ATGRA 24

After taking a break for about two days, I was finally able to go back to work at the clinic. My physical condition was fine, but it took a lifetime to get rid of Jung Pureum’s pheromones.

Nam Jungyoon was far more talented at running the clinic than I had thought. Thanks to him, taking two days off was not that difficult.

But for some reason, I felt uneasy. As I sat in the doctor’s office sighing deeply, Ms. Kim Miyoung handed me some adlay tea.

Seeing as only the adlay tea bags were disappearing from the break room, it seemed adlay was Ms. Kim Miyoung’s number one pick. If you drink too much of this, it is not good for your digestive system.

“Why do you keep sighing and chasing away good fortune?”

“It is because I have a worry.”

“A worry?”

“I cannot tell other people about it.”

Ms. Kim Miyoung looked at me as if she were dumbfounded. Taking back the adlay tea she had given me was an added bonus. What kind of person gives something and then takes it back?

Since adlay tea was not my number one pick anyway, instead of asking for it back, I decocted medicine with a troubled heart. When I was examining the medicinal herb combinations, I thought a little less about Jung Pureum. Although when making gongjindan, I conversely kept thinking of him.

“Still, you look a bit healthier recently. Usually, after you go through your cycle, you’d come in looking half dead.”

“I, I look healthy? What a surprise.”

“Don’t you feel it yourself? Your skin is so firm.”

It had been quite a while since I had been to the dermatology clinic Lee Seolwoo introduced me to, so this was entirely thanks to Jung Pureum’s vitality. I had become firm thanks to sucking that young kid dry.

I writhed in guilt and finished decocting the medicine. No matter if he had become an alpha, I could not believe my body had been moved by a kid who was so much younger. Even if I was in my heat cycle, I still have my social standing. Was I really an animal?

“Something must have happened with Pureum?”

Because of Ms. Kim Miyoung who asked that subtly, I almost made another strange combination.

I shot up from my seat.

“What do you mean, something happened?”

“So something did happen.”

“Nothing happened!”

At my reaction, Ms. Kim Miyoung just sipped her adlay tea. I am going to remove all those adlay tea bags from the break room.

“I’m here.”

As if on cue, Jung Pureum opened the clinic door and came in. The bell on the door tinkled.

Lately, Jung Pureum had been frequenting the clinic. He had always come and gone as if it were his own house, but now it was practically his second home. Because he would come to the clinic as if clocking out from work as soon as he finished his lectures and training.

“Come to think of it, my work isn’t finished yet.”

I almost instinctively avoided him. I had already decocted all the medicine that needed to be done today, but I was going to decoct tomorrow’s share today as well. I planned to do the work that my future self was supposed to do today.

Ms. Kim Miyoung stared at me with an absurd expression on her face. It was a look of accusation, asking what I was doing when it was almost time to go home. Jung Pureum, leaning against the reception desk, was also looking at me like that.

“I’m really so super incredibly busy, so I can’t hang out with you today, Pureum-ah.”

“Director, didn’t you say you finished decocting all the medicine for today?”

“Medicine is something that is never finished, no matter how much you decoct. Because that is the fate of an oriental medicine doctor.”

“Pureum-ah, I think your director ate something bad.”

“Hyung is originally like that.”

I really have to take out the adlay tea bags from the break room. I planned a petty revenge in response to Ms. Kim Miyoung’s reaction.

Regardless, Jung Pureum had a smile on his face. Ever since that incident, Jung Pureum had a halo shining from behind him, like a Buddha who had reached enlightenment. It seemed like if someone picked a fight with him on the street, he would just laugh it off and forgive everything.

“I’ll wait until you finish all your work.”

“What are you saying, Pureum-ah. You should go home and rest quickly. An athlete shouldn’t use his energy on strange things.”

“I’m not using it on strange things. I’m using it on you, hyung.”

“Oh my, my.”

Ms. Kim Miyoung gave Jung Pureum a look as if she were proud of him. What is this? Her disappearing by backpedaling while telling us to have a good time was an added bonus. ……I really felt like I was going to die of embarrassment.

“Pureum-ah.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s just, let’s just forget what happened back then.”

As one lives, unexpected accidents are bound to happen. So, one cannot live life being swayed by every single dark chapter, can one?

It is beneficial to just forget the dark chapters of history that have become unmanageable. The same goes for Jung Pureum. There is no need for him to live while consciously acknowledging the fact that he shared a body with me, his hyung from next door, of all people. What is the point of remembering something like that? It is a win-win for both of us to just forget about it cleanly.

“About us sleeping together?”

“……”

“I’m not going to forget it.”

Is this a really late rebellious phase? I felt a stuffiness in my chest and thumped it hard. Goodness, Pureum-ah.

“Hyung, don’t tell me…… are you using me and then throwing me away?”

“What?”

“That’s so mean……”

“Whaat?”

As I hit my chest, I must have struck a rib, because a sharp pain shot through my chest. My mouth fell open on its own as an added bonus. I used and threw him away? Jung Pureum, of all people? I felt so wronged.

“Hey, get your words straight! You’re the one who did the using!”

“But I’m not going to throw you away, hyung?”

“Why would you throw me away!”

As I raised my voice due to my hot temper, I heard Ms. Kim Miyoung’s ‘Oh my, my’ from somewhere again. This is driving me crazy.

I lowered my voice again. I had always thought that in our relationship, the initiative was always with me, the older and more mature one, but since Jung Pureum had no logic, it was so hard to win against him with words.

It is really strange. He used to be a kid who would say ‘Yes! Okay!’ to whatever I did. As I staggered from a bout of anemia due to the heat rushing to my head, Jung Pureum reached out his arm and supported me steadily.

“Pureum-ah, hyung is serious. I’m not trying to joke around with you.”

“……”

“It’s just…… you know, right? I want to stay close like before, even though your secondary gender changed.”

There is no reason why we cannot stay that way just because we slept together, but as far as I know, ordinary neighbors, no matter how close, do not usually share a bed.

A shadow fell over Jung Pureum’s face as he looked down at me due to our height difference. Just when he arrived at the clinic, a halo had been shining, but the atmosphere sank as if someone had turned that halo off.

He was a kid who smiled brightly so often that when he was not smiling, he felt unfamiliar. I swallowed dryly. I could feel the strength in Jung Pureum’s arm that was supporting me.

By the way, isn’t this too close? No matter if it is almost closing time, this is my workplace. I fumbled and reached out my hand, barely managing to push against Jung Pureum’s chest.

“I don’t want to.”

Even with my weak strength, Jung Pureum obediently let himself be pushed away.

“I, I don’t want to be like before with you, hyung.”

The warning Jung Saebom had given me flashed through my mind. She had said not to plant any weird hope in him if I was not going to accept him. Her chilly expression and cold tone were still vivid.

I unconsciously reached out and covered Jung Pureum’s mouth. It felt like if I let him say anything more, things would really become irreversible.

He does not want to be like before. My heart churned. For an aftereffect of hitting my rib while thumping my chest, the condition was serious.

Jung Pureum, whose mouth was covered by me, slowly reached out and grabbed my wrist. Something wet touched my palm.

“A-Are you crazy? Why are you licking a person’s hand?”

“Because you suddenly covered my mouth.”

“This is really driving me crazy.”

I rubbed my saliva-soaked hand vigorously on Jung Pureum’s chest to wipe it clean. I felt drastically powerless from the sudden licking attack.

“You know, hyung.”

“Yes.”

“I want to touch you more.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you.”

I was at a loss for words. For a moment, the conceited thought, ‘No way, does he really like me?’ popped into my head. The lighting, temperature, and humidity of the clinic made me have such a misunderstanding.

“Ah! I can’t stand this 답답함 (frustration) anymore!”

Just then, the door to the vice director’s office burst open at the perfect timing. Nam Jungyoon, on the verge of dying from disbelief, shouted.

“Both of you, stop fumbling around! Let me go home!”

At Nam Jungyoon’s spirit yearning for the end of the workday, Jung Pureum slowly let go of my wrist. No wonder I had only seen Ms. Kim Miyoung; Nam Jungyoon had been listening to everything from the vice director’s office too.

“Jung Pureum, you manage your pheromones better! Is this clinic your bedroom or what!”

“……”

“……”

“And, sunbae, get a clue!”

The extremely enraged Nam Jungyoon walked right past us and left the clinic. When I looked at the clock, he was a whole 36 minutes late getting off work. It was a justifiable anger.

Even after that, Jung Pureum’s strange behavior continued. The increased skinship was one thing, but him rubbing his pheromones on me to the point that Nam Jungyoon was disgusted was an added bonus.

It got to the point where even Lee Seolwoo would express his disappointment to me, saying, ‘Director, if he was your boyfriend, you should have told me sooner…….’ No matter how much I lectured him, Jung Pureum, whose habits had gone bad, showed no signs of returning to his former self.

His demanding dates by shoving the contract in my face was something he had done from the beginning, so that was that, but his occasionally spouting incomprehensible words and confusing people was a big problem.

Because, combined with Jung Saebom’s advice to keep it moderate if I was not going to accept him, all sorts of thoughts began to surface. I must have killed several thousand brain cells from hitting my forehead to snap out of it every time the thought ‘Does he really like me?’ came up.

“Assistant.”

“Yes?”

“What is this ‘liking’ that makes you want to touch a person?”

As I asked seriously while flipping through a medical chart, Ms. Kim Miyoung spilled the adlay tea she was drinking. I am really going to take those adlay tea bags out of the break room.

“Is, is there any other kind of liking?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m asking because I don’t know.”

“Well, I really don’t know. Kids these days are, you know? A bit difficult.”

“I can’t focus on my work because of Jung Pureum……”

What kind of dereliction of duty is this? Me, of all people, neglecting my duties. This is as likely as the heavens and earth being overturned and Western medicine surpassing oriental medicine.

“Pureum-ie really went for it……”

Ms. Kim Miyoung, oblivious to my turmoil, just wiped her mouth with a swipe.

“What about you, Director?”

“What about me?”

“You like Pureum-ie too, don’t you? Because he’s the dongsaeng from next door.”

“That’s right.”

“In that liking, is there no feeling of wanting to touch him?”

Is there…… is there?

I stared at the medical chart with a serious expression. It is not like I would learn anything from looking at it, but for some reason, it was difficult to face Ms. Kim Miyoung’s face directly.

“I’m not sure.”

To my answer, Ms. Kim Miyoung retorted that she did not know either then. Her attitude was, how would she know my feelings?

I just sighed again. I felt like I was receiving divine punishment for sleeping with my much younger neighbor dongsaeng. Oh God of Omegas! To think you would give me divine punishment instead of a revelation just because I criticized you a little……. You do not even provide a 3-year warranty for wish fulfillment after-service…….

It was clear that something like a God of Omegas did not exist.