Assistant Manager Kim Hates Idols
SS Chapter 65: An Introduction to Alcohol (2)
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TL: FoodieMonster007
"How's the smell? Is it bearable?"
Jeong Seongbin checked on Park Joowoo before they took a seat. He planned to turn right back if Park Joowoo was not up for it. However, Park Joowoo maturely strode straight into the bar.
In a secluded area of the dark, quiet bar, Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo promised not to overdrink. They agreed to have just one glass of whatever looked most delicious and not to show off. Deciding it was not something to brag about, they also vowed not to tell any stories so their fans would not try to copy them.
Next, Jeong Seongbin recited the 'List of Dark Histories for First-Time Drinkers' that he had personally prepared back at the dorm. Park Joowoo listened attentively in a stiff posture.
"No impulsive calls to family or friends, and no doing things you wouldn't normally do. Always keep a good eye on your belongings. No insisting you're not drunk when you are. No drunk karaoke."
"This is my first time drinking… What if I don't even realize I'm drunk?"
"…I'll take responsibility and get you back to the dorm."
"I won't eat any snacks, so I'm not as heavy…"
Park Joowoo pushed the plate of finger food far away. With all preparations complete, the two beginners opened the menu.
"Is 20 degrees high…?"
"The soju I drank with my dad was 16 degrees, you know? And three bottles was my limit."
After three bottles, he had been stuck to the living room floor like a fried egg, so his actual tolerance had to be lower. Park Joowoo frowned, his expression serious. He had a goal of drinking with his uncle and needed to train, but he seemed scared that even his friend found 16-degree alcohol difficult.
If they were spirited, hot-blooded youths, they might have challenged their limits, but the two remained calm. After long deliberation, a transparent, brown whiskey was delivered to them. The scent of aged wood filled the air.
"The scent will probably be stronger when we actually drink it, right…?" Park Joowoo's expression clouded over.
"Don't force yourself to drink it, Joowoo!"
"No… I can do it…"
Contrary to his words, his face showed he was not prepared at all. To buy his friend some time to build courage, Jeong Seongbin recalled the blog reviews he had read.
"I saw something interesting on the internet."
"Didn't Jeho tell you not to search for things if you can help it…?"
"…No, this time it was a good thing."
Jeong Seongbin tried to erase the phrase 'Inappropriate for users under 19…' that he had recently seen. He calmly turned on his phone's flashlight and placed the glass on top of it, making the crystal sparkle brilliantly.
"It's pretty… It's like the 『Bright』
music video. Iwol would like it if we took a picture and sent it to him as a reference."
"But wouldn't we get kicked out in one go?"
Kim Iwol's reaction was obvious without even seeing it. The two suppressed their desire to take a picture. After lightly clinking their glasses, Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo brought the drinks to their lips.
"Kkh…!"
"……"
The first taste of whiskey in their lives was powerful. Jeong Seongbin was overwhelmed by the intense flavor lurking beneath the pleasant aroma, while Park Joowoo was helplessly defeated by the strong scent that seemed to pierce his brain. The liquid was so strong it naturally drew out a guttural sound.
"How did Iwol drink this without batting an eye?" Jeong Seongbin asked. His esophagus burned. It felt like he had swallowed a meatball whole, right out of the oven.
Except now the meatball is burnt black and bitter… Thanks to the hot, tingling sensation, he could feel the liquid's journey down his esophagus and into his stomach in real time.
Park Joowoo took a sip of water and swished it in his mouth for a long time. He seemed to regard the small mouthful of water as the elixir of life. Wrinkling the tip of his nose, Park Joowoo made a comment.
"It feels like I stuck my head in a giant wooden barrel and am breathing through every pore, and… it feels like smoke from burning firewood is coming out of my nose."
At the vivid review, Jeong Seongbin clutched his stomach and laughed. Even though he could not smooth out his frown, Park Joowoo did not put down his glass. His determination to take responsibility for his share was clear.
"It must be bad for your throat, right?"
"Yeah. I don't want to drink more unless it's absolutely necessary…"
"Like what, for example?"
"Like when someone needs a 'black knight' at a company dinner…"
"But only someone who can drink well can be a 'black knight'."
"That's true…"
They had a long way to go before they could step up for their members. Shouldn't you at least be able to finish the drink you ordered before volunteering as a knight?
The kind of thing where they would get drunk in an instant and pour out their hearts did not happen. They might have talked about things like, "How strong would 20 or 30-degree alcohol be?" but they did not order more, vowing to drink until they were dead drunk.
Instead, they had a long conversation. It was not a gathering that could not have happened without alcohol. However, now that they were older than in their trainee days, there were things that could only be said in the brief moments of free time snatched from their busy lives. Jeong Seongbin brought up a question he could finally ask, now that the years they had spent together had slowly chipped away at the wall between them.
"Weren't you lonely?"
That was the first thing Jeong Seongbin wanted to ask after hearing his friend's song. Jeong Seongbin had listened to a great many songs in his life. Immersing himself in a singer's voice and lyrics was his specialty and an ingrained habit. That was why Jeong Seongbin could see what kind of emotions Park Joowoo had felt when he held the microphone.
"…Sometimes?" Park Joowoo replied, clutching his glass tightly. Jeong Seongbin had never heard such an honest answer from Park Joowoo before. Even when he asked if he was okay during those times he looked precarious, Park Joowoo had always said he was fine.
"You should have told me, at least."
A hint of bitterness laced Jeong Seongbin's voice. There was also a touch of self-deprecation. He felt he had not seemed dependable enough to be relied on.
Even though we were so close?
It was not out of disappointment but out of apology that Jeong Seongbin gave an awkward laugh. Park Joowoo smiled faintly.
"Because it's not a pleasant story…"
"Friends can talk about unpleasant things too!"
"That's true, but it's not that I didn't trust you… It's just that the situation didn't allow for it."
Perhaps his throat was dry, as Park Joowoo unconsciously brought the whiskey to his lips. It still tasted so bad it made him grimace. Jeong Seongbin smiled and pulled the plate of snacks closer to him again.
"…I didn't know you were having a hard time either."
He knew what he was referring to without any clues. After all, the only thing Jeong Seongbin had hidden from Park Joowoo was the matter with Jang Joonhoo.
"We shared a room and went to the same company, but I still didn't fully understand your anxiety. We were both just being cautious… It could be because our personalities are different, or because we were younger and didn't have a broader perspective. Looking back, I think our unstable position as trainees isolated each of us."
"Is that why we couldn't become as open with each other as Cheonghyeon and Kiyeon? They're very cautious with each other too. What's the fundamental difference?"
"…The fact that we don't do tearful hugs very often?"
He burst out laughing at his friend's calm joke. They were clearly different from the more talkative hyungs or the emotionally expressive younger members.
They were not the type to persistently dig for a conversation, nor were they open enough to share their own stories before anyone else could even speak. Things might have been different if they had had more time to talk, or if they had at least gone to school together. However, they had run this far without being able to do so.
"Were you upset that I didn't talk about the sunbae?"
"I was probably thinking the same thing as you."
"…Were you sorry?"
"Yeah."
Park Joowoo's eyes blinked slowly.
"But I know how you feel too."
"……"
"The feeling of not being able to talk about it 'because it's not a pleasant story', and that we weren't in a situation to do so back then."
Park Joowoo held out his half-empty glass. Even though it was the glass he had been drinking from, Jeong Seongbin still clinked his own against it. Perhaps because the ice had melted, it went down smoother than before.
"We don't have to be like that anymore, right?" Jeong Seongbin asked. The current Jeong Seongbin had more than enough leeway to listen to one or two uninteresting stories. Park Joowoo was probably the same.
"Of course."
With that clear answer, Park Joowoo emptied his glass. It was a clean, straightforward drinking session.
Their introduction to whiskey with a friend did not end on a purely touching note. Just before paying, Park Joowoo looked at the receipt and realized he had been given the wrong drink. Jeong Seongbin, who had said he would call a taxi, realized much later that he had never pressed the call button.
"Will we smell a lot like alcohol from just one drink?"
"The air inside the bar was already saturated with that scent… so we probably would have smelled like it even if we didn't drink much."
"You think so?"
"You already smell a lot like it now…"
Inside the taxi, a meeting was held to discuss how they could sneak into the dorm without the hyungs noticing the smell of alcohol.
"After we get off the elevator, we don't go straight in. We spray ourselves with deodorizer on the stairs. How about that?"
"You brought deodorizer…?"
"Of course. I'm the one who suggested this whole thing!"
The two deviants sprayed the deodorizer until the air on the stairs grew damp, then tiptoed into the dorm. Then, just as the light in the shoe closet flickered on, they were caught.
"Did practice just end?"
"Hyung…?"
"You weren't sleeping?"
Kim Iwol was sitting on the sofa, even though it was the crack of dawn. As if he was about to help them with their things like usual, Kim Iwol stood up and approached, only to stop in the middle of the living room and cross his arms.
"Did you drink?"
"Heok…"
With perfect timing, the sensor light in the shoe closet turned off. Backlit by the glow from the living room's mood lighting, Kim Iwol looked particularly terrifying.
"So the leader and the main vocalist were out drinking until this hour, is that it?"
His chilly gaze swept over his younger brothers from head to toe. Looking at the two tense figures, Kim Iwol let out a small sigh.
"Right, I guess you two didn't really have a place to go for a drink."
"We didn't go anywhere weird…!"
"I'm being calm because it doesn't seem like you went to a club or anything. If you came back smelling like cigarettes, you would have seen a much uglier side of me."
His words were chillingly calm. Fortunately, Kim Iwol quickly let the thoroughly intimidated Jeong Seongbin and Park Joowoo off the hook.
"Go wash up. Before Choi Jeho wakes up."
It was a command to clean up before Choi Jeho caught the smell of alcohol on them. Jeong Seongbin told his hyung to get some sleep too, then hurried to the bathroom.
Is it because it's late? He let it slide without saying much…?
Considering Kim Iwol's usual temper, it would not have been strange if he had grabbed them by the scruff of their necks. A Kim Iwol who spoke with the nuance that they seemed to need a place to breathe was unfamiliar. It was unlike the person who always insisted that if you want to be an idol, there are things you have to give up.
Jeong Seongbin washed up and changed into fresh clothes. The night was too deep for him to realize that Kim Iwol had been unable to sleep, staying up to think about the future of spArk without him. Before he knew it, the living room was empty.