LCL 23

Even though it’s annoying, I liked the skinship we shared. Seeing the lipstick mark left on his cheek, I pulled my sleeve and rubbed it off.

It came off roughly. It’ll come off completely when he washes his face later. Lim Dae-han pointed to the other cheek.

I gave that side a kiss too. He giggled. I looked around nervously and lowered my voice.

“We’ll get scolded by the seniors if they catch us like this.”

“I know. So, just a little more.”

Lim Dae-han came close again. He had teased me about eating a mouse, but he was sucking on my lips eagerly. I bit down hard on his probing tongue.

Lim Dae-han pressed down on my tongue, filling my mouth with his. As he rubbed against the roof of my mouth, I flattened my tongue. When I lowered my jaw more, he went in deeper. Lim Dae-han kneaded my ear.

He massaged my earlobe and then grabbed the entire ear. My breath mixed with moans. I wondered if it was okay to be doing this, but… no one would come, right?

I’m not sure either. I rubbed against his tongue. Hah, a breath escaped between my teeth. It wasn’t just me; Lim Dae-han also exhaled softly.

That’s when it happened.

“…I think someone’s there?”

Gasp. We heard seniors’ voices from the path where we thought no one would come. They probably came out casually to smoke.

But they must have heard some rustling and came to check what was going on. I froze, not even breathing. Lim Dae-han must have been surprised too. He was frozen for a moment. We could feel footsteps approaching.

As soon as our eyes met, we examined each other’s faces. His mouth was a mess. It was all red and smudged. Anyone could see it was lipstick marks.

I quickly wiped his mouth with my sleeve. Instead of wiping off, it just smeared more. I couldn’t get my bearings. My mind went blank. I didn’t know what to do.

Lim Dae-han soothed his lips for a moment and then made a suggestion.

“I’ll go down first with the seniors. When I text you, come down the other way.”

I nodded with wide eyes. He asked again.

“You won’t be scared?”

What is there to be scared of now? I nodded quickly once more, and Lim Dae-han pushed my head down before getting up. My heart was beating so hard it was difficult to bear. My fingers trembled.

Lim Dae-han soon approached the seniors. The surroundings quickly became noisy. They must have seen the lipstick smeared around Lim Dae-han’s mouth.

Lim Dae-han’s voice buzzed indistinctly. I couldn’t hear what he said, whether it was an excuse or an explanation, as I had my ears covered and was curled up. All I could do was hope for a message from Lim Dae-han to come quickly.

* * *

Go around the back. I brought the seniors in.

After receiving this short message from Lim Dae-han, I left the path. I hurriedly entered the lodging and went straight to the bathroom. My reflection in the mirror looked terrible.

Anyone could see that my lipstick was smeared as if I had been kissing someone. If the seniors had seen me like this… I wouldn’t have had any excuse.

After wiping off the lipstick and pulling my hat down low, I opened the door to the auditorium where the drinking party was in full swing. I took off my shoes at the entrance and glanced inside.

It was as noisy as the day before, but one group was particularly loud. It was the seniors Lim Dae-han had brought in. Lim Dae-han sat silently among them. It was pitiful.

No one had seen me, but Lim Dae-han was the problem. What if Lim Dae-han drops out because of this…? Should I follow him then?

Should we both retake the entrance exam and go to Korea University? We might be able to get in if we study more, though time is a bit short…

If my brother heard this, he’d sarcastically say, “Korea University? Are you going to take a bus there?” I tried to calm my complicated feelings. I slipped inside.

“This bastard Lim Dae-han is a total player.”

“He acted like he wasn’t interested in girls, but seriously.”

“Hey, who was it?”

The seniors didn’t mention exactly what happened to Lim Dae-han, but they kept needling him. Even Lim Dae-han, who would usually be indifferent, kept his mouth firmly shut this time.

He drank every time his glass was filled. Tease all you want. I’ll stay quiet. He looked like an enlightened religious figure.

By the way, is it fortunate that they don’t know who he was with? Lim Dae-han bit his lip. He touched his nose and then crossed his arms tightly.

He must have wiped off all the lipstick before coming in. It was somewhat fortunate that only a few seniors had seen it. He, who had been sitting quietly alone, finally spoke.

“It’s just… lip balm, I’m telling you.”

“Lip balm? Behind a rock? And bright red lip balm at that? Oh, how naughty.”

Senior Seong-hong, who had caught on, raised his voice. How excited he must be. An opportunity to get back at Lim Dae-han, who always walked around with his nose in the air. What lip balm, by the way?

Lim Dae-han told a lie that wouldn’t convince anyone. He ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. The more he reacted, the more excited the seniors became.

“Isn’t it Hyuna?”

“Hey. Hyuna hasn’t left the lodging since the drinking party started today. She hasn’t, right? Has she?”

The seniors tried to probe Lim Dae-han. Lim Dae-han denied the act itself, saying it wasn’t like that. After looking at the seniors who were pestering him with excited voices, he slightly shifted his gaze.

Senior Hyuna was sitting silently in a corner. The senior kept to herself, not talking to anyone. She wasn’t drinking or eating the crude snacks.

Though I had only known the senior for barely two months, I had never seen such an expression before. I mean, her expression… was really not good.

I chewed on my lip nervously, just watching the situation. I didn’t know what to do or how to do it.

“Young-hyun!”

Just then, a classmate sitting in a group waved and called out to me. When I opened my eyes wide in surprise, they waved their arms, telling me to come over.

“Let’s drink! Come over here.”

“Oh, oh, okay. I’m coming…”

I answered vaguely and crossed the room.

As I looked around, I made eye contact with Lim Dae-han.

What should we do?

When I looked at him with worried eyes, Lim Dae-han slightly shook his head. Let whatever happens, happen. What if strange rumors start spreading? I let out an unspoken sigh through my nose.

The drinking games weren’t fun, and the pointless jokes and serious conversations exchanged under the influence of alcohol were even less fun.

What should I do? What should be done? Instead of biting my lips, I picked at my hangnails. Lim Dae-han’s reputation within the department will hit rock bottom from now on.

It’s ruined. It’s natural for strange rumors to spread when a freshman comes out of hiding on MT day with lipstick smeared all over their mouth. Especially for a guy who had been openly bragging about having a girlfriend.

But a strange scene unfolded. In a situation where they should have been sufficiently disappointed and reproachful, the seniors surrounding Lim Dae-han were genuinely getting into the spirit.

As if trying to shield Lim Dae-han, they raised their voices just enough that one couldn’t understand without concentrating, omitting subjects and objects from their sentences. Even considering they were drunk, they were being unusually lenient.

Especially Senior Seong-hong. Senior Seong-hong stuck close to Lim Dae-han, filling his glass to the brim with alcohol. Lim Dae-han, who needed to be sparing with his words, just silently downed the drinks.

Actually, Senior Seong-hong is weirder than Senior Hyuna. Does that senior like Lim Dae-han in that way? Since Lim Dae-han kissed someone who wasn’t his girlfriend, is he deluding himself that Lim Dae-han might do the same with him?

“…”

Ugh. No matter how I think about it, this isn’t right. Senior Seong-hong liked women too much. They say that as soon as we enrolled, he tried to lure pretty freshmen out for meals or drinks, saying “Let’s eat together” or “Let’s drink together”.

It didn’t make sense for someone who only pursued women, especially pretty women, to like Lim Dae-han. Lim Dae-han wasn’t pretty at all. He had a manly face with pronounced brow bones and a sharp nose bridge. If anything, he looked fierce and brusque.

I stared at that group, deep in thought. Not just Senior Seong-hong, but other seniors were also forcing Lim Dae-han to drink more aggressively than before.

Normally, Lim Dae-han would have drunk only as much as he wanted and politely refused, but now he was drinking whatever was given to him. All kinds of expensive alcohol were placed around him.

Lim Dae-han had become the main target. No matter how high Lim Dae-han’s alcohol tolerance was, it seemed like it would be tough if he drank all of that. Worried, I couldn’t sit still. I wanted to help, but I wasn’t good at drinking and wasn’t close with the seniors.

While I was hesitating, I saw a senior hand Lim Dae-han a cup. The paper cup was filled to the brim with amber-colored alcohol. This won’t do. I looked around and grabbed an unused paper cup.

I crossed through the group that was in the middle of a drinking frenzy. As I quietly approached the group where the executive committee seniors were gathered, a tipsy senior with flushed cheeks looked up.

A welcoming expression spread across their face. Thank goodness. I was worried I might end up like Park In-gong.

“Oh, Young-hyun…! I was wondering why you hadn’t come to get even one drink.”

The senior made room for me. Lim Dae-han and I sat facing each other. As always, our eyes met and then drifted apart.

I’m used to our gazes locking and then sliding past each other by now. I was glad he didn’t openly wink at me just because he was drunk.

“Hey, Dae-han. If you tell us who it was, we won’t give you more alcohol, you know?”

“This kid, he’s really something, really something.”

At the senior’s mischievous words, Lim Dae-han just downed his drink. It seems they’re determined to kill Lim Dae-han by forcing him to drink until he talks.

I thought our department didn’t have a culture of forcing people to drink. Apparently, that only applied to juniors they weren’t close with.

I quietly looked at Lim Dae-han with worried eyes. As soon as he put down his glass, it was filled again. Lim Dae-han pressed on his chest as if he felt uncomfortable. A senior next to me took the cup I was holding and asked,

“Young-hyun, what drink do you want? Soju? Beer? We have imported liquor too. Tell me what you want to drink.”

“I, I…”

I pointed at the whiskey placed next to Lim Dae-han as if it was exclusively for him. It seemed the seniors wouldn’t let Lim Dae-han go until he emptied all of that.

Honestly, I wasn’t confident I could drink it well. I had never even tried whiskey before. But I should help at least a little. To be honest, I’m scared. I heard it has a really high alcohol content.

My fingertip pointing at the whiskey bottle trembled. I swallowed hard, my chin tucked in fear.

“Young-hyun, did you like alcohol?”

As the senior smiled and reached for the bottle, Lim Dae-han pressed down on the bottle’s mouth. As if he hadn’t just been drinking, he casually picked up a snack and pulled the bottle towards himself.

“This is mine. Just drink beer.”

How cold to reject someone who came to help like this. The seniors chimed in too. “Yeah, we don’t have tonic water, so it’s hard to drink straight,” they said as they poured me some beer.

“Drink only as much as you can handle. No one will say anything if you drink slowly.”

They force Lim Dae-han to drink, but tell me to drink slowly.

It must be the difference in familiarity. I understand. But I didn’t come here to hang out with the seniors, I came because of Lim Dae-han.

Lim Dae-han, oblivious to my feelings, grinned as he munched on snacks in response to the senior’s joke. How can you laugh, really?

“By the way, I didn’t expect Young-hyun to come. Somehow, Young-hyun seems a bit difficult to approach.”

The senior said as they filled my glass with soju and beer. Difficult? I answered by meeting their gaze with wide eyes.

“That Dae-han guy, at first you might think he looks scary, but the kid is rough around the edges so he’s easy to talk to. But Young-hyun seems difficult. Did you know you were super popular at first? The girls went crazy. They said a cute guy had joined. At drinking parties, they always said, ‘Contact him, bring him,’ but it seemed like you’d run away saying ‘I don’t want to drink’ if we asked.”

“…I’m not like that.”

“That’s the feeling I got. But ironically, it’s Lim Dae-han who’s always avoiding and playing hard to get.”

I sipped the properly mixed soju and beer. This was the first time I’d heard such a thing. I had never heard that I was difficult to approach.