My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 112

Even after her sudden visit and explosive comments, Kim Soyoung continued to show up at our clinic fairly often. She seemed to quite like the herbal medicine that cleared up her heat cycle.

I had encountered many omegas over the years, but I had never met one as confident as Kim Soyoung. Even Lee Seolwoo, who was friendly with everyone, was wary of decent-looking alphas, but Kim Soyoung was like a walking flirtation doll that could charm anyone.

If I set my mind to it, there’s no one I can’t win over! That was the kind of spirit Kim Soyoung exuded. The femme fatale concept she had shown on other broadcasts wasn’t just for show.

She was a type of human I had never encountered before, so every time I saw her I was flustered, but I couldn’t just kick out a patient who came to our clinic. Especially not someone suffering from irregular heat cycles.

“You’re here again. Didn’t we prepare your medicine just a week ago?”

“I came to see you, Director.”

“…Me?”

“I guess I’ve grown fond of you from seeing you so often.”

“….”

“You’ve grown fond of me too, haven’t you, Director?”

By now, I was fairly used to this flirting. It was just Kim Soyoung’s language habit.

Seeing her throw these pick-up lines at me, a fellow omega, so consistently made me think that she probably didn’t have real feelings for Jung Pureum—at least not entirely. It seemed more like she was genuinely committed to building her character as the femme fatale omega archer….

As the saying goes, familiarity breeds affection, and after taking her pulse regularly, I didn’t dislike her that much anymore. I could just think of her as Lee Seolwoo number two and endure it. After all, Kim Soyoung never actually did me any real harm.

If she had pulled a white envelope from her pocket and said “Break up with our Pureum!” that would have been a different story, but Kim Soyoung faithfully just got her acupuncture and herbal medicine and left.

I had always liked her as an athlete anyway, so Kim Soyoung becoming a regular at our clinic wasn’t such a bad thing.

After her first visit, Kim Soyoung never brought up Jung Pureum again. Instead, she kept saying things like “You like me now too, right, Director?” and acting overly familiar for no apparent reason.

However, Nam Jungyoon didn’t seem pleased with Kim Soyoung’s frequent visits. She started grumbling that as soon as Lee Seolwoo left, Kim Soyoung showed up.

“It’s like a fox left and a tiger came.”

“Hey, why do you have to put it that way?”

“Because I don’t like it. I want to tattle to Pureum right now, but you told me not to even mention that Kim Soyoung comes to our clinic.”

“Are you a spy? Why do you keep leaking patient information? You’ll end up in court, Jungyoon.”

“It’s so frustrating. Why does she keep acting all chummy with you? I wish Lee Seolwoo would come back and drive Kim Soyoung away…”

Hong Seonghyeon, who had been listening nearby, naturally slipped into the conversation between me and Nam Jungyoon.

“Shouldn’t you reconsider marrying an alpha who attracts this many omegas?”

“….”

“….”

“Yeonghwa, think it over. Marriage is really insane…”

“Nam Jungyoon.”

“I’ll handle it.”

Nam Jungyoon covered Hong Seonghyeon’s mouth and disappeared into the break room.

I couldn’t understand Hong Seonghyeon’s intentions—he kept pestering me and Nam Jungyoon to stop talking about marriage while persistently insisting that marriage was insane. Did he really hate the idea of me getting married that much?

Through the closed break room door, I could hear Kim Miyoung scolding Hong Seonghyeon, saying “Oh dear, you heathen!” and slapping him on the back.

By now, I was gradually getting used to this ritualistic scolding, so it didn’t even feel like hazing anymore. It was just part of our clinic’s daily routine.

[Hyung]

[You don’t have evening appointments today, right?]

[I’ll pick you up after six]

[It’s cold today]

Jung Pureum wasn’t exactly a gentleman either, since he decided to come pick me up because of the cold weather.

The season was now full winter. The wedding date had been pushed to next year, but in the meantime I had been busy looking for a house to live in with Jung Pureum.

After the wedding venue, the next problem was real estate.

My grandfather kept pressing me to come back to the family home, and my mother wanted me to live close to the neighbors’ family if possible. She said that if I lived nearby, she could use me as an excuse to visit the lady next door.

While my family’s opinions were important, finding a place close to both our clinic and the alpha-only swimming pool was also a challenge.

It was somewhat shocking that with so many apartments in Seoul, there was nothing that met my conditions. Places that even I thought looked decent had no listings available.

[It’s cold, so dress warmly when you come out]

[Be careful driving]

Jung Pureum had gotten his driver’s license over the past month. What impressive initiative. It had taken me nearly six months just to get my license because I kept procrastinating.

It was also impressive that he bought a car as soon as he got his license. A stark contrast to me, who had immediately buried my license in the closet after obtaining it.

On top of that, Jung Pureum was quite a good driver. I had planned to sit in the passenger seat and teach him this and that, but Jung Pureum’s smooth driving skills made me just shut my mouth.

How does he find his way so well and park so well too? It was a bit shocking. Do athletes drive well too? Driving is also about using your body, after all?

In response to my message telling him to drive carefully, Jung Pureum replied with a puppy emoji nodding its head vigorously. What an adorable kid. I’m going to keep him by my side for life…

…Just as I was thinking that, Kim Soyoung—equally ungentlemanly—kicked open the clinic door and walked in. In both hands, she carried two boxes of doughnuts she had apparently bought somewhere.

“I’m here.”

“…Anyone would think this clinic is your home.”

“What about the others? Have some doughnuts. I bought them from a place I filmed at today.”

Kim Miyoung, who had been disciplining Hong Seonghyeon in the break room, was the first to show her face. She took the doughnuts Kim Soyoung had brought as if she were used to it.

Lately, Kim Soyoung was busy filming all sorts of variety shows, and whenever she finished filming, she kept coming to our clinic like it was her way home.

The staff seemed to be gradually getting used to Kim Soyoung, who showed up two or three times a week. Since she always brought something every time she came, it felt awkward to tell her to stop coming.

“Director.”

“Yes?”

“The doughnuts I brought are good, right? This is a place where you have to line up to buy.”

“Oh, yes….”

“What are you doing after work today? Are you busy?”

Leaning against the reception desk in a fatal pose, Kim Soyoung stuffed a doughnut into my mouth and started saying whatever she wanted.

I was beginning to get confused about whether Kim Soyoung liked Jung Pureum or me. Unlike Lee Seolwoo, who only made advances on handsome alphas, Kim Soyoung was fatally charming to everyone without any trait-based prejudice.

Sometimes she even said things to Kim Miyoung like “It’s a shame you’re already married, Nurse. Aren’t you interested in younger men?”—so it wasn’t just that she had no trait-based prejudice; she also didn’t seem to care about age or primary gender.

Watching Kim Soyoung made me reflect on how narrow-minded I had been all this time. She could go around flirting with anyone like that, so what had I been so afraid of all this time, living with such worry?

“I’m going to look at houses.”

“Oh, a newlywed home?”

“Yes…”

“A good listing came up in Bundang. Want me to introduce you to a realtor I know?”

But self-reflection aside, Kim Soyoung’s boundaryless, aggressive approach was making my head spin. The doughnut in my mouth was so sweet it was hard to keep my wits about me.

Like a snake slithering over a wall, Kim Soyoung scribbled a realtor’s phone number on a memo pad. I absentmindedly reached out to take it when the bell at the clinic’s front door rang sharply.

“Director!”

Lee Seolwoo, whom no one had called, showed up at the clinic at just the right moment. Right at closing time, perfectly timed.

“Director! Please listen to me! No, I mean…”

Lee Seolwoo, who was now noticeably showing signs of pregnancy, ran toward me. I jumped up from my seat in case he tripped and fell.

“We were supposed to go on a date today, but my partner couldn’t get off work and stood me up… What the, who’s this?”

Lee Seolwoo, who had been running toward me without looking around, spotted Kim Soyoung leaning in a fatal pose next to me.

Nam Jungyoon’s words about the fox leaving and the tiger coming drifted lazily through my mind. I shouldn’t be saying things like that about clinic patients.

But it wasn’t easy to strictly adhere to professional ethics. How could I stay calm when the patients themselves were the ones causing this commotion?

I stood between Lee Seolwoo and Kim Soyoung, who faced each other like a dragon and a tiger, and just swallowed the remaining doughnut. The shrimp getting its back broken in a whale fight—that felt like my future.

“Do you know each other?”

“Director, isn’t it past closing time? Who is this person?”

Instead of asking each other, Kim Soyoung and Lee Seolwoo both turned to look at me simultaneously.

I shot a pleading look toward the staff who hadn’t clocked out yet, but Kim Miyoung had already led the two vice directors into the break room. Those traitors…

“It is past closing time now.”

I checked the clock. Three minutes until closing. It was a day with no evening appointments.

“So please, both of you go home…”

“I even brought doughnuts and this is how you kick me out?”

“Director, I’m really hurt. My partner, you see…”

“Ha, honestly. Is this clinic a dating counseling center?”

“What’s with the sudden hostility?”

With Kim Soyoung on one side and Lee Seolwoo on the other, I felt like I was about to faint.

It felt like I was holding knives in both hands, not flowers. And on top of that, the knives were fighting each other. One kept flirting with me, the other kept coming to me for relationship advice.

I watched Kim Soyoung and Lee Seolwoo go back and forth with words, the only thing stopping them from grabbing each other’s hair being sheer restraint. Even past closing time, the two didn’t stop their verbal sparring.

Save me…

It had been a while since I’d wanted to kick out regular patients this badly.

“Hyung, what’s all this commotion…”

Eventually, Jung Pureum, who had come up after I didn’t show up at the parking lot past six, opened the clinic door and walked in.

Our clinic, which had become a meeting place.

With Kim Soyoung on one side, Lee Seolwoo on the other, and Jung Pureum in front, I just squeezed my eyes shut. Pureum, please save your hyung…