CH 20

Sizzle–

Mouth-watering sounds erupted when fresh cut beef was placed on a grill. Sugyeom’s eyes sparkled as he held his chopsticks and anxiously waited for the meat to cook.

“Sugyeom, the meat will be cooked by your eyes.”

“I really hope so. Like laser beams, chijii.”

Sugyeom responded to Taewon’s joke while smacking his lips. Taewon smiled when he saw Sugyeom’s heartfelt reaction.

“Sugyeom, although you only need to cook it slightly, this is still raw.”

“Heuk…”

Sugyeom was at a loss for words. Nevertheless, his eyes never left the meat.

Taewon, sympathizing with the impatient Sugyeom, pressed some of the uncooked meat with his tongs.

“This should be enough for Tataki.”

“Yay! Thank you!”

Taewon picked up a piece of meat that was barely cooked and placed it in front of Sugyeom’s plate. Sugyeom immediately picked it up and ate it. Perhaps because it was Korean beef, but it melted in his mouth even though it was no different from being raw.

“The others are roughly cooked now. You can pick it up yourself.”

Taewon said as he arranged the meat while Sugyeom continued to chew. However, unlike what he had said, he continued to pick up the cooked meat with his tongs and put it on Sugyeom’s plate.

From the way Taewon was only taking care of Sugyeom, perhaps the other members would be upset, but no one complained about the familiar scene. Rather, they were all engrossed in taking care of Sugyeom.

“Sugyeom-hyung, have some Sprite.”

“Oh, thank you. Yuchan.”

Yuchan offered Sugyeom a full glass of Sprite he had poured. Sugyeom immediately accepted it and emptied half at once.

“Keuuek, refreshing.”

Hansol couldn’t hide his smile when he saw Sugyeom made a satisfied expression even though he was suffering from the stinging carbonation.

Igyeom pushed a bowl of potato salad that Sugyeom liked in front of him. Sugyeom, having only concentrated on meat all along, only noticed there were side dishes after one was pushed right in front of him.

“There’s salad too.”

Sugyeom’s eyes widened after he quickly spooned and tasted the salad. As the softness of the mashed potatoes mixed with mayonnaise lingered in his mouth, his body even trembled with joy.

“Why is this so delicious?”

“It’s because you have a child’s taste bud.”

“Why is liking potato salad a child’s taste bud?”

Sugyeom responded discontentedly to Igyeom’s teasing, but again picked up a spoonful of the potato salad.

Meanwhile, Hansol made a Ssam with three pieces of beef and brought it to Sugyeom’s mouth.

“Hyung, say ah~”

“Why is the Ssam so big?”

“It’s because I’ve packed my love for hyung inside.”

“Hey, then isn’t this too small? If you love me, you should make one much bigger.”

“Ah, it’s because the lettuce is too small. The lettuce can’t hold my love for hyung.”

When Sugyeom wrinkled his eyes and said playfully, Hansol squinted and laughed at the banter. Seeing his reaction, Sugyeom smiled and ate the Ssam.

As he struggled to chew the Ssam with swollen cheeks, he suddenly tilted his head, feeling something amiss.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

“Hmph hm hmhm hmm? Mhm hmph hm?”

Why is everyone looking at me? You’re not going to eat it?

Even though the pronunciation was incomprehensible, Yuchan smiled lightly as if he could understand what Sugyeom had said.

“We’re eating. Don’t worry.”

No matter how Sugyeom looked at it, everyone seemed to be watching him, but he had nothing more to say when he heard Yuchan say they were eating.

He cleared his head and focused on chewing the Ssam still in his mouth.

“Our Sugyeom is eating well.”

Taewon smiled contentedly. As he reached out in a straight line to stroke Sugyeom’s head, Sugyeom nimbly moved his small head.

“You’re going to flatten my hair!”

Sugyeom said sharply after having barely swallowed the Ssam. Nonetheless, Taewon chuckled and patted Sugyeom’s head.

“Ah, you’re going to flatten my hair!”

“It’s okay, it’s not my hair.”

“What?!”

Taewon laughed when he saw Sugyeom’s round eyes turning sharp.

The resentment in Sugyeom’s eyes grew as his head was patted, but Taewon remained steadfast. On the contrary, Taewon simply smiled brightly as if he was having fun. Soon, Taewon picked up more cooked meat and put it in front of Sugyeom.

“Eat, eat.”

“Gosh, I was going to eat it without you telling me.”

Although Sugyeom grumbled, he didn’t turn down the meat. As a result, Taewon continued to grin. Ignoring Taewon, Sugyeom picked up the meat and ate it while fuming.

“I need alcohol because I’m angry.”

“That’s the most ridiculous reason I’ve ever heard.”

Taewon shrugged his shoulders and countered Sugyeom’s remark without missing a beat.

Realizing that talking to Taewon wouldn’t work, Sugyeom decided to change his target.

After alternating between Igyeom, Hansol, and Yuchan, he fixed his eyes on Igyeom. He seemed to be the only person who could overturn Taewon.

“Igyeom, I…”

“Drink Sprite.”

“Wh-why!”

Even before Sugyeom could finish, he asked back in an unjust voice. However, Igyeom remained expressionless.

Sugyeom looked back at Hansol and Yuchan for help, but even they quietly dodged his gaze.

“Wh-why is this! I’m an adult. Let me drink alcohol!”

Sugyeom looked like a child who was suddenly throwing a tantrum.

The more he talked, the more he felt it was unfair.

It had been two years since he became an adult.

They weren’t in a promotion period right now, and although he had caused an accident the last time he drank…wasn’t it a long time ago? He had made a fool of himself…But so?!

Nevertheless, he never did anything to make it into the news!

“Hyung, seriously…No alcohol…”

“Huh, why not? Why?”

“Why…You know…”

Even Hansol, who always listened to Sugyeom, shook his head. As Sugyeom fumed, he had no choice but to concede that he had no one on his side.

Eventually, he poured the remaining half of Sprite down his throat.

In his current life, he had only drank once in this life.

Although he only remembered half of what happened back then, he could recall for certain that the others were put in a difficult situation because of him.

* * *

“Happy birthday! Happy birthday! Happy birthday Director~ Happy birthday~! Waaah!”

Sugyeom clapped his hands rhythmically and sang the happy birthday song excitedly. Seonuk smiled cheerly at the sight, unable to hold back.

“Director, put on your hat. Hat.”

Hansol smiled and held out a rainbow cone hat decorated with pom poms around the rim. Seonuk, who had been smiling brightly at Sugyeom’s playfulness, wrinkled his forehead as if he was troubled by the hat.

“E-even so, isn’t this a little…”

“I chose it!”

“Cute. Sugyeom picked something I like.”

Seonuk quickly changed what he was going to say after hearing Sugyeom.

It was naturally still too much even if the subject had changed to Sugyeom, but he couldn’t help but smile when he imagined Sugyeom’s appearance choosing such a hat.

“Director, please put on your hat, okay?”

“Okay, fine.”

Seeing Sugyeom ask with his sparkling, round eyes, Seonuk had found it impossible to refuse. Well, it wasn’t because the person who had asked was Sugyeom…No, it was exactly because it was Sugyeom. If it was someone else’s request, he would never have listened.

He wore the colorful cone hat over his neatly combed pomade hair. It looked oddly out of place.

Everyone except Sugyeom turned their heads as they tried to hold back their laughter when they saw it.

“Hahahaha. Awesome!”

Sugyeom didn’t even try to hold back his laughter after personally picking out the hat and telling Seonuk to wear it. Such a brazen act would be considered annoying, but Seonuk only smiled after he saw Sugyeom laughing.

“What, does it suit me?”

“Hahaha, yes, it’s awesome. As expected, face is everything. It’s the Director, so you can pull it off. If it was someone else, they would just be funny.”

“Sugyeom, but aren’t you laughing?”

“Eh, I’m laughing because I like the director.”

“Really? Do you really like me?”

Seonuk asked twice when he heard Sugyeom’s lighthearted remark.

“Asking me something like that. Of course!”

Sugyeom said casually, perhaps having not noticed Seonuk’s voice that had become more serious. Seonuk looked at Sugyeom quietly.

“Uh, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just, I’m looking at Sugyeom’s face. Can’t I?”

“That’s true, but…”

Sugyeom muddled the end of words, not knowing what to say. His big eyes sparkled soon after as he looked at Seonuk with anticipation.

“Director, Director.”

“Ehm, tell me.”

""

“Today is a good day, so can you please lift the ban?”

Specifically, Seonuk had placed an indefinite drinking ban on the newly debuted U-PITE. The condition was imposed because celebrities often drank liquor and caused accidents.

Although it couldn’t be helped under special circumstances, it was Seonuk’s thinking that no good could come from celebrities drinking.

For this reason, Sugyeom, who had prepared his debut under Seonuk from the time he was a minor, had never had a sip of liquor.

Seonuk also knew that, so he understood how much he wanted to drink.

“Yes…? Director, can you do anything about it?”

Seonuk was troubled for a moment by Sugyeom’s desperate plea. Considering Sugyeom was an adult, he couldn’t stop him from drinking forever. With just a little more debut experience, Sugyeom’s confidence would grow and he would want to act on his own.

Sugyeom had never drank liquor as far as Seonuk was aware. If so, it would be best if his first time was in his presence.

After a short thought, Seonuk nodded lightly.

“Okay, fine. Because Sugyeom asked nicely. I’ll cut you some slack once.”