# 07.
“So what did you do during your heat?”
Choi Yunjun seemed quite interested. Actually, all of them were. Even Cha Heegeon stared at me curiously. It was somewhat embarrassing. I felt like I had suddenly become a spectacle.
“Well… I took suppressants, and if that didn’t work, I took care of it myself or found a boyfriend.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve only been with betas?”
“W-what’s wrong with that? Since I was young, I’ve felt comfortable hanging out with betas, so I’ve only dated betas.”
The more I spoke, the more confused they seemed to become. It was frustrating to see them looking at me as if I were strange.
Is there a law saying omegas must only be with alphas? In dramas and movies, I’ve seen many romances where alphas have passionate relationships with betas.
Of course, these were often portrayed as “impossible loves” or special relationships, but in reality, I’ve seen plenty of betas dating alphas. If alphas can do it, there’s no reason omegas can’t.
“These days, people don’t really care about alpha, omega distinctions, you know?”
“Even so, don’t you find betas lacking? Both alphas and omegas have heat periods. In our time, this was unimaginable.”
For a moment, I wanted to say that such fixed thinking seemed old-fashioned, but I held my tongue. That would likely offend Cha Heegeon, the oldest in the group. With the possibility of being sold off to someone at any moment, I didn’t want to provoke him.
“It’s… a matter of perspective, I guess.”
I brushed it off and put the now swollen noodles in my mouth. The chewy texture was gone, but once I started eating, my appetite grew, and I chewed enthusiastically. They watched me for a while before starting their meals.
* * *
After eating, they checked on Kim Dongyoung’s condition. Surprisingly, even though more than three hours had passed since he was bitten, he hadn’t transformed yet. He just looked paler and was suffering more.
I watched from a distance as the boss’s office door opened. When I saw Kim Dongyoung complaining that he was dying because of my pheromones, I hid in a corner.
“Should we go out and come back before sunset?”
As soon as they finished taking care of Kim Dongyoung’s meal, Cha Heegeon spoke.
“Why would we do that, sir?”
At Gong Junhee’s question, Cha Heegeon stood up and approached the window. Looking down at the streets still filled with wandering zombies, he said:
“My body feels stiff. And I don’t know when my rut will come.”
Cha Heegeon casually dropped a bombshell. How is it that when these alphas gather, they all seem to go into rut?
Having overcome one crisis, my heart pounded at the thought of the inevitable next one.
“Then I’ll go out with the guys and come back.”
Cha Heegeon didn’t immediately respond to Gong Junhee’s offer. He paused for a moment, looking down at the desolate streets where only infected people wandered.
“Hyung?”
When Gong Junhee cautiously called to him, waiting for an answer, Cha Heegeon finally spoke.
“I think it might be good if we all go out together. To stretch our legs and assess the situation.”
“Understood. …We’re going out now, so get ready.”
At Gong Junhee’s word, they each picked up the baseball bats they had used earlier when trying to rescue Kim Dongyoung.
“What are you doing?”
As I watched them moving busily after the order was given, Cha Heegeon asked me.
“Me?”
“Yes, you should get ready to go out too.”
Cha Heegeon said this while taking a baseball bat from Gong Junhee. I was surprised by how casually he said it.
“Me?”
“You need to earn your keep.”
Even though he was the one who captured me.
For a moment I wanted to express my indignation, but I kept my mouth shut. Everyone was holding baseball bats and looking at me.
The words “I don’t want to go” circled in my mouth, but I finally stopped hesitating and answered.
“I guess I do need to earn my keep.”
Reluctantly agreeing, I took the baseball bat that Gong Junhee handed over.
“Let’s go.”
At Cha Heegeon’s word, they all rushed toward the office door. As I followed them, Gong Junhee, who was walking in front of me, said:
“If you’re scared, stay close behind me.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry too much.”
Seeing him smile gently as he spoke quietly made my anxiety ease a bit. It was reassuring to have someone to rely on in this situation. And to feel reassured because of an alpha—it was very unfamiliar to me.
I had lived a life of frequent isolation, as if born to an inevitable fate. Though born an omega, I had no connection with alphas.
Since childhood, alphas bullied me as a weak omega without parents or wealth. They acted as if my difficult situation was a reason for discrimination. I grew to dislike this and kept my distance from alphas, naturally gravitating toward betas.
With my experiences, I had thought that all alphas were arrogant and bad, but it seems not everyone is like that.
“Ready?”
Cha Heegeon, holding the office doorknob, turned to us and asked. Unlike me, who was extremely tense, he looked at us with a calm expression.
“We’re ready.”
The moment Gong Junhee assured him, Cha Heegeon opened the door. The waiting men all moved at once. I just followed closely behind Gong Junhee. Though the office was on the fourth floor and we could have taken the elevator, they moved toward the stairs.
Their steps were cautious, so I followed them, even holding my breath.
“Grrr, grgh.”
“Guuurgh.”
As soon as we started going down to the third floor, we heard zombie noises from the corridor. Glancing at the elevator across from the stairs, I could see the directory of shops on each floor.
The third floor had a hair salon and regular offices, while the second floor had a cafeteria.
Since the zombie outbreak happened in the early morning, there shouldn’t have been many people around, but seeing zombies roaming the third-floor corridor made me anxious.
“Grugh, gugh.”
As the quiet sounds grew closer, Cha Heegeon raised his hand. Then he extended his fingers one by one.
One, two, three. On that count, one zombie appeared. Before it could notice and react to us, Cha Heegeon swung his bat first.
The hard bat sliced through the air with a whoosh, followed by a thud.
“Guugh!”
The zombie, hit in the face, fell to the floor.
“Aaaargh!”
“Aaack!”
Just as we finished dealing with one, the fierce howls of zombies grew closer.
As they came running aggressively, our group rushed out as if they had been waiting. Then, as if pre-arranged, each took on a zombie. Being at the back and missing the timing to join the rush, I held my bat and looked around.
Including me, there were nine of us fighting, but only five zombies, so there was no place for me.
“Focus.”
While they were handling the zombies, Cha Heegeon approached and grabbed my shoulder firmly. Startled, I looked up at him, and he was scanning both sides of the corridor.
I was overly tense but trying to maintain my composure to do something, though I must have appeared lost.
“I am focusing.”
After answering with a heavy breath, he looked around once more and said:
“First, relax your body. If you’re that tense, you won’t be able to attack or dodge.”
“Yes.”
I nodded vigorously.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Aaack!”
Just then, suddenly, zombie roars came from down the stairs. Zombies were coming up to the third floor.
This time, there were quite a lot of them. A group of over ten zombies rushed up together.
Though they might have hesitated at such a ferocious momentum, our group stepped forward without hesitation, kicking zombies’ shoulders or heads, or striking them with bats to knock them down.
Thanks to this, the zombies coming up collided with falling zombies and rolled down the stairs together.
“Don’t forget to watch your surroundings.”
As Cha Heegeon led the way down, they all responded loudly in unison. The well-coordinated group followed Cha Heegeon’s direction without question, clearing the zombies. With their strength, good physique, and effective use of weapons, they didn’t seem to struggle even with the large number of zombies.
“Aaaaargh!”
“Aaack!”
Zombies with broken necks or cracked skulls couldn’t move. As they piled up on the stairs, approaching zombies began to trip over the bodies or fall.
Looking at how the zombies moved, I noticed they couldn’t properly use their hands. They just moved randomly, swinging their arms and focusing on biting with drooling mouths.
Following the momentum of the group going down, I stepped onto the stairs, crossing over dead zombies.
“Grrrr.”
“Ah!”
Suddenly, one of the fallen zombies grabbed my ankle. Although its grip was weak, the creepy sensation startled me, and I swung my bat.
Even though I had stayed back, I had been closely observing where they concentrated their attacks and had figured out the zombies’ weak points.
Moving my stiff arm, I hit its head, and the zombie that had raised its head collapsed.
“Well done.”
While catching my breath looking down at the motionless zombie, Gong Junhee grabbed my shoulder and spoke. I looked up at him, releasing the tension from my stiff shoulders.
“Yes.”
A deep, quiet voice escaped my lips. I gripped the baseball bat firmly with my trembling hands. I had resented Cha Heegeon for bringing me along to earn my keep, but actually experiencing this wasn’t so bad.
To survive, I needed to know how to fight. If I thought of it as preparation for when I might need to escape, I needed to be even more active.
Having been frozen with fear, I followed the confident group and attacked zombies. As anyone would step in to help if I seemed in danger, I gradually gained confidence.
“Shouldn’t we close the lobby doors?”
While we caught our breath after coming down to the first-floor stairs, Cha Heegeon and Gong Junhee looked around the main entrance. The main doors were open, and zombies seemed to be entering from there.
“First, we need to go down to the basement.”
“Are we going to the parking garage?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
