A Glass of Soju
I really didn’t want to drink with him.
“Come on, let’s just grab a drink together. It’s a team dinner… team dinner…”
“No thanks.”
“Don’t be like that. Hmm? Let’s go while I’m still asking nicely.”
“I said no… Didn’t I already tell you I had plans today?”
“Hey! If you keep acting like this, even I won’t be able to help you, you know? Weren’t you the one begging to get transferred to a D-rank dungeon~?”
A disgusting hand grabbed my wrist. I tried with all my might to show I wasn’t interested, but this bastard clearly had no intention of letting go.
Ha… I’m losing my mind… Why is he being so clingy today of all days?
He usually just annoyed me, but why did he have to pull this shit on my last day… Should I call the police? Just as that thought crossed my mind, someone approached me in my moment of trouble.
“What the… Who are you?”
“Who the hell are you to be asking Elphy out for drinks?”
A familiar face. A familiar voice. Sunken eyes paired with a sharply defined nose that somehow reminded me of a wolf. His tall frame and broad, angular shoulders made him look solid and dependable to anyone who saw him.
But I knew better than anyone just how weak this man’s body really was.
“Who the fuck is this guy… What’s it to you?”
“What’s it to me? I’m her live-in partner, so of course it’s my business… Hey. What the hell do you think you’re doing to Elphy?”
“Live-in partner? What the fuck is this bullshit… Hey. Get lost, will you? I said get lost…”
Along with the command to scram, the team leader’s right hand shoved the man’s shoulder. The owner’s eyes, slightly pushed back, turned vicious. Of course, that didn’t seem to make the scumbag want to back off. If he were the type to care about situations like this, he wouldn’t have done it in the first place… He was probably thinking something arrogant like What are you gonna do about it? or If you’ve got a problem, come at me.
The problem was, this toothless wolf had quite the temper too.
“…Did you just push me?”
“Yeah, I pushed you. So what? You got a problem? Huh?”
Before I could stop them, before I could intervene at all, that unpleasant right hand reached for my owner’s shoulder again. But the wolf—no, the man who was my owner—grabbed the approaching hand as if to say he wouldn’t fall for it twice.
And then—
“Aaaagh! Aaaaaagh!!!”
As if proving he had practiced the exact same motion dozens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, the team leader screamed as his arm was twisted in an instant and collapsed to the ground. Those savage eyes glared down at the team leader now groveling pathetically on the floor.
“Go on… Try it…”
“Come at me with that same cocky attitude. Go ahead and use some magic, you son of a bitch.”
With a look that could kill, my owner threatened the team leader as if baring sharp fangs. But at least to me, it was clear he was desperately holding back the breath rising in his throat.
“That’s… That’s enough, let’s go now, Chanhyuk. Okay?”
“Team leader, you should head on your way too. I’m not doing any team dinner, got it?”
“…”
At my words, the man who was my owner finally released the arm he’d been holding. The guy who’d been hitting on me frowned as he glared at us.
“An E-rank healer acting all high and mighty…”
“I was trying to see you in a good light… but you… don’t even think about showing your face near a rift again. Understand?”
“What the fuck is this bastard saying… Get lost already?”
“Ah… Ow!! Stop it, stop! Hey? Team leader, you stop too…”
“Come on, everyone! Let’s all get going, quickly…!!”
Maybe because of what had just happened, a strange awkwardness lingered inside the car. My slave didn’t say a single word to me the entire way home. He just sat there with an expression that said he had something to say, clearly struggling with how to bring it up. He stayed lost in thought, staring blankly at the TV from the sofa.
“What are you doing? Let’s eat.”
“Yeah.”
“…”
The side dishes were pitiful. All that sat on the table was a pot of two packs of ramen and one large can of tuna. Normally my slave would’ve whined about there being no meat, but today awkwardness had taken its place at the dinner table instead.
“…So what are you going to do now?”
“About what…”
“Your job… If that guy has it out for you, he won’t help you anymore…”
“I can just look for another job.”
“Another job? You know how badly demons are perceived, right…”
“…”
Her single sigh-laden sentence felt like it was strangling my throat. Ha… Fuck. Yeah. I knew it all too well. Who was it that tore open the rifts and ruined both worlds? Wasn’t it the Demon King—the ruler of the demon race? So of course demons had a terrible reputation. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that working in these low-rank dungeons was the only way for them to make money.
“Sigh… You should’ve just talked your way out of it…”
“The higher-ups like me, so they said they’d push me toward a D-rank rift next time…”
“Like you? What exactly do they like about you? Forcing you to drink with them is ‘liking’ you? Huh?”
“No… That’s not what I meant…”
“Do you seriously think that was a situation that could be solved with words?”
“What if he drags you away by force? What if you get kidnapped?”
“Haven’t you seen the news about human trafficking in dungeons? Who knows what that scumbag would do…”
My voice grew louder without me realizing it, fueled by both anger and a strange sense of injustice. At some point I was practically lecturing Elphy. Of course I hadn’t meant to… but I just couldn’t stop myself…
“Human trafficking? Do you really have to bring up such unlucky things?”
“No… What I’m saying is…”
“Do you think I’m an idiot? That I’d get dragged off that easily?”
“I’m not a child, and you start with a fistfight… Ha… Fine, whatever. So what are we going to do now…”
“Our income’s going to be cut off starting tomorrow. What about your medicine? The rent? Our living expenses?”
“…”
I couldn’t say anything in response to her grumbling words. She let out a sigh, put down her chopsticks, and stood up from her seat. It was the same ramen she usually devoured because there was never enough… but today it had swollen into a soggy mess. I dumped all the bloated noodles in the trash and could only stare silently at the firmly closed bedroom door with a sigh.
(Guess I’m sleeping in the living room alone tonight…)
“…”
I could really go for a drink right now.
A quiet street stall. I sat hunched in a corner, drinking alone in melancholy. And I thought. About how I was supposed to overcome this hopeless, dead-end reality from now on. About how things used to be like this, used to be like that… All those utterly useless thoughts. As I poured soju into my glass, I felt utterly pathetic…
Come to think of it, that day I’d sat here alone sipping alcohol too, hadn’t I? I’d barely survived a near-death experience and managed to cross the bridge, but who would’ve thought that the house I owned in this world would have completely vanished without a trace… Just remembering that empty plot in the middle of the city with nothing but bare ground left made my chest ache even now. And when I recalled the employee telling me that rifts weren’t covered by insurance… it still felt like my heart was being torn apart.
Yeah… well… I somehow managed to endure up to that point. Even though we couldn’t communicate, I had a pretty slave from another world by my side. And most importantly, I still had a decent amount of money saved up… I thought that if I just worked, I could make a comeback.
But in that one year, the world had changed so rapidly that I couldn’t keep up. What I’d thought was just poor physical condition had become an unknown chronic illness that tormented me. My body grew weaker, my mind deteriorated, and my wallet grew thinner trying to heal a body and soul that were no longer whole.
Apathy. And depression. At some point they began eating away at me. The nightmares of rainy days that haunted me without warning dragged me down into the abyss.
Yeah… If it hadn’t been for Elphy, I probably wouldn’t even exist in this world anymore. She was the one who always stuck right by my side and forcibly dragged me out from under the blankets when I was buried there… Maybe that’s why… Every time I sip this soju, it feels like I can hear her nagging in my ear… which is why the alcohol won’t go down.
— Don’t drink or smoke!
— Your body’s already in bad shape, why are you doing this…
“…”
Fuck. That damn slave… Now she’s even nagging me inside my own imagination? How dare a slave be so damn talkative… As if in rebellion, I forced down the bitter alcohol, but all I could taste was the unpleasant, nauseating smell of it. With a sigh, I pushed aside the soju I’d been about to pour.
(Ha… Fuck.)
(I don’t know anymore… Let’s just go home…)
Sitting here wasn’t going to make money fall from the sky. Elphy was probably worried sick about the owner who had left without a word… I stood up, thinking I shouldn’t make my slave at home worry for no reason.
And then—
“…”
I needed to go home… Elphy was definitely worried… But the moment I stood up, the world seemed to spin and I couldn’t walk straight. A headache surged over me like a tidal wave, and I couldn’t even muster any strength in my fingertips.
What the hell? Was I drunk? No. No matter how bad my condition had gotten, there was no way two glasses of soju would knock me out like this.
My vision was blurry. The objects around me looked twisted and distorted. No matter how I thought about it, this wasn’t a normal bodily reaction.
Yeah… This was…
“Hey there. Nice to see you again?”
“…”
Unease. The emotion I felt was an ominous sense of dread, but by the time I realized it, it was already too late. A face distorted as if someone had crumpled up my consciousness. And a disgusting voice. The familiar face that smiled at me proved that the sensation I’d just felt wasn’t an illusion.
My vision was hazy and distant, so blurry it was hard to even stay conscious. It was a horrible thing that seemed to warp everything it touched. And yet… I could still tell exactly who the son of a bitch standing in front of me was.
“A coincidence…? Is this really a coincidence?”
“Of course it’s a coincidence. You don’t look too good… You okay?”
“…”
Goddamn it… Was this bastard behind it? So he really was the team leader… Looks like he pulled some magic trick. Not a chance. Even with this trash body, I can still take care of a guy like you.
I stretched my arm toward him with all my strength, but the sensation of the world flipping upside down instantly twisted my center of gravity. I half-collapsed, barely managing to lean against the table in front of me as I gasped for breath.
“Where are you going? We’re not done talking yet… What, should I take you to the hospital?”
“Your value as merchandise drops if you get hurt… Just tell me if it hurts, okay?”
“…”
You fucking bastard… I need to move… I need to come up with a plan quickly… My body, hunched over at an awkward angle, refused to move any further. The owner’s voice faintly pierced my eardrums.
“Is that young man okay over there…?”
“Yes, he’s fine. Don’t worry, we’re together.”
“Really? I was worried he might throw up or something…”
“Haha. He’s with those friends over there…”
“…”
Blink. Blink… My consciousness flickered on and off like a broken lightbulb. I clenched my teeth, desperately trying not to fall asleep. But that was the end of it. My legs wouldn’t move anymore. Like a puppet, if he pulled me to the right I’d slump right, if he pulled me to the left I’d slump left. I couldn’t offer any resistance at all. I was simply being dragged off into some far corner of my consciousness.