“Did you just get here?”
Jun-seong asked, smiling. But Lee Jung-woo frowned slightly, looking a bit displeased.
He still seemed bothered by having been called petty the other day.
“Yeah. I felt weird coming empty-handed, so I brought something along.”
“Oh, Kim Seung-hoon brought something too! I guess great minds think alike—actors and all.”
At Jun-seong’s casual comment, Lee Jung-woo looked at him as though he were some bizarre creature, while Kim Seung-hoon simply smiled and approached Lee Jung-woo.
“Hello, I’m Kim Seung-hoon.”
“Yeah… I’m Lee Jung-woo.”
Even just seeing them shake hands looked like a movie scene. As Jun-seong had said, they seemed like beings from different worlds.
“Have a seat. The food’s all ready.”
“All right.”
Lee Jung-woo looked around a bit awkwardly, then slowly sat down.
“Sorry about being so rude before. Director Gyeong and I really wanted to meet you in a setting like this.”
“Oh, no. It’s fine.”
Though his expression suggested otherwise, at least he was being polite. That was a good sign.
“So, shall we talk a bit first and then drink? Or drink first, then talk?”
As soon as Jun-seong said that, I burst out, “What kind of question is that? Of course we drink first!”
“That’s the spirit, Director Gyeong! You read my mind!”
Hearing our impromptu comedy routine, Kim Seung-hoon snorted with laughter, while Lee Jung-woo showed no reaction.
“Here’s your glass~”
“And here’s your drink~”
Jun-seong and I were doing our best to lighten the mood, humming little tunes and generally acting lively. But Lee Jung-woo was as stoic as ever, with no change in expression.
“All right, cheers!”
We enthusiastically tried to keep the atmosphere going. After a few rounds, the stir-fried pork was nearly gone, and we were running low on soju.
Lee Jung-woo’s face was flushed, yet he tried to act as though he was perfectly fine.
“Are we out of soju?”
I looked around as if we were out (though it was really part of the plan).
“Ah, we’re out! We need to get more!”
Following my lead, Jun-seong slowly put on his jacket.
“We’ll pop out for some more soju and snacks. You two just relax and talk while we’re gone, all right? We’ll be back in, like, ten minutes?”
“Both of you are going?”
With a red face, Lee Jung-woo stood up unsteadily.
“Imagine the headlines if an actor stumbled into a store all red-faced to buy alcohol. It’ll be better if we just go,” I said.
“Well, but… couldn’t just one of you go?”
“Are you kidding? We’re going to buy several more bottles. I can’t carry all that alone. That’d be labor exploitation!”
Pretending to be drunk, Jun-seong rolled his eyes dramatically and yelled.
“Still…”
Lee Jung-woo looked uncomfortable.
“Fine, then I’ll just go hang out in the other room if it makes you uncomfortable,” Kim Seung-hoon offered.
“Huh?”
Flustered, Lee Jung-woo looked at him, and Kim Seung-hoon turned to us.
“It’s okay. You two go ahead. We can’t have a big gap between drinks, can we?”
“That’s why you’re a real star, Kim Seung-hoon!”
With that, Jun-seong grabbed his coat. I quietly addressed the two actors:
“I’m guessing you guys have plenty to talk about. Take your time. We’ll be back soon.”
Kim Seung-hoon gave a slight nod, as if he understood our signal, while Lee Jung-woo sighed in confusion.
“Let’s go already—we gotta hurry,” said Jun-seong, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me out the door.
“Think this will work out? I haven’t forced a mood like this since my freshman year,” he said once we were outside.
“Now’s exactly the right time. It’s just the two of them; they can talk it out and clear the air.”
Shivering in the cold, we headed to a convenience store that was a bit farther away.
Now it was all up to Kim Seung-hoon and Lee Jung-woo.
After Chan-hyun and Jun-seong left, a tense silence fell between Lee Jung-woo and Kim Seung-hoon.
“Well, I guess I’ll just wait in Director Gyeong’s room…”
“Oh… no, that’s all right. You can stay here.”
Flustered, Lee Jung-woo stood and awkwardly gestured to a chair.
“Uh, you sure?”
“Yes.”
Kim Seung-hoon sat down again, and once more a heavy silence settled over them. After a few minutes, he let out a sigh.
“They’re really taking a while…”
Following Chan-hyun’s hint, Kim Seung-hoon paced around, eventually spotting a few remaining bottles of soju.
“Oh! Looks like Director Gyeong missed these!”
“Apparently,” Lee Jung-woo replied.
“Should we keep drinking? I hate letting a buzz die down, haha.”
“Sure.”
They drank in silence for a bit. When the alcohol began to hit them again, Kim Seung-hoon spoke first:
“Look, I want to apologize, Jung-woo.”
He sounded more strongly accented now that he was drunk.
“Huh?”
“It’s about my agency’s… that, um… all that nasty noise-marketing stuff.”
“Oh, you mean those articles, right?”
“Yeah, that nonsense my agency pulled. Ugh… I couldn’t really do anything about it. You know how it is—actors don’t have any power. They say jump, you say ‘How high?’”
Sighing, Lee Jung-woo picked up the bottle and refilled both their glasses. They clinked them and downed another shot.
“Right. They treat us like products. I’m sorry, too… Even if I didn’t like it, I couldn’t speak up when they put out those articles,” he said with a slight, uncharacteristic smile. Kim Seung-hoon chuckled.
“Exactly. It got to the point where I was too embarrassed to even look you in the eye. And I’m sorry for that time I ignored you at the awards ceremony.”
“It’s fine. It’s all in the past. I owe you plenty of apologies myself…”
“It’s just so frustrating, y’know? If I even tried to do something, the manager would tell me to shut up. If I wanted to push back, they’d threaten me with breach of contract.”
Feeling genuinely wronged, Kim Seung-hoon sounded close to tears.
Lee Jung-woo refilled his glass.
“I can’t stand my agency either. I always feel like I’m wearing a mask on TV.”
“You too? My friends always ask me why I hardly say a word on TV.”
“Same here! My family’s like, ‘Why are you so cheerful on TV and so stiff at home?’”
“Oh, so it’s not just me?”
“I never had anyone to talk to about this stuff… It’s the first time I’ve realized I’m not alone.”
Kim Seung-hoon smiled at him.
“You were born in ’73, right? Year of the Ox?”
“Yeah. You too, right?”
“Right. How about we be friends? I don’t really have many friends in the film world… But if it’s uncomfortable, no worries…”
Awkwardly scratching the back of his head, he trailed off.
“Nah, let’s be friends. Nothing wrong with that. The misunderstanding’s cleared up now.”
“Great, man! Let the agencies fight their own battles! We just need to look out for each other, right? We just gotta keep our heads on straight!”
Meanwhile, outside, Jun-seong and I had been standing around for quite a while.
“Hey, can we go back in yet? I’m freezing out here.”
“How long’s it been?”
“An hour?”
“That’s borderline. Let’s give ’em five more minutes.”
“I’m so cold I can’t even talk straight. You have the keys?”
Finally, loaded with soju and snacks, we headed back inside.
The scene that greeted us: two very drunk men.
“Oh… there was still alcohol left? We were gone so long because there weren’t any convenience stores nearby.”
“Oh, Director Gyeong! You gotta have another drink with us!”
Something about Lee Jung-woo seemed off. Where had his expressionless demeanor gone? Now he wore a faintly eerie smile.
“Wow, you guys put away a lot in such a short time,” said Jun-seong, clearing away the empty bottles in front of them.
It looked like they’d drunk all the liquor we’d deliberately left behind.
“Producer, come on, have a seat! Did you bring more booze?”
“Yeah, and some snacks, too.”
“Perfect! Let’s keep it going! Oh, right,” said Lee Jung-woo, eyes unfocused as he turned to look at us.
“Me and Seung-hoon are friends now. Everyone—cheers!”
Stunned, Jun-seong stared at me, and I hastily cracked open a bottle and poured.
“To my new friend Jung-woo! Cheers!”
“Yeah, let’s go!”
“After this much drinking, we’re basically friends, right?”
“Of course! Haha! So, can I join in too?”
Jun-seong asked, and Kim Seung-hoon looked over at him with bleary eyes.
“How old are ya?”
“Me? I’m 27.”
“Then you’re just a kid. How dare you share a table with your elders?”
Laughing at his joke, Lee Jung-woo clinked glasses with him again. These two were like party monsters.
It wasn’t so much that they had a deep heart-to-heart as that their mutual tolerance for alcohol had brought them together.
Even though we’d drunk less than them, we still couldn’t keep up. Eventually, we ran away to one of the rooms, leaving them to it.
It felt pointless, like pouring water into a bottomless pit. There was no winning. It was almost as if they had pure alcohol running through their veins instead of blood.
The next day.
I opened my eyes. No idea what time it was. My head felt like it was splitting, and my stomach churned ominously.
With great effort, I pulled myself upright. It felt like my guts were twisting in whatever direction I moved.
When I went to open the door, it wouldn’t budge.
“What the heck?”
I shoved it open, and a shriek erupted.
“Gyaaah!”
It was Jun-seong. He looked just as destroyed as I felt, slumped in front of my door doing who-knows-what.
“Ugh… Chan-hyun… am I alive? Tell me I’m not dead…”
“Get up, you idiot.”
Swaying, I hauled him to his feet, trying to lead him to the couch—except Kim Seung-hoon and Lee Jung-woo had already claimed it.
From the look of the numerous empty bottles, they’d kept drinking even after we retreated.
“What… is all this? They drank that too…?”
Groaning, Jun-seong sank into a chair at the dining table and pointed at the bottles.
Captain Q.
Legend says if you drink that, you won’t even notice if you start gnawing on your own fingers for snacks. With a drink like that in the mix, it’s no wonder they’re so wrecked.
Maybe they got it because they’re still broke actors and wanted to get hammered cheaply?
But who in their right mind would bring such a deadly weapon as a gift?
Creak, click.
We heard the door open.
It was already evening, so it must’ve been hours since we passed out. Mom’s voice rang out.
“Oh my, what’s that smell?”
She walked in with Dad behind her, stopping in shock when she saw the state of the house.
“What on earth happened here? You said you were meeting to talk about a film! Look at all these bottles! Are you out of your mind?”
Dad stared into the distance like he couldn’t handle it either.
“Uh… Mom. Actually, there are actors here, too.”
The moment she realized other people were present, her scolding expression vanished, replaced by a welcoming smile. She glanced around until she spotted the two unconscious forms on the couch.
“Oh my, is that… Lee Jung-woo? And Kim Seung-hoon?”
“Yep.”
“In that case, I’ll make some hangover soup right away. Let them rest in one of the rooms. Dear me, what a state…”
“Come on, Jun-seong… help me move them.”
“Urgh… fine…”
Together, we laboriously moved them one by one.
“I’m never drinking with these guys again. If I do, I’m not human…”
“For all we know, they might not be human either…”
People who have tasted it claim that it strikes a nice balance between brown sugar and dark chocolate tastes, and initially hits you with a pepper/Scottish whiskey front-taste. The drink boasts a %35 alcohol volume, which is pretty standard for rums for the most part.
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