#051
Sunlight streamed down onto Kang Dojun’s head, making his closed eyes squint from the brightness. When he gently opened his eyes, he saw a familiar ceiling.
‘…When did I get home?’
He couldn’t remember last night’s events. His stomach felt queasy. It had been years since he’d drunk enough alcohol to get a hangover. Clutching his throbbing head, he sat up.
Daeho must have brought him home.
He was always a manager who took care of him and his only friend.
When he opened the living room door, he could see Park Daeho’s belongings.
The room that was (formerly) Park Daeho’s, (currently) Lee Yeonwoo’s had returned to being Park Daeho’s nest again.
‘He should have just slept in my room instead.’
Thinking that he had slept in the room where Yeonwoo stayed, childish jealousy welled up again. To suppress his feelings, he headed to the kitchen to drink some cool water.
“…What’s this?”
What’s with this whole convenience store bag? His puzzlement was brief as Park Daeho came out yawning, and he asked about the reason for its existence.
“Did you buy this?”
Park Daeho said with coldly settled eyes.
“You, never drink alcohol again.”
The thought ‘Drink to your heart’s content, I’ll make sure to get you home safely’ was retracted after just one night.
He had failed to realize that Kang Dojun’s drunken behavior was quite nasty – someone who was sharp-minded, didn’t cross lines with those around him, and maintained appropriate courtesy.
He should have known after drinking heavily before. Even if he drank a lot, he’d thought this guy would just obediently sleep, taking it lightly.
That’s right. He had momentarily forgotten that alcohol had the magic to turn even gentle people into dogs.
He should have known from when the person who said he was going out for some air came back and silently kept gulping down alcohol.
Who could have predicted that he would suddenly stand up and head to a nearby convenience store? Park Daeho, who hurriedly followed him out, witnessed a bizarre scene.
A convenience store part-timer who couldn’t close his mouth at the surprise event, and
“…It’s something Yeonwoo likes.”
Kang Dojun hugging a plastic bottle filled with candy to his chest and asking for it to be rung up.
That wasn’t enough – he was also picking up chocolates one by one. One by one. He’d pick up chocolate, place it on the counter, then head back to the display and pick up more, and more. It was a meaningless repetition of actions.
He had plenty of money so he could pay for anything. However, he was worried about catching people’s attention. Park Daeho was anxious, wanting to pay quickly and leave.
Unable to watch anymore, he grabbed a whole box of chocolates and told him to pay quickly, but Dojun stopped him, saying eating too much would damage his teeth.
“Then just buy one.”
Drunk Kang Dojun couldn’t hear anything.
“Since it’ll damage his teeth…, buy toothpaste too. …And a toothbrush.”
He surrendered to the stream of consciousness. He seemed ready to grab everything in sight and pay for it.
Park Daeho decided to change strategies to get him out of the convenience store as quickly as possible. He responded to Kang Dojun’s words and appeased him.
“Right, right. Toothbrush and toothpaste are necessities. Should we buy toilet paper while we’re at it?”
Fortunately, the strategy seemed to work as Kang Dojun’s head slowly turned toward Park Daeho.
As if proving he was heavily drunk, he blinked slowly and his movements were slow and sluggish. But his tone was as cold as if he’d gulped down cold water.
“I can take care of it. I’ll handle everything myself, so stop paying attention to him. Everyone, everyone’s too interested in him.”
‘…Him? Who’s “him”?’
Isn’t this going to result in dating scandal articles? It was dawn, so there was only them and one part-timer in the convenience store. The part-timer was busy glancing at them while constantly touching his phone, probably contacting friends.
It was a large convenience store so the distance was far and probably couldn’t be heard. But you never knew.
Park Daeho looked at Kang Dojun, who kept muttering like a crazy person, “I, I will. I’ll do it. I will.”
“Right. You do it. You do everything. No one will touch anything, so you do it all.”
So let’s get out of here quickly. He didn’t know what it was about, but he responded that everything Dojun said was right.
Though he hadn’t drunk any alcohol since he had to drive, he felt like he was sobering up because of Kang Dojun.
‘Great.’
Whether the strategy worked, Kang Dojun prettily curled up the corners of his mouth. His eyes also gently folded into crescents – a face rarely seen except when acting.
“Yeah. I will.”
Finally feeling like paying, he headed to the counter with staggering steps. Park Daeho quickly followed and held out the corporate card.
This was to avoid any contact between the part-timer and Kang Dojun as much as possible.
“I’ll pay and come out, so you go to the restaurant. No, get in the car. I’ll take you straight home.”
At those words, Kang Dojun’s grinning expression turned menacingly twisted.
“I said I’ll do it. I will. What are you to buy him chocolate? Buy candy. I’ll buy everything for him. Only I can buy for him. Don’t give him anything. I’ll give him everything. I’ll buy it. Put the card away.”
‘This crazy bastard!’
It would have been better if his tongue was twisted and pronunciation unclear, but even here his occupational disease kicked in as he spoke slowly but clearly, syllable by syllable.
‘Please. Please let’s get out!’
Park Daeho screamed silently while watching the part-timer’s reaction.
“Fine. You pay.”
“…Don’t you want anything to eat?”
He roughly grabbed a small jelly displayed on the counter and held it out. Kang Dojun’s gaze slowly followed the jelly, then he held out the entire plastic container of jellies.
“Ring this up.”
“…Y-yes sir.”
After hearing the full story from Park Daeho, memories of last night began to resurface. Kang Dojun clutched his throbbing head for a different reason.
“I’m crazy. I’ve gone crazy.”
“Articles are already out. You need to sober up and stop by the agency.”
“…Me too?”
“Of course.”
At Park Daeho’s words that of course he had to go since he was the person involved, he couldn’t hide his bewilderment. This was his first time since debut.
As they say, troublemakers cause good trouble too – though he had only drunk and caused a little scene at a convenience store, to Kang Dojun it felt like he had caused a major accident that would collapse the world.
“Still, public opinion isn’t flowing in a bad direction. Don’t worry too much.”
“……”
* * *
[Convenience store worker witnessed Kang Dojun (with proof photos)]
The area is full of bars so drunk troublemakers come often, but who would have known lol Kang Dojun would appear as a troublemaker ㄴㅇㄱ Actually he wasn’t even a troublemaker. He just bought fucking tons of everything. His hands are huge so everything was by the box. You know those small candies in plastic containers? The 200 won ones. Yeah…
Loud Dojun: Selling them one by one? No way! Straight up plastic container. One chocolate? No way! Straight up boxí–‰.
He was almost ready to rob the convenience store. No, the snack section was robbed. If our boss saw this he would have rushed out barefoot.
Usually when people are drunk their words get slurred but they still say what they want to say, but Kang Dojun spoke slowly but clearly, carving out each word lol occupational disease?; Roughly what he said was, ‘I I will I’ll buy it for him. Nobody touch anything. I’ll buy everything. (to his companion) Put your card away. Don’t you want anything to eat?’ lolllll In the end when his companion gave up and picked one jelly, no way! Straight up plastic container. His companion and I counted every single jelly and candy in the containers lol Still the kid was really nice. They say your true nature comes out when drunk but he was polite to me throughout, bowed properly when greeting, and even handed over his card with both hands. This is why elders go Kang Dojun Kang Dojun, I really felt it.
Finally, real-life review. I was shocked when I saw his face walking into the convenience store. I physically felt what it means to shine even from afar. Sharalalalal moonlight descends bgm auto-played. Meeting-the-parents free pass face? Church oppa face? Don’t need any of that, Kang Dojun is just my country. And everyone from now on call him FLEX Dojun instead of Loud Dojun lol No really the convenience store got robbed;;;
(Photo attached)(Photo attached)
[Wow it really is Kang Dojun]
â””OMGã… ã… Did you save the country in your past life?
[Which convenience store is this? I’m leaving now.]
â””Might not be open today.. Already got robbed by Kang Dojun…
â””lolllll Still way better than drunk driving^^
[This kind of person should spend some money. That’s how society works. What’s the point of just earning? Everyone spend as much as you earn like Kang Dojun. Follow his example!!!!!]
â””Kang Dojun contributing to society even when drunk? I’m proud of my baby
└ㄴㄴ Yeonwoo’s baby.
â””No the opposite. Yeonwoo is Dojun’s baby. Embraced him in his heart lol
[When Dojun gets drunk…he tears up convenience stores.]
[Kang Dojun is human after all. He does drink alcohol. I really thought he was some AI created by the state or something;]
â””lol Why would the state create Dojun, not God lol
â””Just saying hehe^_^
After arriving at the agency, Kang Dojun’s complexion darkened as he carefully read through the articles that staff had organized into files and printed out.
“…This is considered good public opinion?”
“It’s not drunk driving or drugs, and you didn’t curse either. …Did you happen to spit on the street?”
“No. I’ve never done that.”
“Then it has to be good public opinion. You don’t need to worry about the articles either.”
Rather, most comments said it showed his human side, that Kang Dojun makes mistakes too.
People really need to be seen properly. Since his usual conduct was good, they couldn’t criticize him for this kind of thing. No, more accurately, there was nothing to criticize.
He just drank heavily and ransacked a convenience store a bit. Moreover, with tons of praise saying he fulfilled his role as a member of society, would articles go in a strange direction? The reporter who wrote such an article would definitely get cursed out.
The staff member looked sideways at Kang Dojun, who still couldn’t believe it and was holding the papers reading the content.
Though they met occasionally for work contracts or when issues arose, it was still an appearance he couldn’t get used to.
While looking through the comment reactions, the phrase ‘Korea is a Kang Dojun-possessing nation’ briefly came to mind. His head nodded automatically. Right, with that level of looks, it’s worth being proud of. Patriotism bloomed profusely.
However, separate from that,
“Please refrain from alcohol for the time being.”
No matter how well public opinion had gone, you never knew what would happen next time.
“…I should. Of course.”
* * *
Kang Dojun finished his business at the agency and was driving to pick up Yeonwoo.
He called Yeonwoo through the Bluetooth speaker.
…Hello.
A voice deeply sunken with sleep came through. Checking the clock, it was 11 o’clock.
“Were you sleeping?”
I stayed up all night.
“You played games. I think I’ll arrive at 1, so sleep a bit more. Let’s eat lunch together.”
Yes, thank you.
Whether he was tired, the call ended with those words. His eyes hardened and became sharper.
‘What’s so great about games anyway.’
Last time with that friend Haseon too, whenever he played with someone it was all-night gaming.
‘He didn’t do that when he was with me.’
Would he play with me too if I bought a computer for the house? To distract himself and suppress the jealousy seeping out again, he turned on the radio.
“Last night a certain actor drunkenly entered a convenience store…”
He quickly turned off the radio. Nothing was going right.
The black sedan entered the countryside and smoothly reversed. After finishing parking, he got out of the car. This place had become familiar too.
Back then, he never imagined their connection would continue like this.
‘Is he still sleeping? I want to see him quickly.’
He walked quickly toward Yeonwoo’s house. It had only been one day since he’d seen him, but he already missed him.
He couldn’t easily put away his feelings, nor could he reveal them. If he had known unrequited love would be this difficult, he wouldn’t have started.
But the word love was truly abstract. It came to him soundlessly, and by the time he couldn’t even be aware of it, it had already settled in. He couldn’t pluck this out.
Kang Dojun reached out to the connected stone wall, touching the rough texture of the stones as he walked.
After doing this for a while, when he almost reached Yeonwoo’s house, something he hadn’t seen before caught his eye. Something that shouldn’t be there was carved into the stone wall.
He traced it as if drawing its shape. Ink that hadn’t dried yet came off on his hand.
‘Red spray paint.’
[Was here – S.Y]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
