Park Jaekyung and Han Taeseok first met when they were in elementary school, at a party celebrating the 30th anniversary of Nasan Electronics, which had just changed its name to NI Company.
They both knew the other existed, but they had never met and had never been particularly interested in one another, so neither even knew what the other looked like. At a gathering where their parents introduced the children to one another, they exchanged a brief glance as their parents said, “This is so-and-so,” and “That’s so-and-so.” Then they turned away and promptly forgot about each other.
After that, their paths diverged.
Jaekyung went to Japan to study abroad, while Taeseok went to the United States, each preparing to become the successor to their respective family businesses. They wouldn’t meet again until three months before their wedding, at a formal matchmaking meeting. Jaekyung was the eldest son of Jaewang Group and had been a beta until he experienced a late secondary gender presentation at the age of twenty. The moment his family doctor confirmed that he had presented as an omega, his father looked at him with contempt.
His father’s expression that day was still vividly etched in Jaekyung’s mind—the way he had sneered at him, saying that he had been a useless beta, and just when he had thought Jaekyung might finally be of some use, he turned out to be a recessive omega.
That night, his mother had cried for a long time in Jaekyung’s room.
She had become the partner of the eldest son and heir of Jaewang Group and had given birth to a son and a daughter. Their daughter was a beta, but she was so physically frail that she had been sent to Canada to recuperate, naturally removing her from consideration as a successor.
And then there was Jaekyung—the son who had been a beta, only to present as an omega.
There was no widespread social discrimination against omegas, but in the world of the powerful, an omega was considered useful only as a means of forming an alliance between families. If Jaekyung had been the second son, or if there had been another alpha son in the family, the chairman of Jaewang Group would never have treated him so harshly. His expectations had been completely shattered, and Jaekyung desperately tried to piece the broken fragments back together. He worked hard at his studies and during his years abroad. Immediately after graduating, he joined Jaewang Group as a new employee and worked his way up from the bottom, building his skills from scratch. Despite his young age, he achieved impressive results. He successfully led several projects, and even secured the overseas construction contracts that Jaewang Group had been so eager to win.
His abilities were so remarkable that the board members were impressed enough to tell the chairman that, omega or not, Jaekyung was more than capable of becoming the company’s successor.
After that, his father began seeking him out more often and entrusting him with important work. Believing that he was finally being recognized, Jaekyung slowly began to heal the wounds he had carried for years.
And just when he was beginning to let go of some of that hurt, he was summoned to a family dinner…
That was the second time he met Han Taeseok.
A large table filled the room. To Jaekyung’s right sat his father and mother. Across from them sat the chairman and his wife of NI Company, whom Jaekyung already knew well, along with Han Taeseok, whom he had only ever seen in newspaper photographs.
—“What are you standing there staring at? Aren’t you going to say hello?”
Jaekyung had been standing blankly at the entrance to the private dining room when his father scolded him.
The sharp voice snapped him back to reality. He quickly bowed his head, apologized for being late, and took the seat that had been prepared for him.
Directly across from Han Taeseok.
Taeseok didn’t even look at him. He simply took a sip of water.
The soft clink of the teacup settling back onto the table seemed to fill the quiet room.
Something about the atmosphere was… strange.
If this were simply a family dinner with the NI Company family, there was no way his parents would have failed to tell him beforehand. More importantly, if this had truly been a casual gathering, there would have been laughter and small talk about everyone’s lives.
There was none of that.
The NI couple looked Jaekyung up and down.
—“Jaekyung, you’ve grown into quite a fine young man.”
Ji Yeon-ju—the eldest daughter of Korea’s leading media conglomerate, Kookmin Group; the current partner of NI Company’s chairman; the director of Han Art Gallery; and the mother of the stern, imposing man sitting beside her—spoke at last.
Apparently satisfied with her inspection, she turned to the matter at hand.
The NI chairman sitting beside her nodded in agreement.
—“Being a recessive omega is the only thing that concerns me… I recently received your medical records from Dr. Kim and looked them over. He says there should be no problem with you conceiving. And if you keep up with the hormone injections, you may even be able to shed the ‘recessive’ classification altogether. So I don’t think that will be an issue either.”
What on earth are they talking about…?
Jaekyung stared at them in shock, opening his mouth to say something, but his mother immediately grabbed him by the arm. Her eyes trembled with sadness and anxiety, silently pleading with him not to move or say a word.
“Then shall we have the wedding three months from now? What do you think, Chairman Park?”
“Three months from now would be December. Sounds good. A fitting way to wrap up the year. Director Ji?”
“Let the lawyers from both families, along with the two children, work out the details regarding the announcement and everything else.”
“Yes, understood.”
Marriage…?
Jaekyung’s whole body began to tremble.
Marriage… just like that, without any warning?
He had thought that he was finally earning his father’s recognition, but he had been wrong.
Jaekyung clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He wanted to say something—anything—but his mother was anxiously watching his father, and he couldn’t bring himself to make things worse.
“Father…”
The moment Jaekyung arrived home, he followed after his father and called out to him.
Chairman Park didn’t answer. He simply entered his room and slammed the door shut with a loud bang!
When Jaekyung tried to open it, his mother stopped him again.
“Mom.”
“Jaekyung…”
“Do I really have to get married?”
“Yes…”
“When was this decided?”
“…We’ve been discussing it for several months. The company was in trouble… and I heard NI Company helped us.”
“The company was in trouble? I never heard anything about that.”
His father had never mentioned any financial difficulties, and although Jaekyung didn’t know the company’s exact financial situation, what he had learned as an employee, along with everything else he had observed, suggested that the company was doing perfectly well.
If anything, its stock price was soaring, its overseas reputation was strong, and sales had risen by several percentage points compared to the previous year. By all accounts, the company was continuing to grow.
“You didn’t need to know.”
Chairman Park emerged into the living room after changing his clothes, clicking his tongue as he sat down on the sofa.
“Father…”
“You’re an omega. Omegas eventually leave their families. Why would I tell someone who’s going to marry out of the family about the company’s financial situation?”
“Father—!”
“Enough. Start preparing for the wedding tomorrow. You’ll be busy.”
“You really want me to marry Han Taeseok?”
“He may be young at twenty-five, but he’s already completed a doctorate in business administration in the United States. While he was there, he even started a business of his own and grew it to a valuation of ten billion dollars in just one year. He’s an extraordinary talent. And on top of that, he’s a dominant alpha. You couldn’t ask for a more suitable match. Do you have any idea how hard I worked to arrange this marriage between you and Executive Director Han?”
So you used your own son as a bargaining chip.
I see…
“He’s far too good for you. So stop complaining and marry him.”
You really can’t see your son’s happiness. Or your wife’s.
“Whatever they say on the NI side, just keep saying yes and do as you’re told. Make sure I don’t hear even the slightest complaint.”
Having said everything he wanted to say, Chairman Park went into his study.
His mother silently took her son’s hand and held it tightly.
“I asked around… They say he’s a good person. He has a good personality, too. Kind and affectionate…”
Mom, please don’t say things like that. You saw him too, didn’t you? You were there…”
“He didn’t look at me even once during the entire hour I sat across from him. He sees me as nothing more than a bargaining chip, too.”
“I promise you, Jaekyung. My son will be happy. You’ll be happy, Jaekyung.”
“No. I can see Father in that man. I know I’ll end up living the same life you did. You’re pushing me down that same path, Mom…”
********************
Everything moved quickly after that.
Just as though Jaekyung’s opinion had never been necessary in the first place, the proceedings went ahead without it.
The only exception was paperwork that required their personal signatures, so a week after their first meeting, they met for the second time in a private lounge at a hotel owned by NI Company.
The moment they saw each other, they exchanged nothing more than a silent greeting before taking their seats. The lawyers did all the talking between them.
Han Taeseok and Jaekyung never once looked at each other. They simply drank their tea. Jaekyung had his cup refilled several times, while Taeseok took only a single sip and then sat quietly with his gaze lowered.
Even without a word, the man’s personality was easy to read from his perfectly straight back, immaculate posture, long fingers, and clothes without a single wrinkle.
And then there was his face…
Would it sound ridiculous if Jaekyung told someone that the reason he remembered Taeseok was simply because he was incredibly handsome?
Even when Jaekyung first saw him in elementary school, he had thought there was something striking about his appearance. Now that he had grown up, it was even more pronounced.
He had deep-set eyes, a prominent nose, and full lips. The lack of double eyelids gave his eyes a sharp look, but somehow he didn’t appear particularly intimidating. His skin was clear, and the smooth line from his sharply defined jaw to his earlobe gave him a pleasant, approachable impression.
It was the kind of face anyone would find attractive.
And his physique was nothing to scoff at either.
His clothes concealed most of it, but it was obvious at a glance that he worked out regularly. He was also considerably taller than Jaekyung, who stood at 178 centimeters. 188? Maybe even close to 190 centimeters.
And on top of all that, he was a dominant alpha…
Jaekyung couldn’t understand why NI Company would want to marry him, a recessive omega, to someone like Taeseok.
With his looks, status, and abilities, politicians and prominent families overseas must have been desperate to arrange a marriage with him.
Just what kind of deal had they made…?