How to Escape the Seduction of the Second-Ranked Side Story 2

This is more boring than I thought.

It didn’t seem like a meaningful event, considering he’d sacrificed his lower back for it. Habin tapped his still-aching lower back and fiddled with his drinking glass.

Still, he wasn’t so oblivious that he couldn’t match the atmosphere, so he’d blended in reasonably well and drank along with everyone. As he was passing time meaninglessly like that, his phone on the table rang, and he quickly picked it up.

[Almost done?]

At the text from the person he’d been waiting for, he glanced around surreptitiously and hesitated for a moment. Looking around, things were still in full swing, but that didn’t mean he wanted to stay and drink more. He was in a precarious state where he’d probably exceed his limit soon.

[Doesn’t look like it’s ending, but I just want to leave.]

[Got it. I’ll come pick you up.]

Satisfied with the immediate response saying he’d come right away, Habin discreetly began gathering his things. Since a large number of department members had come under the pretext of a semester opening general meeting, the drinking gathering was chaotic to the point of being confusing—one person disappearing wouldn’t be noticed by anyone.

Just as he was smoothly gathering his belongings and about to head outside, someone grabbed Habin’s arm.

“What, where are you going?”

At the sudden touch, he nearly cursed without thinking, but realizing the other person was a senior, he forced an awkward smile.

“My lover’s coming to pick me up, so I’m going to head out now.”

“Lover? You have a girlfriend?”

“Not a girlfriend—”

Haha, Habin tried to pull his hand away with a laugh, but his brow furrowed at the grip that only tightened. Why was this senior, whom he’d only met for the first time today, so persistently holding on?

And if someone says they have a lover, shouldn’t the response just be “Oh, I see”? Why ask for details? At this incomprehensible behavior, Habin’s expression hardened, but perhaps because everyone was drunk, no one paid attention to the small disturbance.

“Then a boyfriend? Perfect, let’s drink together.”

“What? Why—”

Habin barely swallowed the snippy question of why he should have to do that and forced a smile. This senior had been particularly clingy from earlier.

It would’ve been nice if another senior had intervened, but that was difficult too. Each table was basically filled with one senior and several freshmen, all in the name of getting close with department seniors.

It seemed the higher the class year, the more seniors didn’t participate in events like the general meeting. Otherwise, there was no way the ratio of one upperclassman to multiple freshmen at each table would be possible.

Habin filed away this new discovery and decided that from next time, he wouldn’t participate unless it was really important. All because of this senior.

“They have to drive, so it’ll be difficult.”

“What, is there an age gap? They drive and everything.”

Whether there was an age gap or not.

He couldn’t understand why they had to exchange this kind of Q&A at all. Irritation rising, Habin exhaled a soft sigh and forcefully shook off the arm.

“Anyway, I’m leaving now.”

Finishing his words firmly, Habin bowed his head. The person who’d been staring blankly for a moment at him quickly escaping outside to avoid being grabbed again soon furrowed their brow and followed.

Unaware of this, Habin exited the alley and looked for a nearby public parking lot. If it was Dojin, he definitely would’ve waited instead of going home after dropping him off.

“Hello?”

[Did you leave the bar?]

“Yeah. Should I wait on the main road? Or should I come to the parking lot?”

[You’re asking while already walking to the parking lot?]

Beyond the low laugh, various sounds could be heard. Belatedly realizing Dojin was walking to meet him, Habin looked around.

“How did you know?”

[How did I know? I can see you, that’s how.]

At the mention of being visible, he looked around again, but Habin couldn’t see Dojin.

“Why can’t I see you?”

[I’ll come to you. You can stay there.]

It must be because of the alcohol that he couldn’t find him. Giving up on finding Dojin easily, Habin decided to follow his words and stop where he was, waiting for him to come find him.

“Hey—! Lee Habin!”

Then, as if waiting for that moment, a hand roughly grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, making Habin’s body sway. At the same time, the phone he’d been holding loosely fell to the ground, but he couldn’t afford to worry about it.

“What the—”

Swallowing his breath, Habin raised his head to look at the other person without hiding his displeasure. Then, seeing the excited, familiar senior, he opened and closed his lips.

“You just leave when your senior is talking to you? How rude.”

“What?”

It was a question filled with absurdity, but whether they didn’t notice or were just busy spouting their piece, the hand gripping his shoulder grew progressively stronger, as if venting their anger. Habin let out a small groan.

“And did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

“Then do you think you said something good?”

Having failed to remove the hand, Habin couldn’t hold back and shot back. He had no idea why they’d even chased him all the way here in the first place.

“Your attitude toward a senior—”

“How about you let go first before you talk.”

“Ahhh!”

Along with an unpleasant scream, the pressure on his shoulder lightened. Habin exhaled a sigh of relief and finally picked up the dropped phone.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Just my shoulder hurts. I think it’ll bruise.”

Grumbling without bothering to hide it, Dojin’s brow furrowed. Habin checked if his phone was working properly while hiding behind Dojin’s back.

“That’s why I told you not to go to things like the general meeting.”

“If I’d known it’d be like this, I wouldn’t have gone. I’m seriously annoyed.”

Burying his forehead against Dojin’s shoulder, Habin muttered that he’d never participate in this kind of department event again.

“Hey, you’re not letting go?!”

“Ah—”

Dojin, who’d been looking satisfied, let out a short exclamation at the voice assaulting his eardrums and shook off his hand. The reaction, as if he’d completely forgotten, ruthlessly trampled on the other person’s pride.

“So, who is this person?”

“A department senior. Their name is… I don’t know.”

Since he hadn’t been paying close attention, he couldn’t remember the name. At Habin’s response, Dojin looked the person called senior up and down.

From the looks of it, they seemed to have at least a passing interest in Habin. Did their pride get hurt because Habin didn’t notice and ignored them?

Whatever it was, recalling the situation he’d witnessed, it didn’t seem like they’d followed with good intentions.

“Then, senior whose name I don’t know, do you have some business with Habin?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m his lover.”

Habin, who’d been hiding behind Dojin, stuck just his face out and answered instead. Dojin held back a laugh at Habin’s behavior of clutching the clothes near his shoulder blade and only appearing when needed.

“You seem drunk, so why don’t you head inside?”

“Lee Habin and his lover are both equally irritating.”

“Sure, let’s say that. More than that—”

Answering half-heartedly, Dojin carefully removed Habin’s hand. Smiling faintly at Habin, who looked at him questioningly, he approached the other person closely. He grabbed the shoulder of the other person who reflexively stepped back.

“I’d prefer if something like this didn’t happen again.”

“Wh-what?”

“I’d also prefer if you didn’t needlessly cling to Habin. You’re a senior anyway, so you won’t have much occasion to see freshmen often, right?”

Recalling anew how they’d pressed down on Habin’s shoulder hard enough to hurt, Dojin couldn’t contain his irritation and put strong force into his grip.

“Ahh!”

“I trust you understand what I mean.”

Dojin wrinkled his nose at the thick smell of alcohol wafting up. He hoped it was just drunken misbehavior, but the possibility of it not being that seemed higher. Just looking at them, they seemed to have strong pride, so it didn’t seem like their behavior would change much even after sobering up.

“Let’s go home.”

“Mm-hm.”

Shaking off the hand holding the other person with an irritated snap, Dojin took care of Habin. Habin kept looking back, probably because they were a department senior and it weighed on him in various ways, but he didn’t stop walking.

“You don’t have to worry too much about it.”

“Still.”

“They seem like an upperclassman, so you won’t run into them. You said you weren’t going to participate in department club activities anyway, right?”

“Yeah, I did say that.”

At Dojin’s words, Habin finally shook off his worries and smiled brightly. Dojin smiled along with him and rubbed his thumb against the cheek that had flushed with heat from drinking quite a bit.

“How much did you drink?”

“About one bottle?”

“Of soju?”

“Mm-hm.”

At Habin’s attitude of trailing off his words and trying to brush it off, Dojin’s eyes narrowed. Habin, who already couldn’t lie well, was even worse at it when he drank.

“You had bomb shots, didn’t you?”

“How did you know?”

Looking surprised, Habin sucked in a breath and soon put on a charming smile. Wrapping his arms around Dojin’s waist and rubbing his face against his chest, he acted as if asking him to let it slide.

Increased aegyo was proof he was quite drunk. Thanks to this, Dojin sighed, realizing Habin had drunk more than expected. What was he to do with this colt-like lover who liked alcohol more than he appeared to?

Still, he decided to take comfort in the fact that he usually only showed this relaxed side in front of him. Though when he drank more than a certain amount, he’d loosen up all silly whether he was there or not.

“Bomb shots make you get drunk faster, Habin.”

“Mm-hm, that’s true.”

“Did you lose control and drink too much and cling to someone else again?”

“No. I’ve never clung to anyone else.”

“You clung to Baek Han before.”

“He’s a friend though.”

Keenly sensing the prelude to a lecture, Habin subtly moved away from Dojin. Dojin wrapped his arms around the waist of Habin, who was trying to escape, blocking him and raising an eyebrow.

“Habin.”

“Mm-hm, I’ll only drink soju from now on.”

At the low call, Habin immediately lowered his tail and clung to Dojin again. Loading the colt into the car, who was drunk and spouting promises he couldn’t keep just to say something, Dojin exhaled a sigh.