Ch.4949. Drinking Games Without Alcohol

At around 9 PM, I barely managed to make it back in time for roll call. It was quite an achievement, sprinting through the hotel interior wearing nothing but a swimsuit.

As for the stares from other hotel guests who saw me wearing only a swimsuit… I’d rather not mention that.

“Phew.”

Roll call over.

When I entered the assigned room wearing just my swimsuit, the looks from the other guys were rather unsettling. Their eyes resembled those of people watching a monkey in a zoo cage.

“…What, why?”

I unconsciously muttered in a defensive tone. Then, as if he’d been waiting for this moment, someone tapped my shoulder.

“Why? They’re just curious, that’s all.”

I turned around to see Lim Hansol. This guy casually placed his hand on my shoulder as if we were close friends.

“What, you’re in this room too?”

“Yeah, isn’t that obvious? We’re in the same group.”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, he was in the same group as me, right? Since we’re both in Group 1, it makes sense that we’d be assigned to the same room.

“But why are you still in your swimsuit? Aren’t you going to change?”

“…I need to change now.”

I couldn’t stop by the changing room while rushing to make roll call. So I needed to get fresh clothes from my suitcase. Just as I was about to head to the corner, it happened.

“Hey guys, shall we start?”

Hansol suddenly tightened his grip on my shoulder while uttering a strange keyword.

“Huh?”

What’s going on? The situation changed so abruptly that my brain couldn’t keep up. Before I could ask anything, a guy who had exchanged glances with Hansol nodded.

“Okay.”

A guy with a buzz cut that only soldiers typically have brought a large bag from the corner. He looked familiar.

“…”

A dull green duffel bag that depressed me just by looking at it.

With a name clearly written on top as if to prevent theft, it was definitely military-issue.

…What high school student carries a military duffel bag? As I stared with my mouth agape in bewilderment, what came out of it was even more surprising.

Colorfully painted aluminum cans.

In other words… alcohol. More specifically, canned beer.

“…Isn’t this alcohol?”

“What are you talking about? This isn’t alcohol.”

It’s clearly beer, what do you mean it’s not? Hansol, who answered with a grin, pushed my back, and before I knew it, I was sitting in a circle with the other guys.

“Hey, dude. Your body is insane. Did you work out?”

The buzz cut guy’s mumbled words were directed at me. I realized this belatedly.

“Huh? Me?”

“Yeah, you worked out, right?”

“I did.”

“I thought so. How long? 6 months? A year?”

“About 3 years, I think.”

Individual differences aside, this kind of physique would take at least 3 years of working out. When I gave this rough estimate, the buzz cut guy’s face filled with admiration.

“Wow, it took 3 years to build that body? Building muscle is really hard. I’m about to start working out, what should a beginner do first?”

“Well, for bodyweight exercises, there’s pull-ups, push-ups, squats… but for something you can do at home with quick results, squats would be best.”

“Don’t exercises like squats and push-ups need proper form? I’ve seen on YouTube how to do them, but I’m not sure. Could you show me now?”

“Sure? Try getting into position.”

-Clap.

As my conversation with the buzz cut guy was getting interesting, Hansol, with a wry smile, suddenly clapped his hands.

“Okay, you can discuss workout stuff separately later. Let’s do something together now.”

“Do what?”

“Obviously, a drinking game.”

“…I thought you said it wasn’t alcohol?”

My protest was easily dismissed. Hansol looked around the group with a meaningful gaze and placed a can in the center of our circle.

“Whoever loses takes half a shot. Call?”

“Call.”

“Okay, this should be fun.”

Whatever I say here would just be raining on their parade. So I just kept quiet.

The buzz cut guy spread his palm and said:

“Hand Byungho game.”

A classic drinking game name came up. The Hand Byungho game has very simple rules.

Taking turns, each person states a condition, and those who meet it fold one finger. The first person to fold all five fingers has to drink the penalty shot.

“So, who wants to start?”

“Let’s go clockwise from the person in the middle.”

As the buzz cut guy said this, his gaze was directed at me. Given our somewhat distorted circular arrangement, I was practically in the middle.

“Alright, Han Siwoo. You start.”

“Hmm… fold if you wear glasses.”

In these games, one person usually ends up taking all the heat. So politics is important.

If I say something like “everyone except me,” I’d likely face concentrated attacks. So unless I plan to drink all the penalty shots, it’s best to start with a neutral condition.

The order was clockwise, so next was the student to my right.

Unfortunately, a guy wearing glasses.

That guy looked at me with a strange expression.

“Fold if you’re shirtless.”

He said.

“…”

Usually, targeting a specific person like this goes against the unspoken rules… but since we’re playing for fun, let’s just smile and move on.

Now I have four fingers left.

Next is the buzz cut guy.

“Fold if you’re good at studying.”

“…Wait, what’s the standard for ‘good at studying’? Be specific.”

“I don’t know, just fold if you think you’re good at studying, according to your conscience.”

I don’t know about the others’ grades, but I’ve even received an award for academic excellence, so not folding would be absurd. So I reluctantly folded another finger.

Three fingers left.

Next up is Hansol.

“Fold if you’re taller than 180cm.”

“…”

“What’s wrong, Siwoo? Why aren’t you folding?”

“…I’m 178cm.”

“What are you talking about? Everyone knows you’re 182cm.”

“No… how would you know that? Do you have proof?”

“Yes, it’s all in the personal records. I saw everything when I was working on them as class president.”

Using personal authority in a casual setting—what a coward. The only consolation was that I wasn’t the only one who folded a finger. A couple of visibly tall guys also folded one finger along with me.

Now I have two fingers left.

Looking at the others with four or even five fingers remaining, I’m clearly in the lead.

“Is it my turn?”

The next in line was the vice president of Class A. I remember having a few conversations with him during elective classes.

“Fold if your family is rich.”

I need to say something about this.

“…Why do you guys keep targeting me? Are you all in on this?”

They might as well just tell me to fold directly. Deliberately making vague conditions and then pressuring me with their eyes—they’re quite malicious.

“Wow, look at Siwoo’s confidence. But I’ll admit this one.”

“Yeah, is being tall and rich everything? Well, that is everything, actually.”

“Just fold already, you’re annoying.”

The words were harsh, but the tone wasn’t accusatory. It was just the kind of banter guys engage in.

“Fine, fine. I’ll fold.”

So now I have one finger left. One more attack and I’ll have no choice but to drink the penalty shot.

The next player, who might deliver the final blow, is the guy who sits in front of me in class.

Since he was sitting directly across from me, I tried to signal with my eyes.

‘Give me a break, just this once.’

Of course, he immediately ignored me.

“Fold if you have a girlfriend.”

At that moment, everyone’s attention focused on me.

I pretended to look elsewhere and remained silent, but the guys, including Hansol and the buzz cut guy, were all staring at me with one mind.

…A silent pressure to fold my finger.

“……”

Ah… there’s no point in denying it here, right? Honestly, if I were in their position, I wouldn’t believe me either.

Giving up resistance, I folded my last remaining finger with a trembling hand. My hand became a tightly clenched fist.

“Okay, Siwoo wins!”

Meaning I got the penalty shot.

“Hey, drink up quickly.”

“…Alright.”

I’m not particularly fond of alcohol, but since I lost, I have no choice but to drink. I opened the can and poured it down my throat.

But… the beer tastes strange? I frowned deeply and asked.

“Why does this taste weird? Is this really beer?”

I checked again just to be sure. A green-coated canned beer. It’s a brand of alcohol I recognize.

But why doesn’t it have any kick? It was unusually bland for beer. It felt more like drinking a beverage flavored to taste like beer rather than actual beer.

Looking at me, Hansol retorted as if I was saying something absurd.

“I told you from the beginning that it’s not alcohol.”

“What? Then what is it?”

“What else? It’s non-alcoholic beer.”

“……”

Have you ever seen such wholesome students?

*

The games continued for quite a while after that.

Hunminjeongeum, whisper game, timing game, and more… we went through various drinking party games, and strangely, the main target was always me.

“Ah, I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

The games finally ended well past midnight.

The guys who had been acting like they were going to pull an all-night party had already crashed. That was to be expected.

Since it was the first day of the trip and we had been active during the day, fatigue had accumulated even if it didn’t seem like it. In a way, this was a natural outcome.

“Phew.”

I took a deep breath looking at them. My stomach feels quite queasy. That’s because I drank a lot of penalty shots.

Half a can per game, so I drank about six cans? If what I drank had been soju instead of non-alcoholic beer, I would have definitely been drunk.

“Is your stomach okay?”

Hansol approached me as I sat with my back against the wall. When I shook my head, finding it difficult to speak, Hansol sat down next to me with a slight smile.

“You know the guys didn’t have any ill feelings, right?”

“…”

Are you sure about that? From my perspective, it seemed like pure malice. This isn’t some kind of torture—drinking this much water at once would make anyone sick.

After a little while, when my stomach felt slightly better, I finally managed to ask:

“Do the guys in our class dislike me?”

“Huh? No, why would they dislike you?”

“Then why are they treating me like this?”

I asked this quite seriously, but Hansol glanced at my face and answered with a grin:

“It’s because they’re jealous of you.”

“What? Jealous?”

“Yes, jealous.”

“…Explain so I can understand.”

Actually, the keyword “jealousy” itself is unfamiliar. Except for the first day of school when I knew nothing, I hadn’t really gone around bragging about anything.

But as they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. There’s no effect without a cause. This means I must have provided some cause.

“Really? I thought this was obvious enough without explanation.”

Hansol said that, but I was completely puzzled with nothing coming to mind. Seeing that I wasn’t understanding quickly, Hansol’s gaze shifted below my waist.

My swimsuit.

“What’s wrong with my pants? Was the design bad?”

“No, it’s not about your pants… Siwoo, think about what you were doing while wearing that.”

“…What are you talking about?”

Was there anything besides playing in the sea with Hwa Nabi? My mouth stopped abruptly as I was about to answer.

Swimsuit, jealousy, sea.

Three keywords that might seem unrelated at first glance, but when connected, they lead to one conclusion.

“…Don’t tell me everyone in our class saw us playing?”

“Oh, correct answer. You’re quick. Yes, the guys were extremely envious of you.”

“Come on, over something like that…?”

It was absurd now that I knew the truth… but on the other hand, it wasn’t completely incomprehensible. To uninformed observers, it must have looked like I was rubbing salt in their wounds.

“Wow, so you’re saying that’s no big deal? As expected of the Beauty and the Beast couple.”

“…Wait, people call us that?”

“Yeah, they’ve been calling you that for quite a while. You didn’t know?”

“Not at all.”

Beauty and the Beast? This was news to me, but I could guess the context.

‘The beautiful Hwa Nabi tamed the beast-like me (…).’ Something along those lines, I suppose.

“Well, that’s how it is, so don’t take today too personally. The guys don’t dislike you.”

“If that’s the case, then that’s a relief…”

Whatever the reason, it was fortunate that they weren’t trying to give me a hard time because they disliked me. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Oh, and I should have said this earlier, but I enjoyed dinner yesterday. Thanks to you, I got to eat at a fancy restaurant. The others also wanted me to thank you.”

“Why don’t they tell me directly instead of through you?”

I wasn’t trying to show off for treating them to a free meal; I was genuinely curious. I was also thinking about what Jinhee had said earlier: “You look intimidating normally.”

When I asked, Hansol slightly avoided my gaze.

“Why are you avoiding eye contact?”

“…You might find the answer if you look in a mirror.”

“…What the hell?”