Chapter 121

Chapter 121: Chapter 121
.
* * *
What Yoon Jung In said was not a joke. Class 1-5, 6, and 7, the classes who already knew that our break time began earlier, were literally walking on all fours. Some kid was deeply asleep while burying his head on the couch. Another boy was in dreamland with his head shoved under the sink.
Class 1-1 and 1-8, the classes located at both ends of the hallway, was the last to learn about what was happening, but it wasn’t that long since Class 1-1 started drinking. Rolling his eyeballs, Eun Jiho sipped his drink alone.
He didn’t turn on the light in the first place to prevent instructors from unexpectedly surprising the room by any chance. The only light open within was a faint, orange lamp. The bright moonlight that was pouring through the terrace had stained their drowsy faces into a pale glow.
Eun Jiho took out his phone and checked the time. It was 11:20 at night, and there were only seven survivors among the eleven members in the room.
When the drinking party started, Woo Jooin spoke with a grin on his lips.
“There’s a small room there, and we are in the living room.”
“Uh-huh,”
“Later, when once you awakened and you realized that you’re inside the small room, just imagine that you were a corpse last night.”
After hearing his words, the kids burst into laughter, wondering who will be the ones sleeping in the small room tonight. And in less than an hour, four of them were thrown into the small room.
Thinking about these in mind, Eun Jiho then heard a thudding sound on the wall. Those who thought, at first, that it might be the instructor knocking the door turned their heads to the direction of the sound with tension written obviously on their faces. However, they soon fetched a sigh of relief.
“Hey, maybe someone next door is sleep talking. Go get him tied up with a blanket,” someone said.
“Bahaha, that’s funny, yeah. Let me go take a look.”
A boy replied, then stood up. The rest of the boys looked at each other for a second. The person who got the most attention was none other than Kwon Eun Hyung.
He always looked neat, and he would behave well. Besides, he mediated between fights, so other boys were mindful of the possibility of him being against students drinking alcohol. Kwon Eun Hyung, however, didn’t say anything at the black plastic bag full of drinks but asked with a smile to take a few bottles out to enjoy.
As if he felt the attention towards him, Kwon Eun Hyung lifted his eyes to glance around. A boy moved his butt back out of surprise. It made Kwon Eun Hyung burst out laughing.
“Why?”
“I mean, honestly, your usual image is… I thought you wouldn’t let us drink.”
“Why? What’s my usual image?”
“Like a mother?” Woo Jooin, who listened to their talk, replied from the side.
“Come on, dude.”
With that said, Kwon Eun Hyung gently pushed Woo Jooin’s forehead. He chuckled before sitting up straight.
Kwon Eun Hyung continued, “Hmm, I just saw… tomorrow’s breakfast menu on the cafeteria wall…”
“What?”
Those who didn’t focus on the conversation turned their heads toward him to listen. Kwon Eun Hyung turned his mouth up slightly to resemble a hint of a smile.
“… and there was bean sprout soup, the best hangover cure.”
“That’s all?” Someone else asked.
Kwon Eun Hyung responded casually with a shrug, “What else do we need?”
A moment of silence prevailed in the small space. Soon after, two boys jumped into Kwon Eun Hyung abruptly then tried to hug his shoulders. Being startled, Kwon Eun Hyung took a defensive posture at first but soon released the tension in his arms as he read no malice in their tipsy faces. As a result, he and the two boys fell together with a thump.
Woo Jooin, who was across them, burst into laughter.
“Dude, are you drunk?” Eun Jiho asked.
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
Woo Jooin replied while rubbing his cheeks. Eun Jiho observed his face for a second. He soon shook his head to say no and sat straight.
The one who did not control his alcohol intake and filled a whole glass with liquor was none other than Woo Jooin. A few kids followed his lead, but they eventually ended up being flaked out in the small room. Regardless of how insanely fast he drank, Woo Jooin didn’t show any sign that he was already drunk. This made Eun Jiho look around others while developing a groundless assumption of ‘high intelligence, less drunk.’
Other than blinking his eyes out of drowsiness, Kwon Eun Hyung didn’t seem to have any problem. Yoo Chun Young, who was drowsy in the morning but sleepless at night, looked excellent. His blue eyes moved back and forth between Kwon Eun Hyung and the liquor bottles. When Eun Jiho tried to get up from his seat to check himself if he was already drunk, a boy who sat across him suggested a game.
“Hey, let’s play Truth or Dare! We should clear out these leftovers.”
“Cool! I’m in,” Woo Jooin, who was always into exciting things, responded with a bright smile.
“Oh, boy.”
As if he felt dumbfounded, Kwon Eun Hyung spoke those words with a chuckle; however, he didn’t seem to be against them playing the game. The other kids didn’t say something special at all, so everyone soon sat around the empty soju bottle that they laid down in the middle.
At a distance, the TV turned on, showed some noise on its screen. Eun Jiho broke the ice.
“So, who’s gonna ask first?”
“Let’s just do one round first. If the bottle points at your direction, just ask the person to your left.”
“Cool,” Yoo Chun Young sat straight as he replied shortly.
Inside Eun Jiho’s head, the scene he saw on the TV screen at Ham Donnie’s house flashed through his memories. Yoo Chun Young’s decent look that occupied the camera lens alone, and the gaze he had at Ham Donnie’s back while resting his chin in his hand… Recalling these scenes, Eun Jiho soon looked at Yoo Chun Young’s eyes, who turned his head to look at his. Their eyes met in the air for a moment.
The one who avoided the gaze first was Eun Jiho. He spun the soju bottle cheerfully as if nothing had happened. The bottle then pointed to someone. Meanwhile, when he glanced at Yoo Chun Young, he was just tilting his head expressionlessly.
The Truth and Dare game continued until 1 in the morning. At first, the seven boys didn’t seem to have any questions they have in mind, but the game went on endlessly regardless.
‘What the hell is this?’ Eun Jiho swept his hair back in exhaustion. As if he wasn’t sleepy yet, Yoo Chun Young was just staring at the soju bottle with his bright blue eyes. It was then when he heard someone crying out like an animal in the hallway.
Eun Jiho looked at the front door in surprise.
Someone murmured, “Is there a wolf inside this building?”
“Gosh, you’re freaking me out.”
“Don’t you hear that sound…”
The boy who said that paused. He then put his finger on his lip.
When the noise lessened, only the breathing sound continued. The orange light from the lamp cast deep shadows on each other’s faces.
A moment after, Eun Jiho could hear a faint voice.
“Yoon Jung In, do you want to die? Do you want to get dragged to the instructor’s room?”
“Oh, my Suh Hyun! What a beautiful name! Suh Hyun noona! I’m a wolf, and you’re the beauty!”
“Geez, why do I have a friend like you…”
His words then ended with a sigh. Eun Jiho listened attentively to the conversation. As soon as he met others’ eyes, everyone burst out laughing at last.
As if it was hilarious, Kwon Eun Hyung, who seldom laughed out loud, giggled while covering his mouth. Eun Jiho wasn’t sure if he was laughing out of excitement or if he was just tipsy.
The bottle then stopped spinning and pointed exactly at Eun Jiho. He stiffened with a grin on his face. ‘Shoot,’ as soon as he murmured, the one who looked at the soju bottle shouted out loud.
“Oh, yeah! Eun Jiho! It’s your turn, at last!”
“How lucky were you. How come this is the first time you got caught after so many rounds?”
“Yay, so excited! Now, we can learn about your private life!”
As if they had been watching for a chance, the kids smiled naughtily while doing high fives. Eun Jiho lifted his eyes to glance around. Compared to others, Kwon Eun Hyung, Woo Jooin, and Yoo Chun Young looked apathetic. Indeed, since they knew each other from middle school, what else would they like to know about Eun Jiho?
Eun Jiho heaved a sigh of relief while thinking, ‘They won’t be asking me anything weird.’ That was when he had that thought in mind. A boy’s bright voice rang in Eun Jiho’s ears.
“Ahem, Mr. Eun Jiho the handsomest! Have a girl ever dumped you?”
‘Why that question?’ Eun Jiho suddenly got annoyed. He seemed to be losing touch with reality. ‘Am I getting drunk…’