Chapter 45
“What, you’re not drinking?”
At Yuwon’s words that he wouldn’t drink alcohol, Seongcheol predictably complained.
“Why aren’t you drinking?”
“I’m taking herbal medicine.”
“What herbal medicine?”
“There is some. For growing taller.”
At the nonsensical answer, Seongcheol’s face scrunched up.
“What bullshit.”
“Anyway, I’m drinking cider today, so just know that.”
Jaejoon and Seongcheol grumbled for a moment but soon clinked glasses, drinking back and forth between themselves. How much time was left until discharge, who they were having something with at school—as they took turns sharing updates, it naturally became Yuwon’s turn.
“Hey, Kim Yuwon. Are you some kind of miser?”
While drinking cider, his gaze was fixed on the beer, which looked quite amusing. Seongcheol waved his hand in front of Yuwon and asked.
“What happened with that noona?”
“I asked him before and he said she cleanly forgot about him.”
Jaejoon, who answered instead, giggled as he laughed. When Yuwon glared at him annoyingly, he shrugged as if asking what the problem was. Seongcheol laughed along and said teasingly.
“So that noona was Kim Yuwon’s first love?”
“Something like that.”
The two began discussing how to comfort Yuwon, who had failed at his first love. Ridiculous suggestions like making him a t-shirt that said “I got dumped” or hanging a banner. Though they called it comfort, they were really thinking about how to tease him more entertainingly.
“You’re really excited, huh?”
Even when Yuwon scolded them for listening too much, the two continued chattering about their useless concerns with laughing faces. Yuwon gave up and sipped his cider. Then Seongcheol made a suggestion.
“Instead of this, should we go on a trip?”
“A trip?”
“When I get discharged, it’ll be summer, so let’s go to the beach then. A commemorative trip for Kim Yuwon getting dumped by his first love.”
“Hey, do you really want to die?”
Yuwon got angry, but Jaejoon nodded with sparkling eyes.
“I like it. We’ve never gone on a trip together. It would be fucking fun.”
“Of course it would be fun. We’d go swimming in the sea and grill pork belly at night while drinking soju.”
Come to think of it, after becoming adults, they had been taking turns going to the military, so they had never properly gone on a trip together. Jaejoon was already thinking about travel destinations, insisting they definitely go to the East Sea. After debating between Sokcho and Gangneung, he even got excited and said they should just go to both places since they weren’t that far apart.
Seongcheol tapped Yuwon’s shoulder and asked.
“Hey, Kim Yuwon, you like it too, right?”
There was no reason to refuse. Of course, he’d have to get permission from ajeossi.
“Yeah, well… about one night.”
“So it’s decided? We’re going on a trip?”
Yuwon nodded. The beach—he couldn’t even remember well when he last went. It was when Minhyeon was around, so probably when he was in middle school. Yuwon, who loved water, had jumped in as soon as he saw the sea, but Minhyeon hadn’t even dipped his feet in.
The hot sunlight of that day, his soaking wet hair, and the salty taste on his lips. The children playing cheerfully. Everything was vivid.
“……”
He smiled bitterly at the suddenly surfacing memory. He shouldn’t have heard news about Minhyeon at the orphanage yesterday. He had been living well, steadfastly forgetting.
Yuwon deliberately raised his glass and shouted for a toast. Jaejoon and Seongcheol, who had initially complained about him drinking cider alone, now clinked glasses with him without any concern.
***
The drinking session went on quite long. Unlike Yuwon, who didn’t drink a drop of alcohol as promised, the two got thoroughly drunk. Jaejoon could at least walk on his own, but Seongcheol became completely unconscious and couldn’t walk properly.
After sending off Jaejoon first since his house was close, Yuwon put one of Seongcheol’s arms over his shoulder.
“I knew this would happen. I knew I’d be the only one sober and have to deal with your mess!”
Because Seongcheol was so large, it was difficult to support him. To others, it would look like Yuwon was being held by Seongcheol.
“Hey, Choi Seongcheol! Put some strength in your legs.”
“Born as a man, hic, there’s so much to do! Ugh, urgh.”
“If you throw up, you’re dead, okay?”
“Kim Yuwon, what do you take me for! I won’t die, I won’t die!”
Seongcheol waved his hand in the air and rambled several times that he wouldn’t die. He was already heavy, but as he swayed while moving his body, that weight felt doubled.
“Phew, I get it, so just stay still. You’re so heavy I could die.”
“Our, hic, Yuwon. How hard it must be for you. It must be really hard getting dumped by that noona, right?”
That again. Yuwon, who gave up on responding, just chewed his lower lip. Then suddenly, Seongcheol stretched out his arms and hugged Yuwon.
“This hyung will comfort you. Poor Yuwon.”
Yuwon, embraced as if crushed by the huge body, repeatedly hit Seongcheol’s back. The smell of alcohol vibrated from the body that kept clinging to him.
“Are you crazy? Let go of this!”
“Urgh, if you have any troubles, tell me everything! All of it! Got it?”
“Let go!”
This was the first time Seongcheol had been this drunk. Though he usually staggered a bit, he always took the subway and went home quietly.
Since he was already strong and now drunk too, his physical strength was tremendous. Yuwon struggled desperately to somehow get Seongcheol off him.
He thought he should call a taxi first and took out his phone. Or rather, tried to take it out. But since both his arms were held by Seongcheol, it was impossible to put his hand in his pocket. Even twisting his body and struggling was useless.
“Ah, Choi Seongcheol. Come to your senses. Okay?”
It was during this meaningless struggle. Suddenly, the weight pressing down on his body disappeared. Soon Seongcheol, who had been filling his vision, disappeared, and a familiar silhouette appeared behind him.
“Ajeossi…?”
Jeonghyeok, who had appeared from somewhere, was holding Seongcheol’s shoulder. Surprised, Yuwon just stood there stiffly.
Though he had informed him of the meeting place as always, there had been no word about coming to pick him up separately. Yuwon looked at Jeonghyeok with a puzzled face. However, Jeonghyeok’s gaze was fixed on Seongcheol, not Yuwon.
Jeonghyeok, who had been scanning Seongcheol with an indifferent expression, took out his phone from his pocket and said.
“Tell me this guy’s address.”
“What?”
“We need to put him in a taxi.”
“Ah…”
Yuwon told him the name of the apartment where Seongcheol lived. After checking the taxi arrival information, Jeonghyeok lifted Seongcheol and took him to the roadside. Seongcheol, who had been repeating incomprehensible muttering, became quiet, exhausted on his own.
A taxi arrived within a few minutes. Jeonghyeok shoved Seongcheol into the back seat of the taxi and closed the door. The taxi carrying Seongcheol quickly disappeared.
Jeonghyeok, who had approached Yuwon with large steps, said.
“Follow me.”
Yuwon blindly followed Jeonghyeok as he turned and walked away. When they reached a parking lot-like empty space behind the beer hall building, Jeonghyeok’s car was there.
Watching Jeonghyeok head to the driver’s seat, Yuwon silently got into the passenger seat. Once they entered the space with just the two of them, he felt like shrinking from the heavy atmosphere.
He felt a familiar sense of déjà vu. From Jeonghyeok’s cold face with no expression, it wasn’t difficult to tell that he was angry.
Thinking he might be mistaken that he had broken his promise and drunk alcohol, Yuwon deliberately spoke in a bright voice.
“Ajeossi, I didn’t drink a single drop of alcohol.”
“……”
“You can see my belly sticking out, right? This is all cider belly.”
He tried to lighten the mood by playfully patting his stomach, but somehow Jeonghyeok’s dark gaze sank even darker. Through the eyes he met, it felt like his head was being thoroughly searched. As if persistently calculating whether there was something he was hiding.
Sensing something was wrong from Jeonghyeok’s unfamiliar appearance, Yuwon reluctantly put on a smiling face.
“Let’s go home quickly, ajeossi.”
Saying that, he was reaching for his seatbelt when—
“Ah…!”
Jeonghyeok roughly grabbed Yuwon’s wrist. At the same time, he pulled with strong force. As his arm was dragged, naturally his torso followed.
Dragged to right in front of Jeonghyeok’s nose, Yuwon gasped. The eyes so close they could touch were fiercely wavering.
“If you’re not drunk, then what the hell was that?”
“What?”
“Are you naturally that loose? Or is being held by men your hobby?”
At the blatant words, Yuwon’s expression contorted sharply.
“What did you say?”
“You were hugging with that bastard.”
The low voice held certainty, and the sharp gaze was full of suspicion. Yuwon felt breathless from that gaze and voice.
Loose. Being held by men as a hobby. It was the most unfair misunderstanding he had ever received in his life. It was just a mistake made by the completely drunk Seongcheol in his drunken state; he had absolutely not deliberately taken such a position.
“We weren’t hugging. He was too drunk, so I was supporting him.”
“Supporting? You support people like that?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
