The Most Expensive Bottle
"You've got a golden calf at home? Look at you, just throwing out whatever since nobody can check."
"I'm telling you it's real. Ugh, it's not like I can just show you."
"Mine's real too, you know. I had a whole camera roll of our golden calf, but I switched phones yesterday. Such a shame. Really is."
"Oh my god. If this wasn't the first time we met, you'd be dead."
A few drinks in, Park Sangyoon slipped into his usual needling routine and started poking at Choi Eunchae. She gave as good as she got, and the two of them were laughing — but I was a wreck. Please don't cross the line.
The way he used jokes to grab someone's attention was similar to me, and yet there was a subtle but crucial difference. When I did it, anyone listening could tell it was a joke. What Park Sangyoon did sat a lot closer to mockery. Of course he wasn't actually trying to grind anyone down or look down on them — in his own head it was just teasing — but from the other person's side, it could sting.
Still, thanks to that teasing, Park Sangyoon kept the conversation going with Choi Eunchae across the table. It flowed so completely around the two of them that Kim Yuna and Kim Jiho might as well have been spare furniture.
"Pfft."
They couldn't even get a word in, just laughing along here and there. Calling them an audience might have been more accurate.
And what about me and Song Dayoung?
"Minseok~ my glass is empty~."
"I know. I didn't pour you another because I think you've had enough."
"Aww, are you worried about me~?"
Under the table, our hands were laced together, and the two of us were whispering like a couple who'd already been dating for months. The mood was such that Dayoung and I could have walked out of the bar right then and there, but the reason I was still hanging around was entirely for Park Sangyoon. The guy had even put up the money to set this whole thing up. Helping him out a little was the least I could do.
Reading the room, Kim Yuna had absolutely no intention of giving Park Sangyoon her virginity tonight. Choi Eunchae, on the other hand, even had the Easy Woman trait.
Enjoys sleeping with men she doesn't know.
Considering it was a trait that slashed a full fifty points off her difficulty, the odds of Park Sangyoon spending the night with Choi Eunchae were more than decent. As for Kim Jiho, that guy picked up women just fine on his own. Me worrying about him would be like a rabbit worrying about a tiger.
"Jiho. Mind if this noona smacks your friend? Just once."
"Want me to scoot over so you can hit him properly?"
Even now, Park Sangyoon was putting on a whole circus act trying to hold Choi Eunchae's attention, but she kept slipping comments over to Kim Jiho. And yet watching him refuse to give up, I couldn't help but root for him.
"You talk a big game for someone who won't actually swing~. You know, noona, you've got a real way with words. Earlier too."
That mocking tone of his, though... Hah. What could I do. That was just who he was. The truth was I was closer with Park Sangyoon than with Kim Jiho, so one way or another, I wanted to see him end up with Choi Eunchae.
"Sangyoon, let's go grab a smoke. Dayoung, I'll be right back."
"Hurry back~."
"Huh? Right now?"
He might not have noticed, but I could see that Choi Eunchae's mood had just taken a hit. Pushing any further here wasn't going to do him any favors. Watching Park Sangyoon dawdle, completely missing what I was trying to do, made my chest tighten.
"Jiho's not coming?"
"Ah, no.... I don't smoke."
"Then how about you stay and have a drink with noona?"
Watching her turn to Kim Jiho that fast, I was starting to understand why Sangyoon was acting the way he was. Still, this was the moment to take a step back.
I stepped out of the bar first and lit a cigarette. Park Sangyoon came through the door a beat later.
"What? You heading out already?"
"No. I wanted to help you out before I go."
"Hah... fuck. This is hard, man. This is really hard. Should I just give up on Eunchae-noona and take a shot at Kim Yuna instead? Light."
I handed him back the lighter and got to the point.
"You're ordering more drinks, right?"
"Nah, I was thinking we move to a second spot... what do you think?"
"Don't move. If we go to a second place, I'll have to slip out with Dayoung, so just finish it here. Anyway, what's your budget for tonight?"
"I dunno... I was thinking I could drop like two or three hundred?"
Two or three million won?
I really couldn't bring myself to dislike this guy. Sure, I could cover that kind of money now if I had to, but without Sex Coin, it would have been an unimaginable amount.
Park Sangyoon, who'd show up with twice my part-time paycheck just to give his friends a good time. Kim Jiho, who barely even texted back once he got a girlfriend. They were both high school classmates, but I couldn't help gravitating more toward Sangyoon.
"Okay. Then first, we go back in...."
Song Dayoung was off-limits, but Choi Eunchae? This hyung was going to help him out.
After we finished our cigarettes, we headed back inside. I sent Park Sangyoon to the table and walked up to the counter alone. I flipped through the menu they handed me for a moment, then placed my order with the server standing at the register.
"A bottle of Dom Pérignon for that table over there, please."
"Oh, is it someone's birthday?"
"Huh...? No. That's not it."
"Then did you have a particular presentation in mind?"
It was a bottle that ran over four hundred thousand won, so maybe that was why they were asking me things I didn't understand. I froze for a second. You'd have to have ordered something like this before to know what they were talking about.
"Ah, just do whatever you normally do."
When you don't know, the best move is to just leave it to the professionals.
After placing the order, I headed back to the table, where Song Dayoung lit up at the sight of me.
"What took you so long~? Where'd you go~?"
"Ah, I just went to order another drink."
Dayoung was starting to slur — she was getting drunk. Kim Yuna had barely touched her drinks, so she was still sharp. And Choi Eunchae....
"Hey, you're late, so drink up! Do you have any idea how many rounds Jiho and I just did?"
She seemed a little buzzed, but her pronunciation was still crystal clear. We'd already gone through several bottles and she was still holding it together. Impressive.
"Ah, noona. I just ordered a new bottle, so I'll drink that when it comes. Should we get more food too?"
"You ordered more? I was just thinking we should move. Why'd you order more? How much did you get?"
That was exactly why I'd gone to the counter alone and ordered ahead. If we started hopping bars, things could get messy for me and Dayoung too.
"Just one more bottle. Something called Dom Pérignon."
"You ordered what?"
Choi Eunchae's eyes went wide — she clearly knew what that was. Everyone else, on the other hand, was looking at me like, what's that? Even Park Sangyoon shot me a silent question, but I don't know either. I had no idea what it was. I'd just ordered the most expensive bottle in the place. Not that I could admit that out loud, so I flipped it into a question instead.
"Oh, noona, you've had Dom Pérignon before?"
"No, I've never had it, but... wait, even split, that's way too expensive!"
"C'mon, I ordered it on my own. You think I'd make you pay? Besides, Sangyoon over there's covering the whole tab tonight, so don't worry about it."
That reaction — and this answer — was exactly why I'd ordered a bottle that cost over four hundred thousand won.
Let me put it this way. Kim Jiho's weapon was his looks. Mine was my personality, or maybe my singing. Park Sangyoon's weapon was his ability — meaning his money. And that idiot wasn't even thinking about using his weapon, just running his mouth with those half-baked jokes. I had no choice but to help him like this.
"He's covering it alone? Why?"
"Oh, did I not mention? Sangyoon's got some money. You know Bitcoin, noona? The amount he's sitting on in crypto alone is over a hundred million won."
"A hundred million!? Are you serious??"
It wasn't just Choi Eunchae. Every woman at the table had her eyes wide open. For a bunch of people barely in our mid-twenties, the words a hundred million packed that kind of punch.
"Nah, not really. I made a lot more than that, but things are looking a little risky right now so I only left a little in."
Park Sangyoon caught my pass like it was the most natural thing in the world. That was the play. If he'd just come out and said he was rich, nobody would have believed him. It would've just looked like bragging. So I'd order the most expensive bottle, naturally draw out the questions, and he'd play humble while showing off what he could do. That was the first plan we'd cooked up over our cigarettes.
"A little? How much?"
"Just like, a big-corp salary's worth?"
That was him playing humble? I nearly sighed out loud at the sight of him. But what could I do. I had to help.
"Huh? That's all you put in?"
"Yeah. I'm gonna wait and see through January, then throw in some more."
Even with our natural back-and-forth, Choi Eunchae wasn't fully buying it. She turned to Kim Jiho beside her.
"Jiho, did you know about this too?"
"No. I didn't even know he'd pulled money out this time...."
Kim Jiho naturally added credibility to everything we'd said — and in that same moment, the music in the bar cut out and the lights dimmed. Wondering what was going on, I looked around and spotted three or four servers clustered together.
Bam-bam — ba-ba-ba-bam —
Fsssshhhh —
A pumping club track flooded the suddenly silent bar. From the servers' hands, fountain sparklers erupted in showers of sparks. They were even using the kind of fireworks you'd see at a festival, drawing every eye in the room with a spectacular display. It wasn't just me or our table. Every customer in the bar had turned to look, wondering what was happening. Is this some kind of event?
Up until that moment, I had no idea. Not until those servers started walking toward us, carrying a bottle nestled in some kind of bucket....
Your bottle, as ordered.
Woooaaah —
The other customers around us let out cheers of genuine admiration. Everyone at our table stared at me in shock, but all I felt was bewilderment.
Why are they going this far?