NAME 1

On the way to work, Seowon glanced at his name and photo posted on the bulletin board in front of the company lobby and smiled secretly. Finally, for the third time, he had become the Employee of the Month. He cheered inwardly and headed toward the cafe on the first floor.

“One Americano, please. I have a tumbler.”

He handed his employee ID, credit card, and tumbler to the cafe part-timer all at once. While fiddling with his phone and waiting for the coffee to come out, a text message arrived.

[Web Post: Loan repayment has been completed. Thank you for using KP Bank.]

The moment he saw the text, a hum escaped his lips naturally. It was because he had cleared all his debts by receiving an in-house welfare loan—a benefit usually available only after five years of employment—thanks to being named Employee of the Month three times. If he hadn’t become the Employee of the Month, it was a perk he would have had to wait more than another year to enjoy.

‘This is really great.’

The amount in the hundreds of millions that he had borrowed to get a house was resolved in one go. It wasn’t that the debt had completely vanished, but rather that he had simply switched loans; however, the in-house welfare loan was interest-free, and the principal repayment was deferred for three years. Even after three years, he only had to pay it back little by little each month, as much as he could handle. Of course, it came with the prerequisite that he continue working at the company.

“Your coffee is ready.”

“Thank you. Have a good day.”

Seeing Seowon greet them with a clear smile, the part-timer also smiled back. Holding the heavy tumbler, Seowon stood in front of the elevator among company employees who were suffering from fatigue and regret over the weekend that had already ended.

“Good morning.”

On Monday morning, the office atmosphere was a bit different from last week. Everyone seemed restless. While Seowon placed his tumbler on his desk and took off his jacket, Assistant Manager Seo, who sat right next to Seowon, leaned in close and whispered.

“Assistant Manager Jung, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“They say a new Team Leader is coming today.”

“Ah, really?”

There had been talk that a new Team Leader was coming to Sales Team 3 since about a month ago. Since the previous Team Leader had left the company as if being chased out due to an unsavory incident, the atmosphere had been bad for a while, so the office employees seemed to be looking forward to a new face.

“Is that so? That’s good. We can’t keep the position vacant forever.”

“I thought you’d be really surprised, but you’re not surprised at all. How boring.”

“It’s not like I didn’t know at all, and rumors have been circulating constantly. Someone from above needs to come in quickly so we can have some breathing room.”

“I suppose… after Team Leader Hong left like that, we were so… Ah, we decided not to talk about that, right? Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of person comes. I really hope a good person comes.”

“I agree.”

Seowon chimed in appropriately and then opened the lid of his tumbler. While the hot coffee cooled, he booted up his computer. The company name appeared on the laptop screen and monitor simultaneously. SAMIN, Samin Electronics. It was the company Seowon had been attending for four years.

“…”

Sipping his coffee, he checked the work he had to do today and launched the in-house messenger and Katalk. He changed his messenger status to ‘Working’ and carefully read the notices that popped up. It was a kind of warming-up process to start work in earnest. Moving his eyes and the mouse wheel, Seowon took a thermometer out of his drawer and put it in his mouth.

37.3°C

There was a lingering regret that he wished the fever had dropped more, but it was a decent figure considering he had suffered from a high fever all weekend. He would manage to endure today somehow. Just in case, however, he even took out pheromone deodorizer and suppressants. He lightly sprayed the deodorizer on his wrists and around his neck and swallowed the suppressant with a sip of coffee.

Seowon had a constitution where Omega pheromone suppressants didn’t work well. If one assumed the effect others saw was about 90, Seowon was affected by only about 10 at most. However, thinking that 10 was better than 0, he always made sure to take them on days when his condition was poor.

The meeting originally scheduled for Monday morning was postponed until tomorrow. It was decided to hold it after the new Team Leader arrived. Since a change in superiors is almost like changing jobs, Sales Team 3 was in a disarray all morning.

While everyone else looked somewhat unstable, Seowon was the same as usual. His dress shirt was pulled tight with almost no wrinkles, his tie was fastened perfectly, his back was held straight, and his fingernails were without a single hangnail.

Renowned for his clean handling of work enough to be selected as Employee of the Month, Seowon’s appearance was also clean and, furthermore, elegant. He was far from the ‘pretty and flashy’ Omega image that people usually imagined, but Seowon’s appearance, as clean as freshly opened bottled water, was enough to make one accept that he was an Omega.

“Assistant Manager Jung, are you busy now? Could you take a look at this?”

“Yes, just a moment.”

In Sales Team 3, where the majority were Betas, Seowon was undoubtedly a standout presence. It was partly because of his trait, but also because of his brisk and kind attitude. No matter how notoriously ill-tempered a boss or client he met, Seowon always calmly persuaded the other party with a peaceful posture. In particular, his face when he smiled faintly had a way of making the other person feel comfortable.

“Ah, so it was this. I missed this. Thanks, Assistant Manager Jung.”

“That can happen. Still, I’m glad we found it quickly.”

After granting Assistant Manager Seo Ji-yeon’s request, Seowon returned to his seat and finished his morning work. There were about 30 minutes left until lunchtime. After stretching long and lightly patting his stiff shoulders, he accessed the company website.

[Notice of Personnel Appointments for the 3rd Quarter]

The notice at the top of the board caught his eye. Since information about the Sales Team 3 Team Leader would also be written there, Seowon drained the remaining coffee in his tumbler and clicked the notice. It seemed there were quite a few personnel movements this quarter, so he turned the mouse wheel steadily, and then, a name caught his eye.

Baek Kanghyun

Thump. In an instant, his heart sank. His fingers stopped, and the surrounding sounds vanished completely. Baek Kanghyun. He had only seen the name, but a chill seeped into his very bones. How… this person… His eyes, staring at the name written in Gothic font, shook helplessly.

<Sunbae, do you know my name?>

<Why ask something like that all of a sudden?>

It was the name of the person Seowon had once loved desperately, but who had ultimately torn Seowon to shreds. The man’s voice, both sweet and cruel, lingered vividly in his ears. To think the day would come when he would see this name again…

Even though it could be a person with just the same name and not the person he knew, the seeds of anxiety sprouted quickly and burrowed into Seowon’s body. Before he knew it, he rubbed his cheeks, which had grown hot with a flush, and nibbled on his lips.

‘No, it won’t be that person.’

Trying hard to deny that such a dog-like coincidence could exist, he cupped his heated nape. A sweet scent even began to crawl up along his shirt collar. To think his temperature would rise and even his pheromones would leak just from seeing three letters of a name.

Damn it. Seowon bit back a curse and stepped out of the office for now.