Chapter 8.17

“Is there anything you want to eat?”

“No.”

“Okonomiyaki, assorted fish cake, and two bottles of soju, please.”

When Jaeyoung folded the menu and extended it, the employee took it and disappeared behind the folding screen.

It was Saturday night in a quiet corner of a Japanese tavern where they could talk without interruption. Jaeyoung had kidnapped Sangwoo, who was on his way home after his part-time job. He had been unable to get any work done because of something that had happened the previous day. If he hadn’t been confused while sleeping, it meant that Chu Sangwoo had secretly kissed him and run away. It didn’t make any sense at all.

Chu Sangwoo wasn’t the sort of person to deviate from convention or custom. It might be assumed that he could be asexual but not actually gay. Anyway, he just indifferently looked at Jaeyoung who was looking blankly at him. Rather than believing them to be the eyes of a person in love, it would be more reasonable to say that he had been imagining things.

“Why do you want to drink all of a sudden?”

“We’ve been working together for over two weeks. It’s time for a get-together.”

“Well… sure.”

For the last time, a  long silence persisted. Jaeyoung no longer had the confidence to pretend as if nothing had happened, even with Sangwoo sitting in front of him. Whether he had intended to or not, Sangwoo had attacked him so much the past two weeks, that his walls were torn down and the moat had been filled. He needed to confirm what exactly was the final destination of this sense of incompatibility. That’s why he arranged this kind of meeting.

The type of electronic music that Jaeyoung liked, quietly sounded through the speaker. Sangwoo was looking at the ceiling. Jaeyoung rubbed his neck for a few seconds before consciously turning his head.

After waiting for a while, the server appeared with soju and simple side dishes. Sangwoo, who seemed like he’d never been to a drinking party, naturally shook the bottle and opened the lid. With slight nervousness, Jaeyoung accepted a drink that Sangwoo had poured.

It was the standard procedure for pouring alcohol: pour with the right hand and support the wrist with the left hand and to cover the brand with the palm while holding the shot glass. These were perfect manners that even kept the idle talk going at drinking parties.

“Who taught you that?”

“My mother. She taught me as soon as I became an adult, telling me that my reputation could be damaged if I didn’t know how to.”

It was Jaeyoung’s turn. Sangwoo raised his glass and supported his wrist with his other hand. He was wondering what they were doing, with the relationship between a college hyung and his junior, but nothing came out of his lips. That’s because he now knew the nature of being satisfied just as long as he followed the rules. The clear liquid filled the soju glass.

The glasses touched and they emptied them at the same time. Jaeyoung ate some boiled peas and looked at Sangwoo, who was sitting with a casual look on his face. Jaeyoung had nothing to say, so he filled the two glasses instead, and once again the alcohol went down his throat.

“You can handle alcohol well, I see.”

”My acetaldehyde decomposition enzymes are on the active side.”

“I thought you wouldn’t even let alcohol touch your lips.”

“How come?”

“At the MT for freshmen, you insisted that you didn’t want to drink.”

Sangwoo filled Jaeyoung’s cup while looking curious. Jaeyoung received the bottle of alcohol and filled his empty cup while saying: “I was there as well.”

“Oh, a tiring thing happened then. Did you see it all?”

“Of course. I’m the one who removed your cell phone battery.”

“I tried to report that bastard for theft, but I stopped since I couldn’t identify him.”

Jaeyoung smirked and munched on some peas.

“If I hadn’t stopped you back then, you probably wouldn’t have been able to get out of the situation.”

“Is it that you want to hear, a thanks at this point?”

‘Bastard, you’re still the same as ever.’

When he first met Sangwoo, he would’ve gotten angry hearing something like that, but he didn’t anymore.

“Are you an idiot? You’re supposed to be a coding genius. Ah, is it that you don’t know human psychology because you’re a machine?”

When he said the same thing he had said before, a smile spread across Sangwoo’s face. The partly visible eyes disappeared into the curved eyelids.

‘…he’s so fucking cute.’

Jaeyoung swallowed his alcohol with his eyes closed.

“It’s not just then, I’ve seen you a lot after that.”

“When did you see me again?”

“I took the same class a few years ago.”

“Really?”

“Yup. There’s a time when you tried to take my money in front of the store… And there was a time when I tried to interview you at the school festival, but failed.”

Sangwoo emptied his glass with a look that displayed that it was all something he’d heard for the first time. Just then, the server brought o