My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 117

The obstetrician checked my chart with a tired expression.

“You’re recessive, right?”

I had an instinct just from hearing this question.

This obstetrician… with 90% probability, was a discriminatory person. She probably didn’t think she was, but her tone alone was unusual.

“Is your husband also recessive?”

“No. He’s dominant.”

“Hmm… Then it would be good to run some tests.”

If Jung Pureum had been recessive, she clearly would have said an ultrasound wasn’t necessary. She would have brushed it off saying to buy a test kit from the pharmacy.

I didn’t fail to understand the doctor’s behavior.

If you’re a recessive omega with a male primary gender, the probability of pregnancy itself wasn’t high. Moreover, the body structure is that of an adult male, so if a pregnancy does occur, that’s its own kind of difficulty. What are you going to do about the pelvis?

Even I, a Korean medicine doctor, thought this way, so an obstetrician who specialized in the relevant field would be no different. But just because I understood all of this intellectually didn’t mean it didn’t feel bad.

“Hyung…”

“Why…”

“Don’t pull out your acupuncture needles here…”

Jung Pureum quickly caught my state and held my hand tightly. Even I had no intention of stabbing a Western doctor with acupuncture needles. I’d get arrested if I did that here.

No matter what nonsense the doctor spouted, my purpose for visiting was to determine whether I was pregnant, not to eliminate discriminatory people.

I obediently leaned back on the examination chair as the doctor instructed.

“Hmm.”

With a nonchalant expression, the doctor spread ultrasound gel over my abdomen. The ultrasound machine moved back and forth over my belly.

“Don’t be surprised when you hear this.”

I swallowed dryly from the tension. Why do I need to not be surprised? Is something wrong? In that brief moment, all sorts of thoughts ran through my mind.

“You’re not pregnant.”

“….”

“You should probably go to internal medicine, not OB-GYN. I don’t know why you immediately assumed it was pregnancy, but gagging during meals could be due to decreased gastric function or stress-induced gastritis.”

“…Really not?”

“Look at the screen. You don’t see anything, right?”

I had thought it might not be, but hearing that it really wasn’t left me confused again. …Wow, after all that, I’m not pregnant? Even I was amazed by my own body at this point.

As expected, the herbal medicine that clears up heat cycles must have been subtly acting as a contraceptive without my knowing. I should look into it further and submit a related paper to the academic society.

“In the first place, since you’re a recessive omega, and as you can see, your body type isn’t one that makes pregnancy easy. You should probably get separate tests done later.”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“You’re tall for an omega, right?”

“I’m about average for a beta male.”

“Compared to other omegas, you’re probably on the taller side. Your body is closer to a beta male’s physique—how could pregnancy be easy?”

But humans aren’t built for childbirth in the first place. I internally rebutted that even beta females and omega females have difficulty giving birth.

However, unlike me thinking “Are you the only doctor here?”, Jung Pureum was reacting seriously to the obstetrician’s words.

“Would it be better not to have children?”

“Well, that’s a matter between the couple, so I can’t say. But if possible, it would be wise to be careful.”

“….”

“In any case, natural delivery itself would be impossible.”

By now, Jung Pureum’s face had turned completely ashen.

The doctor wasn’t saying anything wrong, but watching Jung Pureum’s expression shift colorfully by the minute made me want to cover her mouth.

Why on earth was she laying all this out for such a sensitive kid? Knowing Jung Pureum as I did, there was a strong possibility he’d run straight to the urology department and get a vasectomy right away.

I couldn’t appreciate him thinking about my body while not thinking about his own. I pulled down the top I had lifted for the examination and stumbled up from the chair.

“Make sure to practice contraception.”

The obstetrician kept spouting unhelpful remarks until the very end. …Ah! If she says things like that, Jung Pureum will definitely go around collecting condoms!

When we came out to the waiting room, Kim Miyoung asked with an expectant face whether I was pregnant.

“He said it’s just a problem with gastric function. We’ve been busy lately, you know.”

“Ah… is that so? He said it’s really not?”

“You took my pulse too.”

“I suggested coming to the OB-GYN because the pulse wasn’t double-branched.”

Kim Miyoung clicked her tongue. As a bonus, she made a sad expression, probably having lost another bet with Nam Jungyoon.

“That’s right. Given the Director’s personality, he wouldn’t stop working even if he were pregnant. In a way, it’s for the best, considering his health. Children should be thoroughly planned for anyway.”

The person who just moments ago had been clicking her tongue wondering why a pregnancy happened right before marriage had suddenly changed her tune.

It was a bit baffling, but every word she said was correct. The clinic was doing well, and I couldn’t just take ten months off. Besides, the wedding was in two months—getting gastritis was better than suffering through a pregnancy before that.

But Jung Pureum didn’t look okay at all.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“I think being DINKs is fine.”

“Calm down…”

“Should I just get myself tied?”

“I said calm down…”

Jung Pureum clung to me with a dejected face. I led the heavy Jung Pureum toward the hospital parking lot.

After seeing off Kim Miyoung, who said she’d go back to the clinic first, we got into the car together to head home.

My heart was still unsettled.

If it had really been a pregnancy, I would have been just as flustered, but being told it wasn’t actually made my stomach ache. Honestly, I must have secretly expected it just a little bit, thinking there was a possibility.

“I think having a kid that looks like you wouldn’t be bad.”

“….”

“If they looked like me, they’d be hard to raise. But if they looked like you, they’d definitely be well-behaved. Besides, even if I don’t have confidence in raising a child emotionally, I have confidence in providing for them financially without shortage.”

“Your health is the most important thing to me.”

By then, Jung Pureum’s hair had completely dried. It was a bit frizzy since he hadn’t dried it properly, but it looked fluffy, as if it had never been soaking wet.

But contrary to his fluffy appearance, Jung Pureum had kept a stiff expression ever since leaving the OB-GYN. He had clearly taken the words about natural delivery being impossible very seriously.

It’s not like a C-section is fatal…

Of course, it would be terribly painful. I also knew well how much the body deteriorates before and after childbirth. They teach that much in Korean medicine school too.

“No matter how much you say you’re fine, if it harms your body, I can’t do it.”

“Jung Pureum.”

“This is non-negotiable.”

I knew it in that moment.

From now on, there would never be a relationship without condoms…

∞ ∞ ∞

After that, I was swamped with wedding preparations. My mother dragged me around and made me go through every possible wedding management treatment.

Actually, it was definitely just what my mother wanted. Otherwise, why would she be lying next to me at the skin care clinic?

“Yeonghwa.”

“Yes.”

“Any good news?”

“What kind of good news?”

“Has the birth grandmother been appearing in your dreams or anything?”

This was an inappropriate conversation to have while lying side by side with face packs on.

I could feel the staff member doing the skin care concentrating on our conversation. Why is it that ears always exist to hear these inappropriate conversations?

Even when I said there was nothing of the sort, my mother was persistent. As a bonus, I almost developed a rage disorder from hearing that my grandfather had paid that fake monk Mu Jeong several million won to light lanterns so he could see his great-grandson.

Why are the people around me always drinking their kimchi broth before the person actually getting married? I let my mother’s nonsense about how the best wedding trousseau these days is a baby go in one ear and out the other.

“That’s a shame. I was going to raise the grandchild myself.”

“Really?”

“Of course. The child probably wouldn’t look like you anyway, right? If they looked like Pureum, even I could raise them well.”

“What would you do if they looked like me?”

“If they look like you, your father will raise them.”

I was dumbfounded. This situation, where the person who would give the rice cake isn’t even thinking about it, but my mother is worrying over whether to have steamed rice cake or rolled rice cake…

“I went to an OB-GYN once because I wasn’t feeling well. I gagged while eating tteokbokki.”

“Oh my, really? Why are you just telling me this now?”

“Because it was nothing. I thought it might be pregnancy too, but it turned out to be just gastritis.”

“…Oh.”

“Jung Pureum has been fussing about my health ever since.”

My instinct from back then had been exactly right. Because after that, Jung Pureum did his utmost with contraception. Even when I subtly tempted him, he absolutely wouldn’t give in.

I told my mother with a wry laugh to give up on her grandchild dreams. Once Jung Pureum made up his mind, it wasn’t easy to convince him.

But thinking back, the several million won my grandfather had given to that fake monk Mu Jeong for the sake of a great-grandchild still stung. I should definitely get a tax receipt for that.