Chapter 71

Thump! Mo Yeonhoo pushed himself up. How had he forgotten this?

Park Taekyun’s eyes widened, as if he was startled to see him half-risen from his seat, but then he frowned and searched through the past.

“When was that again...? I think it was reeeally cold, so was it early last year?”

It had been an awkward length of time—more than one year, but not quite two—yet the fact that he remembered even the cold weather so accurately made Mo Yeonhoo’s face brighten.

“Right. Tell me in detail what we did back then.”

“You were there too. Why?”

“I told you, I can’t remember.”

“What? Did you black out?”

“Yeah.”

Park Taekyun shrugged, looking puzzled.

“Anyway, I think it was fun.... You disappeared midway through, so I hung out with someone else.”

“Someone else? Hey, Park Taekyun. You ditched your friend again?”

“What are you talking about? I did nothing wrong that time. He’s the one who abandoned me first.”

Park Taekyun pointed straight at Mo Yeonhoo.

“He did?”

“...I did?”

Not only Kim Seongjae, but even Mo Yeonhoo’s eyes went round.

“Wow, you really don’t remember anything? Well, it was another friend’s birthday that day, and the two of us had already drunk quite a bit before going, so we were kind of drunk... but while I went to the restroom, you disappeared. So I just hung out separately.”

...Right. He vaguely remembered. Before going to the party, he had drunk quite a bit with Park Taekyun at a pub, so he had already been teetering on the edge of his limit.

“What the hell happened there? I’m asking because I seriously blacked out.”

“Hmm......”

Park Taekyun tapped the table a few times with his fingertips, then went, “Ah!” as if he had remembered, and continued.

“First of all, the atmosphere at the party was pretty unusual. What was it again? Your friend... that.”

“Seunghwan Lee.”

“Right. As soon as we got there, I couldn’t tell if he was trying to screw someone over, or if he had put effort into something in that... kind of way and ruined it.... Anyway, the atmosphere was weird, like a whole group was ganging up on someone....”

At that description, an image of people crowding together came rushing into his mind, so it seemed Park Taekyun was not remembering wrong.

“I think the mood was pretty tense. Honestly, back then, all I could think about was wanting to throw up, so it’s kind of fuzzy. But I remember this one thing properly!”

“What?”

“The person Seunghwan Lee kept talking to.”

Mo Yeonhoo curled his hand into a fist.

He had a feeling this would be the most important part of Park Taekyun’s hazy memories.

“Hmm......”

He tried to act calm, but Mo Yeonhoo’s expression was serious. His throat had gone dry from tension, so he gulped down his wine. Something important was definitely about to come out.

“He was handsome.”

Right, something like he was handsome, for example......

“Seriously insanely.”

......Huh?

Mo Yeonhoo froze.

“What?”

Kim Seongjae, who had also been listening seriously, asked with a dazed face.

“Huh? He was handsome?”

“Yeah.”

Mo Yeonhoo deflated.

“Haa, come on. What does it matter if a guy is handsome? If it’s not a pretty girl, no interest. Right, Mo Yeonhoo?”

“What are you even saying......”

“Friends, I’m not interested in guys either. But his face was... I’m telling you, even while I felt like I was going to puke, he was seriously insane. Even as another guy, I could tell he was exactly like—”

Park Taekyun, who had been protesting his innocence, suddenly stopped. Both Mo Yeonhoo and Kim Seongjae tilted their heads in confusion.

“What’s with him...... Huh?”

Kim Seongjae followed Park Taekyun’s gaze and looked startled too, so Mo Yeonhoo also tried to turn around a beat late.

“......?”

But first, a familiar scent touched the tip of his nose.

A polished woody fragrance. Mo Yeonhoo knew this scent well. It was the scent that had felt like it represented someone every time he met him.

“Yeonhoo.”

And that voice too.

Mo Yeonhoo whipped his head around. An especially tall man was standing close behind him, head lowered.

A sweatshirt, comfortable pants, a casual outer layer. No matter how he looked at it, it was an outfit common enough to see around the neighborhood, but the way he wore it was completely different. Even the thick clothes could not hide his build. Yet despite that, his dazzling face was the first thing that caught the eye.

“Yeonhoo, what are you doing here?”

The problem was that it was the face of Kwon Mieon, whose messages he had been ignoring for days.

Why is he here? Am I dreaming?

Somehow his vision seemed to spin, and he felt dizzy too.... He was definitely drunk.

While he was too shocked to say anything, Kwon Mieon swiftly squeezed into the seat beside Mo Yeonhoo.

“Did you drink a lot? Your face is red.”

It was such a natural movement, as if he had been part of the group all along. Kim Seongjae and Park Taekyun were just as flustered as Mo Yeonhoo, who had somehow given up the seat beside him.

“Who...?”

“Who are you?”

The two of them asked with blank faces. Kwon Mieon glanced across the table.

There was no expression on his face as he looked at them. It was different from the way he had looked at Mo Yeonhoo with delight. His endlessly gorgeous face swept over the two of them with irritation as its foundation, as if anyone could tell he was saying not to talk to him, and they shrank back despite having done nothing wrong.

What kind of expression is that?

What is this atmosphere?

He was only looking at them, yet for some strange reason, they felt intimidated. So they could not ask anything more and only looked at each other.

“Why are you...?”

Then Mo Yeonhoo, unable to hide his confusion, barely managed to speak. Kwon Mieon turned his head sharply to look at him, as if he had never glanced across the table at all.

“Yeonhoo?”

Kwon Mieon lightly tugged at the hem of Mo Yeonhoo’s clothes.

“How are you here? Do you have plans? What is this?”

“I happened to come here because I wanted to drink a little, and I saw someone from behind who looked like you, so I came closer. It was you.”

Mo Yeonhoo stared blankly as Kwon Mieon spoke clearly and distinctly. He had wondered if he was hallucinating because he had drunk too much, but that did not seem to be it. This was really Kwon Mieon.

“How can there be a coincidence like this? What were you doing here?”

“I was drinking with my friends....”

“So they’re your friends.”

Kwon Mieon’s gaze returned to the two men sitting side by side across from them, Park Taekyun and Kim Seongjae. Naturally, they remembered the cold expression with which he had looked at them and froze.

“Wow, hello.”

Kwon Mieon smiled brightly. A gentle smile settled over his dazzling face. His eyes curved as if tightly closing, as though he did not know how to hurt anyone, and the corners of his mouth lifted in a refreshing arc.

“It’s so nice to meet you. What are your names? My name is Kwon Mieon. If you’re Yeonhoo’s friends, then I should treat you like older friends too...”

He smiled brightly and warmly as he held out his hand.

“Would that be okay?”

Then he looked at them with a touch of shyness, and Park Taekyun and Kim Seongjae could only blink, unable to answer.

They had clearly sensed the chill that had reached them just a moment ago. Even though their eyes had definitely met, had he not treated the two of them like ghosts who did not exist? He had not shown the slightest interest in them, nor paid them any mind.

“Would that be difficult?”

And now he was suddenly asking if he could treat them like older friends?

His attitude was so confident, as if he had become a completely different person, that they wondered if they were the ones who had misunderstood something.

Seeing Kwon Mieon still smiling with his hand out for a handshake, Park Taekyun belatedly came back to his senses.

“Wow, I spaced out because you’re so good-looking. Sorry. I’m Park Taekyun... and if you’re Yeonhoo’s friend, you’re our friend too.”

“I’m Kim Seongjae. I can speak casually, right?”

“Yes. Of course. Both of you can speak comfortably.”

As if he had been waiting for it, Kwon Mieon clasped his hand tightly and smiled. He was already striking, but when he smiled fully, it felt as if light shone from his face.

“I didn’t know Yeonhoo had such a handsome friend.”

“Handsome? You two are more masculine and cool. I’m jealous.”

The two of them stared at the smooth-talking Kwon Mieon, then finally gave a small laugh.

“Wow~ Yeonhoo’s friend has a good personality.”

“Why are you acting like this when you’re that good-looking? You better not work out too.”

It seemed they had decided they had judged Kwon Mieon’s first impression too hastily.

While they talked, Mo Yeonhoo kept looking utterly bewildered.

“Hey, you......?”

Then he finally managed to come to his senses and tried to call Kwon Mieon, but something felt strange about his body.

In fact, he had felt oddly languid since earlier. His body kept sagging, and it felt as if his perception of everything was delayed by one beat.

What’s this? Why is everything spinning?

He hurriedly lifted his head and saw Kim Seongjae’s face. Kim Seongjae was saying something to him, but the sound he heard did not match the shape of his mouth....

“Are you okay?”

Thump. At the same time as a hand pulled him in by the waist, Kwon Mieon suddenly came right in front of his face.