Chapter 115: So That’s What Love Is

Hearing that they looked like a couple, Wooju felt like the alcohol was hitting him faster than usual.

“Right! I’m right, aren’t I!”

Seokhyun raised his voice excitedly like a student who had just gotten an exam answer correct.

“No. We’re not dating.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a lie. Since it wasn’t actually a relationship, Wooju firmly marked Seokhyun’s answer as wrong.

“Not dating? Ahh, I see.”

Seokhyun refilled his glass and then suddenly clapped his hands.

“Then you like someone?”

Wooju’s hand, which had been scraping the bottom of the bowl absentmindedly, suddenly froze.

Taking that reaction as confirmation, Seokhyun began pressing him with questions, asking who it was.

Later, he even joked wildly, asking if it was someone he met during broadcasts, or maybe even a celebrity.

“Do I look like that?”

“Huh?”

“Do I… look like someone who has someone they like?”

Seokhyun blinked slowly as he ordered another bottle of soju.

“Then you don’t?”

“I don’t even know in the first place. Liking someone… I mean, liking someone in that romantic or sexual way.”

Wooju was the type of person who believed dating was something only people who had done it could understand, and even liking someone required experience.

For 27 years of his life, he had kept his distance from all of that.

He had received confessions from time to time during school, but even when classmates or juniors confessed, he felt nothing and rejected them all.

Watching Park Hyunjin date normally felt strange to him, but he assumed he would eventually do the same once he became an adult, just like the teachers said.

But Wooju, who was always busy playing volleyball and building his career as an athlete, never had the time or even the thought to consider dating.

“Wow, hearing you say it like that really makes it hit—you’re actually a lifelong single.”

“Eighty percent of the reason you get hit someday will be because of your mouth.”

That was right. A lifelong single.

For someone who had never dated, even the feelings of liking or loving someone were nothing more than something difficult and unfamiliar.

Jitae was precious to him.

He knew now that Jitae was different from ordinary friends like Seokhyun or Park Hyunjin.

But to conclude that it was love… Wooju had neither the experience nor the data to make that judgment.

“Hey, hey. I’ll summarize it for you.”

Seokhyun leaned forward and looked at him seriously.

“Close your eyes and picture that person.”

Though suspicious, Wooju obediently closed his eyes.

“I did.”

“How is it?”

Wooju tilted his head.

“I want to see him.”

It wasn’t just Seokhyun whose restraint had loosened with alcohol.

Just thinking of Jitae made Wooju want to see him right away.

“There’s your answer.”

“With just that?”

Can’t you miss a friend too?

When Wooju muttered uncertainly, Seokhyun’s mouth fell open.

He was once again reminded that the person in front of him was a stone-like lifelong single who had endured 27 years of solitude.

“Alright. Then let’s go deeper.”

Facing a tough opponent, Seokhyun decided to play his trump card.

“Think of that person again.”

Honestly, that was pointless. Wooju had been thinking of Jitae the whole time.

“And now imagine this.”

“What?”

“Imagine that person being with someone else.”

“……”

The moment he heard that, Wooju’s brows furrowed.

“Not you, but someone else—holding hands, hugging. Yeah, and kissing too.”

Seokhyun tapped his index fingers together as he explained.

Normally, Wooju would have questioned why he should imagine something that wouldn’t even happen, but he had already had a few drinks.

Alcohol was powerful—it made people do things they normally wouldn’t, and at the same time, gave them vivid imagination.

In Wooju’s mind, Jitae was now holding someone else’s hand, hugging them, and even kissing them.

And not just lightly—but deeply.

“How is it?”

“……”

Wooju bit his lip, then suddenly buried his face in his palm.

“Huh? Hey, what’s wrong? Head hurt? Did you drink too much?”

“…I hate it.”

“Huh?”

“That bastard kissing someone else? I really hate that……”

Hearing him clearly, Seokhyun, who had half-risen in concern, slowly sat back down.

Then, while pouring himself a drink, he looked at his friend and let out a baffled laugh.

With that expression—like he could kill someone—how could he still be unsure whether he liked him or not?

“Gang Wooju.”

“What.”

“That’s what love is.”

Wooju shot him a sharp glare, as if asking what nonsense he was spouting.

“When you think of them, your heart races, you want to see them, and you want to be the only one for them.”

At the word “only,” Wooju’s eyes trembled slightly.

That word sank deep into his chest.

“Well, if you still don’t get it, ask to meet him and see his face. Then you’ll know for sure.”

“What are you, some expert?”

“If you go through heartbreak as often as eating meals, you’ll reach enlightenment too.”

Feeling a bit sorry for bringing up painful memories, Wooju quietly refilled Seokhyun’s glass.

At that moment, his phone, which was on the chair beside him, began to vibrate.

Seeing the name on the screen, Wooju quickly stood up.

“Hey, I’ll take this call. Keep drinking.”

Without noticing Seokhyun’s overflowing glass, Wooju grabbed his phone and rushed outside.

Left alone, Seokhyun wiped his eyes and quietly drank by himself.

Outside, Wooju answered the call quickly before it could disconnect.

—Wooju.

Coming out into the humid summer air felt uncomfortable after being in a cool place.

His irritation rose instantly, but the moment he heard that voice filling his ears, his mood began to lift.

“Can you talk? You didn’t reply to my messages, so I thought you were busy.”

—I was busy. The variety show I’m filming runs cameras all day, so it’s hard to get time. What were you doing?

“Me? Eating with Seokhyun. You know that gukbap place we went to before? I’m there.”

Leaning against the wall of the alley next to the restaurant, Wooju lightly kicked the asphalt.

If he didn’t do something, the ticklish feeling inside him wouldn’t go away.

—…Wooju, I’ll just ask in case.

“Yeah.”

—Did you drink?

“How did you know?”

Wooju raised his voice in surprise.

It was understandable—he wasn’t actually drunk.

He had only sipped a few times, even though he didn’t like soju much.

—Your voice sounds different.

Different? That made even less sense to him. He couldn’t feel any difference himself.

—How much did you drink? And just to ask—you’re not drinking alone with him, right?

“Yeah, just the two of us. Who else would I drink with? And I didn’t drink much.”

—……

The other end suddenly went quiet.

Wondering if the call had dropped, Wooju checked the screen, but it was still connected.

“Won Jitae? Why did you suddenly go quiet?”

He had wanted to hear his voice so badly.

Why call first and then say nothing?

—Gang Wooju, don’t drink too much.

“I told you, I didn’t drink much.”

—Seriously, don’t drink too much. Don’t get drunk. Got it?

He didn’t know what Jitae was fixated on, but he sounded desperate.

He was even warning him not to get drunk.

“Okay, I got it.”

—Promise me you won’t get drunk. If you do, you have to call me ‘hyung’ from now on.

“What is wrong with you?”

At first, he thought it was a joke, but Jitae didn’t back down easily.

He kept repeating himself, as if his life depended on hearing Wooju promise.

Wooju had wanted to talk more, but now the conversation had turned entirely into this.

“Hey! What are you even on about now?”

—Do you know what you’re like when you’re drunk?

“How would I know? If I’m drunk, how would I know that?”

Wooju knew he had a low tolerance, so he always controlled himself carefully.

He wasn’t the type to enjoy alcohol excessively either, so he had only blacked out a few times since becoming an adult.

One of those times was at the company dinner for Two People Living Together.

—You’re cute when you’re drunk.

The seriousness of the voice didn’t match the content at all, leaving Wooju speechless.

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