December

– Kim Shin

All human beings are equal and deserve equal rights. Among the Betas that made up most of the world, there were still many who believed this. Omegas also thought the world should be like that. It was Alphas who emphasized that word the most yet ignored it.

It was because they experienced their powers which were superior to those of others, they considered people thoroughly by their grades. It was easier to obey and kneel to the superior Alpha. Of course, Alphas are also human, so bowing your head to someone you didn’t like was, of course, hurting your pride.

To Kangho, Kim Shin was that kind of person. Actually, he didn’t like him from the beginning. In the first year of high school, this school with a majority of Alphas formed a group of dominant Alphas as soon as they entered the school.

There was Kim Shin. Looking at his not-so-tall height and youthful face, Kangho laughed inwardly. It’s also because he’s a Dominant alpha, so he doesn’t produce many pheromones, and he doesn’t react much to Omega pheromones during heat. However, only his physical ability was equal to that of a dominant alpha, so it was impossible to deny that he was not.

In any case, in the eyes of Kangho and his friends, Kim Shin fell short of being a dominant Alpha. Plus, his family was not great, Kim Shin’s father wasn’t even famous. But what on earth did you believe in to be so arrogant? He didn’t like his attitude even though he knew he was lacking.

Not even talking to anyone other than his few close friends made him feel like he was ostracizing them. So when he found out that seniors in the 2nd and 3rd years were trying to bully him, he didn’t know how thrilled he was. The day before Kim Shin would be bullied, he was so excited like a child on a picnic that he couldn’t sleep properly. Unfortunately, he did not get to watch the fight. Instead, I heard the results a few days later.

‘People are saying they are done for.’

‘Kim Shin?’

‘No, those seniors.’

Nonsense. Kangho didn’t believe it. What did Kim Shin do behind the scenes? How could a short, childlike guy beat those huge seniors? However, there were only small scratches on the childlike face, and they were able to clear their doubts a little after seeing with their own eyes how the seniors were covered in bruises.

Still, Kangho couldn’t believe it until the end. From then on, Kim Shin annoyed him like a thorn in his eye. Why did that bastard with almost no Alpha pheromones have physical abilities as good as a dominant Alpha? Why did people who were close to him listen to everything Kim Shin said and sometimes look at him in fear? It was around the end of his first year of high school that he resolved his frustration. His father brought up the name Kim Shin first.

‘Get along with him.’

‘Why?’

‘Be friendly. It will help you later.’

The only reason my father said that was money. Sure enough, it turned out that Kim Shin’s maternal grandfather was extremely wealthy. Of course, that didn’t clear all of his doubts. When rut came to them at the age of 17, dominant Alphas could legally buy the enthusiastic Omegas with money to satisfy their desire.

That was the privilege of being a dominant Alpha, and as soon as they became high school students, everyone eagerly used the Omega service company to enjoy that privilege. However, Kim Shin had never used that service until the end of his sophomore year.

See, that bastard was not a normal Alpha. Kangho did not follow his father’s advice until the end of the second semester of his sophomore year. It was so weird, why should he be friendly? Kim Shin was still a kid and not very tall. So, no matter how rich he was and how physically superior he was, Kangho was free to laugh at him. But that was only until December 31 of that year. The following year, Kim Shin appeared at school as a completely different person. He was the strongest Alpha Kangho had ever seen.

It was by accident that Kangho heard the news. When he went to the club room to do something, he saw Kim Shin’s three best friends gathered, and at first, I swore at them inwardly. They acted arrogantly as if they were Kim Shin, and Kangho’s stomach was coiling. Of course, he couldn’t show off. In this world where humans were divided into grades like slaughtered meat, Kim Shin, whom they cling to, was higher than himself.

“It’s been a while, you guys.”

Kangho tried to hide his true feelings and smiled, but the two only glanced at each other and only one of them pretended to know him.

“You’re here?”

Yes, he answered and went to the large desk to wait for the friend he was supposed to meet. However, even if he pretended to look at my phone with my eyes, his senses were all directed to those three people. It was because Kim Shin’s name was coming out of their mouths.

“Where can we reserve a restaurant? Should we ask Shin?”

“Shin eats anything. I’ve never heard him eat anything and say it was delicious.”

“Is it only about eating? He seems to be indifferent to everything. Wait, no. He’s only serious about that one thing.”

It wasn’t clear exactly what the thing was, but Kangho understood right away. Kim Shin was an awakened Alpha. It was said that the few rare awakened Alphas unfortunately only look at the awakened Omegas. There were so many Omegas to enjoy in the world, but they could only choose one. He laughed when he heard that fact even though he was shocked to know Kim Shin’s current state compared to his times in middle school.

“Still call him. What should we eat?”

One seemed to be sending a message, and the other three chatted while waiting for an answer. Kangho swallowed his irritation and gave strength to his crumpled face.

No matter how awful they were, they were the group Kangho should be closest to. Since his father was still harassing him. So even though he was in a bad mood, he worked hard wondering how to join them in their meal. Should I recommend a restaurant? Those bastards have a lot of money, so they wouldn’t be interested in anything. A place that was hard to book.

“Huh? Shin can’t come?”

When Kim Shin’s best friend received the message and said it out loud, another friend also asked.

“Does he have something to do?”

However, the best friend who received the message just stared at the phone and did not open his mouth. Kangho also raised his head because his silence was strange. Why was he so stiff as if he had seen a ghost? When he thought it was strange, he barely muttered some words.

“Hey…he said he found him.”

“Who?”

Someone brought up a question that came to everyone’s mind at the same time, but soon everyone had the same flash in their heads. Kim Shin was famous for looking for someone from a long time ago. So Kangho couldn’t help but be astonished. The Omega that awakened Kim Shin?!

“Uncle.”

When the middle school student came out of the apartment entrance, a tall person turned around. The middle school student’s eyes were swollen and red, probably crying.

“Did she scold you?”

When Kim Shin asked, the middle school student grumbled a little, saying shit.

“My mom keeps saying that I didn’t take the suppressants properly. Right, my mom told you to visit her.”

“I have to go through. What’s that?”

The middle school student held out the small plastic pouch he had brought.

“This…The suppressant that Omega hyung gave me.”

The contents in the plastic pouch were again wrapped in cloth as if they were precious items. Kim Shin opened the pouch and checked the contents. It was a handkerchief, a thin plastic containing dried seaweed-like grass, and the cloth that wrapped it.

“There are a lot of suppressants, but I’ve never seen anyone who eats grass. It tasted so strange that it made me vomit.”

The middle school student still frowned as if the taste remained, but his uncle seemed unable to hear it because he was looking down on the contents. The middle school student added a story of being scolded by his mother and belatedly finding out that his uncle was still not moving.

“Uncle, that’s a suppressant. I was just going to throw it away, but there was also a handkerchief inside her, so my mom said not to throw it away.”

Only then did Kim Shin look at the middle school student.

“Is this his?”

Yes, the middle school student nodded and saw Kim Shin gripping the handkerchief tightly. Why did he think the hand holding the handkerchief was shaking?

“I think I should return it, but I don’t know who the owner of the handkerchief is…”

“I’ll do it.”

“Do you know who it is?”

Kim Shin raised his lips without answering. It was just a smile, but the middle school student noticed that he was in a very good mood. His eyes were different as if he was excited about something.

“Uncle, is something good going on?”

He just laughed this time. His maternal uncle usually didn’t talk much and had a cold expression, even the mother of the middle school student once said that she was scared of him. However, he was kind to him, probably because he was the only male Omega in the family. Still, he had never seen him smile so cheerfully.

“Go in.”

When he tried to turn around without explanation, the middle school student asked him, feeling sorry for nothing.

“How are you going to return it? You don’t even know where he lives.”

Kim Shin just turned his head and smiled again.

“Now I know.”

There were few Alphas in the world, but people were able to see as many Alphas as at W University. In particular, Betas were amazed at first because there were so many Alphas that they might have only seen one or two at school when they were in high school, but that didn’t last long. The moment they realized that these countless Alphas were competitors, they would get frustrated or angry.

Perhaps because of their excellent physical ability, they said that they studied using their head, but it was clear that their physical strength, which did not get tired easily, was a definite plus factor. If Beta and Omega could focus for only a few hours at a time, Alpha could concentrate without sleep for days if they wanted to.

So, usually after the first year, many Betas gave up competing with them. Of course, some realized their limitations early on and worked hard to build friendships with Alpha.

Dohyung, a freshman, was neither of those things. College was just a place to build specs for a job, so graduating was enough, and now it was important to work part-time and earn pocket money.

To him, Alpha was a distraction. But maybe it was because he had several part-time jobs as an assistant in classes, a strange job came that day. A work where an Alpha would give him money if he did simple errands. He hesitated at first when he heard that the client was an Alpha, but since the person who suggested the job was a teacher assistant as well, he headed to the club building where the Alpha was waiting.

The proud Alpha paid students to run errands. Dohyung swallowed the bitterness and was about to enter the club building, but stopped when he saw a huge car in front of him. Wow, the car was huge. Shouldn’t you call that a pickup truck? Standing among other cars in the parking lot, it looked like a dinosaur by itself. A nearby observer shared a similar impression.

“Wow, fuck. It’s a Raptor.”

Dohyung only later found out that it was the name of the car, but at the time, he didn’t know why people were talking about the Raptor. It was because that Alpha had a lot of money, he drove a car like that, and swallowed bitterness again. Let’s quickly get it over with and go back, he made up his mind and knocked on the door of the Alpha club room.

When he opened the door, he suspected that the inside was just decorated like the Palace of Versailles, but the inside was similar to other club rooms. However, the size was rather large, and the people using the interior were different from the people hanging out in the general club room. So, Dohyung couldn’t open the door and enter right away.

After entering college, he saw Alphas often, so he thought he knew Alphas well, but when he saw the four people in front of him, he felt his body stiffen. It was like the feeling of running into a pack of beasts with nowhere to run with chills down your spine. However, he didn’t know why he felt that way, since they are obviously people and have no reason to harm.

Then, belatedly, I realized that those four were dominant Alphas. Among them, one in particular caught my eye. He was checking his phone while leaning against the wall, unlike the three sitting in the chair, and he was very tall. The tall man was not interested in Dohyung, but his very existence made his backbone settle in chills. Dohyung went inside without even looking at him.

“1st year of university?”

One of the people sitting in the chair asked. Answering yes, Dohyung realized that he was an Alpha who was well known in the business administration department. He had seen him in passing before, but Dohyung’s friend said that he was considered the most handsome person in their department but he ended up taking a break. At that time, Dohyung thought that if he was a more good-looking person than this good-looking Alpha he would be worthy of being called a God in their department. As the memory of that time came to mind, Dohyung unknowingly glanced at the dominant Alpha standing there. Oh, don’t tell me?

“Sit down. I can speak to you casually, right? We are all sophomores here.”

The handsome one from the business department pointed to a chair.

“Ah, yes.”

Dohyung sat uncomfortably on the chair, with only half of his hips hanging over it, and looked back at the three staring at him. The tension made my saliva go down.

“Um, well the teacher assistant told me that I had to run some errands so what kind…”

“I heard you work part-time at the school library convenience store. You must often see seniors from the same department, right? 4th year?”

4th year? Dohyung thought of a few seniors he often met and greeted at the library.

“Yes, but I don’t know if they are there today.”

“Go look for them, then.”

“Now?”

“Yes,” he added, nodding his head.

“Go and ask if they know senior Song Yeonwoo from your department, and if they say they know, then find out which Alpha made him take a leave of absence. That’s what you have to do.”

Song Yeonwoo. It was a name I heard for the first time. Who the hell was this dominant Alpha curious about?