NUTMEG 2

“I noticed you weren’t coming back for a while. I thought it might be a bit heavy for you to carry alone.”

“Ah… It’s not that, I just don’t know which beans to get…”

The manager smiled from behind his glasses and stepped into the cramped storage room, pointing to a sack on a high shelf. From his explanation, it seemed they used a blend of two different sacks. Minje raised his arms to take down the sack the manager pointed to. The storage room was so small, and with the manager standing right behind him, it was difficult to get it down properly. Just as he was about to ask him to step back for a moment, he felt a hot breath near his ear.

“Mr. Minje.”

“…Yes?”

“Did you think about what I said yesterday?”

“Yesterday…?”

He had no memory of yesterday, or anything before that. More than that, the man was speaking so close that goosebumps had been rising on his arms for a while now…

“When you didn’t show up today and didn’t answer your phone at first… I was disheartened.”

“?”

The manager kept speaking in a slow, crawling voice, mixing his words with long sighs. It was at that moment that a wave of disgust surged up.

“Coming here like this and letting your pheromones flow so strongly, I can take that as your answer, right?”

“……What?”

As soon as he dumbly asked back, his arms still raised in a surrender pose to get the coffee sack, he felt a hard heat behind his backside.

……Fuck.

“Mr. Minje, haah… Omegas like you, huh, need alphas like me, huh…”

In that moment, Cheon Minje remembered the reason he had quit this part-time job.

This pervert manager had offered to pay him double the hourly wage in exchange for oral sex, or something like that—anyway, a hand job. It wasn’t an uncommon experience for an alpha who had been pretending to be a beta, a gentleman, to lose his mind and lunge at him when they were alone, but he had been so shocked that it was the manager, whom he had trusted and looked up to quite a bit, that he had quit the job by ghosting him.

“Mr. Minje, I’m really, not this kind of person… I’m not, but your pheromones, Mr. Minje, they drive people cra… Ugh!”

Cheon Minje dropped the 10kg sack of coffee beans he was holding with both hands directly onto the manager and ran out of the storage room as if escaping.

In his haste, he couldn’t even grab his outerwear or the wallet inside it, and he bolted down Garosu-gil in the middle of winter wearing only a denim shirt. Men and women in thick padded jackets or stylish coats stared strangely at Minje in his thin clothes. Among them, there were some who stared at Minje with snake-like eyes, their gazes licking over his entire body, just like the manager. Minje gasped for breath and tore the apron he was wearing off his body as if ripping it away, throwing it into a pile of trash.

He was sick and tired of it all.

So I’m still an omega? Of course I am. I haven’t done a single thing right in 28 years; there was no way God would have shown me mercy. Then he should have just let me die. Why did he have to put me back on these damn streets?

Something cold that couldn’t quite become snow landed on Minje’s shoulders, soaking the thin fabric.

It was a relief that he at least had his phone in his back pocket. There was no cash in the old wallet in his field jacket, so there was nothing to miss. As long as he had his phone, he could manage somehow. After slowly catching his breath, Minje straightened up, and a black shadow suddenly fell over his head.

“Young man, you’re an omega, right?”

He looked up to see an umbrella being held over him.

“Sorry to ask such a personal question right after meeting you. I’m someone who does this kind of work.”

Minje slowly turned to look behind him, following the voice.

“Are you perhaps interested in becoming a celebrity?”

It was a familiar face.

“Director Kim…”

“Oh? You know me? Ah, I must have given you my card. Haha.”

The man called Director Kim laughed lightly. Minje looked at Director Kim with his brow slightly furrowed, as if watching a movie that was hard to understand. Minje knew him well. No, it was impossible not to know him. The man he had met at the agency office just until yesterday. The man who had discovered him on Garosu-gil five years ago and made him debut. He was smiling, but his eyes never left Minje.

“You’re tall and handsome, so I thought you were an alpha or a beta, but I caught a faint scent of pheromones. You might be thinking I’m just being rude from the start, but…”

As the man said, Minje, at 183cm, had a neat, handsome appearance, so unless someone smelled his pheromones, no one would think he was an omega at first meeting. This wasn’t for any grand reason, but simply because Minje was recessive. The more dominant the omega sub-gender, the more slender the male body’s frame and the more feminine the appearance. Even in the world of omegas, Cheon Minje was a half-measure.

“A friend who’s an omega like you is exactly what our team needs right now.”

Director Kim, a seasoned veteran in the entertainment industry, was a man who knew how to break the ice with a disarming laugh but could also overpower an opponent without a second thought when necessary.

“I’m sorry for bringing up pheromones and all that right after meeting you. I hope you’ll understand that it’s because I’m that desperate.”

Cheon Minje recalled this day five years ago. Because he had suddenly quit his part-time job, he lost the wages for the nearly ten days he had worked, and this month’s rent was due right around the corner. At an age others called youth, his future was bleak and uncertain.

The reason he had started studying for the college entrance exam late wasn’t because there was anything in particular he wanted to learn in university. It was just that he was anxious about not belonging anywhere and thought he needed to become a university student like everyone else.

“You’ve probably received a lot of business cards like this, right? I hope you haven’t been snatched up by someone else already. The terms won’t be bad. Just three months. There’s one spot open in a group that already has its debut song decided. If you train for just three months, you’ll debut as a singer right away.”

To that Minje, Director Kim’s offer was sweet. If he just endured for three months, he could become a completely new Cheon Minje. The Minje of five years ago found it difficult to find a reason to refuse that offer.

“Ah, but don’t get the wrong idea and think we’re some shady company that debuts people haphazardly. An omega member who trained with us for a long time had to leave the company due to personal circumstances. Our company is well-known to the general public. Black Mission and One For You are our company’s artists too.”

In reality, the era of openly promoting one’s omega sub-gender in the entertainment industry had long passed. Unlike alphas, for whom it was only a plus factor, being an omega definitely had its minus factors. Actors, in particular, were reluctant, fearing their image would become fixed. However, there was one place, and one place only, where being an omega was actually an advantage: the idol industry.

The group ‘SPARK:L’ was composed of three beta members, one alpha, and one omega. Including an alpha and an omega in an idol group was an unwritten rule in the industry. It was a world completely opposite to general society, where omegas tried to hide their sub-gender as much as possible and suppress their heats to live like betas.

The reason was simple. To the betas who made up the majority of the world, the existence of alphas and omegas was still close to a romantic myth. Among all sectors of the entertainment industry, the idol industry, which thrived on fan business, found it much more profitable to openly disclose sub-genders.

Director Kim had said something similar five years ago, telling Minje he had been looking for an omega just like him. Minje, who had heard for the first time that someone needed him—in a positive way—was helplessly drawn in by his words.

But the Cheon Minje of now vividly remembered how those five years had unfolded. He just didn’t have it in him to repeat that all over again. Even if it was his destined path, he wanted to avoid it as much as possible.

“……no.”

“Hm? What was that?”

“I don’t want to.”

Director Kim blinked as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have. Cheon Minje’s body trembled just from uttering this one phrase. It was unclear whether it was because he was wearing only a thin shirt in the sleety weather, or because of the rejection welling up from the pit of his stomach.

The man narrowed his already thin eyes even further. He was a man who could skillfully change the mood. In an instant, a voice bordering on a threat flowed through his gritted teeth.

“How rude of me to discuss important matters standing here like this. Young man, what’s your name? Should we go inside somewhere and talk?”

“……I said I don’t want to.”

“Come on, how can you be so cold and refuse without even hearing me out properly. Want to see a picture of our members?”

Director Kim smiled smoothly and reached out one hand to grab Minje’s arm. Minje slapped his hand away with a sharp smack. For a moment, a look of displeasure could be read in the man’s eyes. It was the expression alphas made when they saw a misbehaving omega. Quickly erasing the expression, Director Kim raised the corners of his mouth again. Not wanting to listen any longer, Minje raised his voice, almost shouting.

“I said I don’t want to…! Being an idol, SPARK:L, I never… I never want to do it again!”

Minje ripped Director Kim’s business card, which he had been holding, to shreds right there, threw it down, and ran away.

Director Kim watched the retreating back with narrowed eyes.

A kid who hated the idea that much would probably just run away again soon like the previous member, even if he chased after him and persuaded him, so it was already a lost cause. The reason he, a director-level employee, had been personally combing through Garosu-gil and the Gangnam area for the past few days was because, as he had said, every day was precious.

But even if the situation hadn’t been so urgent, he would have definitely approached that omega if he had discovered him. He had that much of a unique aura. His long limbs and small, handsome facial structure were of course noticeable, but if one were to rank them, there were kids who looked that good at the agency too. There was something about that omega that was impressive beyond words, not just his face. Just like the scent of the pheromones he was leaking.

Actually, his face was more suited for an actor than an idol. In the short time he had been talking to him, Director Kim had even pictured a future in his head where he would first debut him with SPARK:L and then transition him to acting around the time of contract renewal.

If he caught my eye, he’ll probably be snatched up by some other place soon and I’ll see him on TV. Director Kim smacked his lips in disappointment.

By the way, did I mention our group’s name…?

When he had completely left Garosu-gil and reached Hannam Bridge, Cheon Minje slowly slowed his pace. He had run at full speed without even looking back, afraid Director Kim would chase him, and now his arms and legs were trembling. Fortunately, when he looked back, there was no one there.

“Hah… haah…”

Swallowing back the taste of blood in his throat, Minje clasped his still trembling fingertips together.

I refused.

I ran away.

I did it. I don’t have to go back there again. Cheon Minje was seized by a completely new sense of exhilaration and strode across the bridge, almost running, oblivious to the cold as the winter river wind whipped around him.

Maybe, just maybe, I can live again, correcting the course of my life one step at a time like this. Minje’s heart began to pound. Even as he gasped for breath, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

If I had known this would happen, I should have memorized the winning lottery numbers. Minje, feeling a lingering regret, became gloomy again by the time he had almost crossed Hannam Bridge. What’s the point? My life will just get twisted up again because of these damn pheromones. If only I could get rid of these pheromones… Just then, he saw a bus stop in front of him.

White puffs of breath burst from his mouth. The sleet that had settled on the crown of his head and shoulders melted, chilling Minje’s body. Once he became conscious of it, he could feel his whole body frozen stiff with cold.

If he took the bus from here, he could get to the stop right in front of his house in one go, but he didn’t have his wallet. Did they have mobile payment back then? Ignoring the stares drawn to his thin clothes, Minje slowly scanned the bus route map. He desperately wanted to take the bus and get home comfortably, but it seemed better to just walk a bit more than to be embarrassed if mobile payment didn’t work. It would only take another 30 or 40 minutes of walking… Thinking that, he was about to leave the bus stop when one advertisement, which he hadn’t noticed because the text was so dense, caught his eye.

[Recruiting Omega Participants for Clinical Trial]

— IUD procedure for contraception (pheromone/heat suppression)

— Limited to those with omega sub-gender

— 1 million won for the first month, monthly payment upon contract renewal (up to 3 years)

— Inquiry number: 02 – XXX – XXXX

Minje’s eyes widened. A contraceptive IUD procedure limited to omegas. And 1 million won.

It was a procedure that was just starting to be commercialized in the era Minje had been living in, five years later, after it was discovered that the IUD, commonly used as a contraceptive device for beta women, was also effective in suppressing pheromones in those with sub-genders. At first, it was simply considered a contraceptive tool for omegas, but then omegas with peculiar constitutions like Minje, or those who wanted to hide their sub-gender, began to seek it out through word of mouth after hearing rumors that it helped suppress pheromones.

After learning that such a thing existed, Minje, of course, had wanted to get it done. But at the time, there was no way the company would allow it for a product who was being marketed front and center as an omega.

Minje’s heart began to race again. I can do it. I can do it now. Cheon Minje, who is not an idol or anything else, can do it. Plus, he could even earn 1 million won. Minje picked up his phone and pressed the inquiry number, one digit at a time.

🍊

“The patient’s constitution is a case that is absolutely necessary for our research. However, it is still in the clinical trial stage, and there may be unforeseen side effects. Will you still be okay with that?”