[One-Shot] Soju Wisdom

Author's Note: This is a little more Hong Ki-JGS fanfic than JGS-PSH. I loved Hong Ki as Jeremy but I love him more as himself. You may find references here to the Scandal episode he did with Mnet last year.  That's when I first discovered the Hong Ki I love -- straight-forward, blunt, childish at times, but sweet in his own way and surprisingly, a noona-killer just like JGS. :)

Soju Wisdom

(In Vino Veritas)

Hong Ki looks at the four bottles of soju before him and shakes his head, silently cursing Yong Hwa for the first time since he met the guy.

Just a few minutes ago, Yong Hwa texted him to say he couldn't make it to their meeting with Keun Suk-hyung as planned because the radio broadcast he and his band, CN Blue, are in has not yet wrapped up. And due to the heavy snowfall outside he said he really doubted it if he could make it in time to see both of them still sober.

"Punk, just get your ass here if the broadcast wraps up early. Take the train, not the van," Hong Ki has replied. Aissh, really! He needs Yong Hwa's drinking power against Keun Suk's or else this whole let's-get-him-to-admit-he-likes-Shin-Hye prank they had been cooking for awhile would just turn into another let's-see-how-an-idol-crawls-while-drunk episode for Keun Suk. Hong Ki grimaces at the thought. Ani. He would not let Keun Suk make him the butt-of-drunken-jokes again come morning. Once is enough.

"So is that pretty boy idol still coming or not?" Keun Suk asks as he puts another row of fresh meat on the pan.

"He will, hyung. The radio show is about to end," Hong Ki tries to answer confidently, pouring soju on Keun Suk's glass.

"Hey, hey. I haven't poured you one yet," Keun Suk says, pouring soju on Hong Ki's glass. "Drink this first and I'll get this," he points to his glass. “Don’t get smart on me, kid!”

After two bottles he is not yet drunk! Hong Ki curses Yong Hwa again while finishing his soju. He himself could already feel his ears starting to tingle from the glasses of soju he downed for the past hour. 8 glasses! 2 more and he sure could no longer drive himself home. Damn that punk for forgetting that they had a schedule today of all days this week! I bloody well told him that this hyung could finish 6 bottles and still walks straight on a wire!

It has been a running joke between Yong Hwa and him that they ought to conspire together to see the day Keun Suk would crawl on all fours in front of them. Keun Suk’s alcohol tolerance is legendary among his circle of friends and Hong Ki had been witnessed to it once before. But it was one Hong Ki would rather forget if he had his way because the memory just give him a shudder whenever Keun Suk rubs it in his face once in  awhile. “I never thought I would see the day an idol like you would pass out over just THREE bottles of soju. And we even shared the last one!” That was the last line he heard from Keun Suk that night before everything around him turned into black. And Keun Suk never made him forget that since.

So he understood Keun Suk’s second thoughts when he and Yong Hwa asked him out for a boys’ night out last week to schedule tonight’s drinking session. “So you want to be the second idol to pass out in front of me, too, Yong Hwa?” he asked, his voice over the phone full of repressed mirth at both of them.

Yong Hwa, full of confidence, had even bravely called him to a challenge. “Ah, hyung, I don’t know about Hong Ki but I sure am not someone who passes out over just 3 bottles of soju. Try me!”

Recalling how the punk had bragged about his own unmatched alcohol tolerance just fans out Hong Ki’s annoyance on Yong Hwa even more. Aissh, really! He should have known better than trust an idol to know his own band’s schedule by heart. If he had known CN Blue’s schedule would clash with this boys’ night out with Keun Suk he should have brought his own band members with him rather than depend on Yong Hwa to topple the mighty Keun Suk on this soju battle. Pabo! He curses himself silently.

~0o0~

“Are you dating, Hong Ki?”

Hong Ki looks at Keun Suk, glass of soju, his 9^th one, just midway to his mouth. Putting down the glass, thankful for the interruption, he smirks at his hyung. “Is the sky red?”

Keun Suk laughs. “You’ve really never dated a girl since your debut?”

Hong Ki shakes his head, picking at the kimchi bowl with his chopsticks. “If you count the girl I dated for a week on that TV show last year, then that would just be the one time I had been allowed to hold, kiss and date a girl in the last 3 years.”

“Wow. That’s a little cruel.”

Hong Ki’s eyes grow solemn at the memory of the girl in that TV show. She had been one of the best things that happened to him last year. Even just for a few days, she made him feel like the normal guy he should have been if he was not an idol when they were together. That noona. Too bad he did not have the balls to act out on his attraction to her then. But then, he was not the typical guy-next-door she just met on the street. He knows he would always be sorry they met that way.

“It is written in the contract in bold letters, hyung. NO DATING for the next 5 years. You wanna be an idol? Then be a eunuch!”

Keun Suk smiles at his dongsaeng’s joke. He feels sorry but he knows it’s reality for Hong Ki as an idol. It’s a world where people can give you the whole world at your feet for the price of your soul or your freedom.

“How about you, hyung? Are you seeing someone? Or are you also prohibited to date by some freaking contract?”

Keun Suk smiles before he gulps down his soju. “Ani. It’s self-imposed. I’m restricting myself to date for now.”

Hong Ki laughs. “Can we switch places for just a week? Here I am wallowing in grief because I could not date the girl I want then here you are, forbidding yourself to date?! That’s the most absurd thing I ever heard of from an actor!”

He reaches for his 9^th soju glass and downs it a little too vigorously. Aissh, sincha!

Keun Suk looks at him and laughs, clearly aware of Hong Ki’s alcohol intake in the last hour. “9^th glass down. 1 more to go and I would probably be the one driving you home again, eh?”

Despite feeling his ears heat up a notch higher, Hong Ki knows he is far from passing out on the 10^th glass. “Don’t worry, hyung. I came prepared this time,” he mocks a salute. Yong Hwa, you bastard, get your ass here already!

“So you’ll never ask Shin Hye out for a date, then? Even if your life depends on it?” Hong Ki blurts out the first thing that came to his mind when he heard Keun Suk’s response moments ago.

He swears he saw Keun Suk’s own ears turn crimson. “Ya! What are you talking about?”

It’s Hong Ki’s turn to smirk and tease. “Come on, hyung. I’m a guy. I know.”

Keun Suk grabs a bottle of soju, opens it and chugs it down, emptying it in half. He does not say a word. He picks a meat from the pan and pops it in his mouth.

Hong Ki smiles inwardly at his reaction. Ooops. Did I just touch a raw nerve?

Then, finally, Keun Suk speaks. “Did you like that girl you met on that TV show?”

Hong Ki nods, as if on reflex.

“Then what stopped you to make the connection right after the show was finished? Your contract? That’s bullshit and you know it. We guys can get around doing something we badly want to do no matter what the odds are.”

Hong Ki nods again. “You’re right, hyung. I could have gotten in touch with her behind the cameras. Heck, maybe even carry out a relationship with her secretly. But…” he trails on then stops. He pours himself another glass of soju. His throat is running dry all of a sudden.

“…but it would be so much unfair for her to have that kind of relationship or treatment. I know she would never have me for herself whenever she wants to. And I could never give her my time. I do not own my time. I do not own Hong Ki right now. And that would only hurt her eventually. I did not have the right to start something I knew I could never be responsible for.”

Keun Suk raises his bottle of soju to him. “Bingo. You just answered your own question for me.”

Hong Ki is not sure he understands where he is coming from. “But hyung, you have dated before right? When you were already an actor?”

“Yes. It ended just how you feared your story with that girl would end.”

Hong Ki opens another bottle of soju and waits for Keun Suk to speak again.

“And it was not a pretty sight, kid. To choose something over someone. It’s not supposed to be that way.”

Hong Ki perfectly understands what Keun Suk means. To choose work over a girl you like is a cold-blooded thing to do. Something murderous. Something criminal.

“But we have to do it, right? Because we are not ready to give up on our dreams,” Keun Suk tells him sarcastically.

Hong Ki pours Keun Suk a glass of soju and offers it to his hyung.

I hope we both can grow balls and brains soon, hyung.