Chapter 3: A Night That Never Gets Drunk

The world is made up of tens of millions of frequencies.

To most people, they are nothing more than meaningless background noise.

But to me, everything is converted into numbers with meaning.

Even before opening the front door, my senses had already picked up the rich smell of grilled pork belly and my father’s low laughter.

[Environmental Scan in Progress]

[Location: Old 12-pyeong villa in Seoksu-dong, Anyang, Gyeonggi Province]

[Noise Level: 62dB. Primary Frequencies: 420Hz (younger brother’s laughter), 110Hz (father’s voice)]

[Air Quality: Humidity 42%. Air contains particles from burning pork fat mixed with the scent of cheap but sweet soju. Emotional Classification: “Freedom”]

The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside was the clean wallpaper.

The red foreclosure notices that had suffocated our family for years were finally gone.

In the place where the mark of poverty had once been, only the crisp receipt from the finance company remained, showing that part of the debt had been repaid.

“Ji-hoon, you’re home! The meat’s ready. Come sit down, son!”

My father waved a pair of tongs and smiled brightly.

This wasn’t the same man who had recently sat in front of a dusty fan, coughing weakly with his head lowered.

My brain analyzed the relaxation of his facial muscles and the height of his cheekbones.

Probability of Happiness: 99.4%

“Hyung! This is amazing! My academy director texted me earlier! He said you paid all my overdue tuition in one shot! He told me I don’t have to worry about it anymore and can use the study room whenever I want. I almost cried today!”

My younger brother Min-seok stuffed a huge bite of food into his mouth and gave me a thumbs-up.

Judging by the speed of his chewing, he had probably been starving for days.

The flow of money I had handled throughout the day appeared in my mind like an Excel spreadsheet.

[Expense Summary Complete]

• Dinner at premium beef restaurant “Yukgyeong”: 500,000 won
• Football club overdue fees and Min-seok’s academy tuition: 3,500,000 won
• Father’s surgery deposit and advance payment: 5,000,000 won
• Loan principal and interest repayment to secondary financial institutions: 21,000,000 won

[Final Balance: 0 Won]

Exactly thirty million won had disappeared without a trace.

To some people, it might be the price of a car.

But in exchange, the air weighing down our home felt twenty kilograms lighter.

My mother gently put down her chopsticks and held my hand.

The rough skin on her fingers trembled slightly.

“Ji-hoon, where did all this money come from? I’m happy, but I’m also worried. I keep wondering if you did something dangerous or got involved in something bad.”

I gently squeezed her hand.

Then I gave her the most dependable and reassuring smile I could manage.

“Mom, did you forget that I got first place in admissions to Baekgyeong University’s medical school? The chairman of the foundation saw my records and said I was a rare student who managed both sports and academics. He gave me a special support grant.”

“A scholarship…? Oh my goodness. Really? Medical schools give things like that?”

“Of course. Baekgyeong Medical Foundation is the biggest in Korea. They told me not to worry about money and focus on studying. It’s called the ‘Baekgyeong Future Talent Scholarship.’ They give advance support to top students from difficult backgrounds.”

“Really…?”

“Really. Your son is going to become a doctor, after all. This kind of treatment is only natural.”

A harmless lie.

The foundation hadn’t given me a scholarship.

It was closer to payment for a human experiment.

But my family didn’t need to know that cold truth.

My father wiped his eyes and drank a shot of soju.

Rather than calculating the salt content of his tears, I simply grabbed his shoulder firmly.

***

Later that evening, I stepped outside to visit a convenience store.

Tae-ho stopped me.

He had been watching me with a bewildered expression all day.

Under the streetlight, his face was filled equally with confusion and awe.

“Hey, Han Ji-hoon. What are you, really? I heard what you told your parents. You paid off debts too? More than twenty million won? Be honest. Ever since you came back from that hospital, you’ve been weird.”

He grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

His heart rate had already climbed to 110 beats per minute.

Looking directly into my eyes, he whispered seriously.

“You’re not actually Han Ji-hoon, are you? Are you an alien or something? Even if you won the lottery, getting top admission to medical school makes no sense. Tell me honestly. Are you really Han Ji-hoon?”

My internal processing engine paused for a moment.

As expected, fooling a friend of ten years required more than just data.

Tae-ho crossed his arms dramatically.

“Fine. Pop quiz. If you can’t answer this, you’re a fake. Back in fifth grade, when we got into a fight with kids from another neighborhood, you ran away and I got beaten up instead. We hid in an abandoned construction site afterward. What was the name of the stray dog we found there? Only you and I know the answer.”

I couldn’t help laughing.

In 0.001 seconds, my brain pulled up a fragment of memory from ten years ago.

The smell of dirt.

Old wooden boards.

And a tiny whining dog.

“First of all, I didn’t run away. I went to get help from the police station. Stop rewriting history. And the dog’s name was… Ppoppi. A mangy yellow mutt. You felt sorry for it and gave it all the sausage from your lunchbox.”

Tae-ho’s eyes widened.

Finally, he let out a long sigh of relief and smacked me on the back.

“Ah… it really is you. Damn it! But seriously, what happened to you? Did your brain actually get upgraded? Medical school? Top admissions? This feels so weird. My best friend is going to be a doctor!”

He laughed like an idiot while holding an unopened beer can.

There wasn’t a trace of jealousy in his eyes.

Only genuine happiness.

Even though he still couldn’t fully accept reality, he was celebrating my success as if it were his own.

Seeing him happy made my internal processing engine feel strangely warm.

“Hey, rich sponsor! When you become a hospital director, you better give me free health checkups first, got it?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll personally take responsibility for your liver.”

***

One week later.

“Scalpel & Beer,” a large pub near Baekgyeong University’s medical school.

The warm family dinner was now just another archived memory.

In front of me lay the cold rules of the jungle.

The infamous medical-school hierarchy had already targeted me during the freshman welcome party.

The underground pub, filled with the smell of beer and cigarette smoke, felt like a battlefield.

“Hey, Han Ji-hoon. You’re that former football player who got perfect scores, right?”

The speaker was Kang Man-soo, a second-year student and class representative seated at the head table.

Drunk seniors surrounded him.

The cheap smell of soju irritated my enhanced sense of smell.

“Yes, sunbae. Just a fragile former football player. Please take care of me.”

I sat down casually with a relaxed smile.

My voice remained soft and respectful.

My eyes remained steady.

I could feel Kang Man-soo’s unpleasant gaze scanning my body.

“You were an athlete, right? Then you must be able to drink. Athletes usually have strong livers. You’re a top student, but if you can’t drink, your seniors might be disappointed.”

Kang Man-soo grinned maliciously.

Then he pulled a large metal bowl onto the table.

One after another, he emptied four bottles of soju into it.

Splash.

The transparent liquid filled the bowl.

The ripples created on the surface appeared as real-time graphs in my visual processing layer.

“Drink all of this, and I’ll officially accept you as my junior. If you can’t? Your school life is going to get pretty difficult. Just because some athlete suddenly got smart doesn’t mean he can look down on his seniors. Bottoms up!”

The freshmen lowered their heads in fear.

The liquid inside the bowl was less alcohol and more a form of torture.

[Composition Analysis: Ethanol (C₂H₅OH) Mixture 18.2%]

[Estimated Volume: 1.5 Liters]

[Calculation Active: Preparing Physical Control Mode]

[Liver ADH (Alcohol Dehydrogenase) Activation Sequence Ready]

“Ah… Sunbae, I’m actually pretty weak when it comes to alcohol. If I die from drinking this, will you take responsibility?”

Pretending to be nervous, I picked up the bowl.

A playful smile lingered on my lips.

Kang Man-soo and the other seniors smirked.

“Drink! Drink! Drink!”

The rhythmic chanting filled the room.

I raised the bowl and began drinking in one breath.

[Physical Control Sequence Activated]

[Esophageal Muscle Control: Maintaining Inflow Speed of 150 ml/s]

[ADH Activity Increased to 500%]

[Incoming Ethanol Molecules Being Converted into Acetic Acid in Real Time]

[Blood-Brain Barrier Reinforcement Active]

[Blood Alcohol Concentration Maintained Below 0.01%]

Gulp. Gulp.

The alcohol disappeared down my throat like a waterfall.

The room fell into shock.

Less than a minute later, the bowl was empty.

To me, it felt no different from drinking cold water.

But appearances mattered.

“Ugh…! Cough…!”

My face had already turned bright red.

I had intentionally expanded the capillaries in my face to create the effect.

Staggering slightly, I grabbed the table.

“S-Sunbae… I think… I might die…”

“Whoa! This bastard actually drank it all! Maybe football players really do have national-team-level livers!”

Kang Man-soo laughed excitedly and slapped my back.

I used the momentum to deliberately collapse onto the floor.

The room erupted.

“Wow! Han Ji-hoon is insane!”

“Sunbae… excuse me… bathroom…”

Pretending to suppress a gag reflex, I covered my mouth and stumbled out of the pub.

Cheers followed behind me.

Such simple logic.

They tried to establish authority by forcing someone to drink a few liters of liquid.

It was almost pitiful how proud they were of winning a game they had designed themselves.

***

The cold winter wind brushed against my face in the alley behind the pub.

The moment the door closed completely behind me, I straightened my back.

The haze disappeared from my eyes.

[Physical Control Mode Released]

[Facial Flushing Deactivated]

[Heart Rate Returned to 65 BPM]

[Blood Alcohol Concentration: 0.00%]

My mind was perfectly clear.

No one would believe I had just consumed an entire bowl of liquor.

I brushed my hair back and adjusted my clothes.

The alley was dark.

No streetlights reached this area.

Yet every object remained perfectly visible to me.

“…You’re actually pretty talented at acting.”

A calm, low voice.

A voice that somehow scratched at the nerves.

A figure leaned against the wall watching me.

A faint lavender scent drifted through the wind.

It was Lee Se-young.

My classmate.

The daughter of Seongjin Hospital’s director.

[Target: Lee Se-young]

[Micro-Expression Analysis: Left Corner of Mouth Raised 1.5 mm]

[Emotions: Mixture of Certainty and Suspicion]

[Heart Rate: 78 BPM]

[She Also Finds This Situation Interesting]

“Ah, Se-young. What brings you here? Did you get tired of the drinking party and escape too?”

I approached her with a casual grin.

My voice no longer sounded like that of someone who had supposedly been drunk moments ago.

Under the moonlight, her eyes shimmered like the deep ocean.

“You drank all that alcohol. Why are your eyes so clear? That’s impossible. No matter how well someone handles alcohol, how could the body stop it from reaching the brain? What exactly is going on inside your body? Are you even human?”

Se-young pressed a hand against my chest.

Her fingers were cold.

But the faint tremor at her fingertips was impossible for me to miss.

For someone our age, her insight was unnaturally sharp.

Yet beneath it all, her curiosity remained impossible to hide.

“Come on, a machine? I used to be a football player. You know how athletes recover quickly. Maybe I was just born with a champion drinker’s liver.”

“That’s a lie. You’re disturbingly normal right now. That performance earlier was an act to fool the seniors, wasn’t it? What are you, really?”

Se-young lightly pushed me away and stepped back.

There was no fear in her eyes.

Only obsession and curiosity.

“Curious? Then enroll and dissect me yourself. For you, I might even volunteer as a practice cadaver. Sounds tempting, doesn’t it?”

“…You really can’t stop talking nonsense, can you?”

She let out a disbelieving laugh and turned around.

Then she walked back toward the pub.

But I saw it.

The slight redness at the tips of her ears.

[Humanity Synchronization Level: 81.2%]

[Notification: Curiosity Data Generated Regarding Target ‘Lee Se-young’]

[Her observations pose a threat to my identity, while simultaneously becoming my strongest source of stimulation.]

***

It was a night that never became drunk.

The world remained full of noise.

But beyond all that noise, the only thing I could hear was the sound of my cold calculation engine continuing to run.

The true legend had only just finished its first drink.