This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 205

I was so surprised by the sudden turn of events, I wondered if this was how it felt.

My heart raced wildly in my chest.

It made me feel quite strange.

If someone asked me what was so odd about it, I doubt I could pin it down with precision, but that was how I felt.

And while I was just slightly lost in confusion, what was the cause of it all doing?

“Hii…”

In that brief moment, they were soundly asleep again.

The funny thing was, Yoonseo was mumbling in her sleep.

I couldn’t quite grasp what was making her so satisfied, but there she was, smiling in her sleep and making noises that irked me… Honestly, I felt like giving her a playful smack right on the forehead for it.

Someone who was momentarily thrown into chaos because of the booze was sleeping so peacefully.

And as I listened closer, I could hear her snoring softly.

Thanks to that, the tension that had built up inside me began to dissipate too.

‘Seriously…’

I hadn’t realized it before, but now that I thought about it, I felt a bit ridiculous.

Isn’t it the truth?

To be on edge because of impulsive actions taken while under the influence, how silly is that?

‘I wonder if she’ll even remember any of this.’

Part of me thought that too.

She fell back asleep right after doing such things to me, which meant she was completely out of it with the alcohol and sleepiness, suggesting that whatever had just happened might not even be lingering in Yoonseo’s mind.

‘I hope so.’

I thought that inwardly as I carefully sat up to straighten my posture.

Still, I didn’t stop the thoughts flowing through my mind, and the reason was simple.

If I didn’t keep that stream of pointless thoughts going, the sensation lingering beside my lips would only sharpen in clarity.

And when I returned home and checked the kitchen—

‘Huh…?’

There was only Chae-rim in the kitchen.

For a moment, I couldn’t believe my eyes, and no matter how much I doubted them, nothing changed.

I mean, I hadn’t really been away for hours, so why did it seem like everyone had vanished in that brief time?

“Uh, where did everyone go?”

Could it be that they just stepped out to the bathroom?

As I threw the question towards Chae-rim, part of me thought that might actually be the case, but reality was far less kind than I expected.

“Huh? Oh… they all said they were tired and went in.”

“Going in” was definitely talking about the rooms.

So what about the reconciliation?

Did the two of them sort things out?

“Did they make up?”

I figured that at the very least I had to check on that, but instead of answers, all that returned was the sound of pouring drinks.

The moment I heard that sound, I instinctively felt something was off.

The space I had so intentionally vacated seemed to have been completely pointless.

Surely before I’d left, the mood hadn’t been so bad. How did it all go wrong?

‘By the way…’

Why was she pouring herself drinks like that all this time?

It was bound to catch a person’s attention.

Carefully, I pulled out a chair and sat down next to Chae-rim, naturally snatching the bottle from her hands.

It couldn’t be helped; it felt wrong to leave her looking so lonely while the others were away.

“Can you give me a leftover glass?”

“What? You weren’t drinking before, and now you want to try?”

“No.”

Honestly, the situation at Yoonseo’s house earlier and what was going on between the Senior and Bora had my mind tangled, so I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to drink a little, but in the end, I decided against it.

Still, I asked Chae-rim for a glass because I wanted to pour her a drink and keep her company.

Could she somehow sense my intention?

Or had she been feeling lonely despite her outward calm?

I couldn’t tell which was true, but Chae-rim didn’t decline the drink I offered her.

I took a leftover glass from her, poured some alcohol, then filled her glass too, and from that moment, other concerns began to seep in.

For one, the platters on the table were looking a bit sparse.

Chae-rim showed no signs of wanting to end the drinking session, yet the snacks that had been enough to feed five people were almost gone.

Maybe that’s why Chae-rim wasn’t paying much attention to them.

‘This won’t do.’

Wasn’t this seemingly too shabby?

At the very least, there should be one type of snack still around.

“Just a moment. Sis, hold off on drinking for a bit.”

“Huh…? Uh, okay…”

That’s why I stood up from the chair.

The problem was figuring out what to make… I’d have to skip the lengthy recipes.

So what should I go with?

As I flung the fridge door open and mulled it over, one menu idea suddenly popped into my head.

Thanks to someone, I had all the ingredients right there.

‘Let’s see…’

I knew I’d hidden it somewhere around here…

As I stepped away from the fridge to rummage through the pantry, sure enough, I found a bag of nachos popping out from the clutter of cooking oil and such.

I had successfully secured the most essential ingredient, so I had to pull out the rest as well.

Going back to the fridge, I grabbed the ground meat and bacon I had set aside for fried rice and quickly tossed them in the pan.

Then, I opened the bag of nachos and spread them out evenly on a large plate, followed by the cooked meat, bacon, mozzarella cheese, and a sprinkle of jalapeños, and tossed them in the microwave…

“Here, munch on this.”

At least visually, a decent snack plate came together.

And thankfully, Chae-rim seemed to genuinely like the newly presented dish.

Initially, she pretended to take a reluctant bite out of politeness, but apparently, the taste matched her preferences because she started reaching for the dish more frequently than before.

“How’s the taste? Is it okay?”

“Yeah, it’s good! It’s a surprisingly nice combo.”

“Right?”

I definitely expected that.

There’s no way it wouldn’t be; this combination had been my go-to during my drinking sessions in my past life.

I figured that since it was Mexican food, it would go better with tequila than soju, but strangely, it paired well with soju too.

Anyway… thanks to Chae-rim enjoying the dish, I had the excuse to strike up various conversations.

And as we chatted on and on, I suddenly felt thirsty and mindlessly grabbed the nearest drink without thinking, downing it…

“Oh, that…”

Gulp!

After I drank it, I realized it was soju.

The moment that bitter taste hit my tongue, I registered it too late, quickly spitting it out, but by that point, more than half had already gone down!

It wasn’t even a shot glass, but a mug filled to around two-thirds!

Maybe it was because I had just downed it in one go like it was some hard liquor or perhaps because it’d been ages since I’d actually had soju.

I could feel the alcohol diving into my system almost immediately, and as my state began to change in real-time… Chae-rim decided maybe she couldn’t stay here any longer.

“This won’t do. Let’s just clean up tomorrow and get some rest.”

“Yeeee…”

With her support, I bolted into the room and flopped onto the bed.

And as I rolled around a few times trying to find a comfortable position, sleep came crashing down on me.

Every moment, I could feel my eyelids growing heavier as I thought inwardly,

‘I hope those two sort it out quickly…’

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At some point, I lost track of when I fell asleep, but when I eventually woke up, I realized something felt off.

To put it simply… my body felt heavy.

It felt as if I were being pinned down.

‘Wait, could it be…?’

Am I really being pinned down?

In a moment of panic, as that thought crossed my mind, I cautiously opened my eyes, and what I saw was—

“…?”

Someone was sitting on top of me.