Ilkyung sighed and picked up Daehoon’s glass, downing it.
“Ahh. The aroma is really good. What are you going to do, Director, not being able to drink this?”
“You like the ginseng liquor?”
“Of course. When else would I get to have something this good?”
Daehoon chuckled and called the owner to order a small bottle of ginseng liquor. Seeing those eyes that had been dying suddenly become bright and sparkling, Daehoon just laughed. After drinking all that, he’ll definitely get drunk and chirp nonsense again, but for some reason today, he felt like just going along with it.
**4. Getting Fooled Again**
As expected! Somehow, Woo Ilkyung never deviates even a bit from what you’d predict.
“How can there not be any S-ranks like this? How can there not be any telekinesis-type Espers?”
“Even if you ask me, I don’t have the answer.”
“Does Director think it’s enough to just invest money? When our team is stamping our feet in frustration like this, you should appear with a ‘ta-da’ and say ‘Here, I brought an S-rank telekinesis-type Esper.’ How can you just watch like it’s a fire across the river?”
Yeah, he knew from when Ilkyung was sipping that ginseng liquor. But Daehoon didn’t really care. Anyway, he had decided to take Woo Ilkyung home himself, so it was fine if he got drunk. Of course, it would be Ilkyung who would suffer from a hangover the next day. But he’d handle that himself.
“If I bring one, what will you do for me?”
When Daehoon asked, Ilkyung tilted his head and narrowed his brow.
“Huh? Bring what?”
“…You’re drunk. Completely.”
“I’m not! I’m not drunk.”
“Sure, let’s say that’s true. I’ll ask again. If I bring the S-rank telekinesis-type Esper that Ilkyung-ssi is looking for now, what will Woo Ilkyung-ssi do for me?”
Ilkyung blinked his large eyes a couple of times.
“What do I have to do?”
“Really? Then keep calling around to the branches. Let’s go home.”
When Daehoon tried to get up from his seat, Ilkyung hurriedly grabbed Daehoon’s wrist.
“Why are you so impatient? Sit down for a bit.”
When Daehoon sat back down, Ilkyung, whose eyes were half-glazed, asked.
“But that’s work, isn’t it?”
“Right now I’m not trying to help as your superior. I’m trying to help with the work of Woo Ilkyung-ssi, my lover. I’m mixing personal feelings into official business.”
“Huh? Is that Director’s character? That’s really unexpected. Earlier during the day, what was it, yeah, you said you were the type to constantly call your lover and act persistent.”
Daehoon had never said such a thing with his own mouth. He hadn’t given any answer, just Woo Ilkyung had been playing both drum and gong by himself.
“Does Ilkyung-ssi like things cool even between lovers, so you don’t need that kind of help? Mixing personal feelings into official business?”
“I am, you know. A person who really keeps official business as official business and personal matters as personal matters.”
“Ah, really? Well, you did tell me to mechanically do skinship and Guiding. So that must be right. I brought it up for nothing. Still, since there aren’t many days left as lovers, I wanted to help if there was anything I could do for the last time. Sure. Since Woo Ilkyung-ssi keeps official business as official business and personal matters as personal matters. Let’s go. I’ll take you home.”
When Daehoon tried to get up from his seat again, Woo Ilkyung grabbed his hand.
“Well, if Director still wants to help, then do so. I’ll let it slide just this once. But what do I have to do? Actually, that’s also kind of weird. Director might just take what he can get from me and not be able to find an Esper. So Director goes first. Director brings one first. Then I’ll let you use a wish coupon too.”
At Ilkyung’s words, Daehoon looked at him quietly and answered.
“Keep your promise. Don’t say later that you said whatever because you were drunk.”
“Got it. Promise! Do you want to record it or something?”
“Let’s do that when we get home.”
Daehoon grabbed Ilkyung’s wrist and pulled him up.
“Huh? What are we doing at home? At my house? My mom’s at my house though?”
“What are you talking about? Of course it’ll be my house.”
* * *
“I knew you’d be like this.”
Daehoon looked at Ilkyung, who had passed out gloriously in the passenger seat, and just laughed. What he’d learned about Woo Ilkyung’s drinking habits over this past month was: first, once he starts drinking, he can’t think about his alcohol tolerance and gulps down alcohol like falling into a liquor vat, and second, he spews whatever comes to mind. And then finally, he falls asleep anywhere like this.
“You must have had more than one or two difficult situations from your drunken behavior.”
With this kind of drunken behavior, it was miraculous he’d survived intact until now. Before getting into any trouble outside, Woo Ilkyung would have been beaten to death by his mother first, so was he lucky, or did his twin sister who lives with him hide things well?
It was probably the latter. No matter how drunk he was, Woo Ilkyung had called out Woo Minkyung at that dawn hour saying he couldn’t catch a taxi. Of course, the problem was that he made that call to him.
“Woo Ilkyung-ssi, we’re home. Wake up.”
Daehoon called to Ilkyung even though he knew it was useless. As expected, Woo Ilkyung was deeply asleep and didn’t move an inch.
Daehoon got out of the car and opened the passenger door. Woo Ilkyung was sprawled out swollen like fruit soaked in liquor. When Woo Ilkyung drinks, his cheeks turn slightly red when he gets tipsy, then his face becomes pale when he gets more drunk. Right now, with his pale face, he was breathing softly and sleeping like a child.
Daehoon unfastened Ilkyung’s seatbelt and put his arm behind his neck. He didn’t have a hobby of raising a child. But this one really takes a lot of work. It was just a choice he made to escape his grandfather’s annoyance for a month, but now he was even nursing him through illness and receiving his drunken behavior.
Daehoon closed the car door and adjusted Ilkyung in his arms again. Even as he carried him this way and that, Woo Ilkyung slept just fine. Even if he rolled him from the gate to the entrance, Woo Ilkyung would sleep soundly, oblivious to the world.
“Did he lose more weight?”
Woo Ilkyung was short and thin. Of course, Woo Ilkyung didn’t seem to think he was short, but to Daehoon, he was like a small yapping puppy. He’s a picky eater with a small appetite. And yet such a person also likes alcohol, so he always drinks beyond his tolerance and ends up in this state.
“Who’s trying to raise this one?”
Daehoon laid Ilkyung on the bed and only took off his socks. Since it was early summer, his outfit was light, so there weren’t any other clothes to take off even if he wanted to. Daehoon looked at Woo Ilkyung, who had fully taken over his bed and fallen into sleep, and chuckled.
“The way it’s big but incomplete makes him look like a fucking bastard.”
It was a statement that would make Woo Ilkyung foam at the mouth and fall over backwards if he heard it.
Daehoon pulled the blanket up to Ilkyung’s stomach and headed to the bathroom.
* * *
“Why did you get up?”
“Why am I here again?”
While Daehoon was washing up, it seemed Ilkyung had also woken up and washed. Ilkyung was standing in the middle of the living room wearing only a robe, dripping with water. Why does he always stand in the middle of the living room like that?
“You didn’t dry your hair again.”
As Daehoon muttered and turned to enter the bathroom, Ilkyung asked his back again.
“But why am I here?”
“There he goes again, not remembering.”
Daehoon didn’t give a proper answer and just muttered as he walked.
“What? What did you say? What did you just say?”
Ilkyung seemed not to have heard properly. Otherwise, he would have been jumping around saying, “Am I some object? What’s with ‘that’?”
Daehoon came out of the bathroom and approached Ilkyung.
“Dry it yourself.”
“Is Ilkyung-ssi going to kneel down and wipe up the water droplets falling in the living room?”
“Ah, what are you talking about?”
How is it that everything coming out of Ha Daehoon’s mouth is strange? Ilkyung’s nerves had been on edge lately. Everything was because of Ha Daehoon.
Whether Ilkyung was grumbling or not, Daehoon stood in front of him and began drying his hair with a towel. Contrary to saying he’d dry it himself, Woo Ilkyung closed his eyes and stood still obediently. Wrapped snugly in a white robe, he looked like a puppy that had just woken up.
“Wait.”
