Chapter 22 (1/2)

“Alcohol?” Daemyung asked. Maru nodded.

“Where did you get it?”

“I took it out of the fridge.”

“Won’t you get yelled at?”

“That’s my problem, not yours. You ever drink before, Daemyung?”

“Nope, never.”

Maru handed the can over.

“Drink.”

“…..”

“Don’t worry, it won’t kill you,” Dojin said, looking like he wanted to try it himself.

Daemyung took a small sip of the beer.

“Ugh, bitter.”

“Is it?”

Dojin tried a sip of it himself.

“Ugh, what’s up with that flavor?”

“What?”

“No, I mean, don’t actors enjoy beer when they have it in movies? What kind of a flavor is this?”

“Just means you two are innocent.”

Maru took a big swig of beer himself. His 45 year old self could go strong even after 4 bottles of soju. His body was just tolerant of alcohol. That didn’t change much after coming back to the past.

“You like that stuff?” Dojin frowned.

“I’m not innocent like you two.”

“What the hell are you on?”

“You’ll see why this is tasty when you start suffering a bit more. Thinking badly about alcohol just shows how healthy of a life you two have.”

Maru handed the beer over to Daemyung.

“Think you can talk now?”

Daemyung shook his head.

“Have some more, then. It’ll help. Makes the cold go away as well.”

Daemyung closed his mouth and started chugging. Gulp, gulp. The beer can was emptied within seconds.

“I didn’t mean for you to just one shot that… You okay?”

“Eh? Yeah. I’m fine, I think.”

“For now, sure. Let’s walk a bit.”

The three of them strolled around the park for a few minutes.

“Hey, check Daemyung out,” Dojin pointed.

Daemyung’s face turned pink. Not completely red, but sort of pink.

On the other hand…

“Dojin, you’re so red,” Daemyung commented.

“What, me?”

Dojin was red as a tomato after a single sip.

“You should probably not drink too much in gatherings, man.”

“What? Wait, hold on. I’m red? Really? I feel fine.”

Dojin touched his cheeks a little bit and jumped in surprise.

“Hey, I’ll just do another quick lap. Man, why am I like this?” he started walking away fanning off the heat from his cheeks.

‘Is his liver bad?’

Maru decided to refrain from offering the guy alcohol from now.

“Is he fine?” Daemyung asked.

“He’s fine. Alcohol’s just not for him. How do you feel, though?”

Daemyung started rambling on. He didn’t seem to realize it, but the alcohol definitely had an effect on him. Maru listened to him speak for a little bit. He’s never seen Daemyung be like this before. The boy was even excitedly making hand gestures for each word.

‘They’re all stories from elementary school.’

Daemyung probably became introverted some time in middle school.

“And then my desk partner in 3rd grade told me that I looked funny.”

The boy’s shoulders drooped noticeably. His voice had become a lot more quiet, too. So this is it, huh.

“The day was normal. I looked fine, I think. But she told me that I looked funny. After that, everyone started saying I looked funny as well. They probably meant well. But… I couldn’t just laugh about it. Maybe because it’s true? I mean, I do look like a dumbass.”

Daemyung smiled awkwardly. He turned to look at Maru, who just stared back without any emotion on his face.

“Keep going.”

“Eh?”

“I’m listening, so go on.”

“……”

Daemyung continued after a moment of hesitation, recounting what happened afterwards, and how he started getting bullied.

“It feels really bad to be bullied. But I couldn’t do anything about it, because it was my fault to begin with. I mean, I look funny. I can’t even refute it, either! I was begging to be bullied.”