It wasn’t really a feeling he was inclined toward. Not because he lacked confidence he’d win. Lee Seongjo was a well-known heavy drinker, and in his life, he’d never lost a drinking contest or gotten drunk to the point of being a helpless wreck.
But as he’d said, today wasn’t that kind of mood. Perhaps because his heart was heavy, his body also felt strangely heavy. It seemed like nothing good would come from drinking a lot.
When he showed a reluctant reaction, jeers poured out.
“Ah, why are you backing out? Don’t tell me you’re scared?”
He didn’t fall for such one-dimensional provocation. Nevertheless, if he had to pick a reason why he ultimately picked up the glass, it could be said that his heart was moved by words heard from another table at just that moment.
*’Let’s drink and forget!’*
In the end, when Seongjo, who’d accepted the bet, settled into position, male classmates and juniors he was seeing for the first time today at this gathering surrounded him and each let out cheers and jeers, stirring up the atmosphere.
The first opponent was the classmate who’d first proposed the bet. He was precisely that student who’d picked on Seongjo for starting to study, even just today.
There was a history of him subtly picking fights even before going to the military. Seongjo knew he had some bad feelings toward him, but to the point of proposing a drinking bet on a day like today.
Regrettably, Seongjo was in the most stone-cold sober state, so there was nothing he needed to do to beat him. The classmate, whose drinking capacity wasn’t strong to begin with, fell face-first onto the table making a “Guhhh…” sound before even finishing one bottle of soju. As soon as that happened, evaluations from classmates came out as if they’d been waiting.
“Mm, that guy was too weak. He didn’t stand a chance against Lee Seongjo.”
“Okay, let’s say that was just a taste test. Who wants to go next?”
Was the strategy to line up in a row and come out in order? A drinking contest wasn’t some simple game like playing rock-paper-scissors in succession, and it was natural to get more intoxicated as opponents continued. It was an irrational rule. Because literally, it was nothing more than a method ‘to somehow lay Lee Seongjo down once.’
That day, Seongjo demolished a total of five people on the spot, including one junior who’d challenged him without knowing better. The last remaining male classmate finally declared surrender and planted his face on the table. Simultaneously, other students who hadn’t participated in the drinking bet but had drunk their fill while watching the spectacle cheered and clapped.
Listening to that sound, his head hurt unbearably. It wasn’t that he’d never drunk like this before, but today his physical condition seemed not so good compared to usual.
He should have not started from the beginning when he felt his condition was down. Seongjo clutched his head as if it would split and grimaced. His vision seemed to spin.
Is this what being drunk is… Somehow, I’m getting sleepy.
* * *
……
He saw a ceiling that was unfamiliar yet somehow familiar. As he tossed and turned in a hazy state of mind, he could feel the harsh sensation of a metal frame directly through the thin mattress. The space was narrow, so even tossing a little made his feet touch the wall. Realizing that fact, Seongjo’s eyes finally snapped open wide.
“Ugh…”
Simultaneously, he reflexively grabbed his throbbing head and looked around. It was hard to recognize immediately since he’d only come a few times before enlisting, but before long he figured out where he was. This was the department room of the business administration department he belonged to.
Time had passed and the furniture arrangement had changed a lot, and the cot he was lying on was different from before. He was made to feel the unexpected passage of time in the department room.
Seongjo raised his stiff body as it was. A groaning sound came out naturally.
It was the first time in his life feeling such a sensation after drinking. Seongjo was always the one who remained at the drinking party until the end, staying unsober alone and appropriately looking after his companions to send them home. Of course, it was the secretary’s job, not Seongjo himself, to physically load them into cars.
Who had brought him here? With that question, Seongjo sat perched on the simple chair and looked around. There was no one else in the department room, but he could see something placed on a small side table next to the cot. Upon discovering it, Seongjo momentarily rubbed his eyes to confirm he’d seen it properly.
What was placed on the side table was one bottle of hangover cure. And on that bottle, a familiar yellow Post-it was attached.
Seongjo reached out as if possessed and grasped the bottle in his hand. Until then, he was thinking it might not be, but the handwriting written on the Post-it was definitely that of someone Seongjo knew.
[Drink alcohol in moderation. It harms your health.]
It was definitely that handwriting. There was no room for doubt that it was the same person. But unlike the notes he’d received until now, this note contained gentle content worrying about him. Because it was a note received again after several weeks, he became even more dazed. What should this feeling be called? Happy to see it again? Glad about the gentle content?
Or did he feel empty about the fact that there was no promise when he could see it again?
Caught in complicated feelings, Seongjo removed the note and checked the label of the hangover cure. It was a brand of drink he’d never seen in his life. It wasn’t commonly sold and he’d never seen it even once, yet they’d gone out of their way to buy and place it. Since he already knew the other party’s peculiar taste in drinks, even these trivial details were somehow amusing.
Seongjo, who had been quietly looking at the note and hangover cure, put them back in their original place and lay down on the cot again. It wasn’t that he was tired to the point of being unable to move, but he fell into thought as he was.
So who exactly left this note? How did they know to find Seongjo and bring him here? Was the note owner someone from the same department?
…Should I try to find out who it is?
As his thoughts increased, his head throbbed again. Seongjo, who closed his eyes tightly, continued thinking with his arm covering his eyes. It was then that the department room door opened.
Seongjo lay there not paying attention to the presence of someone entering. He would have continued doing so if the presence hadn’t approached toward him. However, whoever entered approached Seongjo. He dimly felt as if a shadow was cast, as if that person was reaching a hand toward Seongjo. Seongjo, who removed his arm from his eyes, flashed his eyes open.
“…Huk!”
A sound of drawing in breath was heard. As expected, his eyes met with the person who had come close within arm’s reach. He was standing awkwardly with a blanket spread out in both hands. It seemed his intention had been to cover Seongjo with that.
“You’re awake… I was just going to bring this.”
He spoke in a small voice that might have been addressing Seongjo or might have been talking to himself. Seongjo quietly examined his appearance.
A light sky-blue shirt appropriate for the season with straight pants. Though he was tall so it didn’t look terrible, pants that seemed wide and loose as if not tailored at all caught his eye. Even the glasses perched on his eyes—from any angle, it was an appearance distant from the crowd Seongjo usually hung around with.
A face he’d never seen before. But the fact that he’d entered the department room meant he was from the same department, didn’t it? Since he’d never seen him, Seongjo thought he might be a junior who’d enrolled while he was away.
From what he briefly heard, he seemed to have brought a blanket knowing Seongjo was here. Then did that mean this male student was the one who’d brought Seongjo here, the owner of the note? Seongjo asked straightforwardly without further deliberation.
“Is it you?”
He didn’t answer immediately as if flustered, and was standing there blankly looking at Seongjo with his mouth open. Whether from frustration, or from the thought that he might have finally found them, his heart beat a little faster. Thanks to that, the headache that had subsided raised its head again, creeping up.
To him who only let out an exclamation of ‘Huh?’ and stood there as if he didn’t know what Seongjo was talking about, Seongjo asked again.
“This note, is it you?”
“Ah…”
He just scratched his head with an awkward smile and said nothing either way. Perhaps because of the hangover, even a reaction he would have accepted normally felt more irritating for no reason. It might be because he was anxious due to complicated feelings about the note’s owner. Seongjo raised his head to look at him with a slightly furrowed brow.
“So is it yes or no?”
At the sharp questioning, he seemed to fall into contemplation. After looking at Seongjo with a face not knowing what to do, when he finally opened his mouth as if his deliberation had ended, his face looked so resolute it was almost laughable.
“…Yes.”
“That expression…”
The string of tension snapped. He’d meant to say ‘That’s funny,’ but he had to keep his mouth shut without bringing out those words. The words simply wouldn’t come out.
The very person Seongjo had been looking for was standing here right now..
