* * *
“At first, I was just curious. Who they were, why they said certain things, what they were thinking. Then, I started noticing little things, wondering about them, and couldn’t stop looking their way.”
He’d never cared about others’ words or actions before, let alone wondered about their motives.
But with Yeonseok, it was different.
At first, he thought it was because Yeonseok had such an unusual personality.
But over time, even the traits he’d initially found odd became endearing.
He wanted to see those quirks, hear that voice.
The curiosity grew steadily, and before long, even the smallest interactions felt significant.
By the time he realized he felt disappointed over missed opportunities to connect, he could no longer deny it.
“It’s hard to explain, but… once you like someone, you just know.”
Siyoung trailed off, embarrassed to put all his feelings into words.
He avoided Hyun’s gaze, aware that these emotions would never come to fruition and would remain unspoken.
“Is that so…”
Hyun wondered if he had ever encountered someone like that.
He thought back but could only recall people who were more or less annoying.
He’d never felt anticipation or excitement.
“Maybe I’ll never know what that’s like.”
“No, he was just like that. Honestly, it would’ve been better if Han Seon-ju…”
“The one who helped fix your doormat-like personality was Cheon Yeong, though.”
“Stop talking about that and finish making the timetable. I have class at 4.”
“The break’s almost over, and you’re still doing tutoring?”
“Since the break is almost over, I should burn out the last bit of energy. I’ll be living in the dorms this semester, so I don’t mind not having free time. I’ll take the required courses and the ones I really want to. The empty slots don’t matter to me.”
Siyoung quickly shifted gears and moved back to the main point, organizing the schedule.
Since there were clear guidelines—people who didn’t mind having free time and those who didn’t need it—it didn’t take long to get everything sorted out.
“I never had to adjust my classes like this in high school. It’s fun.”
“The start of school is really close now. Feels like break just ended.”
“Time flies when you’re just relaxing. But at least we had time to set our schedules. I think I’ll be super busy starting from my third year… I’ll have to cut back on tutoring, so I need to save up in advance.”
Next year, when Jooyoung starts university, the expenses will be reduced since Jooyoung might start working part-time or get a scholarship, which is a relief.
Still, it was best to save up as much as possible.
“I hope the semester starts soon. I want to graduate and get a job.”
“Is there any way to graduate faster?”
“Do you think so? Stop overthinking and just go to school properly. What’s better than not having to worry about grades?”
The break passed in the blink of an eye, and a lot of small things happened in that time.
In truth, Siyoung was also looking forward to the start of the semester.
Even without making any specific plans, just saying “Let’s meet if we’re free” and casually suggesting it could lead to meeting up.
“I hope the second semester ends without any problems.”
Even though all that would be left at the end was the trivial fact that they’d seen each other’s faces, it still meant a lot to Siyoung.
“Hey.”
“What did you do over the break?”
It was the first class of the semester, one of those large lectures where the entire department gathered.
Because the class was so big, just sitting there quietly never felt awkward, which was one reason he liked it.
But today, for some reason, a lot of people were talking to him.
It was a familiar gaze.
The kind of look and demeanor people had when they first approached him, hoping for something in return.
“I just… got by, I guess.”
He thought about ignoring the question, but curiosity about what this was really about made him respond casually.
As soon as he did, the person’s face lit up, and they naturally took the seat beside Siyoung.
They were a classmate he knew by face and name, since they shared a few courses.
After a brief exchange of meaningless small talk, once the atmosphere felt a little more relaxed, the person got straight to the point.
“I heard you went on a trip with Joo Yeonseok over the break.”
Ah, so that’s what this was about. Siyoung’s expression slipped for just a moment, his face souring slightly.
This was probably going to end with a request to be included in that group somehow.
Should he move seats?
No, class was starting soon anyway. He’d just stay put.
But maybe for the next class, he’d find a different spot.
As he was thinking this, the classmate beside him spoke, eyes shining.
“You’re really cool.”
“…What?”
“Well… this might sound rude, but I’m an omega too. You know, usually the alphas just stick with other alphas.”
But this time, the point was slightly different.
Previously, people had wanted to get close to the three others through Siyoung.
But this person seemed to admire Siyoung himself.
“Besides, those guys aren’t just any alphas—they’re in a whole different league.”
“You’re exaggerating…”
He hadn’t meant to respond, but the words slipped out.
They were just people, after all.
Alpha, omega—what did that even matter?
“Ah, sure, in theory, it shouldn’t matter. But in reality, it kind of does. Oh, come to think of it, you’re not part of any clubs, so you might not know. There are a few clubs specifically for omega students here. If you’re interested, you should join.”
He knew such clubs existed.
People liked to say secondary gender was no big deal, but they still lived in a world where discrimination couldn’t be denied completely.
He was aware of these clubs through the university app but never felt the need to join.
After all, this was a place for some of the smartest people in Korea—would there really be that much discrimination here?
Siyoung hadn’t really interacted much with people on campus up until last semester, so he wasn’t sure about the atmosphere.
But at least no one had openly picked a fight with him or treated him badly, and he was fine with that.
‘Now that I think about it, most of the people I’ve met have been alphas… or at least not betas or omegas.’
Being an omega didn’t mean he couldn’t detect pheromones.
Especially at drinking parties, pheromones tended to leak out.
Just by the strength of those pheromones, it wasn’t hard to tell if someone was an alpha or omega.
He remembered there had been people who left because they were too affected by the pheromones, while for Siyoung, it was just mildly annoying.
“No. I don’t like dividing people into alphas or omegas. And those guys don’t care about that stuff either. If they did, they wouldn’t have talked to me in the first place.”
Honestly, at first, Siyoung had worried about that kind of thing, too.
But the three of them had never once brought up each other’s secondary genders.
‘Oh, maybe that one time last week, when we talked about ideal types.’
But that didn’t even count as a rude topic.
Seeing the professor approaching from the front of the room, Siyoung spoke.
“You know it’s better not to judge people based on assumptions. You should experience things for yourself. I’m not anything special—I just got close to them by spending time together. So, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bring this up again.”
“Ah…”
“What a great way to start the semester. Some of you are in your first class, others aren’t… but you’ve all seen my face and name enough since last year to be sick of it. I’ll be continuing with ‘Understanding Economics 3’ this semester.”
Just as the classmate was about to say something else, the professor’s appearance drew everyone’s attention to the front.
The professor said it would be a brief review of last semester’s material, but Siyoung knew from experience that this introduction would take a while.
At least for now, the person beside him wouldn’t be able to start another conversation.
By the time the professor finished, it would be too awkward to bring it up again.
The topic would fizzle out on its own.
He’d just leave right after class.
Even if they weren’t asking for introductions to his friends, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant topic.
Still, compared to the last classmate who approached him, this one seemed more reasonable.
Hopefully, they’d let it go quietly.
“Well, that’s it for today’s orientation. The class structure will be similar to last semester. The exam content will be about the same, too. See you next week.”
As soon as the professor finished, Siyoung stood up and grabbed his bag.
Just then, the classmate beside him spoke up again.
“Sorry if what I said came off as rude. I just… thought it’d be nice for omegas to stick together, and you seemed really impressive.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“Let’s at least say hi to each other. I realized you’re the only omega in our department I hadn’t talked to yet. Sorry it happened like this.”
“…Sure.”
A simple greeting wasn’t a big deal.
Siyoung nodded slightly.
It was strange and a little bittersweet that people thought like this.
‘As if being an omega or alpha really matters that much.’
He thought it was just a passing incident.
But it took less than a week to realize this was only the beginning.
* * *
