PAO 77

“You too…?”

When Minsung mentioned the reason why he had been quiet, Seowon lowered the hand he had outstretched with a look of despair. It’s possible to be too busy during vacation to stay in touch.

Now that it had come to this, there was only one way to escape from Minhee’s stranglehold.

“I’m free today.”

“…”

“…”

At Seowon’s shout, Minhee and Minsung froze. The twins looked as if they were wondering if they had heard him correctly.

“Don’t you usually ask me to make time or something?”

“Right. He should be begging for our forgiveness while saying he’s sorry, but instead… ‘I’m free’? ‘I’m free’?”

As Minhee’s voice rose at the end of her sentence, her power went up with it, causing Seowon to struggle in agony.

“I said I’m free. I’m—cough—free. I’ll go drinking with you!”

“This kid, really…”

“Minhee, let’s just let him off the hook.”

“Park Minsung, this is why Han Seowon is getting spoiled.”

“I think Seowon’s going to disappear before he gets spoiled.”

At Minsung’s words, Minhee’s gaze shifted to Seowon, who was caught in her headlock. Seeing that his eyes were just about to roll back, Minhee hurriedly released her arm.

“Oh my, are you okay?”

“Cough, asking me that now…”

Seowon swallowed, trying his best to get his rough throat back to normal.

“What a fierce welcome, seeing you for the first time in a while.”

“Why on earth did you go off the grid?”

Minhee pushed back her hair, which had been messed up from punishing Seowon. With a much softer gaze, Minhee slowly scanned Seowon from his face down.

“Seeing your pale face, it doesn’t look like you went on a trip or anything.”

“I did go somewhere, but I just stayed inside.”

Seowon replied as he straightened his own hair. Still, it was a relief that she didn’t touch him during class and only dragged him out as soon as it was over.

He picked up his phone to see if he had any messages from Junghoo, then checked the time.

It’s the first day, so they only had a simple orientation, which means there’s a lot of time left…

“Day drinking sounds good, right?”

At Seowon’s words, accompanied by a grin, Minhee lunged at him again.

“You should have just said that from the beginning.”

Seriously, why am I getting punished even when I say the right thing!

Seowon, who had come to a bar they frequented, looked around while drinking a beer.

“But why does it feel so unfamiliar?”

He had been here several times already, so why was that? He didn’t have to think about it for long before the answer came to him.

‘Yoo Junghoo isn’t here.’

Before, he was a guy he wanted to avoid, but now he was feeling empty because he wasn’t here.

‘This is all Yoo Junghoo’s fault.’

He had been tamed by that guy without even realizing it.

“Han Seowon, can we talk?”

Minhee threw a puffed rice snack at him as she chided him. With quick reflexes, Seowon leaned his body to the side and caught the snack in his mouth.

“You catch that well.”

…Has he been tamed to do this too?

While Minhee threw the next puffed rice snack at Minsung, Seowon rested his chin on his hand and drank his beer.

“I miss him.”

He muttered as he wiped the condensation, which had formed a thin layer of ice on the surface of the beer mug, with his finger. To think he was having thoughts like this when only a few hours had passed.

“Who do you miss?”

Minsung, sitting next to him, asked as he fed a puffed rice snack into Seowon’s mouth.

The side dishes hadn’t even come out yet, but they were taking turns feeding him. Seowon frowned but meekly accepted and ate the snack.

“My boyfriend.”

“You have a boyfriend?”

The question burst not from Minsung, but from Minhee. She slammed her hand on the table and stood up, glaring at Seowon as if she would eat him alive.

“Who is it? Is it Junghoo? Yoo Junghoo? That guy who’s crazy about you?”

At Minhee’s loud voice, an employee looked over from nearby, and Seowon tried to calm her down.

“Be quiet. You’re bothering other people.”

“We’re the only customers here. So just tell me first.”

“What is there to tell when you already know everything?”

Junghoo, Yoo Junghoo, the guy who’s crazy about me were all the same person, so which one was he supposed to choose? Seowon didn’t try to make up an excuse about it being someone else. Then Minhee clutched her head and muttered.

“So he finally couldn’t hold back and laid a hand on you.”

“What do you mean, holding back? It’s just, you know? We clicked and started dating.”

“Still, I thought he was holding back because you’re a beta. Looks like you’re the one who fell for him.”

Minhee, who now understood everything, flopped down in her seat and crossed her arms. Just as she had shown interest in Junghoo at first, Minhee wasn’t purely happy about it.

“That’s what happened.”

Instead, Minsung spoke as he fed him a puffed rice snack. Seowon meekly ate it before speaking.

“You’re not surprised.”

“I thought it would happen.”

“Yeah. I thought so too.”

Minsung was flabbergasted by Seowon’s matching retort.

“How can you say that?”

“How much did Yoo Junghoo hit on me? Honestly, I should have never accepted him because I hated him, but…”

An employee brought their side dishes. He stared at the stir-fried octopus they had ordered because beer was a cold food, then picked up his chopsticks.

He had hidden the fact that he was an omega, kept his distance, and tried to never let him inside the line he had drawn, but honestly, that was ridiculous. If he was really going to do that, he should have stopped Junghoo from approaching him at all.

Which meant his own weak will had played a part in the end.

“So now, I’m going to try to make it work.”

Seowon put down his chopsticks and picked up his beer mug.

“Anyway, I have a boyfriend now.”

Then he gestured toward Minhee’s and Minsung’s mugs with his eyes.

“Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”

“Well, look at you.”

Minhee looked at him as if debating whether to play along, then let out a sigh.

“Fine, congratulations.”

Minsung also raised his beer mug and clinked it against theirs.

“You finally have a boyfriend too. Still, I’d appreciate it if you answered our messages.”

Minsung held a grudge to the end about Seowon ignoring their messages.

Seowon received the congratulations from the twins and downed his beer. After drinking the cool beer all the way to the end, Seowon ate a puffed rice snack as a chaser, but he still couldn’t soothe the feeling of emptiness.

“There’s only one way to soothe this feeling.”

Seowon fidgeted with his phone, debating whether to contact Junghoo, but then decided against it. He was drinking to soothe the twins’ hurt feelings anyway, so it was better to drink quickly and leave.

“Hey, drink up.”

Seowon raised his mug and lightly clinked it against the twins’ mugs.

“I don’t know how long it’s been since Han Seowon was this proactive. So, after we finish this, should we order highballs too?”

“Order soju too, order everything. I’ll drink as much as you want today.”

At Seowon’s open-minded attitude of being willing to do anything, Minhee grinned and pressed the call bell.

“You said you’d drink.”

She muttered meaningfully as she watched Seowon’s Adam’s apple bobbing significantly.

“Over here!”

Minhee’s voice reached Junghoo, who had just entered the bar. After confirming which table she was sitting at and drinking, he walked straight over, looking for Seowon first. Seowon was leaning against Minsung’s shoulder, his face flushed like a blooming flower.

Seeing Junghoo’s expression turn sour, Minhee twirled her hand and pointed to the mugs.

“Our Seowon can’t hold out on his own. Just this once, you have to understand.”

As Junghoo couldn’t take his eyes off the drunk Seowon he was seeing for the first time, Minhee went ahead and pulled his arm, seating him next to her.

“I’ll show you something fun. Seowon.”

“…Yeah.”

An answer came from Seowon, who he thought was sleeping because his eyes were closed.

“You got a boyfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you like him?”

“Yeah.”

“If you like him, then smile.”

At Minhee’s command, Seowon’s red lips parted in a wide grin. At that innocent smile, Minhee turned to Junghoo as if to say, ‘how about that?’

“Fun, right?”

“You’re really having fun playing with my boyfriend.”

“No, that’s not it. I’m showing you that your boyfriend has this side to him. Have you ever seen him drunk?”

“No.”

Junghoo’s expression darkened, unwilling to admit it. He had shown his drunk self many times, but he had no memory of seeing Seowon drunk. Had he been unconsciously relying on Seowon?

“That’s how Han Seowon is. He has a high tolerance to begin with, and he drinks in moderation, so he doesn’t get drunk easily. But then, once he decides to really drink, he gets cute for a little while right before he gets completely wasted, you know?”

Minhee held out her hand to Junghoo.

“Will you call it even for the T-shirt with this?”

Minhee, who still hadn’t bought him the shirt, proposed they call it even in exchange for showing him Seowon’s cute side.

“How about it?”

At Minhee’s urging, Junghoo slapped her palm. Slap.

“I’ll let you off on the interest.”