A Hangover and a New Beginning

I chugged the beer glass full of soju on the spot, then reacted with a bitter chill to Im Hyerin, who was clapping like a madwoman.

“Wow! SoonToDie drinks well! Is he going to crash and burn in one go? Hehe!”

“Please… let’s drink quietly. Quietly…”

‘Why do I have to clean up their mess?’

I gazed into the distance, silently suppressing my regret.
I wanted to punch my past self.

‘Why did you come to a gathering like this when you’ve never been to one before, my past self? You should’ve just said you had something to do and bailed!’

“It’s embarrassing, so be quiet. I’m not asking for anything difficult, am I?”

“Ehhh… We were quiet, weren’t we?”

“That’s correct. We were quiet. SoonToDie-nim seems to be overreacting.”

“We agreed to speak informally.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Clutching my forehead, I scanned the unruly drunkards, then stared vaguely into space at Han Do-yoon, who was now shedding tears.

I hated people who repeated themselves when drunk, but I also hated those who cried.

One side was itching to talk, and the other was crying.

I looked around, wondering if anyone else was crying, but thankfully, only Han Do-yoon was.
‘A little disappointing. If two people had cried, I would’ve just bolted.’

“SoonToDie-nim…”

“Why the nickname, of all things?”

“Soon… to… die…”

“Just shut up for a bit…”

Han Do-yoon, holding his beer glass tightly with both hands, continued to shed tears, his head bowed.

Feeling like my insides were bursting, I hit my chest, then fell silent, seeing Han Do-yoon’s hand grabbing mine.
My jaw ached from clenching my molars.

“Whew… what is it?”

“—Then… it hurts, you know…”

“Seriously, what a load of…”

Leaving him sobbing sorrowfully, I tried to go to the counter to pay, but Han Do-yoon wouldn’t let go of my hand.
I tried to tell him nicely to let go, but he looked up at me wistfully and shook his head, refusing.

‘It’s my hand, why can’t I control it?’
‘It would be better to let go when I tell him.’
‘One wrong move, and a soft punch is coming his way.’

“—Where… are you going?”

“To pay. So let go.”

“—Pay…?”

“Yes. So please let go. Am I weak, or are drunkards just strong?”

“—Are you… eating well…?”

“‘F-ck….’ Jung Taewon-ssi, snap out of it. Do something about this!”

“—What’s this? I’ve never seen this before?”

‘He’s your friend, you bastard.’

I seriously considered hitting him.
I had never hit anyone in my life, but somehow, now, I felt like I could resort to violence without any moral qualms.

‘Should I really hit him? Hit him?’

“My goodness, there’s such a thing. I’ve never seen this before.”

“Jung Taewon… you bastard… I wish you were dead…”

“Woof woof growl bark bark bark! Bark! Grrr!”

“He really must be crazy… Excuse me! I’m sorry, but could you please process the payment here?”

Just then, the part-timer walked past, looking as if he’d seen all sorts of crazy people.

I grabbed him and quickly searched for my card.

‘It was in my phone case… where’s my phone?’

I rummaged through my pocket, found my phone, and pulled out my card, when none other than Kim Hyunho grabbed my arm and shouted.

‘Wow, I thought it was Beta noona?’

“What kind of kid pays?! Where would you even get money?! Tsk, the adults will take care of the payment later!”

“Seriously… what’s a few years difference? Adults aren’t acting like adults.”

“You can’t pay yet! I haven’t drunk enough!”

“Are they both crazy? Look in a mirror before you speak! Your faces all look like rotten apples right now! We need to end it here and go home!”

At my annoyed outburst, Lee Seyoung sprang from her seat and, like the Statue of Liberty, held a liquor bottle high in the air.
‘What kind of nonsense is this now?’ I opened my mouth in disbelief as her angry shout fell.

“We can’t die here without even making it to the second round! My lieutenants! Rise up!”

“Whoaaah! Let’s gooo!”

“Follow me to the second round!”

I felt my stress-induced gastritis flaring up again.
I clutched my stomach in pain, and the part-timer asked if I was okay, with a weary expression.
‘I’m not okay…’

“—Um… hang in there.”

“Yes… You too… No, I apologize for my companions…”

“—It’s okay…”

At times like these, I wished I could get drunk too.
Everyone else was completely wasted and had become true bastards, but I was the only one wide awake, so didn’t I have to deal with all this?
I buried my face in my hands, lamenting my rotten life, when I felt something heavy wrap around my waist.

‘What is this now?’

‘I’m going crazy.’
Han Do-yoon, completely plastered, had a firm grip on my waist.
The funny thing was that every time I tried to free his arm, he tightened his grip and wouldn’t let go.

‘He’s definitely trying to pick a fight.’

“‘I f-cking swear, if I drink with these bastards again, I’m an idiot.’”

In the end, I delivered a soft punch to Han Do-yoon’s head.
A pak sound was lost in the surrounding noise, and Han Do-yoon raised his head, staring blankly at me.

“—Uh…?”

“—Could you please let go of this? I’ll call the police.”

“—Yes, uh…”

‘I should have done this earlier…’

I casually freed my arm and stared with a bitter, cold gaze at him, who was now passed out.

In that short time, the others had somehow finished paying and were rioting, insisting on going for a second round.

It was truly a situation that made me let out a hollow laugh.
‘Seriously… what is this?’

“Alright, alright, the second round is Seyoung’s favorite random bar! What kind of bar? Bar start!”

“SoonToDie, what are you doing? Bring Patch-nim and hurry up and follow!”

“Since that person is friends with YearRound-nim, shouldn’t YearRound-nim take care of him?”

“—What? I don’t know anything about that?”

‘This won’t do.’
‘I have to get out of here.’
‘Goodbye, you total chaos of bastards.’

(3)

Since I was the only one sober, I had to deal with the aftermath of the drunkards.

Perhaps the silver lining was that no one threw up.

If that had happened? Then I would have said, “This is your home from today,” and left them on a pile of trash.

The three self-proclaimed adults declared they couldn’t stop here and set off on a journey for a second round.

Jung Taewon, literally acting like a dog and growling, and Han Do-yoon, shedding tears and snot while clinging to me, were, after much difficulty, finally deposited at a nearby motel.

It was naturally impossible for me to carry people who were at least half a head taller than me by myself.

If I had handled it alone, I would have lived up to my nickname.

If it hadn’t been for the kind part-timer, who helped with the owner’s permission, I might have just abandoned them.

I had just showered and was roughly drying my dripping hair with a towel, when I checked my phone.
The group chat was quiet, as if no one had woken up yet.

Or perhaps it was Monday, and they were busy at work, suffering from hangovers.
‘Did they get home safely?’

The thought of the two men potentially waking up to a ‘Woke up in a motel with my friend.avi’ situation suddenly made me chuckle uncontrollably.

I casually draped the towel over my head, logged into Frisia, and put up an LFG post to farm gold.

Not long after, a whisper came in, and I received the upfront payment and joined the party.

There were several users who hadn’t even acquired Valhalla gear yet, so instead of Iskaria, we ended up going to Valhalla.

While I smiled with satisfaction at the smooth progress, I waited for someone to appear in the group chat or guild chat window.

Farming did bring in gold, but it felt a bit boring without the people I usually played with.

[Party/DontOrderMe: Good work, everyone.]

It was a 5-run carry, so as soon as the 5 runs were over, I immediately left the party and leaned back against the chair, lost in thought.
‘Should I farm more?’

The quiet chat window felt awkward, to the point where I wondered if having nothing to do was always this boring.
‘I wish someone would log in.’

[Guild member RetirementWish has logged in.]

[Guild/RetirementWish: LOL SoonToDie-nim, isn’t it your sleeping time?? Why are you on at this hour????]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: You haven’t been on in so long.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Perfect. Want to go to Iskaria?]

[Guild/RetirementWish: LOLOLOL. I have to push through my main questㅠㅠ I haven’t finished it yetㅠㅠ]

I had heard that he couldn’t log in because real life was busy, but seeing him now made me surprisingly happy.

RetirementWish pushed through his main quest while simultaneously chatting in the guild chat window.

[Guild/RetirementWish: I have so much free time now. I quit my job hehehe.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: Can you just leave like that?]

[Guild/RetirementWish: You can’t just quit immediately. I told them a month in advance I’d be quitting and finished my work before leaving.]

[Guild/RetirementWish: LOLOLOL. Ah, so refreshing and satisfying!!!!! I was the best at work, so my boss will probably be freaking out now that I’ve quit and gone bald hahahaha.]

[Guild/DontOrderMe: You said you’d complete a year to get your severance pay.]

[Guild/RetirementWish: Oh, of course I got severance pay. I worked exactly one year hehe.]

RetirementWish cleared his main quests enthusiastically, saying he should have quit sooner if he’d known.

A somewhat peculiar feeling came over me.

‘Would I become like that if I get a job later?’
‘Would I keep a resignation letter in my coat pocket, touch it whenever something annoyed me, and find inner peace by thinking, ‘I need to quit this f-cked up company’?’

Somehow, I felt it wouldn’t be like that.

With my personality, I’d throw the resignation letter on the spot rather than find peace.

‘This is a big problem.’