ATGRA 36

Jung Pureum led me around to all sorts of places. The department store was the main purpose, but we also had a late dinner and took one of those trendy whatchamacallit four-cut photos. Young people these days really do all sorts of things for fun.

Playing around like that, the department store’s closing time approached, and we didn’t even get to look at clothes. Time went by too quickly when I was with Jung Pureum.

“We can just come back next week.”

Jung Pureum, who had been the one pestering me to go to the department store to look for summer clothes, didn’t seem to have much attachment to the department store itself.

On the way back home, I became lost in thought again.

Is it okay for me, at my age, to be playing around with Jung Pureum like this? Doesn’t he have any friends his own age? It’s about time he started making new friends at university.

Then again, I didn’t have any friends when I was a university student either. It’s not easy to form deep connections with friends you meet as an adult. So, does Jung Pureum also think of me, his next-door hyung, as a playmate……

While I was contemplating Jung Pureum’s social life, Jung Pureum walked beside me, matching my pace, and chattered about various everyday things.

“My competition record is good, so I think I’ll be able to enter the national team selection trials.”

Among the things Jung Pureum talked about, the topic that stuck in my ear was the national team selection trials. It was something he couldn’t even dream of when he was a beta. Hearing this made me realize anew that Jung Pureum had become an alpha.

“That’s great. Train hard. Since you’re going, you should become a national team member.”

“My coach said the same thing.”

“Ugh……”

I couldn’t believe that the coach and I had said the same thing. I quickly muttered, “You can become a great swimmer even if you don’t become a national team member.” I’d rather die than be on the same page as the coach.

Jung Pureum chuckled at my reaction. Then he added that his condition has been good lately, so his training ends early.

“It was only once, but I think sleeping with you, hyung, helped.”

“……”

I had my guard down, and Jung Pureum suddenly threw a straight ball. I stumbled and almost face-planted on the ground. How can you say something like that on the way home?

Jung Pureum grabbed me firmly as I stumbled. His face, asking if I was okay after dropping a bomb, was infuriating. It was even more absurd because he looked genuinely worried.

Of course, since Jung Pureum is also an alpha, Korean medicine and sleeping with an omega are the best ways to resolve his rut cycle. Still, I was trying to ignore it, but when those words came out of Jung Pureum’s mouth, I couldn’t help but be startled.

“Are you not feeling well again? You’re always overworking yourself, hyung. Is it because your cycle is approaching?”

Jung Pureum, who would never guess what I was feeling, buried his nose in the nape of my neck. Aack, aaack! An internal scream erupted from me.

He just took a simple whiff of my pheromones and pulled away, but that was even more absurd. Is he a sniffer dog, or what? Seeing him grinning and saying that it didn’t seem like my cycle was coming yet, I felt my world crumbling and society collapsing.

Jung Pureum seems fine, so why am I so affected by his trivial skinship?

It must be because I’m a more rotten adult than he is. I became truly troubled. No matter how cute and adorable Jung Pureum is, it seems I shouldn’t stay as close to him as before for his own sake.

Even now, I wanted to grab Jung Pureum and roughly stroke his curly hair. And while I was at it, I wanted to grope his handsome face a little.

However, I must not be swept away by this instinct.

No matter how much I have degenerated into a beast, my essence is still human. A human being must have reason. If you lose your reason, Kant will chase you from afar, shouting, “Reason!”

After parting with Jung Pureum, I came home and lay in bed, reflecting on my state. It seemed my mind had become too lax after getting rid of the headache that was Baek Wonhee.

How many complicated situations had I been through?

The development of Gongjindan was a positive thing, but the various incidents and accidents I experienced as a result were not simple. They all had the fate of our Korean medicine clinic at stake.

So, it was natural for worldly desires to come now that a big problem had been resolved. Humans are prone to idle thoughts when their body or mind is at ease.

I tried to work harder to escape these distracting thoughts, but I was already doing so much that it didn’t make a difference what more I tried to do.

Besides, no matter what else I did, nothing as complicated as the Baek Wonhee incident would happen. Nam Jungyoon looked happier and more satisfied than anyone after Baek Wonhee went to jail, but I was starting to miss Baek Wonhee. To think he went without even eating the revenge I had prepared. Come back! Come back and get rid of my distracting thoughts!

I finally shot up from the bed. Seeing as I was missing Baek Wonhee, I was definitely not in my right mind.

The world spun due to my orthostatic hypotension. I should have been born as a healthy Taeyangin. Sighing deeply, I fumbled on the bed for my phone.

Come to think of it, all these problems are because Jung Pureum is too close. Jung Pureum and I needed distance now. However, even if I said, “We need distance,” it was clear that Jung Pureum would not even listen to my words.

In that case, shouldn’t I be the one to move? They say if the temple is not to your liking, the monk should leave. I couldn’t move the Korean medicine clinic that had even undergone an expansion, but I could probably move out.

If I continue to live next door, I don’t know what kind of trouble might happen.

I imagined a situation where I lost my reason and groped Jung Pureum, only to be caught by the mister next door. Jung Pureum would say it’s okay, but how absurd would the mister next door feel?

There’s a limit to repaying kindness with enmity. She might throw me out of the apartment for devouring her well-raised son. I’m not scared of Jung Saebom, but the mister next door is really scary.

I installed a real estate application on my phone. If I looked around a bit, I could probably find a studio apartment near the Korean medicine clinic.

This apartment, which my grandfather had gotten for me, was a bit too big for one person to live in. I hadn’t felt much inconvenience because I had always lived without any life skills for 8 years, but now the time had come to leave.

I looked at the real estate application seriously. I’ve made a lot of money, so can’t I afford to buy a house?

Until then, I was quite triumphant. I was just thinking, “It would be nice to have a house in my name!” That was truly a futile thought.

*

No matter how much I thought about it, the housing prices in Seoul are insane.

That was the conclusion I came to after checking real estate prices all morning. How can there be so many buildings on this small piece of land, yet no place for me to move to? Does that make sense? There were plenty of empty houses, but none for me.

When I was looking for a property for the Korean medicine clinic, I thought the prices were outrageous, with them saying there were no vacancies, but when I tried to find a place to live, everything was beyond imagination.

I was so shocked by the price of the apartment I’m currently living in, which had risen so much in 8 years, that I almost fainted when I saw the listing price.

Moving out with my own money did not seem easy. It would be possible if I were to live in a chicken-coop-like studio apartment paying monthly rent, but having lived alone in a space large enough for a family of four for 8 years, I didn’t have the courage to move into a chicken coop.

With my grandfather’s help, moving would be easy. When I was looking for a house at twenty, I didn’t have to worry about real estate. However, I didn’t want to ask for help again at this age, having decided to move for personal reasons.

The battle of the self-proclaimed strongest between my pride and real estate prices began. As I wracked my brain and let out a groan, Ms. Kim Miyoung asked worriedly if I was sick.

“I’m not sick…… it’s because of the housing prices.”

“Housing prices? Director, you live in an apartment. Don’t you live in a really nice place?”

“Ah, I was thinking of moving.”

“Why?”

Because of Jung Pureum…….

If I answered honestly, Ms. Kim Miyoung would immediately tell Jung Pureum about my moving plans.

I now knew for sure whose side Ms. Kim Miyoung was on. If, by some miracle, the heavens were to open up and Western medicine were to surpass Korean medicine, and as a result, Jung Pureum and I were to fight, Ms. Kim Miyoung would take Jung Pureum’s side.

In that case, it was better to just not say anything. As I kept my mouth shut, Ms. Kim Miyoung’s eyes narrowed. Is it something to be so suspicious about, just because I want to move?

“I have a hunch. A hunch that the director is about to do something foolish again.”

“No, aren’t your words too harsh? Foolish. I am a person who only does quite decent things.”

“No. In my opinion, the director is the type of person who, if things start to go a little wrong, would abandon a perfectly good house and decide to move to some strange place without a second thought.”

“……”

“You have a bit of an extreme side.”

……If you’re exposed to Korean medicinal herbs for a long time, do you perhaps get something like divine possession?

Our Korean medicine clinic would not operate normally without Ms. Kim Miyoung, so I had to do my best to prevent her from changing her career to a shaman.

“Anyway, think about moving again. The housing prices are insane these days, isn’t the timing too bad?”

“……That’s true.”

“And the apartment you live in, director, is so expensive that it probably won’t sell well even if you put it on the market.”

Those words were right.

I leaned back against the back of the chair in despair. There was nothing wrong with the house, and it was strange that I was having these worries at a time when housing prices were at their highest, just because of the next-door younger brother.

No matter how much I thought of Jung Pureum as a precious…… precious? younger brother, still. It seemed I was being too sensitive just because we slept together once. I should learn from the younger generation, Jung Pureum, and act nonchalantly too.

I looked at the whatchamacallit four-cut photo that I had tucked into my desk instead of a bookmark. Unlike me, who looked awkward, Jung Pureum in the photo looked just happy.

‘My competition record is good, so I think I’ll be able to enter the national team selection trials.’

Jung Pureum’s words that he would be participating in the national team selection trials also kept echoing in my head. I knew it was an unnecessary worry, but I kept getting scared that I might hold him back now that he had become an alpha.

This is all because of the gossip articles about sports stars that come up periodically. I had been brainwashed by the stories of omegas who ruined the smooth-sailing lives of alpha sports stars.