3rd Grade.
3rd Grade.
Time passed, and we went on our school trip.
On the bus heading to the lodging, Da-yeon and I sat together, and Tae-oh and Ji-hoon sat together.
Their seat looked super cramped, but ours was nice and roomy.
Da-yeon, who'd been listening to a lecture, noticed the wireless earbud in my ear.
"Si-yoon, what are you listening to?"
Without a word of explanation, I pulled the wireless earbud out of my ear and put it in hers.
A sticky groove started playing, the melody crooning before the voice rang out.
Yeah, you fucking with some wet ass pussy
Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet ass pussy
Give me everything you got for this wet ass pussy
At Cardi B's explicit lyrics, Da-yeon yanked the earbud out in a hurry and stared at me with a shocked expression.
"S...Si-yoon?"
Da-yeon's face had turned bright red.
She probably inferred the meaning...
"Y-you shouldn't listen to stuff like that!"
I grinned and started humming the tune, and Da-yeon's face got even redder—maybe she was remembering the lyrics she'd just heard.
Watching Da-yeon cover her blushing face, I felt a slight twinge of guilt, but she was cute.
Da-yeon snatched the earbud away and hid it deep somewhere in her own bag so I couldn't listen anymore.
"Want some gum?"
"..."
I unwrapped a piece of gum and popped it into Da-yeon's mouth, and from behind me, Park Ji-hoon poked at my head.
"Me too."
"Motherfucker, whenever there's food you always gotta shove something in your mouth, you son of a bitch."
"Man, it's just a piece of gum, you're being way too harsh."
"I'm not giving you any?"
"I'm sorry. Just one, please."
I passed a piece of gum to Ji-hoon and handed the whole pack to Tae-oh beside him.
Tae-oh's face flushed.
"Eat lots."
"Okay."
"Wow, fuck, I was the one who asked."
"Yeah, shove off."
Suddenly, a pop! sound came from Park Ji-hoon's direction as he pulled something out of his bag.
I turned at the familiar sound, and Park Ji-hoon held up the mustache-shaped snack.
Ji-hoon looked at me and grinned greasily.
"Hand it over."
"This? No way."
"I won't say it twice."
"I won't say it twice~"
"...?"
I unfastened my seatbelt and rose from my seat, and Park Ji-hoon ducked down, offering up the mustache snack.
And so, the mustache snack Park Ji-hoon had brought ended up in my hands.
"You're actual trash. Only your own mouth matters, huh? When I ask, you give me a whole load of shit."
"What'd I say?"
"Ah. No, nothing, just talking to myself."
The moment the words left his mouth, he got hit about three times by me and then quietly muttered to himself.
"Seriously... I bought those... she gives me one piece of gum... so damn unfair..."
"You okay?"
Beside him, Tae-oh chewed his gum and offered Park Ji-hoon some consolation.
We arrived at the hotel and ate first.
Since the restaurant was a buffet, Park Ji-hoon was naturally piling food into a mountain,
and Tae-oh next to him had started eating just as voraciously.
Ji-hoon suddenly approached as if he had something important to tell me.
"So,"
"Good news. I brought booze again."
The instant I heard Park Ji-hoon's words, I nodded and raised my hand.
"Teacher!!!"
"Hey!!!"
Mid-meal, Ji-hoon rushed to cover my mouth.
This bastard had gotten way too strong for me to shake him off.
Now, even when I tried to bend his fingers back, Ji-hoon's hand wouldn't budge—to the point I couldn't even put up a fight with strength alone.
When I glared at him, Park Ji-hoon looked dead serious and said,
"Don't... say a word."
Park Ji-hoon slowly started to release his grip.
I kicked him in the shin.
"..."
But he only pretended to be in pain; he didn't seem to feel a thing.
So I shifted my gaze to the knife meant for cutting steak, and Ji-hoon dropped to his knees and apologized.
"Sorry."
In the past too, Park Ji-hoon would always apologize right when he'd been messing around and was just about to see me holding a weapon.
Tae-oh stared at the scene with a baffled look on his face.
The recreation session began, and the comedian in charge spoke into the mic.
"Is the student council president here, by any chance?"
At the instructor's words, my classmates, who'd been expecting my appearance, erupted in cheers.
"Oh?! Looks like your president is pretty popular~?"
The vice president hurriedly read my expression.
When I winked at him, the vice president stood up naturally.
""Boooooo!!! It's the vice president~""
Seeing everyone united in booing, I let out a sigh.
The vice president, flustered by the louder-than-expected jeers, couldn't stop fidgeting.
"Good grief..."
I slowly stood up, the brats went wild, and the MC who saw my face was taken aback.
"Huh...? Miss Si-yoon... isn't it?"
I walked up onto the auditorium stage.
"Hello."
"Yes! Wow... I didn't expect to meet a celebrity here. So, Miss Si-yoon is the student council president?"
A voice suddenly rang out loudly through the quiet auditorium.
"Dance!!"
Anyone could tell the first voice stirring things up was Park Ji-hoon, and as the distinctly Korean trait of 'piling on' kicked in, everyone started shouting.
""Dance~ Dance~~""
At first, I made a hand gesture telling them to cut it out.
The piling on continued.
"Shut up."
"".....""
"You all want to get your asses beat to shit, right? How dare you chatter while the president is speaking—who was the first to talk? Park Ji-hoon, you motherfucker, it was you, wasn't it?"
"".....""
The hall went dead silent in an instant.
I looked at the MC and said,
"Carry on."
"...Uh... um..."
As if a dance had been in the original plan, he quickly turned the script pages and spoke.
"Miss Si-yoon, please say a few words to your friends before we start the recreation!"
"Teachers? Park Ji-hoon brought alcohol. Make sure Park Ji-hoon can't run away, grab him~"
Park Ji-hoon, who'd been enjoying the situation and smirking at me, looked horrified.
I smiled brightly and said,
"And look, piling on is fine, but you've gotta pick your target, right? The first three who started, I remember every single one of you...?"
And then I snatched the script the MC had handed over.
"Well, I figure I kinda killed the mood, so I'll bring it back for you."
I walked toward a piano that was already set up in one spot.
Then I grabbed a nearby mic and plopped down.
A song that had dropped about 18 hours ago, by a male idol group under JSM.
My dad wrote and composed it.
The all-English lyrics over a bright melody started to ring out through my hands, and I sang into the mic.
Using a different vocal tone than usual, I sang in a voice that carried a languid R&B vibe, and cheers erupted right away.
And as I spit out the final lyrics, my short performance came to an end.
"Sorry I snapped earlier. It's our last middle school trip, so let's have fun~"
""Yes!!!!""
Thinking to myself how aloof I was, I spun around and headed back to my seat.
Then I went over to Park Ji-hoon and pulled a ring out of my pocket.
It was the friendship ring I'd gotten to match with Da-yeon. Park Ji-hoon's pupils shook violently when he saw the pointed gemstone in the center, and he immediately started running away.
Amid the lively performances and noisy atmosphere, Park Ji-hoon's screams echoed among the students' cheers.
"That thing'll poke a hole in me if it hits!!! You crazy bitch!!!!!"
After the recreation ended, Park Ji-hoon, whose face was swollen, came to Da-yeon and my room, dragging Tae-oh along.
"What."
"Tada~"
Tae-oh fidgeted in the hallway trying to read the room, and I let them in.
Park Ji-hoon's bag was stuffed with all kinds of alcohol and snacks.
"You guys drink it."
Park Ji-hoon looked at me, a can of Sprite in one hand, and chuckled as he said,
"This is for our widdle baby Si-yoon who can't dwink~"
My high kick landed square on Park Ji-hoon's face, and Park Ji-hoon lay down sideways and started sleeping soundly.
I looked at Tae-oh, who had somehow ended up on his knees.
"You know what it means, bringing booze into a girl's room, right?"
"...I'm sorry. I tried to stop him."
"You looked pretty damn excited coming in."
"No! It was my first time drinking... I got curious..."
I looked at Da-yeon, and she seemed curious about the alcohol too.
Da-yeon's outfit, as she examined the bottles this way and that, looked way too vulnerable.
"Alright, Ji-hoon's asleep so leave him. You, go wait outside."
"Got it..."
I quickly pointed out Da-yeon's top, and Da-yeon, startled, blushed and went into the room to change.
Then when Tae-oh came back in, I grabbed him by the collar, and the kid blushed for the first time in a while.
"Hey, haven't you been turning into Park Ji-hoon lately?"
A look like he'd just been dealt a shock.
"I'm saying this because I'm worried you're already fully turned into a dumbass."
"...I'm sorry. Watching Ji-hoon, I guess it reminded me of a friend I used to be close with in the past."
"Okay, as long as you're aware. Sit down, relax."
"Got it..."
Kim Tae-oh had grown to have even more striking looks as time passed.
Tae-oh, with skin almost as pale as Da-yeon's and mine.
His eyes sparkled as he stared at the alcohol.
"...Quite the variety we've got..."
Just then, Park Ji-hoon woke up.
"Nnng~ I slept well... huh? It's still night?"
"Idiot..."
One side of his face had doubled in size from me hitting him, but he didn't care, just sat down excited.
I might not be able to drink, but since he'd brought lots of different snacks, I started drinking my Sprite with the generous mindset of forgiving Park Ji-hoon.
At 10 o'clock, the announcement came to turn off the lights and go to sleep. We shut off the lights, draped blankets over the curtains for a total blackout, and rested our soda bottles on top of our phone flashlights to set the mood.
"Whoa... so pretty."
"This is how you have to do it when you're drinking in secret."
I fought desperately against the urge to drink and sniffed the smell of the alcohol instead.
After that day I got drunk and cut my own hair, I'd figured out a way to get pleasantly tipsy just like ordinary people.
Mix 1.5L of water into a single glass of soju? Nah, no need for that.
This body, with its insanely cost-effective constitution, starts getting buzzed just from smelling the stuff...
Go borrow someone's soju glass, just hold your nose close to it, take a deep inhale for 30 seconds, and I'm dead drunk.
For fuck's sake.
As proof, I'd only taken a quick whiff just then, but I already felt like I'd had a full glass.
Da-yeon started hesitating, looking around nervously as if she were doing something bad.
"Don't worry. If anyone here gets caught, it'll be such a shitshow no one will say a word about it, trust me?"
"Okay..."
Da-yeon threw back a shot and grimaced.
"Ugh... it tastes awful..."
I immediately fed Da-yeon a snack.
"Mm... so this is why you eat snacks with it..."
Time passed and though we'd drunk quite a bit, nobody had passed out. The unexpected thing was that Da-yeon was completely fine.
Her fair skin hadn't even turned pink, and she seemed like she'd never had a drop.
The person with the weakest tolerance here seemed to be Kim Tae-oh.
Excluding me, of course.
The insane thing was that I, who hadn't touched a drop, was tipsy too, though...
At some point, Kim Tae-oh, who was sitting next to me, touched my ass.
At first I thought it was an accident, and then the bastard suddenly moved his hand toward my inner thigh.
Between the sudden surge of rage and the alcohol haze, my vision cut to black for a moment.
I didn't remember it, but when my mind cleared enough to register anything, Park Ji-hoon and Da-yeon were pulling me back and trying to stop me.
Right in front of me, Kim Tae-oh had a double nosebleed and was staring at me with trembling pupils.
In my hand was an alcohol bottle.
Si-yoon had suddenly rammed an elbow into Tae-oh.
The off-guard Kim Tae-oh took the elbow to the face and was knocked backward. Before he knew it, Si-yoon was on top of the fallen Kim Tae-oh, drawing back a fist.
Kim Tae-oh was supposedly gifted with far superior evasion skills compared to others...
But he was getting hit before he could even register the punches flying at him.
And then, the moment Si-yoon stood up, a soccer kick slammed into his jaw. Kim Tae-oh felt his mind go hazy, his whole body went limp, and naturally, an alcohol bottle was in Kim Si-yoon's hand.
Park Ji-hoon, horrified by what had happened in under three seconds, grabbed Si-yoon's arm and blocked her path.
"Get out."
"Hey!! Calm down, get a grip! Put the bottle down!!!"
Si-yoon felt an inexplicable irritation and touched Park Ji-hoon's face as he held her back.
"I said get out. If you wanna hold a woman, go to a brothel, you motherfucker..."
"Si-yoon!!!"
Da-yeon clung to Si-yoon.
But Si-yoon coldly stared at Da-yeon's face, and Da-yeon, meeting that gaze, flinched in fear.
"Don't touch my body..."
When Si-yoon dropped the bottle from her hand, Ji-hoon let go, thinking the worst was over.
Si-yoon slowly walked toward Kim Tae-oh.
"A brat like you, already got wandering hands, huh...?"
"S...sorry."
It looked like Si-yoon was approaching to talk calmly, but Park Ji-hoon noticed instantly.
The moment Si-yoon reached Kim Tae-oh, she suddenly fired off a high kick, and Park Ji-hoon dragged her back.
"Hey!!! Are you trying to kill him?!"
"Let go..."
Park Ji-hoon quickly shot Da-yeon a glance, and Da-yeon, with trembling hands, poured liquor into a paper cup and handed it over.
"First, cool your head with some cold water."
Si-yoon drank what Ji-hoon handed her without even checking what it was and promptly passed out.
"".....""
Park Ji-hoon looked at Kim Tae-oh with icy eyes.
"What did you do...?"
"...I'm sorry."
"I said, what did you do, fuck..."
Amid the heavy atmosphere, Da-yeon stepped between them, blocking Park Ji-hoon.
"Don't... I'm scared... Si-yoon too... scary..."
"Haah... fine... let's clean up first..."
"Okay..."
Park Ji-hoon heard a sound rising from somewhere, and on reflex, he picked Si-yoon up and headed for the bathroom.
"Blurgh..."
After throwing up everything she'd eaten, Si-yoon passed right back out.
Was it a small mercy...?
Ji-hoon, knowing Si-yoon's hair was long, held it back, so unlike when she was 13, her body stayed clean.
The situation was even worse than back then, though...
Once everything was cleaned up, Park Ji-hoon said to Da-yeon,
"Once Si-yoon throws up once, she doesn't do it again. If you're still awake in two hours, wake her up."
"Okay..."
Park Ji-hoon looked at Kim Tae-oh and said, ice-cold,
"Hey, follow me."