episode_0081

081.

After the end of all the academy activities,

Jin Soyeon visited her childhood friend’s house after quite a long time.

A standalone house around 30 square meters. Memories of playing around like it was her own house when she was young came flooding back.

It was a simple house, but with over 10 years of shared memories with Lee Jinhyuk, the memories were scattered all around.

“It was really fun back then.”

As a naive child, she could play without any complicated thoughts.

But at some point, their interactions started to decrease, and eventually, it came to a sudden stop.

“Is this the first time visiting Jinhyuk’s house since entering the academy?”

It really feels like it’s been a long time.

It must have been quite lonely living alone in this spacious house without his parents.

Just imagining Lee Jinhyuk being left alone in this big house without his parents made a pang of sadness hit her heart.

Back then, she had helped Jinhyuk in many ways as he was feeling lost, but ultimately, coming back home alone must have made him feel the loneliness even more acutely.

Being a somewhat neglected child in her childhood, Jin Soyeon could empathize with Jinhyuk’s feelings.

But now, he won’t be alone anymore.

She will be there for Jinhyuk to make sure he doesn’t feel lonely.

“To be there for him.”

Suddenly, the thought of visiting the house of a healthy teenage boy alone came to her mind, gently brushing through her thoughts.

A boy and a girl alone in a house where no parents are present?

Hmm, well.

Back in the day, whether she was alone with Jinhyuk or not, she didn’t pay much attention, but once she started perceiving them as a boy and a girl, her cheeks inexplicably started to flush.

Her foolish heart is beating wildly on its own again.

Oh, really.

Why is this happening, seriously!

Being alone with Jinhyuk is nothing new.

“…But. Jinhyuk doesn’t seem to care much.”

Is it just Jin Soyeon who is conscious of them being a boy and a girl?

Glancing at Jinhyuk for a moment, he seemed indifferent, quietly opening the front door with an expression that showed he didn’t really care about being alone with her. Once, he used to like her, but now he might not even think of her as a girl.

Thinking like that made her a little sad.

But the sadness was fleeting.

Jin Soyeon shook her head to dispel the negative thoughts. Yes, enough of these foolish thoughts, let’s think about how to confess.

Regardless of the outcome, let’s give it a try.

“Ahem. Excuse me~.”

“Knowing that no one’s here, what’s the point.”

With a determined greeting, Jin Soyeon slowly entered the house.

And there, the beautiful patterns on the white walls and the ivory-colored floor caught her eyes.

In the living room, there was a luxurious sofa and a 65-inch wall-mounted TV, and as Jinhyuk turned on the lights, a warm glow softly descended, creating a subtle atmosphere.

What’s this? There are quite a few pieces of furniture that I’ve never seen before.

It was a familiar sight in the house, but at the same time, it was an unfamiliar sight.

Jin Soyeon carefully scanned the scenery of the house. Despite being rich, it seemed like he had recently purchased various things.

“Did you buy all this with stocks?”

“Yeah.”

Jinhyuk nodded nonchalantly, hanging his coat and bag on the sofa.

“But where did you get the money to invest in stocks?”

“I inherited a fortune. It’s in the billions.”

“…Oh, really?”

Jin Soyeon blinked her eyes rapidly.

Investing an inheritance of hundreds of millions in stocks?

Well, whatever, she knew that it’s his own choice on how to use the inherited fortune.

But investing an inheritance in stocks felt a bit uncomfortable in many ways, so Jin Soyeon couldn’t help but erase her awkward expression.

If it were Jin Soyeon, she would never engage in stock trading, which is like half gambling with her precious inheritance.

Because she could lose all of her inheritance if things go wrong.

“Oh, what’s with that look when you see a gambler? Have you forgotten what abilities I possess?”

“Uh… future prediction ability?”

Jin Hyuk chuckled and nodded his head.

“Thanks to that, I was able to make a fortune.”

Of course, he didn’t actually have a future prediction ability, but he could almost predict the rise and fall of stocks through his memories in the game, so in a way, it was similar to having a future prediction ability.

“I’ve been investing in real estate a bit these days. It’s great to make money without working, right?”

“…I have no idea what the Financial Supervisory Service is doing.”

“Huh. What can the Financial Supervisory Service do? It’s not like I cheated or anything, right?”

“…If that’s not cheating, then what is it, hmph.”

Jin Soyeon pouted at Jin Hyuk’s teasing.

“Anyway, I’m hungry. Shall we order some food? I’ll treat. What do you want to eat?”

“Anything.”

“Really, anything?”

After a moment, Jin Hyuk ordered sashimi, spicy stew, and sushi. Sashimi and sushi weren’t bad choices.

A while later.

Ding dong! The doorbell rang, and before they knew it, the sashimi, sushi, spicy stew, and more were delivered.

Jin Hyuk and Jin Soyeon neatly arranged the food on the table and sat down.

“The drinks are in the fridge, so help yourself.”

“Do you have grape juice?”

“Because of the kids’ preferences.”

“Never mind.”

Jin Soyeon walked briskly to the fridge and opened it wide.

But…

“There’s alcohol?”

The fridge was filled with various kinds of alcohol. What, what is this?

Whiskey, soju, beer, and more. There was quite a variety, so Jin Soyeon couldn’t help but laugh. Alcohol? Underage drinking? How did they get so much alcohol?

“Oh, right. I forgot there was alcohol.”

Jin Hyuk scratched the back of his neck.

As he used to be a socialite in his past life, he liked alcohol quite a bit, so he had bought a lot of different types of alcohol to put in the fridge.

Just to have a drink when he felt like it.

“…Jin Hyuk?”

“Uh-huh.”

Jin Soyeon turned around with a smile.

Her lips were upturned, but her eyes didn’t share the same smile, making for a somewhat scary sight.

It felt like her ears were steaming with anger.

She looked like a mother catching her young son secretly smoking.

“…What’s with drinking at your age?”

“In Germany, you can drink alcohol from the age of 14.”

“But we’re in Korea? And how did you even get so much alcohol?”

When she gently asked Yoo Seolhyun, she made an incredulous expression, then took a deep breath before answering.

“Haa. Jin Hyuk, still, alcohol is a bit…”

“I only drink a little on weekends. And most of them are beer, so the alcohol content is low.”

“Is that supposed to make it okay?”

Rubbing her temples as if she had a headache, Jin Soyeon let out a deep sigh.

“Of course, I can’t lecture you on whether you drink or not, but still, it’s a bit much, Jin Hyuk.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll drink less, so just bear with me.”

“What do you mean bear with you? Ugh.”

Knowing that he was expressing his concerns, Jin Hyuk didn’t argue back forcefully.

He wasn’t so clueless as to say, ‘What does it matter to you if I drink or not?’ in a defiant tone.

As I said, the two of them had a family-like relationship.

From Jin Soyeon’s perspective, this level of nagging was something she could definitely handle, and from Lee Jinhyuk’s perspective, he had no choice but to listen.

“Drinking alcohol isn’t illegal, you know.”

“If it’s not illegal? …It’s just that there are no punishment regulations.”

“Then it’s fine.”

“How did you even buy alcohol in the first place, really.”

“If you report this, only the seller will be punished, you know?”

“If you report it to the academy, you might get punished too, you know?”

“You’re not going to report the person who risked their life to save you from Seong Yura, right? Come on, unless you’re an ungrateful person, you wouldn’t do that. Right, Soyeon?”

Of course, Soyeon was kidnapped because of Jinhyuk, but anyway.

“If you can’t say anything, it’s better not to be annoying. Ugh.”

Jin Soyeon furrowed her brows, thinking about the alcohol in the fridge.

Honestly, the hero trainees had bodies close to superhumans, so drinking a little alcohol wouldn’t cause any major problems.

But for a hero trainee to secretly purchase alcohol, wasn’t that a violation of the law? Underage alcohol sales and consumption are illegal, after all.

…Well, even so, Soyeon wasn’t a person without flexibility.

If the behavior didn’t harm others, she could be quite lenient.

Moreover, Jinhyuk drank alone at home, so constantly nagging about it would only damage their relationship.

‘…I was planning to subtly confess if the mood improved today, but if I keep nagging about alcohol, the atmosphere will only get worse. Can’t be helped, I guess?’

Jinhyuk buying and drinking alcohol secretly didn’t sit well with her, but incessantly nagging would only harm their relationship.

Even though Jinhyuk was currently listening obediently, if he kept hearing nagging, it would eventually become irritating.

‘Why do you drink alcohol anyway.’

She remembered trying the alcohol her mother had poured for her a few times, but it tasted bad, gave her a headache, and made her lose her sense of reason… Huh? Wait a minute.

‘Ah, come to think of it, there’s a saying that you can confess well without trembling if you confess after drinking alcohol, right?’

There’s a common saying, ‘courage comes with alcohol.’

It might be because alcohol clouds judgment and reason, but it could help Soyeon, who had been hesitating to confess today.

Using alcohol to bolster oneself before confessing was something that only happened in dramas.

And conveniently, there was alcohol available. Why not give it a try?

“…Jinhyuk, are you going to drink alcohol now?”

“Mm.”

Jinhyuk glanced down at the table.

Fresh sashimi and spicy seafood stew were prepared.

“To be honest, I’m a little craving soju, but if you don’t like the smell of alcohol, you don’t have to drink… ”

“No, I’ll drink.”

“Huh?”

Soyeon brought out soju and beer from the fridge.

“Why beer?”

“Since we’re already here, I’ll try it too.”

“You?”

“Yeah. I was curious about what taste you prefer.”

“Tomorrow is a day off.”

“Well, it’s not a big deal to have beer. Honestly, beer isn’t really alcohol. It’s just a drink with alcohol in it.”

“…That’s alcohol, you fool.”

Jinhyuk looked at her in disbelief before finally opening the beer can. Ugh, the smell of beer.

“Let’s cheers, cheers.”

“Yeah.”

Jinhyuk chuckled as he opened the beer can and took a sip.

Honestly, Soyeon was slightly worried about just watching her drink alcohol, but she could somewhat anticipate why she was drinking, so she decided to leave her be.

Based on the current situation, it seemed highly likely that Jinhyuk was thinking along the right lines.

“…By the way, I think there was a setting that he’s weak to alcohol.”

But would he really get drunk from just one can of beer?

The alcohol content in beer is at most 4.5%, right?

Considering that there’s a makgeolli that kids used to secretly drink with over 6% alcohol, it was reasonable to think that a hero trainee wouldn’t get drunk from just one can of beer.

***

“Ddalkkung, hey! Lee Jinhyuk! Aren’t you going too far these days? Always hanging out with other girls!”

“….”

“Are you even listening to me?! Hey!”

“….”

Jin Soyeon repeated nonsensical words while her face turned bright red.

What’s up with her,

Is she really drunk?

From just beer?

“Soyeon, you’re just pretending to be drunk, right? Right?”

“Hah! Yeah, I was pretending, so what!”

“…You have a drinking problem.”

“I’m not drunk, though?”

“…Yeah, yeah.”

Jinhyuk chuckled and took a sip of his beer.

With the thought that he shouldn’t let Soyeon drink again in the future.

“Anyway, Soyeon, do you have anything to say to me?”

“Hmph~ No~.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

Jinhyuk locked eyes with Soyeon.

And with a casual tone, he teased her.

“I thought you were pretending to be drunk to confess your feelings or something, but I guess not?”

“Haha, as if I would do that…?”

In an instant,

Soyeon’s body stiffened.

“Wait, Jinhyuk, what did you just say…?”

“I said I thought you were pretending to be drunk and accidentally confessing your feelings after drinking, why?”

With Jinhyuk’s casual words, Soyeon could feel the tipsy feeling that had been swirling around her dissipate in an instant.

“What, Soyeon.”

Jinhyuk chuckled as he spun the beer can around.

“You thought I wouldn’t notice at all?”