CH 3

23rd December

Christmas. As the end of the year approached, it was especially the time when an Omega was on the edge but more so on the day of Christmas. I tried not to go out as much as I could because if I happened to catch the eyes of an Alpha, who would be on a Rut, I could wander off and follow him without thinking twice. However, there was a problem with my uncle who ran an interior business. The work should have been finished by yesterday, but the kitchen was not done yet at all.

“There’s nothing you can do now. All you have to do is clean up the debris that is left after the interior construction. You can do it, right?”

You can do it, right? The question was mixed with anxiety. I came down to Pohang and since I was staying there at my uncle’s house for 2 years, I had to do everything willingly. I could do it, I nodded right away. My uncle looked at me as if he was thinking hard, and eventually took the money and went to catch the owner of the facility company who ran away.

I drove my uncle’s small truck and pulled up in the back alley of a busy street near Yeongil University. It was a mess when I opened the door of the newly decorated second-floor store. The place where the facilities and the various fixtures had to come, was instead empty, and the floor was hoarded with paint cans, empty bags, and cut-and-remove logs. Nothing seemed to be difficult. But the problem was how huge the store was.

I thought the biggest difficulty of the job would be the bitter cold that I would have to face at the beach; however, it was much more than that. I scratched my neck for a moment and looked inside. Well, I just need to clean it up. There was nothing much.

Then, three hours later, half of the work was still not finished and I lay, exhausted on the floor. It was very cold, but I felt slightly warm from moving so much earlier, so the cold didn’t bother me much. It had been a long time since I untied the scarf I wore like a Horcrux.

Still, winter was winter. No matter how sweaty I was, my warmth slowly cooled down after lying on the floor for a minute or two. But I wasn’t tired because it was cold. There was something more important. I was hungry. I was going to eat after cleaning up everything. But there was something I overlooked. The full-fledged Christmas would start tomorrow, and people were already busy in the dark downtown as if they were enjoying a festival.

I went looking for a place where I could be alone and came across a restaurant called Kimbap heaven which was open 24 hours. There were no attacks by couples yet because it was still before Christmas so it was filled with Samaritans who came to escape the hordes of couples outdoors. I managed to sit in an empty seat. The reason why no one sat down there was that the cold radiated through the window.

But it was time for me to judge whether it was hot or cold. I was going to eat frozen rice even if I had to break it down with a hammer because I was so hungry. I hurriedly ordered food and looked at my cell phone while waiting for the food to be served. There was an attractive headline on the bulletin boards which I often scanned to kill time.

“Alpha but not an Alpha.”

AlphaTalt was the title but I was like, “Huh?”. Where did I hear it again? As I thought it felt familiar, I clicked on the article.

[Do you guys know Unawakened Alpha? They are Alphas but before they are awakened, they do not possess the characteristics of a normal Alpha however once they are awakened, they shed off their skin and their body changes before the ability of an Alpha is expressed completely. But to awaken they need stimulation from Omega’s pheromones and usually, they awaken with sexual traits by the time they are teens.  But there are rare cases when they are not awakened. But when they do, they become a super ultra Alpha.]

I’ve heard of it too. Among the dominant Alphas. The ones who want to belong to the dominant group should go through a process of awakening. However, even if there are a few cases in reality, they are treated as dragons. Of course, I hadn’t seen one yet either. Super Ultra Alpha should be about 3m tall. That would be really huge.

Once I started thinking about useless things, suddenly I heard a scream outside. Everyone who was eating looked up like a meerkat in amazement. However, due to the clo9udy glass, much could not be seen from the inside. With the privilege of sitting by the window. I wiped the glass a little and looked outside.

It was dark outside but I could see it as clear as day thanks to the bright street lights. I could clearly see what was happening across the four-lane road. A young man was sitting on the floor and his hair was disheveled. The reason was immediately apparent. A big man approached from the opposite and grabbed his hair before wringing the man and throwing him away.

I couldn’t hear what he was saying but the sarcastic look was clearly visible from afar. The man’s face was caught in the air and was flushed as if he was drunk. It wasn’t like the usual flush from the cold weather. It was an Omega’s heat cycle. I could tell at a glance. The problem was the coercive behavior of the Alpha-looking person and the Omega’s expression.

Omega was gasping for breath and clenching his teeth as if he was distracted by pheromones. For a moment, my body recalled a similar experience. The chills spread and the blood ebbed away from under my skin. Without realizing it, I stood up from my seat and went outside. But I couldn’t cross the road and hesitated instead. What if the Alpha is too strong for me?

“Huff, Nng…Go away, Haa…Move!”

Even across the street, Omega’s rebellious voice could be heard clearly as if it was being filtered through a sieve. Despite Omega’s resistance, Alpha and his group laughed and tried to get him up. However, Omega was resistant to being dragged away and laid flat on the cold and dirty floor. Alpha grabbed him by his hair again.

Alpha was more noticeable because of his muscular build but in my eyes, I could only see the Omega trying to hold onto the protruding sidewalk blocks with his bare hands. I stepped forward again. However, I stopped after taking only one step. Alpha who was reaching for the Omega’s collars suddenly was pushed sideways and rolled onto the floor. Due to how hard he was shoved, his body rolled down the road and the oncoming cars stopped there.

Honk Honk

The horn and the hum of the confused people mingled. I was so focused on the Omega that I didn’t understand what happened so suddenly. Soon, however, I realized that all the eyes of the spectator were directed to only one place. The cause of the Alpha being shoved was because of a man who was standing beside the Omega.

The man stood like a bystander as if to say he tripped him with his foot, but his presence was not that of a normal bystander. Tall, amazing stature and expressionless face which were not covered by thick winter jumpers. But he was different from others. I felt an aura that overwhelmed his surroundings.

Maybe it was just more to my eyes. That was a dominant Alpha. I realized his identity just by instinct. His pheromone scent couldn’t be smelt from where I was but I took a step back, almost reflex.

He stood tall among the people and looked like a king. The rich fur of the jumper’s hair looked like a lion’s mane. Alpha’s friend stood in front of him touting him. A few words seemed to be exchanged between them.

The tall man listened without a reply and made only one move. He only took a step closer to them. The Alpha’s friends flinched and took a step back. Once they realized their reaction, they turned their head embarrassingly and noticed everyone’s eyes on them.

They probably lived off as normal Alpha and were not part of a spectacle like that. They were always in the middle of envy and fear. So they disappeared as if they were running away, showing off their chagrin with their whole body.

Some of the people watching near me burst into a chuckle as if they were delighted however i didn’t sympathize. They were just Alpha who yielded to someone more powerful. They were in a class different from mine, and in the end, I would be stepped on by everyone else.

My past, which had been me being trampled on by many people, was not acceptable and I considered pleasure as a luxury. However no matter how much the victim’s habitual vigilance was, it would remain like a stigma and would not suppress pure admiration. I couldn’t take my eyes off him like most people who watched the small commotion, most of them probably were Betas, as if I was possessed.

At that time, a tall man walked out to the driveway and looked ahead. For a moment, I felt like he was looking at me so my heart sank. But his eyes turned to the nearest taxi. He took the Omega inside the taxi and closed the taxi, without even turning back to look.

Some people who appeared to be his friends laughed and were chattering about something. Was he laughing too? I didn’t know. Turning around, he quickly disappeared into the crowd. When I came back into the store, the ramen and kimbap I ordered were on my seat. I was hungry and wanted to gobble it up quickly but I kept thinking of the tall man I saw while I had my meal.

How would it feel to live with such a strong Alpha? I stopped chewing my ramen and looked down blankly, shrugging off my thoughts. I took a sip of the spicy and hot ramen soup while chewing kimbap in my mouth. I didn’t care.