Chapter 135

Why is Seunghwan Lee in Korea?

Unless something major happened, Seunghwan hardly ever came back to Korea. Yeonhoo had assumed he was still overseas, so what was he doing here?

Seeing Yeonhoo’s surprise, Seunghwan grinned as though he knew exactly what was going through his head.

“What? Shocked some asshole who has no business being in Korea suddenly showed up?”

As Seunghwan sauntered toward them, Park Taekyun immediately frowned.

“What’s with that asshole’s attitude? Isn’t he your friend?”

“I already cut him off.”

“What? Then why’s he acting all buddy-buddy?”

They were whispering under their breath, but Seunghwan didn’t care. He strode right over, then reached toward Taekyun with exaggerated delight as if he had only just noticed him.

“Well, look who else is here. Long time no see. Remember me?”

“.......”

Getting tangled up with Seunghwan while he was drunk enough to slur his words could only mean trouble.

Taekyun shot Yeonhoo a look that clearly said, Let’s get out of here.

Yeonhoo agreed and started to rise, but—

Shit. I’m dizzy.

He really wasn’t doing well tonight. The alcohol he’d poured into an empty stomach hit him the second he stood, making his stomach churn and the room spin.

“Hey, Yeonhoo~ Yeonhooo.”

Seunghwan had already closed the distance. He plastered himself against Yeonhoo and snickered.

“I’ve been thinking, and come on. Isn’t it a little much to throw away all those years between us just because of that asshole?”

“Get off me if you want to talk.”

“It’s not like I was trying to screw you over, okay?”

“Seunghwan Lee. I’m warning you—”

“If you hadn’t gotten in the way when I was trying to fuck with Kwon Mieon in the first place......”

Yeonhoo had been weakly shoving at Seunghwan, uncomfortable with the drunk man hanging all over him.

His hands stopped dead.

...What?

Who?

“Say that again.”

“What?”

“Kwon Mieon.”

“Ahaha, yeah, that asshole. Because of him, my Yejin—”

“Baby, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Isn’t our table over there? What are you doing here?”

Just then, a woman who had been looking around from a distance came over.

“My Yejin!”

Seunghwan immediately wrapped an arm around the woman’s waist, delighted to see her.

Seunghwan’s girlfriend?

She had curly hair. Her face looked familiar, so she was probably the same girlfriend Seunghwan had been joined at the hip with back before Yeonhoo cut him off.

“Kwon Mieon’s the bastard who tried to pick up my Yejin.”

What the hell was he talking about?

“But then you showed up and fucked the whole thing up. Don’t you remember?”

“...Me?”

“Yeah. Wow, now you’re pretending you don’t even remember?”

Seunghwan snickered and lazily swirled the drink in his hand.

Ice chimed against glass.

Plop.

Something sank into the liquor.

It was the watch Seunghwan had been wearing.

Yeonhoo stared blankly as it disappeared beneath the clear liquid, then snapped his head up.

In an instant—

“Fuck, look at this bastard. What’s with that look?”

“Dumbass is really trying to act tough.”

The room had reeked of nauseating smoke and damp weed. People were sprawled everywhere, and in the middle of them sat a leather sofa so violently red it seemed to burn into his memory.

“Drink. What, you can’t? Oh, right, did you say you couldn’t handle alcohol? Too bad. You don’t get it unless you drink this.”

Seunghwan had laughed like he was having the time of his life.

And sitting unsteadily at the table in front of him had been a man.

“Kwon Mieon, you mute or something? Why the fuck can’t you talk?”

It had been Kwon Mieon.

*****

It had been cold that day.

Yeonhoo hadn’t wanted to go anywhere, but for some reason several friends were throwing parties. He’d stopped by a birthday party with Park Taekyun, then gone along after getting invited to Seunghwan’s gathering too.

“Your friend’s name is Seunghwan Lee?”

“Yeah. But I’m tired, so let’s hang around just long enough to be polite and then leave.”

“Sure.”

Seunghwan was an old friend, but he could be annoyingly persistent. If Yeonhoo failed to show his face after being invited, Seunghwan was the type to keep talking shit about it behind his back for ages.

So Yeonhoo had only planned to say hello and leave.

Instead, the moment he stepped into Seunghwan’s place, he found it far filthier than expected.

The sharp stink of hard liquor and stale weed hit him from the entrance.

Already tipsy, Yeonhoo decided he wasn’t drinking another drop and looked around for Seunghwan.

“Ugh, maybe I’m carsick. I feel like I’m gonna puke. I’m going to the bathroom.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Taekyun, who had been walking beside him, finally gave up and disappeared toward the bathroom.

Yeonhoo had also had plenty to drink and was dizzy, but fortunately Seunghwan was somewhere easy to spot.

Found him.

Yeonhoo strode toward the swaying platinum-blond hair, then slowed.

“Hey, Seunghwan. I’m he—re...”

He hadn’t noticed from far away, but up close, the atmosphere was strange.

The rest of the party was loud, yet despite the number of people gathered here, this particular corner was oddly quiet.

“Hey, hey. You’re not drinking anymore? Huh?”

From between the people around him, Yeonhoo saw Seunghwan with an arm slung over some woman’s shoulders, holding something out toward the person opposite him.

A drink?

Was he pressuring someone to drink?

Yeonhoo followed the line of sight and saw several of Seunghwan’s close friends surrounding one person almost like they were boxing him in.

The man sitting sideways on the couch with a glass in his hand was...

Damn, he’s handsome.

Yeonhoo was genuinely impressed.

A lean face. Pitch-black hair. Pale, almost bloodless skin. Features so sharply defined they looked sculpted.

What does he do? Is he a model like Seunghwan?

No. The vibe was completely different.

His clothes were far too neat for a place like this, for one thing.

More importantly, he and Seunghwan didn’t look remotely friendly.

“What? Pissed as hell?”

As expected, Seunghwan radiated open hostility as he shook something in his hand.

The man’s expression hardened instantly.

...A watch?

There was nothing particularly remarkable about it.

But one thing was obvious: both Seunghwan and the man were completely focused on that watch.

“Let’s keep this civil.”

The man’s voice was exceptionally low, clipped, and almost completely devoid of emotion.

He set the empty glass in his hand aside with a careless tap and rose to his feet, then jerked his chin toward the watch.

“I drank. Give it back.”

“You said he couldn’t drink at all, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Maybe he was secretly good at it?”

“What are you talking about? Plenty of people saw him struggle after one glass at the after-party last time.”

Hearing the whispers around him, Yeonhoo could roughly piece together what was going on.

...Come on, Seunghwan.

Every once in a while, Seunghwan pulled some deranged stunt.

His particular favorite was making other people drink.

What was so bad about getting someone to have a drink?

How many people has this asshole already sent to the hospital?

Because he never stopped at simply offering them alcohol.

He would egg people on by promising them money if they drank, push it farther and farther, and had knocked people unconscious more than once.

He also had a long history of forcing alcohol on people outright.

Did he say he’d give him that watch if he drank? It doesn’t even look expensive.

Apparently his latest target was this man.

Still, something about it bothered Yeonhoo.

Seunghwan often pulled stunts with expensive watches or car keys, but this particular watch didn’t look valuable at all.

“Shouldn’t have hit on our Yejin, then. Huh?”

So it wasn’t just about the watch. There seemed to be some romantic drama mixed in too.

The man immediately rejected Seunghwan’s accusation.

“I never did.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Hey, Yejin told me herself. Said you personally put this watch on her wrist while trying to pick her up. You wear this every day, don’t you? Huh?”

“It’s there because she stole it.”

The man shot back with a cold sneer.

“At the last show, she said she thought she’d left something in my bag and asked if she could check. I let her. She stole it then, so what the fuck is this bullshit about me putting it on her?”

“What? Yejin.”

“No! I didn’t! When did I ever do that?! He—he gave it to me first!”

“Ha! Would you look at this bastard? Yejin says she didn’t!”

The woman stammering out denials looked like she was lying to anyone with eyes.

But Seunghwan was already too far gone to care about the truth.

“I haven’t liked you since the day you joined the team. Keep your eyes down, asshole.”

There it was.

All those other reasons had just been excuses.

That was what he really wanted to say.

“...Fine. I’m sorry.”

The man seemed to realize it too and gave the words with obvious irritation.

Despite what he was saying, he did not sound remotely apologetic.

“I tried to hit on her, failed, and it was all my fault. So just give it back.”

“Ha. This fucking guy.”

The utterly soulless apology seemed to hit exactly the wrong nerve.

Seunghwan’s eyes gleamed.

“Hey. Give me that.”

He had someone beside him bring over another glass.

This one was much larger than the first, and the cup itself was tinted so dark that Yeonhoo couldn’t see what was inside.

“Drink.”

Seunghwan held it out.

The man lifted one eyebrow.

“Drink this and I’ll really give it back. Seriously. Okay?”

Seunghwan grinned.

The two stared each other down.

For a moment, something flashed across the man’s irritated face—like he was considering flipping the whole table over and ending it right there.

But in the end, he chose the drink.

“This is the last time I humor you.”

The words sounded like a warning.

As the man took the glass, unease crawled up Yeonhoo’s spine.

There’s no way Seunghwan didn’t do something to that.

With Seunghwan’s pride, there was no chance he would back down here.

Was that guy going to be okay?

The only reassuring thing was that despite the table being packed with glasses, the man was still standing this steadily.

Maybe he could hold his liquor after all.

Then he’ll probably be fine. Is Taekyun still in the bathroom?

Given the situation, Yeonhoo decided to say hello later and started to turn away to find Taekyun.

Then his eyes met the man’s.

Yeonhoo froze.

Something was wrong.

The man’s previously cold, still eyes were trembling faintly.

Beads of sweat had formed over his pale face, and the hand clenched into a fist looked wound so tight it might burst.

“Keep your promise.”

His condition looked strange, yet his voice was excessively calm. Firm.

The man lifted the glass toward his lips.

And then Yeonhoo saw Seunghwan exchanging looks with his friends and snickering.

A warning siren exploded in Yeonhoo’s head.

His body moved before he could think.