My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 17

But a week passed, and Jung Pureum remained completely silent.

Worried he might be dead, I even tried talking to Jung Saebom, but she just stared at me with a contemptuous look and coldly drew the line, saying our problems were ours to solve.

How many electric chickens had I bought and given her over the years? And she couldn’t even give me a proper update on Jung Pureum, who lived with her? I wanted to throw myself on the ground and demand she spit it all back out, but Jung Saebom wasn’t the type to be swayed by such antics.

“He’s already having a hard time because that coach keeps nagging him to cut his records. Don’t stir him up too.”

“When did I ever stir him up?”

I was wronged. It was Jung Pureum who stirred me up. He was the one who made me sign a contract when I was trying to let it go. All I did was buy him beef and let him try out the Gongjindan.

But I didn’t have the confidence to assert “I’m innocent!” to the sister of the guy I’d turned into an alpha. Even if Jung Pureum didn’t sue me, if Jung Saebom or the neighbor aunt did, everything would be ruined.

More than anything, there was one thing in Jung Saebom’s words that bothered me more than “stir him up.” At this point, that faceless coach seemed worse than Baek Wonhee.

“That coach of his is something else every time I hear about him.”

“He’s well-known in the swimming world.”

“Is he a former national team member?”

“No. But he’s deeply connected to universities and associations. Even my mom can’t do anything about it and just lets it be. If he’s aiming for the national team, there’s no choice but to put up with it.”

“The world really is unjust.”

Jung Saebom snorted at my reaction. That cynical reply—that it was the same in any industry—made my heart ache. It was true, but why was she so cold? It was amazing that Jung Saebom and Jung Pureum shared the same blood.

“Oh.”

Jung Saebom, who had been walking away with brisk strides, suddenly stopped.

The hallway lights in the apartment flickered on and off following her steps. In the dim darkness, a warning-laden remark followed.

“You, make sure you manage your pheromones well in front of Jung Pureum.”

“I do.”

“You?”

With a cold sneer, Jung Saebom slipped into her house without giving me a chance to respond. I awkwardly rubbed the back of my neck. I didn’t think I was bad at pheromone control.

It seemed I did tend to release some unconsciously at times, whether as a side effect of the herbal medicine overdose. It was the same at the barbecue restaurant when we got into that fight.

But since I was latent heat, I wasn’t that sensitive to my own pheromones. It’s natural that even if you can smell others well, you can’t easily smell your own scent.

Still, surely I, who had lived as an omega my whole life, controlled it better than Jung Pureum, who had just become an alpha. But apparently, that wasn’t how it looked to Jung Saebom, a born alpha.

With an unsettled feeling, I entered my house.

Now that Jung Pureum was an alpha, not a beta, I knew well that I needed to be careful. But it felt like our long-maintained relationship was gradually getting twisted just because of a secondary gender.

I picked up my phone and checked again to see if any messages had come. The messaging app, which always used to be flooded with notifications because of Jung Pureum, was oddly silent.

So he wasn’t going to contact me first either. Unbelievable. I got treated like this just for trying to introduce someone to him.

Even as Jung Pureum’s behavior rankled me, thinking about that coach who was tormenting the kid like a coffee bean made me feel bad. In the end, I sighed and sent Jung Pureum a message first.

[Pureum.]

[Hyung is sorry.]

I still didn’t know what exactly I was supposed to be sorry for, but an apology was always better sooner. That was also from the martial arts novels my grandfather read. Revenge and apologies should be swift.

But despite my reaching out first, Jung Pureum didn’t even check the message. Only thirty seconds had passed since I sent it, but I grew a little more troubled.

Was treating a kid who’d become an alpha like a child, and trying to set him up with another omega, really that big of a crime?

[Hyung]

[Can I come see you now?]

The reply to the message I sent that day came two days later. It was a busy weekday afternoon.

Since I wasn’t the type of bad doctor to check my phone during work, I didn’t see his message until evening.

I called immediately, but it only rang without connecting. He’d asked when he could come, and then didn’t show up at the clinic just because my reply was a little late—that was the most absurd part.

It was good for me if he didn’t come, but he was the one who’d written up a contract and broke it first. That was a failure at basic social conduct. Even if you’re the one in charge, you have to keep your promises.

Now I was tired of him sulking over petty reasons, and since I had some time, I decided to go to Jung Pureum’s school where he’d be training.

I wouldn’t be able to get into the alpha-only pool, but I could at least wait outside.

So I contacted Jung Saebom to ask if her brother was home, but only got a notification saying “The user has blocked you.” …Well, fortunately, it seemed he was still at school.

[I’m coming.]

[You’re still at school, right?]

It was a reply that was four hours late, but I quickly got into a taxi. I’d meet him in person, correct his habit of always getting upset, and scold him for doing things like that… lip-bumping without any warning.

It was only fine because it was me. If an omega like Lee Seolwoo, who had feelings for Jung Pureum, had experienced such an incident, they’d inevitably misunderstand that Jung Pureum liked them romantically.

I could handle him because I was me. I felt a little proud of myself for being such a good hyung.

∞ ∞ ∞

Even seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn’t believe this scene. That damn coach must really be insane. No, making kids train until this hour—what was this?

Even I, who had little interest in sports, knew well that swimming was an extremely demanding sport. I’d heard that even the American national swimmer who won Olympic gold had to eat 20,000 calories a day just to maintain weight.

Spending half a day in the water couldn’t be easy. Since humans are land animals, changing the terrain they occupy consumes more energy.

So I agreed that building a solid foundation of basic stamina was necessary. That was how you lasted long as an athlete. But what I absolutely couldn’t understand was the one-sided Spartan approach.

“Hey, Jung Pureum! Are you slacking off now just because you became an alpha?”

Among the group of alphas running on the university’s outdoor track, the one running the hardest by anyone’s standards was my kid. The coach must have had bad eyesight.

I could see Jung Pureum silently running laps, drenched in sweat. I’d scolded him for skipping training, but if this was the training, skipping seemed justified. They’d probably been running circles for a while already—one or two had already dropped out.

The coach didn’t say anything to those who dropped out, but kept singling out Jung Pureum, who was in the lead. Since I couldn’t get close to the training ground, I kept my distance and glared venomously at the coach.

I wanted to charge in right now and slap that coach’s half-bald head. But unfortunately, I was a working adult who couldn’t afford to get sued.

Already in my mind I was tearing out every last hair on the coach’s head, but I couldn’t act recklessly. I only had two employees at my business. If I went down, that was one thing, but I couldn’t make Kim Miyoung and Nam Jungyoon unemployed too.

No violence! My reason shouted. Immediately, my emotions revolted again. But, that bastard started it!

Fortunately, training ended before I lost my mind and tore out the coach’s hair follicles. I could feel the intense pheromones emanating from the sweat-soaked alphas. Even standing at a considerable distance, my stomach churned.

Worried I might lose my human dignity from being exposed to such pheromones again, I moved further away. Now the coach, Jung Pureum, and the other alphas looked like a single dot.

[I’ll wait in front of the main gate.]

[Get cleaned up and come out slowly.]

I wanted to have a one-on-one talk with that coach, but I had no right to do so. No matter how close we were, I wasn’t Jung Pureum’s real brother or father—what could I say to someone else’s coach?

If even the neighbor aunt couldn’t easily replace the coach, it was right for me to stay still as well.

That broadcast PD last time, and that coach too—there were too many bad people in the world who had to be left alone due to adult circumstances.

[Hyeong]

[Hyung]

Jung Pureum, having finally seen my message, called me immediately.

When I answered the urgent call, Jung Pureum said he’d run over right away, telling me not to go anywhere and to stay there, speaking without catching his breath.

“I won’t run away, so breathe.”

―No. I can’t trust a single word hyung says, so please just stay there.

“Breathe, I said.”

Whether he really came running right away, I could see someone in the distance sprinting frantically. It was amazing that he had the stamina to run like that after all that training. His basic stamina was superhuman, and I understood less and less why the coach had to torment him.

The large figure closed in rapidly.

“Hyung!”

It felt almost like being pounced on by a bear. His forearm muscles that wrapped around me were sharply defined. Help. I couldn’t bear Jung Pureum’s weight and staggered a little.

“Hey, hey… you’re going to kill your hyung.”

“Ah, sorry. I misjudged my strength.”

“I thought I was being assassinated.”

“This is the first time hyung came to see me first, so I was so happy that….”

I’d visited his house plenty of times, yet he counted this as the first. Astounded, I scrutinized Jung Pureum’s bright, eager face.

When I stared at him intently, Jung Pureum seemed to finally remember his sins. Apparently, he’d just recalled that he’d lip-bumped me and ghosted me a few days ago.

Jung Pureum quickly backed away from me and instantly went into cowering mode. His deflated, subdued look was exactly like a whining puppy. Though a bit big for a puppy.

“Forget it, kid. Don’t be so self-conscious.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. What’s a lip-bump between us? It’s not like we kissed.”

“….”

“But don’t do that to anyone else, got it?”

At my reaction, Jung Pureum shrank even more. Anyone watching would think I was tormenting him more than the coach.

He crept closer and hugged me tightly again. Even though he seemed perfectly energetic, he was clinging to me with all kinds of weak pretenses, saying training was too hard.

“If you’re going to be like this, why did you avoid me for days?”

“Oh, that’s….”

“That’s what?”

“Um… there was a reason.”

What reason could that be?

The kid who I thought would never keep secrets from me just rolled his eyes and avoided my gaze.

“I can’t say.”

“Oh ho?”

“Because I have privacy too.”

I was so dumbfounded I laughed. He knew how to say “privacy” now—he really had grown up.

It was absurd, but at the same time, I felt proud. Seeing him fairly okay after running like that made me feel gratified, even though I didn’t raise him.

I took Jung Pureum and headed to a restaurant. After hearing that training was hard, I felt a sense of duty to feed him something and replenish his depleted calories.

Eating at this hour would give me indigestion, but Jung Pureum was sturdy, so he’d be fine. What should I feed him to make it known that I fed him well….

I was so lost in those thoughts the entire time that I failed to immediately notice a gaze watching us from afar.