My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 15

“Did you see the message I sent?”

“I didn’t see it. I didn’t bring my phone charger.”

“So that’s why there was no reply.”

“…Were you waiting for my message?”

“Of course. A kid who always replies like clockwork suddenly goes silent—I thought you were dead.”

“Then I should reply late sometimes from now on.”

“Oh ho, getting cocky now, are we?”

Seeing a wound on that handsome face made his heart ache. Whoever hit the kid—whether it was the coach or a senior—deserved to have their nose broken even if their ancestors three generations back rolled over in their graves.

“So, was it the coach?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie.”

“Really, it’s not. The coach doesn’t mess with me these days because I became an alpha.”

The remark that the coach didn’t mess with him because he became an alpha grated on Moon Yeonghwa’s nerves. It meant he did mess with him when he was a beta.

“Then who hit you?”

“….”

“Are your university seniors bullying you?”

Come to think of it, there would definitely be people who’d pick fights because he went from beta to alpha.

Even if the media reports kept him anonymous, people around Jung Pureum would inevitably notice his trait change through word of mouth.

A guy who was a beta until recently moved to an alpha-only pool—was it plausible that the people swimming with him wouldn’t know?

While Moon Yeonghwa was grinding his teeth at the imaginary seniors, Jung Pureum was leaning his face against Moon Yeonghwa’s palm, looking pitiful and docile.

“I got hit because I needed to take one hit to throw one back.”

“What?”

“Hyung said it before. You have to take the first punch and then hit back for it to count as self-defense.”

“….”

“So I only took one hit.”

With a face that seemed to ask for praise—’Did I do well?’—Moon Yeonghwa was speechless.

Just then, the sensor light went out. Even though the light was gone, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, so Jung Pureum, standing close by, was perfectly visible.

The distinctive smell of the pool and some scent, whether body wash or something else, drifted in the air. At a loss for words, Moon Yeonghwa slowly lowered the hand that had been touching his cheek.

“I told you not to go around fighting. You could ruin your athletic career that way.”

“Hyung.”

“Take care of your own business first, how many times do I have to—”

“Were you worried about me?”

He wanted to shoot back, “Of course I was,” but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come. Feeling awkward for no reason, he deliberately changed the subject.

“Yeah. Stop standing in front of the door and move. If you have more to say, don’t say it in the hallway—come inside.”

“I just wanted to see your face, so I waited.”

“You can see me tomorrow morning.”

“Still. I thought maybe if I saw hyung, my pain would go away too.”

“….”

His already heavy heart dropped to the floor with a thud. Why did this kid keep saying things like this?

Forcing himself to move past Jung Pureum, Moon Yeonghwa opened the door. Even though they both knew each other’s door passcodes anyway, his fingertip trembled as he pressed the keypad.

He felt unfairly wronged. To others, it would look like he was getting worked up because the kid had become an alpha. But Jung Pureum was still his precious neighbor dongsaeng.

Pretending not to notice, he closed the front door firmly.

“What is that kid even trying to do….”

If he were some unrelated omega, he might have felt a little flutter at that remark. Just a flutter? He might have seriously wondered if that person was interested in him.

But the other person was his neighbor dongsaeng, Jung Pureum. Moon Yeonghwa irritably swept a hand over his own face.

He should brew himself a tonic. Clearly, his body had been feeling weak lately. Because his physical strength was lacking, he was getting swayed by traits and having strange thoughts about his neighbor dongsaeng.

He slapped both hands against his own cheeks. Snap out of it, Moon Yeonghwa! In this harsh world, if you get swayed just because your neighbor dongsaeng became an alpha, you can’t run a business!

After slapping himself, his mind cleared a little. No matter how he thought about it, he’d been through too much lately. On top of his heat cycle and the broadcast appearance, he’d even collapsed.

He immediately went into the kitchen and scarfed down a late dinner of instant food. After eating, everything felt much clearer than before.

Neighbor dongsaeng Jung Pureum was fine, but dominant alpha Jung Pureum needed to be kept at a distance. For the sake of his dignity as a neighborhood hyung and the operation of his clinic.

∞ ∞ ∞

Lee Seolwoo, who had introduced him to the dermatologist, was a dominant omega. A regular at his clinic, he drank even more of the herbal medicine that suppressed heat cycles than Moon Yeonghwa did.

He and Lee Seolwoo had grown close over two to three visits a week, as doctor and patient. Seeing his face more often than his own parents, it was inevitable that personal conversations increased.

Lee Seolwoo, who had been a faithful patient even back when flies were the only visitors to the clinic, stopped coming for a while when Nam Jungyoon joined as vice director.

“Alphas make me a bit uncomfortable.”

Seeing Lee Seolwoo’s awkward face, Moon Yeonghwa smiled involuntarily. Yes, yes, alphas are uncomfortable. He felt the same way. It was good to share common ground.

He nodded, saying that was fine. Still, he couldn’t fire the vice director for a regular customer’s sake, so he spoke positively about Nam Jungyoon to Lee Seolwoo.

“I’ll still be doing the consultations and acupuncture, so don’t worry. The vice director will only handle counseling and Gongjindan prescriptions.”

“Oh, I saw you on TV. You looked great on camera.”

“Thanks to your good recommendation. I only know about my clinic—I don’t know much about dermatology or things like that.”

The conversation continued amicably while he placed acupuncture needles on Lee Seolwoo’s abdomen. When Lee Seolwoo mentioned that his lower abdomen felt tight after his recent heat cycle, Moon Yeonghwa turned on a heat pack over the needled area.

“Oh, Director.”

“Yes?”

“What happened to that alpha?”

“Which alpha?”

“The one who comes every day—you know, the tall, handsome one—”

He only needed to hear that much to know Lee Seolwoo was talking about Jung Pureum. There was only one tall, handsome alpha who frequented his clinic.

Since Lee Seolwoo was one of the few omega patients who had been coming since the early days, he also knew about Jung Pureum’s existence. Still, Jung Pureum had been a beta when Lee Seolwoo first saw him—it was surprising that he remembered him as an alpha.

“Does the presence of alpha patients make you uncomfortable?”

“No, no. It’s not that….”

Lee Seolwoo, lying down and trailing off hesitantly, blushed as if embarrassed.

“It’s just that… that person… is really my type.”

…Excuse me?

Moon Yeonghwa couldn’t bring himself to ask again.

Huh? Pardon? Hadn’t you just said Vice Director Nam Jungyoon made you uncomfortable? This was alpha discrimination.

But the other person was a regular omega patient at his clinic. Especially a super-VIP patient who had monthly prescriptions for heat-suppressing herbal medicine.

He couldn’t say nonsense like, “By any chance, is the pain in your head rather than your abdomen?” to such a valuable regular. Losing a regular customer in this harsh capitalist society was simply not an option.

“How embarrassing. Please forget what I just said.”

“Oh, yes.”

“It seemed like he was your close dongsaeng, so I thought I’d ask just in case….”

Fortunately, Lee Seolwoo didn’t ask Moon Yeonghwa to introduce him to Jung Pureum.

He had a subtle look of hoping Moon Yeonghwa would play matchmaker, but Moon Yeonghwa was a doctor, not a pimp. No matter how fond he was of Lee Seolwoo, that was crossing a line.

Pursuing romantic connections at a clinic was naturally out of the question. If you want a blind date, do it somewhere else.

Moon Yeonghwa gently told Lee Seolwoo to rest and drew the curtain around the bed where he lay. His mood felt a bit strange. It was a revelation that Jung Pureum, as a dominant alpha, was in demand among dominant omegas.

Objectively speaking, Jung Pureum was impressive by any standard. Tall, fit, decent personality—where would you find an alpha like that?

Still, wasn’t he not interested in dating?

As far as Moon Yeonghwa remembered, from elementary school to adulthood, Jung Pureum had never had a partner. He was busy with swimming, but also because he himself was indifferent to romance.

Hadn’t there been something about it on TV too—that kids these days are often uninterested in dating? Come to think of it, even when Moon Yeonghwa was in high school, dating was a distant story. Students should study—how dare they date?

“Our Pureum is popular, huh.”

Kim Miyoung approached without a sound and whispered to him. He hadn’t even heard her footsteps, so his heart felt like it dropped to the top of his foot. Jump scare squares would be considered top-tier at this level.

After calming his startled heart, the phrase “our Pureum” bothered him. When had Jung Pureum gotten so close to Kim Miyoung? Thanks to his warm personality, Jung Pureum quickly won over adults wherever he went.

Unlike the prickly Jung Saebom, Jung Pureum had a gentle disposition. Not only was he polite to adults, but he also had the kindness to laugh readily at small jokes. The only people who disliked him were fellow athletes who competed with him and one insane coach.

“Your ears are sharp.”

“When you work in this field for a long time, you get exposed to a lot of herbal medicine—it clears your eyes and sharpens your ears.”

“You’re talking about herbal medicine like it’s a germanium bracelet.”

“Germanium bracelets are just marketing. Herbal medicine is real.”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

Kim Miyoung, who had handed him neatly organized ledgers, looked at him with an amused expression.

“You’re not thinking of introducing them, are you?”

As expected, Kim Miyoung must also think negatively about pursuing romantic connections at a clinic.

That’s right. In this sacred space filled with precious herbal ingredients, impure acts like alpha-omega matchmaking should never occur.

When he shook his head, Kim Miyoung looked at him with a proud gaze, followed by an inscrutable evaluation that seemed to say, “I thought he was completely hopeless, but maybe he’s not entirely insane.”

“I was just thinking our director might play matchmaker and introduce Pureum to another omega.”

“Oh.”

“If you’re not doing that, that’s a relief—”

“Now that you mention it, maybe just getting them acquainted wouldn’t hurt?”

“….”

Kim Miyoung’s expression instantly changed from proud to pitying. With that many facial expressions, wrinkles would appear.

He had no intention of directly playing matchmaker, but it might be nice if Jung Pureum and Lee Seolwoo could at least become acquainted.

As a latent heat omega, Moon Yeonghwa wasn’t very helpful for Jung Pureum’s secondary gender education. So wouldn’t it benefit Jung Pureum to know an ideal dominant omega?

Lee Seolwoo’s interest in Jung Pureum was a bit concerning. He didn’t want a kid busy with swimming to suddenly get distracted by romance and do something foolish.

But clapping requires two hands—if Jung Pureum wasn’t interested in dating, there probably wouldn’t be any problem.

“Maybe they’re destined mates, or something like that?”

“This is truly a disaster….”

“Why?”

“Because Pureum’s future looks bleak.”

How could his future be bleak when it was nothing but bright ahead? Moon Yeonghwa became serious along with Kim Miyoung.