Life, Once Again!

Chapter 912. Crank Up 3

Suyeon, who went out to the veranda to get some fresh air, had her head smacked against the banister for 10 minutes now. Thinking that she might freeze to death outside, he tried to bring her back in, but she persistently stayed outside, being stubborn. Having no choice, Maru brought her a blanket. After getting covered in the blanket, Suyeon then grumbled that it was close. He couldn’t understand her at all. He just let her be and closed the door to the veranda about halfway.

“Is she not coming in?” Geunsoo asked, his gaze glued to the veranda.

“She says she’s cold, but she doesn’t seem to have any intention of coming in. She just won’t be honest. Don’t take interest in her. She’s meticulous about self-management, so she’ll crawl back in once she feels like something’s going to go wrong with her body.”

Maru took out some fish and some cooked water celery from the fish stew and ate it. The three of them didn’t seem to have any intention of drinking until they passed out as the plastic bags they brought were full of food ingredients. A single bottle of soju and three cans of beer were the only alcoholic drinks they had over the last hour, just as a drink of sorts to go with the food.

“Let’s eat the sashimi.”

Ganghwan, who was having a staring contest with Woofie, abruptly stood up before opening the refrigerator. Maru put away the fish stew where the soup was starting to boil off and placed the sashimi in the middle. It was flatfish sashimi.

“Have you not eaten yet?”

“Originally, we were going to go separate ways after drinking, but then we talked about going to your place. As you said before, I have a performance to do in two days, and the two others also have their own things to do, so we can’t drink that much even if we want to. Instead, though, we can eat to our heart’s content.”

“And here I was really nervous thinking that I had to clean up after three drunkards again.”

“You can’t call your seniors drunkards.”

“If you don’t want that kind of treatment from your junior, then hold back a little in the future. You three can’t even drink that much, but all of you will always drink until you pass out whenever you’re at my place. Think about the hardships of the person who has to clean up after you every single time.”

“I’d get angry if I heard anyone else say that I was weak at drinking, but I can’t say anything to you. Since we’re at it, have you ever gotten drunk?”

Ganghwan asked for some ssamjang. Maru passed over the ssamjang and spoke,

“If I keep drinking, I’m bound to get drunk eventually.”

Ganghwan spoke after stuffing his mouth full of ssam,

“Geunsoo, have you ever seen him drunk?”

“Nope, not even once. I did pass out a few times in front of him though.”

“Then should we see Han Maru getting drunk today?”

The two of them looked at each other and grinned ominously. It seemed that they clicked due to all the time they’d spent together. Maru cut in before they tried anything weird,

“That’s all the alcohol for today. If you want to open anymore, please visit the next restaurant.”

“Owner, you’re being way too petty.”

Suyeon, who they forgot about, opened the door of the veranda. There was a blanket over her head. Maru wondered what she was going to say, but Suyeon just stayed still. He put down his chopsticks and spoke,

“If you don’t have anything to say, then close the door behind you. You’re getting cold air in. I don’t want to waste money on heating bills so early.”

“There are three men here, yet how can not a single one of you give me some interest? Can you call yourselves men despite that? Hey? Everywan~?”

Suyeon acted coy. The first to react was Ganghwan. He went to the bathroom, saying that he felt sick and needed to vomit. Maru also stood up. He pushed aside Suyeon, who was making inexplicable nasal noises with her cheeks puffed up, and closed the door to the veranda. He decided to turn a blind eye to Geunsoo, who was looking at her like she was cute.

“Woman, stop speaking nonsense and get some sashimi. We bought it because you wanted it. What the heck is everywan?” Ganghwan said while waving his chopsticks in the air after taking refuge in the bathroom for a while.

Suyeon put down the blanket.

“How desolate. Can’t you call me cute, even if it’s just words?”

Suyeon sat down and got her own pair of chopsticks. It seemed that she had sobered up outside due to all the cold air.

“If it was anywhere else, people would have come up to me and asked what kind of worries I had, but the men here are all fixed on the food. No wait, one of you was worried about the heating bill, weren’t you?”

The tip of a chopstick flew right at his face. Maru tilted his head and avoided the chopstick.

“So if you’re here to eat and drink, you should eat and drink. Why would you go outside in this weather and sulk?”

“I’m not sulking. It’s a woman’s strategy. I’m gloomy so please talk to me – didn’t you get that vibe from me?”

“Not at all.”

He was just about to grab the fin sashimi but Suyeon’s chopstick blocked his way. She quickly snatched the fin away and smiled in satisfaction. She was practically a little kid. Only after doing that a few more times did she put down her chopsticks. She chewed on the sashimi in her mouth and looked at him in dissatisfaction.

“She doesn’t act like this outside, does she?” he asked Ganghwan.

Ganghwan pressed his palms to the sides of his head and said that she was like a fiery fox.

“Why’d you even ask?”

“Just wondering. Geunsoo hyung-nim, you should eat.”

“I’m full.”

When Geunsoo refused, Suyeon immediately made a ssam and gave it to him. When she shoved the ssam against his mouth with a ‘ah~n’, Geunsoo looked at the two others before eating it. Maru felt like he was smashed on the back of the head. He looked at Ganghwan’s face. He also looked at the two in a daze before making a fist-sized ssam and shoving it towards Maru’s mouth. Maru asked as he looked at the ssam right in front of his nose,

“What’s this supposed to mean?”

“They’re doing it, so we should do it too.”

“Hyung-nim.”

“What?”

“Let’s not embarrass ourselves. Please eat.”

Ganghwan used to meet a woman who ran her own business through the introduction of someone he knew and was all smiles until recently saying that he may get married soon, but apparently, they broke up a few days ago. He achieved a mythical record of having all the seats sold out for a play he was performing at the Daehan theater, but it seemed that his romantic business wasn’t going so well. Maru had to stop Ganghwan from opening another bottle of soju.

“Maru, it really churns me up when those two act like that. The guy who didn’t give Suyeon a glance no matter how hard she clung to him is now acting like that. Heck, I wouldn’t feel this jealous if they were going out, but now it’s Suyeon who says that they shouldn’t be hasty. They’re practically making a fool out of me, who just broke up.”

Ganghwan shoved the ssam he made in his own mouth as he shit-talked about the other two. It took a few seconds for Maru to process what he just herald. Who said that they shouldn’t be hasty?

“So the two of you finally are a thing now?”

He tried to ignore Geunsoo’s sweet gaze towards Suyeon as much as possible, but now that he had heard something, he had to have his confirmation.

“Not yet. We’re just getting to know each other a little more. I have a lot of things I haven’t told him yet. You know what I mean, right?”

Suyeon smiled shyly. That looked so disconcerting, so Maru stood up a little and got away from Suyeon.

“Did you confess or something similar?” he asked Geunsoo.

Geunsoo responded with an awkward smile instead. It seemed that Geunsoo talked about it the day Suyeon helped Maru out with Kang Giwoo.

“I’m sure the two of you will sort things out by yourselves, but let me congratulate you first. But this feels quite weird, I mean, your positions have switched now. Noonim, why don’t you just go out with him? You always wanted to do that.”

“I just told you we need time to get to know each other.”

“If you keep doing that, Geunsoo hyung-nim might change his mind. I mean, how many splendid women do you think are around him? You should reel up the fish while it’s still on the line. If you keep doing tug of war, you’ll only lose your bait and miss the fish.”

Is that how it works? – Suyeon thought for a moment, but she eventually shook her head, saying that it wouldn’t be the case. Oh? She would usually respond to a joke just as fluidly or just gloss it over, but this time, she was a little flustered. This was the perfect opportunity to tease her. When else would he get an opportunity like this?

“Don’t be too harsh on her. I’m sure Suyeon has her own plans. As she said, it is true that we need time to get to know each other,” Geunsoo cut in.

Then he proceeded to child Suyeon, and watching them gave Maru goosebumps. Ganghwan had turned his head away for a while now.

“Right, you haven’t heard yet, have you?”

Suyeon, who was staring at Geunsoo, suddenly got startled and turned her head away. Maru could feel that it was a rather intentional change of topic, but he did not mention it. It was much better than seeing the two of them act lovey-dovey.

“About what?”

“We’re moving here.”

“What do you mean here?”

“Here is here.”

Suyeon used her index finger to point at the ceiling and the floor. Maru remembered that some moving trucks had been going in and out about two months ago. He was just thinking that the owners were having a hard time selling their apartments since no one moved in for a while but….

“When you say we, does that mean all three of you?”

Geunsoo and Suyeon nodded. Ganghwan sighed before speaking,

“I was originally looking to move elsewhere, but I just decided to come here. Unless it’s a newlywed house, this place is much more comfortable.”

“So the three of you are all coming to the same building?”

“Yes,” Suyeon said after she winked.

“Why?”

He blurted that without thinking. Just why? He could already imagine what would happen once the three of them moved. It definitely wasn’t looking good. He could already picture a pitiful young man looking after his seniors and crying sorrowfully.

“We’ve been talking about it for a while. Our president said that it would be fun if we all live near each other. A few years ago, I scoffed at the idea, but recently, I changed my mind. I’m not sure about any others, but I definitely do feel like seeing members of JA around often will be quite fun. Actually, you had a lot of influence on this decision. You somewhat acted as the center point for all of us,” Suyeon said while tapping his shoulder.

Maru wanted to push against the table and fall down on the floor. The three musketeers moving to this apartment complex was equivalent to a natural disaster walking into his own bedroom. It was obvious that they would snoop around his house whenever they had a day off. Heck, they were barging into his house despite living in other parts of the city right now.

“Sooil is going to come too. He said he doesn’t want to live by himself in that huge apartment. Senior Taeho decided to stay in Incheon. He has a family to take care of after all.”

The comfort zone that was building 204 was about to turn into a residence of eccentric actors.

“Also, let me tell you something in advance. The president said that you’ll think about moving the moment you hear this news, but he wants to tell you that you shouldn’t even dream about it. He said forcing this on you is reasonable since he didn’t abandon you despite wasting five years.”

The president’s words made him speechless. Maru put a piece of sashimi in his mouth. He had dipped it in sauce, but it tasted like nothing.

“You must be lying, right?” he asked with a final shred of hope.

Suyeon smiled and replied with a no.