My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 20

In romance dramas featuring alpha and omega protagonists, the omega always collapses pitifully at every crucial moment.

Then the alpha sweeps the omega up in their arms and disappears into the bedroom, and a scene of birds chirping at dawn is inserted to show that they’ve consummated their relationship.

That is… romance.

This is the power of Hallyu, K-dramas. I heard that in open-minded American dramas, if an alpha and omega lock eyes for more than three seconds, it’s straight to a bed scene.

But Korean dramas can’t do that. Because the Broadcasting Communications Commission would never allow explicit bed scenes to air.

I haven’t watched every drama in the world, but I can say one thing with certainty: there is no drama in this world where the heroine goes into heat while eating curry.

This violates the laws of romance, regardless of the Broadcasting Communications Commission. No, to begin with, Jung Pureum and I shouldn’t even be in the romance genre. Jung Pureum was originally a beta! The male lead of traditional romance only deals with pure-blood alphas.

This was a collapse of drama grammar. My mother, who’s addicted to melodramas, would never forgive such an un-romantic situation.

I bolted up from the dining table. The table rattled and shook. I could tell my body was acting strange, so Jung Pureum must have already noticed I was going into heat.

I frantically opened the bathroom door, went in, and slammed it shut. Jung Pureum, who had been sitting across from me, finally stood up.

“Hyung?”

“…Hey, you—go back to your place right now.”

At times like this, it was a relief that he lived next door. Even if I suddenly kicked him out, he wouldn’t have to sleep on the streets.

But despite my sincere advice, Jung Pureum stood in front of the bathroom door and knocked lightly. His voice asking if I was okay sounded several times more tender than usual.

He’d always been kind to me, but I couldn’t tell if it was because I was about to go into heat that he sounded that way, or if he was deliberately speaking more gently.

“Open the door. You’re still okay, aren’t you?”

“I’m not okay, damn it. If you stay longer, it’s dangerous for you too. No matter how latent heat I am, oh, crazy….”

My stomach turned again. As the heat rose in my body, even the air that had been fine just moments ago felt humid.

I leaned the back of my head against the cold bathroom wall and caught my breath. Even with a door between us, I could clearly sense that there was an alpha on the other side. Was this beast, or human….

But I had no time to question my own identity. The deliberately locked doorknob rattled a couple of times.

“Open the door.”

“I said I’m not okay.”

“Yeah. I know. The scent is strong.”

“Then just go, please!”

We’d bickered playfully before, but I’d never raised my voice at Jung Pureum. My urgency made a irritable tone slip out.

I had never once spent a heat cycle with an alpha. It wasn’t because I valued chastity at this age—it was because there was no trustworthy alpha around.

Even if there had been someone truly trustworthy, given my personality, I probably wouldn’t have trusted them anyway.

Handling it alone was 100 percent safe, but the moment another person got involved in this heat cycle, the risk factor multiplied exponentially. Why would I take such a dangerous risk? If I didn’t sleep with anyone, it was 100 percent safe.

But that didn’t mean I had no sexual desire at all. There was a limit to handling it alone every time. Moreover, whether forward or backward, resolving it myself induced an intense wave of post-clarity every single time.

So if I lost my reason any further, I didn’t know what I might do to Jung Pureum outside the door. It’d be a relief if I didn’t just throw the door open and say something like, “Since it’s come to this, do you really want to sleep with me?”

Even if I went mad and entered a beastly state, I couldn’t do that to my neighbor dongsaeng. The neighbor auntie was a former shot-put athlete! One punch from her and I might literally die.

Reaffirming the threat to my life, my clouded reason returned. Even with an alpha at the door, as long as I kept my wits about me, no accident would happen.

“Hyung.”

Just then, a snapping sound came from the rattling doorknob. I only lowered my gaze to look at the doorknob.

I never knew it could break like that. So even metal could snap like that…. Whether it was because of the heat cycle or primal fear, my fingertips trembled slightly.

“Hey, you—”

The already humid bathroom air mingled with Jung Pureum’s scent. The door, its knob destroyed, opened helplessly.

“We agreed we’d sleep together if our cycles coincided.”

“We didn’t coincide—no, stay there and talk.”

“….”

“It didn’t coincide.”

“My rut is in a few days too.”

“Either way, it’s not coinciding right now….”

As long as I kept my wits about me! No accident would happen!

As I stumbled backward, I almost slipped and cracked the back of my head open, but that too was only narrowly averted because I was still in my right mind.

I frantically grabbed the sink within reach like a lifeline. I should have run outside—of all places, I ran into the bathroom where there was nowhere else to flee.

A tempting alpha before my eyes… no, what was I just thinking?

Either way, with a grown Jung Pureum standing firm before me, I was in trouble on many levels. I was also human and a living creature—my body reacted before my mind.

At this rate, even if I came to my senses, an accident might happen! To steady both body and mind, I squeezed my eyes shut and declared:

“Even if the world ends, it’s not happening with you.”

“Why?”

“Your mom was a former shot-put athlete.”

“….”

“I want to live too.”

Cornered, the truth spilled out. I’d already kneeled once to the auntie for turning her beta son into an alpha in an instant—I couldn’t create another reason to kneel again.

I must not become an obstacle to Jung Pureum’s athletic career, of all people. There was loyalty built up over the years, and neighborly warmth.

But Jung Pureum seemed to think differently. The closer he stepped toward me, the more conflicted I felt.

Should I just do it? If I slept with an alpha, maybe I wouldn’t need to take the herbal medicine for a few months? Jung Pureum was trustworthy enough, wasn’t he? My mind swarmed with vexation. Even the Buddha couldn’t tame my heart.

“Is that the only reason it won’t work?”

“Ugh….”

“I’m genuinely asking because I’m curious.”

“Step back and talk. It’s hard to hold my breath.”

“Are you pretending not to know, or do you really not know?”

“Know what?”

The breath-holding challenge ended in glorious failure. After all, I wasn’t the swimmer—Jung Pureum was. My lung capacity was merely average.

The pheromone I’d come to feel familiar with after a few exposures pierced deep into my lungs.

How bad were dominant alpha pheromones for a latent heat omega? I squeezed my eyes shut. And how bad was this socially! What about my human dignity!

In the end, I got hard. It was because my dignity had been shattered.

It was truly terrible. To react to my cherished neighbor dongsaeng’s pheromones and end up like this. It was more embarrassing than when I’d walked around like a degenerate because I had to take exams.

“So you really don’t know….”

Jung Pureum’s hollow mutter circled in my ears. I truly don’t know what it is I’m supposed to not know. No matter how I thought about it, I definitely had more general knowledge than Jung Pureum.

But my thoughts and vexations couldn’t continue. Jung Pureum’s hand firmly gripped my shoulder. His body pressed close enough for me to clearly feel his heated temperature.

“W-w-w-wait, hold on.”

“What now.”

“If we’re going to do it, let’s brush our teeth first!”

Emergency escape!

Where’s the emergency escape button!

I agree that an adult who says one thing and means another isn’t admirable. But does a person have to be an admirable adult? Even if you live sloppily, aren’t you still an adult once you’re old enough?

Whether our heat and rut cycles coincided or not, I had no intention of sleeping with Jung Pureum. Of course, Jung Pureum was objectively a decent guy, and even now that he’d just become an alpha, he was handsome enough to attract Lee Seolwoo’s interest.

But that didn’t mean I should sleep with him. Even if my heat cycle made me feel drawn to him, that was pheromone manipulation, not my true feelings.

The same went for Jung Pureum. Was it really his genuine will to sleep with me? This was all pheromone manipulation. If that kid hadn’t become an alpha, there’s no way this would ever have happened between us.

So this was like a side effect of the Gongjindan.

If we were beta and omega, our pheromones wouldn’t have reacted to each other, but becoming alpha and omega had caused this tragedy.

Jung Pureum actually gave me time to brush my teeth. He did his too, while he was at it. Yes, we’d just been eating curry, so for oral hygiene, brushing was absolutely necessary.

And I tried to use that gap to escape. This was my house, but since Jung Pureum didn’t seem like he’d leave, I had to leave instead.

But Jung Pureum didn’t allow my escape. A frail Korean medicine doctor like me couldn’t beat a physical education student. No matter how much I doped with herbal medicine, Jung Pureum, born with superior physical stats, was on a different level from the start.

“Wait. Time out. Just wait a moment.”

“….”

“Really?”

“….”

“Seriously?”

There was no more room to retreat.

Actually, by now, I didn’t have much reason left either. I had to keep my wits to avoid an accident, but at this point, even if an accident happened, it didn’t seem like my fault.

Wasn’t this Jung Pureum’s fault?

My reason was slowly waving the white flag, saying, “Master, no more!” The mental strength I’d poured into work was long gone, and my body had already half-surrendered to the pheromones.

“I’m fine with doing it in the bathroom.”

“Are you crazy? Absolutely not.”

“Then let’s go to the bed.”

“This is truly a world-shattering event—Western medicine surpassing Korean medicine….”

My lament-like monologue didn’t last long. Because my body was lifted clean off the ground.

For the first time, I resented the Gongjindan I’d made. Help me. Omega God! If there was a side effect like this, you should have given me a revelation beforehand. Free prayer A/S with a 3-year warranty is basic, isn’t it….