The warm season was finally making its entrance, letting the group of alpha males rough play freely without any worries or complaints. 

The group, a small amount of six, had been playing with a thick ball that one of their omega’s mother made. They split into teams and were now dodging and attacking one another for the ball. In order to win a point, they had to take the ball to their team’s meeting point: Team A’s was the well by Qian Kun’s hut, and for Team B, it was the local storage area for fish nets, right at the Common Square in the village. 

Yifan was in Team A, so every time he had the ball in hand, the only thing on his mind was the well as he sprinted away from his opponents and tried to land the point. 

He was one of the stronger alphas, mainly because he was the leading chief’s son, and everyone in his family had always had the good genes. It explained why he was so well in the game; the third time he bought the ball to the well, he would cheer with his two other teammates while the other three pretended to sob and act dramatic as usual. 

The six of them started to laugh it off, however, when Chanyeol threw the ball and it hit both Jungkook and Johnny in the face. That was the highlight of the moment, the funniest thing that had happened all day. Well, except when Seunghyun fell onto a pile of baskets earlier. That was hilarious .

The laughter died down, however, when old man Kun (not really old, Yifan thought – the alpha was around 27 or something, but he has always remained single as far as he could remember) came outside with a bucket. “I don’t understand how you guys can find my well entertaining.” 

“Your generation doesn’t get humor,” Jungkook teased, ignoring Kun’s eyeroll. “No wonder you guys are so boring."

“I’m pretty sure we are in the same generation,” Kun explained. “I’m not even a decade older than you. You’re, what, 21?”

“Nah, that’s his IQ,” Johnny replied, causing the five of them to laugh, Jungkook not saying a word but was now trying to choke Johnny from behind, causing the others to laugh some more. Now they were chanting the word fight, with Shownu claiming to collect the wager money.

Just a normal day of alphas wrecking innocent havoc. To Yifan, these days were always the most fun. His dad always had him do useless stuff, or maybe he would be stuck indoors, but the days that he and his friends could act stupid. 

When Shownu whined that he only had five gold pieces, the boy’s ruckus came to a halt when one of the council members, Hyunsuk, came into appearance.

The alphas didn’t even know he was there until he cleared his throat, turning the attention onto him. Johnny and Jungkook had to release their death grips from each other, and Shownu snuck the five gold pieces that Chanyeol and Seunghyun had given him. 

“I see you guys have been busy,” Hyunsuk replied. “I didn’t know this is what young alphas did these days.”

“What are we supposed to be, vicious?” Chanyeol replied, yelping as he got a kick from Seunghyun. 

“I wanted to ask you young fellows a favor.” Hyunsuk went to the small cart that he must have been pulling earlier and took out a wrapped parcel with no markings on it. “Do you guys know the old house at the end of the village?”

Shownu scoffed. “The one with the rumored Scoups man?”

“No way, he isn’t real.” Chanyeol said.

“No he is! My dad saw him at the council meeting last month!” Jungkook exclaimed. “But apparently he only goes to those. No one sees him outside of those.”
 

“Isn’t it rumored that he has an omega husband, too?” Shownu questioned. 

“Sounds like a load of BS if you ask me,” Yifan replied.

Hyunsuk tossed the parcel to Jungkook, who managed to catch it before it fell. “I need you guys to deliver it to him. Tell him it’s from Junsoong. It’s some items the council had promised to give him.”

The guys nodded, Jungkook discreetly tossing the parcel to Chanyeol who was still oblivious. They may have agreed, but mentally, no one wanted to do it. 

They waited until Hyunsuk left when Johnny said, “KUN! WE HAVE A FAVOR TO ASK!”

Kun had come back outside, bucket in his hand as he got more well water. He  wasn’t having it, though. “I’m not deaf, I heard what that guy said! You guys have to do it!”
 

The guys grumbled, obviously annoyed. No one wanted to see the rumored Scoups. 

Right at the border of the village, there existed an old house. It wasn’t in bad shape, but compared to the small cabins in the village, it definitely looked out of place. It’s rumored that less than 2 decades ago, a young man came to the council members to buy the house and inhibit it. No one sees him, though; all the council members say he’s real, along with some household leaders like Jungkook’s dad who claim to have seen him in the meeting, but whether the youngsters in the village can prove their claim, it is unknown. 

The group came to a decision: they would rock-paper-scissor, and whoever lost had to deliver the parcel while the others watch from a safe (read: far) distance to make sure the unlucky alpha didn’t die. 

Yifan wasn’t usually bad at this game; actually, it was quite rare that he loses. And today was one of those rare days. 

That’s when he found himself in front of the house of the rumored Scoups half an hour later, with the other five hiding behind a tree armed with tree branches as fighting sticks. 

He repeated the same mantra in his head to calm his nerves. Greet, deliver, exit . Wasn’t much, anyways, but the others promised to feed him rice, so he had that to look forward to. Although, his appetite was going away. 

He took a step forward, took a deep breath, mentally cursed at Shownu who obviously cheated at the game, and gave the door three knocks. He could feel his face get hot and sticky as he heard someone unlock the door from the inside, so he quickly his the parcel behind his back right when the door opened. 

An…omega? Scoups was an alpha. Did someone else live with him? Were there more? How secretive was this group anyways-

“Hello?” The young omega in front of him asked. 

Huh. A pretty voice for a pretty person. Yifan’s fear was taking him on a whole new level. 

“Oh, uh, hey, um….” , how was Yifan supposed to do this again? His mantra had three words, goddammit it! 

“Is Scoups here?” Yifan asked him. 

The omega tilted his head, eyes squinting. “S….coups? I don’t rec-Oh you mean Seungcheol? ”

Seungcheol? Was that the mysterious man’s real name? 

“I don’t know,” Yifan admitted. “Scoups, the alpha who attends the meetings?”

“Yeah, yeah, Scoups is Seungcheol.” The teen fully opened the door as if to welcome him. “Seungcheol is my dad, yeah.” 

Oh? The mysterious man had a son?

Now that was extremely odd. An adolescent omega, who stayed indoors and no one knew of his existence? Yifan was confident that the council wouldn’t like that. He didn’t really understand the situation that this Seungcheol or his son was in, but it was mysterious indeed. 

The omega smiled. “I’m Junmyeon, and you are….?"

“Oh, yeah, that’s what I forgot.” Yifan bowed down to the other, still hiding the parcel behind his back. “I’m Yifan, Wu Yifan, Xuheng’s son.”

“Xuheng?” Junmyeon asked. “That’s the…. The chief, right?”

The whole council would have been offended if they had heard Junmyeon. Respect was kind of a big thing around here, which Yifan also thought was bull. Sure, some of the members were good, like Yifan’s own father, Chief Xuheng. Others ...weren't so great. He didn’t particularly like Hyunsuk for one, but it wouldn’t be wise to ignore the one’s existence. 

How secluded were these people anyways?

“Yeah that’s him.” Yifan admitted. “So, um, yeah I was told to give you this.” He brought the parcel forward and handed it to Junmyeon. “Yeah, it’s for your dad, I forgot who it’s by.” 

“Oh, uh…” Junmyeon slowly reached out for the parcel and took it from Yifan. “Thanks, I’ll tell him.”

Yifan nodded. “I’ll leave now.”

“Ok, have a nice day!” Junmyeon responded, getting ready to close the door. 

“Bye!” Yifan turned around and speed-walked the hell out of there, already half-way to where the other alphas were before he turned around and ran back to the door. “Wait, wait, wait!”

Junmyeon, who had already closed the door, reopened it. “Yes?”

“I remember, it was…. Junsoong, yeah, the package is from him.” 

Junmyeon nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell my dad.”

Yifan gave him a wobbly salute. “You do that.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll leave.” Yifan walked away, slowly, but backwards so that he can still look at Junmyeon. “For good now, I promise!” 

Junmyeon laughed. “No worries! Anyone’s welcomed anytime!”

Yifan gave a smile, showing his teeth and nodding along. When Junmyeon closed the door again, Yifan ing sprinted to where his alpha friends were hiding, the others, understandably, laughing their asses off.

“I ing hate you all,” he said while the others were laughing, Shownu and Seunghyun actually crying while Chanyeol was lying down on the floor, almost rolling around. All of them were clutching their stomachs.

“You do that!” Jungkook said in a high-pitched voice. “What the , man?!”

“I don’t see you talking to Taehyung,” Yifan tried to defend himself, but it was no use. 

He couldn’t even enjoy his rice later in peace as the others the entire time, asking if there would be rice at the wedding. 

***

Another group of omegas wasn’t any better. 

The four of them were giggling-well, no, not exactly. Jimin was the only one who was essentially giggling. If Baekhyun weren’t mute most of the time, they would have assumed he was giggling; he did have a smile, though, so that was something. Mark Tuan – not that they associated with Mark Lee; it was obvious they were talking about omega Mark, not alpha Mark – was the only one who laughed like a normal person. Chen Le was the volume 100 in a remote control that reached to 70. Not that they knew what a TV was. Most of them didn’t even have electricity. 

The important thing was why these omegas in particular were laughing. Basically, they had shifted the conversation of Jimin being courted by one of the alphas, Yoongi, all the way to their imaginary union ceremonies (“A wedding!!! ” Mark would say, but they ignored him, he knew some old slang) and they thought back to the time when they were younger and attended the union ceremony of Chan and Woojin and how Mark threw paintballs at two alphas who had been bothering Chen Le. The Great Paintball Incident was one of their favorite pastimes, and now Mark just carried paintballs everywhere he goes. 

“I never saw them after that,” Jimin said. 

“That reminds me, I swear to god, if Jackson makes one more comment at me I’m going to stab him,” Mark said, causing Chen Le’s laughing to get higher in pitch. 

Baekhyun just shrugged. “Alphas act like they’re better than everyone.”

Jimin reached over and rubbed Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Baek, there’s always bad alphas and good ones, and bad omegas and good omegas.”

“My mom says I’ll never be a good omega,” Chen Le said. “She still has those old views.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t care, if an alpha ever tells me that I have to listen to them because they’re the alpha, I’m dumping his sorry ,” Mark said, reaching over to grab some dried coconut candy that Baekhyun had brought over. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t think Jackson is like that,” Jimin  comforted him. 

Mark blinked. ” Jackson? Who the hell was talking about him, anyways?”

“I think he’s trying to court you,” Chen Le explained. 

“Hell nah , I’m not seeing him!” Mark shrieked, sending Jimin and Chen Le into another round of laughter. “You guys are supposed to be my friends, I can’t believe you’re saying this .”
 

Mark was one of the rare omegas who actually cussed, contradicting alpha Mark who was tamer than anyone else. They usually joked about the two probably switching statuses, but omega Mark would tell them that he just wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. Alpha Mark just cared about impressing Haechan anyways. 

Well, he friends obviously weren’t afraid of speaking their minds as they kept spewing lies. “Chen Le, tell him what Jackson told you the other day,” Jimin said. 

“Oh yeah, he – get this – he asked me nonchalantly ‘what’s Mark’s favorite dessert’ and I was like ‘alpha or omega’ cause you know Mark Lee and whatever and he was like ‘why the blank would I give Mark Lee dessert’ and I was like ‘I don’t know everyone likes to be given dessert’-“

“Chen Le, it’s obvious he’s trying to poison me,” Mark disagreed.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Mark, you’re going to get a boyfriend.”

“OOOOOOH, MARK IS GETTING A BOYFRIEND!” Chen Le shouted. “You’re leaving me and Baek’s club and joining Jimin’s! I’m so excited!”

“Yay, double dates!” Jimin shook his hands in the air in agreement.

“I DON’T ING LIKE JACKSON-“
 

***

Taeyong loved getting the dairy on Wednesday.

Once a week, he would dress up him and his five children at 9:00 am exact, and by 10 they would walk to the Common Square, ready to go past the vendors and check out their products. 

Today was no exception. He woke up at sunrise, along with his husband Jaehyun, who had to get ready to work with the other fisherman. Yesterday, Jaehyun had been lucky to find some crabs and made him his favorite dish, crab and tilapia meat with rice and asparagus. No one made a fuss, excited for something new; not even his four-year old, Jongup, made a fuss. 

Taeyong made the same breakfast as always for his kids – toast with some spiced apple butter with squeezed orange juice. Jaehyun never ate breakfast home, instead taking his break later around noon to come and eat lunch with everyone instead. Taeyong already knew exactly what he was going to make for lunch – lemon trout with tossed greens. He checked the coins that he had been saving, and he was sure he can afford a mango later in order to make Jaehyun’s favorite mango sauce for the trout. If not, he could always use blackberries again. 

His children ate breakfast as usual. Jungshin, Jongup, Jian, Gongchan and Gunwoo, sitting around the table not causing a stir. They also looked forward to the market, because their eomma would always buy these sugar candies for them to enjoy. Taeyong would always take the handwoven bamboo basket that he was gifted at his union ceremony to put all the stuff in, and unpacking all of it at home was one of his favorite parts. 

They took the familiar walk to the square. Jungshin, age five, was the oldest, so he would stand at one side of Jian, age 3, with Jongup at the other side. These three would walk in front of them while Taeyong would hold on to Gongchan and Gunwoo, the two-year-old twins. That way, everyone would stick together and keep an eye out for each other. 

The smell of all the food wafting to the air always made Taeyong so happy. He was still a young adult, age 22, so of course food would always be in his mind. He didn’t eat it all by himself, though – he had a family to share it. 

Speaking of his family, he always experienced the same comments every time he went, so it was no surprise that he heard some on his way to the cheese stand. 

He thought of springing for some ricotta cheese, seeing how he had grown bountiful of tomatoes recently and he could grind up some extra wheat for some pasta. Maybe use some garlic cloves he had reserved. Spices were hard to come by, which is why he was thankful to have little saffron plants by the window. He had started selling some crushed saffron to the officials, which made him earn a lot of extra gold pieces. 

As he was in line, eyes watering of the cheese wheels on display, that’s when he heard two omegas nearby talking about him. They didn’t mention his name, per se, but it didn’t take a scholar to figure out what they were saying. 

The girl was telling to the guy next to her, “I can’t believe he dares to show his face in public. What exactly is he trying to rub in, anyways?”

The guy shrugged. “I don’t know, his fertility? A lot of other omegas had been having problems with it recently. There’s a shortage of children.”

“A lot of stupid teenagers everywhere, though,” the girl said. Her tone was really harsh. “He’s your typically omega. Gets courted by some well-known alpha, marries young, and gives him his offspring. He’s probably trying to rub in how good in life he has.”

“My older brother wanted to date his husband,” the guy said. “But Jaehyun rejected him, saying he didn’t have time. Then he got together with this guy? It wasn’t even a month later that they announced they were having a union ceremony.”

“Oh please, everyone knows Jaehyun got him pregnant. Young and stupid.”

“His first child was born nine months later, though, he must have conceived on their wedding night-“

“Probably the real reason why they got married. They probably wanted to mate without the elders looking down on him.”

“Sir, your order?” Taeyong looked up at the vendor, a nice old man in his fifties. “You’ve been staring at the mozzarella sticks, forever, do you want some for your children?”

He also paid close attention to the conversations of the others, knowing full well they were telling lies. Everyone in this village like to gossip. Nothing ever changed. 

He shook his head at the vendor. “Do you have a tub of ricotta cheese?” he asked him. 

The vendor nodded. “It was my last one, an official came earlier and asked for a huge amount.” He turned around and grabbed a small, clay pot, handing it to Taeyong. 

“It’s always nice to see business doing well,” Taeyong replied. He let go of Gongchan’s hand, who went to the other side to grab on to Gunwoo. Taeyong grabbed the clay pot and carefully placed it in the basket, which he was swinging on his shoulder. “Thank you so much,” he said, giving the man the money.

“No problem,” the other said, taking the coins and placing it in the jar he kept under the table. “Tell me when Jaehyun finds any clams, I’ve been wanting them for ages .”

Taeyong waved, already walking away, his children leading the way. “I’ll tell you, no worries!” 

Last time Taeyong had eaten any bivalves, it was a month ago; Jaehyun brought some mussels and they simmered it with tomato sauce. Taeyong had crushed some peppercorn to season it, and they had a fun night explaining to the children how to open the mussels. 

By 11, like always, Taeyong round up the kids and took them home. He was extremely happy because he had been able to purchase not only a mango, but also some limes, too. He couldn’t wait until he got home to make lunch. 

He might have only had a husband and five children, but it was a family of seven, and seven was a meaningful number to Taeyong. 

***

You might have some questions about the adventures of these villagers. Some will be answered, some won’t, but as what many of them have learned, patience is a valuable virtue. 

More than a few decades ago, our Earth had collapse. A disease spread throughout the globe, killing the 8 billion during that time. A small, unknown tribe, on a small island from the Korean peninsula, survived. 

Many groups of people from races and nationalities had survivors as well, but travel wasn’t common anymore, rather, quite rare. To these villagers, that is. They didn’t know how other people in the pockets of cities with survivors lived. 

In the village, the population was mainly Korean, except for the handful of Chinese, including some officials and some immigrants that arrive every now and then. The rarest was Thai – only 3 families were Thai. No Japanese, Vietnamese, or American had ever mingled with over 95% of the population. Many other places lived like the early 2000s, while these people were stuck in a much older time period, like the 1600s. Living and reproducing was the main concern, but their new generation of teenagers and young adults thought that happiness should be a priority. Their parents and the elders didn’t like that, of course, thus giving the teenagers the rebel title. 

These alphas and omegas didn’t know at the time, but this is the story of a rebellion. An overthrow, a coup d’etat, where they stood up for themselves and stopped living in fear, in hiding, or desperation. A lot will happen in this village. Hardships, curiosities, romances, and enlightenment will occur, but most importantly, they will get their answers for sure. But will they get their endings?

***

“Mama, we have a problem,” Si Cheng told his mother in the evening, the two of them in the small crowded space that they dared call a kitchen. 

His mother was grabbing some spoons and a cup to measure the rice. “What is it, Si Cheng?”

“We’re out of lemongrass,” he replied, putting everything back in the ice box. “I can’t find it.”

His mother went to their low-level table and grabbed the flashlight. ‘Give me ten minutes, I’ll get some.”

“Mama, I got it,” Si Cheng said, going up to her with his palm out. She handed him the flashlight. “I can’t just let you go out in the dark.”

“ I can’t let my 17-year old son go out in the dark, either,” she commented, but yet she smile. She pulled him forward and gave him a kiss on his forehead. “Don’t take so long, okay?”

Si Cheng nodded, eagerly. He went out the door the flashlight, already heading out to the deeper woods. 

The small hut where he lived with his mother was close to the border, only two huts down from the edge of the forest. He usually did his gathering during the day, but he didn’t recall grabbing any lemongrass. It was a bit of a far walk, but he knew the path by heart, so he went out alone, with only the artificial light to accompany him. 

The light was solar powered, meaning that you had to let it out in the sun all day if you wanted to use it in the night. He didn’t know what a non-powered flashlight did, but it was one of the only things that his mother brought with her when they arrived here at the village when he was 2 weeks old. 

He took out the small cloth bag that he always kept in his pocket for these reasons; one time, Si Cheng saw a cherry tree but had no way to bring them home, so he dug out a hole in the bamboo stalk he was holding and carried it home like that. They had to give them a good rinse, but the frozen cherry drink his mother made was delicious. 

What Si Cheng didn’t know at this time was that the first ever Japanese were about to ever set foot in this village. 

The two men, in question, were being followed. They were alphas, young, Japanese alphas, one was 22, the other 24. One was good in Korean, the other struggled a bit, so they had been doing okay in the Korea territory. The capturers did come from all the way of Japan, like them, so their patience was wearing thin. 

There were barefoot, so they didn’t make much noise as they were tip-toeing in the forest. You would at first think their clothes were rags. They each had a bag, containing items either valuable to them or to others, but at that moment silence was what they desired. 

The younger one, a young lad who went by the name Yuta, dragged his companion, Takuya, with him and hid behind a tree, a bush covering their view. “If we stay here, they can’t find us,” he told him in rapid Japanese.

Takuya shrugged. “We’re probably going to die anyway.”

“Hopefully in the future, not in the present,” Yuta told him. “Now shut up, I’m not dying because of you.”

“You shut up, you’re the reason why they found us in that city in the first place-“

“Well, if you didn’t start a fire in the city before, we wouldn’t have been in that city-“

“It’s not my fault, I didn’t know it was gasoline-“

“Hello?” They heard someone call out, detecting an accent to their Korean. The two alphas were in shock, hoping that it wasn’t one of those people wishing to make a hole in their cranium. 

Si Cheng had been hearing some voices but thought he was losing his mind when he heard them come from a bush. Plus, he couldn’t recognize the language, anyways; he’s only heard four types in his life, and this one was not one of them. 

He found two alphas hiding behind the bush but didn’t recognize them. He shined light on the tree, not on them directly as to not hurt their eyes. “Who are you?”

Yuta was the better Korean speaker between the two, so he spoke for both of them. “Some people are after us, do you mind helping?”

“What do you mean?” Si Cheng asked. 

That’s when Si Cheng heard more voices coming farther away. A group of four men, around their early thirties, was coming towards Si Cheng’s direction. One also had a flashlight like his, but it was much bigger and it had a handle. 

He recognized a weapon in one of their hands, though, so he didn’t move, not wanting them to chase after him instead. So there he remained, frozen in place, until they came up to him. 

“Hey, pretty omega, what are you doing out here?” One of them asked, receiving a smack from another. 

“We lost two of our men earlier, these two young alphas, do you know where they went?” The guy said.
 

Si Cheng didn’t know which of his instincts was telling him to lie, but he pointed towards Northeast, away from his village and them. “I saw two guys with ripped clothes and backpacks earlier, they were speaking a weird language though-“

“Thank you!” They screamed, already running towards the direction Si Cheng pointed. They talked to themselves some more in that weird language and were soon out of sight and earshot. 

Si Cheng turned to look at the foreigners. “Why are they after you?”

“They’re bad and trying to murder us,” Takuya responded. It was the first time Si Cheng heard him speak.

“No, but seriously,” the other asked him. “Can you help us?”