Choi Taeyang was born into power. The son of Choi Hyunsik, a commanding alpha and CEO of one of Korea’s largest conglomerates, and Han Jiwon, a gentle omega with the heart of an artist, Taeyang’s very existence was once hailed as the perfect union of strength and grace. For a short time, his home was filled with warmth—his omega father’s piano echoing through grand halls, his alpha father’s presence steady as stone.

But that warmth did not last. His omega father, unable to endure the gilded cage of wealth and Hyunsik’s growing coldness, left when Taeyang was still a child. His absence carved an emptiness he learned never to acknowledge, and from that day forward, it was Hyunsik’s hand that guided him.

Hyunsik was not cruel. But he was demanding, unbending, and emotionally distant. His love came in the form of expectations: grades to be earned, skills to be sharpened, appearances to be maintained. Taeyang grew up learning that affection was not given freely, but strength was rewarded.

By adolescence, Taeyang had proven himself a worthy heir—charismatic, sharp, and disciplined. Yet fate marked him with a secret that could unravel everything: his secondary gender revealed itself late, not as an alpha, not even as a beta, but as a recessive omega. For many in their world, such a revelation might have been scandal. For Hyunsik, it was simply another test. “It does not matter,” his father said once, his voice a steel-edged whisper. “Be a man of worth. Do not use it as an excuse.”

So Taeyang learned to bury it. He masked his scent with suppressants, carried himself with quiet authority, and cultivated a reputation that led most to believe he was a recessive alpha or beta. On campus, he rose to leadership, admired for his poise, his ability to stand firm, his calculated charm. Whispers of favoritism trailed him, inevitable with his family name, but he wore them lightly, neither flaunting nor denying the privileges his status granted.

Romance, when it came, was fleeting. A beta who said he was too closed off. An alpha friend who wanted intimacy he couldn’t offer. A confident classmate who lost interest when she realized he wouldn’t cross certain lines. Taeyang never mourned the endings for long. He told himself he was too busy, too focused. Yet in the quietest parts of his heart, he carried a secret tenderness: the hope that somewhere, somehow, soulmates existed.

Now, in his final year of university, Taeyang stands at the threshold of the life prepared for him. The heir of Choi Hyunsik. The student leader admired by peers. The young man who has never once faltered in the face of expectation.

But beneath the polish, a storm stirs. His body, long quiet, begins to betray him in ways he cannot explain. And as he sits late in the library one winter night, chasing knowledge instead of sleep, fate knocks quietly on the door—heralding a future he never thought possible.