MOT | Chapter 1.1

[#1]

A long oval stretched across the floor. A standing lamp shining on the counseling table cast a white circle onto the floor.

Inside the soundproofed correction room, a room made of walls that blocked out all outside noise and prevented any conversation from leaking out, a naked man lay face down on a white bed. His muscular back, as if honed through years of exercise, called to mind a sleek predator.

With both hands tied to straps, the man lay face down, drawing ragged, gasping breaths, while beneath him, a long-haired man in a doctor’s coat stood there, holding his buttocks apart to check his condition.

The wrinkled flesh, flushed red as if baked by hot air, twitched and kept spurting out clear liquid in little bursts. Just when the lubricant that had seemed as if it would not come out easily was streaming down along the perineum, the man in the coat simply watched in silence.

“Director……”

The man, who had been groaning with his face buried in the pillow, finally managed to lift his head.

“I have something, huff, to ask.”

The long-haired man called “Director” raised his head and looked at him. Sweeping over the man, whose sturdy body looked uselessly slack, with a piercing gaze, the Director lifted a hand and touched the sweat-soaked back.

“What is it?”

“I, haa, now……”

Still trying hard to turn around, his eyes red, the burly man asked with desperate urgency.

“Have I become an exemplary omega, one that I would not be ashamed to show anyone?”

“……”

“How much longer do I have to receive the training?”

The Director’s hand, which had been stroking the man’s back like a massage, stopped abruptly. In the silence that followed, only the soft melody of the music remained inside the correction room. After a moment of silence, the Director drew in a deep breath.

“You, from the very beginning……”

The man, who had been holding himself up with tense neck muscles, let his head drop with a thud. The Director’s voice gradually blurred and no longer reached the man’s ears properly.

The Director sighed and brought his slender fingers down to the man’s lower body. He traced over the opening that was twitching and dripping clear fluid, as if tickling it, and the corners of his mouth lifted.

A little while later, the man who emerged into the lobby stared blankly up at the ceiling. The music could no longer be heard, and the chocolate scent that had filled the space was gone. The only thing in sight was the employee smiling kindly at him.

“Customer, I’ll schedule your next appointment.”

At the emotionless, businesslike tone, the man shut his eyes tightly and opened them again. He had to come for training again. He would have to receive the Director’s touch next week as well.

“……Yes.”

As the man stood up, his cheeks burned hot. His desire to graduate from the center quickly, and the dark desire that the training should not end too soon, mixed together and made him dizzy.

As he left the center, the man recalled the reason he had come into this secret and obscene space, the “Model Omega Training Center,” of his own accord several weeks ago.

* * *

Myeong Taeseong is ordinary.

Taeseong, who had just turned thirty this year, thought he was very ordinary when he looked at the people around him.

Taeseong’s father had worked at a fashion company and then, after quitting, opened the multibrand store Pinset. His father was the president, his mother the vice president, and their three children also helped manage this edit shop.

After the achievement of entering the young fashion floor of a department store in Seoul earlier this year, it had been making fairly good profits, but it was still a growing edit shop.

Born to the president couple of a brand that was continuing on a successful path, Taeseong was the youngest son who grew up loved and without lack in a wealthy home. So many people would be puzzled if he were defined as ordinary, but Taeseong had a clear reason for thinking so himself.

It was traits.

Humanity living on this land has something called “traits.” Traits generally awaken at the age of 13 to 15, and although the academic world currently divides them into more detailed classifications, they are broadly divided into alpha, omega, and beta.

In trait theory, alphas are known to be innately highly intelligent, capable, and superior in physical ability as well, and they generally pair with omegas. An alpha can impregnate an omega regardless of sex.

Omegas can become pregnant and give birth regardless of physical sex. Because of this, alphas and omegas periodically go through heat cycles and secrete distinctive pheromones.

Betas, on the other hand, do not go through heat cycles, pregnancy is only possible for physically female individuals, and they have no pheromones.

Therefore, based on the presence or absence of pheromones, alphas and omegas are defined as trait-bearers, while betas are defined as non-trait-bearers.

Taeseong’s father is a male alpha, and his mother is a female omega. Taeseong has two older brothers, and both his eldest brother and younger brother were diagnosed as alphas in elementary school.

Only Taeseong, the youngest son, was different from them. He kept getting physical examinations in elementary school, middle school, and high school, but in the end, no pheromones were detected.

Among the family, Taeseong alone was a beta.

‘I really don’t have anything special.’

Living as a non-trait-bearer who could not smell pheromones among family members who were trait-bearers, Taeseong realized that he was an extremely ordinary existence. Alphas and omegas felt special, and compared to them, betas felt like plain, unremarkable people. Whenever his family talked about traits, he especially felt alienated, as if he alone were a separate being.

However, Taeseong did not despair or feel disappointed. His two older brothers had awakened as alphas, helping the family save face and doing their jobs well, and there was no shame in the youngest being born a beta.

He believed that betas had roles of their own.

Thinking that way, Taeseong had watched the lives of his alpha brothers ever since he was young.

“I want you, a prime alpha, to do an arranged marriage for the development of our company.”

His father and mother spoke very seriously, holding onto the eldest brother. The multibrand store needed a “famous brand everyone would recognize.” In order to bring in a popular brand for the edit shop that had only just begun to grow, they were thinking of sending him to a brand chairman who wanted a prime alpha as a son-in-law.

“What? I already have someone I love.”

As soon as the eldest brother heard his parents’ words, he let out a snort. And before anyone could say anything, he brought over his omega lover and got married at lightning speed.

The parents were disappointed, but immediately turned their eyes to their second son.

“Your brother is married… how about getting married in a way that helps our company?”

The second brother was a recessive alpha. He had less merit in the marriage market than the eldest son, a prime alpha, but still, an alpha was an alpha, and he looked perfectly decent, so there would surely be someone who wanted him.

Without a lover, the second son accepted his parents’ proposal and went on a blind date with the omega child of a rising popular designer brand.

The two took a fairly strong liking to each other, and it seemed as though the parents’ dream of a marriage alliance would be realized…

“I have azoospermia.”

Like a bolt from the blue, the second son’s examination confirmed that he had a body incapable of impregnation. The other party immediately called off the marriage, and the contract that had been sailing smoothly toward Pinset also collapsed overnight.

The couple was greatly disappointed, and they also came to feel that it would be right to give up on the trick of easily bringing in a high-handed fashion brand through their child’s marriage.

However, Taeseong’s thoughts, while watching all of this, were different.

“About that arranged marriage thing.”

Five years ago, when Taeseong was 25. In front of his parents, who were distressed over the second son’s broken engagement, Taeseong stepped forward. At the youngest son’s sudden appearance, the two people flinched and turned to look at Taeseong.

“If my brothers are no good, what do you think of me?”

“What?”

His father and mother turned to look at each other at the same time. Taeseong stopped in front of them and placed a hand over his chest.

“I’m a beta, so I won’t be able to help the company as much as my alpha brothers can. So even more than that, I want to be a help to you in another way.”

The eldest son was serving as Pinset’s head of brand strategy, and the second son was active as a creative director.

In line with the rumor about alphas, that they are endowed with excellent abilities from birth, the two of them were carrying out their work splendidly in their respective positions with sharp minds and brilliant ideas. To Taeseong, they were sons who made their parents immeasurably proud, whether they married or not.

By contrast, Taeseong, the youngest, had not yet entered society at the time, so he did not really have any work assigned to him. It was also a period when he had no idea what he would do in the future. Taeseong continued in a serious voice.

“There are certainly beta women of marriageable age, and there can’t be that few companies looking for beta sons-in-law.”

“Th, that’s true.”

“So I’ll do the arranged marriage!”

Taeseong grinned and let his eyes shine. In front of his parents, who had frozen with their mouths agape, he shouted in a bold voice.

“I’ll polish myself until there’s no one among beta humans better than me, until I become the best choice for chaebol daughters looking for beta mates, until I become a diamond myself!”

“What? A diamond?”

“Please trust me and leave it to me!”

Taeseong’s heart pounded as if it would burst. The moment he shouted that he would complete the project his brothers could not, his chest throbbed with tension and excitement.

The first to speak after the parents who had frozen like ice was his mother, after a cough.

“Y-yes… Right. Since you always do everything diligently, of course you would say that. I’m just worried sometimes that you push yourself too hard.”

“Push myself?”

Taeseong asked back with wide eyes. At his mother’s gaze, filled with concern, Taeseong shook his head.

“Not at all. I’ve never overdone it.”

What he had just said was not bluff, but 100 percent sincere.

He was living his life doing his utmost to the point that people said he was diligent in everything, but Taeseong did not find it hard at all. Working hard itself was Taeseong’s hobby and specialty.

More than that, he had finally found the “value of beta” he had so wanted to know. Taeseong’s eyes sparkled like stars at having found his life’s goal.

* * *

And so, after declaring that he would become the number one beta groom, five years later, today.

After finishing the day’s work and returning to his room, Taeseong picked up his phone. After checking the piled-up business-related emails and walking over to his desk, he picked up one business card pinned there.

After graduating from university, Taeseong took charge of Pinset’s global marketing. The business card also had the impressive title of “Pinset CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)” printed on it. Taeseong, who looked it over with satisfaction, lifted the corners of his mouth.

‘I’ve got money, and I’ve got social status.’

With a tap, Taeseong set the business card down and approached the full-length mirror hanging on the wall, turning his head this way and that to check his face.

‘My face is decent enough too.’