KA Chapter 1

Prologue

The hotel room was thick with sticky, ragged breaths.

Yihyun twisted his body, trying to free himself from the grip that held him tightly, but it was a useless struggle. The more he moved, the more it seemed to provoke the presence behind him, which he could feel swelling with intensity.

Overwhelmed by that intense presence, Yihyun called out urgently in a trembling voice.

“Baek Juho. Calm down, please…”

But no matter how earnestly he pleaded, there was no stopping an Alpha in rut.

They had been friends for over ten years, and although Yihyun had known, at least in his head, that Baek Juho lived a rather promiscuous life, he had never once imagined himself pinned beneath him like this.

No matter whose pheromones Baek Juho came back with, Yihyun had always pretended not to notice, believing it was the only way to protect himself and to preserve—at least in appearance—their relationship as childhood friends.

“Haa…”

With blazing eyes and ragged breaths, Baek Juho was no longer his usual self. Yihyun grimaced and murmured with a voice that sounded on the verge of tears.

“Why would you drink the rut inducer? Seriously. Since when did you even care about me?”

Whether he didn’t hear Yihyun’s self-deprecating words or simply chose not to respond, Juho buried his nose into the nape of Yihyun’s neck.

“You smell good.”

The words, spoken like a predator assessing its prey, made Yihyun’s lower back tense instinctively.

“W-Wait a second…!”

Afraid he might bite into the back of his neck at any moment, Yihyun tried to stop him in a panic, but Baek Juho pushed him down onto the bed with animalistic force.

In the blink of an eye, Yihyun’s face was pressed into the bedsheets, and before he could even fully grasp the situation, Juho was already releasing the pheromones of an extremely dominant Alpha without mercy.

The pheromones clung to him like a wet lick over his entire body, saturated with Baek Juho’s unfiltered desire, showing just how much he wanted to ravish the person before him right then and there.

He had firmly believed that he had developed a resistance to Juho’s pheromones by now. But faced with pheromones deliberately unleashed, that flimsy belief melted away helplessly.

“Please, please, Juho. It’s me, Cha Yihyun. I’m an Alpha. I’ll find you a proper mate, so please, stop.”

Yihyun repeated the words like a desperate spell, but as if to mock that false conviction, all he could hear was the crisp sound of Baek Juho unbuckling his belt behind him.

“Liar.”

Baek Juho murmured, his eyes half-lidded.

His rough breaths tangled with his words, showing no intention of hiding how aroused he was. Smacking his lips lightly, he let his gaze lazily trace the line of Yihyun’s waistband.

Even that careless movement made a faint sound slip between Yihyun’s teeth, and his body gave a jolt. It was an embarrassingly honest reaction, contrary to his will. When he hid his face, reddened from shame, Baek Juho smiled brightly.

“Yihyun-ah.”

“……”

“What kind of Alpha gets this wet in the back, huh?”

At the end of that sentence, Yihyun’s already disheveled pants fell feebly to the floor.

It was a line that shattered everything: the life Cha Yihyun had lived as an Alpha overturned in an instant. And it was the moment over a decade of friendship came to an end.

1

Anonymous Board – ○○ Arts University

Anonymous

My childhood friend keeps rubbing his pheromones on me. What does that mean?

⤷ Anonymous: He probably wants to screw you.

⤷ OP: But we’re the same secondary gender?

⤷ Anonymous: Then he probably fucking hates you. Just ignore it.

Yihyun stared down at the unhelpful replies in silence.

An Alpha releasing pheromones toward an Omega was a clear invitation to mate. Releasing them toward another Alpha, however, was a sign of territorial aggression or disdain.

And simple though it was, Cha Yihyun agreed with it.

After all, the instincts that came with being an Alpha or Omega were close to the primal instincts of animals.

By that logic, the pheromones his childhood friend kept constantly rubbing on him were practically picking a fight. Because the Cha Yihyun he knew was a “recessive Alpha.”

Soon enough, the anonymous post Yihyun had written was buried under newer ones. Most of them were about Baek Juho.

Anonymous

Does anyone know what department BJH sunbae from Writing and Communication class is in? Theater and Film, right? I mean, look at that face.

⤷ LOL so true. I heard he’s in the Film Department, but honestly, he looks like CGI, so maybe there was a mistake in admissions.

Anonymous

Does anyone know where BJH got that half-zip knit sweater he wore today?

⤷ It’s not the clothes that matter, it’s what’s inside…

⤷ Just punch him instead, that’d hurt less

Anonymous

Seriously, how the hell does Baek Juho even look like that? Are all dominant Alphas built like that???

⤷ Why are you so angry though

⤷ What kind of meltdown is this on an anonymous board? Pull yourself together, sir

Baek Juho, dominating the anonymous board. The very name he’d heard a million times belonged to none other than Yihyun’s childhood friend.

When people talked about families known for producing only dominant Alphas for generations, two families came to mind without fail: the Baek family of BH Group, and the Cha family, land tycoons who owned most of the Sillim district in Seoul.

These days, both families stood shoulder to shoulder as Alpha-led enterprises, but back in their grandfathers’ generation, their relationship had been anything but friendly.

Yihyun’s grandfather had always avoided BH Group, calling them thugs who built their empire through shady construction deals. But times changed, and BH has grown into a powerful company, branching out into food, gaming, and more.

Meanwhile, the Cha family still held sway as a cash-rich landowning dynasty in Seoul, but that was all. It was getting harder and harder to keep up with the Baek family’s growing assets.

Still, both families were smart enough to know that working together brought far greater benefits than staying at odds. Their parents’ generation made that strategic shift, opting to join hands.

To reinforce that bond, they let their sons, who happened to be the same age, grow up as friends. That became the foundation of the relationship between Baek Juho and Cha Yihyun.

“From kindergarten to college… we really are stuck together, Baek Juho.”

Yihyun muttered under his breath as he tapped his phone screen off. Just then, a nurse called his name as if it were finally his turn.

“Patient Cha Yihyun, please come in.”

At the call, Yihyun tucked his phone into the inside pocket of his jacket and walked into the examination room with practiced ease.

Dr. Youngjun, who had been poring over the chart, lifted his gaze to Yihyun. Without any preamble, he asked, “Did you sleep with an Alpha?”

Yihyun nearly spat out the water he was drinking. He wiped the water from the corner of his lips and looked at the doctor like he’d lost his mind.

“Hyung.”

That single, quiet word was thick with emotion. Of course, Shin Youngjun didn’t miss it. He just shrugged and replied, “I didn’t mean it literally. But seriously, there’s no way your pheromones would be this out of control otherwise. It’s like… you’ve been soaked in dominant Alpha pheromones.”

Just like he said, Yihyun’s pheromone graph, which had always been steady in his regular checkups, was starting to show signs of instability.

Seeing that chart made Yihyun frown instinctively. Only one face came to mind.

Unaware of the circumstances, Youngjun spoke with concern.

“If something’s wrong, I should talk to your mother—”

“I’m fine.”

Yihyun cut him off firmly. The unwavering tone in his voice made Youngjun look at him in surprise.

Shin Youngjun had been Yihyun’s attending physician ever since his secondary gender had manifested relatively late, when he was in the third year of middle school.

He still remembered Cha Yihyun as a kid back then, though already striking in appearance. Dressed in a blue school uniform, Yihyun had been dragged in by his mother and made to sit in front of him, his expression etched deeply with despair.

With time, that hopeless look faded. But even in high school, Yihyun had kept his introverted demeanor, and it wasn’t until much later that he’d begun to make eye contact and speak freely with Youngjun.

Because of that, moments like this, when their eyes did meet, still caught Youngjun off guard. His face often betrayed a flicker of surprise before he could mask it.

Yihyun’s soft chestnut hair gave the impression of fragility, but every time their eyes locked, the stark contrast of his bright, clear gaze against pale skin made his presence all the more striking.

Even now, Youngjun paused mid-sentence and simply stared at Yihyun.

Yihyun knew exactly what he was thinking. It wasn’t particularly welcome, but it wasn’t unpleasant either.

While he was distracted, he decided to steer the conversation away. It would be a problem if Youngjun actually called his mother.

“I’m really fine.”

“…”

“It’s just… Baek Juho. He’s bad at controlling his pheromones, that’s all.”

“Baek Juho?”

Youngjun repeated the unexpected name.

It wasn’t wise to meddle in the affairs of chaebol families, but that name was hard to avoid. It came up every time BH Group made the news.

What shocked Youngjun more was that the name had come from Cha Yihyun’s mouth.

He knew very well that during their school years, the person Yihyun found most difficult to deal with wasn’t his mother or any of the family, but Baek Juho.

And Baek Juho couldn’t control his pheromones? That was impossible.

Youngjun narrowed his eyes and looked across at him. Yihyun fumbled, trying to explain.

“It’s true. He’s not as put-together as he looks. He’s sloppy in some ways. I guess that’s why it got on me. I’ll tell him to be more careful next time we meet.”

“…”

Yihyun looked at him with the certainty of someone convinced he was right.

Youngjun, on the other hand, looked like he didn’t even know where to begin pointing out the flaws in that logic.

What on earth did Yihyun think a dominant Alpha was?