- Guide to the World Setting of ‘Leaning into a Slow Spring’
Since the “Omegaverse” on which this novel is based has slightly different settings in each work, for your convenience, we will guide you through the world setting of ‘Leaning into a Slow Spring’.
People in this world are divided into pheromone types called Alpha, Beta, and Omega, separate from male and female gender distinctions. Most manifest their pheromone type at a young age. During manifestation, they experience symptoms similar to body aches, and because it’s accompanied by a fever, it’s called “manifestation fever.”
Alphas and Omegas are further divided into dominant and recessive types. The more dominant, the stronger the pheromone abilities, and the more recessive, the closer they are to Betas. Although there are no physical differences between dominant and recessive types aside from pheromone abilities, there’s a prejudice that dominants have better physical capabilities than recessives. In terms of population ratio, Betas make up about 70%, with Alphas and Omegas making up the remaining 30%. Since gender doesn’t matter much unless you’re a Beta, there’s no distinction between homosexuals and heterosexuals at all. However, couples other than Beta-Beta or Alpha-Omega, such as Alpha-Beta, Omega-Beta, or Alpha-Alpha, Omega-Omega couples, find it difficult to gain social acceptance. Below is a glossary of terms.
**Beta**: An ordinary person. Children are born from the union of male and female. They cannot detect pheromones.
**Alpha**: Regardless of gender, they can impregnate Omegas. They can express intentions and emotions through pheromones. Each person has their own unique pheromone scent, and they can use pheromones to dominate Omegas or Alphas weaker than themselves, but this is considered an extremely violent act. While in the past there was a dominant perception that they were superior, currently the use of pheromones to gain status and exercise power is discouraged and strongly regulated by law. They instinctively feel wariness or aversion to territorial marking pheromones or threatening pheromones from other Alphas.
**Omega**: When bonded with an Alpha, they can become pregnant regardless of gender. They can express intentions and emotions through pheromones. Each person has their own unique pheromone scent, and they can be dominated by Alpha pheromones. While in the past they faced much discrimination due to the perception that they were inferior, many efforts have been made to advance Omega rights, to the point where laws related to discrimination have been established, and they are now in an equal position with Alphas and Betas. However, remnants of the past still linger throughout society.
**Imprinting**: Refers to a strong mental bond between an Alpha and an Omega. Once imprinted, they crave each other’s very existence beyond just pheromones. Once formed, imprinting cannot be broken. Since there are frequent cases where the remaining partner goes insane or commits suicide when their imprinted partner disappears due to death or other reasons, imprinting is considered somewhat dangerous. On the other hand, it’s thought of as a very romantic concept, and many couples attempt imprinting. While imprinting generally occurs during intercourse, especially during knotting, imprinting itself is rare and doesn’t necessarily occur, and the exact cause or mechanism has not been revealed.
**Rut Cycle**: An Alpha’s heat period. After manifesting during adolescence, ruts come periodically, but once they have an imprinted partner, ruts occur in sync with the partner’s heat cycle. Since soothing a rut with an Omega’s pheromones is the fastest and healthiest method, during the relatively mild adolescent period they get through it with medication or wait for the rut to pass in isolation, but if they’re lovers or spouses, they calm it through intercourse. If they don’t have a partner, they sometimes have one-night stands, but due to risks such as imprinting or pregnancy, even adults often get through it with medication or wait for it to pass in isolation. During ruts, they react sensitively to Omega pheromones, their own pheromones also intensify, and sexual desire increases rapidly.
**Heat Cycle**: An Omega’s heat period. It comes periodically after manifestation. The more dominant, the more regular it is, but the cycle varies drastically from person to person, and if recessive, it’s irregular and they may experience heat cycles only a handful of times a year. During heat cycles, they become very sensitive to Alpha pheromones while their own pheromones intensify, sexual desire increases rapidly, and pregnancy becomes easier. Due to risks such as imprinting and pregnancy, like Alphas, when they don’t have a partner, they often get through it with medication or endure it in isolation rather than having intercourse.
**Knotting**: During intercourse, it refers to the act where an Alpha inserts part of their genitals into an Omega’s vaginal opening and maintains an inflated state of the genitals for a certain period of time. The sexual and mental pleasure is considerable, and after knotting, one’s pheromones usually continue to emanate from the partner for about one to two days, so many lovers and spouses engage in knotting. There are also condoms specifically for knotting.
**Marking**: Covering something with one’s pheromones so that one’s scent emanates from that something. It’s a concept similar to territorial marking.
**Pheromone Shower**: A subconcept of marking. While marking is a term that refers collectively to acts done on objects or another person’s body, a pheromone shower refers to pouring one’s pheromones all over another person’s entire body. It’s mainly done by Alphas to Omegas, in which case it warns other Alphas that this is their possession and not to touch it. A pheromone shower not done with consent is considered a serious act of violence.
**Suppressant**: A drug that helps temporarily close pheromone glands. When the glands are closed, pheromones don’t come out and heat cycles and rut cycles become relatively weaker, so anyone can easily purchase them at a pharmacy with just an ID proving their pheromone type, even without a medical certificate. However, because there are side effects, daily consumption is dangerous and it’s recommended to refrain as much as possible. Forcing others to take suppressants is illegal and strongly punished. Because there were related abuse cases in the past, minors are also given the freedom to take suppressants by their own choice. Schools mandatorily provide education on suppressants and pheromones. They must be taken before the heat period begins.
**Interruption Drug**: A drug that forcibly stops a heat period. It was developed to stop heat periods that come suddenly outside of the regular cycle. It’s more powerful than suppressants but has severe side effects, and is stocked in public places and public restrooms.
**Regarding the term ‘Parents’**: The term ‘parents’ appears in ‘Leaning into a Slow Spring’. However, the ‘parents’ used here doesn’t mean father and mother, but rather two guardians who form a household through marriage and have children. Male-male couples and female-female couples are also called parents. Spouses call each other ‘spouse’ or ‘partner’ instead of wife or husband. The commonly used terms were used as is since there are no alternative terms.
**Family Terms of Address**: When children address their parents, it’s generally left to the family’s freedom. Taking a male couple as an example, whether they’re a Beta couple or an Omega-Alpha couple, the most common practice is to distinguish them by calling them father (abeoji) and dad (appa). Male Omegas are never called mother (eomeoni) or mom (eomma), and vice versa. If Alphas and Omegas are distinguished as father and mother like male-female Beta couples, then same-sex Beta couples, or Alpha-Alpha, Omega-Omega couples would need yet another term of address, so they distinguish terms of address by gender rather than pheromone type.
**Military Service**: Considering the physical characteristics of Alphas, Omegas, and Betas, in the world setting of ‘Leaning into a Slow Spring’, there is no obligation for military service.
Thank you.
- Young You and Me
Since there was no necktie on the uniform up until middle school, I held onto the tie for no reason and shook it slightly, unfamiliar with the strange sensation of something tightening around my neck. March was still chilly, so even though I’d put on a coat over my uniform, the cold sensation was vivid on my skin. Still, fortunately the entrance ceremony was held in the auditorium rather than on the playground.
If one doesn’t completely learn how to control one’s own pheromones or adapt to others’ pheromones when young, problems can arise when one enters society and mixes with various pheromone types. Therefore, all schools—even classes—were prohibited from separating Alphas, Omegas, and Betas. Though that was the stated reason, I’d heard that when it was first implemented, it was to prevent discrimination.
I’d heard that there were just over 300 incoming students, and the auditorium was spacious enough to have plenty of seats left even with all those students inside. Though 70% of them would be Betas and the rest would be Alphas and Omegas, uniforms that could distinguish the three by appearance were legally prohibited, so someone like me who was insensitive to pheromones couldn’t tell who had what constitution when they were mixed together like this. The children who were now seventeen had become quite accustomed to controlling their pheromones, so unless someone was right next to you, their scent didn’t come out easily.
For a moment, a thin strand of pheromone so faint I couldn’t even tell whose it was brushed past my nose. I became frightened with a start, wondering if someone might detect my scent too. I deliberately breathed slowly, suppressing my pheromones. My pheromones were so faint that if I hid them well, no one would suspect even if I claimed to be a Beta.
Unless it was a day with an event like this, the auditorium floor had basketball court lines drawn on it, indicating it was normally used as a gym, and there were even spectator seats above. The families of incoming students who came to watch the entrance ceremony sat in the second-floor spectator seats, absorbed in the task of finding their son, their grandson, by the back of their head alone. Since I knew there was no one who would come to see me, I didn’t look around like the other kids. When I unconsciously lowered my gaze, the basketball court lines at my feet came into view. In this unfamiliar place where I didn’t know a single person, it was the only thing that felt familiar. The spot where I stood was right above the 3-point line. It felt somehow welcoming, and only then did I crack a small smile.
My legs started to go numb from standing for so long. I subtly bent and straightened my knees to loosen my legs without being noticed. My gaze remained fixed on the white-haired, well-built old man on the auditorium stage.
“……I hope you will. Thank you.”
The ending of the not-so-long congratulatory speech rang out, and the old man bowed in greeting. The small murmurs that had been coming from all directions stopped, and the sound of applause filled the auditorium instead. I clapped along. A face familiar to me disappeared from the stage.
That old man—in other words, the chairman of the board of Haebam Boys’ High School that I would be attending and the chairman of the Haebam Foundation—was the founder and main sponsor of Haebam No. 1 Children’s Home where I lived.
[To be continued in the next episode….]
