Chocolate
The chocolate. The fresh, tart fruits and dried berries. And even the plain biscuits. Every single item had been picked out by Soyeon.
I stayed quiet as I pushed the cart, then casually spoke up to Min Soyeon, who was carefully examining cakes in the bakery section.
“...Soyeon. What is all this?”
She glanced at me mid-selection, then dropped a completely random remark.
“...Should I get the chocolate one?”
“Huh?”
“...I’ll pick it myself.”
She grabbed the cake she’d been eyeing and dropped it straight into the cart. When I peeked inside, the box clearly read ‘Chocolate Cake.’ More sweets. I racked my brain for a long time, wondering if today was some special occasion, but no matter how hard I thought, there was no birthday or meaningful date. It just meant Soyeon had gone wild picking whatever she wanted.
I hurried after her as she moved ahead and cautiously opened my mouth again.
“Soyeon. Don’t you think we bought too many snacks? Should we put some back?”
“...I didn’t buy that much.”
Her tone was dripping with clear displeasure. I slowed the cart deliberately, then spoke to her in a gentle, almost scolding voice.
“Then let’s just get the things we’ll eat right away and take out the chocolate and biscuits. I’ll make you something delicious for dinner, okay?”
She pouted, her lips pushed out, and met my eyes with a sulky complaint.
“...But today I want to eat this.”
Her eyes were firm, clearly refusing to back down. Normally she would have negotiated or listened obediently, but it seemed she had no intention of doing so today.
“...Fine. If we’re buying all this, you have to eat a lot for dinner. Got it?”
“...Yeah.”
No matter what, I always ended up yielding endlessly to Soyeon.
On the way back after finishing the shopping, just as we got out of the taxi and were about to head inside, Min Soyeon suddenly set her bags down and walked over to the parcel locker.
...Huh?
Clunk—
She pulled out a box almost as big as she was, grunting with effort as she struggled to lift it. Unable to watch any longer, I quickly set my own bags down, walked over, and took the box from her. It was heavy, like holding a small child, and I could feel something sloshing around inside.
“Soyeon. What is this?”
“...A gift from a friend.”
A friend? I glanced at the shipping label. The sender’s name read: Lee Yeon-du.
Sender: Lee Yeon-du
Recipient: Min Soyeon
Contents: Liquids
Lee Yeon-du. The same person who had sent that mysterious ‘gift’ last time. Just what kind of friend would send something like this?
*
After we carried all the bags into the kitchen together, we quickly organized the supermarket items first. While I finished tidying up, Soyeon moved the package to the living room and began checking its contents.
Then, suddenly—
...Huh?
Soyeon appeared in the kitchen, quietly took out a cup, and walked over to the water dispenser. Glug, glug, glug, glug— The cup filled to the brim with cool water. She tilted her head back like she was taking medicine and gulped it down.
Gulp—
“Haa…”
She frowned deeply, as if she’d eaten something unpleasant, then took the remaining water, swished it around her mouth, and swallowed it too.
I watched her silently before asking carefully.
“...What did you eat?”
She flinched, then shot me a glare and denied it.
“...Nothing?”
She was denying it so strongly, like a child trying to hide something bad she’d done. I stared at her for a moment, then remembered that my wife sometimes snuck snacks when I wasn’t looking and looked away. Buying a ton of sweets and taking medicine during a sensitive time wasn’t that strange. Pretending I knew nothing, I started preparing to cook rice and naturally changed the subject.
“...Did you open the package? Can I ask what it was?”
She placed the cup in the sink and answered indifferently.
“...Alcohol.”
Alcohol…. Alcohol…?
Wait a second. Alcohol?
I froze for a moment, then glanced back at her and asked again, very carefully.
“What did you say arrived?”
“...It’s alcohol.”
I hurriedly threw off my apron and headed to the living room with her. And then—
“...What the hell is this?”
I was stunned by what I saw inside the package. Countless bottles of liquor and drinking glasses lined up across the living room floor, so many I wondered how they’d even fit in the box. It really was alcohol.
I unconsciously furrowed my brow, my expression turning serious, and asked her cautiously.
“...This was really sent by a friend?”
She nodded with a perfectly calm face, as if it were no big deal.
A dizzy feeling suddenly washed over me. I clutched my head, collapsed onto the sofa with a thud, and slowly tried to process everything.
A friend. She had definitely said it was from someone named ‘Lee Yeon-du.’ It was probably one of the people she met right before we went to Toyland. I already knew her friends were unusual since she mentioned they had tattoos, but I never imagined they were delinquent teenagers who drank like this.
Yeah… I had thought something felt off. The fact that Soyeon was smoking was probably because she was hanging out with bad friends. But I couldn’t tell a girl who barely had any friends not to talk to them…
As I stared at the flashy liquor bottles that looked like they belonged in a club, lost in serious thought, Min Soyeon quietly sat down beside me and spoke in a coaxing voice.
“...Want to try just one glass together?”
It sounded like the sweet temptation of a devil. I glanced at her sitting next to me and answered as calmly as I could.
“...Soyeon. This is alcohol. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“...Why?”
Why?! Her reaction, as if she genuinely didn’t understand, left me completely flustered. How was I supposed to explain something so obvious? After thinking for a long time about how to persuade her now that she was fired up, I decided to subtly change the subject and ask her a question instead.
“...Have you ever drunk before?”
“...No.”
From the look on her face, it seemed she really hadn’t. If she had already moved on from cigarettes to alcohol… my heart probably would have shattered.
“Then you don’t even know your own tolerance, right?”
“...I-I don’t.”
Soyeon looked slightly deflated. I pressed the advantage and listed all the reasons she shouldn’t drink.
“There’s a saying that you should learn to drink from your parents. It’s not just empty words. It’s because they don’t know what kind of drunk you become or how much you can handle. I’ve never really drunk either, so I wouldn’t be able to look after you properly.”
She muttered something quietly, then…
“...Then leave.”
It came out stronger than I expected.
“...What?”
“I said leave. I’m going to drink.”
“...W-wait, Soyeon. We’re too young to be drinking already. Later, when your parents are here, we can—”
“It said to learn from adults. I’ll call my friends over to drink, so you go home.”
...What? Who was she going to call? This girl, seriously…!
“Soyeon, you said they were friends…. Were those friends actually adults?”
“They’re all older than me and have more experience, so I can just drink with those unnies. I should tell them to buy cigarettes on the way…”
She started looking around for her phone, as if she really intended to call her friends. Horrified by the mention of cigarettes, I quickly grabbed her wrist. She immediately went limp and sank back onto the sofa, almost like she had been waiting for me to stop her.
“W-wait a second, Soyeon. You’re really going to call them? Those friends… No, we can drink together later. Okay?”
She lightly shook off my hand, crossed her arms, and gave me a pouty glare.
“...You said you wouldn’t drink with me.”
...This is bad…
Soyeon was dead serious right now. If I didn’t drink with her, she would end up learning how to drink from those bad unnies—the ones with tattoos on their lower bellies, the ones who taught bad things to young kids. She’d pick up terrible drinking habits, and later she might even use this big, nice house to bring guys over… Absolutely not!!!
“...I’ll drink with you, so don’t call your friends.”
Her eyes sparkled with a hint of expectation as she tested me.
“...You said you don’t drink. You said you’d only drink with adults.”
I firmly grabbed her arm so she wouldn’t get any strange ideas and answered decisively.
“I just don’t want to see you drinking in front of other people, so drink with me instead.”
My wife didn’t like it, so I didn’t drink often, but I wasn’t completely inexperienced. It would be better if I taught her myself.
*
Setting up the drinking table didn’t take long. The things Soyeon had picked out by chance made perfect snacks, and since she kept urging me to hurry up and drink, I had no choice but to throw everything together roughly.
“...Cheers?”
After finishing her own drink preparation, Min Soyeon naturally held her glass out to me. Instead of clinking glasses, I stared intently at the one in her hand. An opaque blue liquid filled with sparkling particles that glittered like glitter had been sprinkled in. It looked like something that would be terrible for your body no matter who looked at it.
When I kept glaring at her glass with clear disapproval, she clinked hers against mine anyway.
Clink—
Then she brought it to her lips and spoke casually.
“...They said the first glass has to be a one-shot.”
...I’m going crazy…
That was probably something those so-called ‘friends’ had told her too. I was dumbfounded by the way she slyly pressured me into a one-shot, but since I had already decided to go along with it, I figured I might as well do it properly. I tilted the glass and poured the liquid down my throat.
A sweet fruit aroma spread wickedly through my mouth. It was moderately sweet with a refreshing tang, surprisingly drinkable despite its appearance.
“...Hoo…”
After emptying the first glass and popping a piece of fruit into my mouth, Soyeon—who had already finished hers in sync with me—quietly took my empty glass and immediately began mixing a new one.
“...Soyeon. Let’s drink a little slower.”
But she completely ignored me.
“...”
I let out a short sigh and silently stared at the glass she had placed in front of me. The blue sparkling liquor being poured in, followed by a clear liquid to increase the volume. I had caught a glimpse earlier—something like ‘Spiri…’ or whatever it was called. It seemed like some kind of liquor… but when mixed with more alcohol, it barely had any of the usual alcoholic smell.
...This much should be fine to drink, right?