007. Tipsy

Is there any truth serum as effective as alcohol?

At least, within the bounds of legal substances, I know of none.

“After I graduated high school, I used to go on survival audition shows pretty often.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“My friends kept telling me I sang well… and that if I learned guitar and did it together, I’d make it. The kids kept saying that.”

From her lips, drunk on alcohol, old stories she hadn’t even been asked about flowed out smoothly.

Her past, which I’d only vaguely known as a silhouette, was gradually becoming clearer.

“But, I get really nervous… And I wasn’t that great a singer either. I didn’t make it. Couldn’t even get past the preliminary rounds.”

“Someone like you, Haeun-ssi, I bet they would’ve passed you just based on your looks.”

“I thought so too, but maybe because I was too nervous, it didn’t work out. I even went to an academy, but it wasn’t much use.”

While admitting her own shortcomings, she never refused praise about her attractive appearance.

I think I’m starting to understand why she was so rude every time I saw her at the stadium, and why she’s now falling head over heels for a guy like me.

Seo Haeun is starving.

Starving for validation,

Starving to be acknowledged.

“As you might have heard, later I wanted to at least get my face on TV, so I went out with my sister, right? We thought going as sisters would create buzz, you know? …But after the preliminaries, they just plucked her out mid-way. An idol agency.”

“…”

“I’d heard stories like that before, so I kind of suspected it, but when it actually happened right in front of me, I was just stunned. And she just happily trotted off after them. Without even thinking about her older sister.”

As I listened to her increasingly whiny complaints, I quietly replaced her empty glass with a Long Island iced tea.

Her speech was starting to slur, and whether she knew she was drunk or not, she was steadily sipping down a drink twice as strong as soju.

“What happened after that?”

“…I was so pissed off, I just quit. Sold my guitar too. Got a job, though. At my dad’s stadium.”

“You said you hated baseball.”

“There wasn’t anywhere better, what could I do? …I flunked the college entrance exam, couldn’t even go to university.”

As she washed away bitter memories with the cocktail’s sweetness, she grew more intoxicated by the dim bar’s atmosphere.

Watching Seo Haeun like that, I took a sip of my gin and tonic and asked softly, my lips full of the scent of alcohol.

“Okay, that’s all understandable, but why did you leave after joining? I mean, I left because I got injured.”

“Why would Kang Joo-hyuk-ssi ask me that?”

“Huh?”

“I left because of you. Because you left.”

“I didn’t do anything to you, Haeun-ssi? What I said back then was all because of you too…”

“…Do you know how much I was badmouthed after you got injured, Kang Joo-hyuk-ssi?”

“Huh?”

But the answer I hadn’t expected came out, and even I, who tried to stay composed, was slightly taken aback.

…I quit the stadium because of me?

But looking at her eyes, which shot me a grumpy glare, I didn’t feel any immense malice.

Nagging or harsh words.

An emotion close to shallow resentment.

“Before that, people just looked at me creepily, but after you got hurt, they started treating me like trash. I swear… I didn’t do anything. Rumors that I was the Director’s daughter were spreading like wildfire too.”

“That… the rumors started before I got hurt…”

“I don’t know! Anyway, after you got hurt, I was totally ostracized. Like, really… …My dad wouldn’t even listen to anything I said.”

“What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything! …I just grumbled to my sister. Who the hell would tell dad that? I’m not a kid?”

That pitiful look, implying ‘It’s not all your fault, but it’s partly yours too’.

It should have felt disgusting, but it didn’t.

Because I harbor similar feelings towards this woman.

“Why are all baseball players fucking idiots? My dad included. That crazy bastard from high school too. All the players just stare at my chest. Later on… they’d make dirty jokes about Ye-eun. She was still in high school then. It’s insane, really.”

“I was a baseball player too, so that’s a bit harsh.”

“Joo-hyuk-ssi, you’re the same! …You’re always staring at my chest too. You have a girlfriend, yet you keep talking to me… …You just don’t do anything weird.”

“As long as you don’t do anything weird, that’s fine. And besides, I don’t really look at your chest, Haeun-ssi. I look at your eyes when I talk.”

“I don’t know about that. Seeing as you like Ye-eun, your taste is pretty obvious.”

“Ye-eun?”

“Jia, Seo Jia! You don’t even know your favorite celebrity’s real name? Seriously… You like her just for her hips and chest, right? And since I have bigger breasts than her, you’re hitting on me?”

I was a bit flustered by Seo Haeun, who had completely lost the ability to distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate speech due to drunkenness, but I didn’t show it at all and took out a tissue to hand her.

“Haeun-ssi, calm down. Calm down. Wipe what’s on your mouth first.”

“There’s nothing on my mouth?”

“There is, so wipe it first and calm down.”

Watching the tissue come away clean, with no trace of tint, I took the lead in the conversation from Seo Haeun, who tilted her head in confusion.

She was drunk enough now that she couldn’t possibly embellish her answers, no matter what I asked.

“Let’s start over. You were stalked in high school, and that’s why you grew to hate baseball, right?”

“It wasn’t about baseball. It was the baseball players I hated.”

“But that wasn’t about the profession, it was because he was an idiot. Like that trainer who hit on you, Haeun-ssi.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know… …It’s all your fault. Whenever I’m near you, guys keep hitting on me.”

“No, what happened in high school has nothing to do with me…”

“It does! …Because we went to the same school. You and I, Kang Joo-hyuk-ssi.”

“What?”

“When I was at the stadium, I was looking through Excel and saw it. We were classmates. Though I never saw you.”

…She was so drunk she was spilling even this surprising fact so easily,

She was more honest than ever before.

If she got any drunker, she might just spill her measurements.

“Staring at me like crazy because I have big breasts. Asking me out. Asking me out again even after I refused. Commenting on Instagram. Acting like we’re close… …That crazy bastard. If I said his name, you’d probably know him.”

“I didn’t have any crazy bastards like that among my classmates.”

“Ah, well then. Maybe he was fine there. Or maybe what’s considered ‘fine’ is different where you were, Kang Joo-hyuk-ssi.”

“That’s too harsh. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know… I’m just complaining because I’m annoyed. Sorry.”

Acting as her emotional trash can and accepting all her complaints, I carefully watched when her glass, more than half empty, would finally hit bottom.

Most guys would be drunk after one glass of that, but this woman had already chugged three glasses on top of it.

If I stood her up and took her to a motel, tied her down, and had my way, ninety-nine out of a hundred wouldn’t resist.

But there was no need to choose such a risky option in this pleasant atmosphere.

I want this woman,

But I don’t want to become a criminal.

“Haeun-ssi.”

“What?”

“Answer me honestly… Do you think I’m similar to those people?”

“What people?”

“The people you hate.”

“A little… similar, but very different.”

I bent down, getting a little closer to her, and asked in a low voice.

She blinked dazedly, her pupils dilating as the drunkenness spread through her body.

“What aspects are different?”

“You have a girlfriend, Joo-hyuk-ssi.”

“She’s about to disappear. Besides that.”

“Your height? Your muscles… honestly, you had plenty. Do I have the kind of face that’s popular with muscular guys?”

“You just have the kind of face that’s popular with men in general, Haeun-ssi.”

“…”

“Anything else besides that?”

“You speak formally? Everyone else uses informal speech. Ah, but that trainer bastard used formal speech too. I just hate him…”

“Then, Haeun-ah.”

“…”

Using the worst man from her drunken mouth as a benchmark,

I made her, melting under the soft lighting, re-evaluate me from the beginning.

Fighting doesn’t require you to be the strongest in the world.

You just need to be stronger than your opponent.

A good fighter is someone who chooses their opponent well.

“We’re the same age, so let’s drop the formalities. Seo Haeun. Do I seem similar to those bastards now?”

“You’re a little, a little different.”

“Speak informally too. We’re the same age.”

“Slightly, just…”

“I get that you’ve had a lot of weird people around you, Haeun-ah, but am I a little better than those guys?”

“…”

Seo Haeun, who clamped her mouth shut before finally nodding, I asked the question again.

“Haeun-ah, give me your hand. Just for a second.”

“Why?”

“Just give it. There’s something I want to try.”

Her hand, offered more readily than when I’d given her my business card last time, was clasped gently.

“What, what is it?”

“If those guys shook hands with you like this, would you feel good or bad?”

“Bad.”

“Now?”

“I don’t know, just… It feels weird…”

With my other hand, I cupped the back of her hand and pulled it towards me, pressing it to my forehead.

“You’ve never dated anyone before, right?”

“No.”

“Were there only weird guys like that around you?”

“Yeah.”

“Want me to tell you why?”

“What is it?”

“It’s going to be blunt, is that okay?”

“Yeah.”

Seeing her genuinely curious face, I let go of her hand and stood up, moving to sit beside her.

Then, I downed the remaining sloshing cocktail, covered my lower face with my hand, and whispered softly.

“It’s because your body is sexy. To be honest.”

“Because my chest is big?”

“Your chest, and other places too. In many ways.”

“Are you drunk, Kang Joo-hyuk?”

“Yeah. I’ve had quite a few drinks.”

I stared intently at her collarbone, then shifted my gaze to her eyes, continuing my lines without pause.

“It’s not your fault, but with looks like yours, you need to reject them firmly so flies don’t swarm you. When I saw you rejecting people at the gym, you were too gentle. That’s why they keep bothering you.”

“I thought I spoke very firmly? Even normally…”

“That’s not enough. Here. Give me your hand.”

Before she could even offer her hand, I grabbed her wrist and gently placed it on the table.

“Okay, I’m one of those guys now. What are you going to do?”

“Let go. I’m going to report you.”

“But I’m not letting go. Then what?”

“I’ll report… I have to report you.”

“Reporting is good. But at this point, the police might not even arrest me. They could say the guy was drunk.”

“Then what should I do…?”

“Okay, straighten your back. Shoulders too. That’s right. Confidently.”

Casually touching her waist and shoulders, I corrected her into a confident pose that didn’t match her dazed face.

I looked at her profile, illuminated by the alcohol-heavy lighting.

…It’s really not easy to look beautiful even from the side.

Even with barely any makeup on, the fact that a woman radiating allure reacted to my every word excited me.

“From that position, fold your thumb and index finger, then fold your ring and pinky fingers too.”

“Like this?”

“Yeah, like that.”

“Isn’t this an insult…?”

“It is.”

Seo Haeun, who had raised her middle finger towards the air with a blank expression, looked closely at her own finger, suddenly chuckled, and then burst into laughter.

“Pffft… What is this?”

“This is being firm. Do you know what it means?”

“You want me to curse? If someone hits on me?”

“Yeah. Raise your middle finger and tell them to fuck off. Just like you did to me.”

“Kang Joo-hyuk, you didn’t fuck off?”

“If I’d raised my middle finger, I would have fucked off. Since I only said it, I didn’t.”

“What the hell is that…”

“Okay, now straighten just your index finger from there. Okay. Right.”

Then, changing her fingers to a V-sign, I naturally put my hand on her shoulder and dug into my pocket for my phone.

Using her amused smile as a background, I focused so my face was clear and snapped a selfie.

“What are you doing?”

“For someone I like, I do this. Middle finger plus index finger.”

“I don’t like you though?”

“Why not? I’m better than them, aren’t I?”

“Better than those weird guys, sure. But you’re also a bit…”

“Hey, aren’t you being a little harsh to someone who got rejected yesterday?”

“He got rejected because he’s not good enough…”

Seo Haeun, cursing me with her slurred speech before laughing ‘Ahaha’, was captured by the camera once more, and this time too, I ended the physical contact at a point where I felt a slight regret.

…If it were up to me, I’d have her drink one more glass, but that seems too dangerous.

Even if it’s risky, I have to compromise at this point.

If that woman passes out first,

I won’t be able to pretend I passed out too.