Chapter Text
Tell me, as humans, we spend an eternity chasing after the the concept known as 'freedom', correct? Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and of course, the freedom to choose whom we get to spend the rest of our lives with.
So imagine the countless amounts of horror-stricken expressions that surface whenever an individual finds a black envelope resting comfortably within their mailboxes.
In this world, people who their governments deem as eligible citizens are sent a single black envelope with their names written on the front in beautifully engraved, gold cailigraphy.
Those dark-coloured letters seal their fates forever. Well, at the very least, it seals the fate of whom they're going to be with, and whom they're going to love until the day they take their very last breaths.
In the 1980s, the governments decided that at the rate their populations were decreasing at, it would eventually become a threat to society. Less and less women and omegas were willing when it came to bearing children for a variety of reasons. Some just didn't like kids, while others wanted the freedom of not being tied down by a child. Even simpler, some were just afraid of the pain that came with childbirth. Never mind the reasons, the first-ranked alpha leaders from all around the world decided that something had to be done.
That was when the choosing system came into play.
For as long as they could remember, alphas, betas, and omegas existed. Their ancestors had the abilities to shape-shift into ferocious beasts and run free in the wild, all while co-existing with regular humans. But somewhere along the way, the humans just up and disappeared off the face of the earth. Regular humans without statuses and inner beasts no longer existed. However, the modern wolves now, no longer possessed the ability of turning into beautiful, wild wolves.
Occasionally, they could still feel the inner wolves their parents had always talked about, but it seemed that as each generation passed, the link between human and wolf just blurred out until they were basically non-existent. Well, aside from the glowing eyes depending on one's status, an impeccable sense of smell, and the usual alpha, beta, and omega status differences. Other than that, they were practically human.
On July 28th, 1980, an announcement was broadcasted throughout the world for every single person to hear and see. Many still remember the announcement from when they were mere children, because that was the day all their dreams of meeting their prince charmings and falling in love with the one were taken, stomped on, and crushed into a pile of ash right before their eyes.
The announcement was everywhere. Simultaneously in every single country, all forms of entertainment were blocked and interrupted as their own country's first-ranked alpha, similar to that of a president, appeared on their screens.
Loud, blaring sirens from government stations in every neighbourhood rang for five minutes straight, waking up anyone who had been trying to catch up on some shut eye prior to the news being delivered. Citizens were ordered to turn on their nearest electronic device two seconds after the sirens came to a halt.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am extremely sorry for interrupting your activities, but I bear an announcement that every wolf must hear."
People furrowed their brows and voiced their confusions, whether it be to themselves or towards the people they were with during the time of the global announcement.
"As many of you may already know, our decreasing world population has been an issue that's never left the governments' minds. Over the past few months, I myself, with many other first-ranked alphas, have come up with a solution."
People from all across the world began coming up with worst case scenarios within their heads.
"We have put together a system that we will simply call 'The Choosing System'. All eligible citizens will be entered into our system and paired up with either an alpha, a beta, or an omega depending on the individual's own status. I know you all may fear the possibility of being paired up with someone extremely incompatible with yourself, but fear not, as we will pair according to every citizen's personal DNA in order to assure full compatibility."
Screams of protests flooded the earth. The people were not happy with the first-ranked alphas' decision, whether it be due to the loss of their own freedom, or the loss of their children's freedom.
"Citizens will receive official, black envelopes from the government between the ages of 20 and 25. Inside the envelope, will be a letter addressed to the citizen, listing out the rules and instructions for what we have decided to call, their 'encounter'. Further details will be stated within the letter, so I will save you all some time and not go into details."
"As for couples who already bear a child or two, will will not be affected by this change. However, for couples below the age of 30 who do not have children together, you will be required to separate unless you are able to become expecting parents within the next three months. "
"Once your chosen one has been 'chosen', you will have one week to move in together, and three weeks until you must mate and form a bond with your chosen one. During the two weeks after you've moved in together, surveillance cameras will be placed throughout your homes.Those cameras will ensure that the chosen couple are on the right track to mating. Last, but not least, every couple must give birth to at least two bundles of joy before they both reach the age of 30."
"Yes, we are well aware of the fact that your privacy will be violated during those two weeks. We are also fully aware of the fact that we are taking away everyone's freedom of finding their own mates. But please know that we are doing this for the greater good. If you love your country and planet in general, I hope you will all choose to obey the newly placed system and simply go along with us first-ranked alphas' decision."
"From this day forward, all citizens will be required to check their mailboxes at least once a day in order to avoid missing the extremely important letter that will be sent to you in the near distant future. A pair of chosen ones will always receive their letter on the same day, so be wary of that. Once again, do not fret even though your mate will be chosen for you. As I have mentioned before, your mate will most definitely be compatible with you, one way or another."
"That will be all for today, more details will be released on the government's official website if you wish to know more. Have a nice evening, and thank you for your cooperation."
That was it. That was how the news was delivered to people from all around the world. Many were mad, many didn't care, but the majority were devastated. Teenagers were just robbed of their own personal fantasies about finding and bonding with their one true mate. Both teenagers and young adults were forced to break up with their significant others because they weren't able to produce an heir within three months time.
The twinkling stars decorating the skies that day, were all witnesses of the indescribable amount of tears that drowned the earth in utter sorrow.
This is where our story begins.
It's been 37 years and a few months since the announcement that changed almost everybody's lives was made public. There were millions and millions of success stories about the choosing system. Many claimed to have found their soulmate thanks to the choosing system while some chose to simply have a platonic relationship with their chosen one aside from the whole 'having two kids' thing. Very rarely did chosen ones dislike each other. It seemed that the governments kept their promise of making sure the paired mates would be compatible with one another.
Even though it's extremely rare for chosen ones to hold negative feelings for each other, many held overwhelmingly negative feelings for the choosing system. Even though the couples that came out of the choosing systems did end up basking in happiness and love or at least gain a new best friend, some hated the fact that they weren't able to meet and choose who they fall in love with. They craved the overused term, 'freedom'.
A man named Min Yoongi, would be the perfect example of someone who hated the choosing system with a burning passion. Min Yoongi, a 24 year old omega with soft, silver hair and a gummy smile that he only showed to a select amount of people.
Yoongi's parents were entered into the choosing system when they were at the tender age of 21 and 23 in 1990. Either there was a mistake, or the people in charge of the pairings slacked off, because Min Yoona and Jeon Wonwoo, did not get along at all.
Due to the systems' rules of not being allowed to have a divorce or other lovers, the pair of unhappy mates were forced to stay together. They disliked each other so much, they gave one kid Yoona's surname, and the other Wonwoo’s surname.
Yoongi, being their first born, took his mother's last name. Min Yoona was the alpha in the relationship, so naturally, she got dibs on their oldest child.
Jeon Jungkook, was their second born, taking his omega father's last name just to make things fair.
His parents' situation only aided with his hatred towards their government's choosing system. So the second after he was told about the choosing system and how it worked by his mother, Min Yoongi was set on one thing. Whoever his future mate was going to be, he was going to hate him regardless of the circumstances. He wanted no part in the choosing system, but he knew he didn't have any other option at hand.
All Yoongi could do, was sit and wait for the day he finds a black envelope resting within his mailbox.
"Joon-ah! I'm home!" Yoongi called out as he very lazily swung the front door to their apartment open. The silver-haired man was a kindergarten teacher at a nearby elementary school. Despite the stoic expression he usually wore without an issue, he became putty within the hands of 3 to 5 year olds.
"Joon?!" The silver-haired man yelled, wondering why no response was heard from his best friend and roommate. The two had met in university, both of them being a part of the department of education. They were both students who were feared and misunderstood by some due to their intimidating aura and appearance. Naturally, the two of them came together and just clicked. They saw things in each other that others did not, and they've been together ever since.
When Yoongi made his way into their shared apartment, he saw Namjoon standing by the kitchen counter, staring at a pile of bills and advertisements with a somber expression plastered across his face.
"You got the mail?"
His blonde roommate finally responded. Namjoon redirected his gaze from the pile of mail to his best friend with glassy eyes. "Y-Yeah..."
Knitting his brows together in confusion, Yoongi stood in front of the younger male from across the marbled countertop. "Have you been crying...?" He questioned, inspecting Namjoon's sorrowful expression.
As if noticing his own tears for the first time, the blonde English teacher jolted and immediately attempted at drying his damp eyes. "Um, not really? But um..." That was when Namjoon snapped his gaze back onto the pile of envelopes.
Yoongi follow the latter's eyes, and that's when his heart almost crashed through his ribs and broke free. A black envelope.
"W-Who's is it...?" The silver-haired male asked anxiously, feeling a lump suddenly form at the base of his throat. He swallowed once, twice, but to no avail.
After a moment of silence, the answer was made clear.
"Yours."
That was it. The day Yoongi had been dreading ever since he had the talk with his mother, was finally here.
"Mine." He muttered.
"Yoongs..." Namjoon whispered, his voice unstable and his breath uneven.
Ignoring Namjoon's use of his nickname, Yoongi grabbed the black envelope and flipped it around so he could see the gold markings for himself.
Min Yoongi
Ah, so there's no mistake. It was all there in black and gold.
Harshly making the effort to swallow the lump in his throat for the third time, Yoongi ripped opened the envelope with his pale, shaky hands. The sound of the high-quality, black envelope was frightening, to say the least.
Throwing the little strip of black he had separated from the rest of the envelope, Yoongi pulled out the folded, champagne-coloured piece of paper.
Abandoning the envelope back onto the counter, the silver-haired male unraveled the creased paper.
To Min Yoongi,
Congratulations! Your chosen one has been 'chosen'! Please make your way down to the Centre State Building on the date written below.
You are not allowed to request for a switch.
You are not allowed to protest against the choosing system.
You are not allowed to harm your chosen one in any way.
If you fail to follow the above rules, punishment ensues.
Once you meet with your chosen one, a government official will be present to give you a once over on what actions you will be required to carry out within the next few weeks. There will be requirements that you must meet at a certain deadline so please be prepared to meet said deadlines.
The date and time of your encounter will be: November 17th, 2017 at 2:15pm
We look forward to meeting both you and your chosen one!
Now don't forget, it's in your blood!
- Choi Seunghyun ~ First-Ranked Alpha of South Korea
Yoongi barely made it to the end of the letter before he could accidentally bite a part of his bottom lip off. He hadn't even noticed he was gnawing harshly on his lip in search for some sort of comfort.
Making his way over so that he was now standing beside the shorter male, Namjoon very quickly scanned through the words.
"November 17th... That's in three days, hyung."
Yoongi wanted to respond to the younger male, but he couldn't seem to squeeze the words past his lips. All he could think about, was how much his parents fought in front of him when he was younger.
"I told you I have to fucking work! Why can't you just take Yoongi to school?! He's your bloody son too!"
"Are you sure he's my son? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you fucking named him Min Yoongi for a reason!"
"How dare you speak to your Alpha like this?! You must be fucking insane!"
"You're not allowed to hurt me either way, so I can speak to you however the fuck I want to! Disrespecting your mate wasn't against the rules!"
"Just take Yoongi to fucking school! I'm still pregnant with our second child, you bastard! If I can go to work while I'm 6 months pregnant then you can get your sorry, omega ass up and take the child you helped create to get a good education, unlike you!"
"If hurting our chosen ones wasn't against the law, you would be dead in a ditch by now!"
"I'd like to see you try and take down an alpha!"
"Alpha or not, I'd still be able to take down a female alpha."
"M-Mommy...?" Yoongi stared up at his bickering parents with wet, puffy eyes and a quivering pair of lips, wails threatening to spill out.
Finally noticing the presence of their son, Yoona very hurriedly rushed to pick his son up, resting the small boy on her hip, bouncing him up and down. "It's okay, baby." She cooed, hoping to calm her son down.
"Fine. I'll take him to school, you can just stay home and be the useless piece of trash you are."
"I'm fine with that." Wonwoo stated blankly.
After Jungkook was born, nothing changed, but Yoona made it so Wonwoo was in charge of Jungkook since according to the male omega, Yoongi was her responsibility due to their shared surname. So naturally, Jeon Jungkook was entirely Wonwoo’s problem.
"Hyung?" Namjoon called out, trying to get Yoongi to snap out of his thoughts.
"S-Sorry, I'm um, trying to process all this." He explained, shaking his head slightly from side to side with closed eyes and corrugated brows. "I think um, I'm gonna go take a nap, I'm kind of spent." It wasn't really a lie, he was tired, not physically, but mentally.
"Yeah, sure thing, hyung." A sympathetic and sorry smile surfaced on Namjoon's face. "I'll wake you up when dinner's here okay? What do you want to eat? Chinese? Burgers? Italian?"
Without even sparing his best friend a single glance, Yoongi walked away, leaving behind the letter and headed straight for his bedroom with lethargic steps. "I don't really care, you can choose." With that, Yoongi's bedroom door slammed shut, causing the blonde to flinch.
Namjoon glanced over at the folded letter. The bottom of the paper was slightly crumpled, probably from how much force Yoongi was using when he read through the words written in a unique font.
Letting out a sigh, Namjoon felt an extreme sense of dread in place of his silver-haired best friend. "Hyung..."
It was D-Day, as Yoongi liked to call it. November 17th came at an unusually rapid pace. The man had to tell his students he was going to be absent this coming Friday because he found the person he was going to marry. The kids had cheered in adorably high-pitched voices and congratulated their favourite teacher with the biggest vocabulary they could think of.
Just because the day he meets his chosen one is a day akin to hell for Yoongi, didn't mean that he should ruin it for his still naive and innocent students. So yeah, he told his reason of absence as 'he had found his prince charming and was going to ride his white stallion into the sunset as some cheesy love song played in the background.' Just a little white lie, no big deal.
It was 2:04 pm when Yoongi finally arrived at the Centre State Building right smack dab in the middle of Seoul. The drive there from Yoongi and Namjoon's apartment had taken a solid forty minutes by car. His blonde roommate offered to drive there with him the night before, but Yoongi didn't need him taking a day off for no apparent reason.
So there he was, sitting on one of the fancy leather couches they had in the lobby of the building. According to the secretary at the front, he was going to be brought into a small meeting room along with his chosen one by one of the government officials once it was their turn. But since he had gotten there a good ten or so minutes too early, Yoongi had to wait in the lobby with at least thirty other people.
Instead of spending those ten extra minutes of waiting time surfing the web or playing a mobile game, Yoongi decided to scan through the people he was waiting with because there was a high probability of one of them being his future mate.
The person sitting slightly too close to him for comfort, was a female alpha with long, bleached locks and black roots. She had narrow eyes similar to his own and a fairly high nose with decently thick pair of lips to match. He could tell the woman was an alpha due to her own unique alpha scent. Though she mainly smelled of lemons and coconuts, there was also something mixed within there that just screamed alpha.
Even though they no longer had the ability to shape-shift, they still acquired the whole scent bullshit animals had.
The first thing he noticed throughout his life, was the fact that he's never really met someone who was remotely unattractive. It must've had something to do with their wolf genes that made everyone somewhat attractive one way or another.
Disregarding that fact, Yoongi moved onto the boy sitting across from him. He looked pretty young, had fluffy, orange locks and surprisingly big eyes considering the fact that he had mono-lids or at least very subtle double eyelids. His nose was ridiculously straight and sleek, perfect to the point Yoongi debated whether or not the man has had his facial features altered. He was definitely an alpha and when he suddenly laughed at something he must've seen on his phone, his undeniably heart-shaped lips came out to play. All in all, his beauty was ethereal.
There was another alpha sitting beside Mr. Heart-Shaped-Lips who possessed large, round eyes, a wide nose, and slightly pouty lips. Needless to say, he was quite attractive as well.
That room was filled with so many alphas, any of them could've been Yoongi's chosen one. He had literally no way of telling who.
Ten minutes must've flown by rather quickly, because before Yoongi was able to finish examining all the others creepily, he heard his name being called.
"Min Yoongi!" A man wearing a work-appropriate black suit was standing in front of the waiting area everyone was seated at with a clipboard in his hands and two file folders slotted under his armpits. He must've been checking whether he was there or not.
"Present." Yoongi simply responded, earning a satisfied nod from the official after their eyes met.
"Jung Hoseok!"
"Here!" A voice called out from somewhere.
When Yoongi spun his head back towards all the others waiting with him, he scanned the crowd for the owner of that voice. When his eyes landed on the guy sitting directly across from him, you know, Mr. Heart-Shaped-Lips? The orange-haired male was staring right back at him with soft eyes. Yoongi's heart may have thumped unexpectedly when their eyes met.
"Alright, the two of you, please follow me." With that, the man in the suit turned on his heel to leave, expecting the two of them to be right behind him.
Well, that settled it. His future mate was the dude he had been admiring just a few minutes ago.
Trying to avoid any more eye contact with the guy named Hoseok, Yoongi abruptly got out of his seat and very rapidly, caught up with the government official, leaving Hoseok behind.
Once they made it to their destination, which, by the way, was true to the secretary's words, a small, meeting room with a rectangular conference table big enough for five to six people, the official sat in the lone chair at the end of the table and gestured for the two of them to settle in the seats right next to him but across from each other.
Obeying the man's orders, Yoongi sat down in his given seat and kept his eyes glued to the official.
"Alright, so Min Yoongi and Jung Hoseok, am I correct?"
"Yeah."
"Yep!"
"Okay, well, here are each of your files." He declared while waving around the two folders he had clipped under his armpits from earlier.
"I'm going to go through them with the both of you so you can kind of get to know each other within the short thirty minutes we have in this room. So let's start with Min Yoongi, shall we?"
"Okay."
"Okay!"
It was getting kind of obvious the silver-haired man's future mate was quite the enthusiastic one.
Instead of burning holes into the official's head with his eyes, Yoongi redirected his gaze towards his own folder lying face up on the table.
"Alright, so... Min Yoongi, 24 years old, omega, born March 9th, 1993 in Daegu, attended Seoul National University and graduated just last year in June, now has a career as a kindergarten teacher..." The list just went on and on for a solid four minutes.
"Okay, next up, Jung Hoseok." He announced after shutting Yoongi's file and pushing it aside and before flipping open the only other folder resting upon on the polished, wooden surface.
"Okay... Jung Hoseok, 23 years old, alpha, born February 18th, 1994 in Gwangju, attended Korea National University of Arts and graduated only a few months ago, and is now working under PLEDIS Entertainment as a choreographer. Wow." Both Yoongi and the official gaped at the orange-haired man's occupation. It was without a doubt, extremely impressive, especially for someone who had just graduated a few months ago.
When Yoongi was unable to stop himself from glancing up to sneak at peak at his impressive future mate, he saw Hoseok flushing a nice shade of pink from how impressed the other two were.
Recovering from his shock, the official continued to read off of Hoseok's file.
"177cm or 5'10 in height, weighed 143lbs or 65kg during his last check up, blood type A,"
Man their files were specific.
"Family members include an omega father and an alpha father, and an older, alpha sister." After scanning through the rest of the file, the official decided that that was enough for the time being.
"Alright, so now that we've gone through both your files, I'm supposed to inform you guys of the duties you're required to carry out now that you've met." He began to explain.
Yoongi could almost feel Hoseok's eyes burning a hole onto the side of his face, but he refuse to cave and instead chose to train his eyes on the official.
"So within a week, meaning..." He pulled out his phone to check the calendar app. "Okay... So you two have to figure out who's place you're going to live in because you must begin living together by November 24th."
"What!?" Yoongi blurted out in shock. How the hell were they supposed to decide and move within a week!? That was preposterous if not complete insanity.
"Yes, Yoongi-ssi?" The official asked, responding to the silver-haired male's outburst.
"How the hell do you expect us to decide on a place and move within the next week??" He questioned with wide eyes.
With a raised brow, the man chuckled lowly. "You guys take an hour or two tonight to discuss who's place you'll be inhabiting together, then, you can ring up a moving company right afterwards and make an appointment, and then you may start packing tonight or tomorrow! Simple! I'm sure it wouldn't take you an entire week to pack considering you're only 24 years old and probably don't have too many items under your possession."
The official wasn't wrong, but the way he worded it infuriated Yoongi to no end.
"May I continue now?"
"Whatever." Yoongi muttered, unsatisfied with the fact that he had just lost. When he looked around, he could see Hoseok staring at him with a concerned expression. He simply held the glare that had surfaced when the official pissed him off and turned away at the speed of light.
"So after you two decide, you must alert me about your decision. Once you two move in together, I will come by just to make sure everything is in order. Oh, and before you guys finalize the move, I will have a few people from our tech team to head over and install temporary surveillance cameras in every room but the bathrooms."
"Wait, excuse me?" This time, it was Hoseok who spoke up due to shock.
"Yes, Hoseok-ssi?" The man asked once again, irritation clearly embedded within his voice.
"Are you telling me that we get zero privacy whatsoever??"
"Well, you do have the bathrooms free of cameras, and we have a strict policy, so if you two are going to have sex, then-"
"No no no! I just mean in general! You'll be able to see everything we're doing other than when we're in the bathroom??"
With pursed lips and a serious expression, the official simply nodded. "Yeah."
"Unbelievable." Yoongi chimed in.
"Well, it's our duty to make sure you two will follow the required procedures. And speaking of required procedures, may I please finish explaining what they are?"
Hoseok nodded, Yoongi simply grunted.
"So after you two move in together, you will have exactly two weeks before you must mate with each other."
"WHAT?!?!" This time, both of the boys interrupted the man.
"You two will get along just fine..." The official grumbled in annoyance. "Yes, you must mate with one another. Are you two aware of what that means?"
When both males remained silent, it wasn't because they didn't know what it meant, it was due to the fact that they were both too embarrassed to hear the words come out of their own mouths. So of course, the official decided to define 'mating' for their own benefits.
"Basically, within two weeks time after you've moved in together, you must have sex and mark each other both scent-wise and physical mark-wise. You must leave your marks on each other's necks so others will know you're mated. Well, they'll probably smell it on you, but having a physical mark would be a lot safer."
"Why would it be safer?" Hoseok cocked an eyebrow, not really understanding what was so dangerous about not having a mark.
"There are certain wolves that do not qualify in our choosing system. So basically, people who are homeless, jobless, or a criminal would not qualify as an able citizen. It's those people, mainly alphas, who may spot an unmarked omega or beta and try to- you know."
Hoseok's lips formed into an 'o' shape as he understood what the elder was trying to get at. "I get it now."
"But do you two understand? You are required to mate before..." He peaked at his calendar once again like before. "Before December 8th. After we're certain that you two are in fact mated, we will remove all the cameras from your housing and you two will be free to do whatever. And remember, mating does not mean you must bear children. As long as you two are able to conceive at least two kids before both of you turn 30 years old, you're home free."
The newly paired future mates locked their gazes together all of a sudden, anxiousness glazing over both of their eyes. Yoongi wouldn't have admitted it, but he felt slightly more at ease after looking into the alpha's eyes.
"Are we all clear on the requirements and rules?" The official asked, ruining the moment.
"Sure."
"Yeah."
Satisfied with their answers, the man nodded and stood from his seat. "Then we are done here! You two should exchange phone numbers now and maybe hang around with each other for a bit before heading home." Digging through his suit pocket, he pulled out two of his own business cards and placed them onto the table. "I have another couple I must attend to now, I wish you both all the best. Now don't forget, it's in your blood!" With that, the official disappeared from the room, leaving the two wolves alone at last.
Yoongi hated hearing that selection of words. Every government official must've been required to say them before finalizing their pairings.
'Now don't forget, it's in your blood!'
The same sentence ended his letter as well. It was as if the government persisted on reminding them that all couples are compatible and that they should be thankful for that. Yoongi's parents beg to differ.
"So um..." Hoseok spoke up, snapping Yoongi out of his trance. "Let's exchange numbers?"
How Yoongi hated how enthusiastic and happy his chosen one was trying to appear. He didn't care how successful or pretty the younger male was, he didn't like him, not one bit.
"Fine." He practically hissed, startling the orange-haired male.
The two exchanged phone numbers and pocketed their phones. Hoseok looked like he had wanted to say something, perhaps mutter out an invite to the nearby Starbucks Yoongi saw on his way in earlier. But before he could, Yoongi ripped off the bandaid, hard and fast.
"I'm going home now. We can talk about the whole moving bullshit later tonight through text. Bye." Yoongi sped through his words before swiping one of the business cards off of the table.
Hoseok opened his mouth to say something else, but Yoongi didn't even give him a chance to, because without saying another word or sparing a single glance, the silver-headed man was gone.
Hoseok was left in the little meeting room alone with wide eyes, an unhinged jaw, and a small, sliver of pain lingering within his heart.