Mad. Mad. That alpha was mad.

There was no other way to explain it, no other way to explain why he kept insisting that YooJin was a wizard or, even more baffling, why he wanted to pair with him.

YooJin had gotten away when the door to the club had burst open and the manager, club workers, and a handful of the alpha’s bodyguards had rushed in. Taking advantage of the chaos, he had quietly made his escape, running out into the streets and had continued to run, slowing down only when he was sure he was safe.

YooJin’s feet suddenly froze in the middle of the sidewalk as he once again remembered the alpha’s proposal and shuddered.

“There’s something wrong with his head,” he mumbled to himself.

Mad. He was mad.

He knew what a socially “attractive” omega was and he was not it. Not small, not pale, not beautiful. He had calluses on his hands, muscles all throughout his body, had never once had his hair cut in a salon, had never once worn clothes that cost more than twenty five dollars. And when he ate too much, he belched gas and let his stomach hang loose.

No, he was not an “attractive” omega but that was how he wanted it.

With the back of his hand, he wiped away the sweat that had formed above his lip and looked back in the direction from which he had run and could see that he was now more than five blocks away. 

Suddenly his pocket vibrated and he jumped. He pulled out his phone and upon seeing the name on the callerID and the three missed calls, he sighed before pressing the call back button.

Ring. Ring.

“Hello?” answered a pleasant, older female voice.

He scratched his arm. “Hello—uh, I received a call—”

There was a pause on the other line before the woman replied, “Mr. Tae?” The tone was sharp, all traces of agreeableness gone. 

YooJin cleared his throat. He looked down onto the pavement, suddenly feeling awkward and his eyes fell on the bare skin of his right leg.

“Mr. Tae, finally,” the woman replied angrily. “Do you know how many times we’ve called you?”

“Uh—” he cleared his throat. “Sorry, I was at work and—”

“No! You said that if any more issues happened, we would be able to reach out immediately. That was a promise given by you, Mr. Tae. I have no more sympathies with your situation.”

“I—”

“AND,” she continued in a shrill voice, “an issue certainly arose! EunHa bit another child today and not just any child, the alpha son of Wonsik Lee, a name even you should be familiar with.”

YooJin winced. He knew. The man was the CEO of a well known construction company.

“And then!” the director went on to say, “she ran away and fell asleep in a tree! A tree! Several teachers were forced to spend hours looking for her in the nearby park. I’ve said this before, Mr. Tae but we simply don’t have the resources to deal with a narcoleptic child, especially not one from the omega class and especially not one who bites!”

YooJin quietly sighed in relief that they had found her but the sound quickly turned into one of frustration. He scratched his head roughly. He would need to talk to EunHa again about biting people and running away. 

He sighed. He had no words to apologize… “Ah, I’m sor—”

“AND need I remind you that we still have not received your payment for this month?”

He grimaced, feeling the weight of all she had told him. “I—”

“It’s too late, Mr Tae. It is the final straw! Come and pick up EunHa immediately. From today onward, she is no longer part of the Sunnyday Kindergarten.”

“Wait” he said suddenly into the phone. “You can’t do that!”

“We can and we just did. We will be placing her outside the gates so I recommend you come and retrieve her immediately.”

He froze. “You can’t just leave a five year old child outside like that! At least have an adult wait with her!”

The voice on the other side paused for a moment before coldly answering, “I feel we have no choice, if I don't do this, I'm not sure you'll even pick her up on time, again wasting our precious resources. And it is my belief that she will be fine… A poor omega child has little value to society. No one will want her.”

YooJin’s grip on his phone tightened dangerously and he could hear the sounds of the plastic case bending in his grasp. There was no way she meant it. The director was not a kind woman but she was not cruel. At least, he hadn't thought she was.

He tried again. “With her condition, she could wander and fall asleep anywhere. She could get hurt…” He gritted his teeth. “Please. Leave someone with her.”

The school director scoffed and, briefly, he recalled a time when she had been friendly and accommodating. “We are not a charity, Mr. Tae. We’ve tolerated too much. You cannot possibly expect my teachers who had already spent countless hours looking for that little… girl to waste any more time on—”

Her voice suddenly cut off.

A scream and then a distant shout come through the receiver.

“Oh my goodness!” It was the director again, her voice high and desperate. “The children! The children! The alpha class first!”

He then heard the clatter of the phone being dropped to the ground.

His blood ran cold. “Hello? Hello? Director Kim! What’s going on? Director Kim!”

But there was no answer, all he could hear were distant frantic footsteps and muffled screams.

With wide eyes, he looked up in the direction of the school. The kindergarten was only a neighborhood away, if he caught a cab, he could get here in five minutes.

He ran to the curb and immediately hailed the iconic orange taxi but just as the car came to a stop in front of him, a large object suddenly struck it in a loud crash, crushing its trunk and completely deflating its back wheels.

For a moment, YooJin simply stared at the car as the driver frantically stepped out and began to yell about the large piece of concrete that had been responsible for the car's destruction. It had seemingly come out of nowhere.

Suddenly a woman screamed, “The building! Oh my god, look at the building.”

YooJin’s head shot up and his gaze landed on a single highrise building that was somehow, inexplicably swaying dangerously from side to side. He froze.

It was the building he had just vacated.

“What’s going on?” came the voice of a stranger.

“That’s the GK building! Why is it doing that?” said another.

“Is it an earthquake?”

“But only that building is moving.”

Another piece of large concrete suddenly crashed to the ground, perilously close to where he and the other bystanders stood.

Screams erupted all around him as people ran away in panic.

YooJin watched as the building continued to sway dangerously, bending deeper with each iteration.

Then his mind suddenly went to Mara, the omega he had abandoned on the floor of that clubroom, and then to that weird, mad alpha… And before he knew it, he took an involuntary step forward, back toward the place he had run from. 

“Oh my god! Oh my god, look at the sky!”

YooJin’s gaze shifted to the sky and immediately, he felt the skin on his arms rise.

The sky was turning a bright, blood red in the middle of a fall afternoon.

“What the hell?” he whispered as he watched the red eat away at the clear blue of the sky that had peaked out at him earlier that day, almost as if it were alive and purposely covering the world in its hue.

He took another step forward when a loud blast erupted from somewhere behind him.

His head whipped around just in time to see a large, tawny colored cloud erupt in the neighborhood where the Sunnyday Kindergarten stood…

His blood ran cold.

EunHa.

…

His feet began to move before he was aware of it.

He ran.

His heart thumped violently within his chest and the soles of his cheap shoes began to wear away with the speed at which he was running. But his legs moved on, his knees bending, his joints turning, his lungs burning.

Six minutes flat, that was how long it had taken him to get to the school grounds. Only a minute faster than if he had taken a car but still, it hadn’t been fast enough.

The two story building, which stood at the center of the neighborhood, was now up in brown dusky flames.

Parts of the brick had been eaten away by the strange blaze, revealing classrooms filled with upturned desks, chairs, scattered books, backpacks, and even shoes. But no children, no teachers, no EunHa.

“EunHa!” he yelled.

But the loud flames swallowed his screams.

“EunHa!” he yelled again, desperately calling his sister’s name.

Sirens burst from behind him and he turned to see a fire truck come barreling through the debris toward him. It stopped several yards from where he stood.

YooJin ran to it as firefighters descended from the truck, unraveling several large hoses and began shooting water at the still burning building.

YooJin noticed immediately that the hoses were aimed only at one part of the structure… the alpha classrooms.

He ran forward and grabbed the sleeve of one of the men, who turned to him in surprise.

“Please, my sister is in there! She’s in one of the classrooms in the back.”

“Get back!” the man yelled and pushed him away.

YooJin tried to grab at the last remaining hose still wound up against the truck. “I just need—!”

But the man, who was far larger than him, pushed him back once more. YooJin staggered slightly before righting himself.

“Get away or we will have you arrested.”

He stared at the men, they were a combination of alphas and betas and he knew then that they would not help him. Their priorities were the alpha then the beta children first. 

For a moment, he watched blankly as the water was forced into the flames in an attempt to douse them.

Ten seconds passed, twenty, then thirty, but nothing changed. The flames did not even flicker.

It was then that he understood that their attempts were fruitless.

More sirens erupted from behind him, but YooJin did not bother to look. Instead, he ran forward, past the firemen, toward the truck and grabbed the handle of a large ax they had left unattended and ran.

He could hear the shout of several firemen behind him but he was already several yards ahead.

He ran faster, his grip tightening on the handle as he stared ahead, toward the direction of the school.

He was mad for even considering it.

But his steps never faltered even for a minute.

It wasn’t as though he even had a choice. If no one was going to help him then…

He raised the heavy tool above his head just as he came upon the large wooden doors of the building. The flames danced in front of him, seemingly mocking him.

He struck down just as his feet touched the first step, instantly shattering the wood.

He retracted the ax, leaving a gaping hole in its wake.

The flames continued to dance but, to his surprise, they did not change at the burst of oxygen he had introduced.

This was not…

He raised the ax and struck down again and again until a large enough hole emerged. Tossing the ax away, he began toward it when suddenly, he felt a hand grab his arm from behind.

He turned around to see the same fireman he had pleaded with earlier staring at him in fury.

“What are you doing?” the man yelled, trying to pull him back. 

He was strong, likely an alpha, but YooJin was desperate.

He pushed the man away, surprise giving him the advantage. The man stumbled back a few feet and stared at him in surprised horror.

“You’re mad–”

He didn’t have to say it. YooJin thought the same.

He gave the man one last quiet look before turning and running into the flames.