It’s My Intuition
After sending a message to Jun-hyeok telling him he would be late, Jun-ho headed to a nearby bar with Kang Baek-ho and his two attendants. It was still early evening, but in the wake of the pandemic, most bars had started opening their doors at this hour.
"Welcome!"
At the appearance of Kang Baek-ho, who radiated wealth as if it were a natural aura, the bar manager greeted the group with a face as bright as the female owner of the Korean beef restaurant.
"Do you have a private room?"
"Yes, right this way."
The manager, wearing a tight dress that left little to the imagination, guided them toward the back. "However, the serving bartenders haven't arrived for their shift yet. I'll take care of you for now, but you'll have to wait about thirty minutes."
"Ah, I don't need a server. Just bring us some Macallan... the 18-year-old, and maybe some Guinness? Is Guinness the most expensive beer you have here? Just bring a few bottles of whatever is decent."
"Yes, sir!"
Thrilled to have a big-spending guest arrive the moment she opened, the manager left with a flushed face and a wide smile.
Kang Baek-ho tossed his coat onto the sofa and said, "How about a drink, managers?"
The male attendant, a sturdy man in his mid-to-late thirties with a rugged impression, shook his head. "I cannot. Manager Yoon Seol-hee is off tomorrow, so she should be fine."
"No, I also..."
"Come on, have a drink. You just sent your girlfriend off, and it would be awkward for me to be drinking with these bar girls alone. Besides, you two are off the clock once this is over."
"...Then I will have just one light beer."
Seeming accustomed to this, Manager Yoon Seol-hee sat down. Jun-ho, sitting across from her, was finally able to get a good look at her. He realized it immediately.
'This person...'
In truth, he had felt it to some extent back at the gym. Her gait and gestures were restrained to a degree that wasn't excessive, and her posture while watching the surroundings by Kang Baek-ho's side wasn't that of a typical attendant. As an apocalypse regressor, Jun-ho could be certain. Not only the male manager but also Yoon Seol-hee, sitting right in front of him, were not ordinary bodyguards. He could clearly sense the specific aura of someone who had experienced life-or-death battles in extreme situations.
"Oh! Jun-ho, it looks like you noticed something?" Kang Baek-ho feigned surprise.
"Yes? Ah, yes. Seeing you up close... I got the feeling you weren't ordinary people. You're a bit different from the athletes at the gym, too."
"As expected. Yu-chan wasn't just talking nonsense. You have a good eye for people, don't you, Jun-ho?"
"Ah, is that so?"
As Jun-ho laughed awkwardly, Kang Baek-ho sat up straight and sent a proud look toward Yoon Seol-hee, who was observing Jun-ho with renewed interest. "Our Manager Yoon is a former Special Forces soldier. Manager Park Cheol-woo over there is the same. Manager, you're really not going to drink?"
"Yes. I will wait at the bar with a drink. Manager Yoon, take good care of the Representative."
"Yes, sir."
As Yoon Seol-hee answered respectfully, Park Cheol-woo gave a light bow to Kang Baek-ho and left the room.
"Ugh, Manager Park is just too stiff. Well, that's why he's so reliable, though." Kang Baek-ho chuckled.
In the meantime, the manager returned with the ordered alcohol and simple snacks. Having immediately grasped that this was the kind of wealthy, well-mannered guest who wanted to drink in peace—a rare occurrence—she exited quietly.
Kang Baek-ho poured the whiskey into an on-the-rocks glass and the Guinness into another for Yoon Seol-hee, then raised his glass lightly.
"Come on, let's have a drink."
Jun-ho had tried liquor a few times, but this was his first time with high-end whiskey. The heavy, sharp taste made him nod instinctively.
"This is really good."
"Right? I thought this would suit your palate best out of everything in this place. The 12-year is a bit too normal, and the 21 or 30-year-old would be too heavy for a young person like you. I was like that when I was younger."
He was a third-generation chaebol; he certainly knew of more expensive and better whiskies. Even in this bar, there were bottles like Blue Label or 30-year-olds. But Kang Baek-ho had ordered this out of consideration for Jun-ho.
"Just because I'm a chaebol doesn't mean I only drink Royal Salute 62 or Glenfarclas 50. Personally, I like this one the best. It's delicious."
Unlike Jun-ho, who had taken a sip, Kang Baek-ho downed his drink in one go. As he reached to pour more, Jun-ho quickly stood up and reached for the bottle.
"Let me pour for you."
"No, it's fine. That was for the group setting earlier; this is a place to drink comfortably. I poured the first glass because I'm the one paying and I'm the oldest. You should just pour your own drink and relax, Jun-ho."
"Yes, thank you. But Representative, please speak comfortably. I'm much younger than you..."
"Much? Muuuuch? I'm turning forty soon... Ah, now I don't want to speak comfortably anymore."
"Ah."
"Haha, I'm joking. Not today, but I'll speak comfortably next time we meet. I hate people who act rudely just because they're older and have money. That's why I hate my older brother and sisters. They have no manners, those people."
After briefly badmouthing his family, Kang Baek-ho smiled brightly. "In that sense, you pass, Jun-ho. Ah, don't say, 'Who are you to decide who passes or fails?' Everyone has their own standards, right? Though saying 'you pass' out loud is a bit pretentious."
Jun-ho shook his head. "No. Wouldn't it be even more pretentious to keep probing and testing me at a drinking spot like this? I prefer it when you speak your mind like you do, Representative."
"What? Hahaha! I really like you, Jun-ho."
Jun-ho and Kang Baek-ho toasted again. At that moment, Yoon Seol-hee, who had been sitting quietly and barely touching her beer, spoke to Jun-ho.
"Mr. Lee Jun-ho. If you don't mind, may I ask you something?"
"Yes."
"Which branch of the military did you serve in?"
Kang Baek-ho's eyes widened slightly. "Whoa, our Manager Yoon is taking an interest in a guy her age. This is a first."
"It's not like that."
Yoon Seol-hee denied it firmly, her gaze fixed on Jun-ho. "I just served in the Army Reconnaissance Unit."
"Reconnaissance... Do you have any experience with overseas deployment?"
"No."
"...I see. Thank you for answering."
"Don't mention it."
Kang Baek-ho, who had been watching the two with interest, said, "Why? Did you think Jun-ho had been deployed or something, Manager Yoon?"
Yoon Seol-hee took a sip of her beer, set the glass down, and nodded. "Yes. To be honest, at first, I thought you were either active duty or just recently discharged... and from the Marine Special Reconnaissance unit at that."
"Ohhh."
"Me? No way."
As Jun-ho shook his head, Yoon Seol-hee looked at him with her characteristic indifferent yet sharp gaze and added, "No. Actually, Manager Park Cheol-woo said it first. He said so earlier. He thought you hadn't been discharged for long. He said you smelled like 'one of us'."
"......"
Jun-ho closed his mouth, and Kang Baek-ho's expression turned somewhat surprised. Yoon Seol-hee had been hired a little over a year ago, but Park Cheol-woo, who had just stepped outside, had been by his side for five years. It was unlikely that a man who had been discharged as a Special Forces Sergeant Major would misidentify his own kind.
"But since you say that's not the case, I suppose we were mistaken. Anyway, I apologize for the intrusion."
"No, it's fine. I've been a bit on edge lately, so perhaps that showed."
"It's not that... No, never mind. It's nothing."
She seemed to have more to say, but Yoon Seol-hee swallowed her words. She then downed her black beer in one go and said to Kang Baek-ho, "Representative, I will wait outside as well. I think Manager Park might be bored being out there alone."
"Alright, go ahead."
Yoon Seol-hee gave a light nod to Jun-ho and Kang Baek-ho and stood up.
* * *
Watching Yoon Seol-hee's back—she was over 170 centimeters tall with a solid, powerful build—disappear outside, Jun-ho said quietly, "Manager Yoon is impressive. It seems she has experienced real combat."
It was a question, but also a certainty. The atmosphere he felt from Yoon Seol-hee was exactly the same as that of the soldiers or survivors who had survived by 'fighting' for more than six months after the apocalypse began.
"She said she couldn't tell me because she signed a security agreement, so that's probably the case, right? She's amazing, isn't she? Manager Yoon." Kang Baek-ho said confidently. "No matter how much Manager Park recommended her, I didn't hire her based on that alone. I have an eye for people, too."
He gave a sly, eye-smiling look toward Jun-ho. "Anyway, the more I see of you, Jun-ho, the more charming you are. You're a serious and truly decent person."
"Don't mention it. Since there's a significant age gap with my younger brother, I might just be acting like a little adult from a young age, which is why you see me that way."
"Ha! If that were the case, the people in my family would have become Buddhas or Jesus long ago. They're so much older than me. Ah, you didn't know I was the youngest, did you? My eldest brother is ten years older, and my second sister is five years older than me."
"No, not at all. Until you told me just now, I thought you were the eldest son like me."
This was the truth. Kang Baek-ho had none of the traits commonly associated with being the youngest.
"The youngest son of a chaebol family, that's me. Ah, do you not read webtoons or web novels? That 'Chaebol's Youngest Son' story is fun; you should read it sometime. It's scheduled to be made into a drama soon. No, has it already started? Anyway, it's fun."
"Yes. I'll be sure to check it out."
A third-generation chaebol who loved mixed martial arts enough to sponsor it, and who enjoyed pop culture bordering on subculture. He was truly a unique person in many ways.
However, there was something Jun-ho really wanted to ask him. This situation—which started by chance and then led to him following along—had a fundamental question behind it.
"But Representative."
"Hmm? Why?"
"It might be funny to ask this at this timing, but... honestly, I'm a young, unemployed guy, and I'm just a new member at the gym, aren't I? So why did you want to have a separate drinking session with me?"
Jun-ho was genuinely curious. In reality, this situation didn't make sense. It was one thing to attend a company dinner by chance and end up drinking a couple of bottles because there was no one else to drink with, but there was no reason for a third-generation chaebol like Kang Baek-ho to deliberately drink expensive alcohol with a greenhorn like him.
"Ah, that..."
Kang Baek-ho downed his whiskey and set the glass down with a thud. He stared at Jun-ho for a while with a serious, sunken gaze.
"I don't tell this to just anyone... Listen carefully. The reason I brought you here to drink is..."
"......"
With an even more cautious expression, he continued.
"It's because of my gut. My intuition."
"...Excuse me?"
At the completely unexpected answer, Jun-ho let out a dumbfounded sound without realizing it.