The Malicious Member Has Returned! Episode 131
In Yu Hobin’s imagination, the T.O.J debut party was unfolding quite movingly and joyfully.
“I think I was too caught up in my own unnecessary thoughts and didn’t understand the members’ feelings… I’m sorry.”
“No, Chunyong. We all understand how you feel. That can happen.”
“That’s right. We’re one team now! Even after debut, we just need to stick together and get through it together!”
“Haha. Kids who aren’t even drunk sure are speaking honestly, huh.”
“Jesus, let’s all take a photo together, all of us! We need to capture this moment in a picture.”
“Hyungs, let’s really do our best from now on…!”
“Shall we all raise our glasses and toast? One, two—”
“Fighting!”
It was roughly, well, something like this. One might wonder, ‘Isn’t this too dramatic?’ but—
given the conversation he had shared with Son Jaeha earlier, and the momentum the members had shown just now, it was a scene with sufficient plausibility.
“Chunyong is Chunyong, but let’s also say the things we’ve wanted to say to each other. Before, we were a bit conscious of the cameras, so there were parts where we chose our words carefully. Ugh. Thinking about that time makes me embarrassed again!”
“Haha… I liked it back then too, Yuchan hyung. Don’t be so embarrassed.”
“Alright, let me organize this. First, we need to get Yongyong hyung totally plastered, right? Just to the point where he doesn’t throw up?”
“That sounds weird, that’s not it! I just think we need to get Chunyong to relax enough, you know?”
“Okay, don’t worry. We won’t drink, but we’ll help enthusiastically.”
“We’ll make sure Chunyong hyung is holding a glass in his hand… for sure.”
Anyway, everyone had a clear sense of purpose for having this gathering today, and it was no different from Yu Hobin having laid the groundwork for it.
“I don’t think I should force myself to join….”
Therefore, he worried in advance that such a heartwarming atmosphere might be broken by him opening the dorm door and stepping back inside.
Not knowing it was a needless worry.
“…He still hasn’t checked the message.”
And so, ten minutes had passed since Yu Hobin sent a message to Son Jaeha asking if he could step out for a moment to receive the chicken and bring it back.
At the chat window where the read receipt simply wouldn’t appear, Yu Hobin slowly made his way toward the dorm with an awkward expression.
*It can’t be helped. I’ll go in quickly without breaking the mood, just hand over the chicken, and leave right away.*
However.
Beep, beep, beep… beep.
“Um, everyone. I bought chicken, so please enjoy it while having fun….”
Such thoughts of his were shattered the moment he stepped through the entrance of Unit 812.
“Ah, Hobin hyung. You’re here!”
As if he had been waiting, Kim Chunyong welcomed him with a bright face, and….
“…….”
“God, Yuchan hyung looks dead…? He isn’t moving. Hwaseong, what should we do? I never imagined a situation like this.”
“D-don’t make me talk, Logan! My stomach’s gonna burst, ugh.”
“Hwaseong-ah, don’t do it here, go to the bathroom… ugh, wait. I’m dizzy too….”
“Hy-hyungs… I can’t eat all of this alone, can’t eat it….”
Thanks to the chaos unfolding behind him.
“No, what the hell….”
Clearly, as far as Hobin knew, the person who should have been soaked in alcohol to the point that waking up tomorrow morning would be painful was Kim Chunyong.
Son Jaeha and Bang Yuchan had said they would “control it,” but there was no way two people who were only twenty-one and twenty-two could do such a thing properly.
Besides, in a situation like this, the atmosphere inevitably makes the person.
If conversation kept revolving around you, glasses kept getting filled, and people kept laughing, you naturally got excited.
*So, I thought that among the adult members, only Chunyong would be dead drunk. But this….*
The one sitting silently with a pale face after drinking heavily was not Kim Chunyong.
“…….”
It was Bang Yuchan, the Korea University student who was the only member to have legally enjoyed drinking and music before.
“Ah, water… water, please… sorry, guys.”
Son Jaeha, covering his mouth intermittently despite his still-handsome face, wasn’t faring much differently.
Well, granting a hundred concessions.
One could imagine that those two had simply had bad luck and drank more than their capacity.
However, the problem was that the ones in bad shape weren’t just those two adults.
“Wh-why do I feel drunk when I only drank cola and ate convenience store food? Is this right? It feels like my stomach will burst? I-I’m suddenly dizzy?”
“Hwaseong-hieong… don’t say that, quickly… finish, eating…!”
“Hey, Jang Siu. Not me, ugh. …Logan! Tell Logan to eat it!”
“No, no, no. Please! I’m in quite a difficult situation right now too. I can’t eat anymore. I’m saying I can’t even eat even though the chicken is here.”
“No, Logan, such weak words…! Wait! I really need to go to the bathroom!”
Clearly, the underage members shouldn’t have touched a single drop of alcohol.
Just looking at their faces burning hot with bewilderment, they looked like little kids who had tasted alcohol for the first time in their lives.
“Hoo….”
Along with a bursting sound, Yu Hobin struggled desperately to wrap his head around the current situation.
Completely devastated members, toppled liquor glasses and beverage cups.
Not to mention, the *Top 100 Killer Combos of Convenience Store Drinking Snacks* that shouldn’t even be properly known yet.
“Since Hobin hyung is here too, and the chicken has arrived! Let’s try another game with hyung included. Uh, from what I know, there’s this drinking game too. It’s not very famous, but it’s quite fun when you actually play it….”
And there, one person sitting alone with a shiny face, baring his fangs in a refreshing smile.
“Ah, come in first. Take off your jacket. Why don’t you sleep here tonight, hyung? I’ll give you my bed!”
“No, I mean….”
Seeing Kim Chunyong pulling his arm and heading toward the living room, a thought struck Yu Hobin’s mind like lightning.
*…He was a stronger opponent than I thought!*
Meaning, if he didn’t keep his wits about him, he too might get completely swept up in Kim Chunyong’s pace.
“Here, here, take a glass.”
“…I have to drive tomorrow morning, so alcohol is a bit difficult for me.”
“Ah, is that so? Then it can’t be helped. Let’s go with cola together. Haha, Hobin hyung probably knows more games than the other hyungs or dongsaengs!”
“D-drinking games… Chunyong, by any chance…?”
“Ah, let me tell you in advance. I didn’t try it somewhere beforehand; I just saw it on the internet. But… it just suits me well, this.”
In truth, this was a game that the other T.O.J members, who were living in reality, and Yu Hobin were destined to lose from the outset.
“Then, everyone keep your wits about you! One, two… Ah, Hobin hyung’s! Favorite! Random! Game! If you don’t know! Drink while! Learning! Random… huh? Why aren’t you doing it?”
The worst malicious member.
The reason Lex Trash was constantly called to drinking parties despite being called “trash” was because of all the drinking party know-how he had immersed himself in to escape reality.
* * *
To be honest, I wasn’t someone who drank well, nor did I like it.
It didn’t even taste good in the first place, and it didn’t have much meaning unless you were getting drunk.
The reason I kept going to drinking parties despite that….
Should I say it was to forget reality through that kind of revelry?
Because living in this world with a sane mind was too hard.
In the midst of losing precious people, I hated that I alone was preserving my life and walking around so brazenly like this.
In the midst of that, if I went to a drinking party, got completely drunk, and played games while raising my voice, I felt those thoughts gradually fading.
“Ah, I’ll mix you a Screw Kiss nice and refreshing! …Huh? I messed up? Then I’ll drink this one!”
“Wahaha! Lex, that guy’s really out of his mind!”
“…Puhaha! One shot! I’ll mix the next one properly, I will!”
The cold alcohol burning my throat and the voices of people giggling as they watched me drink helped me reach that state too.
When I was doing that, I was less lonely.
That was enough.
“Ah, Lex… you’re here.”
“…Yes.”
“Hm, should I give you a hangover cure? Or at least some water….”
“I’m fine. Please go in and rest, Jaeha hyung.”
When I returned to the dorm, there were members who looked at me with bewildered eyes, not knowing how to treat me, but at drinking parties, there were only people sending laughter and applause toward me.
“I’m… back.”
When I returned to my parents’ home, the cold furniture of my family that I hadn’t yet been able to put in order greeted me, but at drinking parties, a fluffy sofa that had been steam-dried daily greeted me.
Of course, the self-loathing that came afterward was terribly immeasurable.
“…Puhah.”
And now.
Fortunately, what was flowing down my throat right now was not beer, somaek, or any other bomb shot, but cola.
“No, Yongyong hyung. Isn’t your stomach full? Just how much carbonated drink are you drinking right now!”
“Uwah, Chunyong-hieong… my throat, my throat hurts….”
The people beside me, too, were members who hadn’t come to watch the antics I committed at drinking parties like circus monkeys.
Ah.
“…Ahaha! Ah, this is fun. This is fun!”
When had I felt this feeling before?
Other than being happy with artificially created dopamine from soaking my brain in alcohol, being truly happy like this.
“Chunyong, this is really amazing. I’ve never seen anyone party like this even when I was in college, ugh…!”
“Wh-what’s more… Chunyong hyung only drank cola.”
“Right. A kid who said he’d never even tasted alcohol before, where did he learn this… this is a surprise on top of a surprise.”
“Huh, I think I know. He learned it by watching from the corner of his eye! They say naturally gifted people can know just by watching. See. Here’s a living witness.”
“I don’t know, I don’t know. Cola is really sloshing all the way up to my throat right now, okay? I can’t drink anymore. No, I didn’t even drink alcohol! What is this!”
Perhaps because they realized their plan had completely fallen apart, the members’ faces were full of dejection.
Should I say one could plainly see the thought, *Just what is that guy?*
However.
“…Let’s keep going! Everyone can still eat more, right? Today was supposed to be a cheat day. There’s still chicken left?”
In truth, my members’ plan *had* worked.
They wanted to see me with my layers peeled off, so it couldn’t have worked better than this.
Talking and chatting with people I like with a clear, sober mind.
Because this was something I had longed and wished for since long ago.
“…Ah, whatever. Since it’s already come to this, let’s just party hard! Logan, will you get the cards?”
“Bloody, I’ve been waiting for those words!”
“Haha… this isn’t the picture I wanted. But it’s still fun, yeah.”
“Argh, I’m not having fun, okay? Ah, I’m really full! I can’t even eat the chicken properly!”
“Wait, hold on… Logan hyung, I think you’re going to play around with the cards in advance again….”
Through eyes unclouded by intoxication, the figures of the members grumbling, laughing, and chattering came in clearly.
“…Still, I’m glad everyone looks like they’re having fun.”
Hobin hyung too, slightly spaced out but nodding quietly with a face that said *good is good anyway.*
“Phew.”
I quietly rested my head on the sofa armrest and slowly blinked my eyes.
Becoming close with the members.
Moving beyond just solving problems, showing them the whole me.
“…Haha.”
Perhaps the day I truly show them everything won’t come until this life ends, but….
“Aah…! Logan hyung, again… taking out the joker in advance…!”
“Shh, shh. Siu. Let’s keep this a secret between us….”
“Everyone can hear you, what kind of secret is that?! Wow, Logan. You’re really such a scammer!”
“Hm? Wait. Chunyong… are you dozing off right now without even drinking? After making me and Jaeha drink so much!?”
“Mmm, was he very tired…?”
In my opinion, before debut, this was enough.
Since while living together, there would be many more days to show them more.