The Heavenly Demon's Company Dinner (6)
No one had expected Ara to hold her liquor well from the start. Ara herself had shown reluctance toward drinking, so everyone had simply assumed as much. That was precisely why Nabi-rin and Bae Min-hwang had pressed her to drink in the first place. Instead of ordering beer or soju to spark her interest, they had chosen fruit makgeolli—something that tasted nothing like alcohol aside from a faint, sweet fizz and fruity aroma.
Ara had looked skeptical when the drinks first arrived, but after catching the scent of the fruit makgeolli, curiosity lit her face. One sip later, her expression brightened noticeably.
“You were right. It’s delicious.”
Nabi-rin and Bae Min-hwang cheered inwardly at the sight. If she enjoyed it this much, they figured they would finally get to see her drunk. The two kept pouring for her, certain that no matter how much they drank together, the one who usually avoided alcohol would tire first.
What they had not anticipated was just how well Ara could drink. She tossed back the fruit makgeolli as if it were soda. Her pace was so relentless that even the two who had been egging her on grew flustered and tried to stop her.
“Hwaryeong-nim, no matter how good it tastes, it’s still alcohol!”
“That’s right. You should pace yourself.”
Normally, sweet drinks like this crept up on people all at once. The pair only wanted to see Ara tipsy, not passed out. Enry joined them in trying to dissuade her, but Ara remained stubborn.
“I’m fine. I’m not drunk.”
“That’s what every drunk person says!”
“Look, my tongue’s still working and my face isn’t even red.”
…Was that true? Without knowing how much she had actually consumed, Ara did look perfectly composed. Could Ara really hold her liquor that well? With no further grounds to stop her, Enry backed off. Ara lifted her glass again, and Nabi-rin and Bae Min-hwang, who had started it all, had no choice but to keep up.
One bottle. Two bottles. As the empties piled up, people began hitting their limits one by one. Enry, who had not touched a drop, was fine. Dalbit, who had admitted to being weak to alcohol, was already face-down on the table. Bunny had gone to the restroom once, then declared she needed to rest and only nibbled at the meat. Even Nabi-rin and Bae Min-hwang, who were usually strong drinkers, looked increasingly worse with every glass.
Yet Ara remained perfectly fine. She kept eating and drinking at the same relentless pace. Watching her, Enry realized something: Ara had never been bluffing. She truly could hold her liquor; she simply avoided it because it tasted bad.
After finishing one last piece of meat, Bae Min-hwang sensed that if this pace continued he would be the first to collapse. He blurted out in a panic,
“Let’s move to a second round and talk somewhere more comfortable!”
The reason I disliked alcohol was simple: it tasted awful.
Back in the murim, I had drunk for various reasons, but the flavor itself had always been difficult for me. That bitter aftertaste never grew on me. Some claimed it was because I had never suffered enough, yet who in this world had endured more hardship than I? To my mind, alcohol simply tasted bad. Others insisted drinking was not about taste but about getting drunk, but I could not get drunk no matter how much I consumed. If the sole purpose was intoxication, there was no reason to touch it.
That was how I naturally drifted away from alcohol. The same held true after arriving in the modern era. No matter how advanced the world had become, alcohol was still alcohol. With so many other delicious beverages available, I saw no need to force myself to drink.
Today, however, I realized that had been a prejudice. There were others like me who could not appreciate the taste of alcohol, and drinks had been created specifically for them. The fruit makgeolli we had just had at the restaurant was one such example, and so was the sweet beer I was drinking now.
The advancement of food science is truly remarkable. Who would ever guess this is alcohol?
If it tasted like this, I would gladly drink as much as I wanted.
“Hwaryeong-niiiim.”
“Yes?”
I had been quenching the thirst from snacking with beer when Nabi-rin called out to me. Her face was flushed crimson from all the drinks she had kept downing since the barbecue place, and her voice was slurred. She was clearly drunk out of her mind. She had tried to provoke me into drinking earlier, only to keel over first. She should never have challenged someone who once wept because they could not get drunk no matter how hard they tried. Her liver must have been swollen from years of heavy drinking.
“How do you eat like that and still have a body like yours?”
“I just don’t gain weight.”
It was not a lie. Once I reached a certain level, my body maintained its optimal state at all times. No matter how much I ate or how irregular my schedule became, my physique never changed from its current condition. I could alter it if I forced the issue, but there was no reason to do so right now.
“Are you lying?!”
“Not at all.”
“I can’t forgive you. Some of us diet like crazy.”
“I’m sorry, Hwaryeong-nim. She’s really drunk.”
Just as Nabi-rin reached for me, Bae Min-hwang appeared and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. Still flailing and shouting incoherently, Nabi-rin eventually slumped forward onto the table, exhausted.
“I think it’s time we wrapped this up.”
He was right. It was already late, and more than half the team looked half-conscious. Continuing the gathering any longer would only invite trouble.
“I’ll send the others home. Please take Enry with you, Hwaryeong-nim.”
“Will that be all right?”
“Of course. The two guys will wake up fine if I kick their butts, and Na-hee left ages ago. I just need to drop Nabi-rin off.”
It was obvious he had done this sort of thing more than once or twice, so I accepted his offer. I gave Enry, who had dozed off after downing a can of beer, a few taps on the shoulder. She stirred, lifted her head, and looked at me with bleary eyes before breaking into a silly grin.
“Ara-siiii.”
“Yes.”
“You’re still not drunk at all?”
“As you can see.”
“Whoa. XXXXXXX.”
I flinched at the sudden English. My Korean had improved quite a bit, but I was still hopeless with English. If Enry started causing trouble in English, there would be nothing I could do.
“Wow. You scared me. You really scared me.”
“…Did you do that on purpose?”
“Yep! I wanted to surprise you!”
She giggled to herself for a while before abruptly wiping the smile off her face and calling my name again with a serious expression.
“Ara-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“If you just shove the clothes I bought you today into storage, I’m really going to be mad, okay?”
“I’ll be careful.”
“Promise? You have to wear them later.”
“…Understood.”
I had planned to brush it off with a vague “I’ll try,” but Enry’s gaze was far too earnest. If I tried to dodge the issue, she really would get upset.
“Ehe. Good.”
“Then let’s head home.”
“Home? Your place?”
“Yes.”
Enry tried to stand, but her body refused to cooperate and she plopped back into the chair. To think a single can of beer had done this to her. Next time we drank, I would have to stop her by force. She clearly could not walk on her own, so I hoisted the swaying Enry onto my back.
Now, where did Enry live again?
The day after the “I Want Revenge” team’s company dinner was announced, the first person to start streaming was Bae Min-hwang, who had finished cleaning up after everyone and gone home. Realizing he could never keep up with Hwaryeong’s pace, he had held back midway through the night and was now perfectly fine aside from a mild hangover.
Perhaps because he was the first from the team to go live, viewers eager to hear the after-dinner stories flocked to his stream. The viewer count was noticeably higher than usual.
After chatting idly for a while, Bae Min-hwang decided enough people had gathered and casually brought up the dinner.
“There are a lot of people today. You all came to hear the dinner stories, right?”
“Yes. We went to that famous expensive place. It cost a fortune. Let’s see… roughly two and a half million won.”
“Everyone ate an insane amount. I was shocked too. My hand was shaking when I swiped the card.”
It was no joke. Given the restaurant, he had expected it to be pricey, but even Bae Min-hwang had not anticipated spending over two million won. He did not regret it, yet his hand had trembled when he paid that sum in one go.
“Of course she did. She showed up and wiped out every single piece of meat there.”
“You all seem really curious about what Hwaryeong-nim looks like.”
“Since Hwaryeong-nim never does face reveals, I can’t go into detail, but she’s seriously stunning. Standing next to Enry-nim, Enry-nim practically disappeared.”
“It’s true.”
Bae Min-hwang could still vividly recall the moment Hwaryeong had walked through the door. She had been that beautiful.