CH 331

The drinking party, which started without beer, was surprisingly good.

As the group of nine people gathered, the seats were completely full even though there were two large tables attached. Park Geon-ho and Woo Seo-hyuk sat next to me, who happened to be seated in the middle.

It was rather good. The two people who knew my drinking habits had the greatest chance of helping me not to get drunk.

‘Honestly, it’s a little hard to believe Park Geon-ho, but…’

If it was a fun-loving person, I wasn’t sure, but Woo Seo-hyuk, who hated noise, was definitely a strong ally. I sent a smile of trust to Woo Seo-hyuk, who put the glass in front of me.

“…do you have anything to say?”

“It’s nothing.”

Woo Seo-hyuk, who saw my smile, asked me with a strange expression, but I couldn’t explain it in front of everyone, so I turned my head with a dry cough.

“Which one do you like better, coke or orange juice?”

“I want orange juice.”

Min Ah-rin and Edward, who were sitting next to each other, had a cute conversation and filled the glass with juice. As I watched it, Park Geon-ho, who was sitting next to me, took out a new cup.

“Then, here is the share of our Talented Han Yi-gyeol.”

Park Geon-ho, who poured cola and soju into a beer glass, placed it in front of me. Coke was almost 85% full, so it was ridiculous to call it alcohol.

‘I guess he wasn’t joking to try helping me.’

To be honest, I thought that Park Geon-ho would mix cola and soju half and half or give me more soju. I guess he was seriously trying to help me not get drunk. I wondered why, but it wasn’t bad for me.

“Why does Han Yi-gyeol’s drink look like that?”

Cheon Sa-yeon, who poured a lot of liquor into the same beer glass as mine, looked at my glass containing coke and tilted his head. I spoke on behalf of Park Geon-ho, who only shrugged his shoulders without saying a word.

“You’re paying attention too much.”

“How can I not pay attention to you when you make something strange and drink right in front of me?”

“There was nothing we could do about it since Team Leader Park Geon-ho bought everything but beer.”

Cheon Sa-yeon’s gaze turned to the piled up wine bottles.

“Come to think of it, there’s no beer indeed. Are you on the weak side?”

“…this body is like that.”

In response to the short answer with a lot of meaning, all the eyes of the team members turned to me.

What? Min Ah-rin asked me with a curious expression as I was embarrassed by the sudden attention.

“Yi-gyeol-ssi, then, does your body drink alcohol better?”

“I guess… yes. I even ran a bar. I also had to drink more.”

“How much alcohol can you drink now?”

“I think it’s about a bottle of soju. The other day…”

Oops. As I unintentionally explained, I quickly shut my mouth. Cheon Sa-yeon, who was sitting across, raised the corners of his lips slightly at the silence that came somewhat awkwardly.

“I guess you must have drunk alcohol after you became Han Yi-gyeol.”

“…somehow a little.”

“You can’t drank alone. With whom?”

“……”

“But did you have time to drink? You were always in the room. Ah, maybe with Woo-jin-ssi?”

“No. I’ve never had a drink with Han Yi-gyeol.”

“……”

As the conversation continued, a cold sweat broke out. I made a mistake, so I had to take care of it myself, but I didn’t know how to explain this to pass it safely.

As I kept my lips shut until the end, Kwon Jeong-han, whose beer glass was half filled with soju, intervened with a bright voice.

“Ei, Hyung is a grown man too, so he can go out for drinks with women. I think it would be better to not dig in and let it pass in moderation.”

“What? Wait, what are you talking about?”

Before I could come to my senses after hearing the unexpected remark, Min Ah-rin sent an apology with a face that seemed to understand.

“Aa… I see. I’m sorry, Yi-gyeol-ssi. Drinking with women…”

“Pardon? No. I didn’t!”

Drinking with women what? I drank with these bearlike guys sitting on either side right now! If there was even one woman, it wouldn’t have been as embarrassing as this.

I could say that I had a drink with Park Geon-ho and Woo Seo-hyuk, but… this increased the risk of mentioning my behaviour when I was drunk.

That’s why I didn’t say it on purpose. I thought it would be better to just be honest than I got teased.

“I drank with Team Leader Park Geon-ho and Secretary Woo Seo-hyuk. It has already been several months ago.”

Woo Seo-hyuk and Park Geon-ho added additional explanations when I answered concisely to avoid unnecessary questions.

“At the time, it wasn’t long after Han Yi-gyeol-ssi was being kidnapped, so I was anxious to let him go out alone.”

“I ended up having a drink or two. To put it simply… it doesn’t seem to be accurate as to know how much alcohol Talented Han Yi-gyeol is able to drink from that one-time experience.”

I hadn’t told anyone, including Ha Tae-heon, that I drank separately with these two, but this was how it turned out. Min Ah-rin, who was looking at us curiously, opened her mouth.

“Because your body changes, even the smallest things, such as how much you can drink alcohol, change. So, if you change to your old body now, you can drink alcohol much more?”

“…maybe? I don’t know because I haven’t tried it.”

I couldn’t use my energy in this place to check how much I could drink alcohol, so I didn’t know the truth. When I swept the back of my neck awkwardly, Cheon Sa-yeon asked after thinking for a while.

“How about your drinking habits?”

“……”

Another awkward silence settled in the living room. The eyes of the team members who saw me secretly avoiding their gazes were coloured with distrust.

I was also embarrassed to the point of dying because of Elohim, who was smiling while putting the bowl of pasta down on the table.

‘It seems like we’re here for no reason…’

The drinking party was just beginning, but regrets had already flowed in.

* * *

The gathering, which everyone referred to as a “party,” continued until 11 p.m.

Edward, who kept his seat with a normal drink instead of alcohol, couldn’t overcome his drowsiness and went to bed first. Fox, who had been clinging to me while eating cookies throughout the drinking party, seemed bored too, so he curled up in the corner of the sofa and closed his eyes.

After drinking two cups of cola mixed with soju and two glasses of soju, I got up to get some fresh air from the slowly creeping drunkenness.

‘As a rough estimate, I drank about four glasses of soju, but this much… I guess one bottle is really the limit.’

When I went out into the garden, rubbing my slightly flushed cheeks, there was a person who came first. The opponent, who was looking up at the cloudless night sky, looked back at my presence.

“You’re not already drunk, are you?”

“That’s impossible.”

I put on the slippers and walked over to Park Geon-ho. In his hand was a glass of wine.

“Why are you holding your drink while getting some fresh air?”

“I took it without thinking. If you like it, I can give it to you.”

“I don’t need it.”

When I refused flatly, Park Geon-ho laughed.

“Well, since it’s whiskey, it might be a little strong for our Talented Han Yi-gyeol.”

This guy’s drinking jokes would last a long time. After coming out to rest, I met Park Geon-ho and thought about whether I should just go in, and then I changed my mind.

Right, this was an opportunity, so I had to say what I was going to say. It had been a while since I had been busy and didn’t have time to talk with Park Geon-ho alone.

“No more drinking. Rather, I have something to apologize to Team Leader.”

“Something to apologize to me?”

Park Geon-ho responded that he was quite surprised. It was the first time I said something like this to Park Geon-ho, who wasn’t someone else, so I understood.

“Before going to the museum… I read a book about Master Cheon Sa-yeon’s past, do you remember?”

“That, of course. Although it doesn’t make sense to look at someone’s past through a book.”

“You can think of it like watching a video that plays automatically.”

After hesitating for a while, I continued.

“Team Leader Park Geon-ho also came to Korea a long time ago and joined Requiem. As the founding member. I found out while looking at Cheon Sa-yeon’s past.”

“Hm, that’s right. Master was so cute back then. It’s a shame that the cuteness has disappeared recently. You said that he lived in time over and over again, so there’s nothing strange about it disappearing.”

“Well… he was cute. I’ve seen him when he was very young.”

“How old was he that you said very young?”

“About seven years old. This little kid running around and it was so cute…”

…wait, why did we suddenly move on to saying that Cheon Sa-yeon was cute? I coughed and redirected the topic of conversation that had gone elsewhere.

“Ahem, looking at the past, I also listened to Team Leader’s story.”

“My story… there wouldn’t be anything special.”

“It was when Cheon Sa-yeon and you had a beer. That…”

How should I explain it so that Park Geon-ho wasn’t surprised or offended? First, I opened my mouth as carefully as possible.

“Team Leader… told a personal story and I watched it. Your younger sister… it felt like a story about her.”

“Aa.”

Park Geon-ho, who had been listening with a puzzled expression on his face, nodded his head as if he knew only then when the word “sister” came out.

Contrary to the expectation that he would be a little uncomfortable, his attitude was more plain than expected.

“There is no need to apologize for that. It’s the same with seeing the past without their consent.”

“Still… I’m sorry. That’s what I’m going to say now.”

Hearing the apology, Park Geon-ho smiled bitterly and looked down at me.

“My sister… it’s a bad past, but it’s long gone. If I had been with you as well as Master at that time, I would have said the same thing. So don’t worry about it anymore.”

“……”

Park Geon-ho’s comfort that if I had been there, nothing would have changed had been etched in my heart. A tickling sensation spread like a feather flying in my chest.

Unfamiliar emotions flooded me and I couldn’t answer straight away, but Park Geon-ho gently patted my head with his big hand, then gently touched the corner of my mouth as he tilted his head.

“Isn’t it? Wouldn’t you be better to be concerned about this?”

“…what do you mean by that? Get your hands off me.”

“Oh my.”

Still, I was annoyed at him treating me like a child, so I slapped Park Geon-ho’s hand neatly on top of my head. I had known for a long time, but Han Yi-gyeol had too many problems with his appearance.

If it was my original body, he would never have been able to pat my head. And most importantly, I’m one year older than Park Geon-ho!

“To sum up, the past is fine, so I want you to pay more attention to yourself. Aren’t you being too rude to me these days? Sadly.”

“Team Leader was rude at first. Anyway, since we’re done talking, I’ll go in first.”

Anyway, if you relaxed a little with Cheon Sa-yeon or Park Geon-ho, they would joke. As I walked out of the garden, Park Geon-ho followed me quickly.

“Look at this. How nice would it be if you asked to go in together? It’s because you leave people like this and go in alone.”

“Be quiet please.”

At this point, I wondered if he was intentionally pretending to be okay. Swallowing a sigh, I entered the house alongside Park Geon-ho.