Soju’s scent fills the air as Moon Hyun Sik and Lee Seok Woo glare at each other from opposite sides of the subway carriage. Neither can remember who or what had started the argument, but that’s irrelevant now. The other passengers feign sleep or indifference, hoping not to get embroiled in the row. Hyun Sik and Seok Woo had started the night as best friends: classmates at school, brothers in the army, and eventually brothers-in-law for real. Now, though, they are mortal enemies.
Hyun Sik’s body tenses, waiting to pounce. He screams threats at Seok Woo, who responds by throwing his umbrella across the carriage, landing just short of his lifelong friend. A young couple, almost caught in the crossfire move down the carriage. The boyfriend mutters under his breath whilst his girlfriend casts withering but unnoticed looks at the older men who should know better.
After a slight delay, Hyun Sik stands abruptly. The bottle of soju he’d smuggled from the suljip falls from his jacket pocket, clanging against the metal seat he rose from. He doesn’t notice it roll down the carriage as he staggers over to Seok Woo. Looming over his friend, he yells one more barely coherent insult, then punches his younger sister’s husband square on the nose. Seok Woo cries in muffled pain as his wife’s older brother follows up with a tirade of drunken expletives and slurs, spraying him with angry spittle. Seok Woo looks up at Hyun Sik with fear and hatred, holding his nose, his eyes gently streaming. Hyun Sik stares back, also crying, fists clenched, ready to strike again. The two stay like that, glaring, swaying with the train’s motion, both breathing heavily.
Perhaps it’s a moment of clarity, or maybe he just feels he has made his violent point; Hyun Sik lowers his fist, turns, shuffles down the carriage and slumps angrily on the chair. The two don’t speak again, and Seok Woo slinks off at his station, stumbling, sniffling, holding his nose.
Not that any of this matters, besides Seok Woo’s possibly-broken nose. Tonight, soju has driven them apart. Tomorrow, soju will bring them back together once again.
