Chapter 34: I’m going to marry this girl

“Do we really have to go today? I’m dead tired from staying up all night yesterday.”
“Forget it, let’s go~. We don’t have any assignments, and tomorrow’s a free day anyway.”

One night, sometime ago. With the hellish midterms finally over, Chae Seolha dragged me and Yu Garyeon out of the lecture hall, saying it was time to treat ourselves after a long time.

Following Chae Seolha, we walked for several minutes through the winding alleys of the university district. Finally, a blue sign with a tacky chicken character and a cracked cement wall came into view.

“Ugh, it’s already full…”

The inside of the chicken place was packed with a noisy crowd, like a swarm of bees.
We barely managed to squeeze through and sat down at a table a waiter guided us to.

“A review posted on Aeta a while ago was a huge hit. It used to be a hidden gem known only to a few…”

The review Chae Seolha showed me featured the restaurant’s signature dish, dakgangjeong, glistening with a sweet and sour sauce coating, looking incredibly appetizing.

“You know I can’t resist this kind of thing. I have to try it myself to be satisfied.”

Soon, Chae Seolha greedily licked her lips and started munching on the puffed rice crackers on the table. Her cheeks, moving as she chewed, looked quite lovely.

“Have you decided on your order?”
“Ah, just a moment. First, a large dakgangjeong and…”
“One 500cc draft beer.”

Yu Garyeon, sitting beside me, raised her hand and spoke. A bright smile graced her lips.

“Seolha, you’re having 500cc too, right? Then, one large dakgangjeong and three 500cc beers…”
“No, no, no, no, Yu Garyeon, are you out of your mind!?”

Chae Seolha, her face aghast, waved her hands frantically and squeezed between me and the waiter.

“Uh, unni. I’m really okay now—”
“Shut up! Ah, I’m sorry. We’ll have two 500cc beers and one cola.”
“Ah, yes, I’ll bring them out shortly.”

After placing the order, Chae Seolha, gasping for breath, started glaring at Yu Garyeon with eyes like a flounder. Yu Garyeon pouted resentfully and turned her head away.

“What’s wrong? Is ordering some beer such a big deal?”

Feeling sorry for Yu Garyeon, I cautiously spoke to Chae Seolha.

“Of course, it’s a big deal. A very big deal. Especially when she’s acting all innocent after causing such a ruckus three times already.”
“Unni! I told you, it was because I wasn’t feeling well back then. It-It’s different now. I even practiced drinking with my parents at home…”
“Yeah, your mother actually texted me. Told me not to let you touch a drop of alcohol.”
“…”

Chae Seolha sighed deeply, looking at Yu Garyeon, who was fiddling with her fingers with her head down, and then spoke.

“Garyeon, she’s incredibly weak to alcohol. She gets all woozy and stumbles after just one sip of beer, let alone soju.”
“If she passes out, we can just take her home. There’s no need to stop her from drinking.”
“If it just ended with her passing out, I wouldn’t have said anything. She’s not like that. She becomes a completely different person when she drinks.”

Wrinkles started to form on Chae Seolha’s forehead as she continued speaking.
Chae Seolha, who rarely got angry, especially not at Garyeon, her cherished younger sister—for her to be this upset, what on earth could have happened?

“The first time was after the college entrance exams… The day Garyeon finished her practical exam for the ‘Da’ group.”
“U-Unni!”

Yu Garyeon frantically tried to cover Chae Seolha’s mouth, but Chae Seolha grabbed Yu Garyeon’s cheek, stretched it out, and then calmly continued her story as if nothing had happened.

“Somehow, the topic of ‘Garyeon, you’re an adult now, should we try some alcohol?’ came up. Well, we were all very excited that day. You know how crappy it feels to be cooped up in an art academy after the CSAT, watching other kids have fun. All that pent-up frustration just exploded.”
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, that night, we went to a pub like this. She said she really wanted to try chicken and beer.”

Chae Seolha’s eyes lost their light, like a rotten fish.

“The reaction came as soon as she took one sip. Her ears turned bright red, and she couldn’t keep her head straight, swaying back and forth. And then she started slurring, ‘Unni, unni,’ which was cute at first. Then suddenly, she leaned over to me and started, you know, kissing me all over my cheek.”
“Pfft.”

I spat out the water I was drinking. Yu Garyeon, sitting beside me, had long since covered her face with her hands.

“‘I love you, unni, I like you,’ she said, hugging me and rubbing her face against mine, making kissing sounds. I wondered what was going on. Still, it was bearable up to that point.”

Chae Seolha licked her lips and continued.

“After doing that for a while, when I didn’t react, she moved to the next table. And then.”
“Ack—! Aaack—!”

Yu Garyeon thrashed about, interrupting Chae Seolha’s story. Of course, the result was two cheeks stretched out like rice cakes.

“She showed my picture to the people sitting there and said, ‘Isn’t my unni pretty? I’m going to marry her.’ But when those people didn’t say anything and just stared, she started pounding on the table and screaming, ‘Say she’s pretty!’”
“Ahem.”
“I was so surprised… I went over to their table, apologized, and told them she was new to drinking and asked them to understand. As I was trying to bring her back, she suddenly lay down on the floor. And then she started shouting, ‘I love you, Seolha unni, please marry me,’ loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear. Eventually, the owner even called the police.”

It looked like steam was rising from the top of Yu Garyeon’s head as she listened to the story.

“It was a place right in front of my house, so I used to go there quite often, but I haven’t been there since that day. Because I was so embarrassed.”
“That’s understandable.”

I silently expressed my respect to Chae Seolha.

“It didn’t end there. The second time, she got caught causing a scene, grabbing onto a streamer who was broadcasting at Han River Park. The third time, during a birthday party at our house, she accidentally drank the wine my dad brought out to liven up the mood, and the table was shattered, and my mom was grabbed by the collar. Asking why she wouldn’t give me to her.”

Various questions flashed through my mind, but I didn’t ask any further. I wasn’t sure if my brain could handle that information.

“Her excuse was the same every time. She wasn’t feeling well, she wasn’t mentally prepared… And that was the result of believing her. So how can I not be angry?”
“W-Well, I’m sorry. I feel like I meddled without knowing the situation.”
“No, how many people in the world could predict something like this? Anyway, what I want to say is.”

Chae Seolha paused for a moment, then spoke with a serious expression.

“Absolutely do not let alcohol enter her mouth.”

****

I understood.
The words Chae Seolha said to me that day, the weight she carried on her back, I could understand it all now.

“Oppa, take this off. The smell is covering it up.”

At the sensation of smooth fingers unexpectedly invading the inside of my clothes, I let out a pathetic voice and retreated.

“Where are you going?”

Yu Garyeon, crawling towards me on all fours, combined with her long, white hair, looked incredibly eerie.

“Garyeon, you’re drunk. You’re not in your right mind. How are you going to face me tomorrow if you act like this?”
“Huh? I’m perfectly sober. I can see your face, your expression, even your pores, all clearly.”

She’s completely lost it. Realizing that, I lifted Yu Garyeon with both arms. If I just threw her onto the bed and let her sleep, it would somehow work out.

“Wow, what. What is it? Oppa, where are you taking me?”

Yu Garyeon, her face alight with excitement like a child on a piggyback ride, spread her arms wide in a ‘hurrah’ pose.

“You’ll get seriously hurt if you fall, so just stay still.”
“Hmm, then.”

Yu Garyeon, who had been flailing like a freshly caught tuna, suddenly jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck.

“This should do it.”

Yu Garyeon once again buried her nose in my neck and started inhaling. And then, wasn’t she licking my collarbone with a flick of her tongue?

“Let’s see.”

The strange sensation of her slippery tongue and a hot heat flowed over my skin.
Startled, I let out a sharp cry and shook my head in resistance. But the pervert in my arms, without a word of apology, just licked her lips and spoke.

“What a fuss over something that doesn’t even taste good. Hmm, it really tastes disgusting. How can it be so uniformly foul and tasteless? You’re truly a person without a single pretty corner.”

My hand, gripping her thigh, began to tremble with agitation.