By Zephyria Seohae’s bar, operated by membership, had not yet officially opened. Although the kitchen staff hadn’t arrived, Seohae skillfully arranged cheese, fruits, crackers, and caviar on a large board as accompaniments for champagne.
Whether it was just my imagination, but the overall atmosphere was subdued. It had been like this ever since Seohae delivered the news of Nam Se-yeon’s divorce. Even when Yoon Joo-ho opened the expensive champagne as promised, Seohae didn’t seem particularly happy.
But by then, Song Hyun-soo didn’t have the leisure to observe their expressions.
By the time the three of them finished looking at the last house, the news of Nam Se-yeon’s divorce had become public.
As soon as the articles were released, videos provocatively depicting the love triangle between Jang Mi-young, Nam Se-yeon, and her husband were uploaded en masse onto video-sharing platforms. Song Hyun-soo couldn’t take his eyes off his phone, checking the comments.
“Hyun-soo, aren’t you drinking champagne?”
“Yes, I’m drinking, hyung.”
Despite Seohae’s urging, Song Hyun-soo kept his eyes fixed on his phone and fumbled on the bar for a champagne glass. Seohae’s sigh could be heard.
“What is this, like a middle schooler sitting at the dining table?”
“Huh? Why… why are you doing that, hyung!”
Song Hyun-soo’s eyes followed his phone, which had left his hands. Seohae, reaching out with his long arm from behind the bar, snatched the phone and placed it on the counter behind him.
“Constantly checking comments like that will wear you down.”
Even though I knew it, I couldn’t stop. It was the same when I saw Yoon Joo-ho’s articles, and when Kang Mi-yeon and Nam Min-woo’s scandal broke recently. Ever since Choi Hong-seo left, Song Hyun-soo couldn’t help but pay attention to such news. It no longer felt like someone else’s business.
Seohae placed a champagne glass in Song Hyun-soo’s now empty hand as a replacement for his phone.
“But expensive alcohol drunk by others is good for mental health. Drink this.”
Even while drinking the legendary champagne, which was said to be so good that the day’s business could close after selling just one bottle at any establishment, I felt no sense of awe. Besides, my tongue couldn’t even tell the difference between a 30,000-won convenience store wine and a few million-won Armand de Brignac, anyway.
“There’s even a YouTuber who claims to have evidence that they were having secret meetings even after Nam Se-yeon hyung got married. People are having a field day because of it.”
Song Hyun-soo, barely wetting his lips with the champagne, said with contempt.
“Jang Mi-young hyung announced that it’s absolutely not true. She said that her relationship with that man was purely physical, and she didn’t want to ruin the relationship between two people who had good feelings for each other because of such a trivial past. Isn’t that perfectly plausible?”
Seohae, mixing mashed hard-boiled egg with caviar and placing it on a cracker, offered it to Song Hyun-soo. Song Hyun-soo recoiled, his face contorted.
“My taste is cheap, so I don’t like caviar.”
“Just take one bite, Hyun-soo-ya. Eat it and then talk.”
It sounded similar to what my grandmother said when she tried to feed me rabbit meat. I ended up taking the cracker, but I continued talking while holding it.
“Whatever the reason, they were married for over two years, and during that time, both of them continued to deceive Nam Se-yeon hyung.”
“Maybe that man was sincere with Nam Se-yeon. He probably didn’t want to jeopardize his chance with Nam Se-yeon by talking about his past with Jang Mi-young.”
Song Hyun-soo thought for a moment and then shook his head, concluding it wouldn’t work.
“No matter what, I don’t think I can overcome it.”
“I thought Hyun-soo would be open-minded. You’re more conservative than I expected.”
“I’ve never heard the word ‘conservative’ in my life. Aren’t conservative and open-minded pretty much the norm? My best friend and my husband had done everything without my knowledge?”
Thud.
Song Hyun-soo, who had raised his voice in excitement for a moment, flinched at the sound of Yoon Joo-ho placing down his empty glass and turned to his left.
He had been almost silent since they entered the Bar, yet he was downing expensive champagne as if it were beer. But the atmosphere didn’t allow for any attempt to stop him.
As if protesting to hurry up and refill his glass, Seohae poured Yoon Joo-ho a drink while glancing at Song Hyun-soo.
“So. If it were you, Hyun-soo, would you have chosen divorce like Nam Se-yeon?”
“I come from a small town.”
“…”
“Because of that, my peers were all pretty much the same. The person she dated would be dating her friend a few weeks later, and even the person who dated her would be dating her younger sibling shortly after. That kind of thing… I found it off-putting.”
Well, it was rare after we all grew up, he added.
Song Hyun-soo, having added that, finally took a bite out of the corner of a cracker. The caviar, which he had thought was bland and not very good, tasted completely new when mixed with mashed eggs, its salty, popping texture making it seem like a different dish altogether.
After finishing his champagne and the remaining crackers, Song Hyun-soo wiped the grease from his hands with a napkin and delved into his memories.
“When I first came up to Seoul, I met this older woman. We dated for a month or two, and we were right on the verge of officially dating.”
“You probably do well with older women, Hyun-soo.”
Seohae nodded, as if understanding, and refilled Song Hyun-soo’s glass.
“But it turned out she was my ex-girlfriend from back home, someone I was really close with. They had dated for about a year and a half.”
“That’s long enough to have done everything.”
“So, in the end, things fizzled out with that older woman.”
Song Hyun-soo took a few sips of the champagne Seohae poured and shrugged, setting the glass down.
“Still, it was fortunate I found out while we were just dating casually.”
“It’s all in the past. Did it bother you that much?”
“At first, I tried to overcome it. But after I found out, I couldn’t even kiss her.”
“That much?”
“Every time I tried to kiss her, I kept thinking of that guy’s face… And it was the same for her. We decided we just weren’t meant to be.”
It was all in the past, and he hadn’t loved her passionately, so it shouldn’t have mattered at all. Seohae sighed as if the sky were falling, as if he himself had confessed to Song Hyun-soo and been rejected.
“I don’t care what people I don’t know did in their past. My own past isn’t exactly pure either. But…”
“But.”
“It’s a bit much when it’s someone I know well, someone who was deeply involved with them. And not just someone I knew, but someone connected to my close friend. That’s a bit…”
Recalling the lingering discomfort of that time, Song Hyun-soo’s brow furrowed. He picked up his champagne glass and shrugged.
“It feels like the three of us were dating.”
Silence fell.
Wondering if he had said something wrong, Song Hyun-soo looked back and forth between the two. He could feel a heavy atmosphere, but neither Yoon Joo-ho nor Seohae said anything.
Yoon Joo-ho, having quickly finished his drink, pushed his empty glass towards Seohae and requested,
“Open the Johnny Walker Double Black.”
“You said you’d sell me the Armand de Brignac Blanc.”
“Just put the Armand price on the bill.”
“If you’re going to do that, why not just keep drinking what you were having? Mixing drinks can lead to a messy aftermath.”
“…”
Meeting Yoon Joo-ho’s silent gaze, Seohae sighed as if he had no choice and disappeared behind the curtain.
Johnny Walker Double Black.
The day he first saw Yoon Joo-ho, he had ordered the same drink. He was clearly in a bad mood.
“Aren’t you drinking too fast?”
Glancing at Yoon Joo-ho’s profile as he took out a cigarette from his pack, Song Hyun-soo cautiously spoke.
“Are you still angry about the house? Is that why?”
After visiting four houses that were similarly luxurious and demanded similarly exorbitant monthly rents, Yoon Joo-ho had asked which one he liked best. And Song Hyun-soo had refused, saying he couldn’t live in a house that Yoon Joo-ho paid the rent for.
No matter how he thought about it, that was the only reason Yoon Joo-ho would be this silent.
Yoon Joo-ho’s lowered gaze turned to Song Hyun-soo.
“Why did you ask Seohae hyung to look for those houses? I told you my budget from the start.”
Yoon Joo-ho lit his cigarette and exhaled a long stream of smoke, saying,
“The company said they’d cover it.”
“You say ‘the company,’ but I’m not even affiliated with Look Planning yet. In the end, it’s just a senior’s money.”
“Is there a problem?”
Yoon Joo-ho turned to him, his face hardening.
His expression and tone suggested he genuinely couldn’t see what was wrong.
Seohae, bringing out the drinks, sensed the sharpened atmosphere and watched the two of them. Song Hyun-soo turned his head away, trying to suppress his voice.
“It’s surprising you’re even asking that.”
“Then consider it an advance payment, and pay me back when you become a top star.”
“I’m sick of owing companies. I’m never doing that again.”
“Am I like that bastard Myung Do-hoon?”
Yoon Joo-ho’s voice was sharp. So sharp that Seohae, who was making an On the rocks, stopped and stared.
Yoon Joo-ho was definitely different from usual. He seemed like someone who had lost his composure and become extremely sensitive.
“That’s not what I meant.”