“Noona!”
It was Park Ju-yoon. The president’s face soured like a child forced to eat a green pepper. Strangely enough, the more her face twisted into a grimace, the more the vice president’s expression brightened like a plant finally seeing sunlight. The way he grinned so slyly made it look like he’d been holding something against Park Ju-yoon for a while.
Sure enough, after asking for our opinions and successfully securing the right to ask the question, he chuckled and fired one at Park Ju-yoon.
“How many times did you fart today?”
My face went completely blank. He wasn’t some elementary school kid teasing a girl he liked—he was twenty-four, for God’s sake.
Instead of grabbing the penalty drink, Park Ju-yoon twitched her lips and answered that she’d farted four times today.
“Noona, are you a ppung-ppung machine?”
“Hyun-woo, shut it.”
After firmly cutting off Woo Hyun-woo, Park Ju-yoon grabbed the bottle with an irritated flick of her hand and spun it.
We stared at the rapidly spinning bottle as if hypnotized.
Finally, the bottle’s mouth stopped—right in front of the vice president.
Park Ju-yoon clapped her hands in self-congratulation, wearing a vicious smile Satan himself could learn from.
“I want to ask this question. What do you think?”
Among us, there was no brave soul willing to stop Park Ju-yoon, whose eyes were already half-glazed and shining. We answered with silence, and she immediately turned her head toward the vice president and asked:
“When was the last time you watched porn?”
“……”
They really were birds of a feather.
The vague fantasy I’d had about Park Ju-yoon—like spotting a unicorn—shattered instantly.
The vice president found the question trivial and answered confidently that it had been the day before yesterday.
The private lives of club executives that no one cared about were now being broadcast to the world.
Next, the bottle was spun again, and the mouth pointed toward Ha Min-young.
Of all people, someone whose personal life I was even less curious about had been chosen, and my facial muscles stiffened.
“Ah……”
He forced an awkward smile onto his lips.
The vice president, wearing a playful grin, said there was something he’d always been curious about and started his question. Since Do Jihoon and I didn’t particularly have anything we wanted to ask Min-young, we readily handed over the questioning rights. Meanwhile, the president and Woo Hyun-woo watched the vice president with interested looks and nodded.
“Are you currently dating someone—yes or no?”
“Uh……”
Ha Min-young’s face turned red like a perfectly ripened tomato.
He pressed his lips together and stared at the floor before answering quietly.
“No……”
“Then is there someone you like? Someone you’re interested in?”
“Well, that’s……”
“Stop it, Joo Si-gang. One question at a time.”
Park Ju-yoon cut off the vice president’s barrage of questions and rescued Ha Min-young from the interrogation pit.
Min-young let out a relieved breath and thanked her.
Meanwhile, I stared at the vice president with sharp eyes like Conan who had just found the culprit. Judging by those slightly reddened earlobes and cheeks, it was obvious.
That man was interested in Ha Min-young.
Vice President Joo Si-gang had a fairly tall build and a pretty handsome face. There was the huge drawback that his terrifying mouth completely covered up all those advantages, but still.
At this point, I could only hope that Ha Min-young would redirect that proud, lofty gaze of his—from our Do Jihoon to the vice president instead.
“……Then I’ll spin it.”
Ha Min-young carefully grabbed the bottle and spun it with a flick.
The bottle spun and spun—
Then stopped right in front of me.
“……”
If it had at least stopped somewhere between me and Woo Hyun-woo, I could’ve argued that it pointed to him instead. But this? There was no room for excuses—it was pointing directly at me.
Like a defendant awaiting sentencing, I lowered my gaze gloomily to the floor.
“I’ll ask the question.”
“No, I will!”
“I’ll do it. I’ve been curious about something.”
Unlike earlier, when decisions had been made easily, now that it was my turn, Park Ju-yoon and Woo Hyun-woo were practically having a full-blown debate over who would ask the question.
Like a shrimp caught between whales, I stayed silent and quietly prayed for Park Ju-yoon’s victory.
After their heated argument, the questioning rights ultimately went to Woo Hyun-woo, who hadn’t asked anything yet.
A result that made me frown immediately.
Woo Hyun-woo cleared his throat like a voice actor and calmly asked:
“Are you two dating?”
The “two of you” he was referring to were, of course, me and Do Jihoon.
“Yes. We’re dating.”
Honestly, compared to what I’d been worried about, the question was ridiculously wholesome and light. Without even thinking about it, I answered with an incredible reaction speed of 0.1 seconds.
But even after hearing my answer, Woo Hyun-woo still didn’t look satisfied.
An instinctive sense of unease began crawling up my spine.
“No, not the formal stuff. I already know you two are engaged.”
Woo Hyun-woo leaned on his arm against the floor and stared at me.
“Yeon Yuri. Do you actually like Do Jihoon?”
“……”
My mouth fell open like a fish at the absurd question.
It was such nonsense that it made me doubt the functionality of my cochlea.
Of course I do. I was just about to answer with a frown when—
“No, because you two were on the Everytime app before. People said you were only engaged, but that you both liked other people. That’s what I’m asking.”
Woo Hyun-woo cut in first, throwing the explanation before I could respond.
For a moment I couldn’t say anything.
But only for a moment.
I quickly regained my senses and opened my mouth to question him—
But again, I failed.
“May I ask what you mean by that?”
Because Do Jihoon, unable to tolerate the nonsense, spoke first in a sharp tone toward Woo Hyun-woo.
But Woo Hyun-woo clearly didn’t like that answer.
“I asked Yeon Yuri.”
He shot back at Do Jihoon, his face twisted roughly like a delinquent’s.
The atmosphere, which had been relaxed with playful questions, froze instantly.
A chilling air like the Antarctic pressed down heavily on the circle of club members.
I’d thought Woo Hyun-woo was avoiding Do Jihoon, but he wasn’t looking away at all.
Instead, he stared directly into Do Jihoon’s eyes.
Even though this kind of game allowed personal questions, that one had gone too far. The low-level question didn’t sit well with me either.
But because Do Jihoon was releasing extremely sharp pheromones, I had to suppress my irritation and calm him down. The alpha vice president and Ha Min-young’s faces were both growing pale.
I leaned close to his ear and whispered softly.
“Do Ji. I’ll answer. Calm down, calm down.”
“……”
“And put away your pheromones. Look at the vice president’s face. He looks like he’s about to be put in a coffin.”
“……Alright. Sorry. I lost control.”
Do Jihoon quickly reined in his pheromones.
Holding his hand tightly, I answered Woo Hyun-woo’s nonsense politely.
“Whatever was posted on Everytime, we’re dating. And yes, I really do like him.”
“Didn’t you two have a shouting match in early March?”
“When people live together, they argue sometimes. You’re not saying we’re only ‘formal’ because of that, are you?”
“……”
Despite my confident answer, Woo Hyun-woo still looked unconvinced.
Just as he was about to say something else—
“That’s enough for Yuri’s question, right? Yuri, spin the bottle.”
Unable to watch our standoff any longer, Park Ju-yoon cut in and ended the situation.
Woo Hyun-woo looked like his lips were itching to keep talking, but he couldn’t add anything more in the icy atmosphere.
I gave Park Ju-yoon a slight nod, grabbed the bottle, and spun it.
“……”
God had clearly abandoned me.
The bottle that spun around finally stopped with its long neck pointing straight at Do Jihoon.
Do Jihoon shrugged his shoulders and told whoever wanted to ask a question to go ahead.
However, the two manifesters who had been hit by the angry pheromones of a dominant alpha were still suffering from the aftermath, looking weak and pale. Woo Hyun-woo’s expression was stiff with lingering irritation.
With Park Ju-yoon yielding the chance, I quickly nodded and asked Do Jihoon a question.
I didn’t want him getting upset again because of another shitty question.
“Do Jihoon. Before me… did you ever date anyone?”
