Hallelujah
The manager would take some time to get here.
I didn’t know where he was coming from, but either way, it was a long haul from both his house and the bar.
Waiting here until he showed up was one option.
But I didn’t particularly want to waste a lot of time sitting around.
He’d contact us when he got close enough.
“Should we move somewhere else? How about Junko?”
“That sounds good to me.”
“Oh, so I need to show off my singing again after all.”
“Let’s go.”
So we moved to Junko.
Just to forget what had happened earlier, we made an extra point of having fun as usual.
We were in the middle of singing and drinking when the manager finally called.
He was here.
I didn’t feel like going outside. What was there to look at? Why should we be the ones going to him?
So I sent him Junko’s location instead.
“Looks like he’ll be here soon.”
The playful expressions on Hyung and Jihyeon’s faces stiffened.
It couldn’t be helped. I had backing now, assets behind me, and I was no longer the same person I had been before. Especially on the inside.
By contrast, those two had only quit their part-time jobs; they were still ordinary people, and that hadn’t changed.
Ordinary people got anxious about fighting with someone, even if that someone wasn’t their part-time boss.
A little while later,
the door opened.
There stood the manager, looking even more nervous than Hyung and Jihyeon.
He was shaking all over.
“Come in.”
He closed the door and stepped inside.
When he saw us, he hesitated. None of us were exactly good at hiding our expressions. Especially Jihyeon, after hearing those near-assault-level remarks.
After lingering for a moment, he dropped to his knees.
His head bowed low.
“...I’m really sorry. No, seriously, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. I made a huge mistake.”
“People really are hard to deal with. It’s amazing how difficult it is to tell truth from lies.”
“I-I promise I won’t make this mistake again if you just forgive me once. P-please, forgive me.”
“Haa...”
“Please, hit me until you’re satisfied. I’ll accept it.”
I hadn’t expected him to truly reflect on anything in the first place.
And there was no real way to verify that anyway.
I was only acting to cool my own anger.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I swung my hand hard.
Slap.
“Agh!”
It probably hurt more than he expected. This time I’d hit him with everything I had, completely different from earlier.
Whether he was exaggerating or not, he toppled sideways.
He clutched his cheek with both hands.
His eyes shook so badly I thought he might burst into tears any second.
What probably scared him more was the fact that this wouldn’t be the only time.
I dusted my hands off.
“I’m satisfied with this much. Honestly, there was a lot more I’ve had to swallow over the years than just that earlier hit, so you’d better take it gladly.”
“Y-yes. Of course.”
My words brought him visible relief.
After a brief hesitation, he asked with hopeful eyes,
“T-then... does that mean you forgive me?”
Ugh. Seriously, I hated him.
Once someone got under my skin, everything they did became annoying.
“I don’t really hold any grudges anymore. Not because I’ve calmed down, but because even dealing with you is a hassle now.”
“T-then...”
“But Jihyeon is a different case. Unlike me, she was sexually harassed.”
“...”
It was an insanely sensitive issue these days.
Even prominent politicians got dragged into sexual harassment scandals and ended up in the gutter all the time.
There was no way a small-time business owner could handle something like that.
He couldn’t even try to silence it, because I was sitting right here beside her. And Hyung’s evidence was the perfect bonus.
He knew that, which was why he was looking at me with fear again now.
He slammed his forehead to the floor.
“P-please forgive me! I spoke out of turn!”
“...”
“I’ll accept anything you give me. I just... I’m supporting my parents’ living expenses, so...”
“Haa... this is really difficult. If it weren’t for Doyun-oppa, you probably wouldn’t even have apologized, and now I feel like I’m the bad one here.”
“N-no, absolutely not. I’m the bad one.”
Jihyeon thought for a long time.
Then, apparently having made up her mind, she went on.
“Get up.”
“...Does that mean you forgive me?”
“That’s hard.”
“...”
“But I won’t file a report either. I don’t want anything else to do with a filthy person like you.”
“...I’m sorry again.”
He didn’t seem to have any intention of taking this into some complicated legal battle.
If he’d had the will, I would’ve helped him, but he seemed to hate even that.
“You do understand things won’t go back to how they were before, right?”
“...Of course.”
“Then have them quit right now. I trust you won’t be expecting any sort of handover.”
“I’ll do that.”
In the end, the matter wrapped up with all the part-timers quitting on the spot.
That alone would hit him hard.
Not to mention his pride had already been flattened.
I had no desire to hear any more apologies.
Even the time spent facing him felt wasteful.
I sent him away.
***
The drinking continued, but the mood had changed a little from before.
“That’s surprising. I thought you’d hit him at least ten more times.”
“If I kept hitting him, my own hand would probably start hurting. Honestly... I realized he wasn’t even worth bothering with.”
“That’s cool. And that’s probably right. Are you okay, Jihyeon?”
“...Yes, I’m fine.”
She said she was fine, but it was obvious she wasn’t.
She didn’t even drink much to begin with, and yet she kept sipping drink after drink.
Her mind had to be in a mess.
As if to prove it, I could hear her sniffling, and her shoulders were trembling.
“Slow down. You’ll get drunk.”
“No. Tonight, I’d rather get drunk.”
“Then let’s drink together. Better than drinking alone.”
“...Thank you.”
We had a few more rounds. Jihyeon was clearly starting to feel the alcohol by then.
She’d already gone well past her limit.
“I need to use the restroom.”
“Want me to go with you?”
“I’ll go by myself.”
“Alright.”
Even on the way to the bathroom, she swayed unsteadily. She was definitely drunk.
Hyung and I were left alone.
“Looks like she’s going to fix her makeup.”
“Huh?”
“Why a woman goes to the bathroom. No matter how drunk she is, she’ll look in the mirror before she collapses. She was crying earlier too.”
“Ah.”
I learned something new.
I hadn’t known that.
“I’m going to head out first.”
“...Huh?”
“I’ve got some sense, you know.”
“...”
“We’ve all been drinking a lot, and it’s about time to wrap things up anyway. If that’s the case, it’s better for me to leave first.”
As always, Hyung really was a good person to me.
“You okay with the booze?”
“You’ve got to leave while you still want more. What can you do?”
“Drink the stuff we kept last time.”
“...You sure that’s okay?”
“Use this as a tip.”
“Hyung, I’m going to head out now.”
I slipped him a few fifty-thousand-won bills. That should’ve been more than enough for him to have fun on his own.
There were still several bottles left, each worth hundreds of thousands of won.
Hyung, who had stood up looking so cool, bent at a perfect ninety degrees before taking his leave.
The back view of a man who knew when it was time to go was so beautiful.
I almost applauded him.
A little later,
Jihyeon came back from the bathroom and opened the door.
Seeing that Hyung was gone, she asked,
“Oh? Where did oppa go?”
“He says something urgent came up, so he had to leave first.”
“...Really?”
“What do you want to do? Keep drinking, or go home?”
“Hmm...”
She seemed to be genuinely thinking about it, because she stayed silent for a while.
At last, she spoke.
“If I drink more, I think I’ll have a hard time, so I should probably go home.”
“...”
My mood instantly turned to shit.
Honestly, I’d been expecting something. Something special had happened today, and from my perspective I was a pretty decent guy.
And it wasn’t just today. I’d done my part back at the resort too.
Even with that alone, I would’ve had a reasonable amount of expectation.
But the reason I’d expected more was Jihyeon.
Her attitude all day while we’d been drinking was proof of it.
Anyone could see she was acting like someone who had feelings for me.
Haa...
There was no point getting worked up here. It wouldn’t do me any good. If anything, it would just make me miss my next chance too.
I gathered my things from the seat and stood up.
“Let’s go.”
After paying, we left Junko.
I debated whether to take her home or split up here.
Normally, I wouldn’t even have had to think about it.
Then again, I really wasn’t a nice person. Getting angry just because my expectations had vanished was pathetic.
And since I was annoyed, even the idea of taking her home didn’t sit well with me.
Then—
Wobble.
“You okay?”
“...Thanks. I think I drank a little too much.”
Jihyeon was swaying, unable to keep herself steady.
Hah.
Yeah. We’d been through too much together for me to just tell her to go home alone after seeing that.
Besides, I still needed to leave the door open for the future, so I couldn’t end things on a bad note.
Honestly...
I was a little worried, too.
I kept thinking of the way she’d been crying earlier.
“I’ll take you home.”
“I just ended up drinking too much...”
“If you’re feeling down, that can happen. I’ve got plenty of time anyway. You’ve quit the part-time job now, haven’t you?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
I took her by the forearm and supported her.
Flump.
Wow. Deciding to take her home was the best choice I could’ve made.
After walking a while and leaving the downtown area behind, she spoke.
“Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
“My place is pretty far, so I don’t think I can go all the way home like this... Could we rest for a little while?”
“...”
Before I knew it, my eyes were rolling back, and I nearly nodded my head dozens of times.
Hoo. We made it.
Calm down.
“Should we?”
I looked at her desperately.
She nodded.
“Yes.”
Hallelujah.
The God I usually never believed in had finally blessed me.
Thank you, truly.