My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 24

After about two days of rest, I was finally able to return to the clinic. My body was fine, but it took ages to shake off Jung Pureum’s pheromones.

Nam Jungyoon turned out to be far more talented at running the clinic than I’d expected. Thanks to that, taking two days off wasn’t all that difficult.

But for some reason, my heart felt uneasy. As I sat in the dispensary letting out deep sighs, Kim Miyoung handed me some job’s tears tea.

Seeing that only the job’s tears tea bags kept disappearing from the break room, it seemed Kim Miyoung’s one and only choice was job’s tears. Though eating too much of that isn’t good for your stomach either.

“Stop sighing like that or you’ll lose all your luck.”

“I have worries.”

“Worries?”

“I can’t talk about them with others.”

Kim Miyoung looked at me as if dumbfounded. As a bonus, she took back the job’s tears tea she’d given me. Where in the world do you give something and then take it back?

Since job’s tears tea wasn’t my pick anyway, instead of asking for it back, I distractedly started preparing herbal medicine. At least when I was checking the ingredient combinations, I thought about Jung Pureum a little less. Though when making Gongjin-dan, I kept thinking about him instead.

“Still, you’ve been looking healthier lately. You used to come in looking half-dead after your cycles.”

“I look healthier? What a surprise.”

“Don’t you feel it yourself? Your skin is so plump and firm.”

I hadn’t gone to the dermatologist Lee Seolwoo recommended in a while, so this was entirely thanks to Jung Pureum’s essence. I’d become plump and firm from sucking that young kid dry.

Writhing with guilt, I continued preparing the medicine. Even if he did become an alpha, I couldn’t believe I’d been moved by someone so young and fresh. No matter how much I was in heat, I had social dignity. Was I really just an animal?

“Looks like something happened with Pureum?”

Kim Miyoung’s insinuating question nearly made me screw up another ingredient combination.

I shot up from my seat.

“What could have happened?”

“So something did happen.”

“Nothing happened!”

At my reaction, Kim Miyoung just sipped her job’s tears tea. I’m going to remove all those job’s tears tea bags from the break room.

“I’m here.”

As if he had no manners, Jung Pureum opened the clinic door and walked in. The bell on the door jingled.

Lately, Jung Pureum had been dropping by the clinic often. He’d always come and go as if it were his own house, but now it was practically his master bedroom. As soon as he finished his lectures and training, he’d clock out to the clinic.

“Come to think of it, I’m not done with work yet.”

Almost instinctively, I avoided the spot. I’d already decocted all the medicine for today, but I was going to decoct tomorrow’s as well today. What future me had to do, present me would do too.

Kim Miyoung looked at me with an incredulous expression. Her gaze reproached me, asking what I was doing when quitting time was almost here. Jung Pureum, leaning against the reception desk, was also watching me.

“I’m really, truly, terribly busy, so I can’t hang out with you today, Pureum.”

“Director, didn’t you just say you’d finished all the decoctions for today?”

“Decoctions are endless. That is the fate of an oriental medicine doctor.”

“Pureum, I think your director ate something bad.”

“Hyung’s always like that.”

I’m really going to remove those job’s tears tea bags from the break room. I planned my petty revenge in response to Kim Miyoung’s reaction.

Regardless, Jung Pureum was smiling. After that kind of incident, Jung Pureum seemed to have a halo shining behind him, like a Buddha who’d reached enlightenment. Even if someone picked a fight with him, he’d just laugh it off and forgive everything.

“I’ll wait until you’re done.”

“What are you saying, Pureum? You should go home and rest. An athlete shouldn’t waste his energy on strange things.”

“I’m not wasting it on strange things. I’m spending it on hyung.”

“Oh my.”

Kim Miyoung made an approving expression toward Jung Pureum. What? As a bonus, she backed away while telling us to have a good time. …I honestly felt like dying of embarrassment.

“Pureum.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s just forget about what happened back then.”

When you live, accidents happen unexpectedly. So you can’t live your life being shaken by every embarrassing moment in your history.

It’s better to just forget the embarrassing moments you can’t do anything about. That goes for Jung Pureum too. There’s no need for him to consciously live with the memory of having slept with me, his neighbor’s hyung, of all people. What’s the point of remembering that? Just forgetting cleanly is a win-win for both of us.

“You mean us sleeping together?”

“…”

“I’m not forgetting.”

Is this really a late rebellious phase? My chest felt so suffocated that I pounded on it. Oh dear, Pureum.

“Hyung, don’t tell me… you’re going to use me and throw me away?”

“What?”

“That’s so mean…”

“What?”

In pounding my chest, I must have hit my ribs because a sharp pain shot through my chest. My mouth fell open as a bonus. Me, use him and throw him away? Jung Pureum? I felt so wronged.

“Hey, watch your words! You’re the one who ate me!”

“I’m not going to throw hyung away!”

“Then why would you throw me away!”

When I raised my voice out of temper, I heard Kim Miyoung’s “Oh my” from somewhere again. I’m going crazy.

I lowered my voice again. I’d always thought the initiative in our relationship belonged to me, the older and more mature one, but since Jung Pureum had no logic, it was so hard to beat him in arguments.

It was really strange. He used to be a kid who’d say “Yes! Sounds good!” to everything I did. When I swayed from the rush of heat and the dizziness of anemia, Jung Pureum reached out an arm to steadily support me.

“Pureum, I’m serious. This isn’t a game for me.”

“…”

“Just… you know? Even though your secondary sex changed, I want us to stay close like before.”

There’s no reason we can’t stay that way just because we slept together, but as far as I know, ordinary neighbors don’t share a bed no matter how close they are.

Because of the height difference, a shadow fell over Jung Pureum’s face as he looked down at me. A halo had been shining when he first arrived, but now the atmosphere had suddenly cooled, as if someone had turned off that light.

He was such a smiley person that when he wasn’t smiling, he felt unfamiliar. I swallowed dryly. I could feel strength entering the arm supporting me.

By the way, isn’t this too close? No matter how close it was to closing time, this was still my workplace. I fumbled and reached out, barely managing to push against Jung Pureum’s chest.

“I don’t like it.”

Despite my weak strength, Jung Pureum obediently pulled back.

“I don’t like staying the same way with hyung as before.”

Jung Saebom’s warning flashed through my mind. She’d said not to give him false hope if I wasn’t going to accept him. Her chilly expression and cold tone were still vivid.

Without thinking, I reached out and covered Jung Pureum’s mouth. If I let him say anything more, I felt like things would really become irreversible.

He said he didn’t want to stay the same way as before. My heart stirred. For a residual effect of hitting my ribs while pounding my chest, this was serious.

Jung Pureum, whose mouth I’d covered, slowly reached up and grabbed my wrist. Something wet touched my palm.

“A-are you crazy? Why are you licking my hand?”

“You covered my mouth all of a sudden.”

“I’m really going crazy.”

I rubbed my saliva-wet hand vigorously against Jung Pureum’s chest to wipe it off. The sudden licking attack left me feeling utterly defenseless.

“Hyung, I.”

“Yeah.”

“I want to touch hyung more.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you.”

My words stuck in my throat. For a moment, a delusional thought crossed my mind—”Wait, does he really like me?” The lighting, temperature, and humidity of the clinic must have induced that misunderstanding in me.

“Ah! I can’t take this frustration anymore!”

Right then, with impeccable timing, the vice director’s office door burst open. Nam Jungyoon, on the verge of dying from exasperation, shouted.

“Both of you, stop digging! Let me go home!”

At Nam Jungyoon’s desperation for quitting time, Jung Pureum slowly released my wrist. No wonder I’d only seen Kim Miyoung—Nam Jungyoon had been listening from the vice director’s office the whole time.

“Jung Pureum, manage your pheromones! This isn’t your bedroom, it’s a clinic!”

“…”

“…”

“And senior, read the room!”

Nam Jungyoon, at maximum rage, brushed past us and left the clinic. Checking the clock, it was a full 36 minutes past closing. A perfectly justified anger.

Even after that, Jung Pureum’s strange behavior continued. Setting aside the increased physical contact, he kept smearing his pheromones all over me to the point that even Nam Jungyoon was disgusted.

It got so bad that Lee Seolwoo even said, “Director, if he was your boyfriend, you should’ve told me sooner…” with a hint of hurt. No matter how much I scolded him, once Jung Pureum’s habits went bad, he wouldn’t go back.

The contract-wielding date demands were nothing new—he’d been doing that from the start—but occasionally spouting incomprehensible things and confusing people was a major problem.

Combined with Jung Saebom’s advice to keep it appropriate if I wasn’t going to accept him, all sorts of thoughts started running through my head. Every time I thought “Does he really like me?” I smacked my forehead to snap out of it, probably killing off thousands of brain cells in the process.

“Assistant.”

“Yeah?”

“What kind of ‘like’ makes you want to touch someone?”

As I flipped through patient charts and asked seriously, Kim Miyoung spat out the job’s tears tea she was drinking. I swear I’m going to remove those job’s tears tea bags from the break room.

“Is there another kind of ‘like’ like that?”

“I don’t know either. That’s why I’m asking.”

“I really don’t know. Kids these days are, you know? It’s a bit complicated.”

“I can’t focus on work because of Jung Pureum…”

What kind of dereliction of duty is this? Of all people, me derelict in my duty? This is like the heavens and earth turning upside down and Western medicine surpassing Oriental medicine.

“Pureum must be trying hard…”

Kim Miyoung, oblivious to my turmoil, just wiped the corner of her mouth.

“What about you, Director?”

“What about me?”

“You do like Pureum too, since he’s your neighbor’s little brother.”

“That’s right.”

“Does that ‘like’ not come with the feeling of wanting to touch him?”

Would it… could it?

I stared at the patient chart with a serious expression. It wasn’t like staring would tell me anything, but for some reason, I couldn’t look Kim Miyoung straight in the face.

“I’m not sure.”

At my answer, Kim Miyoung said she didn’t know either. Her attitude was that since it was my feelings, how could she know.

I sighed again. It felt like I was being punished by heaven for sleeping with my much younger neighbor. Oh, God of Omegas! I only criticized a little, and instead of a revelation, you give me heavenly punishment? …And you don’t even offer 3-year free warranty repairs for wishes?

As expected, it was clear that the God of Omegas didn’t exist.