Born to Be a Secretary

Professor Hong even took off her glasses and unleashed all the anger she had been holding in. She banged on the desk, banging! banging! shouting loudly about how one of the joys a genetic Omega should have—the heat cycle—was something they didn’t even know how to enjoy.

“Professor, please calm down.”
“Get up.”
Before Heewon could react, Kwon Youngjae stepped forward and shoved his arm under Heewon’s armpits, forcibly pulling him to his feet. Even as he dragged the stunned Heewon toward the door, Professor Hong’s reprimands continued.

“Both of you just try asking me for suppressants again!”
Bang. The door slammed shut fiercely. Several eyes turned toward the two who had almost been kicked out of the exam room. Kwon Youngjae immediately shook off the arm he was holding.
“When exactly is your heat cycle?”

“Around November 5th.”
“Planning to take a vacation?”
Heewon rubbed the upper arm still aching from the firm grip and cast a sideways glance. It wasn’t that he was curious about his own heat cycle, more like confirming the schedule.

“Yes. That’s the plan.”
“Do you have a partner?”
“…Executive Director, that’s a private matter, so it’s difficult to say.”

No matter how much they knew each other’s affairs, Heewon wasn’t shameless enough to spill every detail about his sex partner to Kwon Youngjae. In fact, he didn’t even have a partner yet.
Drawing a clear line, Kwon Youngjae was silent for a moment. A circular mark from his tongue briefly appeared and vanished as he licked the dry skin on his cheek.
“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll manage fine.”

“……”
“Taking the vacation is fine, but make sure everything is perfectly prepared so nothing goes wrong while you’re away. I don’t want a repeat of the chaos last time.”
His pointed comment made it clear his absence before had been quite a nightmare. Heewon responded respectfully.

“I’ll prepare thoroughly so there’s nothing for you to worry about, Executive Director.”
“……”
Though he gave the answer he wanted, the irritated gaze he received was hard to stomach.
Feeling embarrassed, Heewon nervously fiddled with his fingers, but Kwon Youngjae turned his back sharply and left. His long legs took strides quickly, putting distance beyond reach.

“What’s got him in a bad mood again?”
Heewon muttered to himself, quickening his pace. Of all things, the Executive Director’s mood was the most nerve-wracking. Worries about the heat cycle couldn’t possibly take priority over that man’s notoriously difficult temperament.
★☆ Heat Partner, 20s A-Grade Alpha

Always on standby!
An Alpha who will melt you d.i.r.e.c.t.l.y will arrive within 15 minutes! ☆★
“Ah, honestly, the slogans are so lame I can’t stand it.”

Heewon sighed irritably while looking at the garish words flashing on the monitor screen. What the hell is this, some cheap sleazy business? Why is it so tacky?
It wasn’t like this when searching for Kwon Youngjae’s rut partners… Of course, that was a VIP-only site, so starting from Omegas, every phrase registered had to be high-class. But even if Heewon wanted to use that site himself, he couldn’t just spend tens of millions of won in one night.
He was roughly searching for famous brokerage sites, but everything that came up was like this. Did all the A-grade Alphas die? Everywhere he looked were just muscle-heads with nothing but big bodies.

How are they supposed to melt you hot? Judging by the awful ratios and half-formed faces, even a millennium of heat cycles would cool off. And he had to pay money and give up his ass to these people? Whoever runs this site had a nasty mind.
“Well, I guess it keeps going because there’s demand?”
Whether viral marketing or real user reviews, the site had hundreds of feedback posts. All were satisfied. Heewon scrolled down and saw a large photo labeled “Best Choice of the Month” showing an Alpha.

“Damn it, really…”
Unable to bear it any longer, he closed the window.
He threw his laptop aside and flopped onto the sofa. Resting his head, he thought deeply. Was the world just being unfair to him, or was his standard too high?

Well, staring at Kwon Youngjae’s face all day, it was natural his eyes got higher. And was that taste anything but refined? Having followed him like a faithful dog and enjoyed all the good and expensive things, it was natural he wouldn’t be satisfied with just average.
“Get a grip, Heewon. You’re not a landlord yet.”
He spoke to himself in a weary voice. It was a rare biweekly holiday, so there was no need to ruin the mood over this.

Just as he was thinking the brokerage sites were hopeless and that he needed to find another method, his phone on the table suddenly buzzed.
“……”
He stared at the name on the screen and wiped his face long. Ha, a deep sigh escaped.

“Yes, Executive Director.”
Secretary Kim, why don’t I have the Genorix CMO contract?
Suppressing the urge to say “Are you resting well? Isn’t it nice it’s a holiday today?” Heewon squeezed out a bright tone.

“One moment, I’ll check.”
He went into his room and rifled through his briefcase. The documents Kwon Youngjae was looking for were all still inside. He had handed him several papers just before parting yesterday, but it seemed the important contract was missing.
It was his fault, so he had nothing to say. Heewon rubbed his furrowed brow and said.

“I have it. I’ll bring it to you now.”
I’ll come, so just leave it.
“…You’re coming?”

I’m not rude enough to tell someone resting to come or go.
Is it really normal to visit someone’s house like that...? Heewon blinked without replying. The call ended abruptly, as was typical of Kwon Youngjae.
Heewon picked up the contract and strolled to the living room. Since Kwon Youngjae was coming, first things first, he needed to clean the house.

“Anyway, people really know how to be a nuisance.”
After tidying the messy house and airing it out, the doorbell rang. That was fast. Since the only person who could come was Kwon Youngjae, Heewon didn’t even check the intercom and opened the front door.
“Executive Director, you came early…”

“Hello, I’m from unit 802.”
The person standing outside was not someone Heewon knew well. Or rather, he was familiar but had no connection to Heewon.
“I’m not a suspicious person.”

The man politely lifted the brim of his cap to show his face. The deeply pressed hat shifted, revealing a handsome face. Not suspicious at all, clearly the popular Alpha actor Woo-sung these days.
“Oh, yes. Hello.”
“It’s just that a package meant for me seems to have been sent here. Could you check for me?”

He spoke politely, raising his index finger. The entrance was piled high with unopened packages waiting to be sorted.
“Oh, yes! Please come in.”
“Excuse me.”

As the door slammed behind him, the cold outside air pushed inside. Mixed in it was a sensual body scent that made Heewon pause briefly while sorting through the packages. The man seemed to habitually emit pheromones.
The contrast between the man’s calm demeanor and Heewon’s nervousness was amusing, so he busied his hands again.
“If I’d sorted [N O V E L I G H T] them right away, you’d have known, but I’ve been busy, so they piled up like this.”

“Same here. I was away for a long time on overseas shoots, so I just got around to finding them.”
On the box at the very bottom, the name Han Jinseo and unit 802 were written. Heewon straightened and handed the package to the man.
“This is yours, right?”

“Oh, yes. Thank you.”
“Glad you found it.”
The man smiled, showing neat teeth. Damn, he’s pretty handsome. Heewon smiled back without meaning to. By his standards, this was an A-grade Alpha. Or maybe A+?

Thinking that celebrities really had a different aura, Heewon was watching for the right moment to open the door when the man unexpectedly didn’t move to leave. His face half-hidden by the brim tilted slightly.
“By the way… weren’t you a Beta?”
“Excuse me?”

“I was sure you were a Beta… I heard that from a licensed realtor.”
The man, Han Jinseo, had moved into this villa just over a year ago. Since he was a famous celebrity, he must have carefully checked who lived nearby and whether they had Omega traits.
Having a young Beta neighbor must have been reassuring. Though not really his fault, Heewon felt a bit sorry. He explained honestly.

“I recently manifested. It’s a bit late, isn’t it?”
“Oh.”
“If it’s uncomfortable for you…”

“No, not really.”
Han Jinseo beat him to it. What’s to be uncomfortable about, accompanied by his charming smile.
Come to think of it, it was the first time in over a year of being neighbors that they’d spoken. They had passed each other briefly, but mostly had not even exchanged glances.

It probably wouldn’t change much going forward, maybe just greetings. Celebrities and regular people didn’t have matching rhythms, so there was no need to pay special attention.
They awkwardly smiled at each other, unsure how to end the conversation, when suddenly the sound of the door lock keypad pressing was heard. Heewon’s eyes widened and he swung the door open.
“…What.”

Kwon Youngjae muttered in surprise.
No, the surprised one is me. How does he know the code to my house? Contrary to expectations, all Heewon could manage was dumbfounded sounds like uh and er.