Exactly 40 minutes later, three men clinked their glasses at an indoor pocha near Jeong Contempo’s studio.
“I had no idea Jion and the composer-nim had become so close.”
Looking at Jinyeong’s expression, you’d think it was his first drink, but two bottles of soju were already empty. Jion thought it was a good call to drag Jinyeong out to Jeong Contempo’s venting drinking session. With a stranger present, Hyundae’s shyness kicked in and stopped the whining that had been scheduled.
“Ah, Jion really gives me courage and… treats me well… gives me a lot of feedback on my songs…”
“Jion’s originally good at comforting the members and leading them well.”
And Jinyeong also displayed excellent social skills with people outside the group. Even with just the brief explanation Jion had given him before arriving at the drinking session—he has low self-esteem but if you cajole him well, he’ll bring out all the good songs he’s been hiding—he knew exactly what he needed to do here and moved accordingly. No, he did more than that.
“I want to visit hyung’s studio too. Please invite me.”
“My studio?”
“Yes. Jion said you have really good songs.”
“Ah, really… But I gave all my songs to BNCZ so I don’t have any left…”
“Come on…”
Jinyeong filled Hyundae’s glass with an eye smile.
“Then couldn’t you write just one solo song for me?”
Jinyeong was originally terribly ambitious. Jion laughed inwardly watching Jinyeong’s scheming.
The Jinyeong from their Mangdol ending days might have quickly given up on wanting to keep singing like Jion, wanting to continue as an idol, but he never gave up his ambition to succeed. At this point in time, it wouldn’t be strange for him to harbor a determination to achieve something in the entertainment industry.
“You’re already preparing for a solo? Ooh…”
“No, well. You never know, right? Opportunities are caught by those who are prepared.”
Jinyeong wasn’t ashamed of his ambition either. He didn’t stop drinking either. He filled the glass of Hyundae, who was looking at him with an impressed face, and clinked glasses.
“Again, cheers.”
Yeah, this is why I brought him today. Recalling Jinyeong crying miserably after the group disbanded while replenishing moisture with alcohol four times the volume of his tears, Jion propped his chin on the table.
I’m done now. You guys drink among yourselves.
Unlike Jinyeong and Hyundae who could talk while drinking, Jion’s alcohol tolerance was only half a bottle of soju at best when in top condition. His face ripened red and tipsy, Jion couldn’t even join the two men’s conversation anymore. A moment later, when Jinyeong ordered the fifth bottle of soju, Jion was already face-down on the table, sleeping soundly.
“Hah…”
Not knowing that to meet Jion, it was faster to quickly go to bed and rendezvous in dreamland rather than wait for him to return, Seonwoo Jin clutched his phone with a face glistening with dewy radiance.
“Why aren’t these guys checking their messages…”
Me
[Did you meet?]
[Where are you drinking?]
[What about Jinyeong?]
[What time are you playing until?]
[Running long?]
[Coming late?]
[When are you coming?]
[I’m sleepy]
[Am I sleeping alone?]
Seonwoo Jin originally lacked interest in others, so his imagination wasn’t outstanding either. Thanks to that, he didn’t do foolish things like simulating various delusions on his own and suffering by himself. But that didn’t mean waiting for a roommate who went out and then cut off contact was an easy thing to do.
Like a lover who sent out their partner with a history of cheating to a drinking session, Seonwoo Jin persistently sent messages and was frustrated that Jion didn’t even check them.
“Did he maybe lose his phone…”
Me
[What are you doing]
[Why are you guys ignoring my messages]
[What’s Jion doing?]
[Tell Jion to check his phone]
[Is Jion with you?]
[What are you doing]
[Hey]
[Hey]
[Hey]
[Hey!!!]
[Seriously what are you guys doing]
[I’m telling Geon-hyung you’re staying out]
[You guys are drinking right]
“Ah, shit!”
And it wasn’t just his heartless roommate ignoring Seonwoo Jin’s messages. Seonwoo Jin sat up abruptly, enraged at the messages showing no signs of being read.
“Why did he only take Lee Jinyeong…”
When he’s closer to me and didn’t take me…
Seonwoo Jin gnawed on his nails without realizing it. Seonwoo Jin still couldn’t understand Jion choosing Jinyeong instead of himself as a drinking buddy.
“We’re always stuck together, we sleep together, we play together, we eat together, so why did he take Lee Jinyeong to something like that?”
Seonwoo Jin didn’t even think that if you’re stuck together that much, the other person might get tired or sick of you. He was only anxious that Jion, his only friend and colleague, family, lover…?, went out without him and had been unreachable for this long, so he had no room to think about anything else.
Things like the fact that it had only been 2 hours since Seong Jion left the dorm, or the fact that he was a healthy twenty-three-year-old South Korean young man.
“Ah, why can’t I reach this guy!”
Checking the chat window with Jion that still showed no read receipt, Seonwoo Jin shouted in a true voice that didn’t even come out during vocal practice.
And as if to soothe Seonwoo Jin’s temper, the quiet phone vibrated with its whole body shaking. It was a message notification.
“Gasp!”
Seonwoo Jin checked the screen happily, but the chat room with Jion still only clearly showed ‘Unread.’ Instead, it was Jinyeong who had sent a message.
Lee Jinyeong
[00-dong @@Indoor Pocha]
It was a reply to the question of where they were. And as soon as Seonwoo Jin checked the message, a photo also flew in. Jinyeong making a V sign with a fed-up expression and a man whose face he seemed to be seeing for the first time. This person was probably Contempory. Seonwoo Jin had no interest in these supporting characters.
“What… Why is he like this.”
Seonwoo Jin discovered the back of Jion’s head face-down in the corner and enlarged the screen. It was hard to see clearly, but his ears were red so he seemed drunk. After very briefly thinking ‘Is he crying?’, Seonwoo Jin felt relieved and called Jinyeong.
“Is Jion drunk?”
—Yeah, we’re going for a second round but he passed out. Are you busy right now?
“No? Why?”
—Then come pick up Jion.
The ambitious Jinyeong wasn’t a soft man who would stop attacking a promising composer just because his friend got drunk and fell asleep. Seeing Jion face-down after a few glasses of soju and not knowing how to wake up, instead of waking him to call a taxi or supporting him, he called Seonwoo Jin.
“Huh? Did you fly here?”
He thought it would take at least 30 minutes to change clothes and come out looking like a person, but before they could even finish the remaining soju, Seonwoo Jin walked in through the shop door with his cap pulled down low. Jinyeong was startled, but Seonwoo Jin didn’t even pretend to hear and after taking off his cap, lightly bowed his head to greet Hyundae.
“Hello.”
“Ah, Seonwoo Jin-ssi. Hello, have you been well?”
“Ah, yes. How much did you make this kid drink?”
Finishing the conversation with Hyundae roughly with a nod that seemed unsociable, Seonwoo Jin looked at the soju bottles filling the table and frowned. Feeling wronged, Jinyeong pointed at the limp Jion.
“Hey. He had one bottle? One and a half bottles? I don’t know? When I came to my senses, he was dead.”
“Anyway, you made him drink too much, that’s why he passed out.”
“I didn’t make him drink? He drank on his own.”
Jinyeong protested his innocence, but it didn’t reach Seonwoo Jin’s ears. Seonwoo Jin approached Jion and woke him with a voice completely different from the blunt tone he’d been shooting at Jinyeong.
“Ona, Jion-ah… Wake up. I’m here.”
At the kind and careful voice like an only daughter visiting her dementia patient, Jinyeong gestured as if to say ‘look at that’ and smiled at Hyundae.
“Ungh… Woojin?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Does your head hurt? Are you nauseous? Are you okay?”
“Mm…”
Dead drunk, Jion lifted his head at the familiar voice, then placed Seonwoo Jin’s large hand under his cheek and fell back asleep. The table he’d been face-down on until just now had been too hard and uncomfortable. Seonwoo Jin smiled even with his hand under Jion’s face and moved his fingers to tickle his chin.
“What are you doing, being so cute…”
“Unnngh…”
Seeing Seonwoo Jin not forcibly waking or lifting Jion but rather the two of them playing a tickling game among themselves, Jinyeong frowned and shook his head.
“Ha, they’re starting again, homo behavior with no demand.”
“Haha… The members are just close, that’s all.”
“Don’t lump them together as members, hyung. The other kids aren’t like that.”
Jinyeong waved his hand in disgust.
“Those two are beyond the level of common sense… that kind of thing exists. Ma’am, the check please!”
“Ah, I can pay! I sold songs…”
“I’ll pay for the first round, so hyung can pay for the second round.”
Jinyeong appealed to his normalcy with a clear boundary-setting, finished paying, then naturally suggested a second round to Hyundae.
“You go ahead and take Jion.”
“Drink moderately and come back. We have recording the day after tomorrow.”
“I won’t overdrink.”
Jinyeong snorted while helping Seonwoo Jin lift Jion.
“And even if I overdrink, I can sing better than you.”
It was a playful boast, but it was the truth. Unable to refute, Seonwoo Jin sat scratched and turned his back to Jion’s front. He didn’t want to show his scratched face to Jinyeong, and… Realizing Seonwoo Jin was going to piggyback Jion, Jinyeong was surprised.
“You’re piggybacking him?”
“Yeah.”
“He’ll be heavy since he’s drunk.”
“Jion only has bones so it’s fine.”
“Yeah, I was worried about the weight of those bones though… It’ll be quick if you take a taxi.”
At Seonwoo Jin’s reply, Jinyeong gave up on persuading him. Jinyeong wrapped Jion’s arms around Seonwoo Jin’s neck, supported his butt to help him lift and stand easily, and gave one last reminder.
“Don’t do that princess carry thing you guys always do on the street. That really looks weird.”
“You do well yourself.”
Seonwoo Jin looked between Hyundae and Jinyeong alternately and snorted. Then he briefly bowed his head to greet Hyundae and left the shop with Jion on his back.
Ten minutes by taxi, thirty minutes on foot. Anyone could see a taxi was the rational choice, but Seonwoo Jin chose to walk thirty minutes with his drunk member hoisted on his back. It wasn’t to show off his surplus strength. Just a bit of revenge? Retaliation? Should he call it that?
“…Leaving me behind and only playing with Jinyeong…”
Seonwoo Jin’s irrational and illogical behavior was the result of a strange calculation that since you played with Lee Jinyeong for 2 hours, you have to stick with me for 30 minutes too.
If Jion had been in his right mind, he would have snapped at him not to waste his precious body and grab a taxi right now, but right now Jion, who was Seonwoo Jin’s sanity regulator, was already not in his right mind.
Seonwoo Jin walked slowly, savoring the weight and body heat of the limp Jion. After walking about 15 minutes and getting a bit tired, he stopped by a convenience store, bought a hangover remedy and water for Jion, and rested at an outdoor table for a moment.
“Jion-ah, can you drink this right now?”
“Uh… Yeah…”
“Here. Put your lips here.”
