“You don’t have to worry about supporting me.”
“It’s my card though.”
Due to the crime of starting trouble and making him fall, Junghyun had ended up agreeing to pay for dinner and drinks too. Having momentarily forgotten this fact due to extreme embarrassment, Jaehyuk looked up and checked the menu.
Seeing his momentum that suggested he might order every item on the menu, Junghyun quickly stopped him.
“Don’t order any more.”
“Kimchi wrap noodles for a palate cleanser at the end.”
“Wow, incredible. How can someone who eats like this eat so little at breakfast?”
“It’s about management. I’m the type whose muscles grow when I eat.”
“Why not just reduce your exercise?”
“Why should I cut back on my only hobby?”
Come to think of it, that’s true.
“…I guess… Well, I don’t want to cut back on drinking either…”
“Cut back on alcohol.”
“I haven’t been drinking lately.”
“Why do you drink so much?”
“Probably for the same reason you exercise. So, soju?”
When he gestured as if taking a drink, Jaehyuk laughed. It was a laugh of ridicule.
“Don’t try to be clever. You seem to think you can get me drunk here, but that’s not going to happen.”
“You’re quick. Should I really break into my savings?”
“Since you’re going to break them anyway, I’ll make sure you break them completely.”
Faced with his determined will to order at least a Macallan at the hotel lounge, Junghyun decided to give up at that point.
Judging by how this person eats, he probably drinks heavily too. At least a bottle of whiskey.
“Sigh… Whatever. Eat and die then. By the way, how much can you drink?”
As he asked while wrapping and eating some grilled pork, Jaehyuk reached for lettuce and replied.
“I don’t remember ever getting drunk. The most I’ve had was a bottle of whiskey.”
“I’ve never passed out from drinking either… Want to go until one of us falls today?”
“Betting on eating is the stupidest thing in the world. You should know how to moderate what goes into your body, especially that.”
Whether it’s alcohol, food, or medicine, he was saying not to do anything that harms yourself.
At such a characteristic statement from him, Junghyun couldn’t help but laugh this time.
Jaehyuk had said something similar before.
Though he probably wouldn’t remember it at all.
“I know that intellectually, but where’s the fun in life then?”
“You can find fun elsewhere.”
“All the enjoyable things are bad for your body anyway.”
“Isn’t baseball the most harmful?”
“I was thinking about quitting baseball, but then I’d only have alcohol left. That’s more dangerous, isn’t it?”
“Then keep baseball and quit drinking. And surf more often.”
“That’s too much trouble.”
As they conversed, the amount of pork belly diminished rapidly, so Junghyun raised his hand to call the staff. Just as he was ordering 4 servings of pork ribs and additional drinks, a phone rang.
It was Jaehyuk’s phone.
After checking the screen, Jaehyuk frowned. His face said he really didn’t want to answer it.
But it must have been someone he had to talk to, as he finally stood up and excused himself.
“Just a moment.”
Junghyun just raised his hand to indicate it was fine, and busily ate meat while Jaehyuk went outside. He was pouring a newly arrived drink into his glass when he caught sight of Jaehyuk standing outside through the glass window.
Dressed in a large black hoodie, black jogger pants, and black sneakers, Jaehyuk standing on the road with the beach visible right behind him looked like a painting. And he was enormous.
It was the same figure he had always watched from afar.
Fortunately, the rain had completely stopped, and as he was gazing somewhat nostalgically at Jaehyuk talking on the phone in front of the damp beach, his own phone rang.
It was Yoonho hyung.
As he hesitated whether to answer the call from someone who rarely called and usually just sent messages, he glanced outside the store and then pressed the call button.
“Yes.”
– I heard you got kicked out of the climbing gym?
At Yoonho hyung’s question right as he answered the call, Junghyun clicked his tongue and picked up two pieces of pork belly.
“Word travels disgustingly fast.”
– All the hyungs who go there are part of the same crowd. Surfing, climbing, tennis, swimming. Almost all are membership clubs, and those people all know each other, so rumors spread quickly. My store is there, how could I not hear about it?
“They must have nothing better to do.”
– It’s caused a commotion because it’s none other than Jaehyuk hyung who got kicked out. I heard you got a warning at the hotel swimming pool too? What exactly did you do? Did you grab each other’s hair and fight? No, that can’t be. He would never raise a hand against an Omega.
“We just made a little bet.”
– What kind of bet?
“A meal bet.”
– What meal? That hyung doesn’t make such bets?
“He did.”
– No way. He doesn’t let other people pay for him. Especially women and Omegas.
“I paid.”
As he complained that he’d already spent 400,000 won just at the hotel while putting meat in his mouth, Yoonho hyung laughed as if he roughly understood what happened.
– Aha~ Looks like the terrifying mouth made an appearance after a long time.
At his very accurate prediction, Junghyun didn’t bother to respond.
He hadn’t done it intentionally, but he had pushed his buttons quite a bit today.
It was just… fun.
– So, what are you doing now?
“Eating.”
– Are you paying for that too?
“Shut up.”
– Your credit card bill is going to be insane this month, isn’t it?
“If you know that, give me a raise.”
– What’s the point of a raise for someone who’s going to quit anyway? Just eat well and have fun before coming back up. They say it’ll clear up tonight, so you’ll be able to surf happily from tomorrow. Ah, I want to go surfing too.
“Just do your work.”
– I will. Oh, but be careful, okay? There will be people who recognize you there. Since you don’t socialize with people, you might not realize, but quite a few surfers know your face. You used to work part-time there too.
“Surfing in Korea means running into the same crowd everywhere, so of course there are people who know my face.”
– That can’t be helped, but if you chat with people you meet by chance, they might notice that your and Jaehyuk hyung’s movements have overlapped, you idiot.
“In this small country, among the tiny fraction of surfing enthusiasts, it would be stranger if our paths didn’t cross.”
– Well, when you put it that way, that’s true… But still, be careful. Oh, by the way, aren’t you two going to get kicked out of the beach tomorrow? That would be interesting. Maybe you’ll end up banned from the entire area.
“Hanging up.”
Finding it bothersome, Junghyun quickly ended the call.
He put his phone on silent instead of turning it off completely, since it would be overwhelming to receive all notifications at once when turning it back on. Just then, Jaehyuk came back into the restaurant with a very annoyed expression.
Seeing his childlike sulky expression, Junghyun, who had been sitting askew drinking his beverage, smiled and asked:
“Who was it that made you look like that?”
“Hyung.”
“Why?”
At that question, he made a face that said “why do you think?” as he pulled out his chair and sat down.
Well, if Yoonho hyung knew about it, the news must have spread through all the climbing and surfing group chats.
“You’re quite popular?”
“More than you.”
“If someone’s less popular than me, they’d be a chimpanzee.”
“At least you have good self-awareness.”
“It’s enough if people I like also like me. I don’t need people who have nothing to do with me to like me. Being loved by everyone? That’s an illusion and a mental illness. Even Jesus and Buddha had anti-fans. So, let’s just enjoy some soju together.”
As he made a logical jump from “we’ve already lost, the rain has stopped, the wind is nice, and the hotel is close” to suggesting they have a drink, Jaehyuk’s phone rang again as if on cue.
This time, the name that appeared on the screen was ‘Jang Junyoung’.
“It’s the lawyer hyung.”
The moment he said that, message alerts began appearing at the top of the screen.
Cleverly, he hadn’t set his message preview to show on the standby screen, so the content wasn’t visible, but Junghyun could guess what it was about even without seeing it.
After that, as the notification sound kept coming in, Jaehyuk turned his phone face down with an expression of disgust.
“Just turn it off.”
“Urgent messages…”
About to ask what he would do if there were urgent calls, Jaehyuk seemed to find even that bothersome and actually turned off his phone as Junghyun suggested.
Everyone seemed to know where he was anyway, so if it was urgent, they would contact the hotel or nearby surf shops.
It’s not a big neighborhood, and after coming here for over 15 years, he knows everyone.
…It was a mistake to come here.
It’s too late for regrets, but it’s still annoying.
With a feeling like his insides were burning, Jaehyuk finally threw off his hood and raised his hand to order from the staff.
“Two bottles of soju, please.”
At his refreshingly decisive order, Junghyun laughed delightedly and started grilling meat again.
Strangely, he was in a good mood.
It seemed a bit fun.
So today, he planned to drink a bit.
* * *
Ten bottles of soju in 3 hours.
After achieving the feat of drinking five bottles each, Junghyun left the last bar they had visited and hunched his body against the gusting sea breeze.
Perhaps because they were near the beach, the wind was quite strong.
But fortunately, as forecasted, the rain had completely stopped and the sky was clear. The sky, now without a single cloud, was flowing with stars that looked as if they might pour down.
The sea was calm too. At this rate, the waves tomorrow morning should be quite good.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
