Sunggyu crosses his arms, feeling extremely bored. He doesn’t know what he is doing here, when for the last two hours he has only been sitting down and drinking without saying anything. He is not fond of attending students gathering like this—of attending a party with too many people like this.

He feels like an outcast here. The people who entered the college in the same year as he did are now in the fourth year so Sunggyu felt awkward around them. He didn’t know his fellow second-year students, he had only met them during classes. He has no interest in the first years—no, he doesn’t have any interest in anyone. He just wants to study and then graduate, he has no interest in gaining friends. He really regrets coming here. It’s the weekend, he should have just slept for two days straight. He decides that as soon as he finishes his bottle, he will just go back to his house.

He looks at his phone, wondering if he should call Myungsoo or Woohyun. But he knows that the Business Department has a late MT and Myungsoo might be unable to answer his phone, and Woohyun also has a welcoming party with his department. He goes through his contacts list and starts to regret what he did again when he sees Sungyeol’s name. How long has it been since the last time he talked to Sungyeol? He wondered if the last text from Sungyeol that he got before he officially entered military could be counted as an interaction.

Unconsciously, he starts calling Sungyeol as he thinks about him. He has only realized about what he did when he snaps out of his thoughts and focuses on his phone and realizing that there are sounds coming out of it—Sungyeol’s voice.

“Hello?”

“Sunggyu?”

So, Sunggyu panics and jumps out of his chair and stands up even though all he needs is answering or just ending the call. He has a weird battle with his phone in which he presses the end call button so hard he almost crushes it, meanwhile, his phone is helpless. He breathes a sigh of relief when the call finally ends, and then slumps in his chair. He can’t believe what he just did—he also can’t believe how much of a coward he actually is.

He looks around, wondering if people saw what he did. But when he looks around he only sees one person staring at him from another table, sending him an incredulous look. Sunggyu stares at the person daringly, but at the same time wondering who that person is because he has never seen him before. He must be a fellow law student if he is here because the whole place is rented by them.

They stop staring at each other when that person’s friend approaches him while yelling, “Hey, Lee Howon! I thought you wouldn’t come!”

Sunggyu takes a note of that name before standing up and starts to leave the party. Tonight .

***

Myungsoo doesn’t understand why instead of being together with his fellow first years, he is currently stuck with senior girls surrounding him, all keep asking him questions about himself. He doesn’t want to admit that he is still a little intimidated by them, but at least they seem nice, just weirdly curious about him. Myungsoo was scared to go on an MT because he heard that in universities, the seniors do hazing on MTs. But turns out here they just went to some villas at the countryside and hangs out with each other, nothing more. Myungsoo still feels awkward though, as he is not particularly close to anyone yet and everyone around him has started forming their own group of friends.

“My hobbies? I like taking photos and writing,” Myungsoo answers when one of them ask what his hobbies are. He feels like he is currently being interrogated. He really wants to go back to the other first years to bond with them but the fact that the seniors are currently ‘kidnapping’ him, he might be unable bond with them.

Before one of the girls surrounding him can ask another question, another girl suddenly enters the room, dragging a man with her. Myungsoo looks at them curiously, wondering what’s happening.

“So, Kim Myungsoo, meets another Kim Myungsoo,” the girl says, pointing her arm to Myungsoo. Myungsoo feels confused—this guy’s name is also Kim Myungsoo?

As if echoing Myungsoo’s thought, the guy asks, “Your name is Kim Myungsoo, too? That’s funny.”

And then that guy—the other Myungsoo—starts to kick out a girl from her chair in front of Myungsoo while Myungsoo can only observe the man. He is wearing leather jacket and trousers, his hair is bleached and he is wearing orange-tinted glasses indoor. He doesn’t look like a business student, but if he is here then he must be Myungsoo’s senior.  He certainly stands out here and Myungsoo wonders why he hasn’t noticed him when he has been here for one whole day.

“So, are you a good drinker?” The other Myungsoo asks, certainly an odd question when they haven’t even talked about anything else.

“What?” Myungsoo blinks, now even more bewildered in his situation. He swears he spends the whole day wondering what is he actually doing and what to do. He gets dragged here and there and couldn’t even refuse. Myungsoo answers cautiously, “Um…I rarely drink.”

It’s the truth. After all, he has only turned legal not long ago.

“Really? That’s not fun.” The other Myungsoo sighs, seemingly very disappointed. Myungsoo wonders what that guy wants from him.

“Don’t tell me you want to challenge him?” one of the girls asks incredulously. A drinking challenge? Out of nowhere? Myungsoo starts to have a headache.

“Of course, I do,” the other Myungsoo answers, crossing his arms and dramatically wonders out loud, “I wonder if someone who has the same name as I am is also a good drinker.”

“Don’t accept it, Myungsoo, he is crazy, you will die if you challenge him.” One of the seniors warns him, but he wonders if there are any consequences if he refuses to do what the other Myungsoo wants. He doesn’t want to get into any trouble and wants to stay in good graces with them. That’s why he doesn’t run away when the seniors drag him to a room despite being scared. Good networking will be good for his future.

The last time he checks, he has pretty good alcohol tolerance. If it’s the matter of who gets drunk last, maybe he can win.

“How if I win?” Myungsoo asks. There is a price, right? Even if he is afraid to accept the challenge, he still doesn’t want to do it if there is no price, or if the price is not worth it.

“If you win?” the other Myungsoo repeats, and then starts thinking before finally answering, “Then I will treat you lunch for the whole semester on workdays, but if you lose, you treat me.”

Myungsoo’s brain starts automatically calculating how much that will worth. Let’s say he spends around 10.000won per day for a really good lunch, then every week he spends around 50.000 won if he only counts workdays. There are 15 weeks in one semester, so it will worth for around…750.000 won. That’s quite a lot, he can save if he doesn’t have to spend money on lunch. That’s if he wins, but if he loses he might lose more money than that.

So, he has to win. He is not willing to spend that much money on someone else. He can refuse the challenge, but he starts to feel challenged on top of wanting to be on everyone’s good sides

“Okay,” Myungsoo has decided, “Let’s do it.”

“This Kim Myungsoo is crazy, too,” someone loudly says, while the other Kim Myungsoo smiles triumphantly.

“Okay, people, bring us our bottles!”

.

.

.

.

Five bottles later

“Aren’t you giving up?” the other Myungsoo asks, looking relatively okay after drinking a lot.

“No, I don’t feel anything, yet.” Myungsoo answers.

It’s a lie, he already feels quite tipsy and he feels full from all the soju he drinks. That’s the main problem—Myungsoo has eaten before, he is not sure how much soju his stomach can handle. But he doesn’t want to give up, he can’t lose his money. He starts to really regret his decision. Regretting it, even more, imagining the hangover he will have on the way back to the dorm.

The other Myungsoo empties another glass of soju and then stares at Myungsoo again, smiling, “Are you sure you are going to continue?”

“Yes!” Myungsoo insists, forcing himself to drink his glass. He doesn’t like soju that much, honestly, but he has to deal with it.

The others are watching, curious on who will win. Some of them are already bored though, and only there to wait for the result.

“You are quite stubborn.” The other Myungsoo notes, before drinking again without any problems. Myungsoo grimaces. How much he has to drink in order to win?

Myungsoo drinks again, deciding that he won’t drink again for the whole semester after this.

“Fine, I am giving up, I am too full.” The other Myungsoo suddenly decides, even though he looks fine. He stands up from his chair and says, “See you on lunches, Kim Myungsoo, just ask the others for my number and tell me where do you want to eat.”

And then he just leaves the room without waiting for Myungsoo to say anything. Myungsoo is flabbergasted, unable to comprehend it in his tipsy state. Did he just win? Why doesn’t he feel like he wins?

“Wow, if it’s that easy to win lunch dates with you, I should have challenged you, too.” One of the girls say.

Lunch…dates?

***

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, Oppareul saranghae. Ah, ah, ah, ah, manhi manhihae.”

Woohyun feels utterly bored. He thought he would attend a party, not a boring karaoke session. Okay, he admits that the reason he feels bored is that even when they are currently in karaoke, he hasn’t got a chance to sing at all. All the seniors who invited him and the other freshmen are the ones who keep singing. Woohyun has no idea why a group of male students chose to sing ‘Oh’ out of all songs, not even changing the lyrics. If only it’s a group of female students, Woohyun will feel more entertained. He accepts the seniors’ invitation because he is bored of being alone in the dorm, but he still feels bored.

“I want to sing.” Woohyun whines. Whenever he sees the other freshman who is stuck here like him, they don’t seem to enjoy being there, too. They all thought it was a welcoming party, but turns out not all seniors are involved in this, just a few. All they have been doing is drinking and talking to each other while the seniors also have fun on their own, making Woohyun wonders what is the point of all of this.

“Well, if you want to sing, just ask the seniors.” The other freshman who is sitting beside of him—Seungyeon—says with a long sigh, “Or just wait for them to ask one of us to sing, I am sure they will do that.”

For some reason, no one dares to sing. Woohyun feels confused about that, it feels like there is something he is supposed to know but don’t. It makes him feel a little apprehensive, too.

“I really miss singing, I used to be the king of karaokes.” Woohyun randomly says, taking another sip of the coke they were provided. Not even sojus. If these seniors are making their own welcoming party, they should try harder. Rent a club, at least.

“There is such thing like that?” Seungyeon asks. They barely know each other, but it feels like Seungyeon is skeptical of everything Woohyun says.

“I was legendary in my area,” Woohyun proudly answers, “I spend almost all of my free time in karaoke.”

Because that’s the only way he can sing freely. He still remembers being cursed at by his parents for spending all of his money on karaokes instead of food.

Seungyeon wonders out loud, “Is that something you should be proud of?”

Before Woohyun can answer, someone asks out loud using the microphone, “Is there anyone who wants to sing?”

That gets Woohyun’s attention and he raises his hand while yelling loudly, “Me! Me!”

The senior who asks that question turns his head and looks at Woohyun. He approaches Woohyun, a suspicious smile on his face. Woohyun is oblivious, though, because he is too excited to finally have a chance to sing. Everyone needs to hear his voice!

“Ah, you…? What’s your name?” The senior asks.

“Woohyun. Nam Woohyun!”

Everyone is looking at him now, perhaps some of them wonder why he is so confident. The senior students snickers watching how he is acting right now, perhaps noting him on their minds.

“Woohyun,” the senior takes a pause, and then asks, “Do you feel confident in singing?”

“Yes, I feel very confident,” Woohyun says, “I am really good at singing.”

His confidence is not unfounded. He was the main vocalist of his high school band, after all. In fact, he got to know Sunggyu because they met as rivals during a competition. Too bad, no one knows that here. If they knew, they would ask him to sing since the beginning instead of making him wait for them to ask if anyone wants to sing.

“Wow, we have a very confident singer here.” The senior chuckles, he gives a mic to Woohyun and then orders him, “Come to the front if you want to sing.”

“Thank you, Sunbae-nim!”

Woohyun takes the microphone and then stands in front of everyone. But he can’t choose any song yet because the senior is still holding the controller, not giving it to him.

“Anyone else wants to sing?” The senior asks again, only to be met with silence. No one volunteers, making Woohyun be the only person who dares to volunteer. The senior waits, but everyone seems to be frozen except one girl who is currently walking to the door. The senior asks, again, then points at the girl, “No one? Then you, the girl who is going out of the room!”

Wait, Woohyun doesn’t say he needs a partner, why is the senior looking for another person to sing?

The girl stops walking and seems to freeze on her place too, slowly turning her head towards the seniors and stutters, “M-Me?”

“Yes, come here!” The senior orders.

“Um—”

The senior, not willing to wait, approaches the girl and then starts to drag the poor girl to the front, standing beside of Woohyun. Woohyun is confused on why the senior is forcing someone to sing with Woohyun.

“Now we have our second singer so we can officially start the party," The senior announces to the crowd, before turning to the girl and Woohyun again, “Okay, there is only one rule here: you have to get a score above 98, if you get a lower score than that, you have to pay for everything tonight.”

Wait…

“Wait, what?” Woohyun yells, surprised to hear that rule. 98 is a hard score to get! Why does he have to pay for everything he gets lower than that? He just wants to sing, so he protests, “I don’t know that rule! I just want to sing.”

“Well, you have volunteered to sing, no?” the senior asks, and Woohyun can’t deny that he is getting himself into this mess, “Then you have to do it now.”

But still, he doesn’t know that rule!

“What? This is unfair.” Woohyun continues to protest, “I don’t want—”

Before he can finish his sentence, the girl suddenly closes his mouth, stopping his protest, and declares, “We will sing, just choose the song, Sunbae.”

“Cool!” The senior seems satisfied, and then he starts to search for a song. Woohyun’s jaws will drop if the girl is not closing his mouth because the senior is choosing ‘Nagging’ as the song he has to sing, “There you go!”

It’s a really hard song. He and the girl have to sing really well if they want to get a good score. Woohyun is quite confident that he can do the man’s part, but he is not sure about this girl’s singing ability. If one of them is bad, they are screwed. But that’s probably the senior’s plan. They definitely won’t get a score above 98. Why does this girl have to accept the rule so easily like that? They can lose a lot of money.

The music starts to play and Woohyun suddenly feels so nervous to sing. He never feels nervous like this, but his money is on the stake so he finally feels it. Singing in a karaoke should not be this nerve-wracking.

“Stop being out so late, try not to drink so often,” the girl starts to sing, and Woohyun is pleasantly surprised when he finds that her voice is very beautiful and she is singing quite well, “You don’t listen to me like a 10 year-old child.”

“I can only laugh,” Woohyun starts to sing his part, “Who are you calling a child? Really, I can only laugh.”

The girl seems surprised too when she hears him sing. She smiles and looks relieved as she continues singing, “You don’t know how it feels for me to say these things.”

“You don’t know that I only want to say nice things to you,” Woohyun sings while looking at the girl, slowly starts to realize that she is beautiful, too. He smiles at her, too.

“Should I stop?”

“Let’s stop.”

No, the girl doesn’t sing quite well. She sings extremely well and Woohyun starts to get confident again. He is sure that he can get a high score. Having a good singer as his partner makes him enjoy singing again despite the dire situation. So, he just focuses on singing and enjoying it. They continue to sing while looking at each other, ignoring everyone else in the room who watches them sing with a surprised face.

In the end, they dodge a bullet because their score is 99.

To Be Continued