By Zephyria 
А fаce he hаd nеver onсe forgоttеn fоr thе раst four yеаrs. А visage thаt appеarеd in his dreаms whenеver it bеgаn tо fade, аnd beсame etсhed into his mind whenеver it seemеd to bе еrased. The gentlе eyes, thе dоublе еуelid prеsent in оnlу one еуe, and even thе clеаn eyеbrоws—аll оf thеm belоngеd to ‘Тeacher.’
“…….”
Woo-уeon did nоt believе in ‘coincidеncе.’ He hаd hаrbored а tiny shred оf eхрeсtаtion, but hе hаd no hоре that it would асtuallу bесоme a reality. Even the vague possibility he had wished for had been completely let go just a moment ago.
And yet, he had met Teacher. Not only the appearance, but even the name was the same. Kim Do-hyun. At those three syllables, his heart throbbed uncontrollably. The fine hairs on his skin stood on end, and pheromones began to crawl out. He shouldn’t be releasing pheromones like this. He couldn’t control it, just like during his first manifestation.
“Uh……”
He opened his mouth haltingly. That he had missed him, that he had studied hard, that he had lost this much weight, or that he had grown taller. There were so many things he wanted to say, and the words he wished to utter were overflowing. Mostly, they were updates on his life and things to brag about—the kind of things that, if he heard them, would make him smile and pat his head.
“Um……”
However, not a single word escaped his lips. The kind impression, the upright posture. Except for the fact that his jawline had become more defined, he was no different from before, yet a sense of incongruity kept lingering. Woo-yeon’s lips parted slightly as he asked in a voice that was barely audible.
“……Are you an Alpha?”
He felt the pheromones. A dense presence that could only belong to a dominant one. It was dry and cool, but it was a pheromone nonetheless. One cannot mimic such a full-fledged Alpha scent with cigarettes or perfume.
“Yes.”
The answer came back indifferently. Looking at Woo-yeon with an expressionless face, Do-hyun blinked slowly. In that dry gaze, there was no sign of having recognized the past.
“I am an Alpha.”
The moment he heard those words, Woo-yeon immediately turned his back. Biting his lip hard, he strode away. One step, and then another. The further he got from him, the more a churning emotion surged like a whirlpool.
‘……Teacher, are you an Alpha?’
He had definitely asked that. That final confirmation was the origin of all the emotions Woo-yeon held. If a slightly different answer had come back then, Woo-yeon would not have opened his heart even after four years.
‘Why, do I seem like an Alpha to you?’
But he’s an Alpha?
* * *
He didn’t know how he spent the following few weeks. By the time he came to his senses, the semester had started, and his course registration was an absolute disaster. Between the major classes he took with Seonbaes and general education courses of unknown subjects, it was enough for Woo-yeon to consider dropping out. Not as a joke, he had walked in and out of the department office more than ten times in the four days after the start of the semester.
“The course add/drop period is still open, so……”
The kind Teaching Assistant expressed sincere condolences while looking at Woo-yeon’s timetable. Not only did he look into various options, but he also secretly informed him of classes that opened up on a first-come, first-served basis. Usually, he wouldn’t go this far, but it was because Woo-yeon looked so pitiful.
“Cheer up.”
“Yes……”
The Teaching Assistant lightly patted Woo-yeon’s shoulder. With his head hanging low and a sullen look, he resembled a discouraged puppy. If he had a tail, it would have been dragging on the floor. Woo-yeon answered in a lifeless voice and hugged his bag tightly.
“Excuse me, Teaching Assistant.”
Thanks to the completely ruined timetable, there was a long time left until his next class. He had nowhere to go, nor had he made any friends. As he tried to kill time awkwardly, stray thoughts wouldn’t leave his head.
So, Woo-yeon put on a brave face and looked at the Teaching Assistant. It was to ask for a name he hadn’t forgotten once in the last four days.
“By any chance, do you know someone named Kim Do-hyun?”
“Kim Do-hyun?”
The Teaching Assistant tilted his head with a puzzled look. Just because he was the department TA didn’t mean he knew every student, but he didn’t think he would be unaware of Do-hyun. As expected, after checking the time, he asked Woo-yeon back.
“Because of the club?”
“The club?”
“Do-hyun is the president of the English Classics Reading club. Are you asking because you’re interested?”
Woo-yeon nodded readily. ‘English Classics Reading’ was the club he had mentioned when he was tutoring. He thought he had said he was the youngest back then, but he had become the president in the meantime.
“What are you curious about?”
“Just, what kind of person he is……”
Trailing off, Woo-yeon twisted the strap of his bag with his fingers. Despite being the one to bring it up, he suddenly felt uneasy. Didn’t it look like he was digging into someone’s background?
“Well, he’s a good kid.”
Fortunately, the Teaching Assistant gave the most neutral answer. He paused as if gauging the reaction, then added a more detailed explanation.
“He’s responsible and works hard on club matters. He’d probably be very happy if you said you wanted to join. Since he’s the top student in our department, he’ll be a help during exams too.”
It wasn’t much different from what Woo-yeon already knew. He didn’t know he was the top student, but he knew he was in the upper ranks. He had also felt many times during tutoring that he was responsible.
“……He is an Alpha, right?”
Woo-yeon barely managed to squeeze out one question. It was a question with a predetermined answer.
“Yeah.”
Since the orientation, he had been thinking of nothing but him. The face he saw that day, the expression Do-hyun wore while looking at him, the pheromones floating in the air, and the answer he had given.
‘I am an Alpha.’
Even though he said he wasn’t.
Woo-yeon had always been someone who loathed Alphas. It was true before his manifestation, and it remained true after. If the former was simple avoidance, the latter was closer to a fundamental hatred. Those damn Alphas never just passed by an Omega like Woo-yeon.
“Anything else you want to know?”
“……No, I’m okay now.”
That’s why he felt betrayed. He was disappointed, and he felt a bit wronged. The feeling of repulsion outweighed the joy of finding someone he had liked so much, only to discover he was actually an Alpha.
Well, strictly speaking, Do-hyun hadn’t said, ‘I am not an Alpha.’ Since he had asked if he seemed like one, Woo-yeon had simply guessed and reached a conclusion on his own. But wasn’t it essentially deceiving him not to correct the misunderstanding?
“Thank you.”
Woo-yeon bowed and slung his bag over his shoulder. The weather had thawed slightly, so he wore a coat instead of a puffer jacket, and his nose felt cold even indoors. He should have dressed warmly instead of trying to look stylish. No matter how much he thought about it, he had underestimated the Korean cold.
“Ah, wait a second.”
The Teaching Assistant stopped Woo-yeon as he was about to turn away and raised one hand. At the call of “Ga-ram!” he turned his head to see a student approaching from not far away.
“Did you call me?”
It was a woman who was nearly as tall as Woo-yeon. Her long hair and sharp features gave off a sense of distance in a different way than the Teaching Assistant. The pheromones wafting from her revealed the fact that she was an Alpha.
“This one says he wants to join your club.”
“No, not right now……”
Woo-yeon tried to step back slightly but froze. It was because the gaze they met in mid-air shone like a predator that had discovered its prey. Ga-ram, who suddenly approached Woo-yeon, smiled with a bright face.
“Freshman?”
For some reason, her voice felt powerful. This time, Woo-yeon truly stepped back. Waving her hand to say she wouldn’t eat him, she suddenly nodded.
“Ah, I wondered where I’d seen you—you’re that freshman from the OT!”
“The OT?”
“Don’t you remember? I told you there was an after-party, but you said you were busy and left.”
A memory flashed through his mind. On the day of the orientation, she was the Alpha Seonbae who had encouraged him to join the after-party. Because he thought she was an Alpha, he hadn’t even made eye contact and had run away as fast as he could.
“……I’m sorry.”
At the hesitant apology, Ga-ram’s eyes widened. She made a strange sound, like “Huh?”, and then let out a hearty laugh, asking what he was sorry for.
“If you’re sorry, you can just join the club. By any chance, do you like Shakespeare?”
It was a completely random question. The Teaching Assistant seemed to think so too, as he was laughing with his head turned away. Could it be Shakespeare because it’s ‘English Classics Reading’? While a flustered Woo-yeon hesitated to answer, Ga-ram winked with a subtle expression.
“There’s a general welcome party today. You’re coming, right?”
* * *
“Wow, so you came here from the US?”
“Where in the US? LA? New York? How many years were you there?”
“My friend says it’s a mess because of racial discrimination. Is it not like that there?”
Amidst the pouring questions, Woo-yeon frowned awkwardly. He didn’t know how it had come to this, but the attention given to him was beyond burdensome. At first, it was only one or two people, but by the time he realized it, everyone at the table was looking at him.
“……I was in LA for four years.”
When he first came to the drinking party led by Ga-ram, Woo-yeon sat in a corner like a misplaced bundle of barley. This was because factions had already formed—Seonbaes with Seonbaes, and Freshmen with Freshmen. Given Woo-yeon’s personality, he couldn’t act friendly, and Do-hyun was so far away he was barely visible. While he was putting all his effort into not looking in that direction, a certain Beta approached.
‘You came to the OT, right?’
The guy’s name was Kwon Seon-gyu. After downing a beer in one go, Seon-kyu took a seat opposite Woo-yeon and spoke familiarly.
‘I didn’t see you in any of the lectures, so I thought you’d gone to a different school.’
Showing his timetable on his phone in response to that was the start of everything. Seon-kyu was appalled by the ruined timetable that looked like something only seen on the internet, and naturally, Woo-yeon became an object of sympathy for everyone.
“But isn’t tuition in LA expensive? Your family must be well-off.”
“Hey, don’t say such rude things.”
Seon-kyu, frowning, pointed it out so as not to ruin the atmosphere. It was true that tuition in LA was expensive, and it was true that Woo-yeon’s family was well-off, but those things didn’t seem to matter much. They were different from the guys in middle school who were desperate to bully him.
“Oh, Woo-yeon made a lot of friends, huh?”
Ga-ram, who had approached unnoticed, pushed her way between them with a grin. With the smell of alcohol and Alpha pheromones, she possessed everything Woo-yeon disliked. Woo-yeon pressed himself against the wall to avoid her, but Ga-ram didn’t mind at all and chuckled.
“I knew handsome kids were different.”
Ga-ram’s pheromones were loosely released. It wasn’t intentional; she seemed to have forgotten to control them due to the alcohol. Woo-yeon, pretending to lean his chin on his hand while covering his mouth with his sleeve, took a shallow breath.
“This Noona is already……”
“Mungaram, stop acting like a boomer again.”
At that moment, a low voice was heard from right behind him. A soft and gentle voice that Woo-yeon knew well. For a moment, his body froze as his heart sank with a clank, and then a large hand landed on his shoulder.
“He’s uncomfortable.”