Chapter 2: The Price of Survival

True to his status as a dominant Alpha, the pheromones clinging to his body were just like him.
They felt oppressive, as if they were physically weighing him down.

If Chaewoo had been an ordinary Omega who didn’t harbor such jealousy toward Euigeon, perhaps he, too, would have felt his heart flutter at the man’s aura.

Though he knew it was petty, Chaewoo purposefully brushed past Euigeon and walked away without an apology.

Even though he could feel Euigeon’s gaze on his back, he ignored it until the very end.

“Chaewoo.”

Someone called out to Chaewoo just as he stepped out of the school gates.

It was his uncle.

He wore a wrinkled t-shirt, faded jeans, and grimy, worn-out sneakers.
Startled, Chaewoo ran over to him.

“Uncle. Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? No. You weren’t answering your phone, so I just came by to see your face and give you some grocery money.”

“…All the way here?”

Before Chaewoo could ask anything more, his uncle pulled two crumpled ten-thousand-won bills from his pocket.

Seeing that, an afterimage of the past flickered unbidden through Chaewoo’s mind.

Back when the business his father and uncle ran together was thriving, his uncle always wore decent suits and consumed only expensive things.

The allowance he handed to Chaewoo was always several crisp fifty-thousand-won bills, and no one in the family thought it was excessive.

Chaewoo hesitated, looking at the two blue bills before him.
Even though he was desperate for every cent, he somehow found it difficult to reach out.

“Don’t overthink it and just take it, you brat.”

As if knowing what he was thinking, his uncle forced the bills into his hand.

The money was messily tainted with the smell of bitter cigarettes and the lingering pheromones of various Alphas and Omegas.

Since his uncle was a Beta, he probably couldn’t guess the sordid situations this money had passed through to get here.

It was probably for the best.

His uncle didn’t need to know things like that.

“Just wait a little longer. Your uncle will get the business back on its feet soon and make sure both you and your father live in luxury again.”

He made the grand promise out of habit.

That image overlapped with the memory of the day his uncle had returned home completely drunk, crying and blaming himself for the business falling into a mountain of debt.

His heart felt heavy.
Chaewoo tightly gripped the money in his hand.

To Chaewoo, his uncle was more like an older brother than just his father’s sibling.

He had heard that his father, the eldest son, had practically raised his uncle, the youngest, feeding and clothing him.

Perhaps because of that, his uncle had also looked after Chaewoo as if he were a younger brother from the moment he was born. Even until now.

“Why did you call?”

“I told you, I called to give you some spending money, kid.”

His voice was light—too light. It sounded unnatural.

“That’s not it.”

“It is. I called to see if you were eating properly. Make sure you use that to eat dinner. I have to go finish up some work.”

“Uncle.”

“……”

Just as his uncle had looked after him, Chaewoo knew him well.
His intuition was sharp.

The hospital bill he had seen this morning continued to nag at a corner of his heart.

“Tell me. I’m not a child.”

At twenty-six, he was a full-grown adult.

His father and uncle always said he was young, but contrary to their wishes, Chaewoo was steadily experiencing the bitter side of life.

“I, well. Um. Actually, there’s something I want to ask…”

After some hesitation, his uncle finally spoke.

He looked incredibly anxious and cautious.

“I’m just… just asking. Really.”

“……”

Unlike his voice, which was trying to remain calm, Chaewoo easily imagined the worst-case scenarios.

Debt? Hospital bills? The business? His father’s health?
There were more than enough elements of misfortune that could get even worse from here.

“I’m not trying to force you or anything, so don’t misunderstand.”

Hearing him say that made Chaewoo even more uneasy.
He swallowed hard.

“What on earth is it?”

“Have you ever… heard of an Alpha arrangement… something like that?”

“Arrangement? Like a blind date?”

“It’s similar, but, um. I’m talking about Alphas who are desperate for a child. People who are involved in private, complicated contracts with them…”

Chaewoo tilted his head, unable to understand what he was talking about.
Instead of hospital bills or business talk, he was suddenly bringing up Alpha arrangements.

Chaewoo looked at his uncle suspiciously as he lowered his voice while checking his surroundings.

“Getting involved in a contract with an Alpha who’s desperate for a child.”

“It’s a kind of, how should I put it? There are people who look down on it, but it seems to be common abroad… and they say it’s becoming more common here in our country, too.”

As he listened to the cryptically twisted words, a single term flashed through his mind.

“Uncle, are you talking about being a Reset Partner right now?”

“……”

“Isn’t that… giving birth to someone else’s child for them?”

He must have been right.

As if hit where it hurt, his uncle looked flustered, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly.

A Reset Partner—it was such an out-of-the-blue topic.

A relationship where the Alpha provides money and the Omega gives birth to the Alpha’s child in exchange.

That was what Chaewoo knew of a Reset Partner.

The term was first used abroad to mean that once both parties obtained what they wanted through the contract, the relationship could be cleanly reset.

It was mostly wealthy dominant Alphas who sought Reset Partners.

If their own partner was a recessive Omega or a Beta who couldn’t conceive, they would use another dominant Omega to have a child.

Of course, the dominant Omega who gave birth had to agree to fully relinquish parental rights according to the contract.

This form of contract had existed secretly even before relevant laws were established.
Now, it was legally possible as long as both parties agreed and the conditions met legal standards.

While cases were still few in Korea due to cultural differences, Chaewoo had heard somewhere that, as his uncle said, it was becoming a trend abroad.

There were too many variables between Alphas and Omegas, and between recessive and dominant types.

Recessive types, in particular, would get caught up in various problems.
Aside from issues of family power, there were biological risks for both the mother and the child.

“Cha-Chaewoo.”

“……”

Chaewoo didn’t speak for a long time.

He was flustered because he had never thought about becoming a Reset Partner, but on the other hand, the idea itself was tempting.

In an international article he had skimmed, the average amount a dominant Omega received from an Alpha for a Reset Partner contract was in the hundreds of millions.

He knew it was a system with poor public opinion in Korea.

However, in a situation where even eating a proper meal every day was a struggle and he was being hounded for hospital bills and debts, even that looked like a lifeline he could grab.

Especially for Chaewoo, who wanted to escape this poverty as quickly as possible by any means.

“Ah, never mind. I’m sorry, Chaewoo…”

Unable to endure the prolonged silence, his uncle apologized.

“Just forget what I just said.”

Only then did Chaewoo, who had been lost in thought, snap out of it.

At the same time, his uncle’s apology felt uncomfortable.

So did his restless attitude, unable to even lift his head.

“How could I ever face my brother… I think I misspoke.”

He beat his chest with his fist and blamed himself.

“Money is the enemy. I don’t know where I heard such a crazy thing and got tempted.”

Only after seeing his uncle speak as if he had said something unspeakable did the reality of the situation sharpen its edge and pierce Chaewoo.

The ‘crazy thing’ his uncle mentioned was exactly how the world viewed a Reset Partner.

And Chaewoo, who had been momentarily tempted by that crazy thing, felt a deep sense of insult that made his chest ache.

His face flushed hot.

“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything about a Reset Partner. Take this back.”

Chaewoo pulled out the money he had put in his pocket and shoved it back into his uncle’s.

“Chaewoo, it’s not that. I just heard it somewhere and I was so tempted for a moment, as if I were possessed…”

“I’ll earn my own food money, so please just go back.”

Chaewoo cut him off and turned around.

“Chaewoo! Seol Chaewoo!”

His uncle shouted loud enough to make his ears ring, but Chaewoo didn’t look back and just ran.

He wanted to get away from this place right now.

Even though he knew the situation forced his uncle to bring it up, he just wanted to run away.

Even from himself, who had wavered at the expectation of receiving a large sum of money.

He only stopped running once the surroundings grew quiet.

Looking at the complicated alleyway, Chaewoo ruffled his sweaty hair.

For the past year, people had been coming to demand debt repayments.

He had to worry about things he never thought of before: bus fare, food, rent—plus hospital bills and tuition.

After his father fell ill, the head of the household was his uncle, and his uncle had been shouldering all of it for a year.

The once-relaxed uncle had taken out loans to pay off other debts and barely made ends meet by taking on any work he could get day by day.

His uncle’s once-clean face was now dark from the sun, and his hands and feet were lumpy with calluses.

His chest felt tight.

Because he knew how much his uncle had suffered to hold on, he didn’t exactly hate him for saying something strange, despite the shock.

Even in these grim circumstances, his uncle had stopped Chaewoo from taking a leave of absence to find a job.

He had carried the entire burden alone, saying that graduating as soon as possible and getting a proper job was the best way for the future.

It was his uncle who was supporting him so he could graduate his final year safely.

****

Chaewoo couldn’t focus on his work even after arriving at his part-time job.

Seeing that his uncle had tried to suggest the Reset Partner arrangement, had things reached the

point where they couldn’t pay the hospital bills?

If that happened, what would happen to his father?

What if the debts they were paying off every month only continued to grow?

In front of a dazed Chaewoo, a customer who looked about the age of a middle schooler chose a sandwich from the menu with a contemplative expression.

“What would you like inside the bread?”

“Everything except bell peppers and tomatoes, please.”

Pushing away his stray thoughts, Chaewoo focused on making the sandwich.

“Here is your sandwich without bell peppers and tomatoes.”

“Eh? I like tomatoes. I never asked to take them out.”

“……”

The customer glared at Chaewoo as if he were being ridiculous.
Instead of arguing, Chaewoo cut a new piece of bread and began filling it again from the start.

The next customer was an elderly man.
He had been standing in front of the counter for several minutes, staring at the menu.

“Do you need any help?”

“Ah, my grandson is coming over later. I heard kids these days like this kind of thing instead of a proper meal. He doesn’t like the food an old man eats, so I came to buy him something tasty.”

“Ah… I see.”

The sandwich shop where Chaewoo worked certainly had a younger clientele.

Since customers had to choose everything from the type of bread to the toppings and sauces, even young people often struggled with the ordering process on their first visit.

It would be even more difficult for an elderly man who looked to be over seventy.

After watching the grandfather who couldn’t take his eyes off the complicated menu, Chaewoo briefly explained the most popular items for kids.

“Grandpa. Which would you prefer: a crunchy bread with tuna, or a soft bread with lots of ham and vegetables?”

At that, the grandfather narrowed his eyes and blinked.

“What are you talking about? Give me the Italian Salami sandwich on toasted grain bread. Two of them. My grandson and I like those.”

“……”

Chaewoo, who was about to give a long explanation, momentarily froze.

“Make the size the large one. Big, big.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And a Zero Coke for the drink.”

“……”

“I can’t let my grandson get fat.”

Chaewoo kept his mouth shut after that and made sandwiches like a machine.

Vowing that from now on, he would never meddle in other people’s business again.