“It’s been a while, everyone.”
Kwon Wookyung gave a light nod of his head.
The loud laughter that had been filling the room shifted into murmuring.
“Is that really Kwon Wookyung?”
“Wow, how long has it been for you too?”
“I had a feeling something was missing next to Shin Haehyeon. It was Wookyung.”
Everyone said something along those lines, one by one.
The people gathered here had been close to me — not all of them had been close to Wookyung. Most of them had only ever exchanged greetings with him, the quiet presence that was always by my side. So while some were genuinely happy to see him, others just kept sneaking glances, curious. It was simply a matter of a classmate they’d crossed paths with in the hallways or classroom one day disappearing, then coming back as a celebrity.
Choi Seonho, who could at least be called a friend, opened his mouth.
“Right. It really has been a while. You haven’t kept in touch with anyone, so how’d you end up here?”
There were thorns in his voice. I understood the resentment Seonho must be feeling, so I stayed quiet. Even I would have been furious if Wookyung had dropped out without a single word of warning.
“There were circumstances. Sorry. Good to see everyone.”
Wookyung didn’t even seem to care whether Seonho was being sarcastic or not. There was no way an answer that brushed off everything that had happened with there were circumstances could be satisfying. Even the good to see everyone didn’t sound good to see anyone at all.
“Uh, uh… go ahead and sit down.”
Kim Daehee, whose personality was easygoing and rounded, tried to pull over an empty chair beside him, but Seonho stopped him.
“He came late, so he has to down a penalty drink first.”
He picked up a soju bottle that was more than half full, poured it all into an empty beer glass, then filled the rest to the brim with beer. Then he held the glass out to Wookyung to drink.
“The soju-to-beer ratio is completely off. That’s gonna taste awful….”
As Park Seryeong muttered, it really did look like a particularly terrible glass.
But Wookyung picked it up without a word and drank it straight down.
“…….”
Is his alcohol tolerance okay? I’d never seen him drink before, so I had no way of gauging whether that would knock him out or not. Not that anyone here would know his tolerance either.
Wookyung set the drained glass down on the table, then pulled out the chair next to Kim Daehee and sat.
“Ohhh…….”
The others let out small sounds of admiration.
“You’ve gotten even more handsome. Is it the camera effect?”
Kim Daehee passed him a plate and chopsticks while striking up a conversation. Daehee had been a classmate in second year — a piano major — and had spoken with Wookyung quite a bit. That was because when Wookyung and I sat side by side in the very back seats by the window, Kim Daehee had been in the seat right next to us across the aisle.
“Not particularly. Are you still playing piano?”
“Oh, you remember?”
“You used to do accompaniment for the dance department sometimes.”
“That’s right. These days……”
The atmosphere, which had briefly gone quiet at the unexpected arrival, grew lively and rowdy again, and since my seat was at the center of the table and far from them, I couldn’t catch what the two were saying.
Still — drinking a forced penalty shot and actually remembering a classmate. That’s worth something, I guess.
Even if Wookyung could read everyone else here, I doubt anyone could ever read him.
I didn’t have the luxury of staring at Wookyung for long. I was busy dealing with Kim Minji, who had claimed to be a good drinker and then gotten drunk faster than anyone, now leaning on my shoulder and talking nonsense.
“Haeheong… Haeheong…!”
“Ugh, Kim Minji. Your head is heavy, get off.”
“Don’t wanna.”
With no immunity to drunk antics, I turned to Hwang Hyunseo.
“Hyunseo, what do I do with her?”
“I don’t know. Carry her home on your back.”
“Carry her, my foot. It hasn’t even been that long since I started walking on two legs again.”
“Good grief.”
Whether it was the alcohol making her laugh, Hwang Hyunseo giggled.
“You’re in a ballet company now, right. When are you heading back to the States?”
“Early morning flight later tonight.”
“……Huh? Seriously? When did you even get to Korea?”
“Earlier, around five in the afternoon, I think?”
“……That’s four hours ago. Are you insane?”
Hyunseo took a sip of her beer and shrugged.
“Impressed?”
“A little……?”
Honest answer.
“Shin Haehyeon is really way too easy to win over. Lowest difficulty setting.”
When I made it obvious I was touched, Hyunseo laughed at me.
“You never knew how to turn people down when they confessed, either. And you have no idea that when word got out you and Minji broke up, the girls had a whole silent standoff over who would confess to you first, do you?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
Huh. No wonder the confessions kept coming in order.
Blindsided by a truth I was only learning six years later, I found myself suspecting even Hyunseo.
“Don’t tell me… not you too?”
“Oh come on. No. Really no.”
She was practically glued to my arm, and yet she shook her head with complete seriousness.
“I did like you, but not in that way… how do I put it. I liked you when we danced together. Because you were the prince on stage who smiled at me. I have a lot to be grateful for with you.”
I understood what she meant by that last part. The pas de deux we performed together at the international competition had drawn a lot of attention for both of us. She, like me, had received scholarship offers and admission invitations from overseas schools… and that must have led to her joining the company. But neither of us put any of that into words.
“I am pretty prince-like, I guess.”
“What? You idiot. You ruin everything the moment you open your mouth. What is it everyone sees in you, honestly….”
We bickered just like old times, and only after laughing to herself several times did Hyunseo finally let go of my arm.
Having held on to me as long as she wanted, she said she was going out for some air to sober up and stepped away. She left with an expression of someone who’d cried and laughed and come out lighter for it.
With people going back and forth to the bathroom or outside for a smoke, the seating kept shifting chaotically. Several people cycled through the seat Hyunseo had vacated. Each one asked how my health was doing and shared what they’d been up to. Everyone was working so hard with their lives that I felt a slight sense of urgency. I really do need to buckle down and study for the GED and the college entrance exam. I really, really do.
The staff changed out the grill plates several times and empty bottles piled up and were cleared away. Old friends who hadn’t seen each other in ages grew rosy with drink and traded stories from the past.
This is nice. Watching these slightly more grown-up versions of my friends eat their fill and laugh and talk — even without drinking, I was starting to understand what it felt like to be drunk.
I was resting my chin in my hand, looking around, when my gaze landed on Wookyung at the end of it. Wookyung was also resting his chin in his hand, looking at me.
What.
I mouthed my irritation and looked away. My cheeks had been prickling for a while — that must have been because of him. He’s been having perfectly fine conversations with everyone who comes up to him, so why does he keep just staring over here… so distracting.
I looked down at Kim Minji, who had at some point shifted to lay her head on my thigh and fallen asleep.
If only I had a permanent marker right now, I’d doodle all over her face. With hands that kept itching to do something, I lifted my coat and draped it over the sleeping Minji. I also didn’t forget to sneak a photo of her ridiculous sleeping face. Heh, I’ll post it in the group chat tomorrow and immortalize it forever.
“Hey… Haehyeon.”
“Yeah?”
I was in the middle of hatching my sinister plan when someone sat down in the seat next to me. I racked my brain.
“You’re… Im Yujin, right?”
“Yeah. You remember.”
“You were close with Daehee. Violin major from the class next door.”
“That’s right. I graduated with violin and I do recitals now.”
We’d run into each other occasionally passing through the practice rooms and exchanged greetings.
I remembered her being quiet back in school, and she still gave off that impression.
“You’re still doing music. That’s great.”
Since I’d always enjoyed listening to classical music, the conversation flowed without difficulty. It was that kind of talk — which musicians she’d been drawn to recently, which interpretations she’d been immersed in.
Then something unexpected came up.
“Do you remember dancing to Debussy’s Arabesque in the dance practice room?”
“Ah… did I?”
Unless it was a classical repertoire piece I’d mainly rehearsed, it was hard to remember every single piece I’d danced to. Debussy had been used as accompaniment music too, but—
“Yeah. I happened to pass by and saw you dancing alone. I thought you were rehearsing for a piece.”
“It probably wasn’t for a piece. There’s no solo choreographed to that music.”
“I see…….”
Im Yujin’s voice trailed off. When I looked at her curiously, an awkward smile came back at me.
“Actually, I didn’t expect you to have no memory of it at all. Because I wrote about this in a letter.”
“Huh? What letter?”
“I… put it in your locker… looks like you never got it. I wrote it after hearing you and Minji had broken up.”
In short, Yujin had been one of the girls in the silent standoff too. I reached up and rubbed the back of my neck, belatedly feeling guilty.
“That’s strange. I read all my letters. I never threw any away.”
“If it wasn’t you, then it’s fine. I wasn’t trying to make it into a big deal after all this time… it’s in the past, but it was something I’d always wondered about, so I asked. I’m sorry if I made things uncomfortable.”
“No. I genuinely wasn’t uncomfortable. I wish I could find that letter even now. I’m sorry for making you feel bad.”
“You’re still really kind, aren’t you.”
Im Yujin smiled. At that moment Kim Minji took a sharp inhale and let out a loud hrnk, shattering the mood. Honestly, what a handful.
As I looked down at Minji with a sigh, Yujin stood up from her seat.
“Anyway, congratulations on waking up. Getting everyone together like this was really great — got to see so many friends.”
“Thank you. Invite me when you do your next recital.”
“I will.”
After Yujin moved away, I pondered what to do about Minji. Along with the sensation of my circulation being cut off, my leg had started cramping.
“Hey, Princess Minji.”
Even being called a princess, Kim Minji just grumbled mmmph and kept sleeping.
I can’t just dump her off me… then again, the state she’s in, she probably wouldn’t even notice if I did.
Sunk in a grave ethical dilemma, I slowly rotated my ankle to work out the pins-and-needles feeling and gulped down some water.
Hm.
Only after swallowing two big mouthfuls did I notice the taste was off.
Wait — is this soju?
