A Real Drinking Game
"Having fun?"
Hui-gyeong tried to start a conversation from across the table, but I ignored her as best I could. Not engaging her felt like the only winning move.
I kept my eyes on my book. Hui-gyeong entertained herself with her phone — snapping pictures, firing off texts, and before long hopping on a call with someone. My name came up more than once in the middle of it.
"Yeah! Uh-huh, uh-huh. I'm with Dojun right now."
After talking for a while, she suddenly turned to me.
"Gaeun wants us to come hang out. You in?"
"...Who's that?"
It wasn't Jieun, and I'd never heard the name in my life. I answered before I could stop myself. Hui-gyeong let out a sigh.
"Aigoo. Of course the nerd doesn't even know his own classmate."
"Our class?"
There were only five of us. The only girls were Hui-gyeong and the tattooed one, so the answer was obvious. The girl from the tattoo couple had to be Gaeun.
She's got some social skills, I'll give her that.
They'd gotten close enough to hang out outside the academy, apparently. I thought back on the tattoo couple I'd been watching for the past three weeks.
The guy was a textbook thug — left arm sleeved in ink. Naturally he had zero interest in studying, so pawing at his girlfriend during class was just another Tuesday. Whenever they sat in the back row, you could see him squeezing her ass through the gap in the chairs. He didn't even try to hide it, which told you everything you needed to know about his personality.
The girl, on the other hand, didn't have that aggressive, queen-bee energy her boyfriend gave off. If anything, she was on the quiet side. I hadn't actually talked to her, so I couldn't say for sure, but that was the impression.
That chest tattoo, though. That one was something else.
The one thing that had stuck with me was the butterfly inked into the hollow of her upper chest. It was on a girl, and it was on her chest — of course it held my attention a lot more than anything on the guy.
While my thoughts were wandering, Hui-gyeong cut in.
"Let's just go. Wouldn't it be nice to get friendly with them while we're at it?"
"Would it, though?"
"What's the point of sitting around being awkward every day?"
She wasn't wrong. If I was going to keep running into them, a basic introduction couldn't hurt. That didn't mean I wanted to go meet them right this second.
"I'm studying until dinner."
"Then we'll meet up then. She said they'll be hanging around right out front."
"Okay."
So we made plans for the evening. Hui-gyeong's argument played a part, but personal curiosity did most of the heavy lifting. The tattoos. They weren't something you ran into every day, and I had all kinds of questions.
After that I went back to the academy and kept studying. Hui-gyeong didn't wander far — she just hovered around me, mostly on her phone or dozing off.
She really must have had nothing better to do.
"Hey. Wake up."
It was already 7:30. I shook Hui-gyeong, who'd passed out like she'd been knocked unconscious. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and sat up.
"Nngh. What time is it?"
"Seven-thirty."
"Did you eat?"
"...Does it look like I ate? Come on, I'll buy you dinner."
At first I'd been trying to figure out how to shake her off, but by now I'd given up. Four hours of sticking to my side like glue — you had to respect the commitment.
She must be bored out of her mind. Fine. I'll hang out with her for the day.
The moment I stopped fighting it, everything got easier. Hui-gyeong grabbing my arm, linking elbows — none of it registered. I knew she didn't mean anything by it, which made it even easier to ignore. She just seemed like the type who needed something to hold onto to feel settled.
We grabbed dinner nearby and headed off to meet Park Junsik and Moon Gaeun. The bar was a short walk from the academy.
"You actually showed?"
"Hey. Nice to meet you."
We exchanged a quick greeting and sat down. Gaeun was there, and as expected, so was her boyfriend. If I remembered right, they were both a year older than me.
"What's the deal with you two? You dating?"
"Not a chance. You're Park Junsik, right?"
"Yeah. First time we've actually talked."
Junsik had that slouchy, I-don't-give-a-shit energy from the first second. You didn't even need the ink on his left arm to clock him as trouble.
"Hey. I'm Moon Gaeun."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Kim Dojun."
Moon Gaeun, on the other hand, had a pale face and those puppy-dog features that on their own would've read as innocent. Which made the revealing clothes and the tattoos look like they'd been thrown on the wrong person.
Holy shit. Look at that neckline.
That deep plunge, paired with the butterfly tattoo, packed a serious punch. I could barely keep my eyes off it.
Fuck. I sat in the wrong seat.
I could feel my gaze sliding downward on its own and broke out in a cold sweat. I'd sat down without thinking and ended up directly across from Moon Gaeun. Park Junsik was right there. I could practically feel him watching.
That was when Park Junsik started pouring drinks.
"Drink first."
Perfect timing, as far as I was concerned. I filled my glass in a hurry and knocked it back. The bitter soju slapped me awake.
It took about four shots before I could actually join the conversation.
We traded the usual small talk. My high school days with Hui-gyeong, how the couple had ended up getting tattooed, everything that sucked about life as a re-applicant, complaints about the academy.
"Hey, is that thing real?"
"The watch?"
"Yeah. Fuck, a Rolex. That's insane." He chuckled.
"Of course it's real."
A lot of the questions were about me. A twenty-year-old re-applicant rocking a Rolex and driving a foreign car wasn't exactly common. The same way I was curious about their tattoos, they were curious about me.
"This is getting boring. Wanna play a game?"
Once the first round of light Q&A wrapped up, Park Junsik suggested a game. I'd been burned before, so I just sat there and listened.
"What kind of game?"
"A drinking game, what else?"
He flashed a greasy smile and mixed up a penalty shot on the spot. Then he spread his palm wide.
"Alright, I'll start. Four of us, so we leave the thumb out and go four rounds. We're doing it in reverse. Whoever has the most fingers left at the end drinks."
The way he laid down the law from the jump told me this was going to get pretty filthy.
"There's someone at this table you'd want to go down on. Fold."
"Go down on what?"
"Whatever. Heh."
Sure enough, the first question came in heavy. I quickly scanned the table.
Park Junsik, who'd asked the question, folded a finger, obviously. So did his girlfriend, Moon Gaeun. I turned to Hui-gyeong. She hesitated for a second, then folded. Every pair of eyes landed on me.
"What, nobody for you?"
"Ah — folding."
I hesitated for a split second, then decided to be honest. It was the way to dodge the penalty shot, and I didn't need to look like I had nothing between my legs.
"My turn!"
Second up was Moon Gaeun. I was already dreading my own turn.
"I had sex today. Fold."
The couple folded a finger each like they'd been waiting for it. They must have hit a motel after class.
These horny bastards. How about studying for once?
I folded my second finger, realizing this whole game was stacked in the couple's favor. That was when Hui-gyeong, sitting next to me, called me out.
"Huh? Are you lying?"
"About what?"
Fair reaction. She'd been glued to my side all day, depending on how you looked at it.
"You lie, you get wrecked."
Even Park Junsik jumped in with a warning, but I didn't flinch.
"Come on. I was late this morning, remember?"
"Ooooh. Look at this guy. Alright, I'll allow it."
Some of them bought it, some didn't, but nobody pushed it further. It was just a game. No point turning it into a cross-examination.
In the end, everyone except Hui-gyeong folded on the second question.
"My turn, right?"
"You throw out something weak, you drink."
"Just wait."
I racked my brain for a question that would actually make the couple drink. They were a couple — just cranking up the filth wasn't going to cut it.
After thinking it over, a decent idea surfaced. A sacrifice play — give a little, take a lot.
"There's more than one person here you'd want to go down on. Fold."
I folded a finger and looked at Park Junsik and Moon Gaeun. This time I was sure they wouldn't fold. Two guys, two girls — "more than one" naturally meant someone besides your partner.
Meaning if Park Junsik or Moon Gaeun folded here, they were basically confessing they wanted to go down on someone who wasn't their boyfriend or girlfriend.
And then, as if laughing in the face of my prediction, Moon Gaeun folded a finger.
"Are you sure about that?"
"It doesn't have to be the opposite sex, does it?"
"Ah, shit."
Felt like I'd been blindsided. Girls going down on girls — that was a variable I hadn't accounted for. I had no choice but to look at Park Junsik. The girl I could write off, but there was no way a guy like Park Junsik would fold.
I was wrong again.
"I'm folding too."
"...Are you insane?"
"What's the problem?"
Back-to-back curveballs. I was speechless.
Have these people all lost their minds?
Park Junsik's situation was completely different from Moon Gaeun's.
A girl going down on a girl and a guy going down on a guy were not even in the same universe. Which meant the person Park Junsik wanted to go down on could not possibly be me. Not unless he was gay.
My eyes found Hui-gyeong on their own. She hadn't folded this time either. At this point, no matter what question she asked, last place was already locked in.
My question had implied a lot, and a strange atmosphere settled over the table. Moon Gaeun looked at Park Junsik. Park Junsik looked at Lee Hui-gyeong.
That was when Lee Hui-gyeong grabbed the penalty shot.
"I just drink, right?"
"Want me to take it for you?"
"I'm good."
She brushed off Park Junsik — who wasn't even trying to hide it anymore — and drained the glass in one go.