Chapter Text
Sieun had felt strangely warm all day. Not just uncomfortable, more restless in his own skin. The AC was already cranked down to fifteen degrees, but it barely made a difference. Sweat prickled at the back of his neck, and a faint itch seemed to creep along his arms and the base of his throat.
The only time it had eased was when Suho had stopped by earlier. The warmth had dulled, his skin settling into something almost comfortable while they talked. But as soon as Suho left, the heat crept back, heavier than before, dragging with it that subtle, maddening itch.
Now, half an hour later, his head felt cloudy, his concentration a blur. He tried to focus on the papers spread out on his desk, but the words refused to hold still.
That last “See you in class” from Suho won’t leave Sieun’s head. The strange, heavy feeling that something is wrong lingers, gnawing at him.
Something about it didn’t feel right. Something about today doesn’t feel right.
A weight pressed against his chest. He should have stopped Suho from leaving. He should have told him to stay inside until… until what? He didn’t even know. Just.. to know he's safe.
He picked up his phone without realising it, his body already moving. Shoes on. Sweatshirt jacket left unzipped, the thin air from the AC already a distant memory as he stepped outside.
The air was far warmer than expected, almost sticky. He walked fast, the city shifting around him in an indistinct blur. People tried to approach him, but he ran. A few minutes later, he realised he didn’t even remember choosing a direction, his body was just moving, his feet hitting the pavement on some instinct.
His nose twitched. A scent. Familiar. Faint, but undeniable. He knew which way to turn. Like a dog, he thought grimly, but shame was a luxury he didn’t have. He had to find Suho.
He passed a narrow alley, the metallic tang of blood threading through the air. His eyes flicked toward it but his steps didn’t slow. The pull ahead felt stronger.
It led him to a gym. Just before stepping inside, he stripped off his sweatshirt entirely, heat crawling under his skin, the fabric itching in a way that made him want to rip it to shreds. His phone rang. Yeongi.
“Have you been in touch with Suho?”
“Yeah, he stopped by earlier. I’m looking for him right now,” Sieun said, breath still a little uneven.
“Suho found out about the fight.”
“What?” The word was sharp, almost too loud.
“He’s not at work and he’s not picking up his phone. Did he say anything to you?”
Sieun said nothing. He forced himself to breathe in deep, slow.
“Do you think he went looking for Oh Beomseok?”
“I’ll try to find him,” he said, and hung up.
Inside, the smell hit him first: Alpha, sweat, iron and something sour that made his teeth clench. In the boxing ring, a body lay crumpled on the mat, one person standing and figures just entering the ring. As Sieun drew closer, the scene sharpened into something sickening: Beomseok’s boot driving into the figure on the floor. Lee Jeongchan and Han Taehoon joined in into the ring, laughing.
Sieun moved without thinking. One boy grinned at the sight of him. “Hey, look, it’s Ahn Suho’s beta whore.”
Kang Wooyoung, seated nearby, looked up. Recognition flickered in his eyes, but his expression was unreadable.
Sieun climbed into the ring and immediately dropped to his knees beside the limp form on the mat—Suho. He shook him gently, then harder. No response.
Alpha, Alpha, Alpha...
“What’s wrong, bitch? You want it too?” Lee Jeongchan sneered, his boot slamming into the cast on Sieun’s arm. Pain shot up his shoulder, buckling his knees, sending him staggering sideways. It barely mattered, as Sieun was already moving to cover Suho’s head from the kick Beomseok wanted to land. Another kick from the other side, now connecting with Sieun’s ribs, the air bursting from his lungs in a choked gasp. Still, he curled tighter, locking his arms around Suho’s body like it was the only thing tethering him to the floor.
Stop hurting him. Stop. Stop.
Another kick slammed into his side, then another. Pain blazed through him, sharp and relentless, but it was nothing compared to the molten heat flooding his body. His scent spiked, rage laced through with the thick, intoxicating pull of an Omega in heat. The air around them grew heavy with it, now clinging to Suho’s skin, smothering him in waves of molten pheromones.
His breath stuttered, tears blurring his vision. “Stop—please, stop!” he gasped, voice cracking. His words dissolved into another breathless cry as he hunched lower, wrapping himself even tighter around Suho, shielding him from the relentless storm of kicks.
The scent only grew stronger, saturating the air until even Suho, deep in the fog of pain and near-unconsciousness, stirred faintly under Sieun.
He risked a glance back at Suho’s still face and that split second was all it took for a boot to crash into his temple, snapping his head to the side. The haze in his mind sharpened into something else, something feral. His lips peeled back over small, newly bared omega fangs, a low, guttural snarl tearing from his throat.
“Get the fuck off him!” Kang Wooyoung’s voice cracked through the chaos, but the kicks didn’t stop.
“Stop hurting an Omega!” Wooyoung barked again, voice shaking with rage. He lunged, shoving bodies back, yanking at collars, trying to pull them off Sieun, but too late. Another brutal blow had already sent Sieun collapsing to the mat beside his Alpha.
A groan escaped Suho as he stirred, half-conscious, blinking against the harsh lights. His head pounded, vision swimming and the noise around him sounded muffled and warped, like he was underwater. He didn’t know where he was, didn’t even know who was next to him. But the scent was everything. Thick, sweet, overwhelming. Heat. Omega. It wrapped around him, drowning out thought, smothering every other sense until nothing else existed.
His body moved before his mind caught up, rolling to and curling around the source of that intoxicating pull. “...Omega?” he rasped, voice hoarse and uncertain, like he wasn’t sure the word was real. His unfocused eyes barely landed on a face he didn’t register who it belonged to, before his instincts shoved reason aside. He pressed in, burying his face in the crook of the Omega’s neck. The scent was molten, dizzying and without thought, his teeth sank into the scent gland.
The sharp, intimate pressure hit Sieun like a jolt of fire. With a guttural scream, Sieun came fully awake, body snapping with pure feral panic and need. His fingernails dug into the mat, teeth bared, eyes blazing as he lunged and spun, targeting anyone near him.
Suho, spent and bloodied, slumped limply to the side again, leaving Sieun’s focus split. His mate was there, alive but unresponsive again and the others, the ones who had hurt him, were suddenly all he could see. Growls ripped from his throat, teeth flashing.
Kang Wooyoung stood rooted to the spot, shoulders squared, his eyes steady and unflinching under Sieun’s feral glare. Slowly, almost deliberately, Kang lowered his head not in submission, but in acknowledgment.
Sieun’s focus slid past him, landing on Beomseok. The boy’s face had shifted, no longer riding the high of the fight. He looked frozen, pale, like he’d just realised exactly what he’d done. The haze in Sieun's mind twisted into something sharp, predatory, and it was as if the air between them narrowed to a single line. His body moved before thought could catch up, a snarl tearing out of his throat as he closed the distance in two strides.
Beomseok screamed as Sieun’s fingers locked onto his ear, pulling hard enough to threaten cartilage. The pain only fueled him and he yanked again before shoving him onto the mat, throwing his ear against his head.
That was when Beomseok’s father’s secretary stormed in, voice cracking like a whip: “Get away from him!”
Lee Jeongchan lunged, but Sieun spun, his fist smashing into the side of the boy’s knee. The crack was sharp, sickening, and the boy collapsed, screaming. Han Taehoon tried to grab him from behind, only to have Sieun twist his arm until bone protested.
The secretary lunged at the Omega, but Kang Wooyoung slammed in, catching the movement mid-swing. The scent of Sieun, freshly marked and in heat, sour with rage and grief, agitated him more than everything he ever had to endure. Every instinct screamed to reach out, to calm the omega, but now he had to hold the secretary back.
“In this gym, no Omega gets hit. Not even a feral Omega,” Kang growled, teeth clenched.
The word feral seemed to hang in the air, pulling every gaze in the room toward Sieun.
With the three bullies groaning in pain, Sieun was back on his knees, pressed against Suho. His head dipped to Suho’s neck, searching, grounding himself in the scent of his mate. A broken, wavering wail tore from his throat, raw and aching, echoing in the stunned silence of the gym. “Alpha…” His voice cracked, carrying fear, fury and desperation. Suho remained unresponsive, leaving Sieun raw and untethered.
Kang Wooyoung’s voice thundered across the gym. “Someone outside, call 119! There’s an unresponsive Alpha and his freshly marked Omega mate! They need medical attention now!”
The boys outside the ring scrambled, phones out, while the secretary froze, eyes narrowing, clearly plotting to stop it. As he tried to slink away, Kang pivoted and tackled him hard to the floor, pinning him with an almost feral precision.
A voice rang from beyond the ropes. “The call’s been made! They're on their way!” Relief flickered in the chaos.
Kang Wooyoung moved cautiously toward Sieun, muscles coiled, eyes scanning for threats, but Sieun did not budge. He stayed rooted beside Suho, pressing his forehead to Suho’s neck, rocking slightly, wailing and whimpering in a panicked rhythm. His body trembled with stress and raw emotion, hands gripping the mat like he could somehow hold the world together if he tried hard enough.
He pressed closer, letting out another broken, desperate wail. “Alpha…”
Even as Kang Wooyoung closed the distance, moving carefully to support him, Sieun’s world narrowed to that single point, his alpha not responding and the helpless, feral terror of the moment boiled over. He pressed closer to Suho. Every careful, measured step Wooyoung took to soothe him was met with a low, warning growl. Sieun’s eyes flashed, any attempt to touch or approach was treated as a threat. Kang froze, barely breathing, realising he could not get closer. The Omega’s heat and terror made him untouchable. Every step, every motion, was tethered to Suho’s scent, his mate, his anchor. Until Suho stirred, the chaos and need would not relent.
The wail in the gym didn’t fade as the doors burst open. Four paramedics rushed in, their presence barely cutting through the chaos. But Sieun didn’t relent. He stayed pressed to Suho, eyes blazing, teeth bared, hands clawing at anyone who dared approach. Every one of the medics was a beta and that alone made them a target in Sieun’s sight.
“I’ll try something,” Kang Wooyoung muttered under his breath. “Do you have Omega sedatives?” he asked the nearest medic.
They nodded, eyes wary but attentive.
Wooyoung startet moving slowly towards Sieun. He crouched low, keeping his movements calm and deliberate, his voice soft, almost melodic, soothing. “Omega… look at me. I need you to listen. The faster we get your mate to the hospital, the faster he can get better. You want him safe, right?”
He lowered his shoulders, exhaling slowly and bared his neck, a clear sign of no threat to either Sieun or his mate. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed; Sieun’s sharp gaze flicked over Wooyoung, wary but hesitant.
For a brief moment, Sieun loosened his grip on Suho. In that instant, Wooyoung moved behind him, hands sliding under his arms and gripping his shoulders and torso. Slowly, methodically, he positioned Sieun between his legs, securing him with his arms so the Omega could no longer move freely.
Terrified and desperate, Sieun thrashed within his limited range. His fangs sank into any patch of skin he could reach, his fingernails raking across Wooyoung’s arms, shoulders, and chest. Every strike was a mix of panic and instinct, a raw attempt to fight back while trapped.
“Easy, Omega… it’s okay. Just a little longer,” Wooyoung murmured, keeping his tone gentle but firm, his body a living anchor. He adjusted his hold carefully, countering the panicked bites and scratches without causing harm, maintaining a protective cradle.
A medic knelt next to Sieun, syringe ready. Less than thirty seconds later, a small, controlled dose found its mark and Sieun’s body went limp against Wooyoung. The panicked resistance slackened, the biting and scratching ceased. The sour stench ceased and the storm that had been raging in the gym eased, if only slightly.
Wooyoung held Sieun securely in his arms, feeling the tremors of fear and exhaustion radiate from the Omega, whispering soothing words. As the paramedics finished stabilizing Suho and prepared to move him, Wooyoung spoke up, voice steady but urgent.
“I… I need to go with him,” he said, nodding toward Sieun. “He’s… my brother.”
The paramedics exchanged quick glances. One of them nodded slowly. “Alright. As long as he’s secured and you don’t interfere with medical care, you can ride along.”
Relief flickered across Wooyoung’s face. “Thank you. I promise I won’t. I just… need to be there.”
They lifted Sieun carefully onto a stretcher and Wooyoung walked beside him as they carried him to the ambulance. Once inside, he slid into the seat next to Sieun, keeping his small, fragile hands gentle and non-threatening.
“I’m so sorry… I’m so sorry this happened,” Wooyoung murmured over and over, his thumb brushing along Sieun’s knuckles. “I tried to protect you…”
Wooyoung stayed close, whispering reassurances, letting him feel that he was not facing this nightmare alone.
Sieun surfaced slowly from the thick, dragging weight of unconsciousness. The world felt heavy, his limbs slow to obey. The first thing that cut through the fog wasn’t pain, it was scent. Alpha. Unfamiliar, steady, so close it pressed against him like an anchor in deep water. His stomach knotted instinctively and he hated that it calmed him at all.
His eyes stayed shut. The thought of opening them, of facing whatever reality was waiting, made something in him clench. Still, his voice, hoarse and unsure, slipped out.
“…Suho?”
For a moment, nothing. Then a deep voice answered, calm but not unkind. “My name is Kang Wooyoung. Suho is… asleep.”
Not the answer Sieun wanted. Something in that tone, careful, maybe too careful, made his chest tighten before he could stop it. Heat pricked behind his eyes, and then hot tears slid down his cheeks, silent and unwanted. “What… happened?” he whispered.
Wooyoung’s reply came steady, like every word was measured before being allowed out.
“I fought Suho. The end turned… bad. Some idiot interfered, I only caught it later on a recording. Suho was already down when Oh Beomseok and two others started kicking him. Then you came… in heat… and tried to protect him.”
In heat. The words lodged in his mind like splinters.
His memories were a blur, a broken reel of light and sound that refused to connect. “…I… I don’t remember.”
“You went down swinging,” Wooyoung said quietly. “Tore Beomseok’s ear, heard he left the country. I already handled the other two for interfering in my fight and for daring to touch an omega in heat. They were still in a bad state... after what you did to them.” A short, humourless puff of air. “You didn’t deserve any of that.”
“…I’m an omega?” The word tasted strange, alien.
Wooyoung didn’t hesitate long. “Yeah.”
Omega. Great. That’s what everyone else will see first, no matter what else I'll ever do.
“I was in heat?” Saying it felt worse than hearing it.
“Yeah,” Wooyoung said again, his gaze flicking away. “You were a damn force, you defended Ahn Suho without hesitation.”
Defended, sure. Sounds like I'm some walking cliché, then ended up unconscious in a hospital bed.
“…Thank you,” he murmured, unsure if he even meant it.
Wooyoung leaned back slightly, a faint tension in his shoulders. “Listen… about the other day, when I fought you, I thought you were a Beta. I didn’t know. I wouldn't have hit you if I had known...”
Sieun blinked slowly, a bitter little smile tugging at his lips. “I thought that too. That I'm a Beta, I mean,” he admitted, voice quiet but steady.
A silence stretched between them, the kind that made the room feel smaller and heavier. Then Wooyoung spoke again, softer now. “I’ll make sure you get what you need before you go home. And don’t worry,” he said, the faintest reassuring curve on his mouth, “I said I was your brother and guardian. Let me stay close and pay your bills without any questions.”
Sieun still had no idea who this guy was beyond the fact that he fights people, his voice and the faint, irritatingly grounding weight of his scent. He nodded anyway, then asked for his phone.
Wooyoung handed it over without fuss. Messages from his parents lit up the screen, one after another, short, cold, full of decisions already made for him. School transfer notices. He stared for a moment before switching it off again. The knot in his stomach tightened. Wooyoung just laughed, like it was nothing.
“What are you even doing here?” Sieun asked, quiet but edged.
“You’re my brother, remember? I didn’t know your real name, so here, you’re Kang Woojin. You’re my one-year-younger brother. And you take after our mother more, by the way,” Wooyoung said, still lounging on the sofa with that lazy smile. “Besides, I feel responsible that you got hurt.”
Responsibility? Rather a burden.
Sieun frowned, brows drawing together. “Can I… see Suho?”
“I’ll find out where he is,” Wooyoung promised, rising with a surety that made something in Sieun loosen, just a fraction.
It wasn’t long before the door swung open again and Kang Wooyoung stepped back inside. This time, he had a small paper cup with a couple of tablets, a sealed scent patch, and a folded wheelchair at his side.
“Here,” he said simply, setting the items down within reach before unfolding the chair with a quiet click. “These will help with the headache. The patch will settle your scent so we can move you without drawing too much attention.”
Sieun hesitated, then let Wooyoung’s hand slip under his elbow, guiding him upright. His body felt heavier than it should have and the room swayed for a moment until Wooyoung steadied him with a firm, steady grip.
Once Sieun was settled on the bed, Wooyoung passed him the scent patch. Peeling back the backing, Sieun reached up to press it against the warm skin at the back of his neck, clumsy with one arm in a fresh cast, but the moment his fingers brushed the spot, a sharp sting made him wince. He hissed softly through his teeth, rubbing it once before sticking the patch in place.
“Must’ve hurt my neck,” he muttered, more to himself than to Wooyoung.
Wooyoung didn’t correct him, just gave a faint hum of acknowledgment and helped him on his feet.
They walked quietly down the corridor. Kang Wooyoung looked at the Omega until they reached a door near the end of the hall. He eased it open and guided Sieun inside.
By the bed sat an older woman, her eyes fixed with quiet devotion on the young man lying still beneath the sheets. She turned at the sound of them entering, gaze sharp but warm.
“I’m Ahn Suho’s grandmother,” she said, her voice carrying a calm authority.
Sieun bowed politely. “Yeon Sieun.”
“Kang Wooyoung,” Wooyoung added with a respectful bow.
Her brow furrowed faintly, as though turning over a memory. “Kang Wooyoung… that name sounds familiar.” She paused, her expression shifting with recognition. “Yeon Sieun… Yeon Sieun... Ah! Sieun-ah, Suho-ya once told me about you.”
Sieun’s eyes widened in surprise.
Halmoni’s gaze softened and a small smile curved her lips. “He was right, you know? He told me about a Beta in his class who's very, very pretty.”
Heat flooded Sieun’s face instantly, his ears burning and Wooyoung chuckled low under his breath.
“Yeon Sieun’s in this hospital,” Wooyoung said, his tone turning a shade more serious, “because he got hurt while protecting Ahn Suho.”
At that, Halmoni’s expression shifted, thoughtful, almost reverent. Her gaze dipped to Sieun’s neck for a beat too long, lingering there with the quiet certainty of someone who knew exactly what she was seeing. “Tell me… do either of you know which Omega was with my grandson when the accident happened?”
Wooyoung blinked. “Why do you ask?”
Her gaze flicked between them, calm but sharp. “Because the staff returned Suho’s things to me. His clothes smelled… very particular. Strong. Fresh. I’m an Omega myself—I’d know that scent anywhere.” The faint imprint of Suho-ya in his mate’s heat lingered in her mind, though she didn’t voice it. She let the words hang in the air, not accusing, not prying, just… watching. The omega, the one her grandson had admired even when he thought he was a Beta. And now, this young Alpha beside him.
Wooyoung’s eyes slid sideways to Sieun, slow and deliberate.
Sieun froze. Heat rushed to his cheeks and he ducked his head so fast it was almost a bow, wishing he could melt into the floor.
Halmoni didn’t press. Instead, her eyes softened with quiet understanding, lingering on Sieun for a long moment. Then she nodded, a faint warmth in her gaze. “Then you should call me Halmoni, like my grandson does. You’re family.”
Sieun blinked, clearly missing the implication. “…Yes, Halmoni,” he murmured, still avoiding Wooyoung’s knowing glance.
After a moment, he turned toward Wooyoung. “Can you… get me a chair? Please?”
Wooyoung nodded and left the room for a little while.
In the quiet that followed, Halmoni shifted slightly in her seat, her gaze settling on Sieun with a kind of gentle certainty. “I’m glad I’ll get to know you better, dear,” she said softly. “My grandson… he made a wonderful choice. I can feel it.”
Sieun nodded politely, unsure what else to do. What choice? he thought, the words echoing in his head as he kept his expression neutral.
Halmoni’s smile didn’t falter. She reached into her bag, pulled out her phone, and held it toward him. “Let’s exchange numbers. And when things settle, you should visit me at home. I’ll cook for you.”
Sieun hesitated, momentarily caught off guard, but nodded and typed his number into her phone. Her touch was gentle when she took it back, the warmth in her gaze steady and unforced. Halmoni added in a gentler tone, “And Sieun-ah, if you ever need something… from Suh-o-ya’s things just let me know, alright?”
Sieun blinked, tilting his head slightly. Need… something? The thought puzzled him, but he nodded politely again, careful not to show his confusion.
Seated at last, Sieun kept his eyes on the slow, steady rise and fall of Suho’s chest. Each breath seemed to untie a knot deep in his stomach, though his gaze stayed fixed, unwilling to risk looking away. The urge to lean closer tugged at him, to press his face into the Alpha’s nape, breathe in that muted yet steadying scent, but they had never been that close, and the thought made him hesitate.
Eventually, Wooyoung crouched beside him. “You have another appointment soon.”
Sieun hesitated, then nodded and turned to bow slightly to Halmoni, who returned it with a smile that reached her eyes. Wooyoung guided him out of the room, the sound of the door closing leaving the air calm once more.
In the afternoon, Sieun was greeted warmly by a doctor and gestured to a chair. “Let’s have a look at your charts,” she said, flipping through the papers. “For someone starting suppressors... your hormone levels indicate the need for a slightly higher dose than usual. Nothing dangerous, just… adjusted for your body. Take a break for four days every three month, otherwise your hormone level gets in disarray.”
Sieun listened intently, blushing a little when the doctor continued to explain effects of suppressors, differences in scent patches and birth control.
“I’d like the suppressors,” Sieun said quietly. “I want to… not raise attention. And I don't need... birth control.”
The doctor nodded, understanding and kept the conversation light, a little roundabout while filing out several papers for the pharmacy.
The pharmacy line was short. Sieun, phone in hand, typed a quick message to his father that he’ll be home in an hour.
The pharmacist slid a small white bag across the counter. “Suppressants for three months. How would you like to pay?”
Before Sieun could answer, a card slid across the counter beside him.
“I'll pay,” Wooyoung said, tone casual.
Sieun turned to him, caught off guard, but Wooyoung only gave a small nod.
When the transaction was done, Wooyoung handed him the bag. “Alright. Take care of yourself, Yeon Sieun.”
Sieun opened his mouth, then closed it again. “...Thank you.”
Wooyoung’s lips curved in the faintest smile. “Don’t mention it.”
And with that, their paths split, Sieun heading for the bus stop, Wooyoung disappearing into the crowd with his hands shoved in his pockets.
The apartment door clicked shut behind him. It was quiet, almost too quiet, except for the low hum of the fridge and the faint clink of glass on wood as his father set down his drink. He sat at the dining table, back straight, eyes following Sieun as if cataloguing a stranger who’d just walked in.
Sieun had barely taken a step before the older man picked up his phone and tapped the screen. His mother’s voice came through the speaker, sharp and immediate:
“Is it true you ripped a boy’s ear off?”
Sieun froze. His mind went blank. “…I—”
“Care to explain where you’ve been? You were missing for four days! Why do you have a new cast around your arm?” his father cut in, voice low but carrying that quiet edge that always made Sieun feel smaller.
“You’ve skipped school and hagwon,” his mother continued, cool and clipped. “I had a very unpleasant conversation with your principal.”
“I was… in the hospital,” he said, staring at the floor as if the grain of the wood could swallow him whole.
His father’s brow furrowed. “Hospital? Again? Why?”
“I… presented.”
The silence that followed was heavy enough to smother him. His mother’s quiet “Oh no…” sounded less like concern and more like an old wound being reopened.
“I’m an Omega,” he murmured. The words still felt foreign in his mouth, like something someone else should be saying.
On the line, his mother muttered something under her breath. His father’s gaze didn’t waver, steady, unreadable, but not kind.
“My friend from school… Suho… an Alpha… he’s in a coma,” Sieun went on, voice tightening. “They told me I defended him, but… I don’t remember.”
He hated that part most, that he couldn’t even own the story of what happened, only the consequences.
His father’s brow creased slightly.
“You defended an Alpha?” his mother asked, her tone shifting in a way that made him tense, ready for mockery. But instead, she sighed. “I understand why the story got twisted. No one wants it known that their son attacked an omega in heat… and lost an ear for it. They’ll protect his reputation, not yours.”
Sieun blinked. He’d expected cold judgment, not quiet acknowledgment.
“They told me you’d attacked someone unprovoked,” she continued. “Not that you were in heat...”
She didn’t linger on it. “Anyway, starting next week, you’ll attend a new school. Everyone was told that you assaulted someone and no good school wanted to take you.”
No good school wanted to take you. The words landed like a door shutting in his face.
He glanced at his father, searching for something like disbelief, outrage, anything, but the man only nodded, as if the verdict was fair enough.
“I’ll be there Monday at seven,” his mother finished before hanging up.
“An Omega, huh? Like your mother…” his father muttered, pouring himself a glass of soju. There was no warmth in it, no attempt to bridge the gap between them, just a flat statement, as if Sieun’s designation was nothing but an inconvenient fact on paper.
It pressed down on him, that silence. The weight of knowing his father wouldn’t and couldn’t be the person to help him make sense of this. That being a Beta meant he had nothing useful to offer an Omega son and he’d already given up trying.
“Excuse me,” Sieun said quietly, slipping toward the bathroom. He didn’t look back.
Monday morning broke sharp and clear, the air edged with the bite of late autumn.
In the back seat, Sieun sat with his hands loosely folded in his lap, watching the buildings blur past the window. The drive felt both too short and too long.
At the school gates, his mother straightened her coat. “I’m coming with you. I should introduce myself to your homeroom teacher.”
Sieun’s grip tightened faintly on his bag strap. “It’s okay,” he said, voice low but firm. “I’ll go alone.”
He turned toward the entrance, but his father’s voice caught him mid-step. “You did well.”
Sieun hesitated, glancing back.
“You did absolutely nothing wrong,” his father added, more firmly now. “I might be a beta, but I understand you.”
For a moment, Sieun met his gaze, unreadable, before turning away without a word and stepping into the building.
The hallway air carried the dull tang of nicotine but was otherwise mercifully neutral. His suppressors were doing their job. Without them, he might have gagged on the scents. Just by looking, he could already pick out a few whose vacant grins and empty bravado screamed alpha, boys who seemed to survive solely on the lucky accident of their designation.
A few minutes later, Sieun stepped into his new classroom with a stocky man in his thirties, the homeroom teacher. The room was chaos: desks scattered, students fighting or smoking.
The teacher clapped his hands sharply, following it with a couple of light smacks to the backs of the nearest boys’ heads. “Move out of the way.”
Then, with a mock formality that was almost theatrical, “Sit down!” The chatter didn’t die quickly enough, so he barked louder, “Hey! I have arrived!”
That did it. Chairs scraped, conversations dropped, and when the room was still enough, the teacher announced, “We have a transfer student.” He turned to Sieun. “Introduce yourself.”
Sieun’s pause stretched just long enough to feel deliberate. “I’m Yeon Sieun. Nice to meet you.”
Snickers rippled instantly from the back. “Look at his face,” one boy muttered, loud enough for half the class to hear.
Predictable.
He took his assigned seat. He had barely placed his book on the desk when a tall boy strolled over, moving with the kind of lazy confidence that begged for attention.
“Hi,” the boy said.
What do you want? A sharp kick struck the leg of his chair.
“Yeon Sieun,” the boy drawled. “That’s pretty. What are you, a girl?”
Sieun met his gaze, expression cold, unblinking.
“Hey, bro, what’s with those eyes? Your stare makes me feel like shit. What a fucking asshole. It’s getting chilly in here,” the boy said, shivering theatrically.
Laughter broke out around them. The boy swept an arm across Sieun’s desk, sending his things clattering to the floor.
“You’re mine now, bitch,” he declared.
Pathetic. “You all… are disappointingly predictable,” Sieun said evenly.
“What?” the boy snapped.
“Do you think this makes you look cool?” His tone didn’t rise. If anything, it grew quieter.
“What the hell’s this son of a bitch saying?” the boy scoffed. “Shut it, or I’ll smash your fucking teeth.”
Sieun raised his right hand, pen still balanced between his fingers and simply looked at him.
The silence stretched until the boy’s smirk faltered. He looked away first, muttering under his breath before slinking back to his seat.