Drinking with Miho's Friends (1)
Friday had arrived, but my busy routine refused to let me enjoy a proper Friday night. With only an hour left until quitting time, the department head suddenly announced he wanted to see the plans for next month’s project. The words “Why the hell do you need to see that right now?” rose all the way to my throat, but by now I knew full well that earning a living meant swallowing the things you wanted to say. I told him I would have everything ready for him to review when he came in on Monday, returned to my desk, and just like that the overtime began.
The section chief and the rest of the team offered apologetic excuses about this or that obligation and left ahead of me. Even the department head, already halfway out the door, glanced back at me sitting alone with no one else left in the office, seemed to feel a twinge of guilt, and muttered something half-hearted about how Monday afternoon would be fine.
I smiled and told him not to worry, that it would be finished soon enough, but the work only wrapped up around nine. Feeling the waste of a Friday night slipping away, and still a little sore from last night’s workout, I sent Miho a KakaoTalk message.
I smacked my lips in mild disappointment, packed my bag, and thought about dropping by Dong-min’s place for the first time in a while. Right then, Miho called.
“Hey, Miho.”
“Oppa, where are you?”
Wherever she was, the place was packed; the noise around her was deafening.
“Just getting off work.”
“Huuuh?! You’re only getting off now?”
“That’s how it turned out. You’re with your friends, right?”
“Yeah. Oppa, want to come here?”
“It’s fine. Just have fun.”
“No… my friends want to see you.”
“Me? Why?”
“A-young and Ju-young are here, and some other people too. They said they want to meet you once.”
“Forget it. I don’t want some old guy crashing a college kids’ night and killing the mood.”
“Nooo… can’t you come, Oppa? Come on, come here.”
She put on a nasal little whine, laying on the charm.
“Heh… aigoo… all right. I’ll go home, change, and head over. Where are you?”
“No, no. Come straight here. Come right from the office.”
I wondered why, then remembered how last time she had said she liked the way I looked in a suit. Was she eager to show off her catch in front of her friends?
“Okay. Send me the address.”
“Yay! You’re coming right now, right? Sending it!”
The place where she and her friends had gathered was a deliberately shabby-looking bar near the new downtown. The nights were already hot enough that the place had set out tables on the sidewalk. Because it was a planned new-town area the streets were wide and traffic was light. I parked along the curb near the bar and looked around for Miho.
“Oppa! Over here, over here!”
Miho and her friends were drinking out on the sidewalk in front of the place. Besides Miho there were A-young and Ju-young, plus two guys whose names I didn’t know. The group was larger than I’d expected and I felt a flicker of awkwardness, but I kept it off my face and walked over.
“Waaah, he’s here, he’s here!”
“Hello.”
“Yeah, hello.”
A-young and Ju-young made a big fuss over my arrival and welcomed me warmly. The two guys looked me up and down with open distaste and barely tipped their heads in acknowledgment.
“You’ve been working until now? Your company’s way too hardcore.”
Miho set a glass and chopsticks in front of me as she asked, fussing over me as if she were already my girlfriend.
“Work’s always like that.”
“What do you do?”
A-young asked.
“Just… a small company.”
I felt too embarrassed to name the firm in front of college kids and brushed it off, but Miho immediately started gushing and broadcasting it for me.
“Waaah! Isn’t that place super hard to get into? That’s amazing!”
Ju-young sounded impressed. I felt awkward, yet for some reason Miho looked thoroughly proud, as if I weren’t just a sex partner but her actual boyfriend.
“Aigoo, no. I just lucked into it somehow.”
“Oppa went to a good school too. He used to tutor me and everything. He’s really smart.”
“I knew it… the way your clothes hang on you, I could tell you make good money!”
Apparently annoyed that the sudden newcomer had become the center of attention and left them out, the two guys muttered something to each other and clinked glasses between themselves.
“Come on, let’s drink together. Miho, pour some.”
I carried my glass over, trying to break the awkward atmosphere. Looking thoroughly unenthusiastic, they half-heartedly clinked soju glasses with me and knocked the shots back in one go.
“I’m Park Hyun-soo. Nice to meet you.”
Whatever their attitude, they were Miho’s friends, so I introduced myself with a smile.
“This is Song Man-hyung and Choi Seok-gi. Man-hyung and Seok-gi are Ju-young’s high-school classmates. Man-hyung’s running a business right now, and Seok-gi’s on leave from our school.”
Miho must have sensed my awkwardness; she introduced them for me. And so the uncomfortable drinking session began.
Being a gathering of twenty-two-year-olds, the pace was blisteringly fast and loud. Whatever interest they had first shown in me vanished; soon they were chattering away about things I knew nothing about, laughing and shouting among themselves. Watching them, I quietly emptied my glass, offered the occasional nod or short reply, and observed while remembering my own days at twenty-two.
With their masks off, it was clear that Miho, A-young, and Ju-young were a genuinely pretty trio. Miho’s looks needed no further comment; the mild surprise was A-young.
When she wore a mask or when I saw her on Instagram she had looked like a typical plastic-surgery disaster and I hadn’t thought much of her, but in person her face was unexpectedly natural. Her jawline was slim, and it was obvious she had filler in her lips that pulled the corners upward. It was a bit much, yet the currently trendy mouth shape suited the overall contour of her face surprisingly well. Her nose looked raised and her eyes had been opened wider, giving her features a bright, open look overall.
Just as Miho had said last time, there was a strangely similar impression to Miho’s. But the overall atmosphere she gave off was clearly different. Miho had an elegant face that every so often let a flash of sensuality slip through; A-young radiated a subtle sexiness even when she was simply sitting still. Whether it was her eyes or those plump, upturned lips I couldn’t tell, but “overflowing with sex appeal” was the perfect description for her vibe.
If a man were hunting for a one-night stand, most would definitely pick A-young over Miho.
Apparently the reason we were drinking here tonight was that A-young lived nearby. She was dressed as casually as if she had just stepped out of her apartment, yet she was still subtly showing off her body. Her short-sleeved Nike T-shirt clung tightly enough to outline her breasts, and she wore black leggings.
Ju-young definitely had a round face. Sitting next to Miho and A-young with their slim jawlines only made it more noticeable. Round face, big round eyes—she gave off a puppy-like impression. Especially when she smiled, those large eyes curved into half-moons and looked charming. She had an innocent face that somehow still carried unexpected sex appeal.
The coquettish type, maybe? She would burst into peals of laughter at the guys’ barely funny remarks, slap their shoulders, and “accidentally” brush her chest against their arms. Her hands never stayed still—fiddling with chopsticks, stroking Man-hyung’s thigh beside her, or lifting her hair back for no reason.
She wore a thin cardigan over a tank top; every time the oversized cardigan slipped off one shoulder she would tug it back up, only for the other shoulder to bare itself a moment later. On the bottom she wore dolphin shorts, and with a figure more voluptuous than either Miho’s or A-young’s it looked as if her hips might burst right out of them.
Man-hyung was the skinny type. There was a sharp, almost venomous look on his face. Whatever business he was in, he clearly handled some money—every piece of clothing he wore was luxury brand. He seemed proud of his car; he had set his BMW key on top of a snake-patterned wallet lying on the table. A twenty-two-year-old driving a BMW and draped in designer labels was impressive, sure. I understood the swagger, yet at the same time it felt so much like early-twenties bravado that I almost laughed inside.
Seok-gi had a big nose. Listening to the way he talked, I suddenly realized who he was. The one-night stand Miho had had not long ago—the rough-mouthed, impatient guy. That had been Seok-gi. Especially the way he dropped “Whoa… fuck!” like an interjection in the middle of conversation matched exactly the voice I had heard over the phone. I tilted my head, wondering how she had ever taken a liking to a guy like that.