As always, it was a day of sorrowful rain pouring down in sheets.
Haejin lay facedown with his hips raised high. His hands were tied behind his back, forcing him to support his weight on his shoulders—an exhausting, painful position. Lyle gripped the bound wrists like handles and drove his hips hard, paying no heed to the way Haejin swallowed his moans down his throat.
“Ugh.”
The rough coupling ended, and Haejin was shoved off the bed. “Shoved” was putting it mildly. Lyle pushed him away with the same motion one might use to toss aside a tool that had outlived its usefulness.
Haejin never expected a gentle touch from Lyle. The problem was that, with his hands still tied, all he could do was roll helplessly across the floor. Today again, he clenched his teeth at the feel of cold marble pressing against his cheek.
He heard footsteps strike the floor a few times, followed by the harsh rush of water from the shower. Blindfolded, he couldn’t see for certain, but knowing Lyle’s temperament, it was highly likely he had walked away without sparing a thought for the state Haejin had been left in.
As he writhed, trying somehow to push himself up, Haejin swallowed a sigh. There was no point showing dissatisfaction in this estate. Nothing would change. So he had grown used to swallowing his sighs—sighs that sounded too much like suppressed sobs.
There was no particular reason he had sex in such a miserable state. Lyle had a severe aversion to Omegas. He could not tolerate the idea of an Omega daring to cling to or scratch him during sex. The blindfold existed for much the same reason.
Being handled like a doll—this was all Haejin knew of sex. And this, too, was part of the contract.
He tried for a long while to rise from the floor, but it wasn’t easy. True to a dominant Alpha, Lyle was brutal in bed. Perhaps he was angry at having to mix bodies with an Omega he despised because of his pheromone condition. More often than not, after such encounters, Haejin’s legs would refuse to hold him up.
Today, he had fallen badly and twisted his arm as well. Eventually, after his futile struggling, Haejin lay on his side. He had no strength left in his body.
This was the room designated solely for their intercourse, and once Lyle was finished, he would exit through a different door connected to the shower room. In the early days of the contract, Haejin had often been left overnight on the floor beside the bed.
“Ugh.”
This time, the door on the opposite side—not the shower room—opened. A servant’s voice, thick with annoyance, followed. Apparently, Haejin hadn’t come out quickly enough.
“Fuck. That’s disgusting.”
“……”
As if handling something filthy, the servant untied Haejin’s wrists with visible irritation, then immediately strode out of the room.
Twisting his lips at the familiar contempt, Haejin deliberately removed the blindfold slowly. There was no need to see that look of disgust on anyone’s face.
When he regained his sight a few hours later, the room was, of course, empty.
As it always was.
***
Alpha was the phenotype that symbolized superior genes. Those who possessed the dominant trait often wielded extraordinary beauty as well. It was no surprise, then, that Alphas monopolized the upper classes in nearly every country. Heavy Rain City of Elta State was no different.
Yet even Alphas, superior in every respect, had one weakness: they had to discharge their pheromones periodically. And that discharge inevitably required sexual intercourse with an Omega.
Haejin had originally been a Beta. He manifested as an Omega far too late, at nineteen, and received no proper education about his phenotype. He didn’t know exactly what happened if an Alpha failed to discharge pheromones appropriately. He only knew, from experience, that Lyle grew extremely violent if too much time passed without it. That alone was enough to understand it was necessary.
Normally, an Alpha would simply meet with an Omega as needed. But for some reason, Lyle—who harbored extreme Omega aversion—had sought out an Omega to keep in his estate for regular pheromone discharge.
It was Haejin, desperate for money, who accepted this humiliating contract.
Lyle Vermouth. The sole heir of the Vermouth family, which controlled the economy of the nation. Heavy Rain City, where they resided, housed the Vermouth main estate. And it was there that Lyle Vermouth had employed Haejin.
As befitting a dominant Alpha, Lyle possessed striking good looks. His perfectly tailored suits filled the media almost daily. An Alpha admired not only by Omegas but by Betas as well. Which made his hatred of Omegas stand out all the more sharply.
Back in his own room, after barely managing to wash himself, Haejin climbed onto the bed and curled up. Lyle had returned from a distant business trip, and this was the first pheromone discharge in several days. It made today’s fulfillment of the contract particularly grueling. Lyle had thrust so roughly that Haejin’s legs still throbbed.
It had already been five years since he entered this estate. He called this space his room, but it never once felt like a home. As a result, the room remained perpetually bleak.
“…Hyung, I’m tired.”
He muttered as if complaining to his older brother, who no longer existed in this world. He should have acted more spoiled while his brother was alive. Regret, no matter how quickly one tried to grasp it, was always too late.
This contract was undeniably degrading. Just as Alphas were superior, Omegas too were a class capable of remarkable genetic excellence. To reduce one to a mere tool for pheromone discharge whenever necessary—such a contract was unreasonable.
But Haejin had no choice but to accept it. Without the vast sum he received from it, he could not save his family.
It was nothing more than a commonplace tragedy. The kind that couldn’t even properly win someone’s sympathy.
Haejin’s black hair and black eyes were uncommon in this country. Abandoned at an orphanage at birth, his distinctly foreign appearance prevented him from being adopted until he was over ten years old—an age at which he was forced to understand how cruel and unforgiving the world could be.
He had just begun preparing to stand on his own, starved for affection, when his adoptive parents stepped forward.
The kind couple of the Bright family had long volunteered at the orphanage where Haejin lived. They had always felt a tug of concern for him, and when no adoption was arranged, they decided to take him home themselves.
After the adoption, life was like a dream. Parents who scolded and cherished him like a real son. A brother he could fight with and lean on.
Haejin’s name had been given to him directly by his adoptive parents. Though he was presumed to be of East Asian descent, his exact roots were unknown. Still, after searching diligently, they chose a name in what they believed to be the language of his homeland.
“They say Haejin means sunset.”
“Our family name is Bright, so even after the sun sets, you’ll always shine.”
They spoke excitedly about his name. Later, he learned it wasn’t even grammatically correct—more like something patched together—but Haejin didn’t mind. The mere fact that someone had named him filled him with happiness.
He should have objected then. He should have asked them not to give him a name so full of light. Now, he was closer to fading away than shining.
To celebrate Haejin’s coming of age, the family went out for dinner. On the way, tragedy struck. A truck driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel slammed into their car in an instant.
His brother died holding Haejin in his arms.
His adoptive parents barely survived but fell into a coma that very day. The hospital had long since given up on them. It was Haejin alone who stubbornly kept their fragile lifeline intact.
“Hyung… I’m really tired…”
In a dark, suffocating corner of the estate, Haejin felt himself plummet endlessly. Only after curling into himself beneath the blankets did exhausted sleep finally claim him.
***
The next morning, Haejin woke with a sinking feeling. His condition was poor.
Lyle expected him to remain in perfect physical condition at all times. Being busy, Lyle paid for Haejin’s time so that his schedule could be adjusted at will.
He hadn’t lain long on the cold floor the night before, but ever since the accident with his family, he had grown prone to illness. He needed to restore himself before catching Lyle’s eye and souring his mood.
“Ugh.”
Bruises had bloomed again around his wrists from being bound so long. As he pushed himself up from the bed, a sharp ache made him swallow another groan.
Yesterday, too, Lyle had been especially rough. The urgency of pheromone discharge after a business trip was part of it, but he had seemed particularly irritable. Come to think of it, Lyle’s rut period was approaching. After five years in this house, Haejin had become quick at calculating such things whether he liked it or not.
Not this week, hopefully.
This weekend, he was supposed to visit his parents at the hospital. He couldn’t go often, mindful of Lyle’s temper, but the contract explicitly allowed periodic visits. The hospital bills were never late, and they received top-tier service—thanks to the contract with Lyle.
So he just had to endure a little longer.