The Drinking Duel
Yongbongjihoe Moyong Juhee had offered a reconciliation drink, but she never expected Seomun Cheong to accept without a moment’s hesitation. She had assumed the offer would be refused outright. Of course, if it had been refused, she would have simply thought, “Well, she dodged that one. Nothing to be done,” and given up like a fool. She had prepared several ways to coax and melt the refusal, having spent the previous night planning for every possible scenario. All that effort had gone to waste.
What was this? Was her acting too convincing? Or was Seomun Cheong’s head so full of flowers that she genuinely believed this was a sincere offer of reconciliation? But after hearing the loud gulp of saliva, Moyong Juhee understood the reason. Ah. This woman was obsessed with alcohol. So she just wanted to drink? She wasn’t refusing because she was confident she could handle her liquor? Yet Moyong Juhee herself was a drinker who had never once lost since her very first drinking session in life. Even so, she never overestimated her own tolerance. The greater the grudge, the more cautious she became. On top of that, she had prepared a secret weapon. This was a fight she absolutely could not lose.
“Do you enjoy drinking, Lady Seomun?”
“I do. I’d drink even if there was none left.”
“Ah. Then, since you’ve come all the way to Henan, do you know the liquor most famous in this province?”
“Oh. Don’t tell me. Dugangju?”
“You know it! I prepared a special drink as a gesture of reconciliation. It’s called Seojeong Dugangju, brewed with the water of the Western Gorge.”
“Seojeong Dugangju!”
Seomun Cheong cried out without thinking, then immediately came to a great realization. Ah. So this was why everyone shouted their titles the moment they heard them. It wasn’t something you could control; it just fired off automatically.
When Moyong Juhee gestured, a woman appeared carrying a bottle and cups. “Here, the drinks are on me, not the Yongbongjihoe. Please have the first cup. Go on, go on.”
The cups for strong liquor were tiny, barely two spoonfuls, and even then only half-filled, so it was really just one spoonful. It was only a single spoonful of clear liquor, yet its crisp aroma already filled the entire space, blooming explosively.
“Wow, even the smell is nice. Lady Moyong, have a cup too.”
Seomun Cheong poured for Moyong Juhee. After receiving the Dugangju in her cup, Moyong Juhee returned to her seat. The table was so large that the two of them, sitting across from each other, were at the farthest possible distance along the circle.
Seomun Cheong then tried to pour for Gongson Yoye, but paused to ask, “Wait, Yoye. Have you ever drunk before?”
“No…… But I want to try.”
……With a friend, she added in a murmur that Seomun Cheong’s sharp ears caught clearly. Feeling a pang of pity, Seomun Cheong smiled playfully, as if an adult offering a child a spoonful of liquor, and gave a simple explanation of drinking etiquette.
“Really? The first cup at a drinking table is supposed to be finished in one go without leaving any. So it’s a toast. Dry cup. Geonbae. But this is pretty strong. Let’s start with just this much.”
With skillful hands, Seomun Cheong tilted the bottle and let exactly four drops fall. “Is it really this little?”
“Even that much will change your mind. Come on, let’s toast. To friendship.”
Seomun Cheong raised her cup to eye level and downed it in one shot. Cold fire slid down her throat. The aroma of the liquor that had gone down her esophagus leaked into her windpipe and burst out through her nose. It wasn’t just the scent; even her breath seemed laced with alcohol. Every organ from her solar plexus up to beneath her eyes flushed hot all at once. Seomun Cheong let out a dazed sigh without realizing it.
“Haaah…… So this is it.”
“Kuhk, cough! Cough!”
As expected, violent coughing erupted from beside her. Seomun Cheong gently rubbed Gongson Yoye’s back. “Yoye, are you okay? See? It’s not easy, right?”
“My insides…… are burning. Is it poison?”
“Would there be poison this fragrant? The smell is nice, though, right?”
“Mm, the smell is really good. Is the burning normal? But it’s so bitter. It doesn’t even taste good.”
“You think liquor tastes bad? I think it’s actually tastier than juice.”
“Come on, Lady Seomun. You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”
“It’s because Yoye’s constitution doesn’t accept it. Once you have a good constitution, it just tastes like sweet fruit tea. The aroma. Wow, the aroma is really something. I want to see the aroma.”
“……?”
Seomun Cheong kept babbling as she refilled Gongson Yoye’s cup, then gave another simple explanation of drinking etiquette. “Close your lips and just touch the middle lightly, then sip only with your wet lips. Since it’s strong liquor, never pour it straight into your mouth. If it doesn’t suit you, don’t drink. It’s better than making a mistake while drunk.”
While saying this to Gongson Yoye, Seomun Cheong had another realization. Ah, so Moyong Juhee was planning to send her off with alcohol? But against this body that had reached the level where liquor and water were indistinguishable? What a rookie.
As expected, Moyong Juhee spoke. “Ah, it has to remain. Since it’s far to pour every time, you should pay special attention so Lady Seomun’s cup never empties. Understood?”
“Yeah. Got it. Lady Seomun, you wouldn’t mind if I pour for you, would you?”
“Pay special attention” meant she absolutely could not stand to see the cup empty. And she probably couldn’t stand to see it full either. But to Seomun Cheong, liquor was nothing more than a beverage that let her enjoy the aroma and the burn, leaving her only pleasantly mellow no matter how much she drank. Seomun Cheong went one step further.
“Of course not. But my cup is empty right now? Aren’t you going to fill it?”
At that sight, Moyong Juhee let out a low, sinister chuckle. In truth, though the bottles looked the same, their contents were different. The bottles placed around Seomun Cheong contained the Seojeong Dugangju famous for being the strongest in Henan, while the bottle beside Moyong Juhee was not liquor at all but a teapot filled with tea.
The moment Seomun Cheong’s cup was filled, Moyong Juhee spoke as if she had been waiting. “Come now, Lady Seomun. Let’s play without holding back, just us women who enjoy drinking. Come on.”
“Oh my, are you sure? I’m quite the heavy drinker. You might run out.”
One cup. “Then, shall Jeong-a say something this time?” Two cups, three cups, four cups…… “Then let’s go around once. Lady Seomun, please say something again.”
One bottle, then two bottles…… In an instant, five bottles vanished completely.
“Hmm. Ah, this is nice.”
Seomun Cheong swayed left and right, humming a tune. She was deliberately pretending to be drunk. The scheme was petty, but in the end it meant unlimited expensive liquor was being bought for her, so she had to play along a little to keep the patron entertained. Pretending to be drunk was a national art that the people of Seomun Cheong’s homeland, the Korean people, learned from childhood as part of the regular school curriculum.
“Hehe, Lady Seomun.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to call you. Lady Seomun. Lady Seomun. Mm. Cheong-ah. Haaah, I can’t do it. It’s embarrassing.”
Gongson Yoye lifted her cup and downed it in one go. Seomun Cheong clicked her tongue at the familiar motion. Strange? She had clearly told her to only wet her lips?
“Who gave Yoye more to drink?”
“Ah, she kept asking for it……”
“How much did you give her?”
“About a bottle and a half……”
The woman beside Gongson Yoye answered hesitantly. While Seomun Cheong had been drinking like mad, Gongson Yoye had been sipping little by little, gradually growing fond of it and gulping it down.
“You drank quite a lot. Yoye, are you okay?”
“Yes. I feel good. Good. But how can Lady Seomun drink so much? Drink? I feel weird. Ah! So this is what being drunk feels like. Drunk. Hehe.”
After saying that, Gongson Yoye tilted her head, then looked at Seomun Cheong again and gave a wide, silly smile she had never shown before. “But I feel good. Good. But how can Lady Seomun drink so much? Drink? I feel weird. Ah! This is—”
“So Yoye’s the infinite repeat type.”
“Infinite repeat? What’s that? What? But I like Lady Seomun. My friend. My first friend. My one and only precious friend. But.”
Then she tightly hugged Seomun Cheong’s arm. “But it’s unfair. Fair. I only have Lady Seomun as a friend, but Lady Seomun has too many. That’s not okay. I give my whole heart, but Lady Seomun gives it divided. Divided. I don’t like that. Can’t I be the most special? Even if it’s divided, I want the biggest piece. Because it’s unfair. I only have—”
“Why don’t you just make lots of friends too?”
Seomun Cheong tried to break the loop. A heavy voice came out. “Everyone hates me. Before Lady Seomun became my friend, I was alone for half a month. I was alone, and no one talked to me. The men, I thought they were friends, but they weren’t. No. They said a stiff girl like me would give it up if coaxed a little. It hurt so much. It hurts. Too much.”
“Which bastard was it? That guy’s getting his head cracked open today. Who was it? Tell me.”
“Hehe, are you getting angry for me? Angry? As expected, I only have Lady Seomun. But it’s unfair. Fair? I only have Lady Seomun as a friend, but Lady Seomun has too many, so it’s unfair, this isn’t okay. It’s bad. I give my whole heart, but haaam. I’m sleepy. Sleepy. I want to sleep. Sleep.”
Then the head leaning on her shoulder grew heavy and collapsed limply onto Seomun Cheong’s lap. “Oh dear.”
Seomun Cheong looked at the women with an awkward expression. “I heard the sixth floor is used as a resting area. Is there somewhere she can lie down?”
After a moment of thought, Moyong Juhee answered. After all, her target was Seomun Cheong, not the foul-mouthed Gongson girl. “There should be a room marked with a paper door. It’s the women’s resting room.”
“I’ll go lay my friend down for a bit.”
Seomun Cheong lifted Gongson Yoye and disappeared up the stairs. Moyong Juhee let out a suspicious breath. Was she really drunk? She suddenly looked completely fine. But that only lasted a moment. After laying Gongson Yoye down and even tipping the resting room attendant to take good care of her, Seomun Cheong tripped on the very last step and fell flat on her face.
Ah. She really was drunk! She must be the type whose intoxication doesn’t show on the outside! Moyong Juhee ran over with a wide smile, pretending to be worried. “Oh my!!! Lady Seomun!!! Are you all right!? Falling like that!!”
Seomun Cheong’s eyes narrowed. This woman was really determined to humiliate her. Pretending to be drunk had been pointless because she had to take Gongson Yoye away, so she had deliberately fallen once, and now look at her. Wow, she wasn’t even managing her expression, thinking Seomun Cheong was actually drunk. She was having the time of her life.
“Ah. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine? It was only five bottles, just five bottles? You acted like you loved drinking so much, but five bottles, really, five bottles. You shouldn’t go around saying you drink. Falling over after five bottles.”
Now she saw it. Moyong Juhee was deliberately not controlling her expression. It was a provocation no drinker could ignore. She was pulling this petty trick? She needed to be taught a lesson. Fine. She’d fall for it once. But what about this girl? She drank five bottles and was completely fine? Was she also born with the Corpse-Blood Poison Person constitution?
“I can’t let what you just said slide. This Seomun Cheong has never lost to anyone when it comes to drinking.”
“My, my. Same here. Then how about we settle it right now, in front of everyone, and see who the greatest drinker at the Yongbongjihoe really is?”
“That’s what I should be saying. Very well. Lady Moyong, you’ll be crawling back today.”
“We’ll see who ends up crawling like a dog. Girls, did you hear? Lady Seomun has challenged us to a drinking contest, so we have to accept. Right? Go down and let them know to prepare.”
It was a clever way of speaking that subtly shifted the blame for proposing the contest onto Seomun Cheong. Seomun Cheong clicked her tongue inwardly. Wow, not just anyone could be a leader.
“Come on, get up. It’ll take some time to prepare, so you should drink more in the meantime. You’re not going to back out because of the contest, are you?”
But accepting was accepting, and being petty was being petty. Still lying on the floor, Seomun Cheong held out her hand. Moyong Juhee grabbed it and pulled, but Seomun Cheong put real strength into it and flung her away. Thud! Caught off guard, Moyong Juhee had no time to react before she was slammed flat onto the floor by that monstrous strength.