DI Ch 63

I took a deep breath, feeling embarrassed to the point of death, but I put force into my abdomen and shouted out quite loudly before emptying the glass. I rarely drank this much at once, so I could feel the alcohol setting in. Park Kang-woo had advised me not to overdo it, but I waved him off, saying that I wasn’t taking any medication and that if I didn’t feel well enough, I could just throw up and drink again. I shook the empty glass while looking at it on the table and exhaling a hot breath.

“Are you okay?”

“Not bad.”

The small commotion seemed to be enjoyed by everyone, as laughter echoed from all around. Thanks to that, my face turned red, but both Kwon Joong-hyuk and Park Kang-woo seemed satisfied. Park Kang-woo laughed while salivating, possibly because he found my embarrassment funny. He laughed uncontrollably, despite my warning not to.

Ah, seriously.

After some squabbling and grumbling, it seemed that the tension was relieved, and I also laughed aloud. Nobody said anything about me laughing. They were still hurt and curious about many things, but they didn’t ask a single question. It felt empty, but a sense of relief began to creep in, and the throbbing headache began to fade.

“Hey, did you guys only drink soju? The soju bottles are all gone, but the beer is still untouched. Did you drink all the beer and then refill?”

“Why would you drink beer when you’re full?”

Park Kang-woo made a puzzled face.

“Wow. Seo Seung-won, is that why you removed the beer glass from the beginning?”

“Don’t you even know sweet after bitter?”

I tried it, but it wasn’t to my taste.

“I don’t like mixing drinks.”

“You don’t know how to drink.”

Kwon Joong-hyuk sarcastically asked what the hell did I learn at school. I had just said that I enjoyed the pure taste, but he immediately launched into a passionate explanation about the perfection of mixing. The debate unfolded unexpectedly. Neither I nor Kwon Joong-hyuk intended to concede easily, so the conclusion wasn’t reached right away.

Park Kang-woo, who had been munching on peanuts by himself, raised his head slightly and said,

“Hey, stop it. He doesn’t eat anything. He can’t eat sashimi, he can’t eat intestines, he can’t even eat grilled eggplant. How delicious is that? He just picks side dishes and eats.”

“It’s not that I can’t eat, I just choose not to eat.”

I defended myself against his insinuation, but neither of them acknowledged it.

“I don’t care about other things, but how can you dislike sashimi?”

“I eat sashimi.”

“What’s going on? You hate fish.”

“Oh, I don’t dislike anything.”

“Indeed, as you live, your tastes change.”

As they were ignoring what I said, they began mixing the drinks with various proportions, urging me to taste the mixture. Suddenly, the message from Tae Seong-je asking me to drink moderately came to mind, but due to the relaxed feeling in my body from the alcohol, I dismissed the thought lightly.

Wasn’t today the day to let loose and have fun? If not, he would have continued to monitor me with the CCTV.

“Right. Do you remember Oh Dong-yeon from our class? His sibling was born the day before yesterday. There are six of them.”

“Six twins? His parents must be really lucky.”

“What are you talking about? You’re crazy. It’s a dog. A puppy.”

“Didn’t you say siblings?”

I couldn’t understand why we were suddenly talking about dogs, and I felt unjust. When I showed my dissatisfaction, the two of them rolled their eyes.

“He bragged about having six siblings.”

“You should check SNS sometimes. You have an account, don’t you? Use that to check his updates.”

“I don’t remember the account…”

I didn’t know the account Seo Seung-won created. I was about to brush it off like that, but Kwon Joong-hyuk gave me an annoyed look and said,

“Well, if you don’t remember, you can make it again. You’ve lost your memory. Give me your cell phone.”

It was the first time Kwon Joong-hyuk had directly said I lost my memory, so I handed him my phone. In an instant, he created an account and suddenly turned on the camera to take a picture of me. He told me to upload a photo at least, but I shook my head. Since there would be evidence left behind, I didn’t want to casually upload pictures that Seo Seung-won might see later.

I stared at Seo Seung-won’s face on the screen of the handed phone in silence. It was unfamiliar at first, but after seeing it for a year and a half, it had become somewhat familiar. Just then, the KakaoTalk window popped up with a vibration. Tae Seong-je. It had been such a long time since I was startled by that name.

Thinking about Kwon Joong-hyuk next to me, I quickly covered the screen when a soju bottle shattered with a loud noise. Kwon Joong-hyuk, surprised by the shattered glass, pulled me toward him, shielding me from the flying shards of glass.

“Ah, what are you doing?”

“Just stay still. Hey, Noona, where’s the broom?”

There was no need to hide it to this extent, but only Woo Ji-min and Kang Moo-hyun in the story knew Tae Seong-je’s name, so I was taken aback and my body reacted first. As Park Kang-woo brought the broom and cleaned under the table, Kwon Joong-hyuk suddenly asked me.

“Is it your girlfriend?”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s not?”

“No, you’re right, but…”

He asked about my girlfriend, but it was actually my boyfriend, so I ambiguously trailed off. He’s asking because he didn’t see the name properly, right? No, then how could I have ignored a message from my lover?

At that time, Kwon Joong-hyuk tapped me on the shoulder and said with an unlucky face.

“Hey, it’s not about ignoring messages from your girlfriend. Tell her you’ll contact her later at least.”

He said it with a face that indicated he understood everything. Was he really like this from the start? Why is he like this again… The uncharacteristically deep look on his face gave me goosebumps. When I startled and gasped, Park Kang-woo, who had come over while clearing the glass shards, stuck out his tongue and chuckled.

“I get surprised every time that brat acts like that.”

“Why is he like that?”

I unintentionally blurted out my thoughts. I realized too late, but Kwon Joong-hyuk gestured to answer the question. He stretched out his fingers and waved them in the air expressionlessly. A small gemstone embedded in a ring sparkled as it caught the light. I was dumbfounded by this random ring display, but Park Kang-woo playfully poked Kwon Joong-hyuk’s cheek with his finger and grumbled.

“He said he got a girlfriend.”

“Ah…”

So that was why he changed. Should I say I was lucky? Whatever happened, it was a good thing for me, but Park Kang-woo didn’t seem pleased with his friend’s relationship.

“Seo Seung-won, you don’t know how much this costs, right? It’s eighty thousand, eighty. Not a total of eighty, but eighty each. Oh, that crazy guy. He’s in an eternal love, seriously. He hasn’t proposed yet, but why is he buying matching rings for eighty? Is he insane? What kind of ring costs eighty?”

“I’m going to get a blister on my ear. Ah, why do you keep giving a shit about what I bought with my money?”

“You bastard. It’s because I can see the future. The future! You’ll break up in less than a month. Hey, get that fucking burdensome ring out of my sight!”

Kwon Joong-hyuk, who was trying to cover his ears, clenched his fists menacingly and gnashed his teeth, perhaps in a fit of anger at the words of breaking up.

“No, it’s not like that. We’re not going to break up. The ring isn’t burdensome either, it’s really pretty. Noona even said she really liked it.”

“Seriously… She probably just accepted it because it’s pretty without knowing it’s an eighty thousand won ring. You dummy, your girlfriend probably thought it was a cheap ring.”

In response to Park Kang-woo’s caustic retort, Kwon Joong-hyuk, who normally had an answer for everything, simply kept drinking his beer. It was intriguing to see Kwon Joong-hyuk, who never backed down, unable to say anything, and lost in love, it was all quite fascinating. Despite this, I found their one-sided argument amusing as I sipped on my soju.

“Hey. Do you really think that sister is serious? She’s probably just meeting you because it’s amusing to see you tagging along like a puppy, not because she’s genuinely interested, right? Snap out of it. When that sister of yours was our age, we were middle schoolers. If she was just one year older, we would have been elementary school students!”

“Anyway, I’m an adult now, so what are you arguing about!”

“Hey. But wait.”

Park Kang-woo reached out his hand toward Kwon Joong-hyuk’s ring and touched it while observing it sharply.

“Does this look like a cheap ring? Did that sister just eat it knowing it’s expensive? Wow, that’s really messed up!”

“You jerk, don’t talk about my sister like that! Our Soojini Noona is really nice. And I really like her, you know? We’re even planning to get married!”

“Marriage is a frozen death sentence. You’re a college freshman now, and that sister of yours is a working professional. Even if you get married, it’s for sure the wife will be supporting the husband.”

“Just what is there to support a grown man like me!”

“Damn it. Then tell me with your mouth. Does that sister really see you as a man?”

“S-She, does…”

When Kwon Joong-hyuk stammered and couldn’t answer properly, Park Kang-woo stuck his tongue out, saying that he actually knew. The corners of Kwon Joong-hyuk’s eyes were somehow moist.

“Why. How old is that sister?”

Feeling a bit of similarity, I subtly chimed in. I felt like there was no harm in having a little age difference. As I said this, Kwon Joong-hyuk seemed to catch on and hesitated.

“Twenty-six…”

“Twenty-six? What’s that? It’s not much of a difference.”

I blinked my eyes and involuntarily blurted it out. Then Kwon Joong-hyuk’s eyes sparkled and he turned grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me playfully.

“Right? Not much?”

“It’s a six-year gap, well… It’s not that big, is it? I don’t know much about marriage, but your family business is doing well, and you’re doing well in your job too. Isn’t that okay?”

“It’s okay. It’s totally fine.”

“Then, if you still want to get married by then, just keep dating for a few more years and bring up the topic. And then, your girlfriend will probably take it more seriously too.”

Kwon Joong-hyuk, who had been dejected, brightened and smiled broadly. My intention wasn’t necessarily to comfort him, but I ended up giving him hope somehow.