Chapter Text
Jisung tugged his shoulders up to his ears and tucked his chin down, willing his anxious scent to calm, for the bitterness of his usually sweet chocolate scent not to betray his nerves to the Matron currently stalking up and down the Omega Dorm peering at each boy in turn.
He peeked over at the boy on the next bunk over, whose eyes slide to him and Jisung watched his nostrils flare, a tiny headshake and a sad expression the only hint that his scent wasn’t co-operating before the bar around his bed was hit, vibrating with the tell-tale sound of noise of metal on wood that Jisung knew all too well and his eyes snapped back down, avoiding the laser focus of the Beta standing in front of him:
“What’s todays problem 106,” came the sharp voice of the Matron, and Jisung froze, squeezing his eyes closed as the voice came closer, speaking directly into his ear: “Barely an inspection goes by without you failing yourself. Up!”
Jisung scrambled to obey, banging his head painfully on the bottom of the bunk above as he did so. He stood as he knew he needed to, arms clasped behind him and head lowered and kept his mouth closed, his sharp little canines digging into his bottom lip as he watched the Matron unceremoniously stripping his bed of its thin sheets and emptying his small battered chest of drawers of its few possessions.
His mind is buzzing, fear tight in his stomach as he watches her pause on the bottom drawer which isn’t opening fully. She doesn’t even bother to look at him as she puts her hand in and twists it awkwardly to pull something he had thought small enough to go unnoticed that he had taped to the inside top of the drawer. Eight 10,000 won notes came away in her grasp and he felt rather than heard the intakes of breath from the twenty-seven other Omegas in his dorm, each of them craning to see what the Beta Matron had found.
“106.” The Beta said in a no-nonsense tone, “On your knees on the chair.”
“I’m seventeen.” Jisung tried, even though he knew it was futile: “I’m out of the Home in just a few weeks. I need money Matron-nim, please.”
She raised one black eyebrow at him, her face betraying no anger, no emotion at all really. Just a woman who seemed to genuinely believe she was doing her job as Matron well. He moved slowly onto the hard backed chair in the middle of the dorm, climbing onto his knees and keeping his back straight.
“72, you will help 106. Eight lashes.” Jisung felt his breath stutter in his chest as another small Omega boy got up slowly from his bunk, took the thin metal rod from the Matron and approached Jisung. The boy couldn’t be any older than thirteen, his face still rounded from childhood and his face was red, eyes glazed as he begged Jisung silently for forgiveness. Jisung gave it easily, nodding once at the boy and then facing forward again, crying out as the rod hit the bottom of his already scarred bare feet repeatedly until his punishment was complete. Eight lashes for eight notes. His feet burned.
“I do not want to know 106, what you had to do, how you had to debase yourself, for this amount of money.” The Beta Matron said expressionlessly, taking the rod back from the young boy and steering him back to his bunk with a firm hand pressing down on the nape of his neck. “You will be eighteen so soon. Trusted to go to the city in only a few short weeks where you will start work in one of our factories. You will be provided with a bed and two meals a day. In time you will be provided with a suitable Alpha. You shame yourself and you shame the name of Omega. You will do well to remember all the times your fellow Omegas had to step up to help you remember your place.”
Jisung watched, his head hanging as she tucked his money into the small bag around her waist. That money was meant to be his ticket to freedom. He may have spent his entire adolescence in one of the ‘Happy Homes’ for newly presented Omega’s that still existed in the villages and countryside, but as a child he’d heard tales that in major cities like Seoul, where he would soon be transported to, omegas were allowed to live free, were treated like equals to their sub-gender counterparts. He’d spent the last four years in this institution dreaming of escaping and starting a new life far away from his home-town where he would be free to choose his own career and Mate.
He waited until the beta had left before hobbling back to his bunk, looking around to ensure the other Omega Boys were avoiding his gaze before slipping his hand between the slats to run a finger over the thick wad of notes still stuck there, his chocolate scent warming even as tears rolled down his cheeks and he flexed the toes of his burning feet.
*****
Jisung smiled as his back hit the concrete wall, air whooshing out of his lungs and he slid down until he was sat on the hard grounding heat of the asphalt. He’d done it. When the transport had stopped for fuel, he’d quickly and quietly slipped out the door and just walked away. None of the other five Omegas in the transport had reacted at all, and he’d left without a goodbye or a backwards glance. He’d walked for an hour, asking a few times for directions to a KoWork building he’d once seen advertised on a billboard when he’d visited family as a young pre-teen. He’d avoided the imposing Alphas, keeping his eyes averted at all cost, only asking for assistance from young Omega’s like himself. He’d received nothing but odd looks even with their assistance, and he understood why. Compared to the stylish and loose clothing of the Omega’s he spoke to, their hair styled many different ways and some even with piercings or make up, his stiff formal clothes and long silky hair tied in a tight braid looked strange and out of place.
He looked over the road at the KoWork sign, and smiled, taking a minute to breathe before forcing himself up to standing and making his way over, pushing the door open and basking for a moment in the air-conditioning inside.
“Hello, can I help you?” asked a friendly voice, and Jisung started, automatically taking a submissive position at being spoken to by a Beta, his head tucking down and his hands flying behind his back to clasp together.
“You don’t need to submit Omega. My name’s Hajoon, what’s yours?”
Jisung peeked up at the professional smile of the young man in front of him and chewed his lip. He hadn’t spoken to a male Beta in years, having been around other Omega males and female Betas since he’d been removed from his family. He cursed himself and his sheltered upbringing, not knowing the honorific expected in these circumstances.
“My name is Han Jisung. I’ve just … moved … to Seoul and I’m looking for assistance in finding accommodation and employment. That's what KoWork does right?” He stuttered to a stop, chewing his lip and feeling overwhelmed: “I’m sorry I don’t know how to address you politely, as I say I’ve just … moved here.” He puffed out his cheeks and looked nervously at the man, who simply bowed politely and gestured for him to come with him to sit at a desk to one side of the room.
“You may call me Hajoon-ssi, and I shall call you Jisung-ssi.” The man gestured to a jug and glasses next to him for Jisung to help himself and he did so gratefully, gulping down one before wiping his lips and pouring a second, which he sipped slower.
The two men discussed Jisung’s options, with the KoWork Beta filling in a questionnaire online, asking lots of questions and remaining professional even when Jisung was clearly giving him evasive answers.
“Well Jisung-ssi,” the Beta told him, after over an hour of questions and answers, “The option I have which I think based on your answers would be the best place for you to start would be for you to complete an entry level course at the Hoseo Technical College, where you would be put in a paid placement for the duration of your course. You say here you’re interested in Music, well there are many opportunities available in this field. Seoul of course is the hub for music in Korea. You’ve moved to the right place Jisung-ssi.” The Beta smiled at him and Jisung could feel how wide his eyes were, widening still as the KoWork employee continued to speak: “So long as you attend your placement and complete your studies on time, you will have an individual room in a College Dorm.”
“A d-dorm?” Jisung stuttered and the man’s eyes softened knowingly, eyes straying quickly to Jisung's hair and clothes before moving back up to his eyes, although his professional demeanour remained in place.
“A college dorm. A large building which houses men and women, Omega, Beta and Alpha’s, although on separate floors of course. You would be in charge of your own schedule Jisung-ssi, and you would share a kitchen with the others on your floor. It is a situation common for young adults in Korea, there are no rules and you wouldn’t be supervised.”
It all sounded too good to be true, and he could scarcely believe it as the Beta organised it all for him. His accommodation would start tonight, straight away, and he was beyond lucky that orientation began in five days, and he was given leaflets and booklets along with a map and a name of the person to speak to when he arrived at the college.
He left bowing, his thanks pouring out of him as he backed out the door.
*****
The next few days of Jisungs life were like nothing he had ever experienced before. He had to get used to sleeping alone, something he had never done before. As a child he had slept with his mother and then he had slept in a dorm with the other boys of the Happy Home. They had not been allowed to touch, but Jisung had grown used to the sound of them breathing all around him, and the silence of his small room in the dark was unnerving.
He struck up a tentative acquaintance with another Omega boy on his floor called Yoojin. He was soft and sugar-y sweet in an effected sort of way, his hair styled to perfection and his lips pouted with gloss. His scent was candy floss, and he wore an enhancing perfume that gave Jisung a headache.
“Do you have money though sweetie, cause we need to sort this out.” Yoojin gestured at Jisung’s entire body, head to toe: “You’ve so clearly just come from one of those Omega Farms and I cannot cope with you walking into orientation with me on Monday looking like that, not when you're probably quite pretty if you tried.”
“Farm?” he asked, tone affronted.
“Yea sweetie,” Yoojin tittered, manicured hand covering his mouth in a fluttery gesture, “Don’t try and tell me you didn’t escape from one of those Farms in the country where they store Omega’s to work and breed them. You can be a pretty city boy with me, but not looking … and smelling … like that.”
Jisung had nodded stiffly at the boy he wasn’t sure he particularly liked but definitely needed, before allowing himself to be dragged downtown and spending more from his bundle of notes than he’d originally planned. He tried to keep it simple, going into an H&M and buying himself some jeans and chinos, basic vests and oversize hoodies. He immediately changed, throwing his old clothes into the bin, hiking his jeans in with a sparkly belt, leaving them low enough to show a strip of the lacy underwear Yoojin had convinced him to buy and slipping into a pair of white converse to match the t-shirt he wore and the hoodie he tied around his little waist.
“You’re tiny!” Yoojin lamented, sucking in his own slim stomach and pouting at Jisungs, who ran a self conscious hand through his hair and pulled the other Omega into a salon, coming out with a much shorter style, the back and sides of his black hair shorn short but the top flopping over his forehead and ears in a style the hairdresser had assured him all the Alpha’s would go crazy for. Not that Jisung was interested in that, he just wanted to fit in come orientation and his placement, and not obviously be a ‘Farm Boy’ as Yoojin had teasingly taken to calling him.
Jisung paid the stylist and found the other boy clicking away on his phone, getting his attention with a prod of his foot on his ankle. The other Omega Boy looked up slowly, before his jaw dropped open and then snapped shut with an audible clack of teeth.
“Lord sweetie! Who knew this sexy little Omega was hiding under all that hair.” He stood and smiled at Jisung: “Come on, you can buy me a matcha and I’ll tell you all about my boyfriend and his cute friends!” Yoojin tugged Jisung's hand through his arm and clung on as they walked through the busy streets of Seoul, sipping their drinks and giggling to each other.
That night lying in his lonely bed, he tried to calm his breathing thinking of orientation in the morning and the bright but unknown future awaiting him. Jisung felt very far from that little boy with a dream and aching feet who cried himself to sleep just a few short weeks ago.