10 Minutes
Lee Do-yun returned after being gone for about ten minutes.
"What call took that long?"
"Nothing important. More to the point—let's have a drink. All that talking left me thirsty. Hahaha~"
"I'll pour you one."
"What…?"
"I said I'll pour you a drink."
"Ah… well, I won't say no to that."
"……"
She's already throwing the whole thing off from the start.
I nudged Baek Seoyun's foot under the table and cleared my throat hard.
"Ahem…!!"
"You want one too?"
I'm not asking you to pour me one—I'm telling you to stop doing weird shit!
Just stick to the plan!!
Glug-glug-glug-glug—
I glared daggers at her as she poured my drink.
While Lee Do-yun had been out of the room, Baek Seoyun had agreed to help me.
The plan was simple.
Lee Do-yun had set this whole thing up because he was after Baek Seoyun, so he was going to keep pouring and drinking, trying to get her drunk by any means necessary.
So we would drink the fake liquor we'd filled with soft drinks, force the real stuff on Lee Do-yun until he was wasted, and then go through every phone he had on him.
He'd have fingerprint or face unlock set up anyway.
But Baek Seoyun was already doing things she would never normally do and acting in ways that were bound to raise suspicion.
"Have another."
"Yeah, sure. But what's gotten into you? You usually hate pouring drinks. You don't even like drinking that much."
"I-it's just…"
Don't stammer!
"The weather's nice today…"
Don't look around for no reason! We're indoors!
"And there aren't many people here…"
It's a private room so of course you can't see anyone! Outside the place is packed!!
Please stop saying weird shit!!
"Why? You don't like it?"
"No way~ Why would I not like it? I'm happy about it."
Phew…. At least he doesn't seem to think anything's off?
Tap-tap—
Baek Seoyun nudged my foot and pointed under the table at her phone.
She wants me to look at it?
I slid it over and checked. One text message was waiting.
I ignored it cleanly.
I had zero faith in her.
No—she was guaranteed to screw it up.
And yet she still called me.
Vrrrrr!! Vrrrrr!!
"Looks like you're getting a call. Aren't you going to answer?"
"Ah… I didn't notice. Am I a little drunk already? Haha… Hello?"
—……
Of course no voice came through.
The person who'd dialed me was sitting right next to me.
"Hyung, excuse me a second. Just a moment."
"Sure~ Take your time with the call~"
"Go on."
"……"
Eyes full of distrust crossed eyes full of confidence.
I was uneasy, but I left the table for now.
I didn't go far—just stepped out into the hallway and stationed myself right in front of the door.
If Lee Do-yun tried to force himself on her, I had to be ready to stop him.
"Time is crawling…!!"
I waited forever, but only three minutes had passed.
And I couldn't hear a single word of whatever conversation was happening inside.
The soundproofing was recording-studio level.
Time dragged on like that, and finally ten minutes were up.
I yanked the door open—and froze solid.
Lee Do-yun and Baek Seoyun, who should have been sitting across from each other, were now side by side.
No—one of them was lying down, and the other was just now pushing herself up off the seat.
"Hyung, where are you going??"
"Oh. Heading home."
"Why??"
"Just~ Seoyun's pretty wasted too. You take her home."
Lee Do-yun walked over with heavy steps, patted my shoulder, then leaned in close to my face and whispered low.
("Don't touch her. Something feels off about her today.")
("……")
"I'm heading out first~ I'll take care of the bill."
"Yes, hyung."
With that, Lee Do-yun opened the door and left. I let out a long sigh and stared at Baek Seoyun, who was slumped sideways and completely out of it.
"What the hell did you do?"
"……"
"Hey, Lee Do-yun's gone. Get up."
"……"
"I said get up. Hey! Baek Seoyun!"
"Uuuunnngh…..!!"
"What…? Are you actually drunk??"
"Hnnn… uunn…."
"Ha… I'm going insane…!"
I walked over toward the sofa to wake her and spotted the liquor bottles on the table.
The bottle we'd filled with soft drinks was exactly as I'd left it when I stepped out. Of the two bottles in front of Lee Do-yun, one was completely empty and the other was half gone.
In ten minutes the two of them had downed a bottle and a half of hard liquor.
What the hell were you thinking… no, what the hell did you even do??
Ah, that tickles… what is this….
I grabbed whatever was brushing my face.
Small and soft.
What is it?
I opened my eyes and found Baek Seoyun's face staring back at me, eyes wide.
And my hand holding hers.
"What are you doing?"
"Y-you—why are you grabbing someone else's hand?! Let go!!"
I released the hand she was yanking back, and Baek Seoyun—who'd been leaning forward on her knees—plopped down hard on her butt.
"Kya!!"
"For crying out loud…"
I scratched the itchy spot on my face and stretched.
"Uuugh…!!! Augh…!"
I'd fallen asleep crouched on the floor, and my whole body felt locked up solid.
What time was it, anyway? How long had I been out?
I lowered the arm I'd stretched overhead and checked my watch.
10:34.
I barely drank anything. Why did I sleep so hard?
"You…! You…!!"
"What?"
"Why the hell did you bring me here?!"
"……"
I stared straight at Baek Seoyun as she shouted, arms crossed over her chest in the classic defensive pose.
"What was I supposed to do? Take you to a hotel? Or my place? This was the only option left."
"You should've taken me home!"
"I did take you home! You wouldn't give me the password, so I brought you here!!"
"……"
I'd checked the address on her ID in her wallet and taken her home.
But I couldn't even get the common entrance open, stood there floundering for two hours, and finally brought her to the company practice room.
"That's why I passed out…!"
"Huh…?"
"I carried a drunk person around like that—you think I wouldn't be exhausted?!"
"Why are you yelling!! Who's the one who should be yelling here…!"
"Who do you think?! Me! You swaggered around saying you'd finish it in ten minutes…! What the hell did you do that made Lee Do-yun just leave like that?!"
"Ha, what did I do?! We just… drank…."
Among her close friends she was one of the better drinkers, so Baek Seoyun had apparently believed she could really hold her liquor.
Without even knowing her own limit, she'd gone head-to-head with Lee Do-yun and collapsed.
"Ha… so a kid who doesn't even know her own limit thought she was a heavyweight??"
"Every time we drank I was always the only one still fine, so yeah…"
"How much did you drink?"
"Four beers and a bottle of soju!"
"With how many people?"
"Four of us…."
"……"
"S-sometimes I even drink two bottles of wine!"
"Also with four people?"
"…Yeah…"
Last time, Lee Do-yun and I had gone through six bottles of soju for the first round, eight bottles of makgeolli for the second, and two bottles of hard liquor for the third—just the two of us.
And that was what it took to get that man drunk…!!
"Ugh…."
All I could do was sigh.
"What's with the sigh… people can not know their limits…"
"……"
"Fine, I get it! I'm sorry… Next time I'll help properly!"
"Whatever. More importantly—what were you doing just now?"
"Huh?? W-what was I…?"
"You were touching my face."
"Who was touching?! I was not?!"
"Sure, keep saying you weren't."
"I'm not just saying it—I really didn't touch you!! I just…! Just poked you! Because it was weird!"
"Why? Do people who look like me seem weird to you?"
"That's not it…!!"
"Then what?"
"Just… just…. Because you didn't do anything to me… I was grateful… so…. Why are you getting up?! I wasn't finished talking!!"
"You got more to say?"
"Well, no…."
"Then get up. Let's go get something for the hangover."
We left the practice room and headed up to the lobby.
I was walking and searching my phone for a place that served hangover food when Lee Do-yun's voice reached us.
"What's this? You didn't go home?"
"No, well… What are you doing here at this hour, hyung?"
"What am I doing~ Just came to look around the company a bit. Never been here except when we signed the contract. But you and Seoyun…."
"It's not like that!!"
"Jesus…!"
I jumped and looked sideways. Baek Seoyun was red-faced and fuming.
"What's wrong with you??"
"What's not like that…?"
"I said it's not!! Nothing happened!!"
"Hey, don't overreact."
"Haha… Who said anything? I was just going to point out that the two of you look a little rough to be walking out like that…"
"……"
Baek Seoyun blinked at Lee Do-yun's words, hurriedly dug a small hand mirror out of her tiny bag, checked her reflection—and screamed.
"Kyaaaaaah!!!! Why didn't you tell me!!!"
"Tell you what??"
"That I look like this!!"
"What's wrong with how you look? You're pretty."
"Pre…tty…?"
"Hey, that one's a bit much."
"……"
Baek Seoyun shot Lee Do-yun a glare, then spun around fast and started fixing her hair and dabbing on makeup.
Covering it with makeup right now is just going to make it look weirder.
Anyway, we were waiting for her to finish her little makeover when—
"Just as I thought."
"……"
Something about Lee Do-yun's tone grated. I turned my head—and right then Han Jihyun and Yoo Serin walked into the lobby.
This bastard. I didn't say a word, so he came looking himself.
"We meet again? And who's that next to you?"
"None of your business."
"Mom…."
"Mom? A daughter?? You got married? Even if you did, a daughter this grown already…. Well, Jihyun, you were so pretty when you were little. Still are."
"Hey…."
"……"
Baek Seoyun carefully wrapped both her hands around my trembling fist.
If not for that weak grip, I might have swung.
"Hi. I'm a friend of your mom's. Do you know who I am?"
"Yes… Senior Lee Do-yun…"
"Oh~ If I'm your senior, are you an aspiring actress?"
"I'm a trainee… a singer…"
"I see. You take after your mom—really pretty. Just like looking at little Jihyun…."
"Hup!!"
As Lee Do-yun's hand reached toward her face, Yoo Serin's body flinched back.
And in that instant—
"Yoo Eunho!!!"
Baek Seoyun's voice rang out.
But it wasn't me.
The one who hit Lee Do-yun.
SMACK!!!!!!
Han Jihyun's hand cracked across Lee Do-yun's cheek in a clean, satisfying slap.
"Ha…. What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Don't you dare touch my daughter…!!"
"……"
"Serin, go inside."
"Mom…."
"Now!!!"
"…Okay…."
Yoo Serin walked toward the elevators. Han Jihyun kept her eyes locked on Lee Do-yun and spoke.
"If you ever look at my daughter with those eyes again…!! Next time I'll kill you."
"Those eyes? What eyes?"
"Nineteen years ago. The filthy way you looked at me that day."
"Ha…. So you still remember. That day. Same here. Then how about we talk for a bit while we dig up the past?"
"I have nothing to say to you."
"You will. Unless you want your daughter finding out what happened between us."
"……"
Han Jihyun turned first and started walking. Lee Do-yun followed behind her.
And I—
"Why are you…!! What are you going to do if you go after them…!!"
"Let go."
"Why are you like this—you're scaring me…!!"
"……"
I shook off Baek Seoyun's hands as she clung to my arm and dragged her feet.
Right then a call came in.
"Representative, we found it. You'd better get ready to drop two hundred million. Ah! We got the actor ready too, so make that three hundred million. But you'll have to cover the actor's fee yourself~ Hahahaha."
"Let's meet. Where are you right now?"
Oh Sanggu, the head of the errand agency.
I left the company to go meet him.