1st EGO (Part 1 of 2)

WOUNDED EGO: Omega’s Disguise

First installment of the Wounded Ego Series

Copyright © 2021 HiGANBANA

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MAIN CHARACTERS

OKUDA RYUICHI (α)

Age: 26 years old

Height/Weight: 6’4”, 109 kilograms

Occupation: Subordinate in the Sales Department

Physical Appearance:

– tall and muscular

– tan skin

– dark brown, shaggy and lightly spiky, medium length hair

Traits:

– quite unfriendly

– determined

– hates Omegas

About him:

– Born an Alpha, Okuda Ryuichi was expected to dominate everyone around him when he reaches the right age. He was always surrounded with people wanting him. Haunted by his troubled family affairs, Ryuichi hates the idea of having a mate and forming a bond. His life turns upside down after discovering Kazuki’s dark secret.

SHIMADA KAZUKI (Ω)

Age: 32 years old

Height/Weight: 5’11”, 86 kilograms

Occupation: Head manager of the Sales Department

Physical Appearance:

– tall and well built

– fair skin

– black, slightly wavy, medium length hair

Traits:

– strict

– quite unsociable

– total killjoy

– doesn’t seem to know how to smile

About him:

– Shimada Kazuki came from a wealthy family of Alphas. He is the eldest and supposedly the successor of his father’s business but after finding out that he was an Omega, he was told to stay away from their family after he experiences his first heat. In order to get a high ranking job, he hid his true identity and took advantage of his well built appearance.

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RYUICHI

I AM Okuda Ryuichi, twenty-six years old. Today, I got transferred to another company branch that sells high-quality suppressants for Omegas. I was informed that my soon-to-be new boss was strict and that he hated slackers. Ang totoo niyan, I didn’t expect too well.

Born as an Alpha, everyone had high hopes from me. Inaasahan nilang magiging magaling ako sa lahat. Ilang ulit ko nang naranasan na marami ang nagtangkang mapalapit sa akin dahil sa taglay kong kapasidad. What people didn’t know is that I hated mingling too much; particularly with Omegas. Whenever I see an Omega in heat, it reminded me of a disgusting sight I’ve seen in my childhood.

“My name’s Okuda Ryuichi. I’ll be in your care from now on,” magalang kong pagpapakilala sa aking sarili nang dumating na ako sa bago kong pagtatrabahuan.

“Welcome, Okuda!” Isang nagagalak naman na pagbati ang natanggap ko mula sa mga magiging katrabaho ko.

To be honest, I could do more than just be a lowly subordinate in the Sales Department. With my good family background and rank in society, I could be the CEO or owner of my very own company. But I chose this average way of living… to avoid parties that most Alphas enjoyed when they were in the mood to get wild.

Ang mga mayayamang Alpha na may mataas na uri at posisyon sa trabaho ay madalas dumalo sa mga isinasagawang ‘temporary mating sessions’. Isa itong ilegal na gawain at tanging mga pinakamaimpluwensiya lamang ang nakakaalam tungkol dito.

Dito, nagaganap ang mga kahalayang hindi mo aasahang maaaring mangyari. Bumibili sila ng mga Omega at ginagamit silang mga kasangkapan sa pagpaparaos ng kanilang mga libog. Ganitong uri rin ng trabaho ang kinasasadlakan ng karamihan sa mga Omega — lalo na ang mga walang mate — dahil wala rin naman silang maayos na edukasyon at karapatan sa lipunan.

Ayaw kong masaksihan ang marumi nilang mga gawain kaya mas pinili kong kumuha ng trabaho na madalas ay nababagay sa mga Beta at ilang Alpha na katamtaman lamang ang karangyaan.

“I am Shimada Kazuki, head manager of the Sales Department,” biglang pakilala sa akin ng isang lalaking may katangkaran din at may kalakihan ang katawan. He didn’t shake hands with me nor greeted me. Maputi ang kanyang balat at makinis. Base sa kanyang tindig, walang duda na isa siyang Alpha na kagaya ko.

“Okuda Ryuichi. Nice to meet you, Shimada-senpai,” pormal kong baling sa kanya at tiningnan niya lang ako na para bang wala siyang balak na pahabain pa ang usapan namin.

Pagkatapos naming magkamayan — dahil na rin napilitan siya — ay tinalikuran na niya ako at bumalik sa kanyang puwesto at muling hinarap ang kanyang laptop. Kung opinyon ng ibang tao ang aking pagbabasehan, medyo bastos ang naging trato niya sa akin pero nagulat ako nang makitang tila wala na iyong epekto sa kanyang mga katrabaho.

[Totoo ba talagang sobra siyang strikto?] sa isip-isip ko at nakiramdam sa naging reaksiyon ng iba.

May ilan na nagbulungan at dali-daling bumalik sa kani-kanilang mga puwesto. May iba rin naman na binigyan ako ng tila naaawang tingin. Hinintay kong may magsabi sa akin kung ano iyong nangyari pero mukhang lahat sila ay takot sa kanilang kinikilalang boss.

Throwing that aside, nagpasya na lamang ako na puntahan ang magiging bago kong working desk at sinimulang ilapag ang mga gamit ko dito.

“Um… hello.” Natigil ako sa pag-aayos ng mga gamit ko nang may biglang nagsalita sa bandang kaliwa ko. Napatingin ako sa nagmamay-ari ng medyo may kaliitan ang boses at nininerbyos siyang nangiti sa akin. “Hi. Ako si Moriya Hino. Pasensiya ka na sa boss namin, ah. Mailap talaga siya sa mga bagong empleyado pero mabait naman siya na boss,” wika nito sa akin bago inayos ang suot niyang pabilog na salamin na makapal ang frame.

“It’s okay,” sabi ko na lang at nagpatuloy sa aking ginagawa.

“Isa nga pala akong Beta. Um... isa ka bang Alpha?” usisa nito.

“Why?” I asked in confusion. Did it even matter?

“W-wala lang. Malakas kasi ang dating ng aura mo eh,” aniya tsaka nag-iwas ng tingin.

[Am I really that obvious? Do I spread so much dominance na kahit na umakto akong parang pangkaraniwang Alpha lamang ay nakakaramdam pa rin ng uneasiness ang mga nakakasalamuha ko?] I thought to myself.

I shrugged the thought off. Then suddenly, my eyes averted towards our head manager’s direction. Mula dito sa kinauupuan ko ay kitang-kita ko siya. He was so focused on his work and didn’t even notice my stare.

I didn’t know why but this was the first time that I got so intrigued towards another Alpha. He must be quite dominant in sex, too. He looked too classy to be in here, in my own opinion. And he looked quite young, to boot. Must be from a very known family or he could also be related to this company’s owner.

“Kung ako sa ‘yo, huwag mong titigang masyado si Shimada-san. Sigurado akong napapansin ka niyan,” biglang sita sa akin ni Moriya-san.

Awtomatiko naman akong nag-iwas ng tingin at napaisip. Why did a guy like him chose to work here? To me, he was the type of Alpha that could easily reach the top without having the trouble of enslaving himself as a mere sales manager.

[Is he, by any chance, had similar reasons like me?] I thought to myself again while staring at our boss.

“If that was the case, I might consider befriending him,” I said to myself while smirking and I didn’t even realize that I was doing that.

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“Okuda-kun, here’s your first assignment,” ani Shimada-senpai sabay lapag ng ilang mga papeles sa desk ko. He wore an expressionless face as if he was a robot.

“What should I do with these?” tanong ko naman.

“Keep track of our sales for today and give me a report tonight bago ka umuwi. I won’t accept delays,” he instructed and went back to his seat.

[Tonight, you say?] medyo nag-aalinlangan kong wari sa isipan. Guess, I had no choice but to work my butt out.

The company that I used to work for was really successful. Clients were satisfied with the suppressants that we produced and distributed in drug stores. It’s not just the Omegas that needed suppressants, but also Alphas.

When an Omega goes into heat, they release a special kind of pheromones that higly attracts any Alphas nearby. Nawawalan ng sense of reasoning ang kahit na sinong Alpha na naaamoy ang nasabing pheromones. And when this happens, an Omega’s body craves for sex. They can either use sex toys to subdue the heat but it would take long. They will only calm down if an Alpha fucks them. And when I say Alpha, ‘anyone’ would do. This was how it always worked.

The only way to stop an Omega’s periodic heat is to become mates with an Alpha. Mating is done when an Alpha bites an Omega’s nape during their heat sex. From then on, the Omega can no longer have sex with others aside from his Alpha mate while a mated Alpha can still have multiple mates if he wanted to but would no longer get affected by other Omegas’ heat.

Pregnancy is likely to occur if an Omega gets penetrated during his or her heat. That’s why they also take birth control pills because getting pregnant without a mate is risky for them.

That is what I know. And I have no plan on walking through the same paths as those idiots.

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Continue to part 2...