Chapter 44
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Nowadays, it's hard to see long, fluffy clouds in downtown Seoul.
You know, those brilliant-white clouds stretching from one end of the sky to the other, like something you'd only see in an animation?
Bad weather, yellow dust. Or simply because this is the real world.
Of course, those reasons probably played a part as well.
But.
The tall buildings visible outside the taxi window right now—
Aren't they the main reason, since they've completely blocked our view?
If we'd been somewhere higher up, would they still be easy to see?
As I was entertaining these pointless thoughts, Neria, sitting beside me, asked.
“What are you looking at so intently? Is there something outside?”
“Oh, I was just watching the clouds.”
“Clouds? I don't see any that look particularly interesting.”
“I was just staring blankly, too.”
“Want me to make one for you? A cloud shaped like a raised middle finger, maybe?”
“Lady Neria, over there….”
The taxi driver sitting up front can hear you.
More importantly, are you planning to start using magic just because you've lost your virginity?
After barely swallowing the many questions that had risen to the back of my throat, the taxi we were riding in came to a smooth stop by the roadside.
“Thank you for the ride.”
Unlike me, who greeted him as usual, Neria replaced the words, “I paid the proper fare and received the corresponding service, so why should I have to thank some mere human?―” with silence.
When I got out of the taxi with her, a chilly late-autumn breeze swept over us.
Thanks to that, I pulled my outerwear tighter and looked around. What I saw was—
Yeah. What was the point of spelling it out?
Naturally, given the location, nothing but couples.
“…Eek….”
Stretching out ahead of Neria, who let out that strange sound as if overwhelmed by the teeming mass, was a beautifully landscaped railway park.
The place's nickname was none other than Yeontral Park.
In this place, so packed with couples that one might suffocate if one wasn't careful.
“Hey, Nam Dowon.”
“Yes, Lady Neria.”
A game-addicted shut-in witch muttered.
“…Should we just go somewhere else…?”
*****
Despite Neria's disgust, I couldn't think of a better place to experience a date.
Besides simply eating and drinking something delicious, Yeonnam-dong had all sorts of things for couples to do.
And above all, since I couldn't bear to pay the bloodsucking taxi fare a second time, we walked around the neighborhood for a while and talked.
“As far as I know, this is probably the most ‘couple-like’ place around here. The kind of place that's good for dates.”
“Yeah, I have eyes too, you know? Even at a glance, there are so damn many couples…!”
“If this is too overwhelming, we could head over to nearby Yeonhui-dong or Mangwon-dong…. Still, I think this is the most suitable place.”
“…Hmmmm.”
Once I'd more or less finished explaining, Neria's gaze, which had been at 120 percent disgust until then, darted around the surroundings.
On one side, I could see people huddled together in front of a restaurant, even waiting in line.
I'd been dragged to that restaurant a few times by a girl I'd been friendly with in high school, and I remembered it as a place that wasn't good enough to justify a line that long.
Or perhaps it was because crowd psychology was so frightening. While I was saying this, two more groups joined the end of the line.
Neria, watching that spectacle, clicked her tongue and turned her gaze the other way.
Even inside that shop that looked like a perfume workshop, several couples were already flaunting their affection.
If this had merely been an ordinary street, they might have shown a little restraint.
But with almost everyone around them being a couple, it seemed they had no fear of being judged.
Neria, watching that spectacle, clicked her tongue and shifted her gaze to me.
“…It is annoying, but I suppose I have to admit it is suitable. Doesn't this mean everyone around us is doing that?”
“That's right.”
There was nothing but horny bastards like that around here.
When I told Neria that, her conspicuous light-blue hair swaying, she finally let out a deep sigh and continued.
“Fine. Let's just do it here.”
She then stopped in place and added a few more words.
“So where do we go now?”
“……?”
“I asked where we're supposed to go. Doesn't a date usually have a date itinerary?”
“……?”
Since she'd said something strange, my perfectly normal head naturally tilted as well.
“I was planning to go wherever you wanted, Lady Neria….”
“What? This is my first time doing anything like this, so why are you leaving it to me?”
“That's not what I meant. Didn't you say from the beginning that you wanted to try doing things the way they were done in the novel?”
“……”
“That's why we even came outside.”
Even thinking it over again, that was definitely what had happened.
When we'd arrived at the house earlier, Neria had clearly said she planned to imitate an event—or incident—from the novel.
She'd even teased me about how very human my memory was, so for her not to remember even what she'd just said herself….
“…I-I know! I was just joking!”
“…Of course you were.”
She's really nervous.
My brief observation was interrupted when Neria cleared her throat and gave an order.
“Food first. Let's find somewhere to have lunch. That's what they did in the novel.”
“Ah, it is about that time.”
“You haven't eaten either, right?”
“No.”
“Let's try over there. I hate eating somewhere that makes you wait in line.”
*****
Lunch was extremely ordinary.
Nothing particularly stood out, but there was nothing so unpleasantly rough around the edges either. An extremely, extremely ordinary lunch.
Well, that was only natural under the circumstances.
There were so many restaurants nearby with lines out the door, whereas we'd walked right into this spacious, wait-free place to suit Neria's preferences.
Besides, with the tables still so desperately empty, it was far more likely to be an ordinary restaurant than a hidden gem.
“Here. Read this too.”
Then, in that quiet restaurant, Neria handed me her smartphone.
“Is this the novel you mentioned earlier?”
“Yeah. There's something they do after lunch during the date in Chapter 44, you know?”
“Something they do after lunch….”
I figured it would show up if I just skimmed down.
Pointing at the words as I read, like I was going through a Korean-language exam passage, I found the part Neria had mentioned in less than five seconds.
“……”
But something was strange.
No, perhaps “absurd” would be more accurate.
“Did you find it?”
“Yes…. I found it, but….”
The cringeworthy dialogue, difficult enough to read with my eyes alone, was one thing.
But apparently the male lead was supposed to tenderly wipe the female lead's lips with a napkin after she finished eating.
Not knowing how to interpret or carry out this lunacy, I ended up asking Neria again.
“…Are we really supposed to do exactly what's written here?”
“Yeah.”
“So…, …‘The man who had finished his meal across from me picked up a napkin and approached me. “Why do you get food all over yourself when you eat? You idiot.” His touch is somewhat rough, yet utterly tender. The man who was usually as cruel as a devil to his servants……’ …Are you really referring to roughly this part?”
“That's right. What's wrong with it?”
“…Isn't it honestly cringeworthy?”
“Of course it is. But you're the one who likes this kind of thing, right?”
“……”
How on earth did I end up with that image?
Before the faint irritation could rise, I did have an idea.
It was because of that manga incident that had kept tripping me up when I'd first met Neria.
So, if I had to be precise….
Neria was, in her own way, a truly considerate mistress who put the preferences of a mere human before her own….
“Here. Give it a try.”
There was no way I could refuse my mistress's order.
…If I humored Neria like this, I would probably have something to hold over her later, too.
In practical terms, there was only one choice.
“…Mmph, mmph.”
If there had been more eyes on us, I might have hesitated longer, but fortunately, the other customers were mostly gathered quite far away, beyond the partitions.
It wasn't that Neria and I had voluntarily chosen such an isolated spot; all the men who'd come in as couples were too busy sneaking glances at Neria to spare their girlfriends a thought, so the women had moved seats first, “for their education.”
…Thanks to that, I was able to wipe her lips with the napkin much more comfortably, while Neria let out a sound like a child having their face washed by their parents.
I kept the volume low enough that only her ears could hear me, so the other diners couldn't.
“…Why do you get food all over yourself when you eat, Lady Neria?”
As expected, it was so cringeworthy I felt like dying.
But I endured it for the sake of the pure-love sex DLC with Neria that I would obtain later.
“Are you satisfied now…?”
“…Hmm. This doesn't really make my heart flutter either. It was the same when you hugged me earlier.”
“Your heart flutter…?”
“I didn't like it when you called me a stupid bitch yesterday, either. And your gentle side doesn't really do anything for me, either. Should I give up on trying this approach?”
“Ah, so the reason you've been doing this since yesterday was to try to make your heart flutter….”
“Yeah. Since I ended up having to do it with you anyway, it'd feel better if I could get excited during sex too. Like a delicious healthy meal…?”
Perhaps aware that she was saying something embarrassing, Neria lowered her voice as well and whispered.
Unlike the virgin-bitch Team Leader, who deliberately spoke loudly as if she wanted everyone else to hear, it was a relief.
Still, there was one thing bothering me that I didn't want to let pass without comment.
I asked her lightly.
“By the way, Lady Neria.”
“What.”
“When you hugged me at home earlier, that was….”
“What about it?”
“…Your heartbeat. I definitely thought it was quite loud.”
“……”
“……”
“……”
Excitement, a pounding heart.
That's the definition of having your heart flutter, isn't it?
“……Th-that was just your imagination…! I never did that?! It wasn't loud at all, and it wasn't fast at all!”
“…Understood.”
“I said that's not what happened!”
“I said I understood as well.”
“You obviously don't believe me…!”
But since she was vehemently denying even things I hadn't asked about, blushing all the way to her face—
I decided not to say anything more about it.
Just to myself.
I would think what I wanted.