Chapter 8: Pheromones and Privilege

Bickering as usual seemed to lighten his troubled mind a little.
Seon-kyung leaned back comfortably against the piled blankets.

His fingertips brushed against a hard textbook.
He pulled over the thick volume labeled Introduction to Journalism and opened it.
Even a cursory glance showed nothing but page after page of utterly uninteresting content.

“Is school fun?”
“Well… so-so? I’m still busy getting to know people.”

Kwon Mu-yeol had gotten into the Department of Media and Information Studies, just as he wanted.
The family’s long-running oriental medicine hospital was set to be inherited by his older brother, Kwon Woojin.
Thanks to that, Mu-yeol was free to choose his own future.

He said his dream was to become an advertising planner.
For all his carefree attitude, he was smart and diligent, never dropping out of the top ranks back in high school.
He had been accepted into Korea University—widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s most prestigious schools—in one go.

Still, even elite university students were no different from other freshmen.
Mu-yeol loved to have fun, and between mingling with new people and building social connections, he put far more energy into drinking sessions and department gatherings than into studying.
He’d arranged his timetable for four days a week, yet somehow ended up going to campus all five.

And above all, March was peak season for blind dates.
Mu-yeol boldly declared that he would definitely get a girlfriend this spring.
He said he went out on a blind date whenever an opportunity came up.

Hearing that someone who’d only been in college for barely two weeks had already gone on three blind dates made Seon-kyung click his tongue, speechless.

“You really are something… no wonder Auntie worries about you.”
“Give it a rest. What’s wrong with putting studying off a bit? I deserve to have some fun too!”
“You talk like someone who never played around after the CSAT.”
“This won’t do. Next time, come to campus with me. I’ll personally show you what college life is like.”

As if it weren’t an offhand remark, Mu-yeol opened his phone calendar and started checking dates.
“How about next Wednesday? Or Friday?” he asked, even settling on a day.

Seon-kyung couldn’t answer right away.

To be honest, he was a little curious about what university life was like.
But it wasn’t as if he could actually go.
He snapped the textbook shut with a dull thud.

“I can’t go to crowded places.”
“Why? Are you still not feeling well?”
“It’s not that… I’m not good at controlling my pheromones yet.”

Saying it out loud felt oddly awkward.
Even now, revealing that he was an omega didn’t come easily to him.
Maybe it was shame—maybe something like that.

It hadn’t even been a full month since his manifestation.
He was only just starting to get used to his changed body.

Controlling his pheromones on his own was difficult, so he took suppressants every morning.
Going out and being active outside?
It was still too soon.

Mu-yeol scratched the bridge of his nose, embarrassed.

“Ah… I see.

I didn’t think that far ahead.

But it’s fine.

You’ll get the hang of controlling it soon enough.

You’re dominant, right?

Dominants are… different in everything, I guess.”

He wanted to comfort him, but Mu-yeol was a beta too—he didn’t actually know anything.
It hit him anew that his friend was an omega.

Just what was it about those damn pheromones that made it impossible for him to even go out properly?
Mu-yeol inhaled for no reason at all.
Naturally, he couldn’t smell anything.

In the meantime, Seon-kyung quietly slipped off the bed.
He picked up the coat hanging on the rack and slid his arms into the sleeves.

“Already leaving?”
“I’m tired. I’m going home to rest.”

You sleep just fine here too…

Watching him make preparations to leave with such a flimsy excuse stirred an inexplicable heaviness in Mu-yeol’s chest.

“Woo Seon-kyung.”
“What.”
“Walk with your shoulders back.

Even if the future looks pitch-dark right now, huh?

You’re a chaebol, damn it!

You could live your whole life without working—what’s there to worry about?”

“……”

“Have some confidence!

Hey, you’re rich and pretty—what more do you want?

From where I stand, even if you just sat around sucking your fingers, alphas would still flock to you—ack!”

A sharp kick flew his way.
What he’d meant as comfort didn’t have a great effect.

***

After steadying his unsettled mind, Seon-kyung returned home.
As he passed through the imposing front gate, a neatly manicured garden welcomed him.

The lawn, meticulously tended by landscapers, was trimmed so short it posed no resistance to walking.
The feel beneath his soles was luxuriously soft.

He passed by the ornamental pond and the old pine tree standing guard at the heart of the garden.
If you followed the stepping stones stretching out like signposts, gazing at them absentmindedly, you’d find yourself at the front door before you knew it.

“Young master!”

Someone urgently called out to the silently walking Seon-kyung.
From the detached quarters in the distance, a gray-haired man came running—it was Butler Bae, the grandfather’s right-hand man.

Seon-kyung stopped and turned around.

“Uncle.”
“There you are. I was on my way to the main house to escort you.”
“Is something going on?”

The wrinkles around Butler Bae’s eyes curved gently.
There was only one reason he’d be sent for.

“The Chairman is asking for you urgently.”

***

The Woo family was what people called a chaebol.
What began as a modest construction company run by Seon-kyung’s great-grandfather had been taken over by Chairman Woo—his grandfather—who expanded it in earnest.

With his exceptional business acumen and the country’s economic growth aligning perfectly, the company soared to success in no time.
Chairman Woo didn’t rest on his laurels, branching out into the automobile and distribution industries as well.
Now, the group had grown so large it employed professional managers to run its many affiliates.

What started as Seohwa Construction had become the Seohwa Group, a conglomerate known to everyone in name and in fact.

Though it was common in that era to have six or eight siblings, Chairman Woo had only two children—a son and a daughter.
The eldest son was Seon-kyung’s father.

He married Seon-kyung’s mother, an omega, in a strategic union, and together they had three children.
But before the children even reached adulthood, the couple died in an unexpected accident.
It was Chairman Woo who took responsibility for raising the three siblings overnight.

The eldest, Woo Seon-woo, was optimistic and easygoing by nature.
The second, Woo Jae-gyeong, was sharp-minded and had a personality that never allowed her to lose out.
And then there was Woo Seon-kyung, born six years after Jaegyeong, with an especially keen aesthetic sense.

Chairman Woo described it as “an eye for what sells.”
Sharing his grandfather’s love for art, Seon-kyung had monopolized his affection from a young age.

Though they lost their parents early, the children grew up straight and wanting for nothing, thanks to their grandfather’s boundless love and attention.

Then one day, at the age of fifteen, Jaegyeong manifested as an alpha.
It was a major event that turned the entire household upside down.

Wasn’t society one where merely wearing the label alpha guaranteed recognition?
It was practically a cause for celebration.

The moment Jaegyeong manifested, Chairman Woo named her his successor.
Whether she was the second child, a girl, or still a middle schooler didn’t matter.
It was an investment in her future.

Much later, Seon-kyung manifested as an omega—at the unusually late age of twenty.
This, too, shook the family to its core, but in a very different way.

The reaction was nothing like when Jaegyeong became an alpha.
Unlike alphas, who were highly regarded by society, omegas were the very definition of the vulnerable.

People fixated on the physical beauty omegas possessed, indulging in all manner of filthy fantasies about them.
And because omegas were known as the only ones capable of bearing special-trait children, they were easily exposed to sexual crimes.

Day after day, sensational news of omega rapes, kidnappings, and s*x trafficking filled the headlines.

Knowing all this, Chairman Woo immediately canceled Seon-kyung’s overseas studies.
He couldn’t bear to send his precious grandson abroad alone.

It was unfortunate, but no one dared to oppose his decision.
Even Seon-kyung himself accepted reality in silence, unable to say no even once.

Seon-kyung climbed the stone steps.
Passing through the flat gate Butler Bae opened for him, he crossed the small front courtyard that led inside.
The low walls stretching out, the dark-tiled roof, and the tall bamboo rising behind them welcomed the visitor who had come after so long.

The hanok annex, attached right next to the main house, was where Chairman Woo lived separately.
Unlike the three-story modern mansion of the main residence, the single-story hanok was steeped in classical beauty.

Built simply because he’d once thought he wanted to live in a hanok, Chairman Woo must have liked it quite a bit—he’d already been living here for three years.
The architect who designed it often bragged on TV that the 264-square-meter hanok was the greatest masterpiece of his career.

Add to that the fact that its owner was one of the country’s leading conglomerate heads, and public interest had been intense.
Despite frequent media attention, the hanok annex had never once been revealed.
Hidden deep within the estate, it was a veritable impregnable fortress.

Only family members, guests personally approved by Chairman Woo, and a small number of staff were allowed inside.

After removing his shoes and stepping onto the wooden floor, the annex where Chairman Woo resided finally came into view.
Beyond the wide glass windows, the inner room looked markedly different from the serene exterior of the hanok.
The furniture and interior, incongruously, were modern.

The staff noticed Seon-kyung’s arrival and hurriedly opened the windows.
He greeted them lightly and stepped inside.

Warm air clung gently to his chilled cheeks.
With the sudden cold snap, the ondol heating had been turned up high.

He handed his coat to a staff member and briefly looked around when voices drifted from the reception tea room inside.

Is there already a guest here?

Seon-kyung turned his head toward the room without much thought—just as the guests were stepping out.

“……”

Caught in an unexpected encounter, his expression stiffened before he realized it.
Ah… what’s with my luck today.
Of all people, it had to be someone he really didn’t want to run into.