Chapter 121
Daoist Woonhak had said it clearly: ‘Don’t drink too much.’
I had said: ‘How am I supposed to do that?’
“Drink! Drink! Drink until you drop~!”
Actually, I hadn’t intended to drink this much.
At first, we had been drinking quite moderately, chatting leisurely over our drinks.
There were quite a few people who weren’t drinking, after all. For example, Daoist Woonhak and Monk Xu Jae, who were practitioners… And Liyeon.
Still, since Liyeon was an ordinary person, I thought he could have at least one drink and offered him some, but he didn’t even pretend to listen to my suggestion. In fact, he even moved farther away and sat down, as though he could smell the alcohol.
‘Tsk, what a shame.’
It was rare to get to see a beauty drunk.
Anyway, since there were several people who weren’t drinking, we needed to pace ourselves.
But only taking little sips was far too frustrating.
I had still intended to exercise some restraint this time, but they say an old habit dies hard. Before I knew it, I had a liquor jar in my hands, pouring the alcohol directly down my throat, hadn’t I?
Naturally, it wasn’t long before I…
“Ah, one. Ah, two. Ah, one-two-three-four.”
I was completely wasted.
“Who’s drinking? Tang Hi’s drinking! Dang! Clap-clap, clap-clap. Hee! Clap-clap, clap-clap. Tang Hi-shot!”
“Of course, the first glass has to be a one-shot, right? Half-shot dog, give me a half-shot dog! Out beyond the village~ the orchard! Shot! The acacia flowers are in full bloom–shot-shot-shot~!”
“The liquor is going down! Gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp! Gulp gulp gulp gulp gulp! How long are you going to make me do this shoulder dance~ Ah, look at my shoulder~ It’s dislocated! Dislocated! Dislocated! Dislocated-dislocated-dislocated! Collarbone! Collarbone! Collarbone-collarbone-collarbone!”
“Kyahaha!”
I must have been incredibly drunk, because I was excitedly singing drinking-game songs without even remembering whether I was in the modern world or the martial world.
Surprisingly, the kids were practically dying of laughter listening to me sing.
Was it because they were young martial artists who had been raised so sheltered and privileged? Just having someone beside them livening things up made them clap their hands and enjoy themselves with such pure delight. Naturally, the more they reacted like that, the more excited I became.
Taking advantage of the moment, I said,
“Hehehe, our Miss Tang likes this sort of thing, huh? Then should I teach you some drinking games too? Ah, a game is basically a bet where you establish rules and compete against each other. The person who loses drinks the alcohol.”
“A bet? Sounds fun. How do you play?”
“Okay, then shall we start with the simple Finger Folding Game?”
“Brother Dan, who is this “fingerfold”?”
“Ah, it’s just something like that. Look. You have five fingers, right? If I say, ‘Fold if you’re holding a sword,’ then anyone who meets that condition folds a finger.”
“And then?”
“Everyone takes turns stating one condition, and whoever folds all five fingers loses and has to drink a penalty shot. Understand?”
“Ah-ha, so that means…”
Tang Hi whispered, her eyes sparkling.
“I can target someone specifically?”
“Pretty smart, aren’t you?”
I was genuinely impressed. Was this what they meant by understanding one thing and learning ten? Was Tang Hi a drinking-game prodigy?
“Everyone join in! Even those who aren’t drinking!”
I gathered the members of the Inspection Team. Daoist Woonhak and Monk Heojae, who weren’t drinking but had been watching us with interest, came forward, while Liyeon continued to watch from behind.
Although I secretly felt disappointed, I looked at everyone sitting together in a circle and said,
“Okay, starting with Tang Hi, we’ll go clockwise, with each person stating a condition. Think carefully before you say one. This is actually a battle of wits, you know. Got it? All right, let’s begin!”
“Fold if you have someone you like!”
“Gasp.”
I sucked in a breath.
F-First round, and already such a strong condition?
But Tang Hi’s bold condition didn’t produce much of a result. Most of them simply stared blankly without folding a finger. What should I do? I should at least fold one for her…
“Huh?”
At that moment, I saw someone. There was exactly one person, and that one person was hesitating over whether to fold a finger.
That person was…
“Rangrang, aren’t you going to fold?”
“Eek…!”
It was Paeng Mirang!
Paeng Mirang’s face was going red and pale by turns as he trembled. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and ‘snap!’ folded a finger.
“What?!”
I shouted.
“What, what, what! Rangrang actually has someone he likes? Who is it? Who, who, who!”
“Next!”
“Who could it really be? A young lady from another prestigious family? Or perhaps some girl of a different social standing? Or maybe someone who had been arranged as his betrothed since childhood, whom he had never been interested in, but gradually started developing feelings for…”
“What the hell have you been watching? Just say the next one!”
“Detective Dan, you still don’t get it?”
Tang Hi suddenly gave a suggestive smile and subtly glanced to the side. Without realizing it, I followed her gaze. At the end of that gaze was someone familiar.
Second place in the Inspection Team’s beauty rankings. The person who had been sitting there silently all this time, like an aloof flower, was…
“Gasp!”
‘M-Miss Ju…?!’
I instinctively covered my mouth with both hands.
So that’s why! This guy had been strangely wary of me ever since I’d started hanging around them. Did he think I was interested in Miss Ju, and that’s why he’d been acting like that?!
Wait, but Miss Ju isn’t interested in men, is she? She intends to maintain her chastity for the rest of her life and eventually become a Buddhist nun.
Uh, then does that mean this is…?
“Unrequited love?”
I blurted it out before I could stop myself, then froze. Everyone had their eyes wide open, as though I had just uttered some forbidden word.
Silence descended for a moment. Everyone was watching Paeng Mirang’s reaction, and just as his face became so red it looked ready to explode, I hurriedly changed the subject.
“W-Well, I see. Okay. Let’s just move on for now. Then next is… me, right? Me.”
I glanced sideways at Paeng Mirang again.
Suddenly, I felt sorry for him. So I decided to give her a special condition.
“Fold if you’re not in unrequited love…”
“I’m not!”
Paeng Mirang’s shout echoed through the mountains.
***
We played several more rounds of drinking games before soon wrapping things up.
Tang Hi and Zhuge Ye, who had drunk far too much, collapsed one after the other.
That didn’t mean everyone else was perfectly fine, either. Miss Ju had a slight flush on her otherwise pale face, while Peng Mirang was trying her best to look fine, but her steps were unsteady.
Before long, they all fell into a deep sleep.
I helped the three people who had cleaned everything up and took care of the drunk members of the group as I awkwardly said,
“Well, we were supposed to take turns standing watch, but that’s going to be difficult now, isn’t it? I’m sorry, Daoist. You told me not to drink too much, but I got a little carried away…”
At my words, Daoist Woonhak looked at me incredulously, as if to say, ‘A little carried away?’ But he soon smiled and said,
“It’s all right. Ever since Daoist Dan brought out ten jars of alcohol, I had more or less prepared myself for this.”
“Haha.”
“But are you all right, Daoist Dan? I believe you drank nearly half of the ten jars of alcohol you brought.”
“Ah, well, I…”
I was about to say, ‘Of course I’m fine,’ but stopped for a moment.
Actually… I wasn’t fine.
I had sobered up a long time ago. At some point, a cold, stabbing pain had begun to appear.
At first, it was merely a chilly ache around my stomach, but toward the end, it had gotten bad enough to make cold sweat break out across my back. If the drinking session had lasted any longer, they probably would have noticed.
‘I knew this would happen.’
I had used quite a bit of strength today. Once the energy had broken free of its reins, it had gone berserk, and the two energies in my dantian were already constantly clashing against each other.
‘That’s why I’d been drinking so much more alcohol…’
“Daoist Dan, Daoist Dan?”
“Huh? Yes?”
I belatedly came to my senses. At some point, Daoist Woonhak was looking at me with a worried expression.
Only then did I feel a sense of urgency. If I delayed any longer, they would realize something was wrong with me. I had to hide that at all costs. In the martial world, revealing a weakness was practically the same as handing someone the lifeline to your own life.
I smiled casually. Cold sweat was soaking the back of my neck.
“Ah… haha, I suppose I’ve gotten drunk too. My mind keeps going in and out. I’ll take a short walk just up ahead and sober up.”
“What? At this hour?”
“I’ll be right back. Just a moment…”
And before Daoist Woonhak could say anything else, I hurriedly walked away.
I could hear Daoist Woonhak calling after me from behind. Or perhaps he hadn’t called me at all. By then, my ears had begun alternating between hearing things and not hearing them.
‘I need to hurry. Hurry.’
I ran without even knowing where I was going.
Once I felt that I had gotten far enough away, I collapsed onto the ground and hurriedly rummaged through my clothes before pulling out a medicine bottle. I tilted the bottle and shoved several pills into my mouth without even knowing how many I had taken.
A cooling sensation traveled down my throat. I sat cross-legged right there and guided the medicinal energy through my body.
How much time had passed?
“Hoo…”
As the turbulent energy settled down somewhat, I calmly opened my eyes. My entire body was drenched in sweat.
When I finally managed to stand, my exhausted body staggered. I had put out the immediate fire with medicine and intended to return, but in this condition, I couldn’t go back.
I sat down on a large rock nearby.
I took out one of the liquor jars I had set aside at my waist. Then I opened the lid and immediately poured it into my mouth. My head grew hot, and soon I felt as though my body were floating.
Suddenly, the surroundings became blurry, as if covered in fog.
A feeling of elation arose within me.
I knew this symptom well.
The symptom that came before seeing the illusion… Soon, the scenery around me changed, and noisy sounds reached my ears.
Sounds I had been waiting for. At the same time, a familiar presence slowly approached me.
I raised my head and smiled broadly.
“My lady.”
***
Liyeon opened his eyes.
The person he had been waiting for had not come.
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