab rat. And least of all my father's lab rat."
"But—"
"Besides… there isn't even a cure right now, is there?"
"Th-that's true, but…"
While Changmin floundered, Manager Lee Seonwu cut in as if tossing the words away.
"Research into a method of reversal… is underway. When we'll find an answer is still far off."
"Ah, is that so? That's a relief, at least. Please keep at it."
Still… hearing that they were looking for a way eased something in me. Right. Medicine and technology had come this far. It might take time, but they would find a method. And if it was my damned father's company of all places, hunting one down wouldn't be impossible.
With that thought, I turned back to Changmin.
"See? There's no point in me staying. So I'm leaving. And I have to get out. There are things I need to do outside."
I didn't know the method yet. But somehow I had to establish myself and wait for the day my body's abnormality would be fixed. Only then could I go to my son with my head held high. So I refused Changmin's offer calmly. He still tried to talk me down, looking cornered.
"No—what are you even going to do out there like this? Even without this condition, you're already in bad shape, aren't you?"
"That doesn't mean I can keep living here. This was never where I belonged."
"Think again. You're still a patient who needs monitoring. And you've manifested a symptom so rare there's nothing else like it in the world."
The argument dragged on. In the end, Changmin gave in as if he couldn't win.
"Fine. Stubbornness runs in the family. Then at least take this with you."
"This is… an ID?"
"Your face is the same, but the moment your sex changed, you couldn't keep using the old identity. It's a new ID. I kept the name the same. And I transferred all your personal assets and titles over to it."
For someone who had opposed my leaving, he had prepared everything with unexpected thoroughness. I was grateful.
"Thanks, Changmin."
"And if anything happens, contact me or Manager Lee Seonwu right away. I'll give you a phone with the numbers already in it—take it."
Something warm rose in my chest at all of it. I stood, reached out, caught the back of Changmin's head as he clicked his tongue, and pulled him in until our foreheads touched—the same old habit from when we were kids. Then I said,
"Thanks, you idiot. You're the only one who looks out for me. I'll pay this back."
"Uh? Y-yeah…"
What was with this kid? Before, he would have headbutted me right back and teased me for it. Today he just pulled away with a shy look on his face. Maybe he had grown up in his own way. The thought left me with a strange little feeling. Just like that, my discharge was decided in a hurry.
I stripped off the patient gown, changed, and stepped out of the room, glancing around. Wow… a research facility that doubled as a hospital really was huge and lavish. The amenities were hotel-grade. Even with the dietary restrictions, the meals in that room had been absurdly fine for a while. When would I ever enjoy that kind of luxury again?
But the thought died the moment I faced the reality waiting for me at the far end of the corridor. Ah… right. I had fallen ill as a divorced unemployed man. So what waited outside was a brutal fight for survival in a body I still didn't know how to live in.
Would I manage? Would I overcome this and get what I wanted? I had bolted the second I could because I couldn't stand remaining in my father's domain a second longer—but thinking of what lay ahead still sent anxiety flooding in. The strange emptiness between my legs only made it worse.
So I did my best not to think about what was waiting, and climbed onto the bus that would take me home.
Director Shin Changmin stepped into the elevator bound for the chairman's office on the top floor, tension written across his face. He barely had time to stay nervous; the doors opened almost at once, and he walked into the office with reluctant steps.
"Chairman. It's Changmin. May I come in?"
"Ah, come in."
It wasn't the chairman who answered. It was Changmin's father. As the chairman's younger brother and vice-chairman of Hexagon Pharmaceuticals, the heavyset man was sweating freely as he proudly announced his son's arrival to the older brother who always overwhelmed him.
"Hyung-nim, Changmin's here."
But the chairman didn't turn. He kept looking out through the vast window and asked,
"So. Did it go well?"
"Yes. I tried to stop him several times, but I couldn't break his stubbornness."
"Useless brat… Let's see how long he lasts."
Changmin felt cowed under the gaze of his furious great-uncle, yet a strange feeling stirred alongside it. From his own point of view, his cousin Shin Hyomin had always been beneath the family's standards. Calling him a disgrace wasn't an exaggeration—he fell short of average in every way.
So he could understand how that son was the one flaw in the life of a near-mythic figure who had spent a lifetime as Hexagon's sovereign, raising both the family and the company to this height. And yet… it still felt excessive. Even chaebol families had their failures.
Some of them caused real public scandals. Hexagon Group was no exception. But his great-uncle barely scolded the collateral branches who wrecked themselves with women or drugs. Compared to how he treated a cousin whose only crime was living an ordinary life, the word "lenient" almost applied.
Why did he despise his own son that much? This time, Changmin thought he might have found a hint. The hereditary disease that occasionally surfaced in the bloodline—Queen Bee Syndrome—had manifested in his only son. That alone would have been a hard stain to bear.
But… did it justify hostility this raw? Nothing had really changed except that a son who was already a little less than ordinary had become a daughter. If anything, turning into a daughter might have eased the usual father-son friction—yet the chairman's reaction hadn't shifted at all.
He still looked at his child with contempt and kept his guard fully up. Changmin found it baffling. And the way he had prepared everything in advance, as if he had already known his son would refuse care and try to manage alone…
Some unreadable tangle of emotion refused to come loose. Was it just the obsession of a lonely absolute ruler of a vast organization? That was how Changmin wanted to understand it—until his own father, a man who made him nervous no matter where they went, spoke up to his brother.
"Hyung-nim. Is it really all right to let Hyomin go like that?"
"Then what? He said he was leaving even after I offered care. Am I supposed to cling to that half-penny brat's legs and beg him to stay?"
At the chairman's rebuke, the younger brother flinched and seemed ready to retreat. But he glanced around, saw that only his own son was present, found a scrap of courage, and tried again.
"Even so… the child has manifested Queen Bee Syndrome. Is that truly fine?"
"Ha! He's nothing but an incomplete failure—half-baked and then some."
"But still… you know, don't you? An incomplete Queen Bee can be even more dangerous. Once growth starts, the abilities will certainly—"
He stopped mid-sentence. For the first time the chairman had turned his head and was glaring. The younger brother wilted and dropped his gaze. In a low voice the older brother said,
"If he had that kind of potential, he wouldn't be putting on this pathetic late-awakening display. It won't happen. So don't even think about it. At best he'll get burned by worthless males who go mad over the female scent he gives off."
The words left Changmin unsettled. "At best"? That sounded like an extremely serious situation. And female scent—what was that supposed to mean? Manager Lee Seonwu had said pregnancy was possible. What if some random grandchild appeared? But his father piled on as if those worries meant nothing.
"Hahaha… Well, if that's all it is, then I suppose we're lucky. In the family, most of the incomplete manifestations just took a rough beating, got passed around a bit, and got buried, after all."
"Exactly. So there's no need to—"
"But there was one exception, wasn't there? The one who manifested late, was left alone because of it, and became a catastrophe instead. If this is that case…"
"Nonsense!!!"
"Hiiik!"
Changmin saw it for the first time—the chairman's composure cracking even as he roared. On the surface it was a scolding, so both of them lowered their heads. To the two of them the chairman said,
"Even if it is, I might finally have something to celebrate about producing that useless son. And don't worry. Even if he truly is that existence, there is no way he can endure the growth process in his current state."
"Th-that's true, isn't it?"
"Yes. And if, by some one-in-a-million chance, he does endure it—then it simply becomes an unexpected opportunity for our house. The conditions for an Alpha who can suppress a Queen Bee are already complete. We subdue him with that, and it's over. Ha! I'd almost prefer it."
"Right, right. Ah, if only it went that way… our family could swallow the whole world and it wouldn't even be surprising."
From there the talk became something closed, a confidential matter open only to the elders—nothing Changmin could follow. But not understanding didn't mean he couldn't respond. Still bowing his head, he let a smile slip across his face where no one would see it. And he murmured to himself,
"Hyomin-hyung. Looks like I'll need to manage your daily life a little more carefully. At least until I know exactly what this is."