Born to Be a Secretary

[Secretary Kim, hey. This is Executive Director Kwon Youngho. When you have time, how about grabbing a drink together?]
“Crazy bastard.”
Seeing the sudden message, Heewon muttered under his breath. Not worth the bother, he deleted the text cleanly.

He hurried to get ready to go out. Im Jaekyu had arrived ten minutes earlier and was already nagging him to come out. Heewon quickly dried his damp hair roughly and headed to the front door. All he carried was his wallet and phone. His outfit was simple, like someone just stepping out for a quick errand.
The May night air was warm. The breeze touching his skin was gentle, and the faint scent of flowers enriched the pleasant spring atmosphere. Heewon put both hands into his trouser pockets and walked down the hill. The neighborhood’s only convenience store was three minutes away on foot.
In front of the store stood a few small, shabby tables. The space was arranged for quick meals or drinks, but in reality, locals rarely ate or drank outside on the street here.

Im Jaekyu was already occupying one of the tables and crushed a beer can in his hand as he saw Heewon approaching casually.
“Damn, this pisses me off for real.”
“Why the cursing as soon as you see me? Office workers have way too much anger.”

“You’re just lazing around? Your face looks way too shiny.”
Heewon smiled crookedly. The flesh around his eyes thickened as he flashed a killer smile. Im Jaekyu sighed in disbelief. Damn, he’s a full Omega now. He muttered to himself.
While Heewon pulled out a plastic chair and sat down, Im Jaekyu slapped down a soju bottle and a bottle of beer on the table. He also threw a black plastic bag in the middle with a casual ‘picked this up on the way’ tone. Curious, Heewon took out what was inside. The container held small, round rice cake balls.

“What’s this?”
“Daegu honey rice cakes.”
“Oh, I’ve seen that on SNS.”

“They say giving an extra rice cake to the hated one, so I stood in line to buy it.”
Though he grumbled, Im Jaekyu’s actions were quite thoughtful. He carefully peeled the packaging and stuck a small wooden fork in so Heewon could eat easily. Proudly, Heewon popped a rice cake in his mouth. The chewy glutinous rice was slathered in brown sugar syrup, giving a pleasantly sweet flavor.
“Tasty.”

“Eat up, you bastard.”
“I told you I’d buy something fancy. Why drink at a convenience store?”
“Not being considerate! It’s barely been since you manifested, and you expect to go to bars full of Alphas? You don’t know how scary the world is, do you?”
“Jaekyu, you’re kind of conservative, huh?”

Heewon laughed lightly. Im Jaekyu probably thought of him as a just-hatched chick.
Though there was truth in Im Jaekyu’s words, Heewon had already mastered pheromone control perfectly. Besides, he was a dominant Omega. Smelling Alpha pheromones didn’t make his legs weak or make him lose control. Unless some malicious Alpha bombarded him with pheromones—though he doubted such lunacy existed.
Im Jaekyu opened the soju bottle and poured the first shot into a paper cup, though still watching with suspicion.

“Can I drink?”
“Just like you always do. Treating me like an Omega is weirder.”
Heewon casually picked up the cup, clinked it lightly, and downed it in one gulp. The bridge of his nose crinkled involuntarily. He followed with a sip of beer.

Watching him, Im Jaekyu drank as well. Though still doubtful, he seemed more relaxed than before.
“Hey, is the company still in chaos?”
“Still? Isn’t it about time to settle down?”

“The gossip’s online too. The secretary who served the dominant Alpha manifested as an Omega, anonymous but definitely not a prank. Views have exploded.”
“You can guess what kind of comments.”
Heewon clicked his tongue bitterly. No doubt most were nonsense, and many would be lewd. That’s how anonymous forums work.

“What others say doesn’t matter.”
“You sound too calm. That’s so like you.”
“The hard part’s over. Now I’m just busy minding my own business.”

Heewon refilled his cup. Drinking fast, the soju bottle emptied quickly. Im Jaekyu clinked his cup out of habit.
“So, what will you do for a living?”
“Well, maybe something I can do from home?”

“Don’t do crypto, I told you.”
Heewon laughed and leaned back. The hard plastic chair gave no bounce but held him as he leaned. The thin chair legs wobbled. He shook the chair playfully and said,
“I’m going to slack off for exactly one year. I’ve been working nonstop.”

“Fair enough.”
Im Jaekyu tore open a snack bag and agreed. As a colleague, Kim Heewon was impressive. How could someone devote themselves so completely to a company—or to Executive Director Kwon?
Lost in thought, Im Jaekyu cautiously asked,

“Hey, nothing happened between you and Executive Director Kwon, right?”
“Jaekyu, if you’re going to ruin the mood, go home.”
Heewon frowned and, with a dry mouth, reached for his drink.

“Really nothing?”
“Just the fact you’d ask that makes me wonder.”
“Seriously, swear to God?”

“……”
Invoking God made Heewon hesitate. After all, he was irreligious. A little lie wouldn’t send him to hell.
“Absolutely not.”

“Ugh… why do I keep having weird feelings?”
Im Jaekyu’s feet trembled against the floor. The vibrations traveled through the table to Heewon, who crossed his legs uneasily. Im Jaekyu had good intuition. It was urgent to divert his attention.
“Jaekyu, have some drink.”

“Huh? Okay.”
“I know what you’re thinking, but no. My dominant Omega manifestation was just nature’s course.”
“Dominant?”

Im Jaekyu sensed something odd and asked again.
“You’re a dominant Omega?”
“…Yeah.”

“Why?”
“Why ask that kind of question?”
Heewon looked straight at Im Jaekyu. The latter looked completely baffled, blinking and scanning him up and down.

“Well, dominant Omegas are all…”
“……”
“People on TV look pretty and delicate. So small they fit in one’s arms, like dolls.”

“So what’s your point?”
“Our Heewon just didn’t get those perks…”
Sitting casually with his legs crossed, Heewon looked nothing like the typical dominant Omega. Honestly, he hadn’t changed at all from when he was Beta.

That’s not to say Heewon was unattractive. His well-shaped features, like finely carved jade, were known since he joined. When people said “the pretty and handsome ones from class 35,” everyone thought of Kim Heewon. He was handsome rather than doll-like.
He was slim and lean, but at 179 cm tall, taller than Im Jaekyu. Simply put, Heewon was quite far from the dominant Omega stereotype Im Jaekyu knew.
Heewon narrowed his eyes.

“Oh, so you’re saying I don’t look like a dominant Omega?”
“…Yeah.”
“Then what, you expect me to keep growing cells here?”

“Right? Probably.”
“The Omega buff’s nothing special. Lost all my muscles, that’s about it.”
Heewon stretched out his crossed legs to prove his point. Indeed, his long legs exposed below his shorts looked slimmer than before.

Im Jaekyu stared at Heewon’s bare legs carefully. His gaze lingered, fascinated by the smooth skin.
“Hey… what happened to your legs? Not a single hair? Shaved?”
“Oh, right. Leg and armpit hair’s all gone too. I’m like porcelain now.”

“Damn it, who asked?”
Heewon burst out laughing. Since things had come this far, he grabbed Im Jaekyu’s head and pulled him close to sniff.
“No! But you’ll be curious, so just smell once.” A childlike tussle broke out.

At that moment, a sedan entered a quiet alley. The sleek car clearly belonged to someone important. Driving slowly, it suddenly stopped in front of the convenience store, and the rear door flung open.
From inside, a pair of legs wrapped in a black suit stretched out. Kwon Youngje stepped out and slowly walked toward the convenience store. The sound of his polished shoes striking the ground echoed loudly.
Im Jaekyu noticed his presence first. His eyes widened in shock, and he waved his hands wildly.

“Hey, hey, Kim Heewon! Wait a sec!” He pounded on Heewon’s arm, which was entwined tightly like a coil, but Heewon was oblivious and busy joking around.
Suddenly, Heewon’s T-shirt was grabbed and yanked. The force was strong enough to drag ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) the chair beside him sideways. The fragile plastic chair scraped the floor with an unpleasant sound, and a gulf of distance opened between Im Jaekyu and Heewon as if an uncrossable river had formed.