ATGRA 70

The Olympics are next year anyway.

I decided to entrust everything to my future self. Even if my future self resents me, there is nothing I can do. Sorry! My present self lacks problem-solving skills!

“Still, for someone my age to date you is…”

“What about your age, hyung?”

“Honestly, I’m old.”

“Twenty-eight? I don’t think every twenty-eight-year-old in this world thinks they’re old.”

“…”

“I think that last remark requires an apology to every twenty-eight-year-old in the world.”

Jung Pureum had no logic.

It is impossible to win an argument with someone who has no logic. I would rather have an argument with a broadcast station producer.

“Hurry up and say you’re sorry to all the twenty-eight-year-olds in the world.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Okay… I’m sorry.”

I finally raised the white flag.

“I really don’t know anymore either. Let’s talk again when you win a gold medal.”

“One gold medal, and you date me. Two gold medals, and you imprint with me. Three gold medals, and you marry me.”

“Where do you get off trying to pull a fast one like that?”

“No?”

Looking at the guy staring at me with his clear eyes, the word “no” did not come out easily.

Was it easy for one person to win three Olympic gold medals in the first place? It was not even archery, South Korea’s main event; winning three golds in swimming was close to impossible. The swimming powerhouses, the United States and China, would not just stand by and let South Korea do that.

I did the calculations in my head.

It is true that I think very highly of Jung Pureum, but it is an incredibly difficult feat for an Asian man of 185 centimeters to win three gold medals in swimming.

However, I could not just ask him outright, “Wouldn’t three golds be difficult?” I have to plant dreams and hopes even in a grown child.

“O-kay, let’s talk again if you win three golds.”

As if that would ever happen.

I covered the mouth of Jung Pureum, who was chattering about where we should hold the wedding. Jung Pureum, dreaming of the impossible, looked quite cute.

Seeing him as cute even after we had been at it for three days, I was not in my right mind either. I decided to admit that I had gone as far as I could go.

As soon as I got home, I called my mom. I had to tell her as soon as possible that Park Seongjin was trash. Mom! Your friend’s son wasn’t in his right mind!

—Yeonghwa? What have you been doing to only be calling now?

It was not intentional, but I had ended up ghosting everyone for the past three days. In college, my body would attend online classes and then collapse even when my heat cycle came…

“Mom, so much has happened to me…”

—As a matter of fact, Mijin was furious with me, asking how on earth I raised my son. I was worried something had happened to you.

“Is Mijin Mr. Park Seongjin’s mother?”

Ms. Mijin! Your son isn’t in his right mind either!

However, Park Seongjin had already made me out to be the crazy one before I could. I had expected this. If there had been no one else in the underground parking garage, Park Seongjin would not have backed down so meekly.

A guy who only backed off because there were many eyes watching would not have had anything good to say when he got home. I could roughly guess what Park Seongjin had babbled about me.

—Don’t even mention it. I had a huge fight with Mijin, and the private fund group mom was in broke up.

“…Really?”

—Of course. Mijin and I used to joke about becoming in-laws, but how can I tolerate someone else’s son badmouthing my son? And besides, I was never that close with Mijin in the first place.

If they were not that close, why did they talk about becoming in-laws?

I felt my world collapse, thinking I had ruined my mom’s friendship because I had needlessly gone on a blind date. The background music of a “Wrongful Encounter” played in my head. Mom trusted Park Seongjin as much as she trusted Ms. Mijin, so she introduced him to me without any suspicion…

Then, I started to feel a little wronged. No, Park Seongjin was the one at fault, so why should Ms. Mijin and my mom have to part ways? This was too unfair.

I was about to list out all of Park Seongjin’s misdeeds, but then I just shut my mouth.

Ms. Mijin probably thinks Park Seongjin is a gentle and upright son. My mom, too, knows I am hot-tempered, but she thinks I speak politely and properly outside.

Surely, Ms. Mijin would not know that her son’s profession was to go on blind dates and hunt omegas who were somewhat established in society. No matter how crazy Park Seongjin was, he would have been a gentle little lamb in front of his mother.

Therefore, if I were to blabber on about Park Seongjin’s wrongdoings here, not only the private fund group but also my mom’s other relationships could be ruined. It would be different if she only knew Ms. Mijin, but it was a “private fund group.” It was obvious that other friends were involved.

—Anyway, as long as you’re okay, Mom’s fine.

“I’m fine. Nothing really happened.”

—But you said a lot of things happened? Well, whatever. I didn’t want to be friends with a kid like Mijin who subtly looks down on omegas anyway. The way she boasted about giving birth to an alpha.

“…”

—We were just tied together by money through the social club. Yeonghwa, you shouldn’t keep it a secret if something happens just because you’re worried about Mom’s social life, okay?

“I’m telling you, nothing really happened.”

When I muttered that I would never go on a blind date again, my mom giggled over the phone.

—Of course you shouldn’t. Yeonghwa, you have a lover, don’t you?

“…What?”

—Mijin’s son already told me everything. That your lover stormed into the blind date. Oh my, I should have seen a drama-like scene like that.

“No, he didn’t storm into the blind date…”

To be precise, he intervened in the hotel’s underground parking garage where Park Seongjin had dragged me. If we were to categorize the genre, it would be closer to Police Blotter 24 Hours than a romance drama.

—It’s Pureum, right?

“…”

—Bring him over sometime. You kept saying no, but Mom had a strong feeling. A feeling that I’d never find another son-in-law like him…

I was so dumbfounded that I was speechless. Why on earth would she get a feeling that she would never find another son-in-law like him…

Jung Pureum was far from all the dramatic elements my mom liked. He was not a born alpha, nor was he a Western medicine doctor who could fulfill a medical romance.

However, my mom was extremely fond of Jung Pureum, whom she had never even seen. If she were to meet Jung Pureum in person, my mom would probably evolve into an even more extreme version of herself. My mom is just as weak for a handsome face and body as I am.

After that, I listened to a little more of my mom’s worried nagging. By the time I heard the news that the first episode of <The Alpha Who Used to Be a Beta is Too Much!> would air this Wednesday, the call had gone well over an hour.

—Oh, I forgot to mention the most important thing.

“Is something wrong?”

—It’s nothing much. After hearing that your blind date was a disaster, your dad said that you can’t trust alpha bastards after all, and that you don’t have to get married.

Just like my extreme dad. Just a short while ago, he was making such a fuss about me having to get married, and now his attitude changes like this.

It was a good thing for me. I had no intention of getting married anyway. Unless Jung Pureum performs the miracle of winning three Olympic gold medals, I will live a single life with my clinic as my spouse.

Liking someone, imprinting, and marriage are all truly separate things. No matter how amazing of a husband-material Jung Pureum is, this cannot be helped. A self-righteous person like me is better suited to a single life.

So, if at least my dad in the family told me “don’t get married,” it was a total thank you. My grandfather and mom are not as extreme as my dad, so they were unlikely to change their views on marriage. At least my dad had to be on my side.

—And your grandfather said he’s coming up to Seoul to see you this weekend.

“What? Why are you telling me this now?”

—I was so busy talking about dramas that I completely forgot.

“…”

—Ahem, son. Don’t be mad, and listen?

My mom started off in an ominous tone.

—Somehow, I happened to tell your grandfather about Pureum.

You cannot trust a middle-aged woman who promises to keep a secret. They are all liars. No one keeps their promise to keep a secret.

My mom gently soothed me, saying that she had no choice but to say it because the topic of the failed blind date came up. Having already been betrayed by Ms. Kim Miyoung’s secret-leaking once, I was more dumbfounded than angry, and at a loss for words.

While I was stammering, my mom recited a list of recommended dramas and then quickly hung up the phone. It’s a bit much to say this about family, but the people in my house were a bit… strange sometimes.

I put down my heated phone, lay on the bed, and closed my eyes.

I was worried about <The Alpha Who Used to Be a Beta is Too Much!>, which would soon have its first broadcast, and also about my grandfather who was coming up this weekend.

To be precise, it was not my grandfather I was worried about, but Jung Pureum who would have to face my grandfather. My grandfather may not be a former shot putter, but as a master of martial arts novels, there was a possibility he would challenge Jung Pureum to a duel.

How dare you touch my grandson? I will punish you with the fist of Shaolin! My grandfather’s roar automatically played in my head.

By the way, does Jung Pureum even know how to play Go…

[Pureum]

[Do you know how to play Go?]

In the end, I could not overcome my worry and sent a message to Jung Pureum. Jung Pureum is a kid of this generation, so he probably does not know how to play something like Go.

[Go?]

[I know how to play a little]

…Is Jung Pureum not a kid of this generation?

It was a relief that he knew how to play even a little. I told Jung Pureum the news that my grandfather was coming this weekend. No matter how much I tried to stop him, my grandfather would surely see Jung Pureum before he left.

Even if Jung Pureum and I were not dating, it was true that we were in a slightly complicatedly entangled relationship, so we probably could not completely avoid a meeting with my grandfather.

[Is this perhaps a mini-family meeting?]

[I’ll become a Go master from now on]

I received the message from Jung Pureum and laughed without resistance. What’s a Go master?

Unresolved issues were piled up like a mountain, and my relationship with Jung Pureum still remained a difficult problem for me. However, I was able to fall asleep in a quite comfortable state.

To laugh and feel at ease at such a trivial thing. It was a truly strange thing.