My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 28

…That’s what I thought, but as always, I was the one getting smashed.

“I’ll report you to the police if you don’t give me a refund!”

“Move aside, I was here first!”

There were so many customers coming with empty hands after taking all their medicine, demanding refunds. No matter how kindly Kim Miyoung explained the reasons a refund wasn’t possible, people wouldn’t listen.

It was only the trailer, not even the main broadcast, and it was already this bad—next week would be spectacular. I came out of the director’s office and stood in front of Kim Miyoung.

I knew reasoning wouldn’t work, but I still needed to personally explain to the customers why refunds were impossible and why there was no problem with the medicine.

“We don’t need that, just give us our money back!”

Of course, no one listened.

A middle-aged man’s swinging hand hit my face. He didn’t seem to have meant to hit me either—he looked quite flustered.

Even the crowd of people who had been milling around fell silent when my head snapped to the side from being struck by someone else’s hand. A fine price for making a scene.

I turned my head back as pitifully as I could. “It seems you’re reacting just based on the broadcast, but we passed safety inspections, and this inspection, and that inspection…” A string of words that even I thought sounded like excuses followed.

Some of those inspections were ones my grandfather had already arranged. Anyway, in a crisis like this, family help is also my own ability. I need to survive first.

Whether my lengthy explanation worked, or they realized I wasn’t going to give refunds, most of the people who had crowded in left empty-handed.

Those people bothered me, but what bothered me most was that Lee Seolwoo, a regular, had come for treatment, saw the clinic’s situation, and turned back. Oh dear, oh dear… at this rate, I’ll lose all my regulars.

Once this situation settles, I will definitely sue Baek Wonhee and that PD for obstruction of business. Win a criminal lawsuit, then file a civil suit and squeeze out a ton of settlement money. Compensation for my mental damages too.

After the commotion subsided and things calmed down, Kim Miyoung suggested I close the clinic temporarily, even if just for a bit.

Dignity aside, if things like today keep happening, closing temporarily is the right call. Though leaving refund inquiries closed too might backfire.

But truly, I was so upset. Beyond everything else, it felt like I was losing to Baek Wonhee, and it made my blood boil and my insides burn.

Having to feel like I’d lost without even mounting a proper counterattack against the guy who hit me. This is unacceptable. Oh, God of Omegas! If you truly exist, you should have bankrupted that discriminatory bastard first!

“Of all people, it’s Baek Wonhee, and it’s infuriating.”

Nam Jungyoon came out of the treatment room with a face that looked five years older. I’m so glad he and I have a common enemy. He says everything I want to say.

“Seeing a discriminatory bastard gain the upper hand makes my blood boil too.”

“Since it’s come to this, I’ll go into Wonhee Clinic and buy some Liri-tang.”

“He won’t sell to you.”

Since he’s my junior, he’s also Baek Wonhee’s junior. No matter how goldfish-like Baek Wonhee’s memory might be, he wouldn’t forget the junior who got him dental treatment.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and nastiness for nastiness—but I didn’t feel like grabbing each other’s hair over herbal medicine either. I had incidentally developed alpha-making Gongjin-dan, and there was no rule saying Baek Wonhee couldn’t do the same.

But doing nothing and just sitting idle was too frustrating with Baek Wonhee being so annoying.

Even the promotional banner hanging on the building across the street, with “Wonhee Clinic is the truly trustworthy clinic” written in huge letters, was irritating.

I shouldn’t let my feelings become my attitude, but the world won’t leave me alone.

“I’ll secure some Liri-tang myself.”

Asking Jung Saebom to buy it for me would be the most natural approach. If Baek Wonhee didn’t remember Jung Pureum, I could ask Jung Pureum too.

It pained me to give espionage missions to the neighbor siblings without their knowledge, but with things as they were, I was once again filled with spite and audacity.

Jung Saebom surprisingly helped me easily.

“One dose is enough?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“…Whatever. It’s nothing.”

Even though the neighbors didn’t say anything, they all seemed to know what had happened to me from the broadcast.

Originally I’d asked Jung Pureum, but Baek Wonhee remembered Jung Pureum’s face. I couldn’t even remember when they’d met. Who knew Baek Wonhee having better memory than a goldfish would be a problem.

In the end, after Jung Pureum sent an SOS to Jung Saebom first, she ended up helping me too.

“Actually, we don’t really need to buy new ones.”

“Huh?”

“This stuff—quite a few people in my department drink it.”

“But it’s 800,000 won per dose?”

“Our department has strict weight management.”

It’s dance. Jung Saebom muttered in passing.

“But some people… had their condition get bad after taking it, so most don’t drink it anymore now. Anyway, apparently the effects were good.”

“Their condition got bad?”

“Well, just the usual side effects of diet pills.”

My ears perked up at the words that I could get leftover herbal medicine without spending money by asking her classmates.

My ears weren’t the only thing perked—my mind also woke up as if struck by lightning. I’d heard that diet pill side effects could be severe, but from Jung Saebom’s reaction, it seemed beyond ordinary side effects.

No wonder Jung Saebom, not Jung Pureum, had helped me so easily. If she’d been watching her college classmates rolling around after taking Liri-tang, it made sense why she’d been so proactive.

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

“Are you okay?”

I’d finally figured out why Jung Saebom was helping, and now a confusing question came at me. Was she actually worried about me? Was all that past tension finally paying off?

“Other than being pissed off, I’m fine.”

Despite my reply, Jung Saebom looked at me with a doubtful expression. This is why you shouldn’t live next door to people you’ve known for a long time. They don’t believe anything you say.

I subtly raised my hand and touched my face. It hadn’t been long since Kim Miyoung said I looked plump, but even I could tell my face was a mess.

No wonder she asked if I was okay. I quickly lowered my hand. When I waved her off to tell her not to worry, Jung Saebom frowned.

“My mom said to come over for dinner if you have time.”

“Auntie did?”

“Yeah. You haven’t been around lately.”

Well, everyone in your family probably knows I slept with Jung Pureum. No matter how shameless I am, I don’t yet have the courage to crawl into the neighbor’s house with a clear head.

“I’ll come when I have time.”

Even toward the neighbor’s young man who turned her son into an alpha and then devoured him, Auntie was generous. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d thrown me like a shot-put instead of offering dinner.

∞ ∞ ∞

The force of cutting through the water sent droplets spraying everywhere. The speed was fast, but his breathing was unstable. For Pureum, whose specialty was distance swimming rather than sprints, it was a bad sign.

“Jung Pureum!”

Sure enough, the coach’s reprimand came down. Pureum stopped and came out of the lane.

“Do you think you’re a 100-meter swimmer?”

A scolding followed, telling him to focus on endurance rather than speed. The coach had a tendency to single out Pureum. The reason was obvious—it was all because of that secondary sex.

Ironically, the coach was a beta. As a beta managing alpha athletes, he was fairly strict with not just Jung Pureum but other athletes too.

The coach had also done swimming, but he wasn’t a former athlete. Since his secondary sex was beta, becoming a national representative was out of the question from the start. The athletic world was practically the exclusive domain of alphas.

Thanks to having good connections, he’d secured a position in the athletic field, but since he was neither a former player nor an alpha, he couldn’t rise any higher.

So when Pureum was a beta, he’d harass him in the name of looking out for him, and when Pureum became an alpha from beta, he’d bother him out of belated jealousy and resentment.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Is that attitude disrespectful?”

Still, Jung Pureum tended to tolerate this kind of coach well. Unlike other athletes, he didn’t talk behind the coach’s back or file complaints to have him replaced.

Because this much was bearable. There was no need to make a big deal over trivial matters.

“Go back to the start.”

“Yes.”

“Your condition was good for a while, what’s wrong lately?”

At the condition criticism, Pureum’s back stiffened slightly. He stretched his arms out a couple of times to loosen up, but a body once tense didn’t relax easily.

The answer to the coach’s question about what was wrong lately was actually obvious. Of course it was because of Moon Yeonghwa. What had a profound effect on Jung Pureum’s condition was always Moon Yeonghwa.

He’d thought he’d finally gotten an opening. He hadn’t expected that sleeping together once would change everything, but at least he’d thought he’d bought himself a proper opportunity to appeal.

But that precious opportunity was stolen again by that damn Baek Wonhee. What the hell does that bastard Baek Wonhee think he is!

Even as he tolerated the coach who caused him all sorts of trouble, Jung Pureum had come to truly hate Baek Wonhee. Because he was making Moon Yeonghwa suffer, not himself.

He himself was healthy, so he was fine, but Moon Yeonghwa was fragile and easily collapsed. Making someone who gets taken to the emergency room just from overexertion suffer even more.

Every time he saw Moon Yeonghwa’s face growing gaunt by the day, Jung Pureum’s blood boiled too. Even though Moon Yeonghwa was struggling like that, there was nothing he could do.

Even that Liri-tang stuff—in the end, he couldn’t even buy it himself and had to ask his sister Saebom to do it. Jung Pureum felt a deep sense of helplessness for the first time in a long while.

When Moon Yeonghwa was struggling, there was nothing Jung Pureum could do except be by his side. Even after becoming an alpha, it was the same. He was no longer a minor, no longer a beta, yet he was exactly the same as before.

Even though he tried not to be greedy, he was restless. He didn’t want to be just a cute neighbor’s younger brother—he wanted to become someone Moon Yeonghwa could trust and rely on. Not someone to be cherished and protected, but someone who could firmly support him in his hardest moments.

“Maintain your pace properly!”

Even hearing the shouts from outside the water, Pureum didn’t slow down and kept cutting through the current. The fluorescent lights installed in the indoor pool made the light sparkle beneath the surface.

“I think I know why Jung Pureum’s condition is bad.”

As Pureum turned, chasing that shimmer of light, one of the swimmers approached the coach hesitantly.