─ It's always been like that. Whenever I see an Omega, I will get this little ticklish feeling in my chest. Of course I can't just grab their hand and ask, 'Hey, are you an Omega?' So, I can't say with 100% certainty. In fact, there could've been an Alpha or a Beta among them. But from the ones I've looked into so far, that's always been the case.
─ You did say that when you first saw me.
─ Yeah. So, it's kind of true, right? The more I saw you, the more interested I became.
The reason those words stuck in Jiheon's memory wasn't just the novelty of her phrasing, but also the remarkably impactful situation itself.
Discovering that he was an Omega while he'd been suppressing his pheromones with a chip. The fact that such a thing was even possible was beyond miraculous, downright mind-boggling.
Now, if Jiheon was asked the same question, he'd simply reply, "So what? What's the big deal?"
He thought some Alpha out there might react to even a slight hint of pheromones, and since everyone's sensitivity to pheromones varied, he'd just pass it over lightly, assuming the degree of pheromone secretion was different for each person too.
But that hadn't been the case back then. He'd been more stunned and dumbfounded.
In fact, Jiheon had lived up until then without understanding he was an Omega. No, it was more accurate to say he hadn't realized what it was like to be an Omega.
And Jiheon wasn't alone in that regard. In fact, it had been the norm these days. Unlike in the past, when people experienced their first heat concurrently with their secondary gender manifestation which revealed them as an Omega, nowadays people underwent trait tests since elementary school, and if they were determined to be an Omega, they would use a chip right away.
The chips prevented pheromone release, so naturally, there was no need for them to go into heat, and there would be no Alpha sniffing around, saying, "You're an Omega, aren't you?"
Moreover, there was no way to check the womb in one's belly, making that notion entirely implausible.
Hence, even if someone wasn't initially aware they were an Omega but later had a lover or got married, and they removed the chip for pregnancy or other reasons, they'd experience their first heat belatedly.
As a result, there was an analysis that suggested that the aftereffects of the first heat were more serious in modern times compared to the past. That was because intellectual levels had risen, and more individuals were well-educated. So even if they intellectually understood the symptoms of heat, they struggled to fully accept them as part of their own reality.
The more they thought, "Could a human really go through that? I don't know about other people, but it can't possibly be that bad for me," the more intense their sense of shame when they experienced "a state where logic evaporated, leaving only instinct."
Especially, the later the first heat was, the greater the shock, and in severe cases, it could lead to depression. This explained the surge of professional counseling clinics in recent years.
Anyway, apart from what people said, Jiheon had no intention of having children, so he saw no reason to remove the chip. That way, he'd never go through a heat in his life and never truly experience his Omega traits until he died.
Moreover, his appearance was far from the common Omega image most people held, so he never became a target of uncivilized discrimination. This was why he'd lived believing "he wasn't all that different from a Beta."
