ATGRA 29

The coach’s eyebrow lifted slightly.

It was an athlete who had fought with Jung Pureum before. His skills were not as good as Jung Pureum’s, and he was older. His career as an athlete was long, but his award history was poor.

He was a guy who would end his athletic career as a mediocre alpha. If he was lucky, he might become a coach, but he did not have the talent to become great.

The coach, who had instantly recalled the athlete’s past performance, tilted his head as if to say, “Go on.”

“On the day training ended a little late…… I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“Jung Pureum, leaving with some omega.”

At the mention of an omega, the coach’s face contorted horribly. He had not even accomplished anything properly yet, but an omega was already latching onto him so soon after he became an alpha?

One of the things alpha athletes had to be most careful of was omegas. The most dangerous things were drug doping and injuries, and omegas were probably the next level of danger.

Since heat or rut cycles are not something one can control on their own, no matter how much they were warned, young alphas always caused problems with omegas.

“Did you, did you see that alone?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m asking if you were the only one who saw it.”

“……Ah, yes.”

When Jung Pureum was a beta, omegas were not a problem at all. The coach clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking, “This is why alphas are a problem.”

If you get wrongly involved with an omega, you never know when or in what way you might be swept up in a scandal. It might be different in the West, but in conservative Korean society, it was common for an athlete to self-reflect when a related issue broke out. The fact that gossip continued to follow them even if they achieved good results was an added bonus.

“Then just keep your mouth shut.”

“……”

“You know too that Jung Pureum is about the only one here who has a shot at the national team, right?”

“……Yes.”

“Don’t create any unnecessary problems.”

“……”

“You won’t do well just because you beat Jung Pureum.”

The athlete’s face twisted strangely. The coach keenly noticed that distortion.

He could see that the athlete was displeased, with his own alpha pride. The beta coach had met countless guys like this. Even when he had not yet quit swimming, he would receive such glares from other alphas whenever his performance was even slightly good.

Alphas had a bizarre sense of superiority. It was a world overflowing with guys who believed they were special just for being born a little healthier than ordinary people.

That is why the coach was always strict with Jung Pureum when he was a beta. Unlike himself, who had to end his athletic career early due to the barrier of his secondary gender, Jung Pureum had talent. It goes without saying now that he is an alpha, but even when he was a beta, he was a more outstanding athlete than most alphas.

……Although he too ended up becoming an alpha.

“Jung Pureum!”

Just then, Pureum finished his thousand meters. Gasping for breath, Pureum came out of the lane and looked at the coach who was calling him.

He had seemed to be in poor condition, but his record itself had gotten faster. The coach, who was about to say something, shut his mouth again.

“That’s it for today.”

Jung Pureum took off his swim cap and shook his wet hair.

The athlete, who had been told to keep quiet by the coach, stared at Jung Pureum with displeasure. It seemed likely that Jung Pureum would have felt the gaze, but he did not seem to care at all.

Jung Pureum was used to being the object of others’ envy and jealousy. It was less so compared to his noona, Saebom, but Pureum was also quite gifted by nature. His parents were both objectively good people, and he had moderate talent and endless support.

It could not be said that he had never been in a slump, but for a beta, his performance rarely fluctuated much. Thanks to his decent physical condition and innate endurance, his award history was spectacular, at least in long-distance events.

So, it was no surprise that his peers tried to put him down in any way they could. Before he became an alpha, there were many who would bring up his secondary gender and tell him to quit swimming.

“Hey.”

But there is a limit to picking fights, and at this point, it was getting a little annoying.

Especially these days. His mind was already in turmoil thinking about Moon Yeonghwa, and it was irritating every time this guy, who was his university sunbae, kept nagging him.

“You were an alpha from the beginning, weren’t you?”

“……”

“Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.”

Oh, a statement worthy of a discriminatory person. Jung Pureum naturally walked past the sunbae who had stopped him. A phrase that Moon Yeonghwa would have said if he had heard such words naturally came to mind.

“They say that alpha gongjindan is a scam. So you were just an alpha from the beginning, but you were pretending to be a beta, weren’t you?”

Even knowing that Jung Pureum had ignored him, his opponent was persistent.

Pureum, who was packing his things and patting his wet hair with a towel, raised his head at the words that the alpha gongjindan was a scam.

“That, it’s not a scam.”

“What?”

“I said, it’s not a scam.”

“……”

“Why, does something change if I was an alpha from birth?”

Jung Pureum, who stood up with a refreshed face, casually threw the wet towel at his opponent. The sunbae, who ended up taking the towel to the face, raised his voice.

“This bastard……!”

“Instead of caring about someone else’s secondary gender, just practice diligently. And stop taking things like drugs.”

“……”

“I saw a medicine bottle rolling around in your locker, sunbae. You were suspended from competition last time because your drug levels came out high, weren’t you? Or am I wrong?”

Isn’t that what a scam is? At his calm voice, the sunbae clamped his mouth shut.

In fields where strict self-management is required, it was common to use drugs to maintain weight and build the body. Although they would regulate it to avoid getting caught in doping tests, it is extremely difficult to maintain an ideal body with only pure effort.

As for Jung Pureum, he was the type to roll over without a complaint if the coach told him to, so he maintained his physique well without taking any drugs. Among the athletes, there were many who grumbled that he was like that because he had a naturally good physical condition.

However, due to the nature of swimming, which consumes a lot of calories, it was impossible to always maintain a constant weight and muscle mass. This is because the human body loses muscle and gains fat with even a little less movement.

“I…… I was prescribed that.”

“Yes, well. I’m sure you were.”

“Everyone takes it to some extent. You’re the weird one.”

“Right.”

After giving a cursory reply to the sunbae who was yelling something more out of anger, Jung Pureum turned his body around.

“Let’s see how long you can do so well.”

Oh, that’s a line from a third-rate villain. Jung Pureum smiled brightly again, thinking of the words Moon Yeonghwa would have said. If he was lucky, he might run into Moon Yeonghwa on his way home from work. It was better to smile than to frown.

*

The world really has gotten better. Even herbal medicines have an ingredient list.

Since it received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, it was only natural that there would be an ingredient list. In an age where even coffee order menus list calories, it is not surprising for a herbal medicine to have an ingredient list.

But it is a little surprising that an ingredient not on the ingredient list was detected. I took a sip of Riritang. Nam Jungyoon looked at me with an expression that said, why on earth are you drinking that?

“Ugh, it tastes disgusting.”

It felt like I was drinking some kind of poison. Even I, who grew up drinking all sorts of herbal medicines, had never tasted something so awful.

How on earth did Jung Saebom’s classmates drink this like water? It is truly shocking. No matter how much weight it helps you lose, if the taste is this revolting, you would think they would take it in moderation.

“How did this really, pass the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety?”

“It probably passed through a method that would get you hurt if you knew.”

“If this passed fair and square, that’s also a problem.”

“Oh come on, passing the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety isn’t what’s important. Director, you have a tendency to be too obsessed with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.”

“It’s because I have a lot of resentment built up against them.”

If they approved this, then why did they reject my herbal medicine that completely gets rid of the heat cycle! I felt wronged again.

It is true that everyone becomes more lenient when the word ‘diet’ is involved. It becomes difficult to even distinguish whether it is a medicine or a health supplement.

But still, seeing the certification mark attached to it even though it contained an ingredient not on the ingredient list made my heart sink.

“This is why you lose 15 kilograms in a week.”

If a human overdoses on arsenic, they die within minutes. Similarly, if you overdose on an abnormal drug, the human metabolic function also gets neatly ruined.

No, the expression ‘neatly ruined’ seems a bit of a miss. Let’s say it gets royally fucked up.

“What, putting a psychotropic drug in a diet pill……”

“Borrowing the power of Western medicine in herbal medicine.”

This is a betrayal. At my muttering, Nam Jungyoon stopped talking and looked at me with an expression as if he were looking at a complete madman.

“Dietamine is often used in diet pills, though……”

“Is it allowed to be in there?”

“Well, to lose weight, appetite suppression is important. I guess there’s no choice if you want to stop thinking about wanting to eat.”

Ms. Kim Miyoung looked at the Riritang with a worried expression. No matter what, she said that this much of it was a first in her long life as an assistant.

Since I am not a psychiatrist, I do not know whether dietamine is really effective for appetite suppression or not. I think I learned about it in college, but I did not pay much attention to the Western medicine side, so I forgot about half of it after the exam.

“But this, isn’t it addictive?”

“Really?”

“I think so. Because it’s a narcotic ingredient.”

“Wow, shit. Why are you telling me that now?”

“You didn’t drink a lot, did you?”

“Yeah. No wonder it tasted so disgusting.”

Ms. Kim Miyoung handed me adlay tea, telling me to rinse my mouth quickly. No, where does that adlay tea keep coming from?

We were not at our clinic right now, but huddled together in my house. Because the clinic was closed.

When I said I was going to analyze the Riritang I had received through Jung Saebom, Ms. Kim Miyoung and Nam Jungyoon insisted on coming to my house. It was not a break for a very good reason, but even on a rare vacation, the two of them chose work over rest.

Though for people who chose work, they had thoroughly bought some electric-roasted chicken from the truck in front of the apartment. It seemed they had bought this adlay tea bag on the same occasion.

I took a sip of the adlay tea to forget the disgustingly tasteless Riritang. After drinking the Riritang, the adlay tea tasted heavenly. Hmm, as expected, adlay tea is a necessary presence in the break room.

“We should report this, right?”

“Of course.”

“How do we report it?”

What was the number for reporting drugs?

I sipped the remaining adlay tea with a troubled heart. What if the perception of herbal medicine worsens because of a crazy bastard like Baek Wonhee? He is the only one doing this, but what if we get lumped together and criticized?

“Can’t we do some media play too?”

“I don’t know any broadcast PDs anymore.”

“Not the broadcasting station. On YoutTube, or places like that.”

“I don’t know any influencers either.”

The number for reporting drug smuggling is 125, and the number for reporting drugs is 1301. I was about to report Riritang to 1301, but the doorbell rang.

When I checked the intercom, it was the mister’s wife from next door.

For a moment, my heart plummeted straight to the floor. The mister’s wife, visiting my house at this hour. It seemed she had finally decided to kill me.

I discreetly changed the reporting number to 119. Because I might die. Reporting Riritang is something I can only do if I am alive, isn’t it?

“Who is it?”

“The mister’s wife from next door.”

As I started to tremble, Nam Jungyoon opened the front door in my place.

He, who had opened the door after only hearing the explanation that it was the mister’s wife from next door, just blinked his eyes innocently even after seeing the sturdy middle-aged woman standing in front of him.

“An alpha?”

The mister’s wife from next door, who had spotted Nam Jungyoon, opened her mouth in a chilling tone.

I hurriedly ran to the entrance and pushed Nam Jungyoon aside.

“What is it?”

“I came to see if you were okay.”

“What could possibly be not okay?”

“It’s been hard to see your face at all lately.”

“Ah, that’s……”

“You have my son, yet you’re with another alpha?”

“Excuse me?”

Nam Jungyoon…… another alpha?