TWYW C23

“…I guess so.”

Today was the day he had his tutoring session after his part-time job at the cafe, so a small hope that he might be able to see Yuhyeon arose. It was his own little secret that he had worn Gyeoul’s favorite hoodie today for that reason.

Feeling once again that summer was approaching with the noticeably longer days, Gyeoul stepped onto the stairs of Yuhyeon’s family home’s garden and opened the front door, which had been left open in advance, to enter. Passing through the quiet living room and going up to the second floor, Yuho greeted him with a smile. Yuho’s face looked relieved, as his midterm exams had ended.

“Yuho, how were your exams?”

“I think… I did well.”

At Yuho’s answer, Gyeoul sighed in relief internally. Gyeoul had also been quite concerned about Yuho’s midterm results. Fortunately, Yuho seemed to have done well on his exams as usual. Gyeoul conducted today’s session by reviewing the exam questions Yuho had brought. Yuho’s score was good enough to easily place him among the top students in the entire school, making Gyeoul feel he had worried for nothing. Relieved, Gyeoul finished the tutoring session in a good mood and headed back home. He walked slower than usual, hoping he might run into Yuhyeon, but unfortunately, he couldn’t see him. However, he tried to soothe his disappointment with the thought that he would be watching a movie with the club members at Yuhyeon’s house this weekend.

Returning home, Gyeoul quietly climbed the stairs and entered his room. Massaging his tired shoulders, Gyeoul sat at his desk and once again began writing a short story for the critique session. He was already worried about what kind of harsh criticism would be thrown at him this time, but after a few previous critique sessions, he was gradually becoming desensitized to such words. And once in a while, he could hear some helpful comments, so it seemed the students had also adapted to the critique sessions. Gyeoul wrote down the stories he had conceptualized in his head onto paper, writing a large amount in a short time.

“Gyeoul.”

A voice he didn’t welcome came from behind Gyeoul, who was deeply focused on his novel.

“What are you doing.”

Seeing his back as he sat at the desk diligently writing something, his mother came closer and looked down at the paper.

“I was doing an assignment.”

“Is writing a novel an assignment? Gyeoul, wouldn’t it have been so much better if you had listened to your father from the start. Spending money to do such useless things.”

It was something he didn’t want to hear from his mother, who hadn’t contributed a single penny to his university tuition, but there was nothing to be gained from talking back here, so Gyeoul pressed his lips firmly together.

“Mrs. Loum called. She said her second son did well on his exam.”

“Yes…”

“We’re having dinner together next week, so don’t forget. You have to behave properly when you go. Got it?”

“Yes. I’ll do well.”

Heaving a deep sigh, he watched his mother’s back as she went back down to the first floor after saying what she needed to say, leaving Gyeoul who had given a mechanical response. It was clear that his mother, who had talked about the exam every time she saw his face until Yuho’s midterms, would now start talking about the dinner with the Loum family. Gyeoul just hoped he wouldn’t have to face his mother as much as possible.

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After finishing his part-time job at the cafe, Gyeoul headed not to his usual bus stop but to a nearby subway station. The subway station was located right in front of the officetel complex where Yuhyeon lived alone, so that way was faster. The promised time had already passed, but Gyeoul was only now heading to Yuhyeon’s place, a little late, as his part-time job had just ended. He had met Yuhyeon in his last liberal arts class, but that alone wasn’t enough, so the fact that they could be together on the weekend too made Gyeoul’s mood soar.

The place where Yuhyeon lived was a high-end officetel, and one had to go through a rather cumbersome process of visitor verification starting from the first floor. After finally taking the elevator and arriving in front of the door, Gyeoul rang the doorbell. Then, the sound of footsteps approaching from inside was heard, and the door opened.

Yuhyeon, dressed more casually than usual, held the door and stepped aside.

“Come in.”

Gyeoul neatly took off his shoes and followed Yuhyeon into the living room, where it seemed a drinking party was already in full swing, with liquor bottles and snacks scattered messily on the table.

“The rookie’s the last one to show up. Is this okay?”

“Hyung, you sounded like a total boomer just now.”

Seungwon, his cheeks flushed with alcohol, spoke to Gyeoul playfully.

“Hyung?”

Yuhyeon, who was next to Gyeoul, repeated the title Seungwon was called with a puzzled expression.

“Of course, I’m Lee Gyeoul’s hyung, am I his younger brother?”

“Looks like you two got pretty close.”

“No, I ran into him at school the other day, and Lee Gyeoul called me ‘that person’.”

“Hey, me too.”

At Seungwon’s words, Juyeon, who was sitting next to him, added on. Gyeoul really didn’t know what to call them and had used the title without any ill intent, but it must have sounded quite strange to their ears. It was a title that could have started a fight, but the club members, who had already gotten a rough idea of Gyeoul’s personality at the last drinking session, just let it pass lightly.

“So I told him to call me hyung.”

At Seungwon’s answer, Yuhyeon nodded his head lightly, saying “I see,” but to Gyeoul’s eyes, he seemed somewhat uncomfortable. Yuhyeon quickly erased the expression only Gyeoul had noticed and placed an empty glass in front of him.

“Lee Gyeoul, our club has only one rule. The first shot is always a bottom-up.”

Seungwon poured soju into the small glass placed in front of Gyeoul and clinked glasses. Gyeoul, frowning as if he were drinking poison, barely managed to down the one shot. And right after, a cup of water was brought to Gyeoul’s lips. Gyeoul grabbed the cup Yuhyeon offered and drank the water all at once.

“If you don’t want to drink, you don’t have to. Since when were you one to listen so well?”

As Yuhyeon let out a small laugh, Gyeoul felt unnecessarily embarrassed and picked up a sausage in front of him to eat.

“Hey, now that everyone’s here, let’s watch the movie.”

Seungwon, who seemed quite familiar with Yuhyeon’s place, found the remote and turned on a horror movie on the large TV. It was a horror movie Gyeoul had also seen the trailer for. Seungwon turned off all the lights in the house and even drew the living room curtains, making it as dark as possible. In the living room, illuminated only by the light from the TV, everyone quietly focused on the screen. It was the first moment Gyeoul truly felt that this was indeed a horror movie club.

Gyeoul was of the opinion that people were scarier than ghosts, so he didn’t feel much fear towards horror movies. However, at scenes intentionally made to startle, he would flinch his shoulders from time to time and have to press down on his startled heart to calm it. Now and then, he would also steal a glance at Yuhyeon’s face, who was sitting next to him.

Sunbae’s face is much more interesting than the movie.

Gyeoul, having such silly thoughts, picked up and ate the popcorn in front of him, and wanting to wash out the salty taste in his mouth, poured water into the glass before him.

“Huh? Hey, hey, that’s not water!”

Seungwon’s urgent voice trying to stop Gyeoul was heard. However, Gyeoul had already swallowed a large gulp. What he had poured thinking it was water seemed to be alcohol, as Gyeoul felt his esophagus burn. Gyeoul frowned and quickly accepted the cup with real water that Yuhyeon placed in his hand from the side and drank it. But his frown did not easily smooth out as his esophagus still felt like it was burning.

“That’s vodka. Are you okay? How could you chug it like that.”

The bottle Gyeoul had poured from without checking properly in the dark contained not water, but vodka. The transparent glass bottle had only a simple drawing on it, so he hadn’t seen the small letters written in English and had just assumed it was water.

“Are you okay?”

Yuhyeon checked Gyeoul’s face with the light coming from the TV screen.

“Yes, yes. I’m o-okay.”

As Yuhyeon brought his face a little closer, the flustered Gyeoul stuttered. Gyeoul avoided his gaze out of embarrassment and turned his head to the TV screen. While watching the movie, Gyeoul felt his head starting to get a little dizzy. It seemed to be because he was continuously watching a bright screen in a dark place.

Gyeoul got up from his seat for a moment and opened the bathroom door he had used to apply medicine when he came to Yuhyeon’s house last time. Gyeoul turned on the water at the sink and washed his face, and he could see his face in the mirror was flushed red. Why is my face so hot.

Gyeoul tilted his head to the side, staring blankly at his own face, and then opened the bathroom door again to go out, only to have Yuhyeon, who was standing right in front, grab his arm.

“Lee Gyeoul, you’re drunk.”

Gyeoul stared blankly at Yuhyeon’s face, who was standing facing him in front of the bathroom door.

Why does Sunbae’s body keep swaying. That’s weird.

“Lee Gyeoul.”

“…Yes?”

Gyeoul answered Yuhyeon’s call a beat later. As he strained his eyes that kept losing focus, Yuhyeon grabbed Gyeoul’s arm and opened a door to a room. The room Yuhyeon led him into had a bed that was too large for one person to use. Yuhyeon pulled Gyeoul’s arm as he was and sat him down on the bed.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine.”

“There’s no way you’re fine after taking a shot of vodka.”

“No, it’s true. I’m fine. I’m not drunk.”

Gyeoul insisted he wasn’t drunk with a slightly slurred pronunciation.

“You don’t know how you’re walking right now, do you?”

“Do I have to know that?”

“Whatever. Just lie down.”

“I’m really not drunk.”

Gyeoul truly thought so himself. His father, who was usually quick to resort to violence, was particularly severe on days when he was drunk. There were even days when he would wake Gyeoul, who was sleeping in his room, just to kick him. That’s why Gyeoul had his own prejudice in his mind that drunk people were angry and violent. So, although he smoked, he never felt the desire to drink. He could have a sip of soju for the atmosphere, but he felt a sense of rejection towards any more alcohol than that. But he had unintentionally chugged vodka with an alcohol content close to 40 proof. Gyeoul, who had no tolerance for alcohol yet, couldn’t possibly be fine, but to say he was drunk, he didn’t feel angry, nor did he feel the urge to hit someone. So, based on his own reasoning, Gyeoul considered himself not to be drunk.