My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 51

There is no time to be lying around. While I’m like this, hyung is clearly suffering under pressure at the main house.

Jung Pureum had never actually visited Moon Yeonghwa’s ‘main house’ in person. But he knew very well that it was a den of demons, a place that turned people into zombies, and a nonstop factory of nagging.

[Hyung]

[Are you alive?]

Just how much of a hellish landscape it was—Moon Yeonghwa’s messenger replies kept getting slower and slower.

It didn’t feel like he was just not checking his messages because he was having a cozy time with family he hadn’t seen in a while. At this speed, it definitely meant he was either trapped by his parents or in front of his grandfather.

Jung Pureum had never exchanged friendly greetings with Moon Yeonghwa’s family, but he knew their tendencies and attitudes well from all the things he’d heard.

Moon Yeonghwa’s eyes go dead in an instant when he’s with his family. Plus, hadn’t he been making a face of disgust ever since last year, saying that blind date opportunities kept coming in from the main house at the drop of a hat?

The moment he linked ‘blind date’ and ‘Moon Yeonghwa’ together in his mind, he felt his pheromones becoming unstable. Having rarely felt anxious about anything else in his life, Jung Pureum didn’t know how to handle this kind of unease.

[ㅇ]

[I’m alive, I guess]

[Save me, I’m on my 13th round of Go]

That was the entirety of the messenger reply he’d managed to get.

Jung Pureum let out another deep sigh, as if the ground might cave in.

“At this rate, the ground is going to collapse.”

Jung Pureum raised his head and looked at the person who had spoken to him. It was the same person he’d seen in the morning—Lee Seolwoo raised a hand near Jung Pureum.

“You were doing that in the afternoon too, why are you sighing so much?”

What a friendly attitude. Jung Pureum swiftly scanned his surroundings. The seniors seemed to still be in training or had already gone home.

It was clear that nothing good would come from being seen with an omega inside the school. Jung Pureum stopped Lee Seolwoo, who was about to take a step closer to him.

“I can’t have long conversations inside the school, for reasons.”

“Oh, right, you’re in the physical education department, aren’t you? The competition must be coming up soon.”

“….”

“You don’t have to be so careful with your words. I knew since this afternoon. That your pheromones are unstable.”

Was it really that obvious—to the point where a senior who usually picked fights was showing concern, and an omega he barely knew had noticed so early? Jung Pureum lamented his own ability to control his pheromones. How could this be. I thought I was good at it, but I guess not.

If not that, then it must be because his obsession with Moon Yeonghwa was bigger than he’d thought. When there was absolutely no hope at all, this insane one-sided love had actually been bearable. Even when Moon Yeonghwa rejected him, it only made him cry a little.

But now, things were a bit different.

Whenever he saw signs that Moon Yeonghwa was paying even a little attention to him, Jung Pureum grew restless and paced around him. If it meant satisfying his ulterior motives, he didn’t care about using all sorts of tricks.

And yet, the result was pheromone instability. Jung Pureum inwardly called out to the god of alphas. Oh god of alphas! You’re supposed to maintain me properly!

“This might be a sensitive question, but… did you break up with the director?”

“….”

“Alphas usually get unstable when that happens.”

Lee Seolwoo opened his mouth with a genuinely curious expression. In the end, Jung Pureum had to drag Lee Seolwoo, who was practically a curiosity-driven paradise, out of the vicinity of the physical education department.

You never knew when someone like Kim Yongha might be listening to their conversation from somewhere. Lee Seolwoo followed Jung Pureum with an innocent face.

“Ah, if that’s the case, then I’ve made another mistake. You’re not mad, are you?”

“No.”

“Did you break up?”

“That’s not it either.”

A brief look of disappointment flickered across Lee Seolwoo’s face.

“Ah, so you two are still lovey-dovey after all.”

“That’s not it either.”

“Huh?”

“We’re not even dating, so how could we break up….”

“Ah….”

“….”

“I’m sorry….”

A deathly silence fell between the two. Lee Seolwoo clamped his mouth shut as if he hadn’t been firing off questions just moments ago.

It was a relief that he at least had basic social awareness. Jung Pureum asked Lee Seolwoo to refrain from acknowledging him at school, then turned his back first.

“Ah, wait! Just a second!”

But Lee Seolwoo was a man who didn’t know how to give up.

Lee Seolwoo quickly grabbed Jung Pureum’s arm and held out his phone to Jung Pureum.

“I won’t talk to you at school, so just give me your number.”

Jung Pureum was torn.

He wasn’t the type to be harsh with others in the first place. Generally, he got along with just about anyone, and he had grown up as a reasonably polite young man under a strict mother and a loving father.

But at this moment, Jung Pureum had a gut feeling that giving his number to Lee Seolwoo would spell big trouble. The god of alphas, while failing to maintain him properly, had at least sent down a revelation.

Unlike Moon Yeonghwa, Jung Pureum was also perceptive. Lee Seolwoo was currently making advances not toward the human Jung Pureum, but toward the alpha Jung Pureum.

A mental alarm bell went off in his head. All of Jung Pureum’s thought circuits began tangling up with ‘Oh crap, how do I turn this down?’

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have my phone starting today.”

“…Huh?”

“It just disappeared. That’s how it is. Well then, I’ll be going.”

Of course, Jung Pureum’s phone was perfectly fine. As if on cue, it even vibrated, as though a messenger notification had come through.

Lee Seolwoo, unable to hide his dumbfounded expression, watched as Jung Pureum bowed his head and disappeared. What the—I thought only the director was weird, but the director’s partner is kind of weird too….

Jung Pureum, having barely shaken off Lee Seolwoo, checked his messenger as soon as he got home.

Even though he wasn’t a physical education major, Lee Seolwoo must have been using some kind of footwork technique, because his steps were incredibly fast. He’d almost been caught again.

[Grandfather is pushing for another blind date]

[And it’s with a Western doctor of all things]

[How can they set me up with a Western doctor?]

Jung Pureum breathed slowly to calm his pounding heart. Lee Seolwoo had been shocking enough, but the messages from Moon Yeonghwa weren’t helping his pheromone stability at all.

The two characters for ‘blind date’ sent his condition plummeting back to rock bottom.

It was a word that left him no choice but to doubt his own eyes. A blind date at twenty-eight? The one saving grace was that the other party was a Western doctor. Unless the world collapsed, Moon Yeonghwa was not someone who could be with a Western doctor.

[Hyung]

[Absolutely not]

[How can you have a blind date with a Western doctor]

Jung Pureum pounded the phone keypad with supreme patience. Even if it wasn’t a Western doctor, no blind dates! Most alphas wouldn’t get along well with my hyung anyway, but still, absolutely not!

Whether Jung Pureum’s persistence paid off, a reply came back from Moon Yeonghwa saying he thought the same. A sigh of relief escaped him involuntarily.

“I think I’m aging because of hyung….”

If he counted all the years he’d aged prematurely because of Moon Yeonghwa, Jung Pureum should be older than Moon Yeonghwa.

[Well, no matter who shows up, they can’t be better than the alpha I made]

[If we don’t have anyone to marry later, how about]

[We just marry each other?]

[Just saying lol]

Oh god of alphas… your little lamb is about to die of misery right now…. Jung Pureum gripped his overheated phone tightly. Even so, just in case, he made sure to screenshot Moon Yeonghwa’s comment.

Hyung probably sent that message without any real thought. There was a sliver of hope, but Jung Pureum had been through too many trials to get excited like a novice.

[Hyung]

[I screenshotted this]

Moon Yeonghwa sent a series of [lol]s. Hyung must think this is funny…. Jung Pureum lay sprawled on the bed, his heart shattered and his spirits crushed.

Just then, his phone vibrated again. Even in his miserable state, Jung Pureum quickly checked his messenger. You never knew when Moon Yeonghwa’s replies might slow down again.

But instead of a new messenger notification, a text message came in from an unknown number.

[This is Lee Seolwoo^^]

[Your phone’s safe, isn’t it?]

∞ ∞ ∞

“Ugh, why are there goosebumps on my forearm.”

As I vigorously rubbed my arm, my mom said it was all due to air-conditioning sickness and raised the desired temperature on the air conditioner.

I was lazily lying in the living room at home, just soaking in the air conditioning. While I was at it, I also ate the watermelon, Korean melon, and peaches my mom had given me.

Lying down and picking at fruit like this—it was pure heaven. Haha! While pawning work off on others like this… I’m not enjoying life, I’m worried sick.

Is our Korean medicine clinic running smoothly? I’d already called Kim Miyoung three times since morning, and she’d warned me that one more call and she’d block me.

“You’re not staying long, so just get some good rest.”

My mom kept feeding me fruit. This fruit is good for this, that fruit is bad for that… Anyway, the fact that I fuss over hot and cold properties in food is because I take after my mom.

Since my dad lost at rock-paper-scissors and went to the clinic in my mom’s place, on this weekday afternoon, it was just my mom and me at home.

We enjoyed a rare leisurely afternoon, binge-watching the romance drama my mom likes. Actually, I wasn’t enjoying it—only my mom seemed to be having fun.

“Grandfather mentioned a blind date to you, didn’t he?”

Every time I tried to focus on the drama, my mom would pull something like this—how on earth was I supposed to rest?

On the TV screen, a romance drama that was currently all the rage was playing. As with most such dramas, the plot was predictable.

A chaebol alpha male lead recognizes an omega female lead who has disguised herself as a beta to get a job at his company, threatens her into signing a contract, and then through a contract relationship, they end up genuinely falling for each other—that kind of predictable story.

My mom had watched over twenty dramas like this, yet every time she watched one, she giggled like a girl.

“Son, I want a doctor for a son-in-law.”

“Why are you saying that in the same tone as wanting a water purifier? And besides, what Western doctor in our family…”

“You, a young person, shouldn’t be so narrow-minded. What’s wrong with a doctor? Mom wants a son-in-law with a four-character profession.”

“A Korean medicine doctor is also a four-character profession.”

“Sigh. That Korean medicine doctor thing. I’m tired of Korean medicine doctors, tired.”

My mom waved her hand dismissively. Even though she herself was a Korean medicine doctor… Then she followed up with the bizarre claim that she couldn’t be satisfied anymore unless it was with a naturally-born alpha chaebol male lead.

“Remember that blind date match I set up for you? I heard that person earns money almost like a chaebol. Plus, a dominant alpha. He’s got perfect drama male lead material.”

“…Ah, Mom!”

“Listen, son. Shouldn’t we experience something like a drama at least once in our lives? A life that’s nothing but herbal medicine and acupuncture tools is too boring. So, if you’re going to go the medical romance route, you should try dating a doctor too.”

Day three of returning to the main house.

I had come to hate every single Korean drama. Who was the one who showed my mom a medical romance drama….