TATMFL - 60

Ra-on’s parents had always been the subject of concerned glances from those around them.

The sole reason was that her mother was an omega and her father a beta.

As a child, Ra-on couldn’t understand why people looked at her family with such pity. Growing up under the care of her kind and beautiful parents, she had lived a blissfully happy life.

‘Phenotype carriers and non-carriers cannot coexist harmoniously.’

It wasn’t until later in her childhood that she overheard whispers about how her parents had married despite fierce opposition from both families.

Yet, their worries proved unfounded as Ra-on’s family thrived together.

Occasionally, her omega mother struggled through heat cycles, relying heavily on suppressants, while her father agonized over his inability to help. Still, they endured. Once the difficult periods passed, their family would return to its usual warmth and harmony.

But the tranquility Ra-on believed would last forever began to crack when she was in sixth grade—or perhaps it had started much earlier.

At some point, her mother began spending long hours sitting silently, staring into space with a melancholic expression. She often gazed wistfully at old family photos and grew quieter, especially in conversations with her father. The change was impossible to miss.

Watching her mother deteriorate, her father became increasingly anxious, desperately trying to hold her attention and keep her close.

Everything felt precarious, like walking on thin ice. One wrong step, and it felt as though they might plummet into an endless abyss.

Around this time, Ra-on began drawing obsessively.

She started with family photos—remnants of happier times—and gradually filled sketchbooks with memories of their happiest moments.

Day after day, without fail, she completed one drawing after another. Some nights, unable to finish, she stayed up until dawn. Her psychological state was fragile, her anxiety manifesting in her relentless need to create.

In every picture, the three of them were depicted happily together.

She presented each drawing to her mother as a gift. But instead of joy, her mother’s face contorted as if suffocating. Even as her young daughter eagerly awaited praise, her mother turned away from the drawings.

Days passed, then weeks, months, and nearly a year.

One day, Ra-on noticed a shift in her mother’s demeanor. The suffocating gloom that once threatened to engulf everyone around her lifted astonishingly quickly. Her mother regained her former beauty and radiance.

Ra-on was overjoyed. Though her mother still paid little attention to her, simply seeing her return to her familiar self brought immense relief.

She hoped their family would soon return to the happiness they once shared.

But within days, that hope shattered.

Her mother left home.

Before departing, she tore apart every single drawing Ra-on had painstakingly created for her.

[“I told you never to end up like this!]

[“An omega, of all things! Look at this—she ran off with an alpha, abandoning her husband and child.”]

[“Omegas can’t survive without alphas. What made you think you, a beta, could handle raising one? Tsk!”]

[“What did this poor child ever do to deserve this?”]

After her mother disappeared, relatives on her mother’s side came knocking, eager to spread gossip.

They berated her father for being foolish and condemned her mother for abandoning her family to start anew with an alpha. According to them, her mother had imprinted with an alpha and was now carrying his child.

Her father collapsed under the shock. From that point on, Ra-on and her father came to live under the care of Hye-sung’s parents. Without their support, Ra-on might have succumbed to panic just like her father.

Time passed, and one day, Ra-on found herself wondering why her mother had torn apart her drawings before leaving. Driven by curiosity, she sought her out.

Finding her mother wasn’t difficult; relatives still loved to gossip about her.

When Ra-on finally saw her, her mother stood beside a man who appeared to be her new husband, holding the hand of a cheerful three-year-old. Her radiant smile, once reserved for Ra-on, now belonged entirely to her new child.

In that moment, Ra-on realized something:

If she were ever to manifest, she didn’t want to become like her mother—an omega dependent on alpha pheromones.

Suddenly, the reason behind her mother’s destruction of the drawings no longer mattered.

---

Ra-on’s blurry vision drifted as fragments of a distant memory lingered in her mind.

But only briefly. A foreign sensation in her arm drew her attention, and she slowly turned her head.

The familiar room greeted her, along with an IV needle inserted into her arm and a connected saline drip steadily dripping: drip, drip.

Her unfocused gaze lingered on the sight as her eyelids drooped, closing and reopening languidly.

It had been a long time since she dreamed of her mother. Perhaps the news of her manifestation as an omega triggered these memories.

“Ah.”

With a faint groan, Ra-on sat up. Her body ached from lying down too long, and every movement sent a sharp twinge through the arm with the IV.

The room was cloaked in moonlit darkness, silent and empty. Neither Do-kyung, with whom she’d last spoken, nor Professor Yang, who must have administered the IV, were in sight.

The silence was profound, broken only by the imagined sound of the saline dripping.

Cradling her knees, Ra-on rested her cheek atop them and murmured softly:

“Omega…”

Like my mother… I’ve become an omega.

Her pupils quivered violently as the realization sank in.

Once acknowledged, the earthy scent she had vaguely sensed earlier grew stronger. It seemed to be her own pheromones.

The fragrance was subtle, almost like perfume, with a calming effect on her weary mind and body. Contrary to her expectations, the pheromones weren’t overwhelmingly dramatic.

As Ra-on breathed deeply, the unease in her chest gradually subsided. Staring out the window, she noted the lingering darkness outside, suggesting she hadn’t been unconscious for long.

“…”

People say that extreme shock can sometimes bring unexpected calm. That was precisely how Ra-on felt now.

Her thoughts returned to her mother, the image from her dream vivid in her mind.

It was widely known that while alphas could survive without omegas, omegas required alpha pheromones to thrive. Omegas were said to exist solely to bask in an alpha’s love, their devotion bordering on blind obedience.

Though modern advancements in suppressants had lessened this dependency somewhat, the fundamental truth remained: omegas needed periodic exposure to alpha pheromones to survive.

Her mother was no exception. In her youth, she may have believed love alone could sustain her, but as time passed, she must have realized happiness required more than affection.

And so, like a neglected flower wilting away, her mother faded from their lives.

That was why Ra-on never wanted to become an omega—to avoid ending up like her mother, blooming vibrantly only under the influence of an alpha.

Yet here she was, an omega.

“Hah.”

Ra-on buried her face between her knees, exhaling a bitter laugh. Her lips pressed tightly together before parting again as her back rose and fell with a deep breath.

Unlike Hye-sung, whose condition was congenital, Ra-on instinctively knew hers was acquired.

She didn’t need to guess when it happened—it was that day. The day Han Do-kyung went into rut.

The contract meant to protect Hye-sung had instead endangered him and transformed her into an omega.

Was there any reason to continue this agreement?

That thought dredged up an old memory.

[“You owe me, Raon.”]

Do-kyung’s voice echoed in her mind, reminding her of the 5 billion won in damages caused by Hye-sung’s debt.

Simultaneously, another voice surfaced—the crude words that had haunted her for days.

[“I’ll stay quiet and protect Hye-sung, and you’ll obediently spread your legs whenever I need you.”]

Staring into the pitch-black night, Ra-on reflected.

Hadn’t she already repaid that debt many times over with everything she’d endured?

The list of grievances was long.

Instead of protection, Hye-sung faced threats from Do-kyung’s rivals, and she herself had been kidnapped. She bore the brunt of an extreme alpha’s rut and emerged as an omega—a fate she had dreaded her entire life—all because of Han Do-kyung.

Considering all that, hadn’t she not only paid off her own debt but also Hye-sung’s?

With that thought, Ra-on tilted her head slightly.

---

Recalling what Hye-sung had done recently, Ra-on carefully removed the IV needle and raised her head to look at Do-kyung.

“Listen, Han Do-kyung,” she said.

“Let’s settle our contract here and now.”