The Shadow of the Past

“I need to take this call, I’ll be right back.”

Dae-eon stood up, sliding his phone toward him as the plastic chair screeched harshly against the asphalt.

But the sound didn’t stop with him. Right next to him, another chair skidded back as someone else stood up in unison. Naturally, it was Seon Ji-ha.

With two of the three people standing, Oh Dong-cheol blinked up at them, looking confused. He started to rise awkwardly as well, feeling it would be strange to be the only one left sitting.

Finding himself unintentionally leading a small parade, Dae-eon let out a heavy sigh and sat back down. Seon Ji-ha clearly had no intention of letting Dae-eon out of his sight for even a second. The reason, of course, was that absurd “one-sided imprint.”

But even knowing the imprint made no sense, there was no clear way to solve it. If he dragged Ji-ha to a hospital, he risked revealing he was a Beta; yet if he simply denied it, Ji-ha exhibited severe withdrawal symptoms.

Every time Dae-eon tried to distance himself, Ji-ha suffered from hyperventilation and dizziness so intense he would stagger. These were symptoms Dae-eon had confirmed just this morning before they came to campus. Ji-ha had nonchalantly explained that it seemed to have worsened because they spent the Rut together.

“I’ll just take it here. Keep eating, Sunbae.”

Dae-eon sighed and pressed the phone to his ear, instinctively using his thumb to lower the volume.

If Seon Ji-ha had seen the Imprint Certificate in Dae-eon’s house, he must have seen the name written on it: Do Jeong-min. It was the name of Dae-eon’s uncle—and an Alpha.

Dae-eon sensed that if Ji-ha realized the owner of that name was the one calling right now, things would only get more complicated.

The moment he picked up, a loud voice erupted from the receiver.

—“Yoon Dae-eon! Why did it take you so long to answer?!”

“I’m at school. Why are you calling at this hour, Uncle? Don’t you have work?”

Unlike Dong-cheol, who had resumed eating his tteokbokki, Ji-ha seemed to have lost his appetite. Dae-eon balanced the phone on his shoulder and pushed his own cup noodles toward Ji-ha. Lately, Ji-ha seemed to take great pleasure whenever Dae-eon offered him food.

Meanwhile, his uncle’s voice continued to buzz in his ear.

—“Is work important right now? Huh? Did you just ignore what I told you the other day again?”

“I didn’t ignore it. Why are you so angry today?”

—“……Angry? Who’s angry? I’m the Kind Dr. Do. Kind Dr. Do Jeong-min.”

Hearing the name “Do Jeong-min” over the line, Dae-eon shot a reflexive glance at Seon Ji-ha. Even though the “imprint” was fake, he somehow felt like he was cheating on Ji-ha right in front of him. Dae-eon pulled the phone even closer to his ear.

“What’s going on, Uncle? You rarely call at this time.”

—“That Beta community. That’s what.”

It seemed his uncle had finally uncovered something. Dae-eon had expected as much. His uncle never shared the details of his past, claiming Dae-eon was too young to know, but he often gathered information through old connections.

Those connections seemed to handle more than just information; they likely dealt with the illegal paperwork required for Dae-eon to live as a Recessive Omega.

“……What about it?”

—“The company operating the site is ‘Yes Money’.”

“What’s that?”

Dae-eon had heard the name “Yes Money” in TV commercials. It was a consumer finance company—wasn’t it a private lender?

Predicting that Dae-eon wouldn’t know the specifics, his uncle continued:

—“Back in the 1990s when that Beta community was first created, Yes Money was a front for a massive gang. Most civilians don’t know that.”

As his uncle said, Dae-eon was a civilian. He had no way of knowing that the predecessor of a company that ran mundane TV ads was actually an organized crime syndicate.

—“Do you understand what I’m saying? The Beta community was linked to organized crime!”

Dae-eon struggled to process the information. It was a site meant for Betas to gather—why would a gang be involved? Then, a forgotten fact resurfaced in his mind.

The missing Betas.

—“I did some digging, and most of those missing Betas disappeared through that community. Don’t try to look into the details. The methods they used are too sinister for you to know.”

“Uncle, wait, so you’re saying…….”

—“Yes. That Beta community your parents joined wasn’t built for Betas. It was a trap designed to kidnap them.”

It sounded like a plot from a thriller movie.

To Dae-eon, who had lived his entire life as an ordinary citizen despite being a Beta, it felt completely surreal. He tried to deny it.

“No way……. My parents met there. Uncle, don’t you know that?”

—“No. Your parents didn’t meet there. They lied to you. As for why…… that’s not something to discuss over the phone. Come to the hospital when you have time. Understood?”

Dae-eon was stunned to realize there was still more he didn’t know. In the meantime, his uncle quickly delivered his final warning.

—“Yoon Dae-eon, listen to me carefully.”

His uncle’s voice was unusually rigid.

—“This isn’t just some incident. These people have been systematically kidnapping Betas for a very long time. Even I don’t know where the missing ones went. They could have been sold to some chaebol Alpha or Omega families…….”

Dae-eon suddenly looked at the two people in front of him. Seon Ji-ha was a Dominant Alpha, and Oh Dong-cheol was a Recessive Omega. If he turned his head, he could see countless other trait-bearers walking the streets.

—“Never, under any circumstances, let anyone find out you’re a Beta. You have to be even more careful than you’ve been so far. Do you hear me?”

His uncle pressed him urgently, as if something were about to happen to him this very moment. Having become increasingly protective of Dae-eon since his parents passed away, his anxiety was palpable.

Seon Ji-ha sat there, still watching Dae-eon intently. Dae-eon had intended to ask his uncle about the “one-sided imprint,” but the topic had been completely erased from his mind. Something much larger was waiting for him.

“What are you talking about so suddenly, Uncle? After all this time?”

—“Yoon Dae-eon! You think I’m joking right now?!”

“Don’t get mad……. It’s just strange. It sounds like a movie script.”

—“Dae-eon-ah, Dae-eon-ah, Dae-eon-ah. Haaa…….”

His uncle let out a deep sigh. He seemed to realize how absurd his story sounded. But his tone shifted instantly.

—“You know I used to do similar work in the past.”

“……I don’t know much. You never told me about it.”

—“Right. Because you didn’t need to know. What would a regular person like you do with that information? But why would someone like me, who stayed silent for over ten years, suddenly tell you this now?”

“…….”

His uncle didn’t finish the sentence, but Dae-eon understood immediately. It was because this was no longer just someone else’s story.

It wasn’t a random rumor about gangs and kidnappings anymore; it was something closing in on him personally.

“I just…… I don’t understand. What would be the reason?”

Why kidnap Betas? What could they possibly be used for? The 1990s, when the internet first emerged, wasn’t that long ago. Dae-eon wasn’t born then, but he knew people lived then much as they did now.

—“You’ve heard the rumors. That eating a Beta can make you a Dominant.”

Thump…….

It felt like someone had struck his head with a mallet. His uncle was presenting an urban legend found on the dark corners of the internet as a cold reality.

“……Are you telling me that’s true, Uncle?”

—“I don’t know the truth behind it yet—whether it actually turns someone into a Dominant or not. But I do know that those Ilsan-pa bastards…… I mean, the ‘Yes Money’ guys, wouldn’t be doing this for any good reason.”

Suddenly, a voice he had heard in the past echoed in his head.

“I heard the chaebol families eat rice with Beta blood like it’s a regular meal.”

That ridiculous nonsense… is real? They kidnapped people—Betas—for that?

In truth, Dae-eon had sensed the underlying truth as he listened to Do Jeong-min, but the reality was so unbelievable that he kept trying to deny it.

—“Of course, not every Beta disappeared for that reason. Like your parents…… some died in accidents. But there were dozens of missing persons back then, Dae-eon. Do you understand how serious this is now?”

Dae-eon trembled in silence. He had thought the Beta massacres of the occupation era were ancient history, and that since then, the Beta population had simply dwindled naturally until they vanished.

But realizing that Betas—his own identity—had been erased in such a way sent a sudden wave of terror through him.

“Uncle…….”

—“We’ll talk about the rest in person. Come to the hospital when you can. I’m hanging up.”

Despite Dae-eon’s call, his uncle answered with a sharp, strained voice. He likely sensed Dae-eon’s fear through the phone, but he didn’t offer comfort. Comfort wouldn’t solve the problem.

“Yoon Dae-eon, why do you look like that……? Did your uncle say something?”

Oh Dong-cheol looked at him with worried eyes. Dae-eon, who had been sitting in stunned silence, suddenly stood up.

“I—I have to go first. You go to the lecture hall ahead of me.”

“Dae-eon? Hey, Yoon Dae-eon! Why so suddenly……!”

With a face as pale as a sheet, Dae-eon turned and began to run. Behind him, Dong-cheol’s voice grew fainter and fainter as he fled.