This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 201

“Seriously···”

How did it come to this?

Looking at the row of beer cans lined up on the table and Bora, who seemed startled and tense as she gazed at them, I felt a peculiar sensation.

In a way, it felt like I was a scoundrel trying to lure an innocent child onto a bad path.

There was no need to exaggerate; the situation itself was precisely like that.

Part of the reason was that I was the one who dragged Bora, who had been quietly resting in her room, out under the pretense of a meal.

“I told you this was a bad idea···”

What could I say?

It was Chae-rim who proposed ‘that’ which was now unfolding before Bora and me.

And of course, when I first heard her suggestion, I vehemently opposed it.

Why did I do that, you ask?

Well, from my perspective, I had no other choice.

Yes, I quite literally had no choice.

There were many reasons that weighed heavily on my mind, and I couldn’t simply agree to Chae-rim’s sudden proposal.

And it wasn’t just a matter of morality.

Sure, I was slightly concerned about that part too… but in my position, I couldn’t boldly shout against it since I wasn’t exactly innocent myself.

I had sneaked a can of beer from the fridge when Mom wasn’t looking, so how could I lecture others about it?

Thus, what I truly worried about was drinking ‘alcohol.’

Anyone who’s ever had a drink would relate.

Alcohol is a strange liquid, after all.

Take soju, for example: it has no taste of worth, yet once it enters your system, it weirdly fills you with courage.

That’s why many ex-boyfriends, who wouldn’t dare make a call under normal circumstances, start dialing their old girlfriends after just a drink or two.

But for Bora and the senior to be drinking it?

Especially after they’d had a tense little showdown just a few hours earlier?

The reason I fiercely opposed Chae-rim was primarily that.

Not everyone, but most people lose their self-control after drinking, and there’s no rule that says Bora and the senior are immune to that.

What if the senior, feeling a little too liberated after a few drinks, suddenly bursts into tears and showcases her talent all over the place?

Or what if drunken Bora starts flaunting her talent left and right?

Even if Chae-rim were there to manage things, it wouldn’t be easy.

And if we couldn’t manage it, it would turn into a complete ‘incident’.

“Honestly···”

Even now, I wonder whether this is the right thing to do.

Yet here I was, stepping up as Chae-rim’s sidekick, and the reason was simple.

I had been persuaded by Chae-rim.

Not just persuaded; I had been so completely dismantled in argument that I was left speechless.

When I showed no sign of backing down, she opened the floodgates, arguing that if the two of us, the parties involved, didn’t resolve this quickly, it would morph into an increasingly irritating problem over time—honestly, I had no words to counter that.

At the time, I thought, how could I argue back?

To make it easier to understand, she called it a drinking party, but in reality, she was the only one drinking, and the rest of us were just using non-alcoholic beer to lighten the mood, which meant I had no choice but to go along with Chae-rim’s plan.

And this was the result.

Regardless of how we got here, I’d successfully brought Bora, one of the key protagonists of this event, to her seat, so it was now time to fetch the other.

After requesting Bora to stay with Chae-rim, I headed straight to the senior’s room.

“Senior? Are you in there?”

“Yeah? Why?”

I thought she might still be brooding over what happened earlier, but the moment I actually saw her, she didn’t seem to carry any of those feelings.

From the senior’s perspective, it made sense to feel aggrieved, but perhaps she thought that worrying about it would only deepen her dissatisfaction, so she might have decided to ignore it altogether.

Thinking that, my words suddenly felt inadequate.

“Um… it’s nothing serious…”

Even so, I had no choice but to bring it up.

I had to.

As Chae-rim had pointed out, leaving these issues alone would only lead to greater headaches down the line.

Just like a cavity.

“…Really?”

Fortunately, the senior didn’t show any negative reaction to my awkward words.

She just echoed me with a single question.

“Okay. I just need to go to the kitchen later, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

So, I couldn’t help but feel a mix of apology and gratitude towards her.

Anyway, after I sent a quick text to the senior and added Yoonseo, who raced over as soon as school was out… we ended up with five people clustered around the table, including me.

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“Where…”

Let’s see what words they’ll say.

The reason Seolhwa cautiously accepted Dogun’s proposal was mainly that.

“Of course…”

Aside from that reason, part of me felt sorry for Dogun, who was like a shrimp caught between whales, anxiously squirming.

All the same, seated at the event that Dogun had painstakingly arranged, I couldn’t help but stiffen my expression as soon as I settled down.

And understandably so, since the seating arrangement had me facing Bora directly.

Instinctively, memories of yesterday’s event at the entrance flooded back to mind.

Or rather, should I call it an incident?

From Dogun’s perspective, it was something that happened in a flash, so yeah, that sounds about right.

Having pulled off such a stunt yesterday, he ended up having to host an event today facing me again amid what must have been a wearisome day.

Then why was he making that face as if he had just eaten something foul? I couldn’t fathom it.

Thanks to that, frustration that I had held back before surged forth in a moment.

This was a reference to that onion, and I was pretty sure they were talking about her.

I was honestly quite amazed at how endlessly annoying it could be.

Considering all the types I have encountered throughout my duties as Student Council President, the one in front of me was an entirely new variant I had never seen before.

With the nickname ‘Princess’ within the association, she must feel like a real princess, given how much she’s adored.

I had intended to resolve this peacefully, considering Dogun too…

Muttering inwardly as I sighed deeply, it seemed I couldn’t just sit still as the atmosphere of this unexpectedly heavy gathering unfolded.

“Alright, before we begin, how about we have a toast?”

Chae-rim said that and picked up one of the cans beside her as if to demonstrate.

Immediately after, Dogun followed her lead.

“Hey, that pose of holding the can looks pretty natural, isn’t it your first time?”

“Of course. It’s my first time.”

When the Dogun beside her said that, it seemed he couldn’t just sit there either.

“What first-time? You snuck a can of Auntie’s beer from the fridge before and got caught.”

“Come on, I thought it was a beverage.”

Unlike the drinks surrounding Chae-rim, which had no alcohol in them, it was apparent that this was a peculiar excitement, as Yoonseo blushed and lifted her own can.

It was weirdly bothersome how those two kept bickering among themselves, as though acting like a pair.

Having entirely forgotten the irritation I felt moments ago because of someone sitting across from us, I directly started scanning around.

After looking around, I hastily picked up something I noticed and squeezed it between the three of us.

With four out of five joining in like that, Bora, feeling she couldn’t lag behind, quietly joined the ranks.

“Alright, if everyone’s holding a can··· let’s open them!”

With that, as Chae-rim deftly opened her can, the sound rang out that I recognized from soda cans being popped.

After demonstrating, Chae-rim shot a look toward us, urging us to open our cans too.

Unable to withstand that gaze, I obediently popped the lid off my own can, and the next step was the basic toast of a drinking party.

And so··· the sound of cans clinking against each other echoed throughout the kitchen.