Swallowed

Chapter 1 Part 5: The Dark Side of Her Beautiful School Memories

Yoo-jeong glanced at Se-yeong and moved her head to find Je-ha. He was a head taller than the others, so she thought he would be easy to find, but she couldn’t see if he went out with the first-years.

“How did you two meet?”

“Shit, you scared me. I was so surprised, Da-ram!”

Yoo-jeong, who shouted as if she had met a ghost at the words that popped out from the side, swept a hand over her chest when she saw Da-ram. He seemed to have heard about it when Da-ram, who she thought had gone to another table, returned.

“If you didn’t like being bullied for being a rude nerd, you’re saying that you saw something in Baek Je-ha and liked it. Didn’t you join a club or something?”

“Wow. Da-ram, you’re so smart today. It’s only when you drink alcohol that your brain works.”

Yoo-jeong couldn’t help but wonder if that was the case. Perhaps it was because it was an unexpected question, Se-yeong kept silent. The two friends knew Se-yeong didn’t want to talk, so they didn’t ask further, but they teased her saying, “There is something, there is.”

“Anyway, good luck. I think Baek Je-ha is a little different. I can feel his pure sincerity?”

“What’s pure is this soju.”

“Student Da-ram. Middle school students can drink soju, or not.”

“The glass is empty.”

“Yes. I’ll pour you a drink.”

Ignoring Yoo-jeong and Da-ram, who were exchanging drinks while talking nonsense, Se-yeong only sipped soju. Pure Baek Je-ha. Pure Soju. She giggled at the strange metaphor, and Yoo-jeong nagged at her to get some snacks.

After Dong-hyun went around one more time to pick up the karaoke fee, the first place was sold out. Se-yeong paid, but she was worried that she would fall asleep if she went to the karaoke now. It had been a while since she drank, but she ended up drinking more than she could handle. On top of that, the scandal caused by Baek Je-ha continued to make her shake her head, and she was mentally pushed to the limit.

Since she never turns red while drinking, the people around her did not know if Se-yeong was drunk or not. In fact, she was in a state where she could sleep on the street with the sky as the blanket if she were to drink one more glass. The problem was that the last train had passed. She would have to call in sick or sleep in a room in the major department until the first train.

“I mixed it all up, regardless of the year. When you go in, draw and enter.”

A fourth-year student waved a container full of paper notes in front of the karaoke room. Yoo-jeong drew a note with great concentration, praying to be in the same room with at least either Da-ram or Se-yeong.

“Senior.”

At that moment, Se-yeong looked back, flinching at the cold touch on her cheek. Je-ha waved a chocolate milk with a smile. She didn’t know when he had bought it, but it was so cold that it woke her up.

“It’s good for hangovers.”

There was nothing in his appearance or manner to remind her of what had happened earlier. How did he deal with it? Did it go down naturally over time? After thinking about it, she heard Yoo-jeong’s cry and turned her gaze forward again. After her draw, Yoo-jeong was encouraging Da-ram to pick Room 1.

“Sneak away with me.”

Se-yeong smirked at Je-ha’s words, as if he had read her mind. Seeing that she was laughing out loud, it seemed that she drank a lot. Come to think of it, the coldness of the milk that touched her cheek for a moment was pleasant.

「If I sneak away with you, rumors would say that I’m dating you.」

“Aren’t we going out yet? Then compensate me for my first kiss.”

Se-yeong was embarrassed by the casual mention of his first kiss. Fortunately, no one was around when she looked around with her eyes.

“Drink.”

Je-ha, who opened the milk carton next to her, inserted a straw and held it out. When she didn’t answer because she was looking at the results of the draw, he touched her lips with the end of the straw. He increased his strength, as if trying to force her mouth open. The straw pressed against her lips more and more strongly, but it couldn’t resist the force and slid to the side. 

“Ha… umb.”

As soon as she opened her mouth to tell him not to do it, Je-ha grabbed the end of the straw and put it in her mouth. Before Se-yeong could put strength on her teeth, the straw was pushed into her mouth. Je-ha, who smiled triumphantly, moved behind her, wrapped his arms around Se-yeong and raised the milk. 

“Suck it all up.”

Se-yeong, who was trapped in his arms, was speechless and laughed. Why not just go around shouting that she’s dating him?

Se-yeong gave up fighting and sucked and drank the milk. She felt like a child and was bothered by the glances of acquaintances’ faces.

The white straw turned brown, and soon the sweetness spread in her mouth. Since she drank soju without any side dishes, the cold sweetness that wet her bitter tongue was frankly pleasing. Gulp, gulp. She swallowed repeatedly with thudding sounds.

Je-ha looked down at Se-yeong with a satisfied face. The curves on her white face were beautiful. Her high nose and drunken cheeks kept him from taking his eyes off. Everytime she blinked, her long, dark eyelashes danced. The urge to kiss her round forehead kept his head raised. 

When he looked at her lips sucking the straw, he remembered the kiss from before and it almost made his cock stiff again. It was hard to get his cock, which had become painfully hard, to calm down after Se-yeong went in first. It was to no avail even after singing the national anthem to verse four.

After Se-yeong drank half and opened her mouth, she gently bit Je-ha on the hand. He then raised his hand as he moistened his free mouth with his tongue.

“You…!”

Je-ha, who drank the rest of the milk without hesitation, smiled while holding the empty milk carton. 

“It’s sweet. But I think it’s less sweet than your saliva.”

Was Baek Je-ha always this reckless? He wasn’t. In the words of Se-yeong, the 17-years-old Baek Je-ha died. She never said not to do it, but he did well when he was told to do it.

Did the absence of contact for two years bring about such a change?

「You’ve changed. You used to be a good listener and pure.」

“I listened well, but I wasn’t pure. I always jerked off every day before going to sleep, thinking about Senior.”

Se-yeong was so surprised that she almost dropped her cell phone. Je-ha smirked as Se-yeong reacted as if she couldn’t believe him. He wondered how innocent she must have thought of himself.

He bowed his head slightly and put his mouth to Se-yeong’s ear and said it clearly.

“When you’re 17, you only have sex in your head.”

「…I’m shocked.」

“Still, I kept my line. I didn’t dare to imagine your naked body. I could do it three times with Senior calling my name.”

「Enough, that’s enough.」

She felt like she knew the dark side of her beautiful school memories, so Se-yeong covered her ears and ran away to Yoo-jeong. Da-ram and Yoo-jeong urged her to quickly draw No. 1. As soon as it became Se-yeong’s turn, she put her hand in and took a note out. Seeing her disappointment, she seemed to have picked No. 2. 

“Baek Je-ha, you too, come and pick No. 2!”

When Yoo-jeong called Je-ha to pick No. 2, Se-yeong grabbed her arm and pulled. Walking slowly towards them, Je-ha bit and sucked his lower lip.

A sweet taste lingered in his mouth.

Although Se-yeong couldn’t speak, she sang well. Of course, there were times when she missed the beat a little or out of tune, but she still barely stuttered when she sang.

Broca’s aphasia is damage to the brain region that produces speech, so a typical treatment was melody intonation therapy.

Speaking is in the domain of the dominant hemisphere, while singing is in the domain of the nondominant hemisphere, so there was no problem singing even if there was a problem with speaking.

If she added a melody to what she wanted to say, she could speak exactly what she intended. So, while receiving melody intonation therapy, she turned what she wanted to say into a song, and sang it.

However, adolescent immature beings were evil, and musical styles of dialogue were enough to be made fun of. She stuttered and was teased more than when she couldn’t speak. Some people talked to her while singing exaggeratedly on purpose, while others pretended not to hear Se-yeong’s words and ignored her.

She felt like cold water was poured on her will to speak even when she sang. Come to think of it, the classmates at the time deliberately disparaged Se-yeong as being more vicious, unsightly, and comical to be bullied, and the desire to communicate, with such ridicule, disappeared.

Se-yeong eventually shut her mouth. The world did not like something not ‘normal’ and rejected it. She had no interest in getting hurt in the process.

Instead, she devoted herself to her studies — her GPA, the mock test. She never missed first place. There were still people who tried to suppress Se-yeong, saying that since she was mute, there wasn’t any point in studying well, but she didn’t care since she learned that she was motivated by a sense of inferiority. No, the more she studied, the crazier she studied.

Fortunately, in a way, the high school curriculum hardly required speaking skills. The teachers didn’t ask questions to students with aphasia, and only required them to answer the questions by hand. 

As she went from first-year to second-year, and from second-year to third-year, Se-yeong was completely isolated, where none of the students talked to her in her school.

Some teachers, who pitied Se-yeong, tried to force her to make friends, but it didn’t last long. The teachers were worried that Se-yeong would make an extreme choice because she was mentally cornered. 

However, Se-yeong was fine.

‘You can say it with your mouth. I’ll listen. Talk to me.’

Because a good and pure junior, who said that he liked her voice, supported her.

“Senior, aren’t you going to sing?”

「I’m not going to sing. I drank too much.」

At least, she thought he was pure. When Se-yeong glanced at him, Je-ha raised his eyebrows as if he didn’t know what to say. Je-ha definitely picked No. 1, but no matter what it wrote, he proudly entered Room 2 with Se-yeong.

“I’ve been wanting to hear it for a long time.”

「I’ll call you later when you’re alone.」

“…….”

Je-ha bit his lips and smiled silently. But Se-yeong didn’t know because she was watching a second-year sing so passionately. He clenched and unclenched his fists to contain his boiling emotions.

“That’s why I haven’t forgotten.”

“Huh?”

Se-yeong looked back at what he said. Her eyes were almost relaxed, as if the alcohol had devoured her head. Slowly blinking, Se-yeong listened. Je-ha leaned her head against his arm.

“If you’re sleepy, lean on me and sleep.”

Perhaps because she was really sleepy, Se-yeong didn’t refuse and leaned her head gently. At first, she just leaned her head and listened to the song while keeping the beat with her hand, but her hand gradually slowed down and she soon stopped responding.

A third-year student, who was moving to the restroom, saw Se-yeong falling asleep and gestured with their hands, putting their hands together and to their ears. Jeha nodded his head, indicating that he knew.

Je-ha holding his hands with his legs crossed, and Se-yeong sleeping peacefully against his arm. The reflection in the dark lighting of the karaoke room was like a picture.

“Don’t you have to wake her up?”

“It’s all right. I’ll stay with her until she wakes up.”

His clear smile seemed to have no ulterior motive. He nodded in agreement, picked up a padded jacket that had been thrown on the sofa, and put it over Se-yeong’s legs.

“Thank you for your concern.”

The student left the room praising his good manners.