# 06.
Following Cha Heegeon’s instructions, they divided up enough food to last until tomorrow and started boiling ramen.
I watched carefully and quietly joined them. Unlike them who treated each other like family, my position was unclear, so my first thought was that I needed to find my place on my own.
Of course, secretly I was determined to run away when the time was right.
“Hey.”
I was placing paper cups on the wooden table for everyone when I turned around. Kim Dongyoung, who somehow looked more tired and drained in just a short time, was watching me while leaning the back of his head against the wall.
“Yes?”
“Damn it, can’t you do something about your pheromones?”
Perhaps feeling bitter about getting bitten while trying to catch me, Kim Dongyoung was fixating on my pheromones again.
While I was wondering why he was picking a fight again, I noticed the bulge in the front of his clothes.
As if I had deliberately excited him, he stared at me intensely. As soon as our eyes met, I stepped back.
“What’s going on?”
Just then, Cha Heegeon approached and asked, apparently having been watching us.
“Hah, Hyung. Please give me some suppressants. My head hurts more because of that bastard.”
“Kang Jihong, move away.”
Cha Heegeon spoke and released his pheromones. He seemed to be trying to mask the smell of my pheromones, but Kim Dongyoung just kept watching me as I moved away.
Even though I pressed myself against the wall opposite from where Kim Dongyoung was, his condition didn’t improve at all.
“Does anyone have suppressants?”
Cha Heegeon, who had been staring at him as he panted weakly, looked around and asked. But they just stared blankly at each other.
“We can’t tell if it’s because of his rut or if he’s about to change.”
Gong Junhee approached Cha Heegeon and spoke. Suddenly, Gong Junhee’s pheromones subtly mixed with Cha Heegeon’s, which filled the spacious office.
Though they seemed to be trying deliberately to prevent him from smelling an Omega’s pheromones, it didn’t appear to be working as Kim Dongyoung groaned as if in pain.
“Hah, aah. This is driving me crazy. Hyung, if you’re planning to sell that guy anyway, couldn’t you just give him to me now?”
Finally, he said something crazy.
I looked at Cha Heegeon with wide, surprised eyes. I could only see his back from where I was, so I couldn’t tell what expression he was making.
The fact that he was still thinking about selling me even in this situation meant this wasn’t a situation I could feel safe in.
“Huh? I have some money in the account we use for running the business. I’ll pay more than the market price, so please sell that Omega to me.”
“…”
Incredibly, Cha Heegeon didn’t say anything.
Not knowing whether his silence meant a denial or confirmation, I anxiously approached carefully.
Since there was no immediate way to suppress his heat, he was essentially saying he would use me, which meant I…
“Hyung, please? I’m begging you.”
The more desperate Kim Dongyoung’s pleas became, the faster my heart beat.
“W-wait…”
“It’s a good condition for a deal, but it seems pretty useless in the current situation.”
As I tried to stop Cha Heegeon, who seemed to be considering it for some reason, he spoke first.
“Why, why not? I said I’ll give you more money.”
“Even if I take that money and hand over Kang Jihong, that’s not the end of it. The place you manage wasn’t arbitrarily entrusted to you by Hyung Juntae. So all the money coming in and out of there would be reported to Hyung Juntae.”
“Tsk. How many years have I been managing that place! I have quite a stake in it too! Can’t I afford to buy one Omega!”
Kim Dongyoung’s voice grew louder as his emotions intensified, and he thrashed about. This caused the folding chair to make creaking sounds.
The sound coming from the flimsy joints that seemed like they might break at any moment heightened the tension.
“That’s just your thinking. Do you think I don’t know that all the people and money move only under Hyung Juntae’s orders? What if I take your money and hand over Kang Jihong, but then you change? What am I supposed to do then?”
“How can you do this to me, Hyung? I might be fine if I just deal with my rut. You said nothing is certain yet!”
Kim Dongyoung’s voice grew louder and louder. Perhaps because of this, Kim Donghu, who had been quiet, began making growling sounds.
“That’s not certain either.”
Cha Heegeon was quite cold. While that was fortunate for me, I became scared seeing Kim Dongyoung starting to act wild as if angered by Cha Heegeon’s attitude.
“Then can’t I just have him for a moment?”
It’s my body, so why ask Cha Heegeon for permission? Even though I was captured helplessly, I felt outraged seeing Kim Dongyoung naturally treating me like an object.
“That won’t work either. If Kang Jihong gets infected too, it would be troublesome for me.”
Looking at it carefully, it seemed like Cha Heegeon didn’t care about someone like me at all and was only speaking from the perspective of avoiding any loss to himself.
Of course, that would be natural since he had captured me to get money, whether by selling me or using me as a worker… but I felt somewhat hurt inside.
“Ah, damn it. Then what am I supposed to do? Huh? I feel like I’m going crazy because of that bastard’s pheromones!”
“Should we take him to the president’s office?”
Just then, Gong Junhee, who had been quiet, asked Cha Heegeon. Cha Heegeon finally turned around and looked at Gong Junhee, then at me standing behind him.
After seeing me standing frozen with my hands tightly clasped together, Cha Heegeon made a decision about Kim Dongyoung, who was getting angry to the point of shaking his hips.
“Lock him up.”
“What, where are you locking me up? Huh? No, damn it, you can’t do this!”
As soon as Cha Heegeon gave the order, Kim Dongyoung freaked out seeing Gong Junhee approach, but it was useless.
Gong Junhee easily lifted Kim Dongyoung and carried him over his shoulder towards the president’s office. When he opened the door, Kim Donghu was visible in one corner, fallen and struggling violently.
“Aagh, damn it. I haven’t changed yet! Junhee Hyung, Hyung!”
“Kawk, kawik!”
As soon as he saw Kim Donghu, Kim Dongyoung began to rage even more. And that sound encouraged Kim Donghu. Their harmony created a noisy commotion.
Gong Junhee silently threw Kim Dongyoung onto the sofa and turned around. Kim Dongyoung, who had fallen on the sofa, didn’t give up and immediately tried to follow Gong Junhee out, but because his feet were tied, he could only struggle without being able to move properly.
“It’s almost been two hours since he was bitten, so if he doesn’t change after that time, give him something to eat.”
Cha Heegeon said as he sat down at the table where meal preparations had finished. Kim Dongyoung’s pleas could be heard from behind the closed door, but I approached them, pretending not to hear.
At that moment, I was terrified of being an Omega.
With my heart still unsettled, I hesitated while watching them. Although I had gotten close, I couldn’t join them as they sat around the long table.
“Sit next to me.”
Gong Junhee pointed to the seat beside him.
Glad to be included, I quickly went and sat down, picking up the wooden chopsticks. In the short time, the noodles had become plump. Though it wasn’t ideal, I was grateful and carefully picked up the noodles that had absorbed most of the broth and put them in my paper cup.
“But, will we be okay?”
Just as I was about to eat a bite after blowing on the noodles, Choi Yunjun spoke. Everyone stopped eating and looked at him.
“Whether it’s Donghu or Dongyoung Hyung, it seems the infection affects those in rut. If we can’t leave right away, don’t we also have no solution?”
“Ah, right. That’s true. …For us it’s us, but what about Heegeon Hyung?”
Lee Yegang agreed and glanced at Cha Heegeon. I swallowed hard as I rolled my eyes toward where all their gazes were focused.
I had been running away hungry since dawn going through all this trouble, and even after being caught, I couldn’t relax because I was trapped in an Alpha den.
“Isn’t it about time for Heegeon Hyung’s rut too?”
“I usually do have it around this time.”
I felt despair at Cha Heegeon’s words. It was already hard enough to suddenly face a zombie apocalypse, and now this? This really wasn’t fair.
I started to worry about my own safety as well as theirs. As the situation worsened, wouldn’t decisions be made according to instinct or majority opinion?
If so, as the lone Omega among all Alphas here…
“But honestly, aren’t we the problem? Heegeon Hyung… since Kang Jihong is here, he has a way to solve it if urgent, but for us…”
“Huh? W-what are you saying? I’m not an object, and you can’t just do that because you don’t have suppressants.”
Somehow I felt uneasy, and I instinctively snapped at Choi Yunjun’s words. I really didn’t like them trying to use me as a substitute for suppressants just because the situation was like this.
“You got caught because you couldn’t pay back the money, and you’re saying you won’t even help with this?”
“No, but this is a different case. They say an Alpha in heat is no different from a beast. Do you want to kill someone?”
Just imagining it made me shudder.
I didn’t get along well with Alphas, so I dated Betas. I preferred Betas who could live normally rather than relationships bound by pheromones, and it suited my taste, so I lived that way.
Still, being an Omega, I often heard about Alphas in heat, and every time, what I heard was the same: ‘it’s deadly.’
Not to mention their stamina, everything from there on is apparently too much for a Beta to handle. And when excited, they bite, press down, and even knot without hesitation.
After hearing that, I swore I would never get involved with an Alpha in heat, even if I died and came back to life.
“This guy is ridiculous. So, at your age, you’ve never done it with an Alpha?”
“That’s right, but why does that matter?”
When they heard my answer, they started laughing. Even Gong Junhee had a smile on his face as he looked at me. Not understanding why they were laughing, I was confused until I met eyes with Cha Heegeon.
He was looking at me as if perplexed. You might say he was fascinated.
Only then did I realize that to them, I was an unusual Omega.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
