“Don’t drink too much? Don’t worry, Jerome! I’m perfectly fine. You look more drunk than I am.”

Grinning, Yulia lightly tapped Jerome’s cheek with her finger.

His flushed cheeks deepened in color.

“Then… come here, Lily!”

Yulia turned and opened her arms wide.

“Daisy! It’s starting—Yulia’s drunk mode!”

Evan shouted excitedly.

Yulia immediately rushed into Lily’s arms, burying herself against her.

“Lily… my favorite friend… my one and only Lily…”

“I actually think you’re kind of cute like this.”

Lily laughed, hugging her back.

After snuggling against her for a moment, Yulia grabbed Lily’s cheeks.

Then—

“Come here!”

She began showering her with kisses.

Lily laughed, squirming as she tried to push her away.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough! Guys, no more drinks for Yulia.”

“Wait—that’s her drinking habit?”

“Yeah. She hugs whoever she can grab. Like a free hug service. Usually that’s it, but today she’s… more affectionate.”

“That’s still pretty cute though,” Daisy said with a smile.

“…Cute? Last time she clung to Lily and wouldn’t let go. And when we finally separated them, she started hugging strangers and bumping into them. It was chaos.”

“Seriously, I almost had to stop someone from reporting her as a creep.”

“Really? Then let’s stop giving her drinks.”

“Evan… your turn! I’ll hug you!”

Yulia turned toward him, eyes half-lidded, ready to pounce.

Evan raised his hand firmly.

“Sorry. I recently developed a crush on someone. I appreciate it, but I’ll pass.”

***

‘How much time has passed…?’

Yulia suddenly lifted her head.

At some point, she had dozed off in her seat.

Blinking her eyes, she looked around and saw that most of the people at the table were already quite drunk.

“I can’t see well…”

Muttering softly, Yulia raised a hand to rub her eyes.

Without her glasses and with the eye drops wearing off, everything looked blurry.

“Guys! Go to sleep in the rooms! You went too hard too fast—what are you going to do if you collapse this early?”

Lily and Chloe, still relatively sober, tried shaking the others awake.

But no one responded.

“Ugh… more… pour me more…”

Evan, leaning against the back of his chair with his mouth open, thr*st his glass toward Lily.

Lily looked down at him in disbelief.

“Chloe, let’s dump these deadweights in the rooms and come back. I actually want to join that table over there.”

“Good idea! Oh—Yulia, when did you wake up? Feeling better?”

“Mm…”

“…Jerome doesn’t look okay, though. Can you take him to a room?”

Yulia turned toward Jerome.

Though her vision was blurry, she could tell—his face and ears were completely red, his head drooping.

“Jerome! Wake up, I’ll take you.”

She turned to support him—but still tipsy, she ended up pulling him into a tight hug instead.

“My best friend Jerome… my family… let’s go to the room…”

“….”

Jerome, slightly coming to at her call, raised his arms and hugged Yulia back.

Before long, they were in a tight embrace, leaning against each other.

Swaying gently back and forth, they looked like two drunken friends who were clearly having a good time.

“Let’s go…”

“Yu…lia…”

Suddenly—

Someone approached and forcefully pulled Jerome away.

“Ah… Yu…lia…”

Jerome mumbled for a moment before tilting his head again and slipping back into sleep.

Yulia looked down at her now-empty arms.

“Huh?”

“You seem very drunk. I’ll take him to a room.”

“…Who are you? I can’t see…”

She squinted, trying to make out his face.

The voice sounded familiar—but his face was too far away to see clearly.

Was it because he was tall…?

“Can you walk? What’s your room number?”

“You’re… taking us there?”

Yulia briefly released her grip on Jerome and started to think.

Was it the mixed drink she had overindulged in, or was her normally sharp mind feeling slow and foggy?

With the effects of the eye drops wearing off, she couldn’t see well.

Jerome, who was completely drunk, needed to return to the guest room.

And that man was offering to help.

“Okay.”

Finishing her thoughts, Yulia opened her small handbag.

Inside the bag were the two room keys she had received from the gatekeeper when entering the hotel.

As Yulia took out the keys and placed them in her palm, the man picked them up.

Soon, she saw Jerome, who had been dozing off, being lifted upright by the man.

“Thank you… I’ll follow behind.”

Yulia stood up, steadying herself.

But the path out of the hall was blurry.

‘I really can’t see without my glasses… I should buy permanent eye drops soon… even if they’re expensive.’

Yulia thought she would need to stick closely to the tall man and follow him closely.

However, the man’s pace was too fast.

The distance between the man, who was walking while supporting Jerome, and Yulia was gradually widening.

As she stepped forward blindly, her arms and knees bumped into things along the way.

“Ouch!”

“Oh! Lady, be careful!”

“S-sorry…”

Yulia, who had just bumped hard into a table she hadn’t seen, wrapped her sore arm and spoke.

At the small commotion, the tall man who had been walking ahead turned back to speak to her.

“Are you too drunk to walk?”

“No… my eyesight… the drops wore off…”

“…Then I’ll be back quickly, so just wait here.”

“No! It seems like we’re almost outside, so I think I can go on my own.”

“Don’t be stubborn…”

“No!!”

Yulia was quite stubborn when drunk.

The tall man seemed to realize that further persuasion would be useless, and he turned to take Jerome and exit the banquet hall.

Yulia hurriedly followed behind, not wanting to lose him.

As they stepped out of the noisy banquet hall and breathed in the fresh air outside, she felt her hazy vision clear up a bit.

She could see the carpeted main lobby of the hotel clearly, and she could roughly gauge the wide stairs leading to the hotel rooms on the opposite side of the banquet hall.

Yulia carefully placed her feet on each step as she slowly ascended.

“I’ll be back soon, so take your time going up.”

The tall man, glancing back at Yulia for a moment, seemed to decide it would be better to take Jerome and quickly place him in a room before returning. He began to stride up the stairs with Jerome tucked under his arm.

As he quickly climbed the stairs, he soon disappeared from her view.

Continuing to take small steps, Yulia finally reached the last step connected to the second floor.

“I made it to the top!”

Pausing briefly at the crossroads, Yulia began to search for the door with her room number.

207… 207…

She had to get close to the door to see the number clearly.

‘What was Jerome’s room number? I remember it being on a completely different floor… He must have taken care of him well.’

Passing by rooms 205 and 206, Yulia finally stood in front of room 207, filled with joy as she grabbed the doorknob.

But she didn’t have the key.

‘Oh right… I handed both room keys to that tall man…’

Feeling like a fool, Yulia leaned her forehead against the door of room 207 and took a moment to catch her breath.

Pressing her heated forehead against the cold metal door felt pleasantly refreshing.

‘I should thank him later… Jerome can repay him… I’ll just hug him… I’m broke…’

Yulia waited for the man while continuing her pointless thoughts.

Standing right in front of the door, the relief that she could go to bed after passing through this door made her once firm resolve gradually weaken.

She felt sleepy, tired, or perhaps the alcohol was finally catching up with her, making her feel dizzy.

“Ugh…”

As she momentarily stopped thinking, Yulia’s knees suddenly buckled beneath her.

Her legs gave way, and she bent down.

“Uh…?”

Through her narrowing vision, she saw the door she had just been leaning against wobble and recede, with the hotel walls seeming to rise above her.

In an instant, she lost her balance and began to fall toward the floor.

She was falling.

Yulia instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.

The thick carpet on the luxurious hotel floor would likely cushion her fall, so it shouldn’t hurt too much.

“…!”

The impact of her fall wasn’t as big as she had expected.

In fact, it was almost nonexistent.

As she slowly opened her eyes, she realized that a thick, firm arm had suddenly appeared and pulled her toward its embrace as she fell.

“Are you okay?”

Leaning against the man who had come to her aid, Yulia blinked her eyes slowly.