Chapter 84

“Eheh. So what if you lost a measly five million won? Why are you so down about it?”

Honestly, I seriously considered smacking her too. Watching Prilly, who was grinning ear to ear while opening a soju bottle, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted.

“You know, moping around like that won’t bring the money back, right?”

“I know that too well, that’s the problem.”

“I messed up too, so what?”

After opening the soju bottle, she now opened a beer bottle.

“Mix me a somaek?”

Hmm. Yeah, maybe I should just drink and forget about it. That might soothe this bitter feeling.

“Sure, mix me one too.”

“Hey, you’re weak with alcohol, right? What’s with the somaek?”

Aquamarine, sitting next to me, tried to stop me.

“It’s fine. When else would I drink if not today? Besides, if I get drunk, you’ll take care of me, right?”

And then Prilly, sitting next to me, started teasing.

“Wow, our luck…”

“Shut up.”

“…Seeing Aquamarine switch bosses so quickly and support you so precisely is something. It’s the complete opposite of how she was with Eve, huh?”

Aquamarine glared at Prilly with a terrifying intensity, holding a chopstick. Prilly flinched for a moment but then grinned and picked up a glass.

“Kids’ fights are all like that~ They seem close one moment, then they’re at each other’s throats the next. Isn’t that how it is? Come on, let’s have a drink and cool off. Okay?”

Her skills were truly ghost-like. She poured a shot of soju as the base and then filled the glass two-thirds with beer. Then, she stuck a metal chopstick in it and tapped it with another, causing the drink to swirl and mix perfectly.

Four glasses of somaek were made. Prilly placed one in front of Eve, one in front of me, one in front of Aquamarine, and one for herself.

“Come on, we’re all adults here. Let’s have a drink, okay? Chug it and forget about it. Got it?”

Eve hadn’t said a word until then. She just kept her head down, silent.

“Come on, Auditorium. Let’s have a drink.”

“Ah, damn it!”

Whoa, that scared me! I was watching her carefully, wondering what she was up to. But as soon as Prilly suggested a drink, Eve suddenly stood up, grabbed her glass, and downed it in one go.

“Hey, hey! Auditorium, what are you doing?!”

“Damn this filthy world! I’ll just drink myself to death! Even if I sit still, I’m popular! But no matter what I do, I’m barely scraping by! Aaaah!”

Oh, wow… The sheer anger that erupted from Eve was enough to make me flinch in surprise.

Eve’s eyes burned with uncontrollable rage, and her clenched fists radiated fury.

I shouldn’t provoke her now. I slowly backed away in my chair, trying to put as much distance between us as possible.

“You? A goddess? A goddeeeess?! Ha!”

So that’s why she was silent. She was just holding back her words. I thought she was just feeling down, but she was just waiting for the right moment to explode.

Is this the right place to blow up? We’re in the middle of a soup restaurant!

Eve grabbed the glass in front of me and downed it in one go again.

“Uh, uh. Hey, Auditorium, calm down! This is somaek! It’s not barley tea— Ow!”

This is bad. Eve’s already losing it.

She’s already downed two glasses of somaek, two-thirds full, without any snacks. It’s abnormal if she’s not drunk by now. Easily subduing Prilly, who tried to stop her, Eve even grabbed the somaek Prilly had taken a sip from and poured it into her mouth.

“That, that…”

“Damn it, these stupid breasts… They’re so heavy, my shoulders hurt… They jiggle when I run… They’ll just sag when I get older…”

“You don’t know… Hic?!”

Suddenly, an ice pick was stuck right next to Aquamarine’s glass, vibrating slightly. Aquamarine glared at Eve with a fierce look but quickly lowered her head when their eyes met.

“…Yeah, that’s right. They’ll just sag when you get older, what’s the point of having them big…”

She’s even scared?!

“Yoon-Woo, you…”

“…Here.”

She quietly handed Aquamarine’s glass to Eve. Eve glared at me with a fierce look while drinking from the glass, her gaze never leaving me.

If there’s such a thing as a look that could kill, I’d be dead seventy-five times by now.

“Yoon-Woo…”

Eve put the glass down. Come to think of it, she didn’t break any glasses or flip any bowls while doing all this. Except for that ice pick she stuck in front of Aquamarine… huh, it’s gone now?!

Anyway, she’s still controlling her strength. Even while drunk…

“Yoon-Woo…”

Why is she coming towards me? Prilly, shouldn’t you be stopping her? This isn’t the time to be filming! Aqua, aren’t you supposed to protect me?! Stop avoiding my gaze!

“Yoon-Wooooo…!”

Now I’m slowly getting up and backing away step by step. It’s late at night, so there are no customers in the soup restaurant, but if there were, someone would’ve called the police by now.

Wait, shouldn’t we call the police at this point?!

As I backed away step by step, I eventually hit the wall. Eve was walking towards me with murderous intent, and I was backing away nervously. Wait, why am I the one scared? I didn’t do anything wrong! Why am I?!

“You, you… you cow!”

“Ah, ah!”

Eve suddenly reached out and grabbed my chest. Then she immediately let go and looked at her palm.

“…Oh.”

“Oh, oh what!”

“Anyway, you cow!”

“Stop, stop it!”

Eve kept grabbing and kneading my chest, and I was struggling to push her hands away, but she was naturally strong, and with the alcohol, she couldn’t control her strength, so her hands just kept kneading my chest without letting go.

“Let go! Let go! This is sexual harassment! Hey, Aquamarine! Report her, quick!”

“Those who have it don’t understand…! I tried so hard to grow my chest…! And you’re walking around with these monstrous things…!”

Eve’s eyes were glazed with madness, and all I could do was struggle and yell at Aquamarine to report her.

—

“Let’s keep it reasonable, okay?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Wait, it hasn’t even been an hour since we left the police station after reaching an agreement. What happened that one of you is completely drunk, and the other is reporting sexual harassment… What’s going on?”

Why do I have to apologize when Eve’s the one who did wrong? Even after Aquamarine called the police, Eve kept kneading my chest, muttering, “You, this fat lump! You don’t deserve to have these…!”

And just as the police car pulled up in front of the soup restaurant, she suddenly slumped forward and started snoring.

Now I’m the only one left looking ridiculous. It’s not a false report since there are two other witnesses, but it’s not like we can arrest her in this state.

“Let’s keep it reasonable, okay?”

“I’m sorry…”

Why do I have to keep apologizing when I’m the victim? But the perpetrator is passed out snoring, so there’s nothing I can do.

“Anyway, let’s just leave it at that. I’m going now. My siblings are waiting.”

“Huh? Oh, okay… Take care…”

Prilly, in the meantime, had finished her portion of the soup, drank some water, and got up.

“Alright then. Pba!”

“Pba? What’s that?”

“It means Prilly Bye.”

That crazy girl… Ugh…

“Then I’ll be going too.”

“What?”

I grabbed Aquamarine’s arm as she tried to slip past me. Prilly’s one thing, but you can’t leave too, Aquamarine.

“Why?”

But Aquamarine looked at me as if asking why I was stopping her.

“Why, you ask? What are we going to do about that?”

I pointed at Eve, who was passed out on the floor. She was curled up, probably cold. She’s really got it made. I could probably kick her and get away with it.

I almost did, but if we called the police again, it’d be a real mess, so I held back.

“That? Oh, just get her home. Should I give you taxi fare?”

“What?”

You want me to take her to my house now?

“I don’t know where she lives!”

I know her house. I just don’t know how to get in.

“Do you think I know?”

“Then you take her…”

“Ugh.”

As soon as I said that, Aquamarine’s face twisted in disgust. It was like she’d heard something she couldn’t bear to hear, so I couldn’t continue.

“Here.”

Aquamarine rummaged through the air and pulled out her wallet. A photo of a woman with brown rolled bread hair peeked out from the light brown wallet.

“Here’s 100,000 won. That should be enough for a taxi to Gwangmyeong. I’m off tomorrow, so I’ll head to work there the day after tomorrow.”

“Oh, okay. Is that a family photo?”

“Yeah. You saw it? That’s my older sister.”

“You have a sister too… Anyway, got it.”

Aquamarine must have her own place, so I didn’t push her to take Eve.

Ugh…

“See you the day after tomorrow.”

“Hey, hey!”

I called out again, but Aquamarine was already gone. At least help me get her into a taxi!

Argh!

—

“Mommyyy!”

“Oh, my daughter. Were you good?”

“Yeah, Mommy, but what’s wrong with your face?”

Oh, right. After fighting with Eve, I must look a mess, and I forgot about that. I should’ve gone to a 24-hour sauna to clean up, but I just came home.

“Ah, no… It’s…”

“Mommy, are you hurt?”

Kabe’s voice started to tremble with tears. Seeing her big eyes welling up made me panic.

As a mom, I always tell her not to fight or hit friends, but today I did both. So I can’t honestly tell her what happened.

Then I noticed the TV in the corner, playing a Christmas special.

That’s it.

“This, this! Mommy got a little scratched while trying to get your Christmas present! It doesn’t hurt at all!”

“Present?”

Kabe’s tears disappeared at the word “present.” Kids love presents.

“Y-yeah! Mommy got you a present!”

“Really? Mommy’s the best!”

Kabe hugged me tightly, and behind her, I saw Dusik. He looked shocked at my appearance, and behind him, Sohee was holding a sickle.

Hey, stop. Put the sickle away. I signaled with my hand, and Sohee finally put it away.

“Where’s the present?!”

Kids are like that. I grabbed Eve, who was passed out behind me, by the scruff of her neck and dragged her over.

“The present is this.”

“Wow, Daddy?!”

“Yeah.”

The present is Daddy. Since he hasn’t been playing with Kabe much, he can at least be a present.

Eve’s appearance is as bad as mine, but Kabe didn’t seem to care. She just happily snuggled up to Eve, who was sleeping, saying, “Daddy, heehee.”

Is she really that happy? He should’ve come to play more often.

Stupid girl.

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