ASM Ch 1

“Please sign the prenuptial agreement now.”

When a lawyer who represented the Haesung Group suddenly appeared in the bridal room, the guests began to whisper.

Eunwoo straightened her back.

At first glance, she looked like a delicate woman. Her skin was so pale that it looked translucent, and her black hair was tied up without a single strand out of place. She straightened her back to look dignified, but it only highlighted her slender shoulders that were exposed above her dress. However, her sharp eyes that glared at the lawyer were by no means weak.

Eunwoo straightened her posture again and proudly raised her chin.

She didn’t want to get caught up in the lawyer’s deliberate decision to come here when there would be a lot of people around.

“Have you made all the changes I requested?”

She asked in a flat voice, acting as if the lawyer in front of her was someone she had hired and not someone from the Haesung Group.

“This contract cannot be modified as it only contains the essential conditions for a harmonious married life.”

But Haesung’s patience seemed to be running out. Attorney Kim pushed up his glasses and began reciting the contents of the contract in front of all the guests.

“Beta Seo Eunwoo and Alpha Cha Taehyuk are unable to have children, so they will have a child through a surrogate Omega mother.”

“……”

“Since the pheromones of the biological father and mother are essential for implantation and development of the fetus, you hereby allow the biological father to have relations with the Omega mother during pregnancy.”

“……”

“Since continuous administration of inhibitors is harmful to the body, Dominant Alpha Cha Taehyuk is to have sex with an Omega during the rut cycle to relieve his rut.”

A written contract that allowed her husband to have children with other Omega women and have regular sex with them was already insulting enough. But now it was exposed in front of everyone. Eunwoo, who’d always had thick skin, found herself holding her breath.

Attorney Kim smiled with satisfaction as if he had just recited a nursery rhyme.

“These are all the necessary provisions for Beta Seo Eunwoo to marry an Alpha.”

Beta and Alpha.

Those two words were enough to justify everything in the prenuptial agreement.

The world was made up of a small number of Alphas and Omegas and a large number of Betas. People with Alpha and Omega traits naturally took over as the ruling class in all areas of society, including politics, business, academia, and entertainment, by taking advantage of their innate abilities and appearances that were superior to those of ordinary people.

Since only Alphas and omegas could exchange pheromones, relieve heat, and produce offspring with the same traits as them, there was no place for Betas in their exclusive ranks.

But sometimes, like a mutant, a Beta was born in an Alpha-Omega family, and that was Seo Eunwoo.

Eunwoo, who was born as a mutant under the Alpha chairman of Hans Foods Seo Jeong-bae, lived her whole life being told that she was a useless Beta.

A nuisance, a burden that could not be entrusted with the company or arranged in a political marriage without the outstanding abilities or attractive looks of Alphas and Omegas. A flaw that caused the family to be stigmatized for having Beta traits in their blood.

In the world of Alphas and Omegas, mutant Betas like her were treated as inferior beings.

Therefore, Eunwoo had no choice but to live more fiercely than anyone else. With brains and talents inferior to theirs, she worked harder and harder. The results were not bad. Even within the declining Hans Foods, there was a joke that whenever Chairman Seo suffered a loss, the Department Head Seo Eunwoo would make up for it.

But she always felt like she was limited in what she could do. What took her a day to complete could be done in a few hours by others with superior traits. Even their way of speech made them seem more attractive than her, and they had their own secret conversations through pheromones without having to make a sound.

In this society, she was a perpetual stranger.

The only time she received Chairman Seo’s recognition was the day they sold the house in Seongbuk-dong where Eunwoo’s grandfather, the founder of Hans Foods and a close childhood friend of Haesung Group’s Honorary Chairman Cha Moon-jo, lived in his later years.

A faded piece of paper from that old mansion turned her life upside-down.

It was an engagement letter written jokingly by the two chairmen, who only had sons, to marry their grandchildren.

The scrap of paper that would have been laughed off if it had fallen into someone else’s hands became an extremely effective weapon in Chairman Seo’s. He mentioned his late father, saying that he would have really wanted to see their grandchildren marry each other, and that he regretted not being able to see Eunwoo marry Haesung’s grandson. It was Chairman Seo who convinced Chairman Cha Moonjo, who was on his deathbed.

Furthermore, when he lied and said that Eunwoo had fallen in love with Executive Director Cha Taehyuk at first sight, Cha Moonjo went ahead with the marriage despite Haesung Group’s opposition.

Even if he had to accept the fact that she was a Beta who couldn’t bear an Alpha’s child, Cha Moonjo was determined to keep his promise to his old friend who had helped him both financially and emotionally when he was in despair due to a failed business venture during his youth. And there was no one in Haesung who could stop him because he still held a huge stake in the company.

“Just sign it. It can’t be helped that you’re just a Beta. You have to accept this much if you want to be married to Executive Director Cha.”

As Eunwoo’s silence grew longer, Chairman Seo, who was greeting the guests near the bridal room, approached her and said a few words.

Having received a large sum of investment money from Honorary Chairman Cha Moonjo under the pretext of a wedding gift, Chairman Seo now seemed to care nothing about whether Eunwoo’s husband could legally have sex with another woman or whether Eunwoo would get divorced in the near future.

“Whether you sign this or not, all men have separate mistresses and lovers.”

Although he was the one who pushed for this marriage and was subsequently the only one who benefitted from it, Chairman Seo kept talking nonsense and continued to force her to make sacrifices.

“Okay. I’ll sign it.”

Finally, a monotonous voice leaked out from Eunwoo’s lips.

The onlookers’ mutters grew louder. They were probably saying that she was a fool to agree to this ridiculous marriage, and that Executive Director Cha, who was being subjected to this ridiculous marriage, had been unfortunate to be caught by this crazy woman.

“I don’t mind bringing in Omega mistresses. However, please add a clause stating that I, not the surrogate mother, will have parental rights and custody of the child born between Director Cha and the Omega surrogate.”

She had to constantly try and keep her voice from shaking. There was no one here who would feel sorry for her.

“We would like the child to grow up in a stable family with both parents present.”

Attorney Kim glanced at her over his glasses, seemingly mocking her. He seemed to be saying that as long as she wasn’t present, the child would be able to grow up in a more stable home.

But in a situation where she was already branded as a woman who coveted Cha Taehyuk without even knowing what it entailed, she had no dignity left to ruin by becoming even more shameless.

“If you add that clause, I’ll sign it right away.”

Eunwoo hid her trembling fingers within the folds of her wedding dress. There was nothing to lose. Chairman Seo couldn’t be the only one to benefit from this.

If she had a child, even if it wasn’t her biological child, as long she had a child who followed her as if she were its biological mother, she could find stability within the Haesung Group. And if she could become the Young Madame of the Haesung Group…

She would finally be able to break free from the shackles of the annoying Chairman Seo with her younger brother.

Although it was a pity for Cha Taehyuk, who would lose his chances at a normal married life because of her.

Since she was going to be sold anyway, she thought it would be okay for her to be greedy at least once.

In return, she had no intention of interfering in his private matters of sleeping with other women or starting a separate family. In fact, that was what Eunwoo preferred. At least she wouldn’t have to sleep with a man she didn’t even like.

When Attorney Kim didn’t say anything in response, Eunwoo slightly raised her chin.

“Or I’ll go out right now and tell Chairman Cha Moonjo. That this marriage will be a bit difficult for me.”

“Seo Eunwoo—!”

When Chairman Seo raised his voice, Attorney Kim pretended to push his glasses up and pressed down on his earpiece that was inserted in one ear.

“Okay, then.”

It seemed that the order had come from Haesung Group, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation in the bridal room through the earpiece.

Attorney Kim tapped his tablet with a businesslike gesture as if he were modifying the contract on the spot.

Only then did Eunwoo let out the small breath she had been holding in. Her heart was pounding. She didn’t know if Haesung would truly accept her, but it was worth holding on until the end.

Now, she could have her wedding with a little more peace of mind.

But when she actually received the revised contract, still hot from the printer, her hands started to tremble.

One of the two names written side by side on the last page of the contract already had a bright red seal.

Cha Taehyuk and Seo Eunwoo.

Three characters made up of neat lines and circles. One might wonder what the big difference was between these peoples’ names, but the gap between the two names was as vast as the gap between heaven and earth.

The son of Haesung Group, the undisputed top business conglomerate, with blue blood since birth, Executive Director Cha Taehyuk. And the daughter of Hans Foods, which had not even made it into the business rankings due to its significant decline in the past few years.

But most of all, he was a dominant Alpha, a trait that only a very small number of Alphas carried. And she was an ordinary Beta, which was very commonplace.

Although she thought she was fully prepared for this, her hand holding her seal began to tremble when she saw her name written next to Cha Taehyuk’s.

But she promptly stamped it down on the white paper.

How dare she.

She took it upon herself to be the only flaw of a man who was perfect in every way.

She could hear the faint melody of a wedding march outside the door.