# 01.
“The monthly interest isn’t even being collected. I have to assume there’s no ability to repay at this point.”
There are some relationships in this world that are especially hard to end. If I had to name just two, they would be romantic relationships and debt. In my case, those two were terribly tangled together, making it even harder to resolve. No, maybe it was impossible.
“Well, originally Baesu and I were paying half each. But then that bastard suddenly wanted to break up…”
“So what you’re saying is you can’t pay it back now.”
I wanted to blame it all on that pathetic beta Ban Baesu, but Cha Heegeon cut me off sharply, making it clear he wouldn’t accept that.
“Who you borrowed it for, who helped you—I don’t need those messy details. I came here looking for Kang Jihong, the person who signed the papers and borrowed my money.”
Cha Heegeon, who was sitting more comfortably than me, the actual resident, suddenly stood up. His words made me hold my breath and swallow dryly.
The alpha pheromones filling my studio apartment were suffocating. Even though I’m an omega, I’d never been involved with an alpha before, so I had no immunity to these pheromones.
“What should I do with someone who’s three months behind on interest, let alone the principal?”
With his hands thrust into his dress pants pockets, his stance was incredibly arrogant and intimidating. Looking up at him desperately, I said:
“I… I will definitely pay you back.”
“I can’t trust someone who can’t even pay the interest.”
“Huk!”
In an instant, my body felt heavily pressed down, trapped by the intense pheromones. I was completely defenseless against the alpha pheromones Cha Heegeon released as he looked down at me like I was worthless.
“Ah, ughh.”
I was already kneeling, but now I collapsed flat on the floor. Without the strength to resist, I curled up and could only express my pain. The scent receptors that were especially sensitive to alpha pheromones made everything spin before my eyes.
“You should have known how scary loan sharks are before borrowing. What’s the point of being scared now?”
“I’ll… definitely pay it back.”
I looked up at him from my humiliating position on the floor, like looking up at an impossibly high place. Was it my emotional plea? The man looking down at me with eyes devoid of emotion like a cold-blooded creature finally spoke.
“By next month, March 1st, you must repay four months’ worth of interest no matter what. If you can’t pay by then, you’ll pay the principal with your body.”
“What?”
“An omega is worth more than a beta, so I’ll collect my money that way.”
My mouth fell open stupidly. I had taken out a loan to help my boyfriend who said he desperately needed money, and only now did I realize how frightening it was. It wasn’t until the interest had accumulated significantly that I realized their talk about charging interest according to the legal maximum rate was just clever wordplay. They said “legal maximum rate,” but their actual interest calculation exceeded 130%.
How could a contract worker in an administrative assistant position at a small company pay back interest that had grown to exceed the principal in just a few months? My vision blurred yellow as they came to squeeze me for money. And March 1st was just a week away!
“Can’t do it?”
“No, no. I’ll pay it back.”
“Good then. This is your last chance.”
Cha Heegeon smiled coldly as he moved toward the door. The men surrounding me followed behind him.
With a thud, the front door closed, and soon after came the beep of the lock. Left alone, I thought about Cha Heegeon’s pheromones that still lingered strongly in the air.
I need to run away.
That was my only way to survive.
* * *
“Gangneung, 6:32 AM, first bus of the day, correct?”
“Yes.”
The ticket office worker confirmed my destination one last time and printed my ticket. Feeling anxious, I handed over cash first and turned away as soon as I received the ticket.
“Cough, cough!”
“Hack!”
Suddenly, the people standing behind me started coughing intermittently. I stepped back from the coughing directly in my face.
These days, TV was always going on about infectious diseases and flu, telling people to wear masks, but none of the coughing people were wearing masks.
I kept my distance from them and properly pulled up my mask that had slipped down to my chin.
I should at least wear mine properly.
Muttering quietly, I pulled my hat down low and headed toward the boarding area.
“Hack, haaa, hack!”
The terminal before sunrise was gloomy and quiet with only some of the lights turned on.
Because of this, even one person’s cough echoed loudly. As I walked, coughing sounds continued from all directions. Some people were also clearing their throats repeatedly as if they had phlegm.
I looked around once and then took out my earphones and put them in both ears.
With my face covered by a mask and hat, they wouldn’t think I’d run away at this early hour to Gangneung, a place where I had no connections.
I walked lightly to the rhythm that filled both my eardrums. I looked up at the electronic board announcing soon-to-depart buses to find my platform number.
Then suddenly, a chaotic noise broke through the fast-beat music. Feeling something was wrong, I turned around and noticed everyone’s attention focused in one direction.
Following their gaze, I saw a man collapsed on the floor. He was shaking his limbs as if having a seizure. People began to gather around the alarming sight.
As a fugitive, I couldn’t join them, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the scene as I stumbled forward.
“Ah!”
Then I bumped into someone. Meeting their solid body, I sat down hard, hitting the floor with my backside.
“Ah! Ow.”
The impact was a direct hit to my tailbone. While I was groaning in intense pain, my hat was suddenly yanked off. Surprised, I looked up to see the last person I wanted to meet.
Cha Heegeon.
He looked down at me with sharp eyes and then pulled off my mask. My earphones fell weakly to the floor.
“H-how did you…”
I muttered in shock.
“Am I not allowed to come here?”
Cha Heegeon asked coldly before gesturing to the men with him. The men approached and grabbed me. I tried to back away on my backside, but it was useless.
Including Cha Heegeon, they were all alphas, and there was no way I, an omega, could handle them alone.
“Let go! H-help! These people are trying to sell me…!”
“AAAAGH!!”
Just then, a scream more desperate than my cry for help rang out. It was so heartrending that it drowned out my own frantic shouting.
“A-AAGH!”
People’s murmurs and horrible screams created a terrible harmony. It was enough to give you goosebumps just hearing it.
Looking toward the sound, I saw two men tangled on the floor. The man who had been seizing earlier was biting another man’s neck like a hungry beast tearing into meat.
“W-what are you doing!”
“Someone stop him!”
“Call the police, call the police!”
Some of the gathered people ran away, others called for help, and a few wrestled with the man in pain and the one biting his neck.
The more people tried to stop him, the more he made strange “kreuk, kreuk” sounds as if possessed by a beast, baring his teeth and biting more fiercely.
“AAARGH, AAAGH!!”
“Do something, someone do something!”
As the bitten man’s painful screams grew louder, people became increasingly agitated.
“What’s going on?”
Meanwhile, Cha Heegeon muttered. Speaking quietly like a bystander who didn’t particularly want to get involved, he showed no concern or fear.
I noticed that the men surrounding me had their attention fixed on the scene, so I made a run for it.
“Hey, stop!”
“You damn omega bastard!”
They quickly snapped out of their daze and chased after me. As I ran, I could see the bus to Gangneung coming, but I couldn’t board it. Since it wasn’t departing immediately, I would obviously be caught by them if I tried to get on. With tears in my eyes, I ignored my only means of escape.
With my back to the terminal that had descended into chaos, I ran across the boarding area where buses were waiting. A bus that had just started moving honked its horn loudly as I ran in front of it. As I ran faster at the sound blaring like a scolding, a car suddenly rushed in out of nowhere.
BWAAANG!
CRASH!
I barely managed to throw myself sideways to avoid the car speeding toward me like it was going to hit me. Then a loud crash followed. Gasping for breath, I turned to see the car had collided with the bus, its front crumpled like paper.
What day is today?
As I was confused by the situation that had gone beyond mere commotion, I saw them getting closer.
“Kang Jihong!”
Lying on the asphalt with my stomach against the ground, I got up without time to look at the accident before me and started running again.
“KYAAAAH!”
“AAAAH, what are you doing!”
“AAAH, run away!”
As soon as I left the boarding area with its long line of buses, a strange scene unfolded. People having seizures like the man I’d seen in the terminal were sprawled here and there on the sidewalk.
Some chased after screaming people trying to escape, while others pounded on cars waiting at traffic signals as if trying to destroy them. I crossed the road, cutting between cars stopped at a red light.
It was impossible to single out any one person for turning the early morning commute into pandemonium, as it was happening simultaneously everywhere.
With no idea what was going on, I looked around for a safe place without strange people, when suddenly my body tumbled to the ground.
“KYAAAK!”
As soon as I opened my tightly shut eyes, I faced a man with dark red liquid—blood or something—smeared all over his mouth.
“Hwaah!”
Terrified, I grabbed the man’s collar with both hands and pushed him away. The man who had rushed right up to my face in the blink of an eye had a strange smell.
The foul odor, like that of rotten food, was so disgusting it was hard to believe it was pheromones. Nausea rose as the unpleasant smell entered my nose with every breath.
“KRAAK, KYAAK!”
A growling sound came from inside the throat of the man who was screaming ferociously.
“Heuuu.”
The pupils in the man’s unfocused eyes were dilated to about the size of a 500-won coin. Meeting those glistening eyes that seemed soaked in madness, my confused mind filled with terror that awakened me to reality.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
