“Hey. Don’t go wandering off when you’re drunk. Finding you is also work.”
Even as the two hyungs gave Seongheon hyung what was more scolding than concern, Seongheon hyung was in such a good mood that he laughed and tried to mix soju and beer to drink. Then Gangjin hyung snatched Seongheon hyung’s glass away.
“Stop drinking.”
“No, I’m not drunk.”
“You’re drunk.”
“I’m not drunk.”
“Then can I have that legendary weapon you enhanced to +30 this time?”
“Yeah, take it.”
“See, you’re drunk. When he’s drunk, he gives away everything people ask for. Don’t you remember you grinded guild members to dust running raids to procure enhancement materials for that? You threatened to make examples of anyone who made mistakes, and several guys quit the guild because of it.”
“I remember. But I’m not drunk right now.”
The two bickered back and forth about being drunk or not drunk, and finally started drinking again.
Just looking at Seongheon hyung’s face and behavior, he absolutely didn’t seem drunk…… The moment I heard Gangjin hyung’s words ‘when he’s drunk, he gives away everything people ask for,’ all the rewards Seongheon hyung said he’d give me spun dizzily through my head.
‘Ah…… I see. So that’s why he said he’d do everything for me……’
I’d been excited earlier thinking about the latest computer, but those expectations were dropping steadily─.
Seongheon hyung snapped back at Gangjin hyung sharply, then grabbed my left hand that was hanging limply beside the table and pressed it against his cheek.
“Daeyoung-ah, touch my face.”
“Huh? Why?”
“How is it? Hot?”
“Um…… Just a bit warm.”
“Do I seem drunk to you? If Daeyoung tells me to stop drinking, I’ll stop.”
“You seem juuust a little drunk.”
“A little?”
To think Seongheon hyung’s drunken behavior was torturing me with hope by dangling material things. I wanted to ask if he’d already forgotten about buying me a computer, but it felt too much like looking out for my own selfish interests, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
“Daeyoung-ahhh─. It’s okay if hyung’s a little drunk, right?”
When Seongheon hyung whined, Daesu hyung expressed his displeasure by throwing garlic at him, and Gangjin hyung was stroking his chin as if thinking about something serious.
Among the grumbling hyungs, Gangjin hyung, who had been silent, finally opened his mouth with a serious expression after a while, so I thought something profound would come out, but it wasn’t.
“Hey, you guys. I’ll give you a riddle, try to solve it. Two elephants lost their trunks. So what would they say?”
Hmm…… What could it be? I at least pretended to think about it, but the other hyungs thoroughly ignored his words. Then suddenly Daesu hyung slipped his hand into Seongheon hyung’s coat pocket and familiarly asked something.
“Hey, Seongheon-ah. Where’s your phone?”
“Mine?”
“Yeah. You haven’t been answering.”
“Ah, I must have dropped it somewhere. Call me.”
Seongheon hyung fumbled through his padding pockets and pants looking for his phone, and meanwhile Daesu hyung made the call. But inside the tent was quiet without even a vibration sound.
“Didn’t you come from out back earlier? You must have dropped it somewhere there.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Stopping mid-drink, Seongheon hyung got up, lifted the tent, and went out. Watching hyung’s retreating back, the other hyungs all clicked their tongues. This must not have been the first or second time this happened.
He’d come to our house drunk before too…… Next time I see drunk Seongheon hyung, I thought I should take better care of him.
The quiz Gangjin hyung posed was long forgotten as I layered lettuce and perilla leaves and put 3 pieces of meat on top, when Daesu hyung grabbed my wrist.
“Wait.”
Is it because I put too much meat in? How petty.
“Why? I haven’t eaten much meat.”
“No, not that. Isn’t that ring Seongheon’s?”
“This?”
When I raised my thumb like giving a ‘thumbs up,’ Daesu hyung nodded. It looks like an ordinary flat ring on the outside, but there must be some writing engraved in the middle that identifies it.
Daesu hyung narrowed his eyes and looked more closely at my thumb.
“That’s right, it’s Seongheon’s.”
“How did you know?”
“We all know, man. Give that ring back when Seongheon sobers up. He said that ring is precious.”
“Precious?”
“Did you just take it without thinking when he gave it to you? Do you know what it is?”
“What, he just gave it so I took it…… When someone gives something with sincerity, you should accept it.”
“Just looking at it, it’s not an ordinary ring, right? He always wore it. Anyway, you’re ridiculously clueless. Why are your thoughts so short? Like a Welsh Corgi’s tail.”
“You don’t know, hyung. Welsh Corgi tails are originally long. Humans dock them.”
“Anyway, you only know useless things. Really, so smart. Little brother-nim.”
“Thank you. Big brother-nim.”
I thought Daesu hyung was just jealous that I was wearing the platinum ring. But Gangjin hyung also looked at this ring, then added while opening another bottle of soju.
“Right. That’s something Seongheon wore as a pair saying he’d give it to someone precious. So give it back tactfully.”
“Ah……”
So that’s what this ring was. I’d suddenly become a clueless guy.
“He explained it with some nonsense too. Anyway, it seems like he only told us, so don’t let on and make sure to return it.”
As soon as Gangjin hyung finished speaking, Daesu hyung held out an empty glass and continued the explanation.
“Hey, isn’t it that? Because they’re a precious connection, I remember him saying he wanted to give something he always carries on his body.”
“That’s probably it? I also heard something like that. It was funny seeing a guy with no humanity going on about pure feelings.”
When the hyungs clinked glasses, I also held up my drink and joined in.
Sip—the carbonation going down my throat stung. To give me such a precious ring so readily. Seongheon hyung must have been really drunk.
‘Haa…… Well, the computer is definitely out of the question now.’
That was probably also just something he said while drunk, right? I wanted to discuss with the hyungs the possibility of receiving it, but since Seongheon hyung called only me out secretly to talk about it, I kept my mouth shut.
‘If he doesn’t buy it after graduation, so be it.’
Come to think of it, when my dad gets drunk, he prostrates himself apologizing to mom for making her meet a worthless guy like him, but when he sobers up, he firmly denies it ever happened. He even said things that earned him a smack with a spoon, like ‘Mom wouldn’t have been able to get married if she hadn’t met Dad.’
Through this opportunity, I newly learned the fact that Seongheon hyung becomes generous when drunk.
‘Hmm…… Then when I confess that I stole the egg, I should do it when he’s drunk. And I should return the ring, right?’
After overhearing the hyungs’ words, I quietly took the ring off my thumb. I felt embarrassed to keep wearing it for no reason. Still, so I wouldn’t lose it, I carefully put it in my padding’s inner pocket and continued wrapping and eating 3 pieces of meat at a time.
“Ah, I finally found it.”
Seongheon hyung came in shaking his phone that had mud on one side.
When I pulled out a few wet wipes and handed them to him, hyung smiled with a smile more cozy than padding, saying thanks, and perhaps because he was drunk, the concentration of his smile was thicker than usual.
Should I return the ring to hyung now? I put my hand in my padding’s inner pocket, but it was in too deep and I couldn’t grab it. It seemed like I’d have to take off my padding to grab it, so just as I was positioning myself to pull out one arm, Ddanji slipped into the tent.
“Woof!”
Then he grabbed a piece of meat that must have fallen who knows when and slipped right back out.
“Ddanji! You can’t eat it with ssamjang on it!”
I quickly put on my padding and urgently chased after him.
“Ddanji, no! Don’t eat that! I’ll give you freshly grilled meat!”
Somehow knowing I was just saying that, Ddanji didn’t show himself. Daesu hyung also followed me out, but when Ddanji wasn’t visible, he gave up and went back into the tent.
I was about to give up too when the bushes near the faucet rustled, so I approached quietly with muted footsteps, and sure enough, Ddanji was there lying down chewing the meat.
“Grrrowl……”
“Hey, I told you not to eat stuff with ssamjang on it.”
Ddanji had already heard my words with one ear and eaten it all. I tried to at least wipe the ssamjang from his mouth, so I picked him up and took him to the faucet.
The vet said Ddanji was obese and to reduce even treats besides dog food, so I hadn’t thought to give him meat, but he must have desperately wanted to eat it. I wiped the ssamjang from Ddanji’s mouth with water and finished washing my hands too.
When I put Ddanji down on the ground, he shot like an arrow back into the tent where the hyungs were.
“I said no!”
As I ran after him and checked if there was something else on the floor, the hyungs were having some serious conversation, and even though Ddanji swiftly passed between their legs, no one paid attention. Fortunately, the only thing on the floor was one lettuce leaf, but Ddanji didn’t even glance at it and quickly went back outside.
Only after seeing that did I gently sit back in my eating spot and picked up what Gangjin hyung was saying.
“Seongheon-ah, didn’t you say there was someone contacting you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Someone from your department.”
“There isn’t.”
As soon as he denied it, Seongheon hyung’s phone started ringing.
♪♫─.
Even from my seat I could see Seongheon hyung’s phone screen, and instead of a name showing who it was, only a number was displayed. Seongheon hyung glanced at his phone on the table, then immediately flipped it over and ignored it.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
At Daesu hyung’s question, Seongheon hyung glanced at me. As if he was reading my mood. Though that couldn’t be.
“Just because.”
“Answer it. Isn’t that the number that’s been calling since earlier? Ending in 1223. Wait…… I’ve seen this number somewhere.”
Daesu hyung entered the number into his phone’s dial and raised his eyebrows.
“Hey, it’s them.”
“……”
“Your ex─”
Just as Daesu hyung was about to answer, Seongheon hyung put a cut cucumber in Daesu hyung’s mouth.
“I know. So be quiet.”
“What the.”
“You knew and weren’t answering on purpose?” Daesu hyung grumbled and complained.
From my perspective, I only heard up to “ex” so I don’t know exactly what it is. After that too, Seongheon hyung strangely cut off everything the hyungs said.
Just now too, when Daesu hyung asked “What was the name of that station where we got off in the middle when we were taking the train before?”, when Gangjin hyung replied “Ah…… The place where we got off with those girls who got on before us?”, Seongheon hyung again crumpled up a lettuce leaf and stuffed it in Gangjin hyung’s mouth.
