MT (5)
The remaining half-bottle of wine went to the professors.
It was a little regrettable, but everyone had already had a taste. Rather than sharing it among the other team members, the idea was to pour each professor a glass and score some points with them.
"Professors, let me pour you each a glass."
"Is that alright? Thank you, Soyeon-ah."
"Oh, it's nothing. How was our team's performance? Our freshmen worked really hard on it."
She didn't just promote herself — she subtly looked out for the freshmen on her team. That was our team leader for you.
"They did well, so we gave them first place."
"It was fun to watch. You prepared the stage nicely."
"It was entertaining because it wasn't just singing — there was acting too."
The professors each offered a word of praise as they savored the aroma of the white wine. People from other teams who had come hoping to snag some wine watched enviously.
"This is the friend who planned the stage. He was sharp and resourceful. Cheol-jin-ah, say hello. You're taking the visual design lecture, right? Professor, this kid can draw a bit too."
"Ah, hello. My name is Kang Cheol-jin."
"Is that so. Good to hear you draw. Work hard and you'll get good grades."
And so our team used the wine as an excuse to exchange a few words with the professors. I wondered if buttering them up like this actually mattered, but it still felt good to get compliments.
The professors each had their glass of wine and then got up from their seats.
"Well then, have fun. We'll get out of your hair now."
"Oh, come on, it's more fun with you professors here......."
Team leader, what kind of talk was that? I was inwardly horrified, but the professors just chuckled and waved their hands.
"Soyeon, you little rascal, now that you're a second-year you've learned how to flatter? Saying things you don't mean."
"Hoho. The flattery's so obvious it's cute."
With those words, the professors exited the lodging. From what I overheard, they seemed to be planning to drink on their own. Tactful professors.
Once the professors left, other team members belatedly licked their lips and asked.
"Is there any wine left?"
"Ah, it's all gone. Could've saved us some."
"Why are you guys eyeing it? It's ours."
"We just wanted to taste what a million-won wine is like!"
The people from other teams grumbled and plopped down right where they were. Why weren't they going back to their own rooms?
More and more people crowded into our room.
The headcount nearly exceeded twenty.
That was when the real drinking party kicked off.
"Our department's prettiest one is right here! Seriously, I thought you were a real girl, man."
Someone said that about Seongju Hyung.
The team leader tapped that person on the shoulder.
"Hey, Seong-ju oppa is twenty-two."
"...Sorry, hyung."
"Haha, it's fine."
"Yeah, in college, student ID year comes first!"
There were some boomer-ish shouts like that, but the mood stayed pleasant for the most part. Seongju Hyung's personality was just that good.
Seongju Hyung, the very definition of a social butterfly, was already dominating the atmosphere.
"Pass me that alcohol. I'll make you a Milkis cocktail. You gotta drink this right after I make it."
"Oh, it really tastes like Milkis!"
Maybe it was his age, but he mixed drinks even more impressively than the second-years. Starting with the Milkis cocktail, he whipped up Gojin Gamrae-ju, Ringel cocktails, Somecannos, and other bomb shots I'd never seen or heard of on the fly.
"What is he, a bartender?"
"Whoa, this is fucking delicious!"
As people marveled and drank, for some reason, a lot of them were also striking up conversations with me.
"Cheol-jin-ah, you sang really well."
"We run a band club — wanna join? Do you know how to play any instruments?"
A pair of sunbaes who looked like a couple approached me, and then—
"You got first place in squats earlier, right? Do you work out?"
"Uh... the MC sunbae?"
A sunbae with a relatively familiar face came up to me in a friendly way, too.
"Just call me hyung. More importantly, which gym do you go to?"
No wonder he'd made us do pushups and squats during the MT games — he was a gym rat sunbae. From Seora noona to the Sports Science hyungs to sunbaes in my own department, why did it feel like I was surrounded by fitness fanatics?
After everyone had downed a drink or two, the drinking games began, led by the sunbaes.
"A rabbit coming down from Haneul says!"
"Bunny bunny bunny bunny!"
"Carrot carrot!"
"Areum, drink!"
Most of the people losing the games were the freshmen. That was only natural, since it was their first time playing drinking games for most of them.
"Apartment, apartment!"
"Fifteenth floor!"
"Cheol-jin, drink!"
I guzzled down an obscene amount of alcohol too. Personally, I preferred beer over soju, but for some reason, the alcohol hit me faster today.
'Maybe it's because I drank bomb shots? I'm already feeling buzzed.'
I wasn't drunk, but compared to the last gathering, the buzz was definitely climbing faster.
"Nunchi Game, one!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
"Four!"
"Four!"
The two who shouted 'four' were me and the team leader.
"Kang Cheol-jin, Lee So-yeon, love shot!"
"Oh, what love shot!"
The team leader scowled, but—
"Love shot!"
"Love shot!"
Her protests didn't reach the drunkards. In fact, the more we dragged our feet, the more the stakes escalated.
"Level 2! Level 2!"
"Level 3! Level 3!"
"You crazy bastards, take it down a notch! Level 2 is enough!"
The team leader shouted at the top of her lungs, then picked up her glass and walked over to me. But what was Level 2, and what was Level 3?
I asked, flustered.
"Uh, how do we do this?"
"...Hey, you jerks, this kid doesn't know anything. What am I supposed to do with him?"
"What's the problem~ a good-looking kid being innocent makes it even better."
"It feels like I'm doing something wrong!"
"If you don't want to, move. I'll do it."
"Whoa! Yu-jeong's hitting on the freshman!"
"Uh, yeah, totally hitting on him. Let me have a go at dating a total hottie for once."
The female sunbae sitting next to me swept the hair behind her ear and looked at me. I thought her name was Heo Yu-jeong.
"Cheol-jin-ah, what do you think of nuna?"
"W-well, that's......."
I felt awkward for no reason and averted my gaze.
Of course, it wasn't because I took this sunbae's words seriously. I knew perfectly well she was just messing around, going with the mood. I wasn't stupid enough to lack that level of discernment.
In fact, I could faintly hear talk like this around me.
"Is he good-looking? I dunno."
"Right? It's not that he's ugly, but."
"I'm not into the bear type either."
"Way to beat around the bush. He's not a bear, he's just fat."
My hearing had always been exceptionally sharp. So I'd end up overhearing whispered trash-talk that wasn't meant for my ears, and I'd get hurt by it all on my own.
It was happening now, too.
It was nothing more than petty commentary on my appearance, but strangely, my body and head seized up.
So I found myself stammering and unable to meet the sunbae's eyes, when—
"Oh my, look at him. He's super embarrassed."
"Ahaha! That's adorable!"
To the teasing sunbaes, even that seemed to be fodder for mockery.
Like other design-related departments, Digital Content had a much higher ratio of women to men. Maybe because of that, women tended to lead the mood and had louder voices.
A socially savvy person would have played along with the teasing right there. But I wasn't that kind of person. For me, even managing to blend into a drinking party at all was already major progress.
That's just how teasing pranks worked.
When the other person doesn't play along, the mood gets weird.
This was exactly that kind of situation.
As I remained frozen and kept fidgeting, one by one, people began to sense something was off, and their expressions shifted. Ah, buzzkill. Can't read the room. Was I imagining that I heard those voices?
'I feel like I'm gonna throw up.'
Suddenly, my middle school days flashed through my mind, and my stomach churned. This was exactly why I hated having people's attention focused on me.
Just then, the team leader, sunbae Lee So-yeon, nudged Heo Yu-jeong sunbae's shoulder aside.
"Hey, move. Cheol-jin-ah, put your arm around my neck."
"Ah, okay."
I followed her instructions and went through the motions. We each wrapped an arm around the other's neck, like a mutual embrace. With her so close, the sunbae whispered in my ear.
"If it's too much, just hold it in your mouth for a second and spit it into a water glass."
Behind that voice, the shouts of "Love shot, love shot!" erupted again.
I downed the drink in one go.
"Oh, Cheol-jin can really put it away!"
At that remark, Soyeon sunbae looked at me with surprised eyes. She'd told me to hold it in my mouth and spit it out. That was a scolding look.
"I'm fine."
"You're not drunk?"
"I can hold my liquor pretty well."
The reason my stomach had churned wasn't because of the alcohol. The last time I'd gauged my tolerance, I'd been fine even after putting away four or five bottles of soju.
"Alright then. Don't push yourself. Drink in moderation."
"Thank you."
"I'm just saying that because I don't want to deal with cleaning up after you later."
Soyeon sunbae said brusquely and rejoined the drinking game.
Meanwhile, I felt awkward about my earlier dithering and stood up.
"I'm gonna hit the restroom for a bit."
Even after I finished peeing, I didn't go back to the room. It was because the trauma that had briefly resurfaced had left my chest feeling tight.
I stepped outside the building and walked around. My body cooled down fast in the chilly night air.
My head, on the other hand, was boiling.
From embarrassment and irritation.
"...Fuck."
A curse slipped out before I even realized it.
"This is bullshit."
I hated how the trauma could suddenly ambush me even when I was having a good time. What I hated even more was myself, for still not being able to escape it.
When would I finally shake off these goddamn memories?
Or rather, could I ever shake them off at all?
What if I had to live with this for the rest of my life — this thing where I'm perfectly fine one moment, and then my body seizes up like I've turned into some stupid moron?
I went off into a corner and was pressing my head against the wall when—
"Kkang-cheol, what are you doing?"
A familiar voice came from behind me.