ATGRA 27

After parking the car, we went to a sashimi restaurant to eat first. We were following the wisdom of our ancestors, who said that even Geumgangsan Mountain is best viewed after a meal.

“Have you been here before?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“When I was in high school.”

I was about to ask ‘With whom?’ but I shut my mouth. It is not like I am interrogating him, so why would I pry that far?

“I came alone.”

But Jung Pureum, as if he could read minds, drew a line, saying that he absolutely did not come with anyone else. Is he boasting to me that he is mature enough to come all the way to Incheon by himself? I just thought Jung Pureum was admirable.

“You came all this way alone, and not even for training.”

“It was a bit tough for me back then.”

“You, don’t tell me you came to Incheon and drank alcohol?”

“……”

“My, my…… look at this spoiled brat.”

As I started to hit his back hard, Jung Pureum pretended to be weak, saying, “Ouch, ouch.” A guy with a body as big as a mountain, acting all delicate.

When I asked what was so tough, he trailed off again this time.

Well, in high school, everything is bound to be unsettling. Since Jung Pureum was not an alpha but a beta, yet was on the elite athlete track, it must have been several times harder for him.

It got better after Jung Pureum started winning awards in various competitions, but until then, even Jung Pureum’s parents did not think of their son’s career that seriously.

Jung Saebom was a born alpha and showed promise from a very young age, but Jung Pureum was not a tremendous prodigy compared to his noona.

It was an environment where comparison was inevitable. Even if the adults around them did not intend to, if the noona is an alpha and the dongsaeng is a beta, and both are in the sports field, it is impossible for talk not to arise.

That is why the lady next door also told Jung Pureum once or twice that it was okay to quit swimming. She must have thought that being a national representative was the exclusive domain of alphas, and that it would be difficult for Jung Pureum, a beta, to achieve great success in swimming.

What could be more wasteful than clinging to a hopeless cause? Everyone knew that fact, so they hurt others without any malice.

You cannot become a great person, so just do something you can make a decent living with. You are just an average person to achieve the goals you aim for, so get a grip early and give up.

Now that he is an alpha, everyone will believe in Jung Pureum’s potential, but that is how it was back then. Because of the single fact that the person is the same but their secondary gender is different.

“Eighty percent of the reason I had a hard time was because of you, hyung.”

“Me?”

Why me?

I looked at Jung Pureum in disbelief. This is absurd. I have no memory of making him suffer eighty percent of the time, though twenty percent might be possible.

“What did I do to make you suffer? The kitchen exploding?”

“There’s something like that.”

“My goodness.”

I asked a few more times, but Jung Pureum shut his mouth with the pride-hurting words, ‘Even if I tell you, you wouldn’t understand, hyung.’

Since he clammed up, I could not pester him anymore, so we left the sashimi restaurant and walked along the night sea. It was not a dramatically beautiful sight, but the sound of the waves coming in and out made my heart feel at peace.

Streetlights were installed here and there along the path. The area where the light reached was bright. I could also see other people gathered in small groups. There were many cases of friends hanging out boisterously, but most of them were couples.

In other people’s eyes, Jung Pureum and I would probably look like a couple out for a night stroll. Since we are walking so close together.

Thinking that, my mood became strange again. How fickle the human heart is; as I thought less about Baek Wonhee, my thoughts turned back to Jung Pureum. I should have killed more brain cells so I could not think at all.

“Hyung.”

“What.”

“Can I hug you?”

“Who?”

“You, hyung.”

Jung Pureum, standing under the streetlight, looked just like a painting. It might be that I felt it more clearly because I was standing outside the light.

“You said you didn’t want to be like before.”

“It’s okay because I’m not hugging you with the same feelings as before.”

“Then, what kind of feelings are you hugging me with?”

“The feeling of not being greedy and wishing you would only think of me.”

I slowly opened my arms. I think I understood why he was acting like such a baby. Since I am not the type to ask for a hug first, he is the one taking the initiative like this.

“If you’re having a hard time, you have to tell me.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t keep it a secret from me just because I’m young.”

“I got it.”

“Promise me too.”

“Alright, promise.”

“And stamp it too.”

“How childish, so childish.”

I slammed my forehead into Jung Pureum’s chest. It is a headbutt stamp. Jung Pureum lowered his head and rested his chin on the top of my head. He really makes stamping difficult.

The body heat that touched me was warm. Due to our size difference, I was almost buried in Jung Pureum, but I felt a solid sense of stability.

“Hey, I can’t breathe.”

It is really a good thing that Jung Pureum is younger than me. If he had been older than me, or the same age as me, I would have definitely fallen for him.

I would have wanted to rely on him without any guilt. I would have shown him my biggest insecurities without hesitation, and I would have shamelessly spilled out all the worries right in front of me.

“Hyung.”

“Yes.”

“I like you.”

“……”

“I really like you.”

“……Don’t hug me so tight. I told you I can’t breathe.”

Even with my words that I could not breathe, Jung Pureum just held me tighter. As if he had no intention of letting me go.

*

As if he knew my mind had cleared up with the Jung Pureum therapy, Baek Wonhee attempted another mental attack in just a few days.

[Gongjindan 攻進丹, The Desire to Become an Alpha]

[How People’s Yearning for Alphas Was Exploited]

Just watching the preview video edited and uploaded on YoutTube made my blood pressure rise.

Of course, I would not be the only one thinking of media play. But, I had never thought of using media play to attack others, and I did not know such a trial would befall me.

There was no justice in this world. Nietzsche was right. God is dead!

Actually, I had imagined something like this could happen, but I did not know I would suffer it at the hands of Baek Wonhee.

Moreover, that broadcast is also a program hosted by that PD. Like <Food X-Files>, they come out to investigate businesses, get interviews with customers, and then edit and paste them in.

Our clinic never agreed to be filmed, so I was really curious about when they came and went. Did they come disguised as patients?

“Should we take legal action too?”

“Forget it. If we move now, they’ll just spin it as us acting out because we have something to hide.”

That broadcast has a certain level of public credibility. They sometimes miss the mark, but in any case, the production team has also caught fraudulent or deceptive listings by running around themselves. The viewership ratings are probably still quite high.

I also know because when I decided to appear on the show, I had carefully looked into what kind of program the PD was in charge of. I know that that broadcast will have a greater influence than the one I appeared on.

[There are all sorts of scammers running rampant,,, the country is going to ruin, that’s why]

[Oriental medicine is originally a discipline that is not scientifically proven. It cannot be called medical practice.]

[They say this clinic is the W clinic in Gangnam, here’s a link to the director’s interview!]

[But there were a lot of kids who said they actually became alphas with that]

└[It’s all staged, are you stupid]

   └[What’s with the sudden fight?]

  └[This comment has been deleted for violating the operating rules.]

[But does your core really get better if you become an alpha?]

└[Yeah]

   └[Haha you think only the core gets better? Your stamina too~]

   └[Woow~]

     └[I want an alpha boyfriend too, I should be born as an omega in my next life]

As expected, the internet comments were a mess. Our clinic was never mentioned in the preview, but the location of the clinic and the initial of the business name were already all out.

The article about Jung Pureum, who went from beta to alpha, was also brought up again. The majority of the comments were saying that it was all staged to make the guy who actually became an alpha feel wronged.

People like to be the arbiters of justice. Especially online. I was completely drained watching them dig up personal information and scrape articles or broadcasts I had appeared in, even though nothing had been properly revealed yet.

If that broadcast turns out to be false, they will probably just back out, saying they did not know. I checked a comment like ‘[The director here is an omega? ㅋㅋ]’ and closed the window. Looking at these comments will not solve anything.

“The main broadcast is next week, they say.”

“You should consider closing the clinic for a while. Not just the patients, but reporters will also flock here.”

“Why would we close the doors? What did we do wrong?”

“We didn’t do anything wrong, but…… do you avoid poop because you’re scared of it? You avoid it because it’s dirty.”

Nam Jungyoon let out a deep sigh. This was followed by a lament that we should have struck first and destroyed Baek Wonhee’s Riritang.

I regretted that too. It is in the past, but if I had known I would be attacked like this, I would have struck first. I knew early on that Baek Wonhee was a bad bastard, but I did not know he would team up with a PD and be so despicable.

Even if we did nothing wrong, it would only take a moment for things to get tiring once a wrong image was cast on us. Weren’t there cases where the Castella that was popular for a while went out of business one after another regardless of the truth when <Food X-Files> reported on it negatively?

With such a precedent, I could not just adopt an attitude of ‘We’re innocent, so let’s rest easy!’

“Let’s continue operations as usual.”

“Will that be okay?”

“Even if it’s not okay, we have to make it okay.”

The trials of self-employment are insane. I cursed inwardly. Did they dump their conscience in the Han River without permission? Bastards with no business ethics…….

But on the outside, I pretended to be as calm as possible. Because if I showed my anxiety, Ms. Kim Miyoung and Nam Jungyoon, who depend on me, would also become unsettled.

It is not like they are people who would have a hard time finding a new job if our clinic goes under right away, but since they are my people, I did not want to put them in a difficult situation. I also did not want to fail here and hear the words, ‘I knew you’d end up like that.’

“Let’s see who wins.”

Above all, Baek Wonhee, I will definitely get rid of this bastard. You hit me? I will hit you back twice as hard.