Descent of the Demon Master

eing regurgitated to the floor, and by now, everyone could tell who had won this bet.

Just to drive the final nail on the coffin, Kang Jin-Ho chugged down the soju still remaining in Gong Gil-Yeong's glass as if it was nothing.
After putting the empty glass down, he licked his lips and quietly muttered, “I won't be paying today, then.”

The onlookers gasped in awe.
“Holy cow.
How many bottles did they drink?”

“Must be over twenty!”

“Does that mean that freshman drank fifteen bottles by himself?!”

“Wow, that's right!”

“How can he be still sitting upright, though! I mean, drinking that much should've totally plastered you by now!”

“…You're right.
Check that out! He doesn't look any different from when he started, does he?!”

Kang Jin-Ho ignored the peanut gallery's comments and got up to leave.

Park Yu-Min asked him worriedly, “Jin-Ho? Where are you going?”

“The bathroom.”

“Does it feel that bad?”

Park Yu-Min's concern was well justified.
No human being would be fine after consuming that much alcohol, after all.
He would sometimes hear brave tales of some folks drinking alcohol by the barrel, but something like that was only possible to pull off by taking it easy and drinking at a leisurely pace.
Logically speaking, you could never be unscathed by consuming that much booze in one sitting.
It would be even worse without diluting the alcohol with snacks!

However, Kang Jin-Ho easily trampled on such concerns.
“No, it's not that.”

“Then, why are you going to a bathroom?”

“Think that what I drank so far was water.” 

Park Yu-Min was left confused by that imagery.
“…Eh?”

“In other words, my bladder's about to burst.”

“Oh…”

Kang Jin-Ho headed to the bathroom without a moment's hesitation.
If he wanted to, he could've expelled the excess water in his body through his pores, but that would lead to high-alcohol-content water particles filling up the surrounding air.
In other words, that would result in the so-called 'second-hand drinking' phenomenon, which would catch quite a few people off guard in the process.
He stood before a urinal and began doing his thing just as two seniors stepped out of a toilet cubicle.

“Hey, Gil-Yeong.
You alright, man?”

“Urgh…”

Gong Gil-Yeong was basically a walking vegetable at this point.
No, walking would be too kind of a statement as he couldn't even stand straight at the moment.

Kang Jin-Ho didn't care, however, and continued to do his business.
But then, someone angrily called out to him.
“Hey, you!”

“Yes?” Kang Jin-Ho glanced back.

A senior with rather thuggish facial features walked up to him in an intimidating manner.
“You! You better watch yourself.”

“I am not following…”

“Looks like you're taking us seniors lightly here…
Keep doing that, and you're going to meet with misfortune, punk.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded.
“I see.
I'll be careful, then.”

It was always better to avoid anything troublesome, after all.

“What the f*ck? What's up with your attitude, punk?!”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head, then tried to sound more polite than before.
“Hmm. Well, then.
Senior, thank you for your advice.”

The thuggish senior was almost ready to blow his top.
“This as*hole really is asking for it!”

“Hey, stop that!” The second senior wearing a pair of spectacles hurriedly stopped the thuggish-looking senior.

“Gimme a freaking break, man! This punk's got a big f*cking head, don't you see?!”

“That's enough, dude! Remember that we're in freshmen orientation! You're a senior, so you gotta watch how you carry yourself!”

“Dammit! Hey, you! You better behave yourself, or else! If I catch you doing nonsense one more time, I'm gonna f*ck you up.
And your punk friends too!”

That was when Kang Jin-Ho began extending his hand rather slowly.

“Huh?” The thuggish-looking senior was taken aback.
But then, Kang Jin-Ho grabbed him by his collar and yanked him close. 

“Huk?!” The senior sucked in a cold breath and urgently raised his fist, but…

“You listen carefully.”

…but his raised fist lost all strength and went limp when a bone-chilling whisper entered his ear.
It felt like every ounce of energy had abandoned his body.
He had never felt this way before…
He had never experienced this bizarre, unexplainable shudder!

“I don't care if you badmouth me.
You could be saying some dumb things in the heat of the moment.
Which is fine, I can overlook it.
However…” Kang Jin-Ho murmured quietly.
“…My friends are off-limits.
Understand what I'm saying?”

“…”

“Answer me.”

“Y-yeah, I got it.”

Kang Jin-Ho let go.
The senior regained his freedom and hurriedly stumbled back.

“Well, then.” Kang Jin-Ho fixed his attire, then turned around to leave.

“Hold on…
Your name is Kang Jin-Ho, right?”

Before he could exit, though, his name was called again.
Kang Jin-Ho glanced back.
“Is there anything else to talk about, senior?”

This time, it was the spectacles-wearing senior that stopped the potential fighting from breaking out.
He walked up to Kang Jin-Ho with an apologetic expression.
“Sorry about this, but…
Can you do me a favor and pretend that this bet didn't happen? We have over fifty people here, and the bill must be close to a million won by now, so forcing that idiot Gil-Yeong to pay is a bit…”[1]

“A bet is a bet, senior.”

“I know.
That's why I'm asking you for this favor.
I know that it's shameless for a senior you just met today to ask you like this, but can you be a little more understanding?”

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Gong Gil-Yeong, still slumped on the bathroom floor.
“Is he your friend, senior?”

“Yes, he is.”

“I see.
Then, I'll do as you ask.”

“Thanks.”

Kang Jin-Ho narrowed his eyes.
“However…”

“Yeah?”

“Please tell him to stick to the promise of not forcing others to drink,” said Kang Jin-Ho while pointing at Gong Gil-Yeong.

“…I'll definitely tell him.”

“Alright.” Kang Jin-Ho nodded once and finally exited the bathroom.
A strange sight was waiting for him when he reached his table, though.
There should have been only two people, but a crowd had settled around the table by now.

'What's going on here?'

Kang Jin-Ho briefly wondered if trouble was brewing, but to his relief, that wasn't it.
As a matter of fact, the atmosphere surrounding the table seemed rather friendly and relaxed.

“Urgh! You know, I was so irritated by that senior when he tried to make me drink earlier.
It was so cool how Jin-Ho handled it, though!”

“Wow, did he do that to you, too?”

“Yeah! It was so crazy, you know! I don't get why he was like that, though.”

Han Se-Yeon was already surrounded by other girls, busy chatting away as if they were long-lost friends.

“Hey, Yu-Min! Listen, my rating won't go any higher than 1,200.
So like, can you coach me to get better?”

Park Yu-Min, stuck between enthusiastic gamers, was sweating buckets at the moment.
“Mmm?!”

“Hey, dude.
If your rating's stuck at 1,200, you might as well give up, man! Listen, Yu-Min.
I keep losing to this friend of mine, but the way I see it, I'm like just one step behind him all the time, you know what I mean? Can you help me get better, even if it's just a bit? I'll definitely buy you lunch.
Two lunches, even!”

“W-well, uh, coaching you won't be difficult, but, uh…”

“It's a promise, right?”

Kang Jin-Ho spectated this scene for a while before walking up to his table.

“Hey, the king of drinking is back!”

“King of drinking, my a*s! That's no king, he's the God of Liquor! A bloody god, I tell ya!”

“Wow, he's not even wobbling!”

“Did he go to the bathroom to puke?”

“I don't think he did, since his eyes aren't even bloodshot.”

“Wowsers, that's amazing.”

Kang Jin-Ho groaned at the incessant comments of the peanut gallery.
Just what was so amazing about being able to hold your liquor?

His victory in the drinking challenge must have acted as the spark to liven things up, and the bar's atmosphere was now even more festive than before.

1.
a million won’s about 800 dollars, so yikes. ☜