Sleeping like this? He was so dumbfounded that words didn’t come out properly.
“Hey, Jung Sanho. Are you really sleeping?”
No matter how much he called, Jung Sanho didn’t answer. He seemed to be truly asleep. Can someone fall asleep this suddenly, this abruptly? Unless there’s some chronic illness……
‘He’s not sleeping but, don’t tell me he passed out or something?’
Seungyeon, filled with anxiety, raised his body. When Jung Sanho’s body, which had been leaning on his back, lost its support, it toppled forward. He quickly caught his face with his hand before he could plant his forehead on the table. Looking at Jung Sanho’s round back of the head flopped over, Seungyeon held his breath.
Contrary to his worries, Jung Sanho was indeed asleep. The sound of his breathing and his regularly heaving body endlessly reminded him of the fact that he was sleeping. I see. He’s asleep.
He gently lowered Jung Sanho’s face onto the table, avoiding the dish of seasoned chives. He pulled over a chair and sat close beside him so he wouldn’t fall over sideways while sleeping. Even in the midst of this, looking at the gopchang cooking nicely on the sizzling grill, Seungyeon muttered blankly.
“What even is this kid……”
***
“Let’s think.”
Seungyeon chewed with an anchovy in his mouth. He was gradually becoming conscious of lingering here. It was fine for now since the place was still empty, but if he dawdled here any longer, he wouldn’t be able to avoid the owner’s sharp gaze.
Then he needed to move him…… Seungyeon rolled his eyes and glanced at the back of Jung Sanho’s head, who had passed out. Even if he somehow carried him on his back, dragged him, or supported him out, where would he go?
“If I take him home…… Hmm, that won’t work.”
He could already picture his mom’s shocked expression. She would either smack his back saying what kind of kid are you to be drinking in broad daylight, or curse saying why don’t you just drink alone instead of dragging a friend along to cause trouble. Since he didn’t want to invite criticism, he quickly erased the option of taking him home from his mind.
No matter how much he racked his brain, no good solution came to mind. But it was also awkward to take a sleeping kid to a cafe and camp out there. There was also the option of leaving him at a motel or hotel, but if Jung Sanho woke up in the middle, wouldn’t that be too inappropriate?
In the end, after much deliberation, Seungyeon took out his phone. He decided to call Yoon Taerim, Jung Sanho’s cousin and the only acquaintance of Jung Sanho whose contact information Seungyeon knew. If it was Yoon Taerim, he would naturally know where Jung Sanho’s house was, and with a clear identity, there seemed to be no better person to pass him off to. Though he didn’t particularly want to see him, Yoon Taerim was the only solution for now.
After preparing his mind for about 5 minutes and regulating his breathing for about 2 more minutes, Seungyeon sent a text to Yoon Taerim. He explained the situation as concisely as possible and sent the restaurant address along with a photo of the back of sleeping Jung Sanho’s head.
When 5 minutes had passed and it became 10 minutes, the number 1 in the chat window disappeared. Soon a reply came from Yoon Taerim.
[I’ll come now]
Fortunately, Yoon Taerim also seemed to be taking the current matter seriously. At the urgency felt in the reply, Seungyeon swallowed a sigh. It would be good if Jung Sanho woke up before Yoon Taerim arrives, whenever that is.
At the point when thirty minutes had passed, Yoon Taerim opened the gopchang restaurant door and appeared. As if he had rushed over straight from work, his white coat fluttered following his movements. Seungyeon quickly raised his hand and called him.
“Over here!”
As soon as their eyes met, Yoon Taerim strode over. His eyes looking at the back of Jung Sanho, who was sleeping with his head buried in the table, were full of bewilderment.
“What on earth happened?”
He pulled over an empty chair and plopped down. Poke, poke, he jabbed Jung Sanho’s side with his finger, then soon let out a small sigh.
“He’s really sleeping.”
Pretending not to hear the muttering mixed with bewilderment, Seungyeon smiled awkwardly and ate an anchovy. Right now, with the three of them gathered for a three-way meeting at a gopchang restaurant, felt like a scene from an unrealistic nightmare.
“What on earth happened? No, what has to happen for you to drink soju at a gopchang restaurant from the middle of the day? Isn’t today a school day for Sanho? Shouldn’t he be at school right now?”
Yoon Taerim squinted while checking his wristwatch. Even if he didn’t have his cousin’s class schedule memorized, he knew the current situation was inappropriate somewhere. No matter how relaxed college life is, isn’t drinking and falling asleep in the middle of the day a bit much?
“There were circumstances…… This is, well, there were these unavoidable various circumstances.”
At the cold gaze looking at him like a thief, Seungyeon frantically protested.
“Don’t misunderstand. I approached this very reasonably, you know? I asked first if he had time, and Jung Sanho said it was okay, so we just came out to eat lunch for a bit……”
“Seungyeon-ssi is really a bad adult. Why would you entice a twenty-year-old kid to drink from midday? Too impure.”
“No……! It’s really not like that, you know?”
Seungyeon was genuinely aggrieved. He had only planned to stop by the department store with Jung Sanho, have a wholesome lunch, and then send him off. He had absolutely no plan to interfere with Jung Sanho’s class, make him drink alcohol, or render him unconscious.
“Sanho can’t drink well. Seungyeon-ssi deliberately made him drink on purpose, right?”
“It’s not like that! How would I know he’s weak with alcohol! And Jung Sanho was the one who suggested ordering soju, you know?”
Thinking this was the moment, he deflected the arrow of blame toward Jung Sanho. Yoon Taerim looked at the back of sleeping Jung Sanho’s head and clicked his tongue.
“Good spirit. It must have been his first time drinking soju.”
Why would a kid who neither enjoys nor likes alcohol suggest ordering one bottle of soju per person? Through Yoon Taerim’s continued testimony, he even learned Jung Sanho’s drinking habits. Jung Sanho, who couldn’t lie when drunk and just slept like a button was turned off if he drank just a bit more, didn’t have a great alcohol tolerance either. Apparently, normally even just sipping one glass of wine makes him tipsy.
“I see…… He ordered one bottle each like ordering one drink per person.”
“Pffft.”
Yoon Taerim’s shoulders, with his face buried in his palms, shook mercilessly. Only after chuckling for a while did he raise his head. Pretending not to notice the tears forming at the corners of Yoon Taerim’s eyes, Seungyeon gestured with his chin toward sleeping Jung Sanho.
“Anyway, please take him.”
He would take care of the bill, so he hoped Yoon Taerim would quickly take Jung Sanho and leave. Only after he urged Yoon Taerim to leave now did he support Jung Sanho. Though small compared to Jung Sanho, Yoon Taerim also exceeded the average adult male height.
He lifted sleeping Jung Sanho without difficulty. Yoon Taerim, holding the 190-centimeter frame like a princess, smiled and led the way. Seungyeon also hurriedly followed after finishing the payment.
Upon leaving the restaurant, he saw a street much more crowded than when they entered. While passing through the food alley that was only now becoming lively, passersby’s gazes focused on one spot. Since he was passing by carrying a perfectly healthy adult male like a princess, it was bound to attract attention.
“Seungyeon-ssi, get in too. I’ll drop you off on the way.”
Yoon Taerim, who had opened the back door of his parked car, shoved Jung Sanho in carelessly. Ignoring the groaning sounds and slamming the door shut, he turned to look at Seungyeon. To Yoon Taerim pointing at the passenger seat, Seungyeon politely expressed his refusal.
“I’m fine. Drive safely.”
Rather than continuing a suffocating companionship with Yoon Taerim, it was more comfortable to just take the subway home. To emphasize that he was busy, Seungyeon took out his phone, which had no calls coming in, and fiddled with it unnecessarily.
“Mmm……”
Yoon Taerim, leaning against the driver’s seat, looked at Seungyeon as if he had something to say. After choosing his words for a while, moving his lips, he finally opened his mouth.
“Don’t be too nice to Sanho.”
“……What?”
“Don’t be any nicer to Sanho than this. Even if all this might seem easy and like a joke to Baek Seungyeon-ssi, it’s not like that on this side.”
Yoon Taerim trailed off and tapped the car body with his fingertips. As soon as their eyes met, he tilted his head.
“We need to maintain boundaries before it becomes difficult for both sides.”
He opened the driver’s seat door and slipped in. The shadow reflected on the car window was faintly visible. The rumbling engine sound burst out as if he had started the car. Seungyeon reflexively stepped back. Leaving him behind, Yoon Taerim’s car slowly advanced along the back alley where the sidewalk and roadway were ambiguous.
Seungyeon’s gaze moved following the rear end of the departing car. Only after the car completely disappeared from view did he scratch his chin with an uncomfortable expression.
Don’t be nice to Jung Sanho. What does that mean?
“I’ve never been nice to him……”
Just today alone, he was full of things to be sorry to Jung Sanho about. He made him unable to attend school classes, and after suggesting they go eat, he diligently did other things and ended up making him drink alcohol. That’s all. If this is being nice, what kind of treatment has Jung Sanho been receiving normally?
Following Yoon Taerim’s car with his eyes even though it was no longer visible, Seungyeon let out a sigh. It was a day where nothing went as expected.
