LCL 57

Lim Dae-han had somehow edged closer to us too. Judging by his expression, it seemed more like simple interest than trying to sort out the situation. My classmate’s cheeks were flushed, and there was a faint smell of alcohol on her breath. She was drunk. She must have lost her judgment due to being drunk.

“Why not?”

My classmate, alcohol-fueled, asked in an impassioned voice. Flustered, I found myself asking back without thinking.

“…Huh?”

“I thought about it before asking, and if it’s because he’s your brother, I think that’s a bit much.”

My hyung is a problem too, but why are you doing this at the bar…? I’d already heard people saying someone was trying to get a number on the way here. He’s going to be the one who’s embarrassed. Why is he bringing this on himself?

Ha, seriously…Of course, hyung is hyung.

“I told you my hyung’s personality is nasty, so it won’t work. Stop…Ow!”

Before I could finish speaking, hyung grabbed my head. Hyung spread his fingers and gripped my head tightly. Lim Dae-han covered his mouth and laughed.

I desperately wanted to ask how he could laugh when his boyfriend was being bullied by his older brother.

Hyung moved his hand while gripping my head.

“Hey, what were you saying about my personality?”

Because of this, I moved left and right like a roly-poly toy. I already looked smaller squeezed between Lim Dae-han and Ki Young-han, but now I couldn’t look more pathetic.

Hyung lowered the hand shaking my head and grabbed my cheek hard, twisting it. I felt embarrassed and annoyed all at once.

“Ah, stop it…!”

“It doesn’t matter whether I’m this kid brother or not.”

“…I said stop.”

“I wasn’t planning to give my number anyway.”

Hyung held out his palm to my classmate.

“Give me my change.”

I had unintentionally hurt my classmate. As soon as hyung received the change, he left the pub with Ye-jun hyung. Ye-jun hyung turned around and left first, and hyung followed closely behind, looking flustered and scanning the room with his eyes.

“Why are you angry all of a sudden? Why?”

I quietly watched the two of them walking away while asking. They looked so close, it was as if they were walking with their arms around each other.

I wondered if Lim Dae-han and I looked like that whenever we walked together. It had only been a couple of hours, but it felt like eons had passed. I was exhausted.

“You, really…”

I turned to look at my classmate, pretending to be thoroughly angry. I couldn’t finish my sentence. They were acting like the world had ended after failing to get a number once. It seemed their current feelings were more important than the gossip that would circulate in the department.

“Soyi.”

Lim Dae-han tilted his head slightly and met my classmate’s eyes. My classmate’s round eyes shook mercilessly. A consolation that didn’t seem like consolation came out of his mouth right then.

“My friends are coming tomorrow, so try your luck then.”

***

I happened to dislike the combination of Jung Ji-pil and Lee Deok.

On the second night of the festival, I looked with disapproval at the table where Lee Deok, Park Yeo-seon, and Jung Ji-pil were sitting.

Lee Deok and Park Yeo-seon were Lim Dae-han’s friends, and they were also in the same class as me in our second year of high school. While Park Yeo-seon had a somewhat cold side, he was also perceptive and well-behaved. Lee Deok, on the other hand, was just…to put it simply, if Jung Ji-pil were turned into a thug that would be him in a nutshell.

In other words, his personality was bouncy and provocative.

“…”

Jung Ji-pil went to a vocational school in Seoul, Lee Deok to a two-year college, and Park Yeo-seon, who had good grades, entered a four-year university in Suwon. Despite being Lim Dae-han’s friends, Lee Deok and Park Yeo-seon weren’t close to me. I…honestly, I didn’t get along well with people who seemed rough around the edges.

I found that I unconsciously avoided people with rough and threatening behavior. But Jung Ji-pil got along well with those two. He seemed to be more comfortable with Lee Deok and Park Yeo-seon than with Lim Dae-han.

I heard they had even gone out drinking a few times after turning twenty, sometimes just the three of them, sometimes with Lim Dae-han. Maybe that was why.

“Can you turn up the music a bit louder, please?!”

Jung Ji-pil was acting silly. He waved his arms at the senior at the counter, making the request. On the first day, fewer people came, so the pub ended relatively quietly, but today the atmosphere was unusually rowdy.

I concluded that it was because of Lee Deok and Jung Ji-pil. The two of them sang along loudly to the songs and led the atmosphere by adding cheers when the music was turned up, as if they thought they were in a club or in the middle of hunting pocha.

Thanks to them, the atmosphere of the pub was unnecessarily more exciting. People even came in after watching from outside, which said a lot.

I found the two of them, especially Jung Ji-pil, very embarrassing and dislikeable, but it was quite ironic that people were coming to the pub due to their rowdiness. As someone who disliked noisy bars, I really couldn’t understand it.

“…”

I chewed on my lips nervously. I needed to send Jung Ji-pil away or something. At this rate, even my image might be affected negatively. As I was anxiously watching the two, a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned to see that it was Park In-gong.

“Ki Young-hyun.”

Just then, the song changed to more upbeat one. Encouraged by the response, Jung Ji-pil stood up and started dancing a strange dance, flailing his arms and legs around. After watching that spectacle, I finally turned away.

“Uh…what?”

“Are those guys your friends?”

“Ah…no….Only the guy with short hair is my friend, the other two are Lim Dae-han’s friends.”

“So Lim Dae-han was a real thug, huh.”

I regretted mentioning that at the festival. It was too late, the situation had already unfolded.

The one fortunate thing was that Jung Ji-pil didn’t try to include me in whatever he was doing. If he had asked me to dance too, I would have…really grabbed Jung Ji-pil by the collar and thrown him out. Without even looking back at Jung Ji-pil’s direction, I changed the subject.

“In-gong, when are your friends coming?”

“Oh, my friends are over there.”

Park In-gong pointed to a corner of the pub. Unlike the rowdy atmosphere, there was a group silently drinking in the corner. They were different from Jung Ji-pil’s group and looked like they were getting along well with the nearby tables as the alcohol poured and the excitement increased all around them.

Whether they found the bouncy atmosphere awkward or not, they drank quietly amongst themselves, looking somewhat dejected. Well, that could happen too. Looking around, I realized that only our department’s pub was this chaotic.

It wasn’t even time for that yet…I couldn’t understand why Jung Ji-pil was acting like this. Park In-gong grumbled unnecessarily.

“Ah, why are those guys acting like such losers?”

“Why are you calling your friends losers?”

“I’m actually talking about your friend. I don’t like him.”

Park In-gong suddenly declared war. It was aimed at Jung Ji-pil. Why? I had thought they would get along well. I looked back and forth between the two similar guys. Jung Ji-pil, who had been going around the tables like a student council president candidate before a school election, approached us.

“Young-hyun! And…Young-hyun’s friend.”

“…It’s Park In-gong.”

After I made the introduction, Park In-gong, contrary to his earlier sharp words about disliking the other man, awkwardly stretched his head forward to greet him. I didn’t want to say this about Park In-gong, but he was the typical type who only grumbled behind people’s backs and put up a nice front in front of your face. Well, honestly, Jung Ji-pil was the same.

“Hey, Young-hyun, let’s drink and have fun. Wow, the pub atmosphere is so great, isn’t it? Our school doesn’t do this kind of thing.”

“We need to work…”

Jung Ji-pil cut off my words and blocked Park In-gong’s path.

“In-gong! You’re Young-hyun’s friend, right? Let’s go and have some fun for a bit. The servers should be excited for the atmosphere to liven up, you know.”

“Huh? Ah, okay, shall we?”

“Hey, Park In-gong, where are you going?!”

Forgetting what he had said 30 seconds ago, Park In-gong followed behind the guy.

What’s this? Did he actually want to join in and that’s why he acted like that? I watched their retreating figures with a baffled expression on my face.

“Young-hyun, bring some drinks to your friends.”

Unlike me, who was too embarrassed by Jung Ji-pil, the seniors seemed to like his table. After all, this was a festival, and since it was a drinking pub, they seemed to prefer the bouncy atmosphere. I heard a professor was coming later, and I wondered if this was okay…but I wasn’t sure either.

I finally grabbed a bottle of drink and approached them.

“Take it easy, you guys.”

Lim Dae-han, who had appeared at some point, kicked the chair where Lee Deok was sitting.

“Hey, Dae-han! It’s hard to even see your face, huh? We came all the way here to see you. Come on, have a drink. You used to only drink soju back in the day. I’m disappointed you’re not having a drink with us?”

“Back in the day? When?”

Park In-gong, who had naturally joined the table, asked with wide eyes.

“When? What do you mean when? He’s grown up with us too. Back then…”

“Shut up, will you?”

Lim Dae-han shoved some popcorn into Lee Deok’s mouth. Park Yeo-seon laughed out loud. Park Yeo-seon was pitiful too. He wasn’t like Lee Deok or Jung Ji-pil, but he was in the spotlight just for sitting at the same table.

Park Yeo-seon didn’t join the atmosphere and just kept drinking. Eventually, he whined to Lim Dae-han.

“Dae-han, I’m too embarrassed to hang out with these jerks.”

“Tell them to fuck off. Hey, I told you to bring your girlfriend. Why did you bring these idiots?”

“I’m seriously regretting it now.”

“Just seeing them like this makes me too embarrassed to come out of the kitchen.”

One way or another, it seemed like Lim Dae-han was more comfortable now that his friends were here. His tone became a bit rougher than when he was with me. I didn’t think my presence here would make Lim Dae-han uncomfortable though.

Even with Lim Dae-han there, I just stood far away and watched. Even though I knew them, except for Jung Ji-pil, I wasn’t close with any of them, and pretending to be friendly for the sake of the festival vibe was even more burdensome. I just stood far away, thinking I wished they’d leave soon.

Just then, Park Yeo-seon waved and called me over. Since our eyes met, I had no other choice but to approach the table. The loud music was so intense that it forced my heart to pound even more.

Park Yeo-seon joked around as if we had always been close.

“Are you pretending not to know us? I’m embarrassed by these guys too. But we were in the same class. Let’s be friendlier. You’ll end up seeing us often because of Lim Dae-han anyway.”

“…Ah, no…Everyone’s in the kitchen, so I’m standing here to take orders.”

Park In-gong jumped into the conversation with an excited tone.

“Young-hyun’s always like that. He used to sit with me but suddenly switched to Lim Dae-han. But I guess they knew each other well? He told us he didn’t know him well. Said they weren’t close.”

“Ah, well.”

Park Yeo-seon replied halfheartedly. He didn’t seem very interested in someone Jung Ji-pil had brought.

“What are you talking about? Why aren’t you two close?”

Lee Deok, not understanding the situation, bombarded us with questions, but everyone ignored him. Only the tactless Park In-gong kept rambling.

“Did you fight? Last week, you both came with split lips. Young-hyun might look gentle, but once he snaps, he’s like that.”

“Why are you dissing Ki Young-hyun?”

Lim Dae-han raised his hand and pretended to flick Park In-gong’s forehead. He didn’t actually hit him, but Park In-gong flinched. Well, I would have done the same. Embarrassed by his fear, he just laughed it off.

Regardless, Lim Dae-han put his hand on Lee Deok’s back and whispered in his ear. Lee Deok, quite drunk, nodded his head slowly.

“Okay, okay. Sorry. I’ll be careful.”

It was obvious he had cursed. I sighed and shook my head. I didn’t want to be around these guys. Instead, I looked at Park In-gong’s friends huddled in the corner of the pub.

They were glancing at Park In-gong every so often, who had abandoned them to play at another table. I guess I should give them some service next.

“Young-hyun, pull out two tables and put them together. The professor and TAs are coming later.”

“Okay.”

I moved empty tables. Since everyone was busy, I had to do it alone. It wasn’t too heavy, so I was able to manage it on my own.

I pulled the tables together and moved chairs to match the number. After laying new paper for the table, I also placed utensils and paper cups in advance.

It wasn’t particularly hard work, but I dusted off my hands with a clap afterward.

“One more bottle!”

Jung Ji-pil’s high-pitched voice reached me even from quite a distance. It seemed like they were really going for it now. When are these guys planning to leave?

Jung Ji-pil, Lee Deok, and Park Yeo-seon drank continuously. If I didn’t pay attention for a moment, the table would be full of empty soju bottles. Meanwhile, Park In-gong was already drunk, so we laid him down on a mat outside the pub just in case.

Seriously. Why drink everything given if you can’t even handle alcohol? When I suggested to Lim Dae-han that we drop him off in front of his house on the way later, Lim Dae-han nodded readily.

“Can you bring out some drinks in advance too?”

“Yes.”

“Bring the alcohol later. Make sure it’s cold, okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

I seemed to be pretty good at serving. Other kids got tables mixed up or misunderstood the seniors’ instructions, but I handled my job well.

Maybe I should try becoming a part-time server at some restaurant. I was heading out with confident steps to get drinks from the ice box outside, when I heard a voice behind me.

“Ki Young-hyun, someone’s looking for you?”

Park Yeo-seon called me. There shouldn’t be anyone else coming today. I didn’t have any particular friends in other departments, so there definitely shouldn’t be anyone coming. I turned my head and looked for a familiar face.

My expression hardened without me realizing. It turned out to be Moon Ji-woo. The guy who had been laying low for the past few days had come to the department pub.

“Ah…”

I let out a low exclamation involuntarily. The music was still blaring loud enough to burst eardrums, but strangely, at that moment, I couldn’t hear it.

Moon Ji-woo looked the same as usual, except for the shadows under his eyes. Our eyes met. He hesitantly raised his palm.

It was too awkward to be a greeting. I couldn’t bring myself to return the greeting.

Without realizing it, I glanced at Park Yeo-seon. Unlike Jung Ji-pil and Lee Deok who were having a wild time being drunk, Park Yeo-seon looked at me and then shifted his gaze to Moon Ji-woo. He seemed to have sensed the strange atmosphere between the two of us.