An Alpha-Only Line They Can’t Cross

“The tide has turned.”

A situation was arising where he had to sign the contract immediately.
While Cha.N’s fans, feeling fatigued, were cursing the debut lineup, as they say, haters create fans.
Oddly, many people had started defending the debut lineup.

Their faces weren’t even properly known.
The only video or photo material was from brief moments dancing on Cha.N’s stage.
But fans were already squeezing every last drop from those small glimpses.

The problem was that most fans had inserted Hanbyeol into the mix.
People were even starting to quietly link photos of Taeha.

No wonder the company was turning up the heat to pull in Hanbyeol and Taeha.
They absolutely couldn’t give up on this buzz.
No matter what the debut number was, giving up on two people with this much buzz was like lowering their chances of success from the start.

“Taeha’s name is only just starting to come out, so he can be excluded.”
“If he refuses himself, that’s it.”

They wanted to bring Taeha in for the chance of success.
Taeha’s situation was different from Hanbyeol’s.

Moreover, if they checked the relationship between Taeha’s former agency and the current StarV debut lineup members, the company would likely stop mentioning anything about trainees.

“Brother.”
“Do you still have to take medication for a long time?”
“Huh?”
“The pheromone medication.”
“I’ll be fine soon.”
“My schedule has lightened up a lot, so my condition is okay.”
“The pheromone leakage is gradually getting under control.”
“I just need to go to the hospital a couple more times.”
“About a month then.”
“I don’t have to fill the full three months for this work, right?”

The deadline was now one month.
Around the time Hanbyeol would become an adult.
The terms the company presented while casting Taeha were also for a debut in the first half of next year.

If it gets delayed longer than that, the company will probably give up on including them in the debut lineup first.
Most companies debut junior groups with a 1-2 year gap.
If it’s delayed more than that, the debut will just fizzle out.

As for the contract staff activity, he just needed to not extend it.
He could use the reason that he got into university.
Though university applications haven’t even started yet.

“……Hanbyeol-ah.”
“That’s a reason you can only use if you get accepted into university.”
“Shut up…”

Don’t you know whose fault it is that my condition got wrecked?
Hanbyeol’s gaze coldly pierced Yuseong.

“It’s fine.”
“They can’t put you in that lineup.”
“Why?”
“Because they… they’re all Alphas.”
“……Huh?”

Hanbyeol’s eyes grew round.

The company didn’t know Hanbyeol’s dynamic.
Only Cha.N’s members knew.

It wasn’t that they wanted to know.
But because Yuseong used Hanbyeol as an excuse to hide his own dynamic, they were forced to learn.
However, since Hanbyeol never revealed it himself, the members also didn’t tell others that Hanbyeol was an Omega.

Discriminating by dynamic was something only older folks stuck in outdated thinking did.
But its influence lingered.
So revealing someone else’s dynamic without their consent was problematic.

“Alpha dynamic… idols?”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t that a really old, like… 20-year-old idol concept?”
“Exactly.”
“Will it work?”

Must be retro.
At Yuseong’s answer, Hanbyeol shook his head side-to-side.

It was a combination unlikely to succeed from the start.
Maybe during the era of Alpha superiority complexes.
But nowadays, when people don’t care much about Alpha or Omega, they’re more constrained by gender than dynamic.

Honestly, if he’s handsome, he’s oppa.
What does it matter if he’s Omega or Alpha?

Fans were especially like that.
Because even for Omegas, physique, height, looks, etc., are influenced more by gender genes than dynamic genes.

Of course, prejudices like ‘Alphas are like this, Omegas are like that’ exist.
But even those have largely disappeared in the entertainment industry.

Honestly, even for Hanbyeol, he only looked soft and gentle next to the sharper-featured Yuseong.
When alone, people often said he was handsome rather than having the delicate lines associated with Omegas.

“Honestly, just looking at my brother, it’s obvious.”
“People say the vibe is Alpha or whatever, but that’s just because of his old image…”

Taeha nodded.

Well, if it’s the Alpha image people imagine, Taeha before them was the most representative.
Tall height, overall sharp features or build, etc.…

“Well, in the case of that group’s leader, he has soft lines even though he’s an Alpha, right?”
“True.”

Hanbyeol, who had unconsciously been checking Taeha’s appearance, nodded at those words.

“Yunsoo hyung is taller than Danyeong hyung, and Yunsoo hyung looks fiercer, right?”

He looked like a bear.
But seeing how quiet he was, his personality matched a gentle bear.

Hanbyeol momentarily reminisced about the past.
He remembered how proud he felt when the people who stood out since the program debuted alongside his brother.

But, as juniors?
A group from this agency?
That’s nonsense.
Hanbyeol only checked articles about who debuted from other seasons besides his brother’s.

However, Hanbyeol thought his own view was similar to the fans’.
Because Cha.N fans recognized groups from other seasons of the same program more as rivals than as agency juniors.

“Juniors, my foot…”

It seemed they wanted to gather fans who like Alpha idols using the reason that Cha.N has no Omegas.
But then their target would be different.

Back then, because controversies surrounding Omega idols were big, they simply excluded Omegas.
Only those with the best skills survived.

Few Betas survived, making it an ‘Alpha edition.’
But honestly, the editing direction gave all sorts of narratives and spotlights to the Alpha contestants.

“I wondered why they made the program an Alpha edition.”
“Turns out it was the company’s taste.”
“Haha…”

Hanbyeol was currently at the academy’s studio with Taeha.
They needed to let misunderstandings pile up around them deliberately.
So Hanbyeol had requested Taeha to record a guide vocal for a song he made.

“But, Taeha-ya.”
“Will working together like this also help spread the trainee rumors?”
“If it were another agency, it might not have swayed them much.”
“But the counterpart is StarV.”
“Because their care is sh*t and their taste is old?”
“Mm…”

Moreover, the concepts the company pushed or the title tracks were so tacky that fans noticed right away.
To the point that fans said they skipped songs without member names in the composition/arrangement credits even before listening.

Anyway, because of that, the agency officially claimed to be self-producing.
They forced members to be involved.
This made it perfect for planting stories like Hanbyeol taking on that role.

By the way, it seems even if there’s no one around, it’s a bit much to openly diss.
Hanbyeol felt sorry for Taeha.
He had habits ingrained from long trainee life.
I don’t even do recordings like this for you…

“But, Taeha-ya.”
“Didn’t you know those people were Alphas when you were at your former agency?”
“Not at all…”
“Actually, that agency didn’t care about dynamics.”

Like most entertainment agencies, they said it was a place that only checked the trainees’ gender.
And Hanbyeol thought that was correct.

Since most of the population are Betas, trying to form a team by further dividing them into Alphas or Omegas would be difficult.
Not being able to do anything because of your dynamic was no different from discrimination, something to be avoided.

Of course, there were cases where different dynamics debuted.
They defied the extreme population odds, becoming topics, or conversely, causing a stir.

Also, when members of different dynamics debuted, even if it cost more, they would split dorms.
Or, if their home was in Seoul, sometimes they would just commute from home to schedules.

“Where did you hear about that?”
“It’s a story that circulates quite a bit among trainees.”
“Trainers or people from other companies pass it on.”
“I heard that for groups that debuted not long ago and haven’t specified the members’ dynamics, if they split dorms, the probability is roughly 50%.”
“Well, pheromones do affect each other quite a bit.”
“Even if it’s not heat or rut, living together and having cycles around the same time can cause problems.”
“Yeah, probably…”
“But even considering that, is gathering only Alphas possible?”
“It’s a bit more feasible than gathering only Omegas, but…”
“Actually, it’s possible not all members are Alphas.”
“Ah, that’s possible too.”
“People often mistake someone for an Alpha if their impression is sharp or their features are strong.”

He thought that if Yuseong had revealed he was an Omega, he might have been eliminated from the start.

He didn’t know what kind of people were in the company.
But he was gradually guessing that there must be someone among the higher-ups with Alpha superiority beliefs.

Of course, it didn’t matter since he wasn’t going to debut.
Yuseong’s guess that they cast Hanbyeol because they didn’t know his dynamic actually made Hanbyeol happy.

“Brother telling me not to worry was a hint from the start.”
“He said he wouldn’t tell them because I can’t act.”

At Hanbyeol’s lament, Taeha couldn’t bring himself to disagree.

Hanbyeol moved the mouse.
He slightly modified the guide vocal files he had recorded.
Taeha, sitting beside him, blinked.

“But, Hanbyeol-ah.”
“You look really comfortable working on this.”
“I’ve been doing it since I was little.”
“It’s already been seven years, you know.”
“Wasn’t it just composing/arranging?”
“This… adjusting the tone of recorded vocals, you seem really familiar with that too.”
“I improved a bit quickly.”

It’s good to accept compliments well.
As Hanbyeol smiled, Taeha also smiled.