Wow Tae-gun might need to be drunk for this, actually.

...Woo-young asked him to. And—it's fine to get a little bit drunk, right? It's fine. And being drunk helps the nerves, and despite all this joking around he's still kind of anxious about—things and stuff. So. He gets his own soju.

His Japanese accent is surprisingly good?

The singing.... well.

Yeah, she's with Tae-gun, she might need to be a little drunk for this. Though... actually, maybe not. That might be a bad idea. Considering Tae-gun is, you know, right next to her. And looking really nice, actually. And being cute and funny.

She'll play it by ear she thinks.

"Damn, dude, you make a good argument for why I should start mapping out this entire venue in case of any dungeon portals hidden in the attic. Who wants to hear about this place's plumbing and what kind of horrible shit people have flushed down the drain?"

?? Huh?

"Backlash is sensory deprivation," answers Minseo, at that look. "I have my out for if Yoo-min decides to hog the mic tonight."

There's a knock on the door to the booth and the waiter shows up with Hye-jin's fruity drink once they're let in then they bow and walk back out.

"So, Hye-jin, how's working with Tae-gun-sunbae?"

Tae-gun chokes on his soju and has to cough into a napkin to not make a mess.

"Good! Our specialties line up well enough that we can actually just get most missions together, and I feel we cover for each other's weaknesses pretty well? I protect him from the scary ghosts, he runs into melee like a lunatic..."

"He does it less when you're around, actually."

"How are you alive."

This is of course directed at her partner.

"The question we've all been asking ourselves for years..." mutters Woo-young.

He coughs some more and clears his throat. "It's more backlash-efficient that way," he says, still hoarse. "I summon the blades only once..." But with Hye-jin around to manage his backlash he doesn't need to be that highly-efficient.

"Ugh. Of course it is." She's going to have a large swig of her thankfully mildly alcoholic drink, because, because. Why.

"And you, sunbae? How's working with Kim Hye-jin?"

"Ah, it's..." He clears his throat again. "With Hye-jin..."

Yoo-min's song ends and he hops back onto the love seat. "I want to hear that too."

"...it's good. She's... good. At... things."

.....

That is the first time he's called her Hye-jin instead of Kim Hye-jin. At least in her presence.

"It's nice not to have to drag around dead weight! I have more space to practice and get good at things! .... Thank you, sunbae."

Uh huh.

"Come on, sunbae, you can do better than that."

Why is his face hot. He's talked about what Hye-jin's good at before. It's probably the soju, he's always been kind of weak for alcohol and drinking on an empty stomach is always a bad idea.

"She's... smart, and resourceful. She's insightful and learns fast and, and adapts well to, um, unexpected situations..." Downing the rest of his glass of soju right now is not a good idea. Why is he doing it anyway.

"Damn, that's, like, almost a confession coming from Tae-gun," says Yoo-min, grinning.