Chapter 57 – Between Serving the Last Glass of Makgeolli

The place to stay was a pension right next to the beach. In the department, a cooking contest was started on the lawn there, and the winner was taken by the group in which the demon king participated. As soon as the tournament was over, a drinking party took place.

Feeling awkward with the people around me, I quietly picked up the bulgogi and ate it.

“Jiheon.”

The person who called me was the leader across the table. Dying her hair yellow, she held out an empty paper cup to me. When I received it, I poured a beer into my glass.

“Uh, thank you.”

“No. I am more grateful.”

“Huh?”

I didn’t know what it meant, so I put on a face that I didn’t know. Then the captain looked at her surroundings and whispered in a voice that only I could hear.

“At that time, you only believed what he said and saw you as trash.”

“Ah! That thing?”

She was talking about Ha Jun. He was afraid that I might reveal his identity, so he spread strange rumors about me. It was obvious who people would trust, between me, who was an underachiever, and Hajun, who was an overachiever.

Remembering what I was talking about, the chief lowered her eyes and gave her an apologetic look.

“I should have listened to you, not just one person, I’m sorry.”

After hearing the apology, I was taken aback. Humans were beasts who chose to ignore the uncomfortable truth rather than face it. I thought he would ignore me until graduation and ignore the truth, but I didn’t expect to apologize in front of him like this.

Seeing my dumbfounded expression, she glanced around her and said,

“Actually, there are quite a few people who have uncomfortable feelings for you other than me. Oh, being uncomfortable doesn’t mean I hate you, it means feeling guilty. Don’t get me wrong. But they’re afraid of what you’ll say, so they can’t say sorry like I did.”

“… “

“But since you came to the MT, we thought you had somewhat relaxed. You may not have forgiven us, but I think the guilt has eased a bit.”

“Okay?”

“Huh. I’m not asking for forgiveness We just want you to know that we feel sorry for you.”

I didn’t really hate the department or the motives. I didn’t expect much from the beginning, so I didn’t have an emotional heart. However, when I saw this apology, I felt slightly better.

“Okay.”

Upon hearing my answer, she said she was happy and held out her glass.

“Then shall we toast? Braided!”

“… Braided.”

They bumped each other into paper cups and drank the beer in them. This one felt a bit cool, perhaps because it was in the refrigerator.

I took a sip and lowered my glass when I heard a familiar voice.

“You!”

The demon king smiled and approached the table where I was. Holding the chestnut makgeolli, a local specialty that she received as her winning prize, she teased me by putting her arm around my shoulder.

“Don’t feel so bad that your team lost. Isn’t there a destiny for the demon king to defeat the hero?”

“You didn’t do anything! Seeing earlier, I was just watching!”

“That was all controlled by Jim from behind. I mean, Jim was black. Haha!”

If anyone hears it, they’ll think it came up as a bye victory by killing all the competitors.

The reason why her team won the victory was because of the efforts of her teammates except for her. They had been preparing a Texas barbecue called Brisket since before MT, and they were also seen making potato salad to accompany it. It was not at all something that could be mixed with something like bulgogi made with sauce sold at the mart.

“Hey, sister!”

The captain called the demon king who clung to me. Having dyed her hair yellow, she held out the bulgogi we made in plastic.

“Sister, try this!”

Then the boy sitting next to her interrupted. He asked the devil to have a drink with him this morning and said while shaking his hand.

“Hey! The sunbae ate brisket and came here. Would you like it!”

“Uh?”

Hearing this, the captain looked bewildered. However, the demon king took the chopsticks from my hand and ate the bulgogi.

“Hmm! Pretty tasty!”

“That, right? We made this!”

“Ahaha! It was so delicious that I thought it was from a restaurant!”

“Yes?”
She didn’t understand at first, but when she heard her say that it was as good as selling, she started to laugh. The boy who was betting on her also caught her mood and boasted about what he had done.

“Senior, I dug that and cut it!”

“You mean this?”

What the demon king picked up was a slice of a green onion. He cut the sheath deep, but when he saw one piece, the green onion, he hardened his face. But she casually put the failure in her mouth.

“This makes the chewing taste come alive! Good work!”

“Oh, haha! Well done!”

The boy immediately cleared her face and smiled pleasantly.

The Demon King quietly put down his arm around my shoulder while talking. In the meantime, he showed how he got along with the other members.

Feeling so alone. It wasn’t the first time. It was the same atmosphere when the party was held after the battle in another world. I was the main character, but my aides left me, mingling with other soldiers. In the end, the person who drank with me was Sera, a half-dark elf.

She missed me, even though she killed me. Raised as a murder weapon, I wondered how I would live when the war ended.

“You.”

While reminiscing about the past, the demon king called me. She sat down on the chair next to me and came close to me.

“What are you thinking with Jim next to you?”

“No, just thinking about the old days.”

“Didn’t I say earlier that I only thought of Jim?”

“At that time, the words were in vain!”

My face became hot when I remembered what had happened at the observatory. The demon king looked at my face and smiled mischievously.

“Oh, you mean that?”

As she was about to say something, the foreman cut in from beside her. She held out a plate of rice and kimchi and said with a smile.

“Sister! Try this! It’s so delicious!”

“That’s right, sister!”

“Sister, would you like a beer?”

In addition, other girls approached pretending to be friends with the demon king.

They were the ones who looked at her with her bad eyes until this morning. However, after she saw the demon lord keep burping on the bus, she showed such a friendly side. Should I say he’s easy-going or dirty, he seemed to like that kind of look.

The Demon King greeted them with a smile, as if they were burdensome but not bad.

“Oh, well. Thank you.”

Now, this insider, who had been sitting here, started eating. When the chopsticks were completely hers, I tried to get up from her seat to find a new one. But right after that, a boy who seemed light-hearted stood up, and seeing that made me feel uncomfortable and just sat down.

I gave up eating and opened the bag of snacks in front of me. At that time, the king put the bottle of makgeolli he was holding on the table and said.

“I was treated like this, but I can’t stay still! Get this!”

“Wow! Sister!”

“Senior! Thank you!”

Alcohol was also included, and the excitement rose as much as they could, and they clapped and liked even the simple drink.

“I’ll follow Jim himself!”

The demon king shook the bottle using a wrist snap and then opened the lid. Then he grabbed my paper cup, drank the remaining beer, and poured makgeolli into the empty glass.

“Ruler! You drink first!”

At those words, the members of the group sitting at this table looked at me with shining eyes. I drank the cup the demon king handed me to get away from that burdensome gaze as quickly as possible.

When I put the cup down, the demon king asked.

“How is it?”

“It just tastes like rice wine mixed with ice cream at night. So-so.”

“What? Jim poured it for me, but what kind of taste is that?”

“The taste is just so what?”

“Then everyone should try it! Like Jiheon said, it just tastes like that!”

The demon king hurriedly poured alcohol for the other members. Their reaction to the drink she poured them was the same.

“So delicious!”

It was a word that had to come out out of politeness, whether it was tasteless or tasteful. Even so, the Demon King happily accepted it.

“Hmm! Isn’t it natural! Give it to me!”

She took my cup again and poured the makgeolli again. But she didn’t give me this time and drank it herself.

“Gulp, gulp, um!”

She smiled and said, leaving a white mark on her mouth.

“So delicious! How did you say it’s tasteless!”

“When did I say it wasn’t delicious? I just said that.”

“I’ll see if that word comes out this time too.”

The demon king shook the bottle with only a small amount left, and poured it into the paper cups that both he and I were kissing. Unlike the first makgeolli, it was impressive that it was thick and dark in color.

He held out a glass that looked different from the one the other members drank and whispered softly so only I could hear.

“This is the most delicious part. I will eat only you.”

Watching her secret smile, I accepted the paper cup as if possessed. When I drank it in front of the demon king, I noticed that it was completely different from what I drank earlier. The chestnut taste and aroma were thicker and more delicious.

Just as she was about to tell her that her taste had changed, someone called her.

“It’s Sohee!”

Both the demon king and I turned our heads and looked at the caller. Giving a good-natured impression, he approached us with a disposable plate of meat.

“Don’t just play with the freshmen, let’s play with us too.”

She noticed that she was a senior to me in the part where she said she was a freshman. I saw my classmates bowing their heads and copying them.

“Yes, bye.”

However, the senior gave a rough greeting and focused only on the demon king.

“It’s Sohee. Hansol sunbaenim brought Western liquor. But I won’t pick it until you come.”

“Oh oh! Is it!”

I knew the devil would rise here. He said that beer is not even alcohol and showed the image of a drinker. But she didn’t wake up. She glanced at me and she put her arm around my shoulder again.

“Sorry, Jim will be here. I drink so much that I can’t stand upright. Whoops!”

Suddenly, the demon king pretended to be weak and leaned on me. I was surprised when the silver hair came closer, but the one who changed the most in face color was the senior and the boy in the same class who looked light.

“Uh, yes? Hey, then take a break there. I will come later.”

The senpai put on a slightly pale face and tried to return to where he was. Seeing him like that, the demon king leaned on me and shouted.

“Wait a minute!”

“Huh?”

He brightened up and looked at the demon king again. She asked, pointing to the plate the senpai was holding.

“Why did you bring that?”

“Uh, this?”

“I don’t think you brought it here to brag.”

“That’s right…”

“Then leave it here. Shouldn’t flowery freshmen also taste it?”

When the demon king said that, he was looking at me, not his classmate sitting at the table. She smiled and looked at me with her blue eyes, then turned her attention to her senior.

“Thank you. Because you brought it yourself.”

She didn’t say give, but her hand was already reaching for the plate.

“Uh, yes… “

The senior, embarrassed, handed her plate to her outstretched hand. The demon king put the plate he received on top of our group table.

“Ruler! Brisket!”

“And! Sister!”

“Thank you, senior Sohee!”

“It is not Jim who should be thankful, but this ruler! Be grateful to him!”

After seeing the barbecue that was almost taken away, the demon king was condescending. Meanwhile, the senior who was about to bring her back in exchange for her meat trudged over to her table.

The drinking party continued for a while with the bulgogi made by my group and the brisket stolen by the demon king. However, while the demon king was talking with me, they left one by one, and in the end, only the two of them were left.

Now, the demon king looked around the table as he lowered the damp paper cup.

“Hmm? Has everyone left?”

“I went to the Long ago.”

I poured beer into an empty glass. As soon as her drink was filled, she immediately poured it into her mouth.

“Ha ha! After all, beer isn’t alcohol, is it a beverage?”

“Did your face turn red after drinking that drink?”

“Isn’t that what it is because I’m with you?”

“… “

“Your face is a bit red too. Is it because you are with Jim?”

“It’s because you’ve been drinking! Drinking!”

Perhaps he suddenly got drunk, and when the demon king looked at him with a smile, his face instantly became hot. He lifted the bottle and tried to fill the paper cup with alcohol to hide it. However,

“Uh? Are they all gone?”

I looked around the table for another drink. But only empty bottles were visible, nothing new.

“Then I’ll bring some more.”

The Demon King rose next to me. Then she felt the cold wind blow in her side as she warmed her.

Being alone at an empty table with no one around was a bit so, so I tried to get up. But she put her hand on my shoulder to stop it.

“You sit down and wait. Even if someone you don’t know offers you sweets, you shouldn’t follow them. Got it?”

“What bullshit.”

“It’s okay if I offer you a drink instead. Oh, if the woman asks to follow you, Jim will kill you.”

Showing her fists were clenched, she walked with a steady pace uncharacteristic of a drunkard.

I turned my gaze to her and looked around her. As befits a university MT, college students my age were sitting at a table laughing and chatting. But, among them, I saw a familiar person.

“… Glass?”

Her drink made her face red, and she was laughing and talking to the people sitting around her. It was a world apart from the unstable appearance she showed me while clinging to me.

It was nice to see him smiling so lively. Why did it happen now

While I was thinking about the old days, the phone rang. I took out my phone and looked at the screen, and Sehee’s name was on it. I pressed the call button, thinking that it would be an academy by now.

“Huh.”

-Brother? Do you have a sister next to you right now?

I heard Se-hee’s voice, which is cool but feels a little soft these days.

“No, I don’t have one.”

-Is it so? Then, if you meet me, please take a picture and send it to me.

“What?”

-There are only photos taken during the collection. I thought about dropping out of school, but I thought I’d get caught, so I asked my brother.

“I will not!”

-Of course, I’m not asking you to do it for free.

“No matter how much you pay!”

-Aren’t you curious about your taste?

Hearing those words, strangely, I thought of the demon king who was laughing and chatting a moment ago. Unlike me, she was active and had a knack for making those around her laugh. I unconsciously asked about her nameless emotion that bloomed here.

“What.”

-Unnie, actually, I like wearing skirts.

The Demon King likes to wear skirts? Has she only ever seen her in a skirt? The moment he thought about it, Sehee made a shocking remark.

-It’s worn by men.