PC | Chapter 1.1

“I still need to run a few more detailed tests,”

“….”

“In the quick test we ran, an E-type pheromone, an omega pheromone, was detected.”

The words struck like a bolt from the blue. They slammed into my eardrums so hard that I let out a dry, disbelieving laugh. I had lived as a beta for not a year or two, but twenty-eight years. Suddenly telling me I was an omega? Either the bastard in front of me was a quack, or the test results had been mixed up.

Without a shred of hesitation, I got to my feet.

“Hey, Shinjae!”

“Forget it. I’m going to another hospital.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it easily either. It’s not like I only tested once or twice. Look, I ran six kits.”

Kang Jigyu forced down his irritation and pushed a small basket on the side toward me. Just as he said, there were six test kits inside, each marked with two lines that meant positive. Not one of them lacked that clear red line.

I stared at the basket in a daze, then collapsed back into my seat. Then, on impulse, I slapped my own cheek. I wanted this to be a dream, anything but reality. But cruelly enough, pain flared hot across my skin. A short, hollow laugh escaped me.

“Fine. Whatever. One more bomb going off in this shitty life isn’t going to change my path.”

“Shinjae.”

“Ha. Still, this is a little too much.”

I deliberately chewed my lip and frowned hard. For several days now, I had been plagued by unexplained abdominal pain. At first it had only been a faint throbbing in my lower stomach, but the pain had grown worse with time. Even the other day, when Jung Inhyuk had shown up without warning and I had spread my legs for him, the pain had been severe. After it was over, I could barely keep myself upright. That was why I had come to the hospital, and I never expected to hear something so earth-shattering.

“If there’s any consolation, it seems like you’re recessive, not dominant.”

“….”

“Recessive omegas are almost no different from betas as long as they don’t get pregnant. You know that.”

“Haa… but is this even realistically possible?”

“Beta-to-omega mutation is rare, but it does happen.”

Even the word mutation made my skin crawl. A thin sigh slipped past my lips. All sorts of filthy feelings churned inside me and made my stomach revolt. Kang Jigyu reached into the refrigerator in the corner of the exam room and handed me a bottle of water.

“But are you still with Jung Inhyuk, I mean, with Vice President Jung, like that?”

Like that. I lowered my gaze and bit my lip. That damned Jung Inhyuk. My relationship with him was a rotten fate I could not cut off no matter how hard I tried. To put it simply, it was like something decided from the moment I was born. I must have sold a nation in a past life. Otherwise, there was no way simply being born could have been a sin.

Still, after I fell into Jung Inhyuk’s hands, my life shifted away from the path Chairman Jung had chosen and onto the path Jung Inhyuk wanted. Chairman Jung Seowook had wanted me to become the loyal secretary Jung Inhyuk could trust and rely on, but Jung Inhyuk had turned me into a glittering accessory instead.

Actor Lee Shinjae. I was nothing more than his toy and key ring.

“That bastard really is relentless. Anyway, no sex for the time being. Especially stay away from dominant alphas.”

“Use your head, hyung. Jung Inhyuk is a dominant alpha. How the hell am I supposed to stay away?”

“You don’t have any overseas schedules?”

“…No. Even if I did, I can’t go right now.”

“Why not?”

“Jung Inhyuk’s rut is in four days.”

Kang Jigyu’s face went pale. Come to think of it, I had endured a dominant alpha’s rut in a beta body for about eight years, so maybe this had been foretold all along. And maybe it was exactly what Jung Inhyuk wanted.

I gave a bitter smile and checked the watch on my wrist. It would be time for Jung Inhyuk to call soon.

“First, let’s scan your body. We’ll do a full scan, then find a decent excuse and admit you.”

“…Admit me?”

“Is there any other way to keep you and Jung Inhyuk apart? If you stay close to the alpha who caused the mutation, you’ll only have a harder time.”

“….”

“Even pheromone showers have their limits. If he keeps dumping that much on you every day, even a beta who knows nothing would go into heat.”

Jung Inhyuk always drenched me from head to toe in pheromones I couldn’t even properly smell. His scent always vibrated over my body. The manager who once handled me had mistaken Jung Inhyuk’s pheromones for mine and thought I was an alpha for a while.

Kang Jigyu clicked his tongue softly and stood up first. I got up after him. I didn’t want to think anymore. All I could do now was hug this bomb that had dropped into my life with my whole body and curl up for a while. There was no other option.

“Lee Shinjae, are you even listening to me?”

“Ah… yeah.”

I was startled and looked up at the voice pulling me out of my thoughts. Without realizing it, I was lying on the bed inside the exam room. A cold gel had been spread over my stomach. As Kang Jigyu slowly moved the device, something appeared on the monitor.

“The uterus isn’t completely settled yet, but it’s taking shape. You really did mutate into an omega.”

“So you’re saying I might be able to have a baby?”

“It’ll be hard, since you’re recessive. But that doesn’t mean the chance is zero.”

“Hah, that’s ridiculous.”

“Make sure you keep taking suppressants. One pill a day, the proper dose, and it’s best to take it at the same time every day. Rich people even get custom suppressants based on their bodies. Want me to set up an appointment for that too?”

“I don’t have money.”

“If popular actor Lee Shinjae has no money, then I must be a beggar.”

A foolish laugh slipped out between my lips. Unfortunately, popular actor Lee Shinjae really did have no money. The reason was simple. I was paying back every cent to Jung Inhyuk, trying to reclaim a life that had been held hostage.

Once, I asked Jung Inhyuk how I could end this dirty business. Then he came to see me with a lawyer in tow. The lawyer handed me a promissory note.

Ridiculously enough, that note listed everything as debt, from the cost of hiring the lawyer who had defended my mother in self-defense years ago, to her funeral costs, to the money spent on food, clothing, housing, and tuition from the time I was seven until now, while living in the annex of the Wuseong Group main house, plus interest, and even the cost of establishing the agency.

So I was paying it back with my body and with whatever valuables I had.

To be honest, I had thought I would escape this hell faster if I became an actor instead of a secretary. But Jung Inhyuk had no intention of letting me go.

At first he had put me into a famous agency and turned me into a reasonably well-known actor. Then, after three years, he suddenly paid the penalty fee and pulled me out, making me join the one-person agency he had created. After that, even when drama or film offers came in, Jung Inhyuk cut them off, and I could only appear in the projects he allowed.

But now even that had stopped. Since last year, Jung Inhyuk had blocked me from taking on any work. All I did was occasionally shoot ads for Wuseong Group affiliates I was already contracted to.

“Custom suppressants based on your body are better than the ones sold in stores. Anyway, think about it. The major tests are done, and now you need to be admitted.”

“…Do I really have to be admitted?”

“You’re still in the middle of mutating into an omega, and it’s no good for you to be exposed to Jung Inhyuk’s pheromones in this state. Stay for just a week, then go. You have a nut allergy, right? I’ll prepare emergency treatment, so if you happen to eat a few peanuts, it won’t be a disaster.”

“…No need.”

“Then you’re saying you’re just going to leave like this?”

“Hyung, wipe this off too.”

Kang Jigyu shook his head and wiped the gel off my stomach while putting the medical equipment away. Before him, I left the exam room and pulled a cutter knife from the pencil cup on the side. Then I slit my wrist with force. Hot blood streamed down my wrist. Looking at the red blood dripping to the floor, I smiled bitterly.

“Hey, you insane bastard!”

Kang Jigyu came out of the exam room a beat later, saw the pool of blood on the floor, and shouted. At his cry, I burst out laughing like a maniac.

✿ • ✿ • ✿

I was admitted to the isolation ward while listening to Kang Jigyu’s nagging. A white bandage wrapped my wrist. No matter how wildly I struggled to die, this stubborn thread of life would not break so easily. I changed into a hospital gown and waved at Kang Jigyu through the clear glass window.

Kang Jigyu shook his head and disappeared from view. Left alone, I stared out the window in silence, then lifted the blanket and climbed into bed. I burrowed into the blankets, took out my phone, and checked it.

One missed call. It had been a long time since I had ignored his call.

Jung Inhyuk was the controlling type. If anything did not go the way he wanted, he got sensitive. He was probably in that kind of mood right now. I needed to explain the situation to him. I dialed the number I knew by heart and listened to the ring. Not long after, Jung Inhyuk’s voice came through.

[Where are you?]

“Vice President, I’ve been admitted to the hospital.”

[Why?]

“…I injured my wrist a bit.”

A short laugh rang in my ear. I had no intention of telling Jung Inhyuk that I had mutated into an omega. As Kang Jigyu said, if there was any consolation, it was that I was recessive. Recessive omegas had thin, light pheromones and were almost no different from betas.