By Zephyria 
While ‘Jessica’ wasn’t exactly a hot spot in Daehangno to begin with, after Sunday evening, the number of customers drastically dwindled. It was almost better on weekdays. This was also why they closed at 10 PM only on Sundays.
‘Jessica’, about an hour before closing on a Sunday night.
There was only one table of customers.
A college couple who had been lingering for three hours, nursing one cocktail each. The staff understood their desire to spend as much time together as possible with their limited budget. Most of ‘Jessica’s’ regulars were couples like them.
“There are more staff than customers. Isn’t it more profitable to just close?”
Chae-young, who had been playing on his phone while sitting on a stool at the bar, flopped onto the bar top, bored, and complained.
The manager had left early for a family gathering that included the owner of ‘Jessica’, leaving only the three staff members to endure the boredom.
“Want me to make you a cocktail?”
Song Hyun-soo stretched and stood up, looking at Chae-young and Jung-ho.
“Oh, do you have a new menu?”
“You’re busy now. Do you have time for that?”
Jung-ho yawned and replied to Chae-young, who had asked with sparkling eyes.
“Ah, right. Oppa has script readings now, and you’re going to Yoon Joo-ho’s birthday party… you’re a full-fledged actor. I keep forgetting you still come to ‘Jessica’ like before.”
“Don’t worry. You’re still far from being a real actor. Chae-young, Blue Hawaii?”
Chae-young smiled at Song Hyun-soo and nodded. As he walked towards the rum for the Blue Hawaii, Song Hyun-soo asked Jung-ho.
“And you?”
“Ballantine’s. No, Johnny Walker. Double Black. Do you have it?”
“……”
Song Hyun-soo, who had reached for the rum, suddenly hunched his shoulders and bent forward as if he had been punched in the stomach.
“What’s wrong, oppa?”
“No, that guy… he’s imitating Yoon Joo-ho so badly… it’s absurd.”
Wiping his face with his arm, Song Hyun-soo mumbled.
“Your face is red too. Are you really okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. My face… it’s because I’m feeling angry.”
“Is there a reason to feel angry?”
Jung-ho, the one who caused this situation, muttered with a hint of hurt. Song Hyun-soo glared at him and picked up the rum.
“You try hearing the same lines from a different face after seeing Yoon Joo-ho’s face every day. It’s a huge shock.”
He said that to Jung-ho, but the reason was slightly different.
To be this affected just by hearing Yoon Joo-ho’s words at an unexpected moment.
Is my condition this serious?
Have I ever liked someone this much?
So much that I can’t quite remember what it was like. My twenties, when people say life is at its peak, were a complete dark age in terms of romance. Not that bright light poured in from other areas either.
“What do you mean, every day? You only see him once a week for readings, too.”
“It feels like almost every day… it means his face has that much of an impact.”
Song Hyun-soo made excuses as he sequentially added rum, blue curaçao, pineapple juice, and lemon juice to the shaker to make the Blue Hawaii. The fact that he saw Yoon Joo-ho at least four times a week, including script practice part-time, remained a secret.
“So. Are you really giving me Double Black?”
“I was just saying it. I’ll have an Aviation after a long time.”
“Okay.”
Aviation.
It was the cocktail he made for Shin Hyo-jin at Yoon Joo-ho’s birthday party.
Come to think of it, he still hadn’t made a cocktail for Yoon Joo-ho himself. If he hadn’t kicked him out like that on Thursday, they could have had a good time, making cocktails after eating jjambbong.
Skillfully making two cocktails using gin and rum, Song Hyun-soo glanced at the younger men beyond the bar.
“Hey, can I ask you something?”
“I’m bored, so anything is welcome.”
“It’s about a friend of mine, not me.”
Emphasizing that it was about his friend, Chae-young and Jung-ho looked at each other wordlessly. Then, showing even greater interest than before, they leaned closer to the bar.
“What do you think about someone asking to go for a second round alone after drinking with a group?”
“That’s obvious! It’s a ‘sum’! Oppa… no, is your friend bad at dating?”
“Is it that certain?”
Unable to be sure with just Chae-young’s words, Song Hyun-soo looked at Jung-ho.
“Well, if they have something to talk about alone, they could do that even if it’s not a ‘sum’, right?”
“That’s if they’re the same gender. Oppa, believe me. If it’s between a man and a woman, it’s 100%.”
Chae-young declared with sparkling eyes, but Jung-ho had a different stance.
“What are you talking about? I have female friends I drink with alone, and male friends. You have them too.”
“After drinking together, specifically leaving to go alone?”
“Well, that… is true, but…”
It seemed the situation was leaning towards Chae-young’s victory. However, for it to be a definite ‘sum’ as Chae-young said, the premise of them being ‘opposite genders’ had to be met.
“What was the atmosphere like when you were drinking?”
“They were having serious conversations, listening to each other’s worries… and comforting each other… the atmosphere was good. And, crucially, the other person apparently took them home and let them sleep over. My friend… got so drunk they blacked out, you know.”
“Whoa, you slept together after drinking? No, they said they slept together?”
Chae-young even jumped up from his stool. His excitement was palpable, even in his suppressed voice.
“No, they slept separately. In different rooms.”
“Aww, what a letdown. I thought you were finally dating after ages.”
This time, Chae-young slumped back onto his stool with a very disappointed expression. He had even dropped the pretense of it being about ‘Song Hyun-soo’s friend’.
“Hey, Shin Chae-young, I told you it’s about my friend!”
Jung-ho asked in disbelief as Song Hyun-soo poured crushed ice into a rounded glass.
“Who’s your friend, hyung?”
“There is. Someone I’m doing a movie with this time…”
As he tried to vaguely brush it off, Song Hyun-soo’s phone, placed on the bar, vibrated briefly. It was a good timing. Song Hyun-soo, after lightly washing his hands and drying his apron, walked towards his phone. He picked up the phone without much thought, and his eyes widened.
It was a message from Yoon Joo-ho.
《Myung Hae-ri location shoot confirmed
Just got the call》
He was surprised again by the content of the message. Song Hyun-soo immediately typed a reply.
《OMG really?? Where is it? Where??》
As soon as he put down his phone, a map app link arrived. It was a small fishing village on the west coast. A small town he had never heard of before.
Was there a place like this? It’s fortunate it’s not too far from Seoul.
“Excuse me, bartender. Aren’t you giving me my cocktail?”
Song Hyun-soo, who had been zooming in on the map, put his phone in his apron pocket due to the two men’s urging and returned to his spot.
Chae-young’s cocktail was completed by pouring the blue drink from the shaker into a glass filled with ice.
Chae-young rested his arm on the bar and sipped his cocktail through a straw, delving deeper into the story.
“They’re not dating yet, so even if they’re interested, they might not sleep together. Not everyone sleeps together just because they drank. What was the atmosphere like after waking up?”
“They were joking around, the atmosphere was good. And they even ordered jjambbong for breakfast… but.”
“But?”
“It felt like they were trying to hurry the person away, as if someone else might come. That’s what they said.”
“The atmosphere was good, but they were trying to send them away quickly?”
Song Hyun-soo nodded as he shook the shaker containing gin, crème de violette, liqueur, lemon juice, and syrup.
Jung-ho, who had been stroking his chin in thought, tilted his head.
“That’s really ambiguous. Isn’t that person just playing with hyung… with your friend?”
“Maybe there was a plan that was originally scheduled for that day. If it were me, I wouldn’t deliberately bring someone home and not sleep with them if I had no feelings for them. Would you, oppa?”
“Ah, I wouldn’t like that either. Are you crazy? It’s too much trouble. But there are people in the world who go through that trouble to manage their options.”
Sum or managing options? While Chae-young and Jung-ho debated, the phone in Song Hyun-soo’s apron pocket vibrated again.
He poured the purple drink from the shaker into a glass and handed it to Jung-ho, then quickly took out his phone.
This time, the message was completely unexpected.
《Want to go?》
《Now??》
《I’m going now. Are you thinking about it?》
《Yes! Absolutely yes!》
When he unconsciously looked up, he met the expectant gazes of Chae-young and Jung-ho.
“Going to the sea alone…”
“It’s a ‘sum’.”
“It’s a ‘sum’.”
Finally, Jung-ho and Chae-young reached the same conclusion.
《What time do you get off work? I’ll pick you up to match your schedule》
From the moment Yoon Joo-ho sent that text until he got off work, the less than 30 minutes felt like 30 hours.
After saying goodbye to Jung-ho and Chae-young, who said they would eat ramen in the kitchen before leaving, Song Hyun-soo walked out of ‘Jessica’.
“……”
Indeed, Yoon Joo-ho’s vehicle was waiting diagonally across the street. It was an Escalade.