My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 71

<The Alpha Who Was a Beta Is Too Much!> achieved a decent rating, with an average viewership of 4.2 percent for the back-to-back broadcast of episodes 1 and 2.

Since public broadcast dramas had lost their strength, it was rare for a Wednesday-Thursday drama—not even a daily serial—to post numbers like this. These days, even exceeding 5.5 percent is considered remarkable.

In a world where YouTube and OTT services dominate, securing over 4 percent viewership from the very first episode meant the drama had that much buzz going for it.

“No, you bastards… What kind of product placement is this?”

But the success or box-office performance of <The Alpha Who Was a Beta Is Too Much!> had nothing to do with me. Whether the drama flopped or succeeded, I had already received my material usage fee, so all I had to do was keep my mouth shut and pretend not to know.

And since I hadn’t actually asked for the indirect ads to be placed for genuine advertising purposes, I could understand our Korean medicine clinic’s logo flashing by in the blink of an eye.

Still, wasn’t it a bit over the top for the male lead to sit in his imported car, lamenting his own beta status while crying, then pull a multi-balm out of his pocket and apply it? At this point, a few appearances of a Korean medicine clinic’s logo in a drama set in a general hospital hardly seemed like a big deal.

“This was pretty funny, though.”

“What part, exactly?”

“The part where the female lead suddenly goes to a sandwich shop with her fellow doctors and flaunts her wealth by adding two extra slices of ham.”

“That’s genuinely insane.”

Nam Jungyoon sipped his yulmucha and came up behind me. He seemed to have caught not just Kim Miyoung’s habits but even her yulmucha obsession. I clicked my tongue at Kim Miyoung’s influence once again.

I had tried to remove the yulmucha tea bags from the break room, but since both Kim Miyoung and Nam Jungyoon were addicted to yulmucha, my plan to eliminate it was thwarted before it even began.

“Hey, what business does a Taeyangin like you have drinking yulmucha?”

“One or two cups a day is fine.”

“Drink green tea instead. Yulmucha isn’t good for people with excess heat.”

Nam Jungyoon let my advice go in one ear and out the other. In the past, he had at least treated me with proper seniority, but after Baek Wonhee retired, he had become utterly dismissive of me.

Even now, instead of working, he was standing behind me watching the drama with me.

“By the way, they really did use Pureum’s interview word for word. Except for the male lead being a chaebol, the situation is exactly the same as Pureum’s.”

“That’s why I collected the material usage fee.”

“I think the broadcasting station really hates our clinic.”

“That’s fine. Our clinic hates the broadcasting station too.”

Whether we paid attention or not, the drama was racing toward its climax. The nutritional ampoule made by the female lead had changed the male lead’s designation from beta to alpha.

“…Wow, that’s insane. Completely unrealistic.”

“How is that any different from our Gongjin-dan?”

“That’s totally realistic.”

Instead of moving on to episode 2, I turned the drama off. Even though I had already milked it for all it was worth, I still felt a bit uneasy. Jung Pureum probably didn’t even know this drama existed, but avid viewers had now been implicitly exposed to the circumstances of Jung Pureum’s alpha manifestation.

“Don’t worry too much. What could possibly happen? Who even watches public broadcast dramas diligently these days?”

My mother would watch it diligently, though.

I decided to forget about <The Alpha Who Was a Beta Is Too Much!>. Because, as Nam Jungyoon said, I judged that nothing would come of it.

A drama that stuffed in PPL so haphazardly and carelessly couldn’t possibly do well. I chose to trust the discerning eyes of the viewers. If a drama like that succeeded, it would truly be the collapse of public broadcasting.

∞ ∞ ∞

Friday evening, Jung Pureum barged into the clinic right as the night consultation hours ended. In his arms, he cradled a go board he said he had bought secondhand.

“You’re really set on becoming a Master Go King?”

“I’ve been watching AI vs. human Go matches intensely over the past few days.”

“…Why on earth?”

Jung Pureum is a swimmer. Even I sometimes forget, but he’s talented enough to have qualified for the national team trials and secured three entry slots. And now that guy suddenly dreams of becoming a Master Go King.

“Because I want to make a good impression on hyung’s grandfather.”

“….”

“And besides, hyung is good at Go too. Whenever you go down to the main house, you’re always playing against Grandfather and barely reply to my texts… Since hyung is good at it, I thought I should be good at it too.”

It was commendable, but his motive was far from pure. Jung Pureum seemed to think of our grandfather wanting to see him as something like a petit formal meeting between families.

Who said they’d marry you right now?

Jung Pureum hadn’t even brought home an Olympic gold medal yet, so we weren’t officially dating. We were just—more special than next-door neighbors, but not quite lovers. That kind of relationship.

In truth, my feelings were extremely complicated right now.

It was true that I liked Jung Pureum, but every time I became aware of our age difference, I felt like a madman. Jung Pureum, the younger one, might be fine with it, but I, the older one, felt my heart race every single moment. What on earth am I doing with a kid!

Under these circumstances, a petit formal meeting was out of the question.

To begin with, our grandfather was so conservative that he would surely be horrified if I said I was dating someone eight years younger. I’d heard that even my father had faced all sorts of nitpicking when he married my mother. Because of that, my father still felt intimidated by Grandfather.

“Can’t hyung teach me? If I learn from hyung, even if I don’t become a Master Go King, I think I could at least reach the level of a middling Go prodigy.”

Jung Pureum, unaware of what I was thinking, clung to me with that big frame of his, pretending to be weak.

“Don’t slyly set up the Go board. I’m clocking out.”

“Just one game, hyung. Please.”

“Even if I give you a handicap of several stones, you can’t beat me.”

Even our grandfather usually can’t beat me. When I’m about to lose, I sneak Go stones off the board. How could a novice like Jung Pureum possibly understand this vast and cruel world of Go?

“That’s fine, because I’m not playing to win.”

That was truly a statement devoid of ambition.

At those words, I pushed the black stones toward Jung Pureum. I couldn’t very well give a weaker player the white stones.

“Not playing to win? What kind of talk is that? Once you start playing Go, you have to win at all costs… A middling prodigy—that doesn’t exist in my dictionary. You must become the king, no matter what.”

I sat Jung Pureum down and began the game.

Jung Pureum played his moves better than I had expected. His passionate viewing of AI vs. human matches for the sake of becoming a Master Go King had paid off.

At first, I had definitely intended to play only one game, but before I knew it, we were on our third consecutive round. By now, he might have begged for a handicap, but Jung Pureum, despite losing repeatedly, wore a bright smile as if he were having the time of his life.

“This is my first time meeting him in person. Should I call him Grandfather-nim?”

“What Grandfather-nim. Just call him Grandfather.”

“Still, he’s coming all this way to see me, right?”

“That’s just how people talk. If Grandfather says anything to you, I’ll handle it. It’s not like we’re actually dating.”

The white stone that had been roaming freely across the board spun around at the words “It’s not like we’re actually dating” and dropped to the floor with a soft clack.

As if he hadn’t been smiling brightly just a moment ago, Jung Pureum looked at me with a deeply shocked expression.

“Hyung….”

“When you make that face, I end up being the bad guy… You haven’t won a gold medal yet, have you?”

“You’ve taken my body and my heart, and now you’re saying we’re nothing to each other? That’s cruel….”

Jung Pureum wore a wounded expression. As a bonus, he dabbed at his eyes without shedding a single tear.

“And besides, I won this round.”

While I fidgeted, wondering if he was really about to cry, Jung Pureum picked up the white stone that had fallen to the floor and placed it back on the board.

Looking closely, I saw that I was indeed in a defensive bind. I had lost, somewhat inadvertently, but I was surprised. Setting everything else aside—me, losing at Go. And to a novice like Jung Pureum at that….

“Even if hyung only likes my body, I’m fine with that.”

“Why do you always assume I only like your body?”

“Then you like everything? Not just the body?”

“….”

“You’re not saying no.”

White and black stones were scattered in a complex tangle across the board. So many moves had been placed that it would be hard to reset them.

Slowly, I dropped my gaze to the board.

Once I acknowledged that I liked Jung Pureum, this situation became unbearably embarrassing. Was this what people called “something”?

I’m going crazy. How do other people manage to have normal “somethings” and date and live their lives? Instead of sweet, pretty words, all that comes out of my mouth is this kind of commanding tone.

“…Just go win that gold medal already.”

“….”

“By then, I’ll go on dates with you without needing any contract.”

Jung Pureum reached out to me. His hand, cupping my cheek, was warm. As Jung Pureum leaned over the board, the neatly placed Go stones tumbled into disarray.

It was my clear defeat.

∞ ∞ ∞

“The place is small.”

That was the first thing Grandfather said upon entering my house. If Nam Jungyoon had heard, he would have said, “The members of the real estate café will want to assassinate you, sunbae.”

“I live alone, so it’s fine.”

“Right. For two people, it’s terribly cramped. If a child came along….”

And yet the family next door has four people living together….

Grandfather launched into a lengthy speech about how narrow Seoul’s land was. He went on to say that because the population density was too high on this cramped land, the yin and yang energies were unbalanced, which made people ill.

Only after hearing that a site with a mountain in the back and water in front influences one’s fortune, and that a south-facing direction holds yang energy and is good for omegas, did the nagging finally end.

I felt a bit wronged. Eight years ago, he had said this very house had the perfect feng shui to attract a noble person….

“Your mother told me everything. That you actually have a lover?”

“Ah, that’s not it.”

“What do you mean, not it!”

“Whoa, you scared me.”

“If you chased them all the way to a blind date, then you’re dating! This old man is disappointed in you. You could have kept it secret from everyone else, but you should have told me.”

“….”

“How long do you think it takes to prepare for a wedding? Keeping something like this a secret… Tsk, tch.”

Even if I had really been dating Jung Pureum, I would never have told Grandfather until the very end.

“Let me see that kid’s face. This old man will take a look first and judge how impressive an alpha they are.”

“I’m telling you, we’re not dating.”

“Oh ho! I already know everything!”

I tottered as I led my unyielding grandfather to the living room. Now that Grandfather had come to Seoul, there was only one way out of this situation: offer up Jung Pureum.

“Really, please don’t say anything harsh to him.”

“Tsk. Already taking his side—you’re just like your mother. I don’t like it one bit!”

“….”

“Leading my innocent grandchild astray!”

In the end, I called Jung Pureum, who had been eagerly anticipating meeting our grandfather since last night, to my house. Save me, Pureum….