<23>
“So where are you going to get drunk like that?”
“…”
“Han Jaekyung.”
“Enough. If you’re going to nag, mind your own business and get lost.”
Moon Yeonu’s eyes were full of displeasure as he watched Jaekyung, who had been pouring down alcohol he couldn’t even handle since earlier. After finishing a meeting for a new project he was joining, the timing worked out perfectly so he’d called to suggest having dinner together, only to be told out of the blue to just drink instead. Up until then, he’d thought positively that alcohol was better than food for setting the mood. But when they actually met, the atmosphere was completely wrong.
“What’s going on? You need to tell me so I can listen.”
“If I tell you, what, can someone like you actually solve it?”
“Hah…”
Somehow his prickly way of speaking seemed even worse than during his turbulent adolescent years. Was this all Jang Yeonhu’s doing too? Really, if he’d been just a little less pretty… Moon Yeonu irritably swept back his bangs and let out a deep sigh. Couldn’t he just say he was upset if something was bothering him, that he’d like some comfort? Seeing how he was less mature inside than even teenagers despite being over thirty made him want to flick him on the forehead. Whatever. Wasn’t it the rule that the one who needed something had to give in?
Moon Yeonu picked up a piece of deliciously sizzling pork neck meat with his chopsticks and brought it to Han Jaekyung’s lips, who was continuously drinking with sharp eyes as if he was going to stab someone to death.
Jaekyung alternately looked at Moon Yeonu’s face and the piece of meat in front of his mouth, then casually opened his mouth and took it in. The moment he saw that ridiculous sight, Moon Yeonu felt somewhat satisfied in one corner of his heart, but after noticing his own mental state, everything in the world became lamentable. He’d thought his old first love had ended long ago, but actually seeing his face made him feel like he was returning to being twenty years old when energy would surge up without him realizing it. Unlike his original goal of focusing solely on screwing over Jang Yeonhu.
“What is it? Don’t be annoying. Can’t you open your eyes properly?”
…Anyway, with that damn personality of his. He really didn’t give a person time to fall into sentiment.
“…Never mind. Good that you ate well. Should I order more meat?”
“Yeah.”
“Ma’am, one more order each of pork neck and pork jowl!”
Based on his looks, it seemed like he wouldn’t touch anything unless it was a steak costing well over a hundred thousand won per plate at some restaurant, but surprisingly Jaekyung ate heartily without being picky.
The two of them just devoured meat like that without saying a word for a while. In the meantime, over three bottles of soju had flowed through Jaekyung’s lips. Moon Yeonu used driving as an excuse not to touch alcohol at all, just quietly watching from the side as Jaekyung, who had been bristling with thorns, gradually became disheveled.
“…Hey. I, I’m fucking.”
He’d thought maybe he’d reduced his swearing somewhat with age. But when drunk, even his school-age speech patterns came pouring out intact. Unable to hold his head up properly, Jaekyung buried his forehead on the greasy table with a thunk and mumbled something pitifully.
“Fucking hate it…”
“Han Jaekyung. You’re drunk right now. Get up, I’ll take you home.”
“You’d hate it too, but fuck… I hate it too. Me too. This me, fucking… Huh? You know?”
“Yeah yeah, I know. So let’s go home.”
“No. You don’t know. What would you know…”
Yeonu, you don’t know anything… The words reeking of alcohol were roughly slurred into that kind of pronunciation. Moon Yeonu’s movements, as he was gathering the coat and bag and trying to lift Jaekyung’s body, suddenly stopped completely.
“If you knew, Yeonu… How could you, how could you do this to me… Yeonu, how could you…”
Tears were streaming abundantly down his already pale face, enough to make anyone watching feel sorry for him.
Moon Yeonu felt like he’d instantly taken a time machine back ten years. Even this meat restaurant felt confusing—was it not somewhere in Euljiro but the shabby pork belly place right in front of the university district?
As he embraced those thin shoulders that were just tall with no flesh and soothed him saying “shh, it’s okay, I’m here,” his nape soon grew hot. As if all that particularly nasty and sensitive temperament had been a temporary measure to hide tender flesh. Drunk Jaekyung became meek and fragile just like ten years ago and burst into wailing tears.
The sight of someone who usually acted tough and strong as if there was nothing to fear in the world, crying like a lost child, had the power to make the observer’s heart ache somewhere.
Moon Yeonu knew well enough that the target of the slurred pronunciation calling “Yeonu, Yeonu” wasn’t himself. It was a fact he’d known painfully well since ten years ago.
Han Jaekyung, who had firmly rejected Jang Yeonhu when he followed him around confessing his love, used to collapse alone like this afterwards in the past too. Gritting his teeth and trembling, not daring to open his mouth for fear that some sound might leak through the gaps in his teeth. It was precisely that gap that Moon Yeonu had wedged into.
Had he been desperately waiting for someone to extend a hand? The moment Moon Yeonu slipped beside him with the excuse of lending his name, Jaekyung had finally felt safe and begun to cry.
Stroking the back of Jaekyung’s head as he slept like he’d fainted with his face buried in his nape after crying to his heart’s content, Moon Yeonu became subtly curious. Where had Jaekyung hidden and endured alone while he was away? When such thoughts arose, the small head in his arms felt pitiful for no reason. If he was going to burst into tears that stirred people’s hearts like this, it would be better if he just threw tantrums loudly enough to hurt the ears.
Rather than being half-conscious, it was easier to move him now that he’d fallen completely asleep. After settling the bill, Moon Yeonu got help from the restaurant staff to lay Jaekyung lengthwise in the back seat of his car. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any desire to use sleep as an excuse to just take him away completely…
“…Oh, what a fate I have.”
Seeing Jaekyung hiccupping and crying softly even while asleep, wondering what had made him so sorrowful, it seemed best to take him to his own home so he could rest peacefully without worry. He brought over Jaekyung’s finger to unlock his phone with the fingerprint and checked the navigation—sure enough, his home address was properly saved. Now even the excuse of not being able to take him home because he didn’t know where it was had become useless.
Bzzzz, bzzzz.
Right at the moment he returned to the driver’s seat and was about to start the engine. Jaekyung’s phone began receiving a call from ‘My Sucker.’ It was all too clear who that saved name referred to. Moon Yeonu snorted and rejected the call. When he sneakily checked the call history, several missed calls had been left since earlier. The phone rang again as soon as it was hung up, and he hung up again. This continued several times. Just when he thought the calls had finally stopped, several messages came pouring in all at once. As if protesting whether he really wouldn’t answer even like this.
> [Han Jaekyung. What time is it and you’re still not home]
> [Why aren’t you answering the phone]
> [Are you angry about what happened earlier?]
> [I was wrong. I was completely wrong so please answer the phone first]
> [Jaekyung]
> [Where are you right now.]
> [If you’re angry, just look at my face and take it out on me.]
> [Please answer the phone.]
“Something definitely happened today…”
Well, it’s none of my business. Moon Yeonu shrugged and completely blocked the number ‘My Sucker.’ While he was at it, he cleaned up the call history and message box as well. Compared to the horrific level of humiliation Jang Yeonhu had given him in the past, this was only about as much as cute candy.
Once he blocked the annoying contact, peace finally came to Jaekyung’s phone too. Moon Yeonu burst into giggles and cheerfully turned the steering wheel.
It was about a fifteen-minute drive to the destination. Since it was late, there was no traffic and they could arrive easily, but the problem came after that. Among the cluster of officetel buildings jutting up everywhere, there was no way to know which one was Jaekyung’s home. Meanwhile, Jaekyung wouldn’t wake up at all.
“Han Jaekyung, wake up. Just tell me where your house is.”
“Mmm…”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll just take you to my house?”
Even at the half-serious joke, Jaekyung just slept soundly. Shaking his shoulders and pinching his cheeks were all in vain.
Come to think of it, he’d originally been the type who cried himself to sleep when drunk, and once asleep, wouldn’t wake up no matter what happened. Tsk, it’s been over ten years since dealing with this aftermath, so he’d forgotten. Since it had come to this, there was no choice. Moon Yeonu realized it was meaningless to try waking Jaekyung any further and returned to the driver’s seat. It wasn’t his intention from the start, but today he’d have to take him to his own house first…
BANG!
Just as he’d fastened his seatbelt and was about to depart. Someone mercilessly kicked the back door.
“Hey.”
“…!!”
“Will you get out, or should I drag you out?”
It was Jang Yeonhu with his face viciously contorted.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
