Chapter Text
It was an ordinary day.
An ordinary day where people set their alarms for seven in the morning, get out of their warm beds as if it were a curse, get ready for work or school, then get lost in the chaos of traffic and sit in their office chairs with a heavy weight on them, or curse their professors who scheduled classes for eight-thirty in the morning. Didn't every day start the same way? First you'd sleep. You wouldn't even have time for breakfast because you absolutely had to get somewhere, and the rush would begin even in the first hours of the day. For most people, it was an ordinary day, nothing special. It wasn't a national holiday, it wasn't New Year's, they weren't celebrating any religious holidays. It certainly wasn't the weekend. It was an ordinary Monday.
And so it was for Kim Seungmin.
But Kim Seungmin, a law student, had a slightly different understanding of an ordinary day.
Now, don't misunderstand me. Of course, we wouldn't want our days to get lost in ordinariness. After all, we were alive, and with each day we lived, we were getting closer to death. Ordinariness was a game in the flow of time. With each passing day, time seemed to fly by a little faster, leaving only those unique memories in our minds.
Yet, Seungmin didn't dwell on ordinariness. Not because he didn't think about it, but because he was preoccupied with other things. This brought us to the present. To the reason why the entire faculty, even the entire campus, knew him. Why everyone who heard his name sighed, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. If you were an Omega, it was probably for good. But Alphas... Alphas were the biggest problem.
Yet, this didn't mean any Omega wanted to hear anything about Alphas at eight-thirty in the morning. That's where Kim Seungmin came in.
The time didn't matter. He seemed to be an expert at finding the most annoying times, and he loved giving people, especially arrogant Alphas, headaches. Some might even think he chose to study Law just to create more headaches.
"What does society want from us?" he shouted from a bench with a megaphone, while everyone passing by covered their ears. It was too early for that. But it didn't matter to Seungmin. Justice had to be sought, no matter what time it was.
“They expect us to cower. To be silent. Omegas have been trampled underfoot for generations. They looked at us as incubators, as weak beings who couldn't control their urges, ready to pounce on any Alpha during their heat cycles, without standards. They expected us to stay home, to bear children. They tried to isolate us from society, to treat us as second-class citizens. It's time to put an end to this, my Omega brothers and sisters. It's time to end the Alphas' dominance, to forge our own path. I expect you to join our march at eight o'clock today to gain our right to representation in the assembly. This is the time for rebellion. Long live the Omegas. Down with the Alphas.”
“Oh my God, it’s not even nine o’clock yet. Shut up. Someone stop this idiot. It’s the same thing every day.”
Of course, there were minor hiccups. Seungmin was never defeated by them.
“See, another Alpha preventing us from getting our rights.”
“I’m an Omega, loser.”
“That’s worse than you being an Alpha right now.”
“I’ll handle it. Sorry guys. Go to your classes. I’ll take it now.” Of course, Seungmin sometimes faced bigger obstacles. This came in the form of Changbin, his closest friend for years, someone he’d practically never left since childhood, someone who was practically inseparable from him – well, Seungmin was inseparable from him, it wasn’t a problem.
“Hey, what are you doing? I hadn’t finished talking.” Changbin hoisted Seungmin onto his back, and as Seungmin, as usual, tried and failed to break free from his arms, while those around them couldn’t help but roll their eyes at this classic scene.
“I’m trying to make sure you don’t get arrested again.” "That's what Changbin said, wearily. Seungmin didn't care much. His record was already ruined when he chained himself to a statue in Seoul Square.
"Fuck society," he kept shouting into the megaphone. "Fuck the Alphas."
That was a typical day for Kim Seungmin.
Now let's look at a typical day for Lee Minho.
Minho was relaxed. Minho's typical day was the same as anyone else's. He wasn't like Kim Seungmin, shouting through a megaphone in the middle of campus at eight-thirty in the morning. Minho woke up early, ran five kilometers, had a good breakfast, and found himself at hockey practice. Then he went to his classes, went to his part-time job, and in the evening, he met up with his friends at a bar for drinks. You see, Minho lived a pretty ordinary life. Quite ordinary.
“Chan rejected you again.” Felix chuckled, headlocking Hyunjin, while Minho took a sip of his drink and joined in the laughter. Hyunjin immediately started whining, and their laughter intensified. He was obsessed with Chan. The Omega, despite being on the same team, had mastered the art of ignoring him.
“He told me the only thing we have in common is that we're both breathing biological beings. And if you've noticed, we both play hockey. He's getting more and more creative at rejecting me. Is it normal that this is driving me crazy?”
“I’m sure he’s not normal at all, Hyung,” Jeongin said.
Minho loved these moments. The times he and his friends sat at their usual table, drinking and laughing. You see, Minho was a simple person. There was no room for chaos in his life.
“I’m sure Kim Seungmin is influencing him,” Hyunjin said, banging his hand on the table. “Why did he have to be friends with him out of all the other people? He’s brainwashing him.” Felix let out another laugh, and Minho couldn’t help but grimace at the mention of Kim Seungmin’s name. A troublemaker, he thought. Someone should tape his chin shut.
“It’s your fault for falling for Seungmin’s friend out of all the Omegas. He’ll probably do everything he can to make sure all your Omega friends end up with Betas. Good luck, bro.” Minho laughed mockingly at Felix’s words.
“He just needs an Alpha,” he said. “He’s so aggressive because there’s no Alpha who likes him. I’m sure his damn megaphone will end up in the trash when he finds an Alpha.”
“No Alpha can ever win his heart,” Hyunjin said. “He’s like a damn Alpha predator.”
As I said, Minho had a pretty ordinary life. But somehow, people sometimes make mistakes to feel alive, to feel that they’re living. That’s how Minho was. He didn’t make many mistakes in his life. But everyone had a moment of stupidity.
"I would make him fall in love with me in a month," said Minho.
Confident, relaxed, nonchalant. Everyone at the table laughed.
“He’d kill you before you even tried,” Felix said.
“He’d gouge out your eyes the moment you looked at him,” Jeongin said.
“He’d beat you up from one end of the campus to the other just for sport,” Hyunjin said.
Minho’s blood boiled. His pride soared.
“Want to bet?”