Bang—!
“Hey, Seo Gihyun—”
In the middle of all the commotion, an uninvited guest suddenly arrived, and silence instantly descended. The familiar figure strode inside and bang, punched the wall once.
It was the person I’d briefly seen in the hallway when I came to the dorm last time. Back then, he was definitely a normal person, but now he was just a strange person.
“You said you’d come right away, fuck, did I have to come all the way here? Huh?”
The person who suddenly showed up and snapped at Gihyun hyung without warning was probably the person Gihyun hyung had been on the phone with until just before. He wasn’t completely drunk enough to be staggering, but he looked quite intoxicated. Both his cheeks were flushed red with alcohol, and mottled red spots bloomed all the way down his entire neck.
He’d told him to come drink. Even if it wasn’t specifically our appointment, I could see why Gihyun hyung kept making excuses about going later. His drinking behavior was the worst.
Naturally, I wasn’t in a good mood since he’d ruined the pleasant atmosphere, but more than that, I was worried first. After all, this was a school dormitory, and there seemed to be rules made precisely for situations like this. If someone reported him for being this loud, wouldn’t it cause trouble even for the hyungs in this room? That’s what I thought.
“I was going to leave after just finishing the hot dogs, hyung. Really.”
As soon as he heard that, the person who’d been shouting grabbed the paper bag spread out on the dining table and roughly tore it. Then he scoffed at the hot dogs inside.
“Fuck, is this shit even good?”
Then why are you eating it?
The last hot dog that Jungwoo hyung said he’d eat later quickly disappeared into his mouth. Even if he’d just sat in the chair right in front of him, it would’ve been more comfortable for us watching, but he wandered around one side of the living room while eating.
The mannerless drunkard’s behavior made me angry, but more than that, I got irritated every time I saw sautéed onions or sauce falling on the floor. I wanted to go wipe the floor right away.
Of course, there was one more person besides me who felt that way. Kang Sehyun sitting next to me seemed to have failed at managing his expression a long time ago.
“Haah…”
Finally, unable to watch any longer, Kang Sehyun let out a short sigh and stood up. It would’ve been nice if after standing up, he’d quietly gone somewhere else, but before Kang Sehyun could even take a step, the large figure blocked the front of the sofa this time. A strong smell of alcohol wafted over.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Saying “it’s been a while” meant the two had met before. I predicted Kang Sehyun’s next action.
Option 1. Greet him warmly.
Option 2. Say “it’s been a while” back.
Option 3. Answer briefly with “yeah.”
Honestly, option 1 made no sense, and I thought option 3 was most likely. Or if not that, maybe he’d just nod silently.
But surprisingly, Kang Sehyun did nothing. His cold eyes were clearly directed at the other person, but even after clearly hearing what he said, he just stared silently.
The correct answer was: ‘ignore him.’
“Ah, hyung. I finished eating, so I’m going.”
Kihyun hyung, who’d sensed something bad, quickly shoved the remaining sausage into his mouth and stood up. But the face flushed red with alcohol kept staring at one spot without moving. Even when Kihyun hyung spoke once more, he didn’t budge and insisted on something unreasonable.
“That bastard Seo Gihyun is acting so fucking busy, so you come instead. When a senior is busy, the junior should do it.”
The word “senior” was really unfamiliar. In fact, it was a word rarely used or heard in America. Before coming to university and after coming to university, most forms of address were hyung or noona, never senior. Even for Korean people living in America, that atmosphere naturally formed, so it was natural.
So for someone to discuss seniors and juniors in America, even if they hadn’t been here long from Korea, was both foolish and pathetic.
That said, I couldn’t openly act like I disliked it in front of a narrow-minded person who emphasized hierarchy. Moreover, since someone who didn’t seem reasonable even when sober was now drunk too, it was better to just let it slide nicely at times like this.
But not everyone could think like me. Some people couldn’t accept this situation at all. And that was Kang Sehyun.
“I’m not old enough to drink.”
He’d been writing the character for “patience” since earlier, and after holding back and holding back, that’s what he said? Kang Sehyun’s expression after spitting out that absurd statement looked like he was about to tell him to fuck off right now.
“Ha. Look at this. Then what about you? You’re not old enough either? You’re also a freshman, right?”
Without even exchanging names, let alone greetings, the other person suddenly turned his head toward me. I just blinked, not knowing what to do about the sudden spark flying my way, when a response popped out from the side.
“He’s not old enough either.”
When Kang Sehyun answered for me, the other person’s forehead wrinkled even more severely. As expected, harsh words poured out.
“These little shits have no manners. Going around ‘hey hey’ everywhere, they think everyone’s their friend. Don’t know how scary seniors are. If this were Korea, I’d have cracked all your heads open, fuck.”
“Go ahead and try.”
“What did you say, you bastard?”
When the atmosphere rapidly became hostile after Kang Sehyun’s one remark, the hyungs in between stepped in to mediate.
“Hyung, he’s always like this. Just ignore him and go. No need to deal with him.”
“That’s right. What about Hyungjin hyung? Did hyung already pass out? Then you should stop drinking too. Ah, no. Just come with me. I’ll drink with you. Let’s go up!”
Finally, after tremendous persuasion from Gijae hyung and Gihyun hyung, the uninvited guest showed signs of moving a bit, but as he pretended to follow them out nicely, he stopped in the middle and turned back around.
“Fuck, let go for a second. Let’s hear what that bastard has to say till the end. When a senior says he’ll buy you drinks, you should be happy and follow. Who told you guys to buy drinks? Even when I offer to buy, you throw a fit, fuck.”
“You don’t have to buy them.”
“This fucker is still—!”
“If you buy drinks, that makes you a senior?”
Kang Sehyun suddenly pulled out several hundred-dollar bills from his wallet. I got a chilling feeling. And the moment I thought “no way,” he held them out to the other person.
“Then I’m the senior now.”
“Ha, this crazy—!”
“Hyung! Hyung, if this keeps up, security will really come. Right now, you’re the one who’s drunk.”
“That’s right, hyung needs to hold back. He’s always like that, so why bother dealing with him? You knew this already.”
The hands trying to stop him became more urgent. Even Jason hyung joined in, and three strong men held the other person back. Because it really seemed like fists were about to fly this time. But funnily enough, in the midst of all this, I thought it was fortunate that Kang Sehyun didn’t throw the money in the other person’s face or toss it on the floor.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh, Jungwoo. Take him inside for a bit, quickly.”
“Who.”
“That bastard Kang Sehyun, fuck.”
Jungwoo hyung, who came out frowning, still not fully awake, quickly grasped the situation and took Kang Sehyun to the room. Even while Kang Sehyun was silently led away by hyung with an emotionless expression, the angry other person’s vicious curses echoed through the living room. It was truly chaos.
I was blankly watching this entire situation when someone poked my side. Junsung hyung, who had come close beside me, was smiling alone.
“I asked you earlier.”
“Pardon?”
“How Kang Sehyun treats other people.”
“Ah…”
“Look. He’s originally like that. He’s nice to people he likes, but if he doesn’t like them, he doesn’t care whether they’re older or whatever.”
So this is what they meant by a big temperature difference when treating people he likes versus dislikes.
What would be the difference between cold water and warm water for most people was like frozen ice and steam from a boiling kettle for Kang Sehyun.
“That’s why when Sehyun comes, we don’t let anyone into the room, but that hyung happened to come looking while drunk. He was like that before too, so we had a hard time stopping him.”
“Something like this happened before?”
“Sehyun’s not such an ill-mannered bastard that he’d curse at someone he just met. First, when we say it’s okay and bring them, he at least pretends to get along at first. The problem is after he doesn’t like them. Before, when we didn’t know about that hyung’s drinking behavior, we brought him saying his personality was good, but even then it almost came to throwing punches.”
“Ah…”
“We took him to Sehyun’s house without knowing anything, and he got drunk there and caused trouble, so Kang Sehyun really lost it. Back then too, he made a fuss telling someone who didn’t want to drink to accept drinks from a senior.”
That damn senior thing. In a way, the other person who challenged Kang Sehyun again even after doing that once seemed impressive.
“So what happened?”
“That ruthless bastard Kang Sehyun called a taxi at 3 AM and forcibly kicked him out. Even though it was right nearby, the taxi fare was probably a hundred bucks.”
The base fare is expensive and he called for one separately at dawn, so naturally it would’ve been that much. But for Kang Sehyun, that was just pocket change anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered at all.
After the commotion passed and Kang Sehyun came out of Jungwoo hyung’s room again, his expression was no different from usual. And while sitting on the sofa, he suddenly clicked his tongue low as if remembering something.
“I should’ve told him to pay for the hot dogs. Damn.”
When did you hand over a few hundred bucks calling it drinking money, and now you’re upset about not getting $2.50? I just laughed.
Yeah, now I know too.
Fifth, Kang Sehyun has a bad personality.
