He shook off Dojin, who was clinging to him and telling him to stay behind, and stood up. All of these people were severe alcoholics, so there didn’t seem to be any signs of it ending. Sooil, who started off by putting on a gentle face, had long since joined them and was dancing together. Dojin and Iseul, who had joined them after cleaning up the kitchen, said that they should drink until tomorrow morning as though they were planning on consuming all the alcohol in the store. Ever since Daemyung, who could drink just as much as him, started drinking, it became an occasion of who-can-drink-more.

He went outside and had a look at his watch. It was just past 10 p.m. He blew away the sweet scent of rice wine with a breath of air.

“You guys are going to have to clean up a corpse if I stayed in there. Gosh, I’m dying.”

“I can’t exactly stop them when they’re planning on drinking as much as they sold today.”

“True,” Ando said, following him out.

He put a cigarette in his mouth and looked for a lighter.

“I don’t have one on me.”

“Ah, right. You don’t smoke, do you?”

“When did you start smoking?”

“I learned to in the military. This is the only thing my direct senior taught me.”

“That’s a dang nice thing you were taught. You should quit if possible.”

“I will,...