Chapter 72: A Debt for a Bed

And sure enough, he was right.

Woo-rim, who had taken Jun-sung’s phone displaying a familiar screenshot, soon started laughing loudly, slapping his own thigh as if he had never been upset.

Starting with Woo-rim, the phone was passed to the person next to him.

“It’s so cute!”

“Jae-seo, it suits you well.”

Finally, as the phone screen passed in front of me, I squeezed my eyes shut.

What was displayed on Jun-sung’s phone was a photo that Bae Jae-hyung had sent to the group chat not long after the ‘Beautiful Hate’ contest stage aired.

Below the text, ‘How is Jae-seo’s one-shot a Pomeranian, but his full-shot a Samoyed?’, there was a side-by-side image of a one-shot of me from the ‘Beautiful Hate’ stage and a photo of a small white dog.

On the next line, there was a screenshot of a social media post showing a group photo of ‘Beautiful Hate’ where I alone looked huge, next to a photo of a large white dog.

After making the rounds, Kwak Jun-sung got his phone back and continued.

“But back then, the other team members were on the thin side.

So we looked relatively bigger.”

Conversely, I thought, that must mean I look smaller in the ‘July Snow’ team or here.

I nodded in agreement.

“Even if you or Woo-rim gained more weight now, you probably wouldn’t look very chubby in this team.”

I agreed with that too.

In terms of height alone, everyone except Park Seo-hu and Lee Woo-rim was over 180cm, and except for the lean Lee Chan-seo, they all had good builds.

“So don’t worry about it.”

At Jun-sung’s words, Woo-rim seemed to regain his composure immediately.

He nodded and picked up his plate with the pizza and chicken.

“Alright, that’s enough.

Now that Jun-sung is here, let’s have another toast!”

Yoon Ji-heon raised his glass, and the other members followed suit.

“Let’s work hard from now on!”

Yoon Ji-heon shouted ‘Fighting!’ and thrust his cup forward.

Everyone extended their paper cups to clink, and someone said “Cheers!” with their mouth.

“Congratulations on your debut, Jun-sung.”

“Congrats, hyung!”

After clinking cups once more with the newly arrived Jun-sung, I brought my paper cup to my lips.

It wasn’t the sweet taste of cider I had been drinking.

It was a very familiar bitter taste.

“Hey!

That’s my soju….”

At the same time, the world began to spin, and the voice from right next to me grew faint and soon disappeared.

Even my dizzy vision went dark, and my consciousness cut off.

***

I woke up as consciousness slowly returned.

I forced my eyelids open, and an unfamiliar ceiling came into view.

Still dazed from sleep and alcohol, I lay there blankly for a moment, then suddenly remembered something and sat bolt upright.

“Ahh….”

Raising my upper body abruptly, my head throbbed, and a groan escaped.

I closed my eyes for a moment, then carefully turned my head to look around.

The space was clearly different from the living room where we had been drinking, but the overall feel was similar.

So this was definitely…

“Seo Jun-jae’s room?”

My head ached, both physically and mentally.

Of all the glasses to mistake, I had to mistake Seo-hu’s cup full of soju, leading me to experience something like this again.

I buried my face in my palms, then rubbed it vigorously.

“So what time is it now?”

I turned and swung my legs off the bed.

Standing up, I felt dizzy and paused for a moment.

I waited until I felt better, straightened the blanket I had been using, and approached the bedroom door.

Just as I pulled down the door handle,

“Oh, you’re awake?”

The door, which had been flush with the bedroom door, opened, and Jun-jae came out from inside.

He seemed to have just showered, his wet hair swept back.

He looked at my face and asked.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

I answered, rubbing my neck for no reason.

The house was quiet, so it seemed everyone had already left.

The remnants of the drinking session in the living room had been neatly cleaned up.

That meant I had caused the trouble of taking over the homeowner’s bed for the long stretch of time it took to end the gathering and clean up.

“Ha, sorry.”

So far, the various troublesome acts forced by the game were entirely the game’s fault, so I could feel momentarily wronged and then forget about them.

But this incident was 100% my responsibility, my fault.

Even if the game had lowered my alcohol tolerance, I should have checked properly before drinking.

The fact that I mistakenly took the wrong cup and caused this mess made me feel pathetic.

“If you’re sorry, will you stay the night?”

…What?

“Since I’m scared of sleeping alone in the middle of the night, I want you to stay with me, Jae-seo.”

If you’re going to make an excuse like that, at least pretend to be scared.

How could he come up with such an absurd excuse with a face that looked completely unbothered?

“You will stay, won’t you?”

As if adding, “You owe me, remember,” Jun-jae looked at me, his eyes curving beautifully in a smile.

I stared at him for a moment, then let out a short sigh and nodded.

“Do you want to rest a bit before showering?”

“I’ll shower now.”

Jun-jae said to wait a moment, then disappeared into the room.

The moment he was out of sight, I squeezed my eyes shut.

This crazy perverted psycho… Sim Jae-seo.

“…Are you insane?”

Perhaps my mind was getting weird because the game kept making me do strange things, but Jun-jae’s face and voice when he asked if I wanted to rest before showering somehow felt incredibly suggestive.

“Jae-seo.”

I flinched at Jun-jae’s voice from behind.

He turned me around and looked down intently at my face.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?”

Something’s strange, he muttered quietly, placing his large hand over my forehead.

“I’m really fine.”

I immediately raised my arm to remove the warmth and spoke.

Jun-hae made a displeased face and withdrew his hand.

My gaze, following his hand, soon went to his left hand.

A short-sleeved shirt, shorts, packaged underwear, and a toothbrush.

Jun-jae followed my gaze, then handed me the items in his hands.

“Then come out after you shower.”

“Uh, thanks.”

I went into the bathroom, closed the door, and leaned against it, burying my face in my hands.

What just happened again…

…Really, I’m definitely completely out of my mind.

***

Only after letting the pouring water calm my chaotic mind did I finally start washing.

I washed my hair, cleaned my body, then tore open the packaging of the new toothbrush.

I squeezed toothpaste onto it, brushed my teeth, put on the new underwear and clothes, tidied the bathroom neatly, and then came out.

I neatly packed my clothes, underwear, the new toothbrush, and the trash from the new underwear into my bag, which had been left in a corner of the living room.

Then I approached Jun-jae’s bedroom door and knocked lightly.

“Yeah.”

Surprised by the sleepy tone, which I felt I was hearing from Jun-jae for the first time, I opened the door.

Jun-jae was lying in the same spot where I had been lying earlier.

He seemed to have been just about to fall asleep, his eyes tightly shut.

“Seo Jun-jae.”

“Yeah.”

Perhaps because this was the first time I had seen Jun-jae so vulnerable, I felt curious and kept getting closer.

“Seo Jun-jae.”

“Yes, Jae-seo.”

As he answered, he shifted his body as if talking in his sleep.

Looking down at him, I thought that even Jun-jae couldn’t resist the urge to sleep.

I ended up letting out a small laugh.

Suppressing the laughter so as not to disturb his sleep, I was just about to speak in the smallest voice possible,

“Then I’ll sleep out on the sofa….”

Suddenly, a dizzy spell hit, and I stopped talking, my body swaying.

My left leg suddenly gave way.

Then, my left foot, trying to plant itself firmly on the ground, tripped over my right foot.

Soon, my body lost its balance and collapsed, falling on top of the sleeping Jun-jae.

“Oof.”

I barely managed to stop my body by propping my arms and knees on either side of Jun-jae’s body, but my chest was almost touching his.

At this point, there was only one thing I could hope for.

…Please be asleep.

If Jun-jae was still asleep, I carefully lifted my body, trying not to wake him.

“Sim Jae-seo.”

…Of course.

There was no way he wouldn’t wake up after me loudly falling over him.

“Sorry for waking you.

I was going to sleep on the sofa outside.”

I worried that to Jun-jae, who had kept his eyes closed, I might look like someone caught trying to attack a sleeping person and trying to run away.

Still, as I tried to hurriedly get up, the arm bracing me on Jun-jae’s left was suddenly grabbed, and my balance completely collapsed.

I managed to stop myself by barely holding on with one arm, but my face was now so close to Jun-jae’s that they were almost touching.

“Sim Jae-seo.”

Jun-jae’s expressionless face, the low voice calling my name, the heat from the hand firmly gripping my wrist…

All of it felt so unfamiliar and uncomfortable that I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

I just remained silent.

“Jae-seo.”