My Alpha Era Began with Gongjindan Chapter 85

Jung Pureum returned with a perfectly fine expression, contrary to my worries. Thankfully, no trace of a crushed spirit could be found no matter how hard I looked.

“What did the coach say?”

“He understood when I told him it was a rut.”

Yeah, I’m sure he understood.

I looked at Jung Pureum with a suspicious expression.

Since I graduated from university, Jung Pureum hadn’t opened up about himself as easily as before.

Looking back now, he used to lay the groundwork by speaking first so that he could hear me talk about myself. Whether it was cunning or deep consideration… it’s true that Jung Pureum had been extraordinary since middle school.

“These days, you don’t really tell me about yourself much.”

“…Me?”

“Yeah. After you started high school, you stopped saying when things were hard.”

Jung Pureum rubbed his cheek with an awkward expression. Even though I was giving him a look that said “spit it out—what did you and the coach talk about?” he didn’t seem eager to open up.

“Well, um… it’s just, I didn’t want to look like a kid.”

“Huh?”

“You see me as younger, hyung.”

It’s not that I see him as younger—Jung Pureum genuinely is younger.

My runaway social dignity was creeping back in. Even my long-dead conscience lifted the coffin lid and showed its face. Twenty years old—the ink on his resident registration card was barely dry, after all.

If someone else said “I’m trying to date someone eight years older,” most people around them would respond with “Are you out of your mind?”

Sure, in the old days, they said a twelve-year age gap counted as the same generation, but this is the 21st century. I earnestly hoped the World Ethics Standards Association wouldn’t condemn me. I’m innocent too, I tell you…

“Because of that, I felt like I shouldn’t act spoiled, so I guess I unconsciously held back a little.”

“Hey, if that’s the case, don’t I act spoiled toward you way more?”

“That’s fine because I don’t see hyung as young.”

“That’s ridiculous. What kind of logic is that?”

I wobbled and raised myself from the bed. I couldn’t just lie around forever.

When I reached out and touched Jung Pureum’s shoulder again, he pulled me into his embrace. I gave up on the idea of escaping and felt around his upper body.

“See? You’re still only paying attention to my shoulder.”

“Can I help it? This is the shoulder that’s going to win three gold medals. The nation’s prestige is riding on you.”

“Our imprinting and marriage are riding on it too.”

“…”

“That’s more important to me.”

My social dignity, which had barely returned, raised the white flag and left again. My conscience closed its coffin lid once more. The World Ethics Standards Association must forgive me. How can I hold out when Jung Pureum acts like this?

A series of small kisses followed. It felt terribly embarrassing, but since both Jung Pureum and I were still under the lingering effects of his rut cycle, we couldn’t easily push each other away.

The atmosphere quickly turned suggestive. If this continued, we’d end up skipping today’s schedule too. I recalled the coach’s call at 4 AM and barely managed to pull Jung Pureum off me.

“No more. Your rut is over now.”

“…I’m not sure if it’s really over.”

“Here you go again with your tricks. If you ask me, you’re a total fox.”

Foxes are canines too, so I suppose they resemble Jung Pureum. Though with his build, he looks more like a bear than a fox.

At my comment about him being like a fox, Jung Pureum clung to me again like he was acting spoiled. The same guy who said he wouldn’t act spoiled because he didn’t want to look like a child was now whining and burrowing into me. The double-talk left me speechless. Honestly, is being cute really all it takes?

If the coach hadn’t called again, I probably would have given in to Jung Pureum’s charm and clinginess and never left the bed. Come to think of it, I still haven’t sprayed deodorizer in the elevator.

Jung Pureum’s phone vibrated like crazy. It seemed his claim that the coach understood because it was a rut cycle was indeed a lie.

“What are you doing? Answer it.”

“I don’t have to.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I’m serious… If I answer now, I won’t hear anything good. The coach probably just felt he was too lenient earlier and called back.”

“What do you mean?”

“The coach speaks harshly. He’s the type who has to say more if he’s not satisfied.”

“What kind of person is that?”

I know the coach has a sharp tongue—Lee Seolwoo told me. Even if Lee Seolwoo hadn’t, I’d already guessed the coach’s character was bottom-tier. I’d never met him face to face, but he must have chewed Jung Pureum out more than once.

“Can’t you really change coaches?”

“I don’t mind not changing him. Aside from his harsh language, he’s decent in his own way.”

“You always evaluate things favorably.”

I can’t trust Jung Pureum’s “decent” at all. Unlike someone like me, who’s sensitive, his “decent” is on a completely different level.

I started thinking about how to get the coach ousted.

The neighbor lady couldn’t do anything about him either, so I probably couldn’t get rid of him myself, but Jung Pureum training under such a coach and taking verbal abuse—no matter how many times I thought about it, it didn’t sit well with me.

“In the past, I wouldn’t have cared this much. It’s ridiculous for the neighbor hyung to be telling you what to do.”

“If hyung told me to let go, I would have let go of even a Shine Muscat.”

“But the coach isn’t a Shine Muscat.”

“That’s true.”

“Now I’m not just the neighbor hyung anymore. I’m so worried I could die.”

While my expression kept getting more serious, Jung Pureum’s expression kept getting brighter.

He seemed to like that I was worrying about him like this. Or maybe he liked the phrase “not just the neighbor hyung anymore.”

“We’ll have to endure until the Olympics. The coach has deep ties with the Olympic federation…”

Whenever I heard it, the power struggles in the sports world were always intense. The fact that being a family member of a high-ranking Olympic federation official justified speaking harshly to athletes still sounded like a lie no matter how many times I heard it. Is this really the 21st century?

“But enduring a few more years isn’t that hard. After the Olympics, the coach will have to train other athletes, not me.”

Unlike me, who wanted to replace the coach immediately, Jung Pureum seemed to think time would solve everything. How was someone so kind-hearted supposed to survive this harsh world?

If Jung Pureum really swept up all the gold medals, the coach wouldn’t be training the next generation—he’d be sucking Jung Pureum dry like a straw. I couldn’t guarantee much else, but I could guarantee this.

How many sports-related scandals had I seen on the front page of the news? Short track, speed skating, basketball, volleyball, baseball… countless sports flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.

“The coach knows about your shoulder problem, right?”

“For now.”

“We need to get it better before the training camp. Stop by the clinic when you have time. I’ll take a look.”

I will definitely show him the greatness of moxibustion…

While I was deep in thought about moxibustion and the coach, Jung Pureum changed his phone settings to silent. He seemed to have decided not to take the coach’s incessant calls at all.

Despite his gentle appearance, Jung Pureum was surprisingly strong-willed. Come to think of it, being of the same bloodline as Jung Saebom, there was no way Jung Pureum was a pushover.

“Pureum-ah. Can hyung ask you something?”

“Sure, what?”

“Are you only this nice to me?”

“…”

“…Never mind, hyung was being self-conscious just now. Don’t mind it.”

Jung Pureum’s eyes rolled.

Having observed him for eight years, Jung Pureum was a well-mannered, dutiful young man. Still, ignoring the coach’s calls was fine, right? The coach wasn’t a good person anyway, so what was the point of being polite?

I decided not to question Jung Pureum’s biased attitude any further. Anyway, the important thing was that he was good to me.

∞ ∞ ∞

Moxibustion worked wonderfully, just as I’d expected. Truly, Korean medicine is great! I marveled once again at the wisdom of our ancestors and the boundless development of Korean medicine.

“It’s really okay now?”

“Yes, it doesn’t hurt even when I’m in the water now.”

“You’re not lying? What does your team doctor say?”

“They said it seems like visiting the Korean medicine clinic is effective.”

Jung Pureum’s team doctor seemed like a sensible person. Given that he was close with Lee Seolwoo, he probably had a loose tongue, but he didn’t seem like a bad person.

The treatment room was filled with the scent of mugwort. The smell of moxibustion in a Korean medicine clinic was probably several times stronger than the pheromones of a differentiated person going through a rut or heat.

I checked Jung Pureum’s back, where the moxibustion marks remained. Since I couldn’t pinpoint exactly where it hurt, I’d applied moxibustion in several places, leaving Jung Pureum’s back quite colorful with marks.

“For a while, you won’t be able to show your back to anyone.”

“I don’t have anyone to show it to except hyung anyway.”

“Right. From now on, only wear full-body swimsuits.”

At my words, Jung Pureum laughed out loud. It was a sincere statement, but he seemed to have taken it as a joke.

“When do you enter the training camp?”

“Next Monday. After the weekend.”

“Once you’re in, it’ll be hard to keep in touch.”

“I’ll still call you regularly.”

Jung Pureum’s entry into the training camp was just around the corner.

Is this how parents feel when sending their son off to the military? Even though he was actually going to win a gold medal for military exemption, my heart ached. I wouldn’t be able to see him for much longer than with regular training camps.

“Once you’re in the training camp, I won’t be able to see your face for a while…”

Jung Pureum subtly leaned against me. It wasn’t much different from what he’d done 100 days before the college entrance exam.

But now, I understood what Jung Pureum’s actions implied.

“Since you’re not doing this to ask for a meal…”

“…”

“What, should I give you a kiss?”

“…Sometimes I can’t believe hyung has developed this much.”

“You find the strangest things hard to believe.”

“When I asked for a kiss of encouragement a year ago, you pushed me away saying you’d make me Gongjindan instead…”

“Why is your memory so good? Forget that already.”

“How could I forget?”

Come to think of it, the contract I’d written with Jung Pureum was weighing on my mind. Even though it wasn’t notarized, I couldn’t just leave it hanging.

“We should revisit the contract we wrote later.”

I was sure there was a clause saying it would be nullified if either party found a romantic partner…

Once the Olympics ended and Jung Pureum and I started dating, that contract would become useless. When we first signed it, I was trembling at the thought of Jung Pureum suing me—how time flies.

I suddenly kissed Jung Pureum. Surprised by the unexpected ambush kiss, Jung Pureum’s eyes widened. Haha, how do you like that! My ambush skills!

But before I could pride myself on being a genius at surprise attacks, Jung Pureum pulled me back in. A kiss that was a bit too much to be called a peck followed.

It was terribly embarrassing and shameful.

I laughed helplessly and pulled Jung Pureum into an embrace. What in the world is going on in this sacred Korean medicine clinic…