My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 34

Jung Pureum went straight to Baek Wonhee. He didn’t have clear physical evidence yet, but his intuition was solid.

In fact, half of it was a gamble. The gambling hotline is 1855-0112. Of course, he had prepared Plan B in case Baek Wonhee didn’t take the bait.

But Baek Wonhee fell right into the trap at the word “distribution.” Jung Pureum inwardly sought the Alpha God. As expected, Nietzsche was wrong! God is alive!

After that, everything went smoothly.

Jung Pureum politely and kindly shook Baek Wonhee down completely. Not once did he raise his voice or use physical force.

But to Baek Wonhee, that was even more terrifying.

What did he know to act that way? Baek Wonhee, who had no way of knowing that Jung Pureum’s personality was naturally like that, ultimately decided to save himself and offered up an audio file that could serve as a weakness for the broadcast PD as a bargaining chip.

Around that time, Jung Pureum was realizing that people confessed the truth more easily than expected when he pressed them.

For some reason, those who had committed sins grew anxious just from Jung Pureum’s casual haha laugh and mere words. After all, hadn’t Moon Yeonghwa also been caught that way and ended up signing a contract with Jung Pureum?

This worked out well for Pureum. Jung Pureum continued speaking as if he possessed significant evidence and was graciously letting it slide because he had received the audio file. Baek Wonhee felt extremely uncomfortable with Jung Pureum’s attitude, but because he had something to hide, he ultimately couldn’t just kick him out.

‘What’s your relationship with Moon Yeonghwa?’

The most aggressive thing Baek Wonhee had said was that. It’s only natural to answer when asked what your relationship is, but Jung Pureum had nothing to say.

It was too close to be just neighborly older brother-younger brother, but nothing had been officially established to be anything more. So Jung Pureum just brushed off that question with a smile as well.

Whatever Baek Wonhee thought of Jung Pureum’s attitude, he ground his teeth so hard it was a concern for his dental health.

It was laughable to hear the nonsense that omegas love alphas so much that they turn betas into alphas to date them. Pureum bit his lower lip hard to keep from laughing out loud.

What are you talking about. I could have had a deeper relationship with hyung, but you ruined it….

But Jung Pureum wasn’t crazy enough to jump up and grab Baek Wonhee by the collar right there. Thanks to that, he was able to secure the audio file to blackmail the broadcast PD without much trouble.

Stage 3 of “Only I Don’t Take a Loss.” Pureum took his senior, who was fretting that Pureum might tattle to his coach, and made an anonymous tip to <I Want to Know Everything>, then met with the PD again.

When he handed over the USB containing the audio file, PD Kim immediately asked Pureum what he wanted. …Your social death? Of course, he couldn’t say that out loud either, so he only thought it to himself.

Jung Pureum had also overheard all the things PD Kim had said about Moon Yeonghwa. He was so angry he wanted to punch PD Kim in the face right then and there, but violence doesn’t solve any situation.

So Pureum endured. After all, once things worked out, he planned to coolly report everyone. As Moon Yeonghwa said, there were too many bad people in the world.

Compared to them, Moon Yeonghwa, though a bit petty, lived fairly uprightly. At least he wouldn’t buy or sell drugs, nor would he gossip about or harass others at company dinners.

PD Kim promised to air a correction broadcast about Gongjindan on the condition that he would delete the audio file without making it public. Jung Pureum didn’t trust him, so he meticulously even drew up a contract.

‘What on earth is their relationship…’

But PD Kim also said something similar to Baek Wonhee. He could see why the two of them had colluded so well. Jung Pureum responded with just a smile again this time.

If it weren’t for you, there might have been some progress in my relationship with hyung by now. He swallowed that thought as well. After all, if he kept his mouth shut, PD Kim would surely misunderstand the relationship between him and Moon Yeonghwa on his own.

Sure enough, PD Kim, interpreting that smile somehow, spouted the same kind of nonsense as Baek Wonhee about how alphas and omegas were the worst. From Jung Pureum’s perspective, who had been a beta until just a few months ago, it was beyond absurd—it was bewildering. Excuse me? I was a beta until a few months ago too?

Anyway, with the blessings of the Omega and Alpha Gods, Jung Pureum’s plan fell into place with uncanny precision.

Jung Pureum searched the portal sites to see if the Alpha God actually existed. Unsurprisingly, there was no such religion. Maybe a cult, but not that.

This was the reason behind the Gongjindan correction broadcast on <I Want to Know Everything>. Jung Pureum handled all of this without Moon Yeonghwa knowing. Shh, keep it from hyung….

In truth, it was closer to the fact that even if he moved openly, Moon Yeonghwa’s perception level was so low that he simply didn’t notice.

Jung Saebom, who had ghost-like perception, and Nam Jungyoon, who was at a normal level, might not have known the details, but they had already sensed that Jung Pureum was involved in all these issues. However, neither of them was the type to go out of their way to tell Moon Yeonghwa, “Jung Pureum worked hard for you.”

Pureum watched Moon Yeonghwa, who was excitedly saying that the enemy general’s head had actually floated downstream while he did nothing, and smiled faintly.

Hmm, as expected, Yeonghwa hyung is cute.

∞ ∞ ∞

Not long after the Gongjindan correction broadcast aired, Baek Wonhee was arrested. Apparently, he had been involved in some kind of drug distribution crime.

Since he was a guy who had always shown extreme behavior whenever things went wrong, it wasn’t surprising that he had been committing illegal acts. After all, how else could he have obtained such a large quantity of diethylamine if he wasn’t at least a distributor?

The PD of <I Want to Know Everything> also resigned from his position. According to Kim Minah, that PD had nearly ended up in jail too, whatever had happened in the meantime.

“Is this how justice is served?”

Those two were bad people, but normally they wouldn’t be taken down so quickly. It was strange. Justice that even Kim Minah’s YouTube upload couldn’t achieve had been belatedly realized.

“It’s a good thing, I guess.”

“That’s true, but… ah, why does this feel so unsettling?”

“….”

“It feels like there’s more background story that only I don’t know.”

At that, Nam Jungyoon avoided my eyes. That bastard, does he know something?

But no matter how many times I pressed him, Nam Jungyoon only mechanically repeated that he didn’t know either. The vice director wouldn’t lie to me, the director.

Our clinic resumed normal operations after Baek Wonhee was arrested. Even after the correction broadcast aired, there were still people who doubted Gongjindan’s efficacy.

I hung a banner in front of the building that said, “Our clinic is the most trustworthy oriental medicine clinic,” benchmarked after Baek Wonhee’s style.

It was a shame that there was no Baek Wonhee to see this and collapse from high blood pressure. Even when being taken away, he could have at least gotten a taste of his own medicine… but no, he just went to jail without any sense of decency.

Still, it was fortunate that things had worked out well. If the problem had dragged on any longer, my grandfather might have come looking for me. He would have dragged me back to the family home, saying how could I, an omega, endure such hardships.

Just thinking about it made my arms break out in goosebumps. I didn’t know what had happened between Baek Wonhee and the broadcast PD, but I was even grateful that they had self-destructed on their own.

Thanks to that, the noise marketing was a great success. Like Liri-tang, which had sold like hotcakes until it was discontinued, Gongjindan also recorded unprecedented sales, belying all the doubts about its efficacy.

Even without me commissioning any ads, YouTubers rushed to upload review videos about Gongjindan. I just had to sit back and watch my Gongjindan being advertised for free.

It was a big help that Kim Minah, who had recovered somewhat, positively evaluated my Gongjindan on her YouTube channel. After all, people tend to be unconsciously swayed by the evaluations others make first.

And so, after the war-like Liri-tang season ended, peace quickly returned. On the day the Wonhee Oriental Medicine Clinic sign was taken down, we had a celebratory beef dinner.

You shouldn’t rejoice in others’ misfortune. But I truly was happy. Watching the guy who had sucker-punched me get taken down was absolutely thrilling. I guess I’m not destined to live as virtuously as Mother Teresa.

While I was deeply contemplating human good and evil, the clinic door opened. The bell above the door jingled.

“Hyung, I’m here.”

Jung Pureum, who had seemed unusually busy lately, greeted me with a refreshed expression.

I stood up from my seat. After Baek Wonhee was driven out, a certain fact came back to mind.

I had been so busy that I’d forgotten… Jung Pureum and I had slept together. Not in the sense of sharing a bed and blanket, but in the sense of having intercourse.

Even if I tried to pretend it never happened, looking at Jung Pureum’s handsome face made my heart unsettled. My gaze kept drifting to below his neck. Whoa, broad chest… The problem was that such thoughts came to mind.

I swear to heaven, until recently, I hadn’t really cared whether Jung Pureum was half-naked or bundled up. We were both male, and our secondary genders were beta and omega. Besides, Jung Pureum and I had spent about eight years together seeing each other in all sorts of states. It would be strange to start feeling self-conscious now.

But ever since Jung Pureum became an alpha, it was hard to be as indifferent as before. I felt almost contemptuous of myself for being this way just because his traits had changed a bit.

It was fine when there was a lot going on and the situation was complicated. During the clinic’s closure, I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye even if Jung Pureum had put on a strip show right in front of me. My mind was too cluttered for anything else to register.

But humans are so fickle—now, if Jung Pureum were to put on a strip show, I might die of embarrassment. They say the heart changes between entering and leaving the bathroom, but even I thought this was a bit much.

“Hyung?”

“Oh, you’re here.”

“Are you okay? Your face is red. You’re not overworking yourself and getting sick again, are you?”

As soon as Jung Pureum appeared, Nam Jungyoon backed away from me. His determination to avoid getting between Jung Pureum and me by any means necessary was evident.

Kim Miyoung had long since disappeared into the break room. All the staff at our clinic kept leaving me and Jung Pureum alone. Granted, there were only two staff members besides me, but still, it was baffling.

What on earth did they believe about me to leave me alone with Jung Pureum like this? What if I devour Jung Pureum whole? Everyone’s protective instincts toward Jung Pureum were seriously lacking.

Jung Pureum’s large hand naturally covered my forehead. He seemed to be checking my temperature. I quickly leaned my head back to avoid his hand. I was pretty agile today, even by my own standards.

However, because I dodged so quickly, Jung Pureum’s hand swung uselessly in the air. When our eyes met, a worried expression crossed Jung Pureum’s face.

“Are you really sure you’re okay?”

“Huh? No… yeah.”

I replied like a broken machine and quickly headed to the director’s office. I felt bad for Jung Pureum, but I needed time too.

I had to reorganize the clinic and research Gongjindan further. If I kept myself busy with work, this strange physical reaction to Jung Pureum would surely disappear soon.