Chapter Text
“Ricky! Over here!”
Ricky heard someone call his name.
He quickly turned his head in the direction of the voice. It was Hao, who is now waving his hand towards the seat in front of him, implying that Ricky should sit there. Meanwhile the seat next to Hao was already occupied by his Alpha mate.
Hanbin.
Ricky always thought the two of them looked like a pair straight out of a fairy tale. They had been friends ever since they were young, liking each other but never really having a special relationship. Or he could say… they were in situationship before.
That, however, changed when they ended up becoming mates later, when Hao as the omega turned 19 years old and he got the mate mark. Which is fortunately the same mark as what Hanbin has. Even though it's been like hell for years because they didn’t dare to go further in their relationship as long as Hao didn’t get his mate mark yet, they found their way now.
Actually the reason why they didn't dare to go further was because of the mating rule that governed the country. They couldn’t dare go any further just in case they weren’t each other’s chosen ones and ended up hurting each other.
The mating rule mentioned was a set of laws regarding relationships between secondary genders. It stated that Alpha and Omega mates were predetermined by the moon goddess from birth. An Alpha could be mated with either an Omega or another Alpha, whereas an Omega could only be mated with an Alpha. This wasn’t the case for Betas, though; they had the freedom to choose their mate, but they could only choose from other Betas.
Although an Alpha’s and an Omega’s mate was determined from birth, they could only recognize who their mate is when the person turned nineteen.
Each Alpha bore a tattoo-like mark behind their right ear. They were born with a mark unique to every other Alpha. This meant that if a baby was born with a mark, they would automatically be recognized as an Alpha.
However, Omegas and Betas are different. They were not born with a mark, so their secondary gender will only known after they took a secondary gender test in their pre-teen age.
Then the Alpha’s mark later became a sign that helped them identify their mate.
Every Omega, after turning nineteen, would develop a mark identical to their Alpha, though the location of the mark is random within their body.
Meanwhile for the Alpha-Alpha pair, they would have each other’s mark. So it would be a double mark on their body, one is their own mark since birth and the other one is their mate’s that will appear when they turn nineteen.
People like Hao and Hanbin were extremely lucky since they ended up being mates with someone they truly want, someone they desire. Meanwhile Ricky…
“Eat your veggies, Ricky.” Hao said, glancing at Ricky’s food tray, which is noticeably lacking in greens.
“I don’t like them,” Ricky answered shortly, keeping it to the point. Hao just clicked his tongue but he continued eating anyway, while occasionally responding to Hanbin’s yap about his class today.
“Ahh, I’m so tired!” A big and tall figure suddenly sat rudely beside Ricky. His hand grabbed the drink on the table—which must have been Hao’s.
Hao quickly took out another bottle. Alongside it, he pulled out a mini fan, turned it on, and handed it to Anton. Ricky sometimes wondered if Hao had a Doraemon-like pocket, always carrying around everything.
“Why?” Hanbin asked, looking at Anton with concern.
“Well…” Anton took a deep breath.
Ricky picked up a tissue from the table and slowly wiped Anton’s sweat, which trickled down his forehead, face, and neck, while listening to him speak about his long day.
“Today’s lab work required me to go back and forth to the laboratory nine times because the practicum results weren’t being approved…” Anton ranted, his voice is quite but everyone can feel his frustation. Ricky relaxed and ignored the cafeteria, where curious eyes widened in their direction.
Why were they staring anyway? He was just helping Anton wipe his sweat, not kissing him.
But well, it was understandable that people found it strange to see an Alpha and an Omega who weren’t mated acting this intimately.
Not to mention both of them also hadn’t met their own mate yet.
At least that’s what people believe.
But for Ricky, he and Anton had no interest in each other! They have been friends since junior high school, for Moon Goddess sake!
“Who’s the professor?” Hanbin asked casually.
“If I told you the professor, would you help me beat him up?” Anton replied. Hanbin grinned widely and shook his head while Anton got up to grab his food.
While they continued their eating, Ricky suddenly overheard the unintentional gossiping of a group of Omegas sitting at a nearby table.
“…It’s already the 25th year, but there’s no sign of who will be the next King…” one of them said.
The word that caught Ricky’s attention was “King”. Because yeah he knew royal life had always been an interesting topic of discussion these days.
“What are they talking about?” Hanbin, who had also heard the gossip, immediately turned to Hao and asked.
“Why are you asking me? Do I look like the type of person who would gossip?” Hao gritted out.
“No, of course not, but you are the most reliable informant here, that’s why I asked,” Hanbin corrected himself. Ricky noticed the corners of Hao’s lips curve up slightly, suppressing a smile. He quickly composed himself, clearing his throat while adjusting his glasses, which had slightly slipped down his nose.
At the same time, Anton settled back into his seat with his food, automatically listening in, knowing that Hao’s demeanor meant there is serious tea to spill.
“So…” Hao took a deep breath.
“…The next King Alpha hasn’t been announced yet, even though this is already the current King’s 25th year in office. So, the people are starting to sensationalize the topic to pressure the King into announcing the successor to the throne. But the royals are still silent on the matter…” Hao explained.
Ricky nodded, starting to understand the matter now.
To be honest, he didn’t have much interest in the royal’s life, but when it came to the successor to the throne, he couldn’t help but be curious too. Because surely the successor to the throne this time would be around his age. He is curious about who the young person would be, who is going to bear such a heavy burden.
Oh right, the King that had been the subject of their conversation is King Alpha Yejun. He is the 28th King of the Wolseong, who had served for almost 25 years and had yet to announce his successor.
King Yejun is notorious for being a very good-looking king. Under his reign, Wolseong had managed to remain in good economic condition for more than two decades. He ruled alongside his mate, Great Omega Hwan, who together allowed society to progress rapidly.
There had been no wars or any form of oppression and marginalization, and more importantly, since the reign of King Yejun and Omega Hwan, Omegas and Betas were treated with equal rights to Alphas. They were not oppressed and mistreated like in the previous reigns of Alpha Kings.
So, Ricky assumed that people were afraid to let the King go since they had been nothing but satisfied with his leadership. That is also probably why they were demanding that the King immediately announce his potential successor so people could decide if the replacement is as worthy and successful as King Yejun.
"Does it always have to be 25 years of reign for each king?" Anton asked. Ricky shrugged, also curious about the answer to that question.
He didn't really like history, so something as trivial as this was unknown to him. After all, he always had Hao, who seemed to know information about the world and everything in it. So why would he waste energy figuring it out himself when he could simply just ask?
"Usually it's around 25 years of reign but not always...." Hao replied.
"...Seven generations ago, there was a King who served for almost 35 years, but that was because the successor wasn’t ready enough to replace him. The successor was still underage so that King should wait until the successor turn 21 years old."
"Well, who knows if that's the case again this time," Anton responded. Ricky nodded in agreement.
"Unfortunately, no. The birth of the next King Alpha always coincides with the Regis Moon, the time when the moon shines with an unusual silver-blue hue. And you know when the last Regis Moon was? It was around 20 years ago. So yes, the next King Alpha is old enough or at least almost old enough to replace King Yejun. Besides, even though they haven't reached 21 yet, usually the palace will announce it at least a year before they turned 21. This is already so late. So yeah… I don't know why it hasn't been announced yet,” Hao explained. His explanation was short, but it made sense.
If one were wondering if the King's successor is his son or someone in his bloodline, the answer to that would be no. The King in this country is not based on the lineage. The King’s Inner Alpha is the one who chooses the next successor. Its choice is not based on bloodline or status, but on who is capable of carrying the burden of the throne. The selection even happens even before the person is born.
And what the Inner Alpha actually chooses is not the person themselves, but the Inner Alpha within them. In other words, it is one Inner Alpha recognizing and selecting another. When the chosen one is eventually born, the one who carries that selected Inner Alpha will become the King’s successor.
And the identity of this heir is always a secret for the public until the palace announced it officially.
"Who do you think it could be?" Ricky asked, in the spur of the moment.
"What?" Hao said, not fully understanding what he was asking.
“The next King Alpha,” Ricky clarified.
“If he is indeed 21 years old or almost 21 years old, doesn't that mean he is in the same age as us?" Ricky continued.
It is ridiculous because there is a possibility that the next King Alpha could be studying at their university. Since he is probably around their age and since their university is the number one university in the entire country, it is high likely that the future King Alpha would study there.
"Who else could it be? It must be Jung Sungchan," Hanbin said matter-of-factly.
“Augh... Augh…” Anton suddenly choked, his hands reaching for Hao's water bottle, again. Meanwhile, Hao and Hanbin started to panic over him. Ricky’s eyes widened, knowing Anton had ordered meatballs. Without thinking, he immediately hit the back of his neck.
BLEARGH…
“Ricky!! That freaking hurts!" Anton shouted. Ricky smirked back at him.
"This is better than dying, right?" he replied casually. Anton just rolled his eyes and continued eating. But Ricky noticed that his eyes were becoming unfocused.
"So why Jung Sungchan?" Ricky asked Hanbin. He could immediately feel Anton moving restlessly beside him. Why has he been acting so weird today?
"Why Sungchan? He is the most powerful Alpha, is he not? Remember in the first year when our class was hunting in the mountains, he managed to bring fifteen large deer? FIFTEEN." Hanbin said dramatically.
Ricky’s memory flashed back to that moment. It was crazy! As far as he knew, a normal Alpha could only hunt five deer at most. Meanwhile Sungchan had hunted three times as much. So, Hanbin's opinion this time is very reasonable.
"That’s not that hard, I could’ve done it too. But all the deer were gone already," Anton replied.
That is true. Anton, at that time, had managed to bring back seven deer. Even though they were not as large as Sungchan’s, Anton still could outpace any other Alpha. If Ricky remembered correctly, Anton had brought seven deer back and then directly handed one of them to him. He had almost blushed at the time!
But he had been foolish. Anton had done that because he didn't have an Omega or another mate. And Ricky, as his only friend who didn't have a mate, was probably his only option. He must have wanted to share it with Ricky for that reason.
"Um, but it can be Gyuvin too." Hao suddenly chimed in. Now it is Ricky’s turn to be silent and restless.
He froze. Oh, that name...
His mate’s name. The Mate that he would never admit to, the Mate that he couldn't resist. If it were possible, he would break this fated bond, because he don't want it.
Kim Gyuvin…