NUTMEG 3

Minje nodded his head up and down without a second thought. The short-haired female doctor, who had been explaining the same thing to several omegas for some time now, cast a brief, pitying glance at his desperate expression. It seemed that at this point in time, the IUD for omegas was not yet perfected. But such talk made little impression on Minje.

“You’ll stay at the hospital for three nights and four days starting today, and you’ll need to come back in a month to check your pheromones and hormones. You’ve checked that you’re available for a three-year renewal. We expect it to be effective for three years, but that hasn’t been proven yet. You can, of course, terminate the contract midway, but until then, you’ll have to visit the hospital once a month.”

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“It ultimately has a contraceptive effect because it interferes with the nervous system that releases pheromones. That doesn’t mean this procedure will suddenly turn an omega into a beta. However, since your pheromones will be fainter and you won’t have heats, you might be in a state close to a beta while the device is inserted.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll say it again, it’s still in the clinical trial stage, so we haven’t identified all the possible side effects yet. Sub-genders differ between dominant and recessive, and cycles and regularity vary with each person’s constitution, so it’s full of imperfections.”

“It’ll be better than living as an omega who doesn’t even respond to medication.”

A brief silence fell in the small office. The doctor flipped over another page of Minje’s chart with a rustle.

“If any problems arise, it can be removed immediately.”

Answering yes, Minje glanced over the consent form the doctor handed him and signed it. It was obvious it would contain clauses stating that the hospital was not responsible for any side effects whatsoever.

The three nights and four days in the hospital passed uneventfully. It was so simple it was almost laughable. After scheduling an appointment for his follow-up visit in a month, Minje bowed his head, and the doctor, instead of a goodbye, said, “I hope good things happen for you from now on.” At those words, Minje smiled.

Little by little, life was flowing differently. The fact that he was an omega and Cheon Minje hadn’t changed, but somehow it felt like the trajectory was gradually shifting.

After finishing his hospital stay, he also received an envelope with his payment. With that money, Minje first deposited the 300,000 won rent into his landlord’s account and then bought a cheap padded jacket at a nearby permanent discount store. To pick the cheapest one, it was filled with cotton padding instead of duck down, but it was much warmer than the quilted field jacket he had worn before.

During his idol days, his stylist often dressed him in white clothes, so he only ever wore white long padded jackets. Minje, who had liked the cozy feeling of being wrapped in a cloud, hesitated for a long time in front of a white long padded jacket this time as well. But from now on, he would be wearing it like a uniform every day, and white would get dirty too quickly. Tearing his eyes away with regret, Minje chose a black one.

This small amount of spare money created a huge breathing space for Minje. Still, his payment from the hospital would be halved starting next month, so he had to find another part-time job quickly.

As he ran down to the subway station near the hospital, the biting wind blowing from the entrance to the inside was fierce. People climbing the stairs also seemed surprised by the wind, passing by while repeatedly saying, “Ah, it’s cold.” Minje, who was hurrying his steps among the crowd, saw a familiar face on the electronic billboard that covered the huge underground plaza and slowed his steps as if bewitched.

On every panel of the massive square pillar, a spring season advertisement for a famous sports brand was playing endlessly. Against the backdrop of a blue sky where the fierce winter wind couldn’t be felt at all, a man who looked like a meticulously carved statue moved as if running, a confident smile on his face. Dozens of Choi Wonohs, wearing a windbreaker of mixed apricot and purple, track pants, and the running shoes that were incredibly popular at the time, were making eye contact with Minje from beyond the billboard.

Minje readjusted the hood that was about to be blown off by the biting wind and slowly tore his eyes away from the long, almond-shaped eyes on the billboard.

I probably won’t run into him in this life, Cheon Minje rashly concluded at that moment.

“Oppa, can’t you give me your KakaoTalk ID?”

Placing the fried shrimp on the table where peals of laughter were erupting, Minje smiled awkwardly. Minje had started working part-time at a small izakaya near his house. And for the past month, he had been hearing similar pickup lines.

People who started with jokes like today would either wait until Minje’s shift ended and insist on getting his ID, or they would hand him a note with their own ID on it.

It wasn’t that this had never happened when he worked at the café, but it was usually more common for him to cause discomfort to other people with sub-genders around him. This was because releasing pheromones without consent was seen as either making the other person sexually tense or picking a fight.

Therefore, for Cheon Minje, who was often a rude and vulgar person just by existing, the friend list that had been overflowing with strangers for the past month was an awkward and unfamiliar experience. Male omegas were not a particularly popular sub-gender among women.

The prejudice that they would spread their legs for any man played a large part, and in reality, it wasn’t exactly wrong. And crucially, this kind of attention was somehow different in nature from the attention that ‘SPARK:L Cheon Minje’ or ‘omega Cheon Minje’ received.

“This is the first time I’ve seen so many female customers in our shop. It’s all thanks to you, Mr. Minje.”

As he was entering a new order into the POS system, the owner, who was slicing yellowtail sashimi in the kitchen behind the bar, spoke to him teasingly. Minje, who had been hearing similar things from the owner every three days, answered in a small voice this time as well, “That’s not it.” Just then, the bell attached to the entrance door tinkled, and a chill seeped in.

“Welcome.”

“Hello, owner~.”

Two women entered and took the last two remaining seats at the bar. Seeing the owner greet them naturally, they seemed to be regular customers. A very tall female customer with a short haircut stared intently at Minje’s face. Since their eye levels matched, she had to be close to 180cm tall. No matter how much people with sub-genders looked like betas in this world, anyone would be able to tell with such outstanding physical attributes. She was an alpha female. Minje, a little nervous, handed them water and a menu.

“Please let me know when you’re ready to order.”

“How old are you?”

It was one of the questions he heard as often as ‘Can I have your KakaoTalk ID?’ He was about to mindlessly say twenty-eight but quickly corrected it to twenty-three. The woman then held out her right hand as if for a handshake. To Minje, who took her hand in a daze, she shone with intelligent-looking eyes.

“Have you ever thought about becoming an actor?”

“No. I haven’t.”

Her companion burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. The owner inside the bar must have heard it too, as he chuckled. It didn’t seem like he had said anything particularly funny… Embarrassed, Minje tried to pull his hand away, applying some force. However, she squeezed it even harder.

“I came here because I heard there was a beta with a very unique aura.”

Beta…? At those words, he lifted his gaze, which had been fixed on their clasped hands, to her face.

“What a shame. I like you even more because you’re so decisive.”

She smiled faintly, cleanly let go of his hand, and fixed her eyes on the menu. It was a refreshing reaction, unlike those who had persistently handed him agency business cards, promising to make him rich.

Minje stood there, blinking, and quietly looked at her. Do I look like a beta…? Even though he had undergone a procedure that was effective in suppressing pheromones, his constitution was so resistant to medication that he thought it would be a success if he just looked like an ordinary omega. He never imagined he could be seen as a beta.

I look like a beta even to an alpha…?

“Aw, what a shame, Mr. Minje. This customer here is a director at One Entertainment. This could have been the place where a celebrity used to work.”

The owner said as he sprinkled coarse salt on freshly boiled, fragrant edamame. At those words, Minje finally couldn’t help but ask the customer.

“One Entertainment, where Choi Wonoh is…?”

“Oh my. Should I have said that from the start?”

She took out her business card, which clearly read ‘Shin Jiho, Management Director/Casting Director, One Entertainment,’ and handed it to Minje. One Entertainment, one of South Korea’s top three entertainment agencies and home to Uncontrol, the group Choi Wonoh was a part of. As he accepted the card with both hands and stared at it blankly, she popped an edamame into her mouth and continued.

“But if you’re thinking you can half-ass it and become like Choi Wonoh, then forget it. We work our people insanely hard.”

The Cheon Minje of five years ago might have gotten scared and backed away upon hearing something like that. But now, Minje felt a strong curiosity at her words about it being hard. He would later realize that the vague fondness he felt for the alpha woman who saw him as a beta played a part, but at that moment, adrenaline was gushing recklessly in his stomach.

“Still, if you’re interested, want to try training first?”

🍊

As she had said, the training at One Entertainment was not for the faint of heart. If he hadn’t had the experience of being an idol for five years in his past life, he would have definitely run away on the first day, Cheon Minje thought for the forty-fifth time today.

One Entertainment, the nation’s largest agency managing not only top-tier singers but also actors, operated an in-house training room for its artists. People who were scouted like Minje or selected through regular auditions would undergo a three-month training period like corporate interns, after which they would go through an internal test to sign a formal contract. Many things were different from his previous agency, and Minje would often find his eyes wide with surprise.

For three months, they could take various classes for free, including on-camera acting, vocal training, basic dance, and audition practice, and they could also use empty practice rooms freely. It was truly a dream agency for those who dreamed of becoming celebrities. The fact that there were even academies to get into One Entertainment as a trainee said it all.

Moreover, One Entertainment hadn’t even asked about Minje’s sub-gender when he registered as a trainee. Thanks to that, Minje could remain in a state of ‘appearing as a beta.’ He had thought the trend that arose after the law was changed to make it impossible to inquire about an individual’s sub-gender without their consent was something from a distant world. It seemed the title of a major corporation in the entertainment industry wasn’t just for show.

“Hyung, but is this really your first time doing this? Are handsome people just different at the basics… I went to an arts middle school, an arts high school, and now I’m in an arts university, but I keep getting scolded.”

After class, as he was getting water from the water cooler, a boy he had gotten to know over the past few days struck up a conversation.

“I think you’re better, Kyungsoo. Your vocalization is really like a theater actor’s.”

“Aww… That’s just because that’s all I’ve learned for six years. But now that I’m here, I don’t think vocalization is that important for on-camera acting.”

Kyungsoo sighed as he filled his mismatched pink tumbler with water. Minje found it more fascinating that Kyungsoo had gone through an arts middle school, high school, and was now in an arts university. What do they learn in schools like that? According to Kyungsoo, the real world was completely different from what he learned in school. Since Minje had never learned it, there was no way for him to know.

Nearly three months had passed since his first day of training.

It had also taken exactly three months to debut in his past life. Back then, he had been busy being dragged around, memorizing the already-decided choreography and songs. There was no room to consider whether he was doing well or what he wanted to do.

But now, there was no one to decide his tasks for him. He had to think for himself, choose the classes he wanted to take, and realize his shortcomings to delve into them. Looking at himself in the mirror, learning anew everything from how to use his voice to how to walk, he felt as if he had been truly reborn. It was that unfamiliar and fascinating.

Waking up in the morning was enjoyable. After classes, he would stay and practice in an empty practice room until it was time for his part-time job at night. At first, he did it simply because he had time to kill in between, but as he started receiving praise from the trainers, he couldn’t stop. When he had started the training, bewitched by the name Choi Wonoh, he never thought he would be able to feel this way.

So I’m the type to work hard when I’m praised. Even though he had already lived for 28 years, he was discovering new things about himself all the time lately.

“Hyung, I saw the Flat Pink noonas on my way to work today. So freaking pretty… Dami noona is a total angel… Haven’t you seen any celebrities here, hyung?”

Kyungsoo, who was mixing hot water into his tumbler while sweating profusely, claiming that actors should drink hot water, asked with sparkling eyes.

“No.”

“Aww, that’s too bad. Who do you like, hyung?”

At that question, Minje inadvertently thought of Choi Wonoh. It was because he had just been thinking about him. Actually, since they were in the same agency, he thought he might run into him at least once while going to and from the practice rooms, but he had never seen him even once. Come to think of it, there was no reason for an idol who was already at the top to come to the office, especially to the training center side. He probably didn’t even have enough time to sleep with four or five schedules continuing every day.

What kind of album did he release around this time? It’s around the same time as my debut, so… he was thinking. Just then, the kids still remaining in the practice room started to murmur one by one, and then he clearly heard the name ‘Choi Wonoh’ being called.

“Hey, hey, holy crap! Choi Wonoh showed up!”

“Holy shit, for real. He’s coming this way.”

“Whoa, his face is so small.”

“Who’s the guy next to him?”

Minje and Kyungsoo were also swept up in the kids’ fuss and gathered by the glass wall. As the kids said, the three people who had just gotten off the elevator were walking down the hallway inside the practice room area.

It’s Choi Wonoh.

Minje gulped down his dry saliva without realizing it. His face was, of course, more youthful than the one he last remembered. But it was already a perfectly complete face. The Choi Wonoh of this time had a coexisting mix of the precarious and raw sharpness unique to the early twenties. Minje was naturally reminded of their first meeting in his past life and subtly took a step back from among the kids clustered like a cloud.