Waking Up to Her Calling Me Oppa
When I opened my eyes, bright sunlight was streaming through the window. It looked like morning had already slipped away and it was well into the afternoon.
“Ah, I’m home… Wait, what?”
The brief wave of relief at realizing I was home vanished almost instantly. Something felt off, so I scanned the room, but nothing looked strange. There was only one thing nagging at me.
“How the hell did I even get home yesterday?”
I frowned and racked my brain, but the last thing I remembered was ordering more meat after finishing a bottle of soju. Everything after that was completely black. A wave of anxiety hit me as I wondered if I’d done something stupid while blacked out.
Right then, my phone buzzed.
This was definitely from Shin Jiyu, the raid party leader. No matter how many times I blinked, the contact clearly showed her number. So why was she calling me Oppa? And why was she speaking so casually? What on earth happened last night…!
Before I tried to dig through my jumbled memories, I decided to check the existing texts first. There had to be some kind of clue…
I decided to stop looking.
“Damn it, what the hell! What happened?!”
I shouted in confusion and immediately regretted it as a sharp pain rang through my skull. Okay. First things first—time to fix this hangover.
I glanced toward the kitchen and spotted a hangover relief drink neatly placed on the table. Even while drunk, I’d apparently been responsible enough to buy one… or not.
Make sure to drink this when you wake up!
The handwriting was small, cute, and perfectly round. I’d seen it before, but I deliberately ignored that thought and drank the hangover cure first.
“…Ah, that’s a little better.”
My churning stomach and throbbing head both eased up, if only slightly. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d drunk to the point of blacking out—probably not since my early twenties.
I opened the fridge, pulled out some bean sprouts I’d been saving, and made a spicy hangover soup. After ladling it over rice and eating properly, I finally felt clear-headed enough to think.
“We suddenly started speaking casually…”
Both Shin Jiyu and I had dropped the formal speech out of nowhere. I pulled out my phone again and scrolled through the messages one by one. The sheer number of texts we’d exchanged made my head spin. Most of them were me, completely wasted, asking if she’d gotten home safely, and her replying with diligent, detailed answers.
“Seriously… why can’t I remember any of it?”
I’d drawn such a clear line, yet one night of drinking had blown right through it. I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d call alcohol my worst enemy.
“The best thing is probably to ask the person involved.”
I debated between texting or calling, then decided it would be better to meet face-to-face. Calls and texts made it too easy to hide things. Not that I thought the party leader would do that, but still…
I typed carefully, worrying over whether I should match the casual tone from yesterday, and eventually sent a stiff, polite message.
I’d been planning to suggest a café near the office, but she didn’t reply after that, so I gave up and got ready. My clothes still smelled strongly of grilled meat from the night before. I made a mental note to do laundry when I got back and headed outside.
“Junho Oppa.”
There she was—Shin Jiyu, wearing her usual bright, clear expression. The title “Oppa” still felt completely foreign to me.
“Want to talk in the car?”
When I actually saw her calling me Oppa and speaking casually in person, I had no idea how to respond. I simply nodded and climbed into the passenger seat. The car was spotless and gleaming—she clearly took good care of it. Was she into cars?
“Your car is really clean… Captain.”
We sat in silence for a while until the awkwardness became too much and I spoke up.
“Oh, I had to change the seat covers because you threw up on them yesterday.”
…Excuse me?
“You look so confused. Guess you really don’t remember anything. I’m genuinely hurt, you know.”
“…I’m really sorry. But, um, what exactly happened…?”
“Hmm, where should I start? So…”
The time was rushing toward dawn. The streets were empty, and the noisy barbecue restaurant had finally closed its doors.
“Junho, try to pull yourself together.”
I knew his address. I could have just put him in a taxi like anyone else, but the reason I chose to drive him home in my own car instead was simple.
I just want to spend a little more time with him.
In the end, it was pure selfishness. I had no intention of doing anything inappropriate to a drunk person. I just wanted to stay with him until we reached his house. That was all.
“Are you okay, Junho?”
Of course, when I looked at him sitting in the back seat, leaning his head on my shoulder… I might have had one or two slightly bad thoughts. I let out a long breath. Get a grip, Shin Jiyu! Touching a drunk person is a crime. A crime…!
“Ugh… ugh…”
“Hm? What did you say?”
He had been breathing softly and quietly for a while. It was only when we were nearly at his house that he started speaking again.
“Ugh…! Bleeegh…!”
I realized that wasn’t speech—it was him throwing up spectacularly—only after everything had already happened.
“Kyaa! Junho! Are you okay?! Driver, please pull over for a moment!”
It was honestly funny. In a situation like this, I should have felt embarrassed and grossed out. That would be normal. But instead of disgust, my head was filled with nothing but worry for him.
“Ugh… ugh…”
Seeing how sick he looked, I helped him out of the car, leaned him against a wall so he could get some fresh air, and quickly cleaned up the mess. I was glad I always kept tissues in the car. Once I finished and stepped back, I saw Junho—now a bit more lucid—quietly staring at me.
“Mmm, it’s Jiyu. Our cute little raid captain!”
The cold distance he usually kept was completely gone. He was just smiling adorably, and my heart… my heart hurt so much!
“J-Jiyu? That’s the first time you’ve called me by my name.”
“Is it…? Yeah, it is! Right! Jiyu is younger than me, so it’s Jiyu! Just Shin Jiyu!”
“You’re even speaking casually now? This is pretty drastic, isn’t it…?”
“Do you haaate it?”
Of course I didn’t hate it. I loved it.
“I don’t hate it! In that case, I want to speak casually too. And I want to call you Oppa…!”
“Hmm? Sure! Do whatever you waaant~”
It seemed that when Junho drank, he completely let his guard down. No wonder he’d kept refusing alcohol earlier. Even though I’d started this with selfish motives, seeing all these different sides of him made me happy.
“Why are you so cute, Oppa?”
“I’m not cute.”
He kept grinning brightly, then suddenly looked at me and continued.
“You’re the cute one.”
…! Alcohol. The answer is alcohol…! If I keep feeding him drinks…!
Ah, no. Get a hold of yourself! What am I even thinking…!
“But… but I… I shouldn’t do this… I shouldn’t say you’re cute… I shouldn’t…”
Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe he was out of breath, but his words came out in broken fragments. For some reason, the sight of it looked incredibly sad.
“Why shouldn’t you?”
“Because if I… reject you… you’ll get hurt… so… so I can’t.”
I had suspected it, but I never imagined I would get rejected before I even confessed. Up until now, people had only ever told me they liked me. I had never been the one to say it first, so I had never even considered the possibility of being turned down like this.
But it really hurt. More than I expected.
“Ugh… I’ll walk the rest of the way home… Take care, see you tomorrow~”
There was still some distance left, but I watched blankly as he staggered away. I’d been rejected, but was it okay to keep approaching him? Of course, there was a high chance that by tomorrow, Junho Oppa wouldn’t remember any of this. But wouldn’t I keep remembering and keep getting hurt?
“Uwaaah~ The world is spinning~”
No. No, it’s fine. If I was going to get hurt this easily and back off, I never would have started in the first place. I used to be the Iron Wall Queen, after all!
Once I finished thinking, I ran after him and grabbed his arm.
“Wait! Just wait a second! You can’t just say all that and leave, Oppa!”
“Hmm…? Oh, it’s Jiyu! Jiyu! Why did you come baaack~?”
I knew talking seriously to a drunk person might be pointless, but still.
“Let’s be friends. Let’s start as friends, okay?”
You could call it pathetic if you wanted.
“If we start as friends and get closer, then maybe it’ll be okay…!”
You could call it desperate if you wanted. As long as I could stay by his side, anything was fine. No matter what name it went by.
“Friends? But you’re younger than me…?”
“People only one or two years apart are always friends!”
“Hmm? Is that how it works…?”
“Y-yeah! I’m friends with Heeyeon unnie too, after all…!”
This was going to be so embarrassing once he sobered up tomorrow…
“Okay! Then we’re friends too!”
That bright, unguarded smile of his was so lovely I could barely stand it.
“And that’s what happened!”
Wait, give me a second. My head is spinning.
“So you’re saying I got drunk, threw up in your car, then suddenly started calling you by your name and speaking casually while smiling?”
“Yep! So when I suggested we become friends, you said that was fine, and we became friends! Oh, and did you drink the hangover cure I bought for you?”
I couldn’t tell if this was all true or if she was leaving parts out, but her eyes and tone didn’t feel like she was lying.
“…Ah, thank you for the hangover cure… Wait, that’s not the point. Can’t we… undo this?”
“Nope.”
Of course not. She was the one who had told me from the beginning to speak comfortably. I let out a heavy sigh, feeling like she had seized the perfect opportunity.
What should I do? Should I keep drawing the line on my end? Say it was just a mistake because I was drunk yesterday? …But I was the one who started speaking casually and calling her by name first! If I went back to formal speech and calling her “Captain” now, wouldn’t that make me the trash here?
“Sigh… Fine. Okay. Um, yeah. If you could just give me a little time to adjust… that would be great.”
“Hmm, if Oppa finds it awkward, I guess there’s no helping it!”
“Then starting from my next shift…”
“We can spend the whole day together today so you can get used to it!”
…Sorry?
How did the conversation end up like this?
“Are you still feeling bad from the hangover?”
“Uh…? No…”
The hangover had mostly cleared up earlier, but… wait a second. Couldn’t I have just used the hangover as an excuse to refuse?
“Great, then let’s go! Buckle up! Want me to do it for you?”
“…It’s fine. I’ll do it myself.”
I was starting to seriously worry whether I’d be able to keep drawing a proper line now that I’d ended up speaking casually and becoming friends with this girl who naturally charmed everyone around her.