The Hottest Night on Campus
After the engineering department’s bonding event came to an end, and dinner was over, the computer science students each went to wash up before gathering in Room 501 of Resort Building A.
The largest room there had become computer science’s command center for the night.
“All right, listen up!”
The door swung open, and Lee Jinwoo and the student council filed in. In both hands, they carried what looked like heavy bottles of liquor.
Imperial, Windsor, Jack Daniel’s, vodka... and even a little bottle of Johnnie Walker with a black ribbon on it.
They were all pretty expensive if you were handing them out as prizes to students.
But the others seemed thrilled simply because it was liquor.
“Waaah!”
“Liquor! Liquor! Liquor!”
Lee Jinwoo smiled with obvious satisfaction as he looked over the freshmen.
“You guys really worked hard today! Thanks to everyone giving it their all, our computer science department won the overall championship at the bonding event!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
Cheers exploded through the room. After letting the students enjoy themselves for a moment, Lee Jinwoo lowered his voice with exaggerated seriousness.
“And I’ve brought back some absolutely delicious gossip.”
“What gossip?”
“There’s a rumor going around the art college right now. Apparently, the computer science freshmen from engineering are the best-looking and the most fun.”
“Ooooh...”
“That’s nice, but... doesn’t that rumor feel a little off?”
“Yeah. I mean, aside from Dohyun hyung...”
“Still, I’d say I’m not bad-looking myse—”
“You’d be decent if you just kept your mouth shut.”
“Hahahahaha!”
Lee Jinwoo laughed and went on, “Hey, what’s the most important thing for a guy? Confidence! If you’ve got confidence, girls will at least show interest first! Right, Seohee?!”
At the mention of “Seohee,” I flinched. It was my sister’s name.
But the “Seohee” Lee Jinwoo was talking about was Vice Student President An Seohee.
An Seohee shrugged. “True, but for a student president, that’s a little much. Moderation is best.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean!”
“Ohhh...”
“Understood!”
“Hey, who said ‘understood’?”
“Hahahaha!”
After pretending to be offended for a bit, Lee Jinwoo laughed it off and said, “Anyway, I already got a call from the art college. They said once we’ve had a few drinks and the mood gets going, we should come over there!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
“Tonight we’re pulling an all-nighter!! ...Ah, of course, if you want to sleep, you can sleep! No one’s forcing you!”
“Yes!!”
At the rate things were going, it didn’t look like anyone would be sleeping.
Meanwhile, other student council members handed soju and glasses to the freshmen.
Lee Jinwoo poured himself a drink and said, “All right, fill your glasses first! Everyone done?”
“Yes!”
“Good! Normally the first toast is supposed to be given by the president, but tonight’s for you freshmen, so let one of you do the opening toast. Kim Dohyun!”
“Yes?”
I hadn’t expected to be called on, so I answered a little startled.
“MVP! Think you can handle the toast?!”
At Lee Jinwoo’s words, everyone’s eyes turned to me.
Then, without anyone even telling them to, the others started chanting my name.
“MVP! MVP!”
“Kim Dohyun! Kim Dohyun!”
In perfect rhythm with the hype, they kept shouting me up.
It didn’t look like I could back out.
Not that I was planning to.
As I stepped half a pace forward, Lee Jinwoo looked at me and said, “Hold on! Our department has a traditional toast.”
He quickly explained. “First, the lead shouts, ‘For the advanced computer science department!’ Then everyone repeats it, and at the end we shout, ‘Weihaya!’ The important part isn’t ‘for’ or ‘to’—it’s that you really punch the ending and yell, ‘Weihaya!’ Got it?”
“Yes!”
“All right, let’s go! Toast!”
Lee Jinwoo set the stage for me.
I took a deep breath, tightened my stomach, and shouted, “For the advanced computer science department~!!”
Even as I said it, I was honestly surprised. I hadn’t realized my voice could be that loud.
“For the advanced computer science department!!”
“Weihaya~!!”
“Weihaya!!”
Everyone drained their glasses in one go.
I drained mine too.
The liquor tasted sweet.
Lee Jinwoo.
Seeing Kim Dohyun’s toast, he widened his eyes slightly.
Oh... so that’s why.
Maybe you could get away with it once you were used to things, but when freshmen were asked to give the toast, most either shrank back, started laughing, or tried to slip through the cracks.
And that killed the mood.
But Kim Dohyun was different. He’d finished the toast louder than expected, and perfectly, right down to the “Weihaya!”
It might have seemed small, but it was definitely a skill.
After a moment of thought, Lee Jinwoo spoke again.
“All right, then. Before we start drinking in earnest, there’s one thing we need to decide! We’re picking the class rep for your entire first year.”
“The class rep...?”
“Yeah, your first-year departmental representative. We choose one for each year. The student council handles official events, while the class rep handles unofficial stuff for the year—drinking parties and the like. Of course, the other seniors will help too.”
“......”
“Especially since first-years can’t join the student council yet, the class rep is basically the face of the year, the one who connects the professors, the seniors, and the classmates.”
As Lee Jinwoo explained, the freshmen’s eyes darted around restlessly.
Then, as if they’d agreed on it beforehand, those gazes one by one fixed on Kim Dohyun.
Lee Jinwoo had already read the mood.
Yeah, Dohyun’s the one. I could nominate him myself, but...
...if he steps up on his own, that’ll look best.
“Anyone want to really give being class rep a shot? Hands up.”
Silence fell for a moment.
Some of them twitched as if they might raise their hands, but no one stepped forward decisively.
The students were feeling the pressure.
They had every reason to. It was a position that meant being the face of the department—and dealing with the professors.
All the freshmen still remembered the drinking session with the professors from the night before.
Silence flowed again.
If Dohyun doesn’t step up, I’ll have to pick him myself.
Lee Jinwoo was just about to point at Kim Dohyun when—
Swish.
One hand rose straight into the air.
It was Kim Dohyun.
“Senior. I’d like to do it.”
From the moment Lee Jinwoo brought up the class rep, I’d been turning it over in my head.
Should I do it or not? If I did, would I look like I was trying too hard?
But the hesitation didn’t last long. I had enough sense to tell that Lee Jinwoo and the others probably wanted me to take the position.
And besides...
...just like when I signed up for soccer, I’ve already seen how much one bit of initiative can change the situation.
Since I’d decided to do college properly this time, I was going to try everything I could.
“Senior, I’d like to do it.”
The moment the words left my mouth, Lee Jinwoo’s face lit up.
“Oh, Dohyun!”
He looked so openly pleased that he quickly cleared his throat and forced his expression back under control.
“Ahem. Anyone else?”
“......”
“Anyone object?”
“......”
There was no atmosphere for opposition at all.
So this was what a public vote felt like. That was a little frightening.
“Then who’s in favor?”
Up went the hands.
Most of them shot their hands into the air, and the rest followed suit after seeing them. It was unanimous.
“Good! Then the class rep for the Class of ’09 is you, Kim Dohyun! You confident you can handle it?”
“Yes, I’ll do my best.”
“Good, good!”
Lee Jinwoo laughed. “Student council! For now, teach the kids some drinking games and get the mood going. I’ve got something to discuss with our new class rep.”
“Yes, sir!”
Lee Jinwoo gestured at me.
“Dohyun, come with me for a second.”
I got up and followed him out.
Lee Jinwoo led Kim Dohyun to Room 502, right next door.
Unlike the boisterous Room 501, the empty Room 502 was quiet.
As Lee Jinwoo closed the door, he held out a hand to Kim Dohyun.
“Congratulations, class rep. Welcome to the road of suffering.”
“Haha... thank you. I’d appreciate it if you helped me out a lot, senior.”
“Heh, you really talk well. Not bad for a freshman.”
For a split second, Kim Dohyun froze, but Lee Jinwoo didn’t notice.
Lee Jinwoo got straight to the point.
“Remember what I said on the bus the first day of our MT? That tonight we might join up with the art college and hang out.”
“Yes, I remember. Did that... not work out?”
When Kim Dohyun asked cautiously, Lee Jinwoo snorted a laugh.
“No. It worked out too well—that’s the problem.”
“Yes?”
“The art college kids keep calling me, telling me to send our department members to their rooms. I’ve got more than a dozen missed calls from art college student presidents.”
“Oh... that’s a relief. I’m sure everyone will like it.”
“What about you?”
Lee Jinwoo asked teasingly. Kim Dohyun shot back, “Me?”
“Do you not like it? Hanging out with the art college.”
It was a rather direct question.
Kim Dohyun paused for a moment, then answered with an awkward smile.
“Can I be honest?”
“We’re men, aren’t we? Don’t be shy.”
“I like it.”
“Heh heh.”
Lee Jinwoo chuckled and gave a thumbs-up.
“But there’s one problem. The art college has four departments: sculpture, Eastern painting, Western painting, and the design division. And they’re all making a fuss, telling us to come to their rooms.”
Kim Dohyun thought for a moment and asked, “If each art department only has about twenty people anyway, couldn’t we just split our guys up and send them around?”
“That would work. It’s probably the cleanest solution, but...”
Lee Jinwoo stared at Kim Dohyun and said in a tone that was almost sincerely envious, “All the student reps from the art college departments want you specifically to come to their rooms.”
“...Me?”
“Yeah. They said their freshmen are going crazy wanting to see you. You lucky bastard.”
“Haha...”
“That’s why I brought you here—to ask how you want to do this. You already got a look at the art college girls while we were playing sports earlier, didn’t you? If there’s a department you like, tell me. I’ll put you in that room.”
It was a privilege, if you wanted to call it that.
“But if I only go to one place, wouldn’t that put you in a difficult spot, senior?”
“Oh... right, that’s exactly what a class rep should notice. Sharp.”
“......”
“Well, at worst I’ll get chewed out a little at the student council meetings at the start of the semester. What I’m more worried about is the mood in the other rooms.”
“The other rooms?”
“Yeah. If you’re not there, I’m worried the mood’ll die and things will get awkward.”
Kim Dohyun said nothing for a moment. He looked as though he were thinking it through.
“Don’t worry too much about it. Just tell me which department you like best. Or do you want me to decide for you?”
“Wouldn’t it work if I just went to all of them?”
Lee Jinwoo’s eyes went round at the unexpected answer.
“You mean all of them?”
“Yes. I’m the class rep, so I can go around to each room, say hello, and hand out a bottle of liquor each... wouldn’t that work? We’ve got ten bottles anyway, and I don’t think we can finish them all among ourselves. There’s a ton of soju too.”
At Kim Dohyun’s words, Lee Jinwoo stared blankly for a moment before breaking into an amused grin.
“You little punk, so you want to stamp your face on the entire art college? Greedy bastard. Hero with many women, is that it?”
“Haha... no, nothing like that.”
“I’m kidding. Hey, that’s good. You’ve got a solid excuse, and if you show your face, they’ll all be happy. Clean and simple. But...”
“But what?”
“I’m just not sure you’ll be okay. You might die if you do that.”
“?”
When Kim Dohyun tilted his head, Lee Jinwoo laughed and said, “Not just the art college girls—the girls drink a lot. Way more than you’d imagine. Especially women; every extra person in the group seems to double their tolerance.”
“Re...ally?”
“Yeah. Especially sculpture. You’ve really got to be careful there. Those girls can drink like fish. They’re harder to handle than most engineering departments. I’m telling you this just in case, but don’t underestimate girls’ drinking capacity. If you take senior girls lightly, you might get eaten alive.”
“Haha... surely not.”
“I’m serious, damn it. If you start feeling sleepy or think you’re getting drunk, come straight to me or the student council. And if some girl says, ‘Let’s go for a little walk to sober up,’ don’t just follow anyone. You might wake up in some bed somewhere with no memory of how you got there, you know?”
Lee Jinwoo snickered and slapped Kim Dohyun on the shoulder.
After a brief talk with Lee Jinwoo in Room 502, I went back to Room 501 to keep drinking and having fun.
“The alcohol goes in! Chugga chugga chugga!”
“How long are you gonna keep making me dance this shoulder dance! Look at my shoulder! It’s dislocated!!”
But since it was all guys in the room... somehow it felt like the old days, when the battalion commander had treated us to drinks in the army.
The drinking-game songs sounded like military cadences.
Still.
This is fun. Really fun.
Back when I’d lived my previous college life, I’d played drinking games a few times, but I didn’t have many memories of truly running wild in the thick of it, so I’d been a little worried.
I’d even thought about asking Zero to download the drinking-game rules and some tips for me, but this kind of pure fun—I wanted to enjoy that myself.
And yet...
Zero, am I weirdly good at drinking games?
「Master has excellent instincts.」
I dodged penalties with such absurdly perfect timing that even I found it impressive, attacking and defending at exactly the right moments and slipping away from punishment drinks whenever I could.
Thanks to that, my head was completely clear.
Two hours passed like that.
And now.
I was standing with Lee Jinwoo in front of Room 503 of Resort Building B, where the sculpture department was staying.
“—‘Hello! Cleopatra! The greatest potato in the world...!’ Kheuk...!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
“Hahahahahaha!!”
“Hey, hey! Where’s the punishment drink? Hurry up and drink it!!”
Even through a single door, the heat of the room spilled out into the hallway.
“Ooooh...”
“Whoa, he downed that in one shot?!”
“Damn, that’s cool!”
Somebody must have lost a game and been forced to drink a penalty shot, because the raucous noise shifted into a chorus of excited “Ooooh...”
As if waiting for that exact moment, Lee Jinwoo nudged my shoulder.
“Shall we go in?”
“Yes, sir.”
I straightened my clothes once and followed Lee Jinwoo inside.
The moment the door flew open, the smell of alcohol and hot, crowded air hit me at once.
And the dozens of eyes packed into the room all turned in unison toward Lee Jinwoo and me.
As the door opened and Kim Dohyun appeared, the atmosphere in the room split in two.
The computer science boys, already loaded with liquor before coming over from the sculpture department, cheered like they’d just seen saviors.
“Whoa, they’re here!!”
“Class rep hyung! What took you so long!”
“D-Dohyun hyung! Hurry up and come here!”
“Lee Jinwoo senior! Dohyun hyung! We saved you seats, come on!”
The sculpture department girls, on the other hand, reacted very differently.
“......”
“......”
“......ahem!”
“......”
“Ahem...”
Instead of cheering, they hurriedly brushed back their bangs, messy from drinking.
They straightened collars that had gone askew and wiped the shine from their faces with the backs of their hands. It was the most instinctive thing in the world when a girl spotted a man she was interested in.
Then a rough female voice boomed out.
“Heyyy! Lee Jinwooo!!”
It was Seo Hyemin, the sculpture department president, seated at the head of the room.
She was small and had a rather cute face, but she gave off unmistakable big-sister energy the moment you saw her.
Seo Hyemin pointed at Lee Jinwoo with the spoon she’d been holding.
“Why are you so late! You stopped by the design department’s room first, didn’t you?!”
“What are you talking about? This guy’s our first-year class rep. We were doing something together, so he ran late.”
“Really? And he’s the first-year class rep? Ohhh...”
“Yeah. And he’s going to go greet the other departments too.”
Lee Jinwoo subtly pushed Kim Dohyun forward.
“You guys are first in the art college. He said he wanted to greet the sculpture department first, so we came here.”
I hadn’t said that, but with Lee Jinwoo’s words, the mood in the room instantly lifted.
“Ooooh...”
“Computer science class rep, oooh...”
“Dohyun hyung, who? Who made you want to come heeeere?”
“We are pretty, after all.”
“...Joohee, are you drunk?”
“You can’t call a pretty girl prettyyy...”
“Hey, shut her up!”
Amid the commotion, Seo Hyemin spoke.
“Soooo? We’re first?”
Seo Hyemin’s eyes narrowed before the corners of her mouth lifted in satisfaction.
“Computer science class rep, your name was Kim Dohyun, right?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve got a good eye. Our department really is the prettiest in the art college.”
Neither Lee Jinwoo nor I had said the sculpture department was pretty, but everyone had already decided to understand it that way.
“Ehehe...”
“Ahem! I-is that so?”
“Hehe...”
“They said we’re prettyyy!”
“You shut up!”
Laughter rippled among the girls.
Saying we’d come here first seemed to have earned me a lot of points.
But apparently that wasn’t enough to let it slide.
Thud!
Seo Hyemin set down her empty glass and laid down the law.
“Still, late is late! Anyone who’s late has to be punished! Three shots for the latecomer!”
“Hey, hey. What kind of freshman gets forced into three shots for being late...!”
“Shh! Lee Jinwoo, quiet down. This is sculpture! I’m the president, aren’t I? Right?!”
When she shouted to the room, the sculpture students answered in unison.
“That’s right!!”
“The president’s word is law!”
“President Hyemin is right!”
“Hear that? This is our home turf. Lee Jinwoo, you like soccer, so you know what I mean, right? If you’re upset, go get your revenge when it’s your department’s home turf!”
“Hey, you... you’re really gonna regret this later. Who’s your first-year class rep?”
-I am...!
“Figure it out by asking everyone one by one while you drink, will you?!”
Seo Hyemin cut off one of the girls’ attempts to speak and shot Kim Dohyun a curious look.
“Anyway, computer science class rep! You know what three shots for the latecomer means?”
“Yes. My understanding is that the late person drinks three glasses to start.”
Kim Dohyun answered calmly, and the student president’s eyes gleamed.
“Ohhh... you know it? Good!”
She immediately lined up three glasses in front of Kim Dohyun and picked up the bottle.
Gulp, gulp, gulp...
Transparent soju rose right to the brim, surface tension holding it there.
“So, are you going to back out or not?”
Every eye in the room locked onto Kim Dohyun’s lips.
This was the kind of situation where most people would get flustered or try to back out.
But Kim Dohyun smiled easily, tugged the zipper of his jersey down a little, and said, “As for me.”
“......”
“I never back out of this stuff.”
The instant he answered, the room erupted with cheers so loud it felt like the walls might shake.
“Ooooh!!”
“Dohyun hyung!”
“MVP! MVP! MVP!”
“Drink it! Drink it!”
Kim Dohyun picked up the first glass without the slightest hesitation.
And tossed it back without flinching.
Just like that, the hottest night of the freshman welcome was beginning.