ATGRA 31

Ms. Kim Minah’s house had no room to set foot in. There were so many broken shards on the floor that it was difficult to even sit down carelessly. In the end, Jung Pureum and I decided to clean the house first, leaving Ms. Kim Minah to herself.

First, we opened the windows and started by airing the place out. Bugs had already infested the stacked-up delivery food containers. I felt like I was going to be sick, but I couldn’t let it show. After all, the landlord was watching us nervously from nearby.

Unlike me, whose complexion often turned pale, Jung Pureum’s expression did not change one bit. He swatted bugs as if they were nothing, and he had such a strong stomach that he briskly took out the household trash that made me lose my appetite just thinking about it again.

“You said he was Saebom’s younger brother, right? I should have asked for an introduction….”

It was to the point where Ms. Kim Minah even mumbled this. She followed up by saying that a man with strong life skills is the best these days. I had to agree with her on that. Because it was cool how he swatted bugs so casually.

After we cleaned the house, we finally had a place to sit. Ms. Kim Minah still seemed unstable even after letting us inside. She even asked me a couple of times if what was happening right now wasn’t her imagination.

Does she have symptoms of schizophrenia? Western medicine is really not my major, so I couldn’t make a clear diagnosis. I waited calmly until Ms. Kim Minah calmed down.

It was a relief that Jung Pureum had followed me. To be honest, I was only calm on the outside; inside, I was a bit scared.

“I’m sorry for calling you over and just making you clean.”

“Not at all.”

“I definitely, definitely cleaned everything before you came.”

Ms. Kim Minah, who muttered that it was strange how it got messy again after she had clearly cleaned everything, was honestly a little scary. It was even more so because I didn’t know how to handle the situation.

“It’s just that, I wasn’t originally like this. The effect was just too good.”

“Riritang, you mean.”

“Yes. A few months ago, I hurt my back while practicing, and my body swelled up a lot because of the medicine I took for recovery. You know how they say swelling turns into fat if it doesn’t go down. I couldn’t do any strenuous exercise because of the injury, so it didn’t go down either.”

Ms. Kim Minah slowly began to tell her story. There were some parts where she rambled, but I understood why she had ended up like this.

She must have been strictly managing herself because of her major anyway, so it would have been natural for her to be anxious if she gained weight because of medicine she took for a back injury.

On top of that, she was active on You-Tube, so she couldn’t have been free from the public eye. Even if she said she gained weight because of an injury, someone would have used her changed appearance as an excuse to attack her.

Then, Riritang was launched at just the right time. Thinking she should lose the weight gained from Western medicine with Korean medicine, Ms. Kim Minah did not refuse Wonhee Korean Medicine Clinic’s sponsorship offer.

The problem was that Ms. Kim Minah took Riritang far too actively. After finishing what she received as a sponsor, she bought more medicine with her own money.

“I was so scared I’d gain weight whenever I ate anything, so I drank Riritang.”

The words, “even medicine is poison if you take too much,” rose to the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them out loud. I felt like I knew why she had done it. She was afraid. Afraid of her weight, which she had worked so hard to maintain until now, getting out of control.

Watching Ms. Kim Minah repeat her own words several times left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was still scared that Ms. Kim Minah might do something unpredictable, but I couldn’t chide her for taking the medicine so foolishly.

There must be many reasons. There might be more diverse reasons than I can guess. Baek Wonhee, who sold Riritang while lying about its ingredients, is the bad guy; what fault is there with Ms. Kim Minah, who bought and took it?

“Your You-Tube… will you be able to do it?”

“I have to.”

“In any case, you’ll be showing your current self to others.”

Jung Pureum broke the silence in my place, as I couldn’t easily open my mouth, not knowing what to say.

It was Ms. Kim Minah who decided on a dogfight, but there was no need to specifically call out Wonhee Korean Medicine Clinic on You-Tube. Just reporting them would get their business suspended.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a permanent suspension, so they would resume business after a few months, and the fraudster image our clinic was saddled with would remain. However, I couldn’t use Ms. Kim Minah for my own survival.

She must have resolved to have a dogfight when her anger towards Riritang was severe, but thinking about it calmly, revealing her current state would do her no good.

Because even if she deleted her You-Tube channel, the videos she uploaded to the internet would remain. Someday, that could come back to haunt Ms. Kim Minah.

Besides, it was hard to see Ms. Kim Minah as being in a very normal state right now. Doing things emotionally in a state where she couldn’t make rational judgments was not a very positive direction.

“You might regret this decision later.”

As I carefully opened my mouth, Ms. Kim Minah smiled a little.

“I heard that you are, uh, having a hard time because of Gongjindan.”

“……”

“You’re worrying about me first. Even though it would be better for you if I clung to the Riritang issue.”

That is true. If a large You-Tube channel calls out Riritang, I would be grateful. If I’m lucky, Baek Wonhee might just go down on his own.

“I’m really okay.”

Ms. Kim Minah said clearly. Hearing that this was the best way to get good compensation for damages, I felt a little relieved. If she was discussing compensation, she must be in a rational state…….

“That bastard director, I’m going to tear him limb from limb and kill him for sure……”

……It seemed she wasn’t. Is it okay to be relieved about this?

I grabbed Jung Pureum’s arm tightly again.

I had visited Ms. Kim Minah in the early morning, but by the time I came out of her house, the surroundings were already dark. It was because cleaning had taken up a lot of time.

“I’m completely drained.”

I had no strength left in my body after discussing various things related to You-Tube and the lawsuit. I hadn’t even eaten properly all day. No matter how hungry I was, I couldn’t order delivery food at Ms. Kim Minah’s house.

“You also had a hard time for nothing, following me.”

“For me, it’s good because I get to stay with you, hyung.”

“I’m wondering if I didn’t get you unnecessarily involved in my business.”

Even if Baek Wonhee gets arrested tomorrow and the Riritang ingredient list is revealed to the whole world, my problem will not be solved right away.

Because the suspicion about the Gongjindan (攻進丹) I made will still remain.

Perhaps the overall image of Korean medicine will only worsen because of Riritang. They might lump us all together as fraudsters, saying Gongjindan was a problem, and now Riritang is too.

Ms. Kim Minah said she would expose Baek Wonhee on her You-Tube channel and try to clear up the misunderstanding about Gongjindan, but since the broadcasting station has already aired the program about Gongjindan, it probably won’t be that effective.

It’s a bit infuriating to be the only one painted as a fraudster, but I can bear it. I’ve had so many strange misunderstandings in the past. I can just think that life isn’t easy and look forward to the next time.

However, the other people involved in this were the problem. Not to mention Ms. Kim Miyoung or Nam Jungyoon, but even Jung Pureum, who really became an alpha by taking Gongjindan, would find many things troublesome if he couldn’t escape the suspicion that Gongjindan is a scam.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“What about just revealing my identity?”

Jung Pureum stopped in his tracks and asked me.

A real case of a beta becoming an alpha. A living witness who took Gongjindan and manifested as an alpha at the end of his nineteenth year. Jung Pureum was excellent evidence.

The problem was that, for the sake of Jung Pureum’s daily life, the articles related to him had mostly been anonymous. They were reported as something like ‘19-year-old Mr. J’.

Unlike me, who even did a broadcast interview, all of Jung Pureum’s interviews were anonymous. For one, he was a minor at the time. People around him and those in the swimming world all knew through word of mouth, but Jung Pureum’s personal information had never been publicly released on the internet.

That’s why the Gongjindan I made was even more suspicious. They said there was someone who really turned from a beta into an alpha, but they never clearly revealed who it was.

“Don’t you say things like that.”

“I don’t mind if my personal information gets a little exposed.”

“What do you mean you don’t mind. It’s quiet now because only the people around you know, but there’s nothing good about becoming known for something like this. People will talk about it later when you start your career as an athlete in earnest.”

“……”

“You can’t suffer a loss because of my business.”

A guy who’s going to be a huge success in the future can’t be held back by me. I walked past the stopped Jung Pureum.

“……I want to suffer a loss, though.”

The whispering voice stuck in my ear. He wants to suffer a loss. What kind of crazy talk is this?

“There you go with the nonsense again.”

“It’s not nonsense.”

“……”

“I want to be of some help to you, hyung, even if it’s just a little.”

He is always like this.

How does he say things like that so easily? They are words I could never say. In the first place, I wouldn’t even think about taking a loss, and even if such a thing happened, my petty pride would prevent me from speaking like Jung Pureum.

What on earth am I to him that he goes this far? We’ve known each other for a long time, but when you get down to it, we were strangers.

“No.”

I had to draw a clear line. Otherwise, Jung Pureum would really sell off his personal information with his own hands. I couldn’t sell out Jung Pureum just because my situation had become difficult.

“I don’t want you… to suffer even a little bit of loss because of me.”

This was on a different level from not wanting Ms. Kim Miyoung or Nam Jungyoon to suffer because of me. I bit my lower lip hard.

Ta-da! Here is a real case! The true identity of Jung Pureum, who really became an alpha from a beta at nineteen, revealed! If I did that, I could probably defend against the current attacks.

However, that doesn’t mean the controversy would completely die down. In the end, Jung Pureum is the only one whose trait truly changed to alpha, and besides him, the other cases were just people who became alphas when they reached the age of manifestation, making it hard to say they truly saw the effects of Gongjindan.

But I didn’t want to sell out Jung Pureum for that uncertainty. I knew I wasn’t in a position to be picky right now, but I still felt that way.

Probably, even if I could have ended all the controversy at once, I would have told Jung Pureum no.

Other people, maybe, but not Jung Pureum. I couldn’t explain the reason precisely, but that was certain. He was the most special and precious person I had ever met…….

Precious?