93 — Pick Your Poison

As you'd expect from this type of establishment, two giants, suited-up and with earpieces, were standing guard in front of the entrance. One had his arms crossed over his chest while he eyed us like we were pieces of meat he would love to pummel, and the other had his hands clasped in front of him as his expression twisted into a sneer at our approach.

He looked us up and down with obvious disdain and muttered. "Not again..." To which the larger, sterner guard just sighed.

The smaller man walked to meet us in front of the club's door.

"You're too young." He growled out. "Out of here." The guy flicked his wrist. "You kids—if that's what I'd call you. You think I haven't already had a dozen of you come and ask to be let in just because 'it's your birthday and your cousin said it was alright'?"

I glanced over at the other guard. He didn't even flinch.

Jong-su merely grinned.

I had no clue why, until the defender walked forward, his feet crunching softly against the gravel. "It's alright. You two must be new. The owner knows me. I've been here plenty of times before."

The doorman raised an eyebrow and crossed his massive arms, looking down with suspicion.

"You say?"

"Yes. Please, let him know that Jong-su is here." He flashed the man a charming, innocent smile.

"......"

Jong-su continued to smile, his eyes sparkling.

"You expect me to let you in because a punk says a name?" The guard grunted and moved forward. His eyes glowed menacingly in the dark of the night as he towered over the defender.

"Hey, easy buddy." Jong-su put his hands up. The other's breath quickened, his body tense as though about to snap. "No need to get all aggressive about it."

I put my hand on Jong-su's shoulder. "Come on, it's not worth the trouble. Let's get out of here—"

"It's okay." Jong-su grinned at me, waving my concern aside. The guy was brimming with confidence, which meant that either he knew what he was doing or he'd had his ego overfilled to the point of delusion.

He turned to the bouncer, who was a good head taller than him, walked up to him and whispered something that none of us caught.

I could see the moment of realization dawn upon the man's face. His eyes widened briefly before settling into an impassive stare, and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards in what could've been an attempt at smiling, or could also just as easily be an involuntary twitch of revulsion at having been approached so brazenly by this nutcase standing next to us.

He then turned to the bigger, quieter of the duo and gave a curt nod, before facing Jong-su with an expression that was both disbelieving and appraising at once.

Then the bouncer opened the door for him.

"Please..." The bouncer said through gritted teeth. "I apologize for our behavior. Have a great time at the Pulse." His lips were a tight line.

"Ah, thank you. Come on, guys." Jong-su said cheerily. As though there wasn't anything strange at all to have happened. Like it was expected, even. He waltzed in.

Me, Jun-hwan, Dae-hyun and Sung-tae looked at each other.

"That was weird." Dae-hyun shrugged. He adjusted his baseball hat. Sung-tae seemed to share the feeling, tilting his head to one side in a thoughtful gesture, while Jun-hwan's eyebrows rose just a fraction higher than they would usually go up at someone's actions being 'weird'.

The four of us stared down at the doorway leading into the club. We could hear the muffled thump-thump-thump of the bass and treble reverberating off of everything in there.

I walked up to Jong-su. "What was that all about?"

"Secret."

He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Seriously dude."

He tapped the side of his nose and grinned at me.

"Well?" He gestured inside. "What're you guys waiting for?!"

I shook my head and took a deep breath before heading into the club, the music becoming clearer the closer I got. I mean, it wasn't my business, I just found it utterly fascinating and ridiculous at the same time. Like, what now, was Jong-su an underground kingpin or something? Meh, even if he was, that shit wasn't really going to change how I treated him anyways.

A few moments later, the others were right behind me. It was the middle of the week and the club wasn't completely filled, which meant there weren't many people waiting outside, but still—it didn't really matter.

There were a lot of patrons dancing and chatting, while others sat around drinking alcohol and chatting up girls. Typical club scene stuff.

As soon as we entered, all of the women present in the room turned and eyed us from head to toe. Some gave appreciative nods or catcalls. Most giggled amongst themselves.

Jun-hwan rolled his eyes, and I saw Dae-hyun shift uncomfortably.

Sung-tae however grinned.

Jong-su moved in and threw an arm around my shoulder.

"What's your pleasure, buddy? Girls?" He pointed over towards a group sitting close by, which included some truly gorgeous creatures wearing skimpy clothing. "Or perhaps drinks first?" Jong-su pointed back at the bar, where there was no shortage of liquor. "Pick your poison, Jae-Il." He said cheerily. "First round's on me. I'm not letting my best friend go without having at least a good night's worth."

It was almost scary, seeing such a cheerful expression. I couldn't decide if it was creepy, or if it was funny, so I settled for just being amused for the sake of enjoying his company for what it was instead of asking him about this whole mess. He was probably going to reveal everything in good time anyways.

"You sure know how to treat a man." I chuckled. "Alright then. I'll have whatever you choose, Jong-su." He knew me pretty well at this point.

And with that said, I allowed him to lead us through the sea of bodies towards one side, where there were several stools available in front of the countertop. As soon as Jong-su took a seat and gestured to all of us to sit as well, Sung-tae quickly grabbed a spot for himself. Jun-hwan took his seat last. He was quiet the whole time, staring straight ahead, even while his fingers tapped on his knees nervously.

I could feel him tense beside me as the music got louder and louder, drowning out all other sounds until nothing else existed besides that thumping bass. You could feel it in your heart; that was how loud it was. Flashing lights. Squirming, dancing bodies. The smells of perfume mixed with alcohol and sweat.

It wasn't an unpleasant environment by any means. Just... very, very new. Especially for guys who were normally busy training from morning to evening. Or night.

I used to visit a lot of these clubs and parties in the past, in another life.

"First time for all of ya?"

Dae-hyun's voice was soft, barely audible underneath the sound of the beat. It didn't take much to figure that part out.

Everyone nodded at him.

Jong-su, who had the bartender bring him over a tray filled with shots, picked one of them, sniffed it once, before taking it with a loud cheer.

He grinned, then turned and looked at us.

"Then welcome! Cheers!"

Sung-tae clanked his drink with his. He looked down at it, then at the defender who had somehow gotten the two bouncers to let all of us in, despite not being of legal age, then took it down with one big sip. Dae-hyun gave in to peer pressure and curiosity and followed Sung-tae's lead. It was kind of amusing to see his reaction to the alcohol hitting him, because that first wince told us everything.

"Jeez." The big guy muttered. He shuddered as it hit him harder. "It tastes funny. And spicy."

I didn't partake, someone had to be the responsible one of the bunch. Not that I would hold myself to that high standard. But I've already had my experiences, so all of that nice music, these drinks, these pretty girls staring at us, didn't quite hit me as hard. Didn't give me that high that Mia usually did.

I took out my phone, checking to see if she'd sent me any messages. She did. Su Ah did too.

A goodnight with a blowing kiss emoji from Mia.

A goodnight without any emojis from Su Ah.

They didn't think I was still awake, and assumed I would've been dead tired from all the matches and training. Which, you know, I was. But a man's got to have fun.

"Coach would kill us if he found out about this." Dae-hyun sighed.

"Well then, don't tell him!" Jong-su said. He then grabbed another shot glass, and pushed it in front of me. "And take that."

I pushed the drink away from my person and smirked.

"I'll pass. Don't wanna puke out my soul later, and it's better for someone not to get completely wasted, yeah?"

"Aw man. Just drink up."

I waved the defender's words off. Jong-su frowned but shrugged, grabbing the glass and knocking the liquor down his throat. He made an exaggerated "ahhhh!" and grinned again. "Now that's the stuff! You guys are missing out. Big, big."

Jun-Hwan was quiet. The guy stared down into his own glass and then lifted it up to his lips and took a sip. He licked them afterwards.

"Huh... not bad."

The rest of our little party drank their first few shots quickly enough to make me worried about what kind of state we'd find them in later that evening, especially considering we'd need to sneak back inside, but eh, we'd cross that bridge if ever we got to it.

"Jun-hwan likes it!" Jong-su exclaimed, clapping the playmaker on his shoulder. "Nice! Drink up! Drink up!"

Jong-su ordered us another round, except for me, and then decided to grab more once those were all consumed as well.

The club grew busier by the minute, until it reached a peak of sorts that didn't look to be changing any time soon. More people filed through the doors. There was no shortage of women either—they were coming from every which way, dressed provocatively, showing plenty of cleavage and thighs.

Likewise, many young men and older men of varying age groups entered.

The place had the atmosphere of a brothel or strip bar mixed with the smell of booze and sex, and it was exactly what you'd want from such a place. The music was great. Loud and fast, like everything else about it.

Sung-tae seemed particularly enamoured by it, his eyes glued on one of the curvy women in the room who'd just passed by. Dae-hyun and Jun-hwan were no exceptions; the two of them had loosened up significantly compared to their initial stiff posture. Jun-hwan's face looked much redder as the night went on.

It didn't take long before some women approached us. I was inwardly surprised by this modern boldness. Women only ever approached me after they recognized who I was. So far though, there didn't seem to be anyone in the crowd recognizing us as national players. We weren't at that level of popularity yet.

"Hiiii!"

"Hiya boys~"

"Whoooa. Look at this. A group of hunkies~"

I turned around on the bar stool and saw three young girls looking directly at our direction. They all wore short skirts, high heels and makeup on their face. The woman closest to us smiled when she saw us look at them. She was cute, had big blue eyes under heavy lashes, high cheekbones and a petite frame. While the other two were gorgeous in their own ways, they weren't as strikingly pretty.

Not as pretty as Mia, or Su Ah.

And great, now I was using my own sisters as a way to measure the beauty level of any woman I met. This world had messed with my head. But, to be fair, they were probably two of the most beautiful people I'd ever met in both lifetimes combined.

"Yeah~ What're you boys up to tonight?"

The one closest leaned closer towards the group, her chest brushing up against me. She looked up at me with those big, bright eyes, lips slightly parted in anticipation, while she twirled some hair around her fingers.

"Just hanging out here." Jong-su was clearly already feeling it. His expression was relaxed and his tone friendly, with just the tiniest bit of slurring. "You?"

"We were looking for a group of fun boys to hang out with. You guys wanna have a lil party together? Just the six of us. Maybe a lil' something extra to make the night extra spicy. Whattaya think, hm?~"

She got more into my personal space.

I wasn't sure how much more obvious her intentions could get. Especially as I could feel her stare at my face, my neck, my chest and arms.

Jong-su was about to agree, while the others hadn't yet taken up any side, perhaps a bit too stunned still or waiting for someone to give them an opening, when I stood up from the chair. Abruptly. I held my phone in hand, finding those two notifications more interesting than the pretty peacocks around me.

"Ah. Thanks for the invitation. I don't speak for everyone else, but I gotta go take a shit. Been holding it in for a while."

"......"

"......"

"......"

The petite girl floundered for words and just stared vacantly as I stood up and shouldered my way past her. The other two women seemed genuinely shocked by the fact that the guy their friend was trying to hit on suddenly excused himself to take a dump, but they got no help from anyone else in my squad, as all of the boys just sat still and let me move on without saying a thing.

Honestly, it's not like I needed to take a shit for real. It was just a polite way out of that situation.

Maybe in a previous life I would've agreed. But here...?

My head and heart just weren't in the game.

Perhaps I should've taken a shot of something strong; it's not like I had to drive or anything.

You know you have it bad when the first thing you do in a nightclub is go straight to the restroom. I splashed water on my face and then decided to take a breather. As much of a breather I could have in the bathroom. The sound of music still reached the toilet. I chuckled to myself and just stayed leaning against the sink.

I grabbed my phone once again, the two messages staring at me, a reply waiting in the wings.

Mia, as always, had to have the last word. This time she went to sleep with no last-minute additions to her texts. We were so acting like some sort of couple.

Which, we weren't. We didn't say 'I love you' or 'I love you more' before we hung up on the call. I didn't call her every single hour to check up on her or vice versa. We didn't write silly poems or send hearts every other text or any other form of sappy, cheesy love.

Not yet, at least. I was sure she would start getting a kick from teasing me soon with some sweet nothings. She always loved to poke at my defenses until they cracked, that devilish fox.

Crazy how even in such a chaotic place as a club, my mind would still wander back to that same, single, girl.

I was done for. Not for any other reason, because love, liking someone, was perfectly normal. I just never expected that Mia would always be at the forefront of my thoughts. Even when other women approached me, I felt a slight revulsion at the mere prospect of doing anything with a woman that wasn't Mia. Yeah, I was fucking done for. Like, no joke.

Perhaps I should go visit her? Throw pebbles against the windows, like in the movies; I've always wanted to do that.

I dried myself up and strolled right out of there. Back to my team.

Before I could make it back to them—

"Jae-il?"

"......"

I slightly turned to the sound of the voice calling my name.

The familiarity of that voice triggered a name in my mind.

When I completed the 180 degree turn and actually stared at the girl in front of me, I frowned. Coincidences, coincidences. "Small world." Ah, to believe or not to believe, that was the dilemma.

"Small world indeed."

Dae Hee laughed, getting closer, a little shyly, a little eagerly.

Fucking hell.